1.This too serves as a corrective to vain-gloriousness,that thou ar t no longer able to have lived thy life wholly,or even from thy youth u p,as a philosopher.Thou canst clearly perceive,and many others can se e it too,that thou art far from Philosophy.So then thy life is a chaos,and no longer is it easy for thee to win the credit of being a philoso pher;and the facts of thy life too war against it.If then thine eyes h ave verily seen where the truth lies,care no more what men shall think of thee,but be content if the rest of thy life,whether long or short,be lived as thy nature wills.Make sure then what that will is,and let nothing else draw thee aside.For past experience tells thee in how much thou hast gone astray,nor anywhere lighted upon the true life;no,not in the subtleties of logic,or in wealth or fame or enjoyment,or anywhe re.Where then is it to be found?In doing that which is the quest of ma n's nature.How then shall a man do this?By having axioms as the sourc e of his impulses and actions.What axioms?On the nature of Good and Ev il,shewing that nothing is for a man's good save what makes him just,temperate,manly,free;nor any thing for his ill that makes him not the reverse of these.
2.In every action ask thyself,How does it affect me?Shall I regret it?But a little and I am dead and all that lies between is past.What m ore do I ask for,as long as my present work is that of a living creatur e,intelligent,social,and under one law with God?
3.What are Alexander and Gains and Pompeius to Diogenes and Heraclit us and Socrates?For these latter had their eyes opened to things and to the causes and the material substance of things,and their ruling Reason was their very own.But those what a host of cares,what a world of slav ery!
4.Thou mayst burst thyself with rage,but they will go on doing the same things none the less.
5.Firstly,fret not thyself,for all things are as the Nature of the Universe would have them,and within a little thou shalt be non-existent,and nowhere,like Hadrianus and Augustus.Secondly,look stead fastly at the thing,and see it as it is and,remembering withal that thou must be a good man,and what the Nature of man calls for,do this without swe rving,and speak as seemeth to thee most just,only be it graciously,mo destly,and without feigning.