BOOK XII
own heart has condemned him, and so he is as one who wounds his own face?
Note that he who would not have the wicked do wrong is as one who would not have the fig-tree secrete acrid juice[1] in its fruit, would not have babies cry, or the horse neigh, or have any other things be that must be. Why, what else can be expected from such a disposition? If then it chafes thee, cure the disposition.
17. If not meet, do it not: if not true, say it not. For let thine impulse be in thy own power.
18. Ever look to the whole of a thing, what exactly that is which produces the impression on thee, and unfold it, analyzing it into its causes, its matter, its objective,[2] and into its life-span within which it must needs cease to be.
19. Become conscious at last that thou hast in thyself something better and more god-like than that which causes the bodily passions and turns thee into a mere marionette.[3] What is my mind now occupied with[4]? Fear? Suspicion? Concupiscence[5]? Some other like thing?
20. Firstly, eschew action that is aimless and has no objective. Secondly, take as the only goal of conduct what is to the common interest.[6]
21. Bethink thee that thou wilt very soon be no one and nowhere, and so with all that thou now seest and all who are now living. For by Nature's law all things must change, be transformed, and perish, that other things may in their turn come into being.[7]
22. Remember that all is but as thy opinion
