Page:The Emperor Marcus Antoninus - His Conversation with Himself.djvu/236

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56
Marcus Antoninus's

XXXXV. He that does a Memorable Action, and those that Report it, are all but short-liv'd Things.

XXXVI. Accustom your self to consider, that whatever is produc'd, is produc'd by Alteration: That Nature Loves nothing so much as shifting the Scene, and bringing new Persons upon the Stage. To speak closely; The Destruction of one Thing, is the Making of another : And that which Subsists at present, is as it were the Seed of Succession, which springs from it. But if you take Seed in the Common Notion, and Confine it to the Field, or the Garden, you have a dull Fancy.

XXXVII. You are just taking leave of the World, and don't you know what you are, and what you are not? Han't you done with unnecessary Desires? Are you not yet above Disturbance and Suspicion, and fully convinc'd that nothing without your own Will can Hurt you? Have you not yet learn'd to be Friends with every Body, and that to be an Honest Man is the only way to be a Wise one?

XXXVIII. To understand the true Quality of People, you must look into their Minds, and examine their Pursuits, and Aversions.

XXXIX. Your Pain can't lie in another Man's Head, neither can his Mismanage-

ment,