Aurelius, Meditations §aur_08_xlii: This time that is now present, bestow thou upon thyself.
Source: Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (c. AD 170) (aur_08_xlii) · external_aligned
This time that is now present, bestow thou upon thyself. They that rather hunt for fame after death, do not consider, that those men that shall be hereafter, will be even such, as these whom now they can so hardly bear with. And besides they also will be mortal men. But to consider the thing in itself, if so many with so many voices, shall make such and such a sound, or shall have such and such an opinion concerning thee, what is it to thee?
Witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15)
- manuscript_tradition: Vaticanus Graecus 1950 — earliest complete Greek MS
- critical_edition: Dalfen, Marci Aurelii Antonini Ad Se Ipsum Libri XII (Teubner 1987)
- translation: George Long translation (1862) — public domain English
- translation: Hays translation (Modern Library, 2002)
- republication: Internet Archive — Meditations Long translation