DioLiu/Test1 · Datasets at Hugging Face

text stringlengths 0 78
but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it.

Unhappy am I because this has happened to me.- Not so, but happy am
I, though this has happened to me, because I continue free from pain,
neither crushed by the present nor fearing the future. For such a
thing as this might have happened to every man; but every man would
not have continued free from pain on such an occasion. Why then is
that rather a misfortune than this a good fortune? And dost thou in
all cases call that a man's misfortune, which is not a deviation from
man's nature? And does a thing seem to thee to be a deviation from
man's nature, when it is not contrary to the will of man's nature?
Well, thou knowest the will of nature. Will then this which has happened
prevent thee from being just, magnanimous, temperate, prudent, secure
against inconsiderate opinions and falsehood; will it prevent thee
from having modesty, freedom, and everything else, by the presence
of which man's nature obtains all that is its own? Remember too on
every occasion which leads thee to vexation to apply this principle:
not that this is a misfortune, but that to bear it nobly is good fortune.

It is a vulgar, but still a useful help towards contempt of death,
to pass in review those who have tenaciously stuck to life. What more
then have they gained than those who have died early? Certainly they
lie in their tombs somewhere at last, Cadicianus, Fabius, Julianus,
Lepidus, or any one else like them, who have carried out many to be
buried, and then were carried out themselves. Altogether the interval
is small between birth and death; and consider with how much trouble,
and in company with what sort of people and in what a feeble body
this interval is laboriously passed. Do not then consider life a thing
of any value. For look to the immensity of time behind thee, and to
the time which is before thee, another boundless space. In this infinity
then what is the difference between him who lives three days and him
who lives three generations?

Always run to the short way; and the short way is the natural: accordingly
say and do everything in conformity with the soundest reason. For
such a purpose frees a man from trouble, and warfare, and all artifice
and ostentatious display.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK FIVE

In he morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present-
I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied
if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was
brought into the world? Or have I been made for this, to lie in the
bed-clothes and keep myself warm?- But this is more pleasant.- Dost
thou exist then to take thy pleasure, and not at all for action or
exertion? Dost thou not see the little plants, the little birds, the
ants, the spiders, the bees working together to put in order their
several parts of the universe? And art thou unwilling to do the work
of a human being, and dost thou not make haste to do that which is
according to thy nature?- But it is necessary to take rest also.-
It is necessary: however nature has fixed bounds to this too: she
has fixed bounds both to eating and drinking, and yet thou goest beyond
these bounds, beyond what is sufficient; yet in thy acts it is not
so, but thou stoppest short of what thou canst do. So thou lovest
not thyself, for if thou didst, thou wouldst love thy nature and her
will. But those who love their several arts exhaust themselves in
working at them unwashed and without food; but thou valuest thy own
own nature less than the turner values the turning art, or the dancer
the dancing art, or the lover of money values his money, or the vainglorious
man his little glory. And such men, when they have a violent affection
to a thing, choose neither to eat nor to sleep rather than to perfect
the things which they care for. But are the acts which concern society
more vile in thy eyes and less worthy of thy labour?

How easy it is to repel and to wipe away every impression which is
troublesome or unsuitable, and immediately to be in all tranquility.

Judge every word and deed which are according to nature to be fit
for thee; and be not diverted by the blame which follows from any
people nor by their words, but if a thing is good to be done or said,
do not consider it unworthy of thee. For those persons have their
peculiar leading principle and follow their peculiar movement; which
things do not thou regard, but go straight on, following thy own nature
and the common nature; and the way of both is one.

I go through the things which happen according to nature until I shall
fall and rest, breathing out my breath into that element out of which
I daily draw it in, and falling upon that earth out of which my father
collected the seed, and my mother the blood, and my nurse the milk;
out of which during so many years I have been supplied with food and
drink; which bears me when I tread on it and abuse it for so many
purposes.

Thou sayest, Men cannot admire the sharpness of thy wits.- Be it so:
but there are many other things of which thou canst not say, I am
not formed for them by nature. Show those qualities then which are
altogether in thy power, sincerity, gravity, endurance of labour,
aversion to pleasure, contentment with thy portion and with few things,
benevolence, frankness, no love of superfluity, freedom from trifling
magnanimity. Dost thou not see how many qualities thou art immediately
able to exhibit, in which there is no excuse of natural incapacity
and unfitness, and yet thou still remainest voluntarily below the
mark? Or art thou compelled through being defectively furnished by
nature to murmur, and to be stingy, and to flatter, and to find fault
with thy poor body, and to try to please men, and to make great display,
and to be so restless in thy mind? No, by the gods: but thou mightest
have been delivered from these things long ago. Only if in truth thou

but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it.

