MEDITATIONS OF ANTONINUS.

BOOK I.

FROM Verus, my grandfather, I gained truthfulness and an even soul; my father's fame and memory served to engender a modest yet manly bearing; my mother instilled piety, generosity, a dislike to do or even to think any ill, as well as aversion towards the usages of the rich.

My great-grandfather made me avoid the schools, preferring able teachers at home, rewarding them liberally; my governor also, led me to eschew horse-racing, and the public shews; to be patient of want and toil, as well as to abjure slander and intermeddling.

Diognetus advised me to avoid trifling, to shun impostors, and those who pretended to expel demons by a charm; not to rear fighting quails; to put up with contradiction, and to apply myself to philosophy. I owe to him the advantage of hearing Bacchius, Tandacides, and Marcianus. He caused me to write discourses when a boy; to lie on a skin-covered couch, and to live after the fashion of the Greeks.

Rusticus helped me to amend my temper, to avoid sophisms, haranguing the mob, make-believe, and needless asceticism; to shun rhetorical and poetical displays, as well as all undue anxiety on the score of language or attire. He was for a plain and homely diction, as displayed in the letters from Sinuessa to my mother. By his advice I was easily reconciled to those who had offended me, so soon as they evinced a desire to be restored to favour; learned to study with attention, and to look into things

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without being led aside by the talkative. To him also do I owe having met with the writings of Epictetus, which he gave me.

To Apollonius I owe freedom, a mind raised above doubt, and bent on truth alone; to endure pain, loss of offspring, and disease. He was a living example of one who could both give way or stand firm; and who never lost his temper while teaching, though it was plain he set no store by this great virtue. From him I likewise learned to receive a favour without forfeiting my selfrespect, or proving ungrateful to a friend.

By Sextus I was taught good-nature and unaffected gravity; to manage household affairs; to regulate my mind according to nature; to cherish my friends; to put up with the rash and unthinking, and to exhibit kindness to all, without impeachment to myself; to regulate life by maxims of wisdom and truth, without anger, ill-will, or indifference towards any one; to bestow favours without ostentation, and to display learning without vanity.

Alexander the grammarian induced me to avoid needless fault-finding; if I had occasion to address those who spoke incorrectly, not to take them up harshly, but to set them right in some kind obliging fashion.

From Fronto I came to know that envy, cunning, and hypocrisy are fruits of tyranny; and that those of noble birth are too often void of natural feeling.

Alexander the Platonist insisted that I should neither say nor write that I was not at leisure, thus unnecessarily to evade the duties of my life and station.

Catullus led me not to cast off a friend on the score of a little harshness, even when he had no plea for it, but rather to try and lead him back to the same kindly feelings as before; like Domitius and Athenodotus, to speak handsomely of my instructors-and as for my children, to foster them with loving care.

From Severus, my brother, I learned to cherish friends and relatives, but with justice and propriety; also to know Thrasea, Helvidius, Cato, Dion, and Brutus. He made me familiar with the conception of a commonwealth where justice was open to all, and of a monarchy where the liberty of the subject was held in esteem. From him I came to set value on a life devoid of care; to have a regard for philosophy and correctness of conduct, to be generous, to hope ever, to question friendship never; lastly, to be open and above-board, so that those about me could have no doubt as to my intentions.

I managed at the instance of Maximus, to be ruffled at nothing, whether sick or well; to hold an even course, yet good-natured and obliging withal; never uneasy whatever befel; in fine, so to demean myself, that all might believe I spoke but as I thought, and acted only for the best. He insisted that I should neither be amazed nor disconcerted; that I should neither hurry nor delay; be put out or cast down; equally devoid of anger and distrust; ready with a good turn as apt to forgive an ill one; to hold fast by the truth, and to be an example of living worth. He was one towards whom people never felt a grudge, or had the heart to think themselves his betters; lastly, there was no mock affability about him.

From my father I gained sobriety and unwavering firmness; to hold honours cheap; to be patient and constant at work; to listen to proposals touching the common good; to be influenced by no one further than his deserts warranted; to know when to relax and when to exert myself; to have no impure connections; to be easy-tempered with those about me, whether abroad or at home; to be strenuous at the council-board, and abide by what was resolved upon; to hold by my friends without being ruffled with them at one time or making a needless fuss at another; in all things to be true to myself, of good cheer, looking

calmly forward, and taking heed even of trifles. I learned of him to put down noise and flattery; to give close heed to business; to be chary as to outlay, and not to mind a rub on the score of it; to worship God without dread or fear; not to lure people by gifts or flattery, but steadfast and even, without over remissness or running after novelties; to use without abusing the gifts of fortune; to enjoy what I had, without regretting what I had not; to be plain and open, without affecting either learning or subtlety; and without being fooled or flattered, alike able to govern others and myself. He taught me to value philosophers, without disdaining those who were not; to be affable and easy of approach, but without familiarity; to look to my bodily welfare, yet not as one unduly fond of life, over studious of elegance, or wholly indifferent; and so to manage as to have little occasion for drugs or doctors. And I was to yield unbiassed praise to those who displayed any science or skill, whether in law, eloquence, or history, yet to adhere without affectation to the customs of my country, without deserting my post or business. From him I learned to have few secrets, and then only as concerned the commonwealth; to be sparing in the matter of shews and spectacles; to lose no time at the bath, or concern myself about building, eating, the staple of my clothes, or the appearance of my servants; in fine, to be calm, considerate, true, and after the example of Socrates, to refrain from things which are rarely partaken of with moderation.

I have to thank God for a good father, mother, and other kind relatives; through his mercy, likewise, that I never occasioned them uneasiness. I have also to return thanks that I was not left in charge of my grandfather's mistress, and that I spent a youth untainted by debauchery. I owe it to my father that I was able to eschew pomp and shew; to proceed to court without the customary display,