Integrity. Marcus Aurelius 3.16
The third book of Marcus' notes ends with a discussion of moral integrity. We are parts—body, soul, mind—that must be joined together gently, carefully, as we move down the path of mortality toward the consummation of our lives. The basis for good character, nobility, is the individual life: private ethics and values whose expression is not broadcast.
Σῶμα, ψυχή, νοῦς· σώματος αἰσθήσεις, ψυχῆς ὁρμαί, νοῦ δόγματα. τὸ μὲν τυποῦσθαι φανταστικῶς καὶ τῶν βοσκημάτων· τὸ δὲ νευροσπαστεῖσθαι ὁρμητικῶς καὶ τῶν θηρίων καὶ τῶν ἀνδρογύνων καὶ Φαλάριδος καὶ Νέρωνος· τὸ δὲ τὸν νοῦν ἡγεμόνα ἔχειν ἐπὶ τὰ φαινόμενα καθήκοντα καὶ τῶν θεοὺς μὴ νομιζόντων καὶ τῶν τὴν πατρίδα ἐγκαταλειπόντων καὶ τῶν ποιούντων, ἐπειδὰν κλείσωσι τὰς θύρας. εἰ οὖν τὰ λοιπὰ κοινά ἐστι πρὸς τὰ εἰρημένα, λοιπὸν τὸ ἴδιόν ἐστι τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ φιλεῖν μὲν καὶ ἀσπάζεσθαι τὰ συμβαίνοντα καὶ συγκλωθόμενα αὐτῷ, τὸν δὲ ἔνδον ἐν τῷ στήθει ἱδρυμένον δαίμονα μὴ φύρειν μηδὲ θορυβεῖν ὄχλῳ φαντασιῶν, ἀλλὰ ἵλεων διατηρεῖν, κοσμίως ἑπόμενον θεῷ, μήτε φθεγγόμενόν τι παρὰ τὰ ἀληθῆ μήτε ἐνεργοῦντα παρὰ τὰ δίκαια. εἰ δὲ ἀπιστοῦσιν αὐτῷ πάντες ἄνθρωποι, ὅτι ἁπλῶς καὶ αἰδημόνως καὶ εὐθύμως βιοῖ, οὔτε χαλεπαίνει τινὶ τούτων οὔτε παρατρέπεται τῆς ὁδοῦ τῆς ἀγούσης ἐπὶ τὸ τέλος τοῦ βίου, ἐφ̓ ὃ δεῖ ἐλθεῖν καθαρόν, ἡσύχιον, εὔλυτον, ἀβιάστως τῇ ἑαυτοῦ μοίρᾳ συνηρμοσμένον.
Body, soul, mind. Perception belongs to the body, emotion to the soul. The mind holds beliefs. Our attitudes take their shape from what we feed them. Blind, instinctual reaction belongs to beasts, social butterflies, Phalaris (†), and Nero (‡). To hold the mind as master of regular phenomena, on the other hand: this belongs to folk who do not think of the gods, who leave their fatherland behind to act with abandon behind closed doors. What remains to be said, in general terms: the noble individual's part is to love his private life. To greet events as they enfold him. To hold the spirit in his chest still, untroubled by any turmoil of thoughts. To keep that spirit gracious—following divine guidance in orderly fashion, uttering nothing beyond the truth, and doing nothing outside the confines of justice. Even if all people mistrust him because he lives simply, with decency and cheer, he is not upset with any of them, nor does he turn aside from the way that leads him to the end of his life. He must come to that end clean, quiet, relaxed—fitting himself to his own fate without force.
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(†) The legendary tyrant of Akragas (modern Agrigento, in Sicily). He took power in the city in the sixth century BCE, after holding an important public office. His regime was associated with a number of public works, but also significant crimes: he was accused of cannibalism, and was renowned for punishing opponents to his regime by burning them alive in a bronze bull (cf. Cicero, Orationes in Verrem 2.4.73; Diodorus, Bibliotheca 9.19). Many generations later, his character was defended in a treatise attributed to Lucian of Samosata (second century CE), and a series of epistles that claimed the tyrant himself for their author. Richard Bentley denounced the epistles as frauds in 1699 CE, showing that their Greek is not consonant with that of the sixth century and that they incorporate references to literature that did not then exist.
(‡) Nero Claudius Augustus Caesar Germanicus (37-68 CE), the last of the Julio-Claudian emperors to rule Rome. Tutored by Seneca the Younger (the author of the Moral Epistles), young Nero began his reign quietly, but developed over time into a flamboyant despot, remembered as willful and impetuous by subsequent generations, who blamed him for the death of his mother, the trial and death of various political figures (including Seneca), and the fire that destroyed much of Rome in 64 CE. In the aftermath of a rebellion in the year 68, amidst rumors that Nero had fled the city, the Roman senate voted to make Galba emperor, and Nero committed suicide.