University of Maryland School of Pharmacy - Terra Mariae Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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If thou workest at that which is before thee. fi ll(i viiif, ' right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract thee, but keeping thy divine part pure, as if thou shouldst be bound to give it back immediately ; if thou boldest to this expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with thy present activity, according to nature, and witli heroic truth in every word and sound which tliou utterest, thou wilt live happy. And there is no man who is able to prevent this. Remember Antoninus Pius, and his efforts to understand things ; and how he would never let anything pass without having first most carefully examined it and clearly understood it. ' ■ ' riiat w liicli does nf t make a man worse than he was, also does not make his life worse. Look within. itliiu is the fountain of good and it will ever bubble up if thou wilt ever dig. It is thy duty to order thy life well in every single act ; and if every act does its duty as far as possible, be content : and no one is able to hinder thee so that each act shall not do its duty. Practice thyself even in the things which thou despairest of accomplishing, for even the left hand wliicli is ineffectual for all other things for want of practice, holds the bridle more effcct- iiali - than tlie right hand : fur it has been practicrd in this. EitluT tlure is a fatal necessity and invincible order, or a kind providence, or a confusion without a purpose, and without a director. If then there is an invincible necessity, why dost thou resist? I ' .ut if there is a providence which allows itself to be propitiated, make thyself worthy of the help f the divinity. P)Ut if there is a confusion without a governor, be content that in such a tempest thou hast in thyself a certain ruling intelligence. And even if the tempest carry thee awMy. let it carry away the poor flesh, the poor breath, everything else; for the intelligence at least it will not carry away. .Man thou hast been a citizen in this great state, the world; what difference does it make to thee whether for five years or three? For that which is conformable to the laws is just for all. Where is the hardship then if no tyrant nor yet an unjust judge sends thee away from the state, but nature, who brought thee into it? The same as if a praetor, who has employed an actor dis- misses him from the stage — ' But I have not finished the five acts, but only three of them ' — Thou sayest well, but in life the three acts are the whole drama; for what shall be a complete drama is determined 1) him who was once the cause of its composition, and now of its dissolution; but thou art the cause of neitlur. Depart then satisfied, for he also who releases thee is satisfied. It would be unjust to the author of the Meditations to forget that they arc the innermost thoughts of a man who made no pretension to ]ierfection ; who was describing his aspirations rather than his attaimnents ; and who, amid ])erplexitics and perils, such as few of us will be called upon to encounter, never turned the back upfui his ideals. The lessons of self-examination, self-control and self-reliance and self-reverence, which the Meditations breathe, are not easy to practice : but the mere effort will, at least, enalile a man to keep his face in the right direction. . nd this, after all, is the main thing. For, quoting again the words of the Translator, a man ' s 20

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From Maximus, (a Stoic philosopher) I learned self-government, and not to be led aside by anything: and cheerfulness in all circumstances, as well as in illness; and a just admixture in the moral character of sweetness and dignity, and to do what was set before me without complain- ing. I ol)served that ever l30(ly believed that he thought as he spoke, and that in all that he did he never had any bad intention ; and that he never showed amazement and surprise, and was never in a hurry, and never put off doing a thing, nor was perplexed of dejected, nor did he ever laugh to disguise his vexation, nor, on th? other hand, was he ever passionate or suspicious. He was accustomed to do acts of beneficence, and was ready to forgive, and was free from all falsehood : and he presented the appearance of a man who could not be driven from right, rather than of a man who had been improved. Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I sliall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things ha])pen to them b- ' reason of their ignor- ance of what is good and evil. Every moment think steadily as a Roman and a man to do what thou hast in hand with per- fect and simple dignity, and feeling of affection, and freedom and justice, and to give th - self relief of all other thoughts. And thou wilt giv€ thyself relief if thou doest every act of thv life as if it were the last, laying aside all carelessness and passionate aversion from the commands of reason, and all hypocrisy and self-love, and discontent with the portion which has been given thee. The soul of man does violence to itself when it allows any act of its own and any move- ment to be without an aim, and does anytliing thoughtlessly and without considering what it is, it being right that even the smallest things be done with reference to an end. A man should use himself to think of those things only about which if one should suddenly ask, W ' jiat hast thou now in thy thoughts? with perfect openness thou mightest immediately an- swer, Tliis or That. And further let the Deity which is in thee be the guardian of a living being, manly and of ripe age, and engaged in matter political, and a Roman, and a ruler, who has taken his post like a man waiting for the signal which summons him from life, and ready to go, ha ' ing neetl neither of oath nor of any man ' s testimony. Be cheerful also, and seek not external help nor the tran(|inllity which others give. A man then must stand erect, and not be kept erect by others. Never value anything as profitable to thyself which shall compel tJiee to break thy promise, to lose thy self-respect, to hate any man, to suspect, to curse, to act the hyjiocrit, or to desire any- thing which needs walls and curtains ; for he who has j referred to everything else his own intelli- gence and daemon and the worship of its excellence, acts no tragic part, does not groan, will not need either solitude or much company, and what is chief of all, he will live without either pur- suing or flying from (death) ; but whether for a longer or a shorter time he shall have the soul enclosed in the body, he cares not at all ; for even if he must depart immediately, he will go as read- ily as if he were going to do anything else which can be done with decency and order ; taking care of this only all through life, that his thoughts turn not away from anything which belongs to an intelligent animal and a member of a civil comnninity. Make for thvself a definition or description of the thing which is presented to thee, so as to see distinctly what kind of a thing it is in its substance, in its nudity, in its complete entirety, and tell thyself its proper name. 19

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qTcatiicss lies not in wealth and station, as the vulsjar believe, nor yet in his intellectual capacity, which is often associated with the meanest moral character, the most abject servility to those in high places, and arrogance to tlie poor and lowly : but a man s true greatness lies in the con- sciousness of an honest pur])ose in life, founded on a just estimate of himself and evervthing else, on frequent self-examinafion, and a steady obedience to the rule which he knows to be right, without troubling himself, as the emperor says lie should not, about what others may think or sav, or whether thev do or do not do that which he thinks and savs and does. fti lflsof-