Page:The Emperor Marcus Antoninus - His Conversation with Himself.djvu/216

 36 them all out of your Head, excepting those few Precepts above mention'd; Remembring withall, that every Mans Life lies all within the Present ; For the Past is spent, and done with, and the Future is uncertain : Now the Present is strictly examin'd, is but a point of Time. Well then! Life moves in a very narrow Compass; yes, and Men live in a poor Corner of the World too : And the most lasting Fame will stretch but to a sorry Extent. The Passage on't is uneven and craggy, and therefore it can't run far. The frequent Breaks of Succession drop it in the Conveyance : For alas ! poor transitory Mortals, know little either of themselves, or of those who were long before them.

XI. To the foregoing Hints you may add this which follows. And that is, to survey and define every Object and Thought extraordinary; and that with such Penetration, as to dissect it throughout, pull off its Mask and Fucus, and view it in its naked Essence: To call the Whole, and the Parts by their true Names; and be truly informed of their Force and Nature, both Single, and in Composition. For nothing is so likely to raise the Mind to a pitch of Greatness, as to bring Accidents, Persons, and Pretensions to a true Test. For instance. To be ready to tell ones self, to what sort of purpose this Rh