He who raised Marcus Aurelius
Avoid addiction to team sports
Work willingly
Limit wants and needs
Self-sufficiency
Truth
II. Of him that brought me up, not to
be fondly addicted to either of the two great factions of the coursers in the
circus, called Prasini, and Veneti: nor in the amphitheatre partially to favour
any of the gladiators, or fencers, as either the Parmularii, or the Secutores.
Moreover, to endure labour; nor to need many things; when I have anything to
do, to do it myself rather than by others; not to meddle with many businesses;
and not easily to admit of any slander.
III. Of Diognetus,
Diognetus
Avoid gullibility, keeping birds for
sport, taking offense
Pursue philosophy
not to busy myself about vain things,
and not easily to believe those things, which are commonly spoken, by such as
take upon them to work wonders, and by sorcerers, or prestidigitators, and
impostors; concerning the power of charms, and their driving out of demons, or
evil spirits; and the like. Not to keep quails for the game; nor to be mad
after such things. http://louisbjbsheehan.blogspot.com/
Not to be offended with other men's
liberty of speech, and to apply myself unto philosophy. Him also I must thank,
that ever I heard first Bacchius, then Tandasis and Marcianus, and that I did
write dialogues in my youth; and that I took liking to the philosophers' little
couch and skins, and such other things, which by the Grecian discipline are
proper to those who profess philosophy.
IV.
Rusticus
Showed him that his life should be
improved and that his pursuit of philosophy should be without ostentation
Forgiveness
Avoid reading superficially,
especially of Epictetus
To Rusticus I am beholding, that I
first entered into the conceit that my life wanted some redress and cure. And
then, that I did not fall into the ambition of ordinary sophists, either to
write tracts concerning the common theorems, or to exhort men unto virtue and
the study of philosophy by public orations; as also that I never by way of
ostentation did affect to show myself an active able man, for any kind of
bodily exercises. And that I gave over the study of rhetoric and poetry, and of
elegant neat language. That I did not use to walk about the house in my long
robe, nor to do any such things. Moreover I learned of him to write letters
without any affectation, or curiosity; such as that was, which by him was
written to my mother from Sinuessa: and to be easy and ready to be reconciled,
and well pleased again with them that had offended me, as soon as any of them
would be content to seek unto me again. To read with diligence; not to rest
satisfied with a light and superficial knowledge, nor quickly to assent to
things commonly spoken of: whom also I must thank that ever I lighted upon
Epictetus his Hypomnemata, or moral commentaries and common-factions: which
also he gave me of his own.
V.
Apollonius
Liberty
Take losses in stride and favors
graciously
From Apollonius, true liberty, and
unvariable steadfastness, and not to regard anything at all, though never so
little, but right and reason: and always, whether in the sharpest pains, or
after the loss of a child, or in long diseases, to be still the same man; who
also was a present and visible example unto me, that it was possible for the
same man to be both vehement and remiss: a man not subject to be vexed, and
offended with the incapacity of his scholars and auditors in his lectures and
expositions; and a true pattern of a man who of all his good gifts and
faculties, least esteemed in himself, that his excellent skill and ability to
teach and persuade others the common theorems and maxims of the Stoic
philosophy. Of him also I learned how to receive favours and kindnesses (as
commonly they are accounted:) from friends, so that I might not become
obnoxious unto them, for them, nor more yielding upon occasion, than in right I
ought; and yet so that I should not pass them neither, as an unsensible and
unthankful man.
VI.
Sextus
Living according to nature, without
affectation, accomodating to all sorts of people
Apathia without anger
Of Sextus, mildness and the pattern of
a family governed with paternal affection; and a purpose to live according to
nature: to be grave without affectation: to observe carefully the several
dispositions of my friends, not to be offended with idiots, nor unseasonably to
set upon those that are carried with the vulgar opinions, with the theorems,
and tenets of philosophers: his conversation being an example how a man might
accommodate himself to all men and companies; so that though his company were
sweeter and more pleasing than any flatterer's cogging and fawning; yet was it
at the same time most respected and reverenced: who also had a proper happiness
and faculty, rationally and methodically to find out, and set in order all
necessary determinations and instructions for a man's life. A man without ever
the least appearance of anger, or any other passion; able at the same time most
exactly to observe the Stoic Apathia, or unpassionateness, and yet to be most
tender-hearted: ever of good credit; and yet almost without any noise, or
rumour: very learned, and yet making little show.
