MARCUS AURELIUS. MEDITATIONS. Book i. 12.
Thursday
January 24
FROM Claudius Maximus I learnt in all things
to endeavour to have power of myself, and
in nothing to be carried about; to be cheerful
and courageous in all sudden chances and accidents,
as in sicknesses: to love mildness, and
moderation, and gravity: and to do my business,
whatsoever it be, thoroughly, and without querulousness.
Whatsoever he said, all men believed
him that as he spake, so he thought, and whatsoever
he did, that he did it with a good intent.
His manner was, never to wonder at anything;
never to be in haste, and yet never slow: nor to
be perplexed, or dejected, or at any time unseemly,
or excessively to laugh: nor to be angry,
or suspicious, but ever ready to do good, and
to forgive, and to speak truth; and all this, as
one that seemed rather of himself to have been
straight and right, than ever to have been rectified,
or redressed: neither was there any man
that ever thought himself undervalued by him,
or that could find in his heart, to think himself
a better man than he. He would also be very
pleasant and gracious.
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Usually, when I read the first book of The Meditations,I try to hurry through because it reminds me of The Bible with the litany of who begat whom.
ReplyDeleteBut lately I try and slow down and remember two lessons:
1.Gratitude to ancestors and friends who have helped us get to be who we are today,
and,
2. Notice the characteristics that Marcus Aurelius mentions and try to be aware of them and help them grow in myself.