Meditations by Marcus Aurelius – Fin

So, I finished Meditations last night – I had to. I had to just get it done. I mean, I loved it to bits and it’s totally on my top favs now…but sometimes he said the same thing over again in different words. Which was good sometimes because it stated a point more clearly than before, but other times it seemed redundant.

But the main thing I came away with (among other things, of course) was indifference and having no opinion. That seems to be his solution for a lot of human ills. Of course that’s a bit of a miss-statement…let’s see, it was more like “indifference to that which deserved no opinion.” Right and wrong should be observed and justice should be carried out, but at the same time “it is in thy power” to not get offended at trifling things. “It is not the thing that offends thee, but thy opinion of it.”

“Thou hast not the leisure [or ability] to read. But thou hast leisure [or ability] to check arrogance; thou hast leisure to be superior to pleasure and pain. Thou hast the leisure to be superior to love of fame and to not be vexed at stupid and ungrateful people, nay, even to care for them.”

Sometimes he was a bit confusing…he kept on saying, “It is in thy power” to do this, to do that, which to a degree is true – but not always. He says, “Who is he that shall hinder thee from being good and simple?” and “It is in thy power to let no badness be in thy soul.”

Then Book 10 (of 12) opens with Marcus asking himself “Wilt thou then my soul, never be good and simple and one and naked, more manifest than the body which surrounds thee?” Obviously something was hindering him at some points.

I don’t know about Marcus, but my own self hinders me from being good and simple, lol. Perhaps it is in my power…only my power is weak and fails me.

And Marcus’ answer is to “Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up if thou wilt ever dig.”

Oh dear. Been there, done that…the fountain is muddy. Maybe that’s just me.

Marcus Aurelius was a very wise man, but I’d have to disagree with what I understand to be his view of human nature. I mean, I do believe that one can make integrity a part of their soul and personality – but only to a point. We’re so fallible that even after living upright for 60 years our morals, rationality and integrity can still be undone. It is beyond our power sometimes, and we have to rely on something more.

But like I said, he was still quite wise and has super awesome things to say. I’ll leave you with a few of my favorites:

“There is no man so fortunate that there shall not be by him when he is dying some who are pleased with what is going to happen.”

“I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all other men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others.”

“A cucumber is bitter – throw it away. There are briars in the road – turn away from them. This is enough. Do not add, “And why were such things made in the world?”

“Receive wealth and prosperity without arrogance and be willing to let it go.”

“How soon will time cover all things, and how many it has covered already.”

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

Soo…I’m loving this. The world needs more stoic philosophy and less…non-stoic philosophy. Right. Anyways, a few of these quotes put into words exactly the way I feel about some things, like this:

“Do not act as if thou wert going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over thee. While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good.”

…and this:

“As a horse when he has run, a dog when he has tracked the game, a bee when it has made the honey, so a man when he has done a good act, does not call out for others to come and see, but he goes on to another act, as a vine goes on to produce again the grapes in season.”

Also, I’ve come to realize all my blog posts are pretty much excerpts and quotes. Umm…you know, that’s okay though…I talk far too much in real life so it’s nice to let other people say things for once =P

Oh, and these are not just quotes…they’re POWER QUOTES. RAAAARRR!!!

“…the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil.”

“…For we are made for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth. To act against one another is then contrary to nature.”

“Thou must now at last perceive of what universe thou art part, and of what administrator of the universe thy existence is efflux, and that a limit of time is fixed for thee, which if thou dost not use for clearing away the clouds from thy mind, it will go and thou wilt go, and it will never return.”

Ovid: Selected Poems = Fin.

I’m confused though. Is this all Roman mythology? Or Greek mythology? Or Romanized Greek mythology? Or all of the above? Ovid was a Roman after all. Ummm…whatever.

Anyways, a lot of the coolest excerpts came from the poem Metamorphosis. I read about the origins of the myrrh tree (a girl named Myrrha was turned into a tree, and her tears became drops of myrrh) and the river Lethe than ran through the Cave of Sleep (which is where we get the word “lethargy” from. Lethe also ran through the underworld, I believe.) and a brief look at Pythagoras’ (of trignometry fame) philosophy of the “transmigration of the souls,” or reincarnation.

 And Jupiter = worst. king of the gods. ever.

The poetry itself is pretty good too. I want to read the entire Metamorphosis poem now.

Metamorphosis by Ovid

Ovid has definitely got a lot cooler once I got past Amores, which was all about sex. Now I’m into Metamorphosis which is about all the Greek and Roman gods and jazz, which is totally awesome. It includes the story of Jupiter sending a flood to destroy man, but for the two survivors, Decalion and Pyrrhus, Narcissus falling in love with his own reflection (which is where we get the term “narcissistic”), the origin of echos, Pyramus and Thisbe (which Shakespeare used in A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and Arachne being turned into a spider by the jealous Athene (which I assume is where we get the word “arachnid”). Totally neat, though I must say a great many of the gods are so flippin’ immature and temperamental. Honestly.

Anyways, so that’s pretty neat. And the book is tiny so I can put it in my purse for riding on the train. Before I used to lug around Anna Karenina, but that was just far too cumbersome. It’s nice having a smaller book for traveling.

And I bought Paradise Lost today, because it had been on sale for the past month and I knew I would be kicking myself if I didn’t once they all sold out or the sale ended because I had wanted it for such a long time. So it’s this huge thing, illustrated and everything, but I’m pretty stoked for it.

Ariadne to Theseus by Ovid

Ariadne to Theseus from Heroides (‘Epistles of the Heroines’).

‘Ariadne laments her lover’s desertion.’

 

 When morning dew on the fields did fall,

And birds with early songs for day did call,

Then I, half sleeping, stretched me towards your place

And sought to press you with a new embrace,

Oft sought to press you close, but still in vain:

My folding arms came empty back again.

=(

Ovid : Selected Poems

I bought this book in the summer but confess that I’ve hardly read much of it. The beginning was excerpts from ‘Amores’ (‘Loves’), which seem to pertain only to the physical side of things. My favorite so far would have to be a line from, “Ovid laments an ‘imperfect enjoyment.”

If old I live, how shall I old prevail,

 When in my youth I thus inglorious fail?

What to do, what to do.

Actually, that is my favorite for sheer amusement’s sake, but I really like this excerpt from ”Ovid begs morning not to come too swiftly.”

What pleasure in thy light should mortals take?

Thou dost the weary traveller awake;

Though to the down his heavy head reclines,

Up he must lift it, for morning shines.

I feel ya, especially on Mondays. Although Ovid’s motives for delaying the day are usually for different reasons than just resting.

 Who says classic literature is boring?