Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

vii TO HIMSELF 95
Gods or atoms,
it suffices to remember that All
law. Two words sum all.
things are by
Of Death. Death, in a universe of atoms,
dispersion ; but if all is a unity, death is either
extinction or transmutation.
is 32
Of Pain. Pain that is past bearing, brings an 33
end ; pain that lasts, can be borne. The under-
standing in abstraction maintains its calm, and
the Inner Self is unimpaired. As for the parts
injured by the pain, let them (as best they can)
state their own case.
Of Glory and the vainglorious. Look at their 34
understandings, what they are, what they shun,
what they seek. And remember that as drift
hides drift of piling sand, so too in life what
comes after soon hides what went before.
From Plato.
" '
Think you the man of lofty
understanding^ whose vision ranges over all time
and all being, can think great things of man's
life?' ^Impossible'
'
Such an one then ivtll
attach no very great importance to death'
no indeed'
" *
'
Death /
From Antisthenes. "Well-doing, ill -report 36
a kings portion"
1
Plato, Republic, vi. 486 A.
35