Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius AntoninusMarcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome
PhilosophyPhilosophy
Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome
Ethics; Life; Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome, 121-180; Stoics
Cleanthes also connects Ethic and Politic, or the study of the
principles of morals and the study of the constitution of civil society;
and undoubtedly he did well in subdividing Ethic into two parts. Ethic
in the narrower sense and Politic; for though the two are intimately
connected, they are also very distinct, and many questions can only be
properly discussed by carefully observing the distinction. Antoninus
does not treat of Politic. His subject is Ethic, and Ethic in its
practical application to his own conduct in life as a man and as a
governor. His Ethic is founded on his doctrines about man's nature, the
Universal Nature, and the relation of every man to everything else. It
is therefore intimately and inseparably connected with Physic, or the
Nature of Things, and with Theology, or the Nature of the Deity. He
advises us to examine well all the impressions on our minds
([Greek: phantasiai]) and to form a right judgment of them, to make just
conclusions, and to inquire into the meanings of words, and so far to
apply Dialectic; but he has no attempt at any exposition of Dialectic,
and his philosophy is in substance purely moral and practical. He says
(viii. 13), "Constantly and, if it be possible, on the occasion of every
impression on the soul,[A] apply to it the principles of Physic, of
Ethic, and of Dialectic:" which is only another way of telling us to
examine the impression in every possible way. In another passage (iii.
11) he says, "To the aids which have been mentioned, let this one still
be added: make for thyself a definition or description of the object
([Greek: to phantaston]) 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, and the
names of the things of which it has been compounded, and into which it
will be resolved." Such an examination implies a use of Dialectic, which
Antoninus accordingly employed as a means toward establishing his
Physical, Theological, and Ethical principles.
[A] The original is [Greek: epi pasês phantasias]. We have no word
which expresses [Greek: phantasia], for it is not only the sensuous
appearance which comes from an external object, which object is
called [Greek: to phantaston], but it is also the thought or feeling
or opinion which is produced even when there is no
corresponding external object before us. Accordingly everything
which moves the soul is [Greek: phantaston], and produces a
[Greek: phantasia].
In this extract Antoninus says [Greek: physiologein, pathologein,
dialektikeuesthai]. I have translated [Greek: pathologein] by using
the word Moral (Ethic), and that is the meaning here.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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