{"id": "card_n_f6f744d4ef16", "kind": "note", "title": "Aurelius, Meditations §aur_08_xiii: At thy first encounter with any one, say presently to thyself: This man, what...", "body": "At thy first encounter with any one, say presently to thyself: This man, what are his opinions concerning that which is good or evil? as concerning pain, pleasure, and the causes of both; concerning honour, and dishonour, concerning life and death? thus and thus. Now if it be no wonder that a man should have such and such opinions, how can it be a wonder that he should do such and such things? I will remember then, that he cannot but do as he doth, holding those opinions that he doth. Remember, that as it is a shame for any man to wonder that a fig tree should bear figs, so also to wonder that the world should bear anything, whatsoever it is which in the ordinary course of nature it may bear. To a physician also and to a pilot it is a shame either for the one to wonder, that such and such a one should have an ague; or for the other, that the winds should prove Contrary.", "source": {"label": "Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (c. AD 170)", "url": "/canon.html?ref=aurelius_aur_08_xiii