Page:The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.pdf/104

if this boy be not restrained, he will prove troublesome. It were better to die of hunger than be oppressed with grief and care in the midst of plenty; better thy boy should turn out indifferently, than that thou shouldst be ill at ease on his account. Begin with trifles. Oil has been spilled or the wine stolen—it is so much payment for exemption from trouble and care. Hast called thy boy—perchance he may not come, or if he come, may not obey: is it right, therefore, that he should disturb thy tranquillity?

An' thou wouldst improve, be not surprised if thou shouldst be deemed mad for thy pains. Do not wish to seem learned; if esteemed so by others distrust thyself; for it is not easy to act according to nature, and have an eye to external advantages. He that would secure the one, must of necessity neglect the other.

It were unwise to expect that wife, or child, or friend, should live for ever; dost desire that to depend on thee which does not depend on thee, and that to be thine which is not thine? Wouldst have thy servant faultless—that which is frail to be no longer frail? An' thou wouldst not be disappointed, hold fast by what is in thy power.

He is truly the master who can take away or preserve what I seek or shun. He then, that would be free must neither seek nor shun what lies at the disposal of another, else he is a slave.

Comport thyself as at a feast, when the dishes are carried round, helping thyself in moderation, nor detaining them as they pass. So let it be with wife and child, riches and dignities, and thou wilt prove thyself worthy of a heavenly feast; and if thou canst further refrain, to share in a measure the empire of the Divinity. Such were Diogenes, Heraclitus, and others, whose deserts were equal to their renown.

When some one weeps because his child is dead and