hat he was a good and wise man, will there not be at least some one to
say to himself, Let us at last breathe freely, being relieved from this
schoolmaster? It is true that he was harsh to none of us, but I
perceived that he tacitly condemns us.--This is what is said of a good
man. But in our own case how many other things are there for which there
are many who wish to get rid of us? Thou wilt consider this, then, when
thou art dying, and thou wilt depart more contentedly by reflecting
thus: I am going away from such a life, in which even my associates in
behalf of whom I have striven so much, prayed, and cared, themselves
wish me to depart, hoping perchance to get some little advantage by it.
Why then should a man cling to a longer stay here? Do not, however, for
this reason go away less kindly disposed to them, but preserving thy own
character, and friendly and benevolent and mild, and on the other hand
not as if thou wast torn away; but as when a man dies a quiet death, the
poor soul is easily separated from the body, such also ought thy
departure from men to be, for nature united thee to them and associated
thee. But does she now dissolve the union? Well, I am separated as from
kinsmen, not however dragged resisting, but without compulsion; for
this, too, is one of the things according to nature.

[A] He says [Greek: kakon], but as he affirms in other places
that death is no evil, he must mean what others may call an
evil, and he means only "what is going to happen."

37. Accustom thyself as much as possible on the occasion of anything
being done by any person to inquire with thyself, For what object is
this man doing this? But begin with thyself, and examine thyself first.

38. Remember that this which pulls the strings is the thing which is
hidden within: this is the power of persuasion, this is life, this, if
one may so say, is man. In contemplating thyself never include the
vessel which surrounds thee and these instruments which are attached
about it. For they are like to an axe, differing only in this, that they
grow to the body. For indeed there is no more use in these parts without
the cause which moves and checks them than in the weaver's shuttle, and
the writer's pen, and the driver's whip.[A]

[A] See the Philosophy of Antoninus, p. 72, note.

XI.

These are the properties of the rational soul: it sees itself, analyzes
itself, and makes itself such as it chooses; the fruit whic