BOOK II
and not even that always the same, but every minute belched forth and again gulped down. Then, thirdly, there is the ruling Reason. Put thy thought thus: thou art an old man[1]; let this be a thrall no longer, no more a puppet[2] pulled aside by every selfish impulse; nor let it grumble any longer at what is allotted to it in the present or dread it in the future.
3. Full of Providence are the works of the Gods, nor are Fortune's works independent of Nature or of the woven texture and interlacement of all that is under the control of Providence. Thence[3] are all things derived[4]; but Necessity too plays its part and the Welfare of the whole Universe of which thou art a portion. But good for every part of Nature is that which the Nature of the Whole brings about, and which goes to preserve it. Now it is the changes not only of the elements but of the things compounded of them that preserve the Universe. Let these reflections suffice thee, if thou hold them as principles. But away with thy thirst for books,[5] that thou mayest die not murmuring but with a good grace, truly and from thy heart grateful to the Gods.
4. Call to mind how long thou deferrest these things, and how many times thou hast received from the Gods grace[6] of the appointed day and thou usest it not. Yet now, if never before, shouldest thou realize of what Universe thou art a part, and as an emanation from what Controller of that Universe thou dost subsist; and that a limit has been set to thy time, which if thou use not to let daylight
- ↑ cp. ii. 6; i. 17, § 6; Dio 71. 24, § 4. Marcus would be a little over 50. Contrast i. 17, § 6, and note. Cromwell when 51 writing from Dunbar says, "I grow an old man."
- ↑ iii. 16; vi. 16, 28; vii. 3, 29; xii. 19. cp. Clem. Alex. Strom. ii. 3; iv. 11.
- ↑ vi. 36; xii. 26.
- ↑ Referred to by Arethas on Dio Chrys. Orat. 32. 15 as πάντα ἄνωθεν ῥεῖ. cp. St. James, Ep. i. 17.
- ↑ ii. 2.
- ↑ προθεσμία lit. "a time-limit for enforcement of claims after which they lapsed."
