Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius — Marcus Aurelius — John Shaqi
Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius · en
5. From my governor, to be neither of the green nor of the blue party
at the games in the Circus, nor a partisan either of the Parmularius or
the Scutarius at the gladiators’ fights; from him too I learned
endurance of labor, and to want little, and to work with my own hands,
and not to meddle with other people’s affairs, and not to be ready to
listen to slander.
6. From Diognetus, not to busy myself about trifling things, and not to
give credit to what was said by miracle-workers and jugglers about
incantations and the driving away of daemons and such things; and not
to breed quails [for fighting], nor to give myself up passionately to
such things; and to endure freedom of speech; and to have become
intimate with philosophy; and to have been a hearer, first of Bacchius,
then of Tandasis and Marcianus; and to have written dialogues in my
youth; and to have desired a plank bed and skin, and whatever else of
the kind belongs to the Grecian discipline.
7. From Rusticus I received the impression that my character required
improvement and discipline; and from him I learned not to be led astray
to sophistic emulation, nor to writing on speculative matters, nor to
delivering little hortatory orations, nor to showing myself off as a
man who practices much discipline, or does benevolent acts in order to
make a display; and to abstain from rhetoric, and poetry, and fine
writing; and not to walk about in the house in my outdoor dress, nor to
do other things of the kind; and to write my letters with simplicity,
like the letter which Rusticus wrote from Sinuessa to my mother; and
with respect to those who have offended me by words, or done me wrong,
to be easily disposed to be pacified and reconciled, as soon as they
have shown a readiness to be reconciled; and to read carefully, and not
to be satisfied with a superficial understanding of a book; nor hastily
to give my assent to those who talk overmuch; and I am indebted to him
for being acquainted with the discourses of Epictetus, which he
communicated to me out of his own collection.
8. From Apollonius I learned freedom of will and undeviating steadiness
of purpose; and to look to nothing else, not even for a moment, except
to reason; and to be always the same, in sharp pains, on the occasion
of the loss of a child, and in long illness; and to see clearly in a
living example that the same man can be both most resolute and
yielding, and not peevish in giving his instruction; and to have had
before my eyes a man who clearly considered his experience and his
skill in expounding philosophical principles as the smallest of his
merits; and from him I learned how to receive from friends what are
esteemed favors, without being either humbled by them or letting them
pass unnoticed.