26.  When  a  man  has  done  thee  any  wrong,  immediately
consider  with  what  opinion  about  good  or  evil  he  has
done  wrong.     For  when  thou  hast  seen  this,  thou  wilt
pity  him,  and  wilt  neither  wonder  nor  be  angry.     For
either  thou  thyself  -  thinkest  the  same  thing  to  be  good
that  he  does  or  another  thing  of  the  same  kind.     It  is
thy  duty  then  to  pardon  him.     But  if  thou  dost  not  think
such  things  to  be  good  or  evil,  thou  wilt  more  readily  be
well  disposed  to  him  who  is  in  error.
27.  Think  not  so  much  of  what  thou  hast  not  as  of

1  This  is  corrupt.
vii  MARCUS   AURELIUS  141

what  thou  hast :  but  of  the  things  which  thou  hast  select
the  best,  and  then  reflect  how  eagerly  they  would  have
been  sought,  if  thou  hadst  them  not.  At  the  same  time
however  take  care  that  thou  dost  not  through  being  so
pleased  with  them  accustom  thyself  to  overvalue  them,
so  as  to  be  disturbed  if  ever  thou  shouldst  not  have  them.
28.  Retire  into  thyself.    The  rational  principle  which
rules  has  this  nature,  that  it  is  content  with  itself  when
it  does  what  is  just,  and  so  secures  tranquillity.
29.  Wipe  out  the  imagination.     Stop  the  pulling  of  the
strings.     Confine  thyself  to  the  present.     Understand  well
what  happens  either  to  thee  or  to  another.     Divide  and
distribute  every  object  into  the  causal  [formal]  and  the
material.     Think  of  thy  last  hour.     Let  the  wrong  which
is  done  by  a  man  stay  there  where  the  wrong  was  done
(vm,  29).
30.  Direct  thy  attention  to  what  is  said.     Let  thy
understanding  enter  into  the  things  that  are  doing  and
the  things  which  do  them  (vn,  4).
