Page:The Emperor Marcus Antoninus - His Conversation with Himself.djvu/371

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

Meditations, &c.
191

the Proportion of Substance, and but the turning of a Wimble in respect of Time.

XVIII. Don't suffer the Appearances of Things to dazle your Sight, and deceive you : Examine them closely, and you'l find them ready to decay, and tumble. And that all Things are made as it were to be unmade again.

XIX. Consider what an humble Figure the biggest People make when they are eating, sleeping, and doing the other coarse Work of Nature, to which they are all condemn'd ! But then, when they are in their Altitudes, in their Pomp, or in their Passion ; strutting, or mauling their Inferiours ; you would take them for an other sort of Creatures, and that they fancy themselves more than Mortal Men! And yet how many little Masters did they lately cringe to, how mean was their Service and their Salary ; and what a sorry Condition will they come to in a short time? [1]

XX. That's best for every Man which God sends him; and the time of his sending too, is always a Circumstance of Advantage.

XXI. The Earth, as the Poet has it, [2] loves the Refreshment of a Shower, and the Clouds, when they are loaden, love to send it. And the World loves to execute the

De-
  1. Either by Misfortune or Death.
  2. Eurp.