Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

172 MARCUS ANTONINUS BOOK
all the earthy and watery elements in you tend to
descend ; yet by steady* levitation they retain a
position which is not theirs by nature. Thus the
elements, we see, obey the law of things, and
persistently retain their appointed place, until the
signal
for dissolution sounds their release. Fie on
it, that your mind-element alone should disobey
and resent the post assigned ; though no violence
is laid upon it, nothing but what is in accordance
with its nature ; yet it breaks away impatiently.
For motions of injustice, intemperance, anger,
vexation, fear, are simply a rebellion against
nature. When our Inner Self chafes against any-
thing that happens, in so doing it quits its post.
It is made for holiness and god-fearing, no less
than for justice. These too are included in the
thought of world-communion, nay are prior even
to the dues of justice.
21 Where the life has no unity of aim, the man
cannot live life at unity with himself. Nor is it
enough to say this, unless you go
on to add what
the true aim should be. In the idea of goods at
large, as popularly understood, there is no unity,
but only in goods of a certain kind, namely social
goods ; similarly for unity of aim, the basis of the