Suppose any man shall despise me. Let him look to that himself. But I will look to this, that I be not discovered doing or saying anything deserving of contempt.
Shall any man hate me? Let him look to it. But I will be mild and benevolent towards every man, and ready to show even him his mistake, not reproachfully, nor yet as making a display of my endurance, but nobly and honestly, like the great Phocion, unless indeed he only assumed it.
For the interior parts ought to be such, and a man ought to be seen by the gods neither dissatisfied with anything nor complaining.
For what evil is it to you, if you are now doing what is agreeable to your own nature, and are satisfied with that which at this moment is suitable to the Nature of the Universe, since you are a human being placed at your post in order that what is for the common advantage may be done in some way?
—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 11.13
IMAGES:
Nicolas Poussin, The Funeral of Phocion (1648)
Nicolas Poussin, Landscape with the Ashes of Phocion (1648)
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