Most remarkable, however, are the nine rules which he drew up for himself, as subjects for reflection when any one had offended him, viz.—­

1.  That men were made for each other:  even the inferior for the sake of the superior, and these for the sake of one another.

2.  The invincible influences that act upon men, and mould their opinions and their acts.

3.  That sin is mainly error and ignorance,—­an involuntary slavery.

4.  That we are ourselves feeble, and by no means immaculate; and that often our very abstinence from faults is due more to cowardice and a care for our reputation than to any freedom from the disposition to commit them.

5.  That our judgments are apt to be very rash and premature.  “And in short a man must learn a great deal to enable him to pass a correct judgment on another man’s acts.”

6.  When thou art much vexed or grieved, consider that man’s life is only a moment, and after a short time we are all laid out dead.

7.  That no wrongful act of another can bring shame on us, and that it is not men’s acts which disturb us, but our own opinions of them.

8.  That our own anger hurts us more than the acts themselves.

9.  That benevolence is invincible, if it be not an affected smile, nor acting a part.  “For what will the most violent man do to thee if thou continuest benevolent to him? gently and calmly correcting him, admonishing him when he is trying to do thee harm, saying, ’Not so, my child:  we are constituted by nature for something else:  I shall certainly not be injured, but thou art injuring thyself, my child’ And show him with gentle tact and by general principles that this is so, and that even bees do not do as he does, nor any gregarious animal.  And this you must do simply, unreproachfully, affectionately; without rancour, and if possible when you and he are alone.” (xi. 18.)

“Not so, my child; thou art injuring thyself, my child.”  Can all antiquity show anything tenderer than this, or anything more close to the spirit of Christian teaching than these nine rules?  They were worthy of the men who, unlike the Stoics in general, considered gentleness to be a virtue, and a proof at once of philosophy and of true manhood.  They are written with that effusion of sadness and benevolence to which it is difficult to find a parallel.  They show how completely Marcus had triumphed over all petty malignity, and how earnestly he strove to fulfil his own precept of always keeping the thoughts so sweet and clear, that “if any one should suddenly ask, ’What hast thou now in thy thoughts?’ with perfect openness thou mightest immediately answer, ’This or That,’” In short, to give them their highest praise, they would have delighted the great Christian Apostle who wrote,—­

“Warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient towards all men.  See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.” (1 Thess. iv. 14. 15.)