Page:The Emperor Marcus Antoninus - His Conversation with Himself.djvu/223

 Rh done this, Recollect her Philosophy about Pleasure and Pain; And to which she has formerly assented. Well! It may be the Concern of Fame sits hard upon you. If you are pinched here, consider how quickly all things vanish, and are forgotten; what an immense Chaos there stands, what an Extent of Darkness and Confusion; on either side of Eternity. Applause! consider the Emptiness of the Sound, the Precarious Tenure, the little Judgment of those that give it us; and the narrow Compass 'tis confin'd to: For the whole Globe is but a Point; And of this Little how Little is Inhabited? And where 'tis Peopled, you'l have no Reason to Brag either of the Number, or Quality of your Admirers. Upon the whole; Don't forget to Retire into the Seat of your Reason; And above all Things, Let there be no Haling, nor struggling in the Case, but move Freely, and Gracefully, and manage Matters like a Man of Sense and Spirit, like a Burgher of the whole World, and like a Creature that must die shortly. And among the rest of your Stock, let these two Maxims be always ready; First, That 'tis not Things but Thoughts, which give Disturbance; For Things keep their Distance, and Tease no Body, till Fancy raises the Spleen, and grows Untoward. Rh