5. Every moment think steadily as a Roman and a man to do what thou hast
in hand with perfect and simple dignity, and feeling of affection, and
freedom, and justice, and to give thyself relief from all other thoughts.
And thou wilt give thyself relief if thou dost every act of thy life as
if it were the last, laying aside all carelessness and passionate
aversion from the commands of reason, and all hypocrisy, and self-love,
and discontent with the portion which has been given to thee. Thou seest
how few the things are, the which if a man lays hold of, he is able to
live a life which flows in quiet, and is like the existence of the gods;
for the gods on their part will require nothing more from him who
observes these things.

6. Do wrong to thyself, do wrong to thyself, my soul; but thou wilt no
longer have the opportunity of honoring thyself. Every man's life is
sufficient. But thine is nearly finished, though thy soul reverences not
itself, but places thy felicity in the souls of others.

7. Do the things external which fall upon thee distract thee? Give
thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled
around. But then thou must also avoid being carried about the other way;
for those too are triflers who have wearied themselves in life by their
activity, and yet have no object to which to direct every movement, and,
in a word, all their thoughts.

8. Through not observing what is in the mind of another a man has seldom
been seen to be unhappy; but those who do not observe the movements of
their own minds must of necessity be unhappy.

9. This thou must always bear in mind, what is the nature of the whole,
and what is my nature, and how this is related to that, and what kind of