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on the contrary it is a man's duty to comfort himself, and to wait
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for the
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natural dissolution and not to be vexed at the delay, but to rest
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in these principles only: the one, that nothing will happen to me
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which is not conformable to the nature of the universe; and the other,
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that it is in my power never to act contrary to my god and daemon:
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for there is no man who will compel me to this.
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About what am I now employing my own soul? On every occasion I must
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ask myself this question, and inquire, what have I now in this part
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of me which they call the ruling principle? And whose soul have I
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now? That of a child, or of a young man, or of a feeble woman, or
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of a tyrant, or of a domestic animal, or of a wild beast?
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What kind of things those are which appear good to the many, we may
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learn even from this. For if any man should conceive certain things
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as being really good, such as prudence, temperance, justice, fortitude,
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he would not after having first conceived these endure to listen to
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anything which should not be in harmony with what is really good.
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But if a man has first conceived as good the things which appear to
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the many to be good, he will listen and readily receive as very applicable
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that which was said by the comic writer. Thus even the many perceive
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the difference. For were it not so, this saying would not offend and
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would not be rejected in the first case, while we receive it when
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it is said of wealth, and of the means which further luxury and fame,
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as said fitly and wittily. Go on then and ask if we should value and
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think those things to be good, to which after their first conception
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in the mind the words of the comic writer might be aptly applied-
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that he who has them, through pure abundance has not a place to ease
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himself in.
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I am composed of the formal and the material; and neither of them
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will perish into non-existence, as neither of them came into existence
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out of non-existence. Every part of me then will be reduced by change
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into some part of the universe, and that again will change into another
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part of the universe, and so on for ever. And by consequence of such
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a change I too exist, and those who begot me, and so on for ever in
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the other direction. For nothing hinders us from saying so, even if
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the universe is administered according to definite periods of revolution.
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Reason and the reasoning art (philosophy) are powers which are sufficient
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for themselves and for their own works. They move then from a first
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principle which is their own, and they make their way to the end which
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is proposed to them; and this is the reason why such acts are named
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catorthoseis or right acts, which word signifies that they proceed
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by the right road.
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None of these things ought to be called a man's, which do not belong
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to a man, as man. They are not required of a man, nor does man's nature
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promise them, nor are they the means of man's nature attaining its
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end. Neither then does the end of man lie in these things, nor yet
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that which aids to the accomplishment of this end, and that which
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aids towards this end is that which is good. Besides, if any of these
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things did belong to man, it would not be right for a man to despise
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them and to set himself against them; nor would a man be worthy of
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praise who showed that he did not want these things, nor would he
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who stinted himself in any of them be good, if indeed these things
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were good. But now the more of these things a man deprives himself
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of, or of other things like them, or even when he is deprived of any
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of them, the more patiently he endures the loss, just in the same
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degree he is a better man.
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Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character
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of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts. Dye it then with
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a continuous series of such thoughts as these: for instance, that
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where a man can live, there he can also live well. But he must live
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in a palace;- well then, he can also live well in a palace. And again,
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consider that for whatever purpose each thing has been constituted,
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for this it has been constituted, and towards this it is carried;
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and its end is in that towards which it is carried; and where the
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end is, there also is the advantage and the good of each thing. Now
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the good for the reasonable animal is society; for that we are made
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for society has been shown above. Is it not plain that the inferior
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exist for the sake of the superior? But the things which have life
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are superior to those which have not life, and of those which have
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life the superior are those which have reason.
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To seek what is impossible is madness: and it is impossible that the
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bad should not do something of this kind.
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Nothing happens to any man which he is not formed by nature to bear.
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The same things happen to another, and either because he does not
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see that they have happened or because he would show a great spirit
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he is firm and remains unharmed. It is a shame then that ignorance
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and conceit should be stronger than wisdom.
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Things themselves touch not the soul, not in the least degree; nor
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have they admission to the soul, nor can they turn or move the soul:
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but the soul turns and moves itself alone, and whatever judgements
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it may think proper to make, such it makes for itself the things which
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present themselves to it.
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In one respect man is the nearest thing to me, so far as I must do
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good to men and endure them. But so far as some men make themselves
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obstacles to my proper acts, man becomes to me one of the things which
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are indifferent, no less than the sun or wind or a wild beast. Now
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it is true that these may impede my action, but they are no impediments
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to my affects and disposition, which have the power of acting conditionally
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and changing: for the mind converts and changes every hindrance to
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