Evening star., 1925-07-11
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

Now that the holiday season is
here, 1t may be we'll to note that
Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome,
did not much believe in going away
to the seashore for the Summer"
Human nature was astonishingly
the same 1000 years ago as it is to-
day. What men do now they more
or less did then. only they had
chariots instead of automobiles and
arenas instead of speedways and
theaters.
Listen to Marcus make out his case
not so much against vacations, of
course, as for retiring into ones
self"
Men seek retreats for themselves,
houses in the country, seashores and
mountains, and thou. too, art wont to
desire such things very much.
But this is altogether a mark of
the most common sort of men, for it is
In thy power whenever thou shalt
choose to retire into thyself
For nowhere, either with more
quiet or more freedom from trouble
does man retire than into his own
soul, particularly when he has within
him such thoughts that by looking
into them he is Immediately in perfect
tranquility.
And 1 affirm that tranquility is
nothing else than the good ordering
of the mind"
SO Marcus .Aurelius, in the opening
passages of his fourth book, which |
am relating today to the modern
world, TO help remove, if possible, the
feeling of some that his "Meditations, -
from which the above is selected, is
a strange, old book
1t is an old book certainly, but as
much up-to-date as the latest novel,
because it deals with the most up
to-date thing in the world-human
nature.
The retreat into ones self is the
basis of more than one philosophy,
ancient and modern; let us listen as
the good Emperor tells how it is done:
constantly then give to thyself
TINS retreat and renew thyself;
And let thy principles be brief and
fundamental (Mr. Bryan, please note)
which, as soon as thou shalt recur
10 them, will be sufficient TO cleanse
the soul completely, and TO send thee
back free from all discomfort with
the things to which thou returnest -
Surely America today needs this
warning. Almost every one seems
discontented with something or some.
body or some conditions or other. Dis
content Is diVlne, II IS true, but even
the divine may be overdone
For with what art thou discon-
tented?' asks Marcus Aurelius. with
the badness of men?
Recall to thv mind this conclu-
sion, that rational animals (men) ex.
ist for one another, and that to en-
dure is part of justice, and that
men do wrong involuntarily: and con
slider how many already, after mutual
enmity, suspicion, hatred and fight
ing, have been stretched dead, re-
duced to ashes, and be quiet at last "
In other words, we more or less
have to put up with persons we do
not care for. much as they have to
tolerate us. II pray you, brethren,
tolerate me-" said the clergyman,
upon his election. and that is the
prayer of all mankind. Il pray you,
brethren, tolerate me-
Aurelius continues:
But perhaps thou are dissatisfied
with that which is assigned to thee
out of the universe
Ali There he strikes the note of
universal discomfort. Harken all We
who own $4,000 houses, and want
SIS, 900 houses, who have $500 auto
mobiles and want s., 900 cars.
Recall to thy recollection" Azure
Illus tells all and sundry, this alterna-
tive: Either there is providence or
atoms fortuitous concurrence of