Evening star., 1925-07-07
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

| confuse the present with the past
10 In short, he was in this
| matter 'blameless, but unfortunate.
| 1t Is painful to think that the ven
cradle Polycarp and the thoughtful
Justin may have forfeited their lives
for their principles, not only in the
reign of so good a man, but even by
virtue of his authority; but we must
| be very uncharitabie or very un-
/ imaginative If we cannot readily be-
| lieve that though they had received
the crown of martyrdom from his
hands, the redeemed spirits of those
great martyrs would have been the
| first TO welcome this holiest of the
| heather into the presence of a Saw
ior whose church he prosecuted, but
to whose indwelling Spirit his vir
tues were due; whom ignorantly ant
| unconsciously he worshiped, and
whom, had he ever heard of Him
and known Him, he would have loved
consistency OF his noble and stain
less life"
Such was, undoubtedly, the ancient
| emperor, who preached abstinence
not only from evil deeds, but even
from evil thoughts. His life could
| not be all consistency. Whose life
| can?
His "Meditations" must be regard
ed as the true man. What he re-
vealed there he was, and still is, fol-
the spirit or this good man goes
marching on as surely as John
Browns does in the song
| He was born at Rome April 20
III A.D., and died at Vindobono-
now Vienna-March II. $50 AID
| Being adopted by the Emperor An
toninus Plus, also one of the bright
hsnts OF antiquity, he turned stoic
at the age of H.
| He became such light eater and
slept on so bare boards that for a
time he injured his health These
| tninSs he did because he believed in
them. Ever afterward he lived fru
galIy, temperately, under circum
stances and in surroundings which
later bred race of monsters.
His philosophy, therefore, has q
touch of austerity about 1t which i,
forbidding to some, making his word,
! somewhat hard to understand. Thi.
is partly accounted for by the fac
that his thoughts were put dowr
privately being rather disconnected
and fragmentary.
We OF today can scarcely claim t.
be Stoics. Yet In the "Meditations'
lie many a beautiful thought, man,
a helpful idea, as easily understood
and appreciated today as when the,
were cut with the stylus eenturie.
| ago.
One does not have to be a Stole t,
appreciate that ''it is thy duty Il
order thy life we'll in every singi.
act" or that everywhere and at al
times 1t is in thy power piously Il
acquiesce in thy present condition, an,
to behave justly to those who ar,
about thee, and to exert thy skill upor
thy present thoughts, that nothin,
shall steal into them without being
well examined"
scribing to the old Stoical doctrines
to realize that Whatever any on,
does or says, 1 must be good:' or tn,
worth of that tremendous paragraph
IF any man is able to convinc,
| me and show me that / do not thinl
| or act right, / will gladly change
| for / seek the truth, by which no ma
| was ever injured. But he is injured
who abides in his error and igno
rance"
What wonderful world this woulC
| be If each one of us would actual.
| take this advice:
TRY how the life of the good mar
suits thee. the life OF him who is sat
isfied with this portion out of tn,
whole, satisfied with his own just acti
and benevolent disposition
Try, indeed