Stoic Snippets 180

Say nothing more to yourself than what the first appearances report. 

Suppose that it has been reported to you that a certain person speaks ill of you. This has been reported; but that you have been injured, that has not been reported. 

I see that my child is sick. I do see; but that he is in danger, I do not see. 

Thus then always abide by the first appearances, and add nothing yourself from within, and then nothing happens to you. 

Or rather add something like a man who knows everything that happens in the world. 

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.49 

IMAGE: Eugene de Blaas, The Friendly Gossips (1901)