Page:The Emperor Marcus Antoninus - His Conversation with Himself.djvu/206

 26 of Rational Beings is to be Govern'd by the Laws of Nature, and the Interest of the Universe; For these two, are both the oldest, and the best Rules, we can go by.

XVII. The Extent of Human Life is but a Point; Matter is in a perpetual Flux : The Faculties of Sence, and Perception, are Weak, and Unpenetrating : The Body slenderly put together, and but a Remove from Putrefaction : The Soul a rambling sort of a Thing. Fortune and Futurity, are not to be guess'd at; And Fame does not always stand upon Desert, and Judgment. In a Word; That which belongs to the Body streams off like a River; And what the Soul has is but Dream and Bubble: Life, to take it rightly, is no other than a Campaign, or Course of Travels; and Posthumous Fame has little more in't than Silence, and Obscurity. What is it then that will stick by a Man and prove significant? Why, Nothing but Wisdom, and Philosophy. Now the Functions of this Quality consist in keeping the Mind from Injury and Disgrace; superior to Pleasure and Pain, free from Starts and Rambling, without any Varnish of Dissembling, and Knavery, and as to Happiness, Independent of the Motions of another. Farther, Philosophy brings the Mind to take things as they fall, and ac- Rh