Page:The Emperor Marcus Antoninus - His Conversation with Himself.djvu/405

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Meditations, &c.
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great deal of Trouble would be sav'd: For he that can overlook his Limbs , and make his Carkass sit loose about him, will hardly disturb himself about the House he dwells in; about his Equipage or Reputation; or any part of the Furniture, and Magnificence of a Figure.

III. You consist of three Parts, your Body, your Breath, [1] and your Mind : The two first are yours to take care of , but the latter is properly your Person. Therefore if you abstract from the Notion of your self that is of your Mind , whatever other People either say, or do , or whatever you may have said or done your self formerly, together with all that which disturbs you under the consideration of its coming to pass hereafter ; If you throw the necessary Motions of your Carcass out of the Definition, and those of the Vortex that whirls about you ; And by this means preserve your Rational Faculties in an Independent state of Innocence , free from Force and Infection; Holding close, and steady to the Virtues of Justice ; Truth, and Acquiescence ; If I say, you keep your Mind separate, and Distinguish'd, from the Objests, of Appetite, and the Appendages of Time, both Past and Future, and make your self like Empedocles's World,

Q
Round
  1. See Book 2. Sect. 2.