VII.
Alexander the Grammarian
Be gentle in correcting others
From Alexander the Grammarian, to be
un-reprovable myself, and not reproachfully to reprehend any man for a
barbarism, or a solecism, or any false pronunciation, but dextrously by way of
answer, or testimony, or confirmation of the same matter (taking no notice of
the word) to utter it as it should have been spoken; or by some other such
close and indirect admonition, handsomely and civilly to tell him of it.
VIII.
Fronto
tyrants filled with envy and
hypocrisy, the nobly born lack affection
Of Fronto, to how much envy and fraud
and hypocrisy the state of a tyrannous king is subject unto, and how they who
are commonly called [Eupatridas Gk.], i.e. nobly born, are in some sort
incapable, or void of natural affection.
IX.
Alexander the Platonic
Not to put off friends with the
pretense of other important business
Of Alexander the Platonic, not often
nor without great necessity to say, or to write to any man in a letter, 'I am
not at leisure'; nor in this manner still to put off those duties, which we owe
to our friends and acquaintances (to every one in his kind) under pretence of
urgent affairs.
X.
Catulus
Listen to a friend's criticism, speak
well of teachers, love one's children
Of Catulus, not to contemn any
friend's expostulation, though unjust, but to strive to reduce him to his
former disposition: freely and heartily to speak well of all my masters upon
any occasion, as it is reported of Domitius, and Athenodotus: and to love my
children with true affection.
XI.
Brother Severus
Loving to all in the household
Seek justice and equality in
government
Be generous
Be open with friends
From my brother Severus, to be kind
and loving to all them of my house and family; by whom also I came to the
knowledge of Thrasea and Helvidius, and Cato, and Dio, and Brutus. He it was
also that did put me in the first conceit and desire of an equal commonwealth,
administered by justice and equality; and of a kingdom wherein should be
regarded nothing more than the good and welfare of the subjects. Of him also,
to observe a constant tenor, (not interrupted, with any other cares and distractions,)
in the study and esteem of philosophy: to be bountiful and liberal in the
largest measure; always to hope the best; and to be confident that my friends
love me. In whom I moreover observed open dealing towards those whom he
reproved at any time, and that his friends might without all doubt or much
observation know what he would, or would not, so open and plain was he.
XII.
Claudius Maximus
Cheerfulness in adversity
Work diligently, without complaint
Be good, forgiving, honest, and
pleasant
From Claudius Maximus, in all things
to endeavour to have power of myself, and in nothing to be carried about; to be
cheerful and courageous in all sudden chances and accidents, as in sicknesses:
to love mildness, and moderation, and gravity: and to do my business,
whatsoever it be, thoroughly, and without querulousness. http://louiscjcsheehan.blogspot.com/
Whatsoever he said, all men believed
him that as he spake, so he thought, and whatsoever he did, that he did it with
a good intent. His manner was, never to wonder at anything; never to be in
haste, and yet never slow: nor to be perplexed, or dejected, or at any time
unseemly, or excessively to laugh: nor to be angry, or suspicious, but ever
ready to do good, and to forgive, and to speak truth; and all this, as one that
seemed rather of himself to have been straight and right, than ever to have
been rectified or redressed; neither was there any man that ever thought
himself undervalued by him, or that could find in his heart, to think himself a
better man than he. He would also be very pleasant and gracious.
XIII.
