Page:The Emperor Marcus Antoninus - His Conversation with Himself.djvu/341

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Meditations, &c.
161

VI. If your Judgment pronounces rightly, if your Actions are Friendly, and well-meant, if your Mind is contented, and resign'd to Providence ; If you are in possession of these Blessings, you are happy enough in all Conscience.

VII. Don't be impos'd on by Appearances; check your Fancy, and moderate your Heat ; and keep your Reason always in her own Power.

VIII. The Souls of Brutes are all of one kind, and so are those of Rational Beings, tho' of a high Order. And thus all Living Creatures that have occasion for Air, and Earth, and Light, are furnish'd at the same Shop ; and have the same Elements, and Sun at their Service. [1]

IX. Things of the same common Quality have a Tendency to their Kind : Earthy Bodies tumble to the Ground, One drop of Moisture runs after another ; And thus Air where 'tis predominant , presses after Air : And nothing but Force, and Violence, can keep these things asunder. Fire likewise mounts , and reaches upwards, to make after its own Element Above : This property gives it a Disposition to propagate it's Species, and joyn other Fires here Below ; And for this reason it catches easily upon all Fuel a lit-

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  1. This Section proves that Mankind are all equal in the Grand Privileges of Nature.