With regard to a future existence for the soul, freed from sin and pain at death, though Aurelius denies the hope in some places, yet in others the light of the truth seems to stagger him. So when he says, B. XII. 1, “How comes it to pass, that the gods, who order all things well and lovingly for the human race, have overlooked this alone, namely, that men innately good, and who have had, as it were, frequent communions with the deity, and by holy deeds and sacred services have become friends of the deity, when once they die, no longer have any being, but go away to be absorbed in the universe?” He shows his doubts by adding, “if this be the fact,” concerning them; and, further on, “if the fact be otherwise.” Evidently he wavered in his belief. Antoninus was ascetic in his views. He was fond of retirement and seclusion, thinking his mental progress furthered thereby. He does not seem so intensely earnest, nor so pious and nobly gifted as Epictetus: yet his aspirations were noble. “Oh, my soul!” we hear him saying[60], “wilt thou ever be good, and simple, and one, and naked, and more transparent than the body which clothes thee?” Though philosophy with him was all in all, yet the cause of truth was advancing; the light from heaven was beginning to penetrate the darkness. One cannot put down his record of self-communings without feeling sad, and wishing he had opened his eyes to the perfection of that gospel which he professedly rejected and despised. Footnote 35: _Præs. Hær._ 7. Footnote 36: Εἶτα ὑπὸ μανίας μὲν δύναταί τις οὕτω διατεθῆναι πρὸς ταῦτα καὶ ὑπὸ ἔθους οἱ Γαλιλαῖοι· ὑπὸ λόγου δὲ, κ.τ.λ. Footnote 37: Τὸ δὲ ἕτοιμον τοῦτο, ἵνα ἀπὸ ἰδικῆς κρίσεως ἔρχηται, μὴ κατὰ ψιλὴν παράταξιν, ὡς οἱ Χριστιανοὶ, ἀλλὰ λελογισμένως, κ.τ.λ.—_Com._ XI. 3. Footnote 38: The remarks of Gataker with reference to Seneca are so apposite that I quote them here: “Certe quæcunque Dominus ipse Christus in concionibus collationibusque suis Historiæ Evangelicæ insertis, intextisque; de mali cogitatione etiam abstinenda; de affectibus vitiosis supprimendis; de sermone otioso non insuper habendo; de animo cumprimis excolendo, et ad imaginem divinam effingendo; de beneficentiâ simplicissime exhibendâ; de injuriis æquanimiter ferendis; de admonitione et increpatione cum moderatione cautioneque accuratâ exercendis; de rebus quibuslibet, adeoque vitâ ipsâ, ubi res ratioque poscit, nihili habendis; de aliis denique plerisque pietatis, caritatis, æquitatis, humanitatis officiis quam exquisitissime obeundis exequendisque, præcepta dedit; apud nostrum hunc eadem, perinde ac si illa lectitâsset ipse, in dissertationum commentationumque congerie inspersa passim, nec sine vehementia et vivacitate insigni, quæ in præcordia ipsa penitùs penetret, atque in animo infixos altius relinquat aculeos inculcata subinde, Lector quivis sedulus advertet, ingenuus agnoscet.”—Proel. _Marc. Ant. Com._ Footnote 39: