Page:The Emperor Marcus Antoninus - His Conversation with Himself.djvu/391

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Meditations, &c.
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What are you unwilling to submit to Providence? To comply with the Interest of the Universe, when you Know you were made on purpose for't.

XIV. People generally Despise, where they Flatter ; And cringe to those they would gladly overtop, so that Truth, and Ceremony, are two Things.

XV. How fulsome, and hollow does that Man look that cryes, I'm resolv'd to deal clearly with you: Heark you Friend, what need of all this Flourish? Let your Actions speak: To go to the right on't , your Face ought to vouch for you , and your Sincerity be Legible upon your Forehead. I would have Virtue look out of the Eye, no less apparently than Love does : I would have Honesty so incorporated with the Constitution, so mixed up with the Blood and Spirits, that it should be discoverable by the Sences, and as easily distinguish'd as Rankness, or a strong Breath ; so that a Man must be forced to find it out whether he would or no. But on the other side, an Affectation of being Real, is an untoward pretence: Nothing is more scandalous than false Friendship, and therefore of all things avoid it. In short; A Man of Integrity and Good-Nature can never be conceal'd, for his Character is wrought into his Countenance.

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XVI. To