The admirable Marcus Aurelius took delight in converse with himself; and learned to find enjoyment in the present by extracting from the past lessons for the future. I never fail to be affected when I read the account which he gives of all those persons whose cares had concurred to form his character and his manners. ‘I learned,’ says he, ‘of my grandfather Verus, to be gentle and complaisant. ‘The reputation which my father left, and the memory of his good actions which has been preserved, taught me modesty. My mother formed me to piety, taught me to be liberal, and not even to meditate, still less, to do a wrong. ‘I owe it to my governor that I am patient of labor, indulge few wants, know how to work with my own hands, meddle with no business that does not concern me, and give no encouragement to informers. ‘Diognetus taught me not to be amused with frivolities, to yield no credit to charlatans and enchanters, and to have no faith in conjurations, demons and superstitions of that sort. I learned of him to permit every one to speak to me with entire freedom, and to apply myself wholly to philosophy. ‘Rusticus made me perceive that I needed to correct my manners, that I ought to avoid the pride of the sophists, and not use effort to inspire the people with admiration of my patience and austerity of life; to be always ready to pardon those who had offended me, and to receive them kindly whenever they were disposed to resume their former intercourse. ‘I learned of Apollonius to be at the same time frank and firm in my designs, to follow no guide but my reason, even in the smallest matters, and to be always composed, even under the most acute sufferings. By his example I was instructed that it is possible to be at once severe and gentle. ‘Sextus taught me to govern my house as a good father, to preserve a simple gravity without affectation, to attempt to divine and anticipate the wishes and necessities of my friends; to endure, with calmness and patience, the ignorant and presumptuous who speak without thinking what they say; and to sustain relations of kindness with all. ‘I learned from Alexander, the grammarian, in disputation to use no injurious words in reply to my antagonist. ‘Fronto taught me to know that kings are surrounded by the envious, by knaves and hypocrites. ‘Alexander, the Platonist, instructed me never to say or to write to any person interceding for my interest, “I have had no time to attend to your affairs;” nor to allege, as an excuse, “I have been overwhelmed with business;” but to be always prompt to render all those good offices which the bonds of society demand. ‘I owe to my brother Severus, the love which I have for truth and justice. From him I derived the desire to govern my states by equal laws, and to reign in such a manner as that my subjects might possess perfect liberty.