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Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

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132 MARCUS ANTONINUS BOOK<br />

18 Penetrate <strong>to</strong> men's Inner Selves, and you will<br />

see what judges you fear, and how they judge<br />

themselves.<br />

19 Everything is in change. You yourself are<br />

undergoing continuous variation, and piecemeal<br />

destruction. So is the world at large.<br />

20 Another's error let it lie.<br />

21 In cessation <strong>of</strong> action, in surcease <strong>of</strong> impulse<br />

or <strong>of</strong> judgment, in what may<br />

be termed their<br />

death, there is no evil. Retraverse the stages <strong>of</strong><br />

growth, childhood, boyhood, youth, age each<br />

one <strong>of</strong> them a change, a death. Is there any-<br />

thing <strong>to</strong> be afraid <strong>of</strong>? Or retraverse the periods<br />

<strong>of</strong> life, first under your grandfather, then under<br />

your mother, then your father. Gather up all<br />

the many phases and changes<br />

and cessations <strong>of</strong><br />

experience, and then ask yourself, Is there any-<br />

thing<br />

<strong>to</strong> be afraid <strong>of</strong>? No more is there in the<br />

cessation, the surcease, the change from life<br />

itself.<br />

22 Press straight <strong>to</strong> the Inner Self your own, the<br />

world's, your neighbour's. Your own, that you<br />

may make <strong>of</strong> it a true vessel <strong>of</strong> justice ; the<br />

world's, that you may bear in mind <strong>of</strong> what you<br />

are a part ; your neighbour's, that you may under-

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