Unhappy am I because this has happened to me.- Not so, but happy am

I, though this has happened to me, because I continue free from pain,

neither crushed by the present nor fearing the future. For such a

thing as this might have happened to every man; but every man would

not have continued free from pain on such an occasion. Why then is

that rather a misfortune than this a good fortune? And dost thou in

all cases call that a man's misfortune, which is not a deviation from

man's nature? And does a thing seem to thee to be a deviation from

man's nature, when it is not contrary to the will of man's nature?

Well, thou knowest the will of nature. Will then this which has happened

prevent thee from being just, magnanimous, temperate, prudent, secure

against inconsiderate opinions and falsehood; will it prevent thee

from having modesty, freedom, and everything else, by the presence

of which man's nature obtains all that is its own? Remember too on

every occasion which leads thee to vexation to apply this principle:

not that this is a misfortune, but that to bear it nobly is good fortune.

It is a vulgar, but still a useful help towards contempt of death,

to pass in review those who have tenaciously stuck to life. What more

then have they gained than those who have died early? Certainly they

lie in their tombs somewhere at last, Cadicianus, Fabius, Julianus,

Lepidus, or any one else like them, who have carried out many to be

buried, and then were carried out themselves. Altogether the interval

is small between birth and death; and consider with how much trouble,

and in company with what sort of people and in what a feeble body

this interval is laboriously passed. Do not then consider life a thing

of any value. For look to the immensity of time behind thee, and to

the time which is before thee, another boundless space. In this infinity

then what is the difference between him who lives three days and him

who lives three generations?

Always run to the short way; and the short way is the natural: accordingly

say and do everything in conformity with the soundest reason. For

such a purpose frees a man from trouble, and warfare, and all artifice

and ostentatious display.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK FIVE

In he morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present-

I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied

if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was

brought into the world? Or have I been made for this, to lie in the

bed-clothes and keep myself warm?- But this is more pleasant.- Dost

thou exist then to take thy pleasure, and not at all for action or

exertion? Dost thou not see the little plants, the little birds, the

ants, the spiders, the bees working together to put in order their

several parts of the universe? And art thou unwilling to do the work

of a human being, and dost thou not make haste to do that which is

according to thy nature?- But it is necessary to take rest also.-

It is necessary: however nature has fixed bounds to this too: she

has fixed bounds both to eating and drinking, and yet thou goest beyond

these bounds, beyond what is sufficient; yet in thy acts it is not

so, but thou stoppest short of what thou canst do. So thou lovest

not thyself, for if thou didst, thou wouldst love thy nature and her

will. But those who love their several arts exhaust themselves in

working at them unwashed and without food; but thou valuest thy own

own nature less than the turner values the turning art, or the dancer

the dancing art, or the lover of money values his money, or the vainglorious

man his little glory. And such men, when they have a violent affection

to a thing, choose neither to eat nor to sleep rather than to perfect

the things which they care for. But are the acts which concern society

more vile in thy eyes and less worthy of thy labour?

How easy it is to repel and to wipe away every impression which is

troublesome or unsuitable, and immediately to be in all tranquility.

Judge every word and deed which are according to nature to be fit

for thee; and be not diverted by the blame which follows from any

people nor by their words, but if a thing is good to be done or said,

do not consider it unworthy of thee. For those persons have their

peculiar leading principle and follow their peculiar movement; which

things do not thou regard, but go straight on, following thy own nature

and the common nature; and the way of both is one.

I go through the things which happen according to nature until I shall

fall and rest, breathing out my breath into that element out of which

I daily draw it in, and falling upon that earth out of which my father

collected the seed, and my mother the blood, and my nurse the milk;

out of which during so many years I have been supplied with food and

drink; which bears me when I tread on it and abuse it for so many

purposes.

Thou sayest, Men cannot admire the sharpness of thy wits.- Be it so:

but there are many other things of which thou canst not say, I am

not formed for them by nature. Show those qualities then which are

altogether in thy power, sincerity, gravity, endurance of labour,

aversion to pleasure, contentment with thy portion and with few things,

benevolence, frankness, no love of superfluity, freedom from trifling

magnanimity. Dost thou not see how many qualities thou art immediately

able to exhibit, in which there is no excuse of natural incapacity

and unfitness, and yet thou still remainest voluntarily below the

mark? Or art thou compelled through being defectively furnished by

nature to murmur, and to be stingy, and to flatter, and to find fault

with thy poor body, and to try to please men, and to make great display,

and to be so restless in thy mind? No, by the gods: but thou mightest

have been delivered from these things long ago. Only if in truth thou