A PHILOSOPHICAL EMPEROR. 463 



the things which are, nnd to make new things like them. . . , For 

 everything tliat exists is, in a manner, the seed of tliat which will be, 

 and to tliink only of seeds that are cast into the earth, or into a 

 womb, is a very vulgar notion. ... In the series of things, those 

 which follow are always aptly fitted to those which have gone before; 

 and the thinscs which come into existence exhibit no mere succession, 

 but a certain wonderful relationshiiD. . . . You exist as a part ; you 

 will disappear in that which produced you ; or, rather, you will be 

 received back into its seminal principle by transmutation. And, by 

 consequence of such a change, I too exist, and those who begat me, 

 and so on forever in the direction of the past ; for nothing hinders us 

 from saying so, even if the universe is administered according to defi- 

 nite periods of revolution." 



Although habitually thoughtful and theoretical, his main desire is 

 to be equal to the work of the day, whatever it may be. He expects 

 to meet with opj)osition, as a matter of course, and tries to be always 

 light-armed, cheerful, and ready for a run to the nearest summit, from 

 which a new view may be obtained. 



His experience shows the immense advantage of good fortune, 

 when ci-ystallized in the form of a liberal, far-reaching education ; and 

 one feels that to produce a man so cool, complete, and many-sided, 

 none of his advantages were less than he required. The instinct that 

 suggests the possession of wealth as a desideratum to nine-tenths of 

 the race, finds here a sufticient defense. We want to have leisure, 

 opportunity, plenty of right to occupy other people's time, and plenty 

 of time to exercise our rights. In Antoninus we find a man, an em- 

 peror, who has been liberally brought up from the first ; who con- 

 fesses to having always had everything good under the sun ; who 

 complains of nothing in his personal experience ; and who is as far as 

 possible from repeating the words of his Oriental predecessor, " Van- 

 ity of vanities, all is vanity%" Nothing of the kind appears in his 

 notes. He is a shrewd, busy, responsible man of the world ; always 

 giving orders and attending to the details of his position. He is, of 

 course, never fi-ee from the influence of flatterers, hypocrites, and 

 time-servers. He is exposed to selfish, baneful influences, as every 

 emperor must be, but he is equal to the emergency ; his self-respect 

 encourages him constantly to draw the line between his own and other 

 people's experiences, and to keep his own unconfused. He is temper- 

 ate and simple in his personal habits from taste and from principle. 



When the Russian Emperor Nicholas, who was a military chief in 

 the fullest sense, visited England, he took his iron camp-bedstead 

 into every palace that was placed at his service. The Duke of Wel- 

 lington had the same habit to his dying day, his bedroom being a 

 bare and almost unfurnished apartment. Antoninus had this soldier's 

 custom, but " he loved temperance for its elegance, not for its auster- 

 ity." It is possible, he says, for a man to live in a palace without 



