Marcus Aurelius:--

"Everything harmonizes with me which is harmonious to thee, O
Universe. Nothing for me is too early nor too late, which is in
due time for thee. Everything is fruit to me which thy seasons
bring, O Nature: from thee are all things, in thee are all
things, to thee all things return. The poet says, Dear City of
Cecrops; and wilt thou not say, Dear City of Zeus?"[16]

[16] Book IV., 523



But compare even as devout a passage as this with a genuine
Christian outpouring, and it seems a little cold. Turn, for
instance, to the Imitation of Christ:--

"Lord, thou knowest what is best; let this or that be according
as thou wilt. Give what thou wilt, so much as thou wilt, when
thou wilt. Do with me as thou knowest best, and as shall be most
to thine honour. Place me where thou wilt, and freely work thy
will with me in all things. . . . When could it be evil when
thou wert near? I had rather be poor for thy sake than rich
without thee. I choose rather to be a pilgrim upon the earth
with thee, than without thee to possess heaven. Where thou art,
there is heaven; and where thou art not, behold there death and
hell."[17]

[17] Benham's translation: Book III., chaps. xv., lix. Compare
Mary Moody Emerson: "Let me be a blot on this fair world, the