Father
Meekness
diligence, impartiality, chastity
regarding youth
Take time to deliberate
Cheerfulness
Repressed flattery
Careful financial accounts
Sociable
Philosophical
Care of his body
Consultation with experts
Not concerned with glory
Baths at appropriate times
Not concerned with external beauty
Moderation in all things
In my father, I observed his meekness;
his constancy without wavering in those things, which after a due examination
and deliberation, he had determined. How free from all vanity he carried
himself in matter of honour and dignity, (as they are esteemed:) his
laboriousness and assiduity, his readiness to hear any man, that had aught to
say tending to any common good: how generally and impartially he would give
every man his due; his skill and knowledge, when rigour or extremity, or when
remissness or moderation was in season; how he did abstain from all unchaste
love of youths; his moderate condescending to other men's occasions as an
ordinary man, neither absolutely requiring of his friends, that they should
wait upon him at his ordinary meals, nor that they should of necessity
accompany him in his journeys; and that whensoever any business upon some
necessary occasions was to be put off and omitted before it could be ended, he
was ever found when he went about it again, the same man that he was before.
His accurate examination of things in consultations, and patient hearing of others.
He would not hastily give over the search of the matter, as one easy to be
satisfied with sudden notions and apprehensions. His care to preserve his
friends; how neither at any time he would carry himself towards them with
disdainful neglect, and grow weary of them; nor yet at any time be madly fond
of them. His contented mind in all things, his cheerful countenance, his care
to foresee things afar off, and to take order for the least, without any noise
or clamour. Moreover how all acclamations and flattery were repressed by him:
how carefully he observed all things necessary to the government, and kept an
account of the common expenses, and how patiently he did abide that he was
reprehended by some for this his strict and rigid kind of dealing. How he was
neither a superstitious worshipper of the gods, nor an ambitious pleaser of
men, or studious of popular applause; but sober in all things, and everywhere
observant of that which was fitting; no affecter of novelties: in those things
which conduced to his ease and convenience, (plenty whereof his fortune did
afford him,) without pride and bragging, yet with all freedom and liberty: so
that as he did freely enjoy them without any anxiety or affectation when they
were present; so when absent, he found no want of them. Moreover, that he was
never commended by any man, as either a learned acute man, or an obsequious
officious man, or a fine orator; but as a ripe mature man, a perfect sound man;
one that could not endure to be flattered; able to govern both himself and
others. Moreover, how much he did honour all true philosophers, without
upbraiding those that were not so; his sociableness, his gracious and
delightful conversation, but never unto satiety; his care of his body within
bounds and measure, not as one that desired to live long, or over-studious of
neatness, and elegancy; and yet not as one that did not regard it: so that
through his own care and providence, he seldom needed any inward physic, or
outward applications: but especially how ingeniously he would yield to any that
had obtained any peculiar faculty, as either eloquence, or the knowledge of the
laws, or of ancient customs, or the like; and how he concurred with them, in
his best care and endeavour that every one of them might in his kind, for that
wherein he excelled, be regarded and esteemed: and although he did all things
carefully after the ancient customs of his forefathers, yet even of this was he
not desirous that men should take notice, that he did imitate ancient customs. http://louisgjgsheehan.blogspot.com/
Again, how he was not easily moved and
tossed up and down, but loved to be constant, both in the same places and
businesses; and how after his great fits of headache he would return fresh and
vigorous to his wonted affairs. Again, that secrets he neither had many, nor
often, and such only as concerned public matters: his discretion and moderation,
in exhibiting of the public sights and shows for the pleasure and pastime of
the people: in public buildings. congiaries, and the like. In all these things,
having a respect unto men only as men, and to the equity of the things
themselves, and not unto the glory that might follow. Never wont to use the
baths at unseasonable hours; no builder; never curious, or solicitous, either
about his meat, or about the workmanship, or colour of his clothes, or about
anything that belonged to external beauty. In all his conversation, far from
all inhumanity, all boldness, and incivility, all greediness and impetuosity;
never doing anything with such earnestness, and intention, that a man could say
of him, that he did sweat about it: but contrariwise, all things distinctly, as
at leisure; without trouble; orderly, soundly, and agreeably. A man might have
applied that to him, which is recorded of Socrates, that he knew how to want,
and to enjoy those things, in the want whereof, most men show themselves weak;
and in the fruition, intemperate: but to hold out firm and constant, and to
keep within the compass of true moderation and sobriety in either estate, is
proper to a man, who hath a perfect and invincible soul; such as he showed
himself in the sickness of Maximus.
XIV.
The Gods
Good relatives, wife, and family
Ability to avoid offending the gods
Maintenance of chastity until a
reasonable time
Ability to enjoy living simply
Healthy children
Only modest talent in areas that might
have led him astray
Ability to help others
Avoidance of sophists
From the gods I received that I had
good grandfathers, and parents, a good sister, good masters, good domestics,
loving kinsmen, almost all that I have; and that I never through haste and
rashness transgressed against any of them, notwithstanding that my disposition
was such, as that such a thing (if occasion had been) might very well have been
committed by me, but that It was the mercy of the gods, to prevent such a
concurring of matters and occasions, as might make me to incur this blame. That
I was not long brought up by the concubine of my father; that I preserved the
flower of my youth. That I took not upon me to be a man before my time, but
rather put it off longer than I needed. That I lived under the government of my
lord and father, who would take away from me all pride and vainglory, and
reduce me to that conceit and opinion that it was not impossible for a prince
to live in the court without a troop of guards and followers, extraordinary
apparel, such and such torches and statues, and other like particulars of state
and magnificence; but that a man may reduce and contract himself almost to the
state of a private man, and yet for all that not to become the more base and
remiss in those public matters and affairs, wherein power and authority is
requisite. That I have had such a brother, who by his own example might stir me
up to think of myself; and by his respect and love, delight and please me. That
I have got ingenuous children, and that they were not born distorted, nor with
any other natural deformity. That I was no great proficient in the study of
rhetoric and poetry, and of other faculties, which perchance I might have dwelt
upon, if I had found myself to go on in them with success. That I did by times
prefer those, by whom I was brought up, to such places and dignities, which
they seemed unto me most to desire; and that I did not put them off with hope
and expectation, that (since that they were yet but young) I would do the same
hereafter. That I ever knew Apollonius and Rusticus, and Maximus. That I have
had occasion often and effectually to consider and meditate with myself,
concerning that life which is according to nature, what the nature and manner
of it is: so that as for the gods and such suggestions, helps and inspirations,
as might be expected from them, nothing did hinder, but that I might have begun
long before to live according to nature; or that even now that I was not yet
partaker and in present possession of that life, that I myself (in that I did
not observe those inward motions, and suggestions, yea and almost plain and
apparent instructions and admonitions of the gods,) was the only cause of it.
That my body in such a life, hath been able to hold out so long. That I never
had to do with Benedicta and Theodotus, yea and afterwards when I fell into
some fits of love, I was soon cured. That having been often displeased with
Rusticus, I never did him anything for which afterwards I had occasion to
repent. That it being so that my mother was to die young, yet she lived with me
all her latter years. That as often as I had a purpose to help and succour any
that either were poor, or fallen into some present necessity, I never was
answered by my officers that there was not ready money enough to do it; and
that I myself never had occasion to require the like succour from any other.
That I have such a wife, so obedient, so loving, so ingenuous. That I had
choice of fit and able men, to whom I might commit the bringing up of my
children. That by dreams I have received help, as for other things, so in
particular, how I might stay my casting of blood, and cure my dizziness, as
that also that happened to thee in Cajeta, as unto Chryses when he prayed by
the seashore. And when I did first apply myself to philosophy, that I did not
fall into the hands of some sophists, or spent my time either in reading the
manifold volumes of ordinary philosophers, nor in practising myself in the
solution of arguments and fallacies, nor dwelt upon the studies of the meteors,
and other natural curiosities. All these things without the assistance of the
gods, and fortune, could not have been.
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