The Death of Marcus Aurelius

The Death of Marcus Aurelius

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Stoic Snippets 222


Observe what your nature requires, so far as you are governed by Nature only: then do it and accept it, if your nature, so far as you are a living being, shall not be made worse by it. 

And next you must observe what your nature requires so far as you are a living being. And all this you may allow yourself, if your nature, so far as you are a rational animal, shall not be made worse by it. 

But the rational animal is consequently also a social animal. 

Use these rules, then, and trouble yourself about nothing else. 

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 10.2 

IMAGE: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Playing Naked People (1910) 



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