"I travel along nature’s way until I fall down and take my rest, breathing out my last into
the air, from which I draw my daily breath, and falling down to that earth from which
my father drew his seed, my mother her blood and my nurse her milk, and from which
for so many years I have taken my daily food and drink, the earth which carries my
footsteps and which I have used to the full in so many ways."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.4
Sunday, October 23, 2016
Sunday Morning Meditation for Stoic Week 2016
"The works of the gods are full of providence, and the works of fortune are not
separate from nature or the interweaving and intertwining of the things governed by
providence. Everything flows from there. Further factors are necessity and the benefit
of the whole universe, of which you are a part. What is brought by the nature of the
whole and what maintains that nature is good for each part of nature. Just as the
changes in the elements maintain the universe so too do the changes in the
compounds."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.3
separate from nature or the interweaving and intertwining of the things governed by
providence. Everything flows from there. Further factors are necessity and the benefit
of the whole universe, of which you are a part. What is brought by the nature of the
whole and what maintains that nature is good for each part of nature. Just as the
changes in the elements maintain the universe so too do the changes in the
compounds."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.3
Saturday, October 22, 2016
Saturday Evening Text for Reflection for Stoic Week 2016
"At every hour give your full concentration, as a Roman and a man, to carrying out the
task in hand with a scrupulous and unaffected dignity and affectionate concern for
others and freedom and justice, and give yourself space from other concerns. You will
give yourself this if you carry out each act as if it were the last of your life, freed from
all randomness and passionate deviation from the rule of reason and from pretense
and self-love and dissatisfaction with what has been allotted to you. You see how few
things you need to master to be able to live a smoothly flowing life: the gods will ask
no more from someone who maintains these principles."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.5
task in hand with a scrupulous and unaffected dignity and affectionate concern for
others and freedom and justice, and give yourself space from other concerns. You will
give yourself this if you carry out each act as if it were the last of your life, freed from
all randomness and passionate deviation from the rule of reason and from pretense
and self-love and dissatisfaction with what has been allotted to you. You see how few
things you need to master to be able to live a smoothly flowing life: the gods will ask
no more from someone who maintains these principles."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.5
Saturday Morning Meditation for Stoic Week 2016
"Be like the headland on which the waves break constantly, which still stands firm
while the foaming waters are put to rest around it. ‘It is my bad luck that this has
happened to me!’ On the contrary, say, ‘It is my good luck that, although this has
happened to me, I can bear it without getting upset, neither crushed by the present
nor afraid of the future'."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.49
while the foaming waters are put to rest around it. ‘It is my bad luck that this has
happened to me!’ On the contrary, say, ‘It is my good luck that, although this has
happened to me, I can bear it without getting upset, neither crushed by the present
nor afraid of the future'."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.49
Friday Evening Text for Reflection for Stoic Week 2016
I didn't get to post this last night because I was in the hospital (AGAIN!). Talk about a test of Stoic resilience! Anyway, here was last night's text for reflection:
"One type of person, whenever he does someone else a good turn, is quick in
calculating the favor done to him. Another is not so quick to do this; but in himself he
thinks about the other person as owing him something and is conscious of what he
has done. A third is in a sense not even conscious of what he has done, but is like a
vine which has produced grapes and looks for nothing more once it has produced its
own fruit, like a horse which has run a race, a dog which has followed the scent, or a
bee which has made its honey. A person who has done something good does not
make a big fuss about it, but goes on to the next action, as a vine goes on to produce
grapes again in season. So you should be one of those who do this without in a sense
being aware of doing so."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.6
"One type of person, whenever he does someone else a good turn, is quick in
calculating the favor done to him. Another is not so quick to do this; but in himself he
thinks about the other person as owing him something and is conscious of what he
has done. A third is in a sense not even conscious of what he has done, but is like a
vine which has produced grapes and looks for nothing more once it has produced its
own fruit, like a horse which has run a race, a dog which has followed the scent, or a
bee which has made its honey. A person who has done something good does not
make a big fuss about it, but goes on to the next action, as a vine goes on to produce
grapes again in season. So you should be one of those who do this without in a sense
being aware of doing so."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.6
Friday, October 21, 2016
Friday Morning Meditation for Stoic Week 2016
This one is actually part of my morning meditation every single day, so it was nice to see it show up in the Stoic Week 2016 Handbook!
"Say to yourself first thing in the morning: I shall meet with people who are meddling,
ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, and unsociable. They are subject to these
faults because of their ignorance of what is good and bad. But I have recognized the
nature of the good and seen that it is the right, and the nature of the bad and seen
that it is the wrong, and the nature of the wrongdoer himself, and seen that he is
related to me, not because he has the same blood or seed, but because he shares in
the same mind and portion of divinity. So I cannot be harmed by any of them, as no
one will involve me in what is wrong. Nor can I be angry with my relative or hate him.
We were born for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of upper
and lower teeth. So to work against each other is contrary to nature; and resentment
and rejection count as working against someone."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.1
"Say to yourself first thing in the morning: I shall meet with people who are meddling,
ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, and unsociable. They are subject to these
faults because of their ignorance of what is good and bad. But I have recognized the
nature of the good and seen that it is the right, and the nature of the bad and seen
that it is the wrong, and the nature of the wrongdoer himself, and seen that he is
related to me, not because he has the same blood or seed, but because he shares in
the same mind and portion of divinity. So I cannot be harmed by any of them, as no
one will involve me in what is wrong. Nor can I be angry with my relative or hate him.
We were born for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of upper
and lower teeth. So to work against each other is contrary to nature; and resentment
and rejection count as working against someone."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.1
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Thursday Evening Text for Reflection for Stoic Week 2016
"Every habit and faculty is formed or strengthened by the corresponding act – walking
makes you walk better, running makes you a better runner. If you want to be literate,
read, if you want to be a painter, paint. Go a month without reading, occupied with
something else, and you’ll see what the result is. And if you’re laid up a mere ten
days, when you get up and try to talk any distance, you’ll find your legs barely able to
support you. So if you like doing something, do it regularly; if you don’t like doing
something, make a habit of doing something different. The same goes for the affairs
of the mind… So if you don’t want to be hot-tempered, don’t feed your temper, or
multiply incidents of anger. Suppress the first impulse to be angry, then begin to count
the days on which you don’t get angry. ‘I used to be angry every day, then only every
other day, then every third…’ If you resist it a whole month, offer God a sacrifice,
because the vice begins to weaken from day one, until it is wiped out altogether. ‘I
didn’t lose my temper this day, or the next, and not for two, then three months in
succession.’ If you can say that, you are now in excellent health, believe me."
– Epictetus, Discourses, 2.18
makes you walk better, running makes you a better runner. If you want to be literate,
read, if you want to be a painter, paint. Go a month without reading, occupied with
something else, and you’ll see what the result is. And if you’re laid up a mere ten
days, when you get up and try to talk any distance, you’ll find your legs barely able to
support you. So if you like doing something, do it regularly; if you don’t like doing
something, make a habit of doing something different. The same goes for the affairs
of the mind… So if you don’t want to be hot-tempered, don’t feed your temper, or
multiply incidents of anger. Suppress the first impulse to be angry, then begin to count
the days on which you don’t get angry. ‘I used to be angry every day, then only every
other day, then every third…’ If you resist it a whole month, offer God a sacrifice,
because the vice begins to weaken from day one, until it is wiped out altogether. ‘I
didn’t lose my temper this day, or the next, and not for two, then three months in
succession.’ If you can say that, you are now in excellent health, believe me."
– Epictetus, Discourses, 2.18
Thursday Morning Meditation for Stoic Week 2016
"If you find anything in human life better than justice, truthfulness, self-control,
courage… turn to it with all your heart and enjoy the supreme good that you have
found… but if you find all other things to be trivial and valueless in comparison with
virtue give no room to anything else, since once you turn towards that and divert from
your proper path, you will no longer be able without inner conflict to give the highest
honor to that which is properly good. It is not right to set up as a rival to the rational
and social good [virtue] anything alien its nature, such as the praise of the many or
positions of power, wealth or enjoyment of pleasures."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 3.6
courage… turn to it with all your heart and enjoy the supreme good that you have
found… but if you find all other things to be trivial and valueless in comparison with
virtue give no room to anything else, since once you turn towards that and divert from
your proper path, you will no longer be able without inner conflict to give the highest
honor to that which is properly good. It is not right to set up as a rival to the rational
and social good [virtue] anything alien its nature, such as the praise of the many or
positions of power, wealth or enjoyment of pleasures."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 3.6
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Wednesday Evening Text for Reflection for Stoic Week 2016
"Get rid of the judgement and you have got rid of the idea. ‘I have been harmed’; get
rid of the idea, ‘I have been harmed’, and you have got rid of the harm itself."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.7
rid of the idea, ‘I have been harmed’, and you have got rid of the harm itself."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.7
Wednesday Morning Meditation for Stoic Week 2016
"People look for retreats for themselves, in the country, by the coast, or in the hills; and
you too are especially inclined to feel this desire. But this is altogether unphilosophical,
when it is possible for you to retreat into yourself at any time you want.
There is nowhere that a person can find a more peaceful and trouble-free retreat than
in his own mind, especially if he has within himself the kind of thoughts that let him dip
into them and so at once gain complete ease of mind; and by ease of mind, I mean
nothing but having one’s own mind in good order. So constantly give yourself this
retreat and renew yourself. You should have to hand concise and fundamental
principles, which will be enough, as soon as you encounter them, to cleanse you from
all distress and send you back without resentment at the activities to which you return."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 1.3.1-3
you too are especially inclined to feel this desire. But this is altogether unphilosophical,
when it is possible for you to retreat into yourself at any time you want.
There is nowhere that a person can find a more peaceful and trouble-free retreat than
in his own mind, especially if he has within himself the kind of thoughts that let him dip
into them and so at once gain complete ease of mind; and by ease of mind, I mean
nothing but having one’s own mind in good order. So constantly give yourself this
retreat and renew yourself. You should have to hand concise and fundamental
principles, which will be enough, as soon as you encounter them, to cleanse you from
all distress and send you back without resentment at the activities to which you return."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 1.3.1-3
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Tuesday Evening Text for Reflection for Stoic Week 2016
"Try to persuade them; and act even against their will, whenever the principle of justice
leads you to do so. But if someone uses force to resist you, change your approach to
accepting it and not being hurt, and use the setback to express another virtue.
Remember too that your motive was formed with reservation and that you were not
aiming at the impossible. At what then? A motive formed with reservation. But you
have achieved this; what we proposed to ourselves is actually happening."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.50
leads you to do so. But if someone uses force to resist you, change your approach to
accepting it and not being hurt, and use the setback to express another virtue.
Remember too that your motive was formed with reservation and that you were not
aiming at the impossible. At what then? A motive formed with reservation. But you
have achieved this; what we proposed to ourselves is actually happening."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.50
"De Munere"
My reading from Brevissima today was the rather cynical couplet titled "De Munere" by the editor (#84), from Michaelis Verinus (c. 1469-c.1487), Disticha:
Quid non argento, quid non corrumpitur auro?
Qui maiora dabit munera, victor erit.
Roughly, in English:
What is not corrupted by silver, by gold?
He who gives the greater gifts, he will be the winner.
Like I said, rather cynical!
Tuesday Morning Meditation for Stoic Week 2016
"Early in the morning, when you are finding it hard to wake up, hold this thought in your
mind: ‘I am getting up to do the work of a human being. Do I still resent it, if I am
going out to do what I was born for and for which I was brought into the world? Or
was I framed for this, to lie under the bedclothes and keep myself warm?’ ‘But this is
more pleasant’. So were you born for pleasure: in general were you born for feeling or
for affection? Don’t you see the plants, the little sparrows, the ants, the spiders, the
bees doing their own work, and playing their part in making up an ordered world. And
then are you unwilling to do the work of a human being? Won’t you run to do what is
in line with your nature?"
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.1
mind: ‘I am getting up to do the work of a human being. Do I still resent it, if I am
going out to do what I was born for and for which I was brought into the world? Or
was I framed for this, to lie under the bedclothes and keep myself warm?’ ‘But this is
more pleasant’. So were you born for pleasure: in general were you born for feeling or
for affection? Don’t you see the plants, the little sparrows, the ants, the spiders, the
bees doing their own work, and playing their part in making up an ordered world. And
then are you unwilling to do the work of a human being? Won’t you run to do what is
in line with your nature?"
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.1
Monday, October 17, 2016
Monday Evening Text for Reflection for Stoic Week 2016
Monday Evening Text for Reflection for Stoic Week 2016:
"Let us go to our sleep with joy and gladness; let us say ‘I have lived; the course which Fortune set for me is finished.’ And if God is pleased to add another day, we should welcome it with glad hearts. That man is happiest, and is secure in his own possession of himself, who can await the morrow without apprehension. When a man has said: ‘I have lived!’, every morning he arises he receives a bonus."
– Seneca, Letters, 12.9
"Let us go to our sleep with joy and gladness; let us say ‘I have lived; the course which Fortune set for me is finished.’ And if God is pleased to add another day, we should welcome it with glad hearts. That man is happiest, and is secure in his own possession of himself, who can await the morrow without apprehension. When a man has said: ‘I have lived!’, every morning he arises he receives a bonus."
– Seneca, Letters, 12.9
Monday Morning Meditation for Stoic Week 2016
Monday Morning Meditation for Stoic Week 2016:
"From Maximus [I have learnt the importance of these things]: to be master of oneself and not carried this way and that; to be cheerful under all circumstances, including illness; a character with a harmonious blend of gentleness and dignity; readiness to tackle the task in hand without complaint; the confidence everyone had that whatever he said he meant and whatever he did was not done with bad intent; never to be astonished or panic-stricken, and never to be hurried or to hang back or be at a loss or downcast or cringing or on the other hand angry or suspicious; to be ready to help or forgive, and to be truthful; to give the impression of someone whose character is naturally upright rather than having undergone correction; the fact that no-one could have thought that Maximus looked down on him, or could have presumed to suppose that he was better than Maximus; and to have great personal charm."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 1.14
"From Maximus [I have learnt the importance of these things]: to be master of oneself and not carried this way and that; to be cheerful under all circumstances, including illness; a character with a harmonious blend of gentleness and dignity; readiness to tackle the task in hand without complaint; the confidence everyone had that whatever he said he meant and whatever he did was not done with bad intent; never to be astonished or panic-stricken, and never to be hurried or to hang back or be at a loss or downcast or cringing or on the other hand angry or suspicious; to be ready to help or forgive, and to be truthful; to give the impression of someone whose character is naturally upright rather than having undergone correction; the fact that no-one could have thought that Maximus looked down on him, or could have presumed to suppose that he was better than Maximus; and to have great personal charm."
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 1.14
Monday, October 3, 2016
"Quae Scis, Non Dicas"
I try to read a little Latin every day. I try to include a little prose and a little poetry. At the moment, my prose comes from Quintilian, while my Latin consists of couplets from the collection Brevissima collected and edited by Laura Gibbs. Today's Latin couplet is a piece from Anton Moker's (1540-1605) Decalogus Metricus to which Laura Gibbs attached the title "Quae Scis, Non Dicas" -
Quae scis, non semper dicas; dixisse nocebit:
Scire licet, sed non dicere scita licet.
Roughly:
You should not always say what you know; it will harm you to have spoken:
It is permitted to know some things, but it is not permitted to say what you know.
I really liked this one. The scansion is simple, the Latin is very clear and direct, and it is the type of gnomic wisdom that sounds good both in Latin and in translation.
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