1.Wilt thou then,O my Soul,ever at last be good and simple and sin gle and naked,shewing thyself more visible than the body that overlies thee?Wilt thou ever taste the sweets of a loving and a tender heart?Ev er be full-filled and self-sufficing,longing for nothing,lusting after nothing animate or inanimate,for the enjoyment of pleasures-not time w herein the longer to enjoy them,nor place or country or congenial clime s or men nearer to thy liking-but contented with thy present state and delighted with thy present everything,convincing thyself withal that al l that is present for thee is present from the Gods,and that everything is and shall be well with thee that is pleasing to them and that they sh all hereafter grant for the conservation of that Perfect Being that is g ood and just and beautiful,the Begetter and Upholder of all things,tha t embraces and gathers them in,when they are dissolved,to generate the refrom other like things?Wilt thou ever at last fit thyself so to be a fellow-citizen with the Gods and with men as never to find fault with th em or incur their condemnation?
2.Observe what thy nature asks of thee,as one controlled by Nature alone,then do this and with a good grace,if thy nature as a living cre ature is not to be made worse thereby.Next must thou observe what thy n ature as a living creature asks of thee.And this must thou wholly accep t,if thy nature as a rational living creature be not made worse thereby.Now the rational is indisputably also the civic.Comply with these rul es then and be not needlessly busy about anything.
3.All that befalls either so befalls as thou art fitted by nature to bear it or as thou art not fitted.If the former,take it not amiss,but bear it as thou art fitted to do.If the latter,take not that amiss eit her,for when it has destroyed thee,it will itself perish.Howbeit be a ssured that thou art fitted by nature to bear everything which it rests with thine own opinion about it to render bearable and tolerable,accord ing as thou thinkest it thy interest or thy duty to do so.