A

October 10th

REVERENCE AND JUSTICE

“Leave the past behind, let the grand design take care of the future,

and instead only rightly guide the present to reverence and justice.

Reverence so that you’ll love what you’ve been allotted, for nature

brought you both to each other. Justice so that you’ll speak the

truth freely and without evasion, and so that you’ll act only as the

law and value of things require.”

—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 12.1

ulus Gellius relates that Epictetus once said, “If anyone would take
two words to heart and take pains to govern and watch over
themselves by them, they will live an impeccable and immensely tranquil
life. The two words are: persist and resist.” That’s great advice. But what
principles should determine what we persist in and what we ought to resist?
Marcus supplies that answer: reverence and justice. In other words,
virtue.