THE MEDITATIONS OF MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS

with a reservation, that thou didst not desire to do impossibilities. What then didst thou desire?- Some such effort as this.- But thou attainest thy object, if the things to which thou wast moved are accomplished. He who loves fame considers another man's activity to be his own good; and he who loves pleasure, his own sensations; but he who has understanding, considers his own acts to be his own good. It is in our power to have no opinion about a thing, and not to be disturbed in our soul; for things themselves have no natural power to form our judgements. Accustom thyself to attend carefully to what is said by another, and as much as it is possible, be in the speaker's mind. That which is not good for the swarm, neither is it good for the bee. If sailors abused the helmsman or the sick the doctor, would they listen to anybody else; or how could the helmsman secure the safety of those in the ship or the doctor the health of those whom he attends? How many together with whom I came into the world are already gone out of it. To the jaundiced honey tastes bitter, and to those bitten by mad dogs water causes fear; and to little children the ball is a fine thing. Why then am I angry? Dost thou think that a false opinion has less power than the bile in the jaundiced or the poison in him who is bitten by a mad dog? No man will hinder thee from living according to the reason of thy own nature: nothing will happen to thee contrary to the reason of