Page:The Emperor Marcus Antoninus - His Conversation with Himself.djvu/208

 28 'Tis true the meer Animal Life may go on, he may Breath and Nourish, and be furnished with Perception and Appetite; But to make any proper use of himself, to work his Notions to any Clearness and Consistency; to state Duty and Circumstance, and Practice to Decency and Exactness; to know whether it is time for him to walk out of the World or not, As to these noble Functions of Reason, and Judgment, the Man is perfectly dead already. It concerns us therefore to push forward, and make the most of our matters, for Death is continually advancing; and besides that, our Understanding sometime dies before us, and then the true Purposes and Significancy of Life are at an End.

II. 'Tis worth ones while to observe that the least design'd and almost unbespoken Effects of Nature, are not without their Beauty: Thus, to use a Similitude, there are Cracks, and little Breaks on the Surface of a Loaf, which tho' never intended by the Baker, have a sort of Agreeableness in them; which invite the Appetite. Thus Figs when they are most ripe, open and gape: And Olives when they fall of themselves and are near decaying, are particularly pretty to look at: To go on; The bending of an Ear of Corn, the Brow of