y his example, taught him
not to be prone to anger; then of his father, the Emperor Antoninus
Pius, from whom he learned to be modest and manly; then of his mother,
whose name was Domitia Calvilla. Let us read some of his own words
about her, dwelling particularly upon a few of them. He writes: "As
for my mother, she taught me to have regard for religion, to be
generous and open-handed, and not only to forbear from doing anybody
an ill turn, _but not so much as to endure the thought of it_."

Now these words are the more wonderful when we remember that they were
not taken down by a scribe in the pleasant apartments of the royal
palace in Rome, but were written by the Emperor himself on the
battlefield; for this part of his famous book is signed: "Written in
the country of the Quadi."

In our last Talk on the Hands we came to the conclusion, that unless
the hands were commanded they could not act. And on inquiring as to
what gave these commands we found it was the thoughts. Many people
believe it is perfectly safe to think anything, to have even evil
thoughts in their hearts, for thoughts being hidden, they say, cannot
be seen by others. But a strange thing about thought is this: The
moment we have a thought, good or bad, it strives to get out of us and
become an action. And it most always succeeds. Not at once, perhaps,
for thoughts like seeds will often slumber a long time before they
spring into life. So it becomes very clear to us that if we wish to be
on the alert we must not watch our actions, but look within and guard
the thoughts; for they are the springs of action.

You now see, I am sure, how wise the Emperor's mother was in teaching
her boy not even to _endure_ a thought to do evil unto others. For the
thought would get stronger and stronger, and suddenly become an
action. Certainly; and hence the first thing to learn in this Talk is
just these words:

Thoughts become actions.

That is an important thing. In a short time you will see, that if you
do not learn it you can never enjoy music, nor beautiful things, nor
the days themselves. Let us see how this will come about.

I have told your teacher[56] the name of the book which was written by
the Roman lady's boy. Well, in that book, running through it like a
golden thread, is this bit of teaching from his mother.

Not only did he think of it and write it on the battlefield, but at
all times there seemed to come to him more and more wisdom from it.
And