BOOK VII
compassion[1] not surprise or anger. For thou hast still thyself either the same notion of good and evil as he or another not unlike. Thou needs must forgive him then.[2] But if thy notions of good and evil are no longer such, all the more easily shalt thou be gracious to him that sees awry.
27. Dream not of that which thou hast not as though already thine, but of what thou hast pick out the choicest blessings, and do not forget in respect of them how eagerly thou wouldst have coveted them, had they not been thine.[3] Albeit beware that thou do not inure thyself, by reason of this thy delight in them, to prize them so highly as to be distressed if at any time they are lost to thee.[4]
28. Gather thyself into thyself.[5] It is characteristic of the rational Ruling Faculty to be satisfied with its own righteous dealing and the peace which that brings.
29. Efface imagination![6] Cease to be pulled as a puppet by thy passions.[7] Isolate the present. Recognize what befalls either thee or another. Dissect and analyze all that comes under thy ken into the Causal and the Material. Meditate on thy last hour.[8] Let the wrong thy neighbour does thee rest with him that did the wrong.[9]
30. Do thy utmost to keep up with what is said.[10] Let thy mind enter into the things that are done and the things that are doing them.
31. Make thy face to shine with simplicity and modesty and disregard of all that lies between virtue and vice. Love human-kind. Follow God.[11] Says
- ↑ cp. ii. 13; x. 30; Herodian i. 4, § 2; Dio 71. 10, § 4.
- ↑ xi. 18, § 4.
- ↑ Epict. Frag. 129.
- ↑ cp. Hor. Ep. i. 10, 31.
- ↑ iv. 3 ad init.; viii. 48.
- ↑ vii. 17; viii. 29; ix. 7.
- ↑ ii. 2 etc.
- ↑ ii. 5.
- ↑ ix. 20, 38.
- ↑ vii. 4.
- ↑ 1 St. Peter, ii. 17. cp. Sen. de Vit. Beat. 15: Deum sequere. Dio Chrys. ii. 98 R.
