“For virtue only of all human things
   Takes her reward not from the hands of others. 
   Virtue herself rewards the toils of virtue.”

Some of the Stoics indeed expressed themselves in very arrogant, absurd terms, about the wise man’s self-sufficiency; they elevated him to the rank of a deity.[A] But these were only talkers and lecturers, such as those in all ages who utter fine words, know little of human affairs, and care only for notoriety.  Epictetus and Antoninus both by precept and example labored to improve themselves and others; and if we discover imperfections in their teaching, we must still honor these great men who attempted to show that there is in man’s nature and in the constitution of things sufficient reason for living a virtuous life.  It is difficult enough to live as we ought to live, difficult even for any man to live in such a way as to satisfy himself, if he exercises only in a moderate degree the power of reflecting upon and reviewing his own conduct; and if all men cannot be brought to the same opinions in morals and religion, it is at least worth while to give them good reasons for as much as they can be persuaded to accept.

[A] J. Smith in his Select Discourses on “the Excellency and Nobleness of True Religion” (c. vi.) has remarked on this Stoical arrogance.  He finds it in Seneca and others.  In Seneca certainly, and perhaps something of it in Epictetus; but it is not in Antoninus.

THE THOUGHTS

OF

Marcus Aurelius antonius.

I.

From my grandfather Verus[A] [I learned] good morals and the government of my temper.

2.  From the reputation and remembrance of my father,[B] modesty and a manly character.

3.  From my mother,[C] piety and beneficence, and abstinence, not only from evil deeds, but even from evil thoughts; and further, simplicity in my way of living, far removed from the habits of the rich.

4.  From my great-grandfather,[D] not to have frequented public schools, and to have had good teachers at home, and to know that on such things a man should spend liberally.

[A] Annius Verus was his grandfather’s name.  There is no verb in this section connected with the word “from,” nor in the following sections of this book; and it is not quite certain what verb should be supplied.  What I have added may express the meaning here, though there are sections which it will not fit.  If he does not mean to say that he learned all these good things from the several persons whom he mentions, he means that he observed certain good qualities in them, or received certain benefits from them, and it is implied that he was the better for it, or at least might have been:  for it would be a mistake to understand Marcus as saying that he possessed all the virtues which he observed in his kinsmen and teachers.

    [B] His father’s name was Annius Verus.