Document Text Contents
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Marcus Aurelius
Meditations
THE MODERN LIBRARY
NEW YORK
Page 78
better things into alignment.
31. How have you behaved to the gods, to your parents, to your siblings, to your wife, to your
children, to your teachers, to your nurses, to your friends, to your relatives, to your slaves? Have they
all had from you nothing “wrong and unworthy, either word or deed”?
Consider all that you’ve gone through, all that you’ve survived. And that the story of your life is
done, your assignment complete. How many good things have you seen? How much pain and pleasure
have you resisted? How many honors have you declined? How many unkind people have you been
kind to?
32. Why do other souls—unskilled, untrained—disturb the soul with skill and understanding?
—And which is that?
The one that knows the beginning and the end, and knows the that runs through all things and
that assigns to all a place, each in its allotted span, throughout the whole of time.
33. Soon you’ll be ashes, or bones. A mere name, at most—and even that is just a sound, an echo. The
things we want in life are empty, stale, and trivial. Dogs snarling at each other. Quarreling children—
laughing and then bursting into tears a moment later. Trust, shame, justice, truth—“gone from the earth
and only found in heaven.”
Why are you still here? Sensory objects are shifting and unstable; our senses dim and easily
deceived; the soul itself a decoction of the blood; fame in a world like this is worthless.
—And so?
Wait for it patiently—annihilation or metamorphosis.
—And until that time comes—what?
Honor and revere the gods, treat human beings as they deserve, be tolerant with others and strict
with yourself. Remember, nothing belongs to you but your flesh and blood—and nothing else is under
your control.
34. You can lead an untroubled life provided you can grow, can think and act systematically.
Two characteristics shared by gods and men (and every rational creature):
i. Not to let others hold you back.
ii. To locate goodness in thinking and doing the right thing, and to limit your desires to that.
Page 79
35. If:
Page 157
B580.H3 M3713 2002
http://www.modernlibrary.com
Marcus Aurelius
Meditations
THE MODERN LIBRARY
NEW YORK
Page 78
better things into alignment.
31. How have you behaved to the gods, to your parents, to your siblings, to your wife, to your
children, to your teachers, to your nurses, to your friends, to your relatives, to your slaves? Have they
all had from you nothing “wrong and unworthy, either word or deed”?
Consider all that you’ve gone through, all that you’ve survived. And that the story of your life is
done, your assignment complete. How many good things have you seen? How much pain and pleasure
have you resisted? How many honors have you declined? How many unkind people have you been
kind to?
32. Why do other souls—unskilled, untrained—disturb the soul with skill and understanding?
—And which is that?
The one that knows the beginning and the end, and knows the that runs through all things and
that assigns to all a place, each in its allotted span, throughout the whole of time.
33. Soon you’ll be ashes, or bones. A mere name, at most—and even that is just a sound, an echo. The
things we want in life are empty, stale, and trivial. Dogs snarling at each other. Quarreling children—
laughing and then bursting into tears a moment later. Trust, shame, justice, truth—“gone from the earth
and only found in heaven.”
Why are you still here? Sensory objects are shifting and unstable; our senses dim and easily
deceived; the soul itself a decoction of the blood; fame in a world like this is worthless.
—And so?
Wait for it patiently—annihilation or metamorphosis.
—And until that time comes—what?
Honor and revere the gods, treat human beings as they deserve, be tolerant with others and strict
with yourself. Remember, nothing belongs to you but your flesh and blood—and nothing else is under
your control.
34. You can lead an untroubled life provided you can grow, can think and act systematically.
Two characteristics shared by gods and men (and every rational creature):
i. Not to let others hold you back.
ii. To locate goodness in thinking and doing the right thing, and to limit your desires to that.
Page 79
35. If:
Page 157
B580.H3 M3713 2002
http://www.modernlibrary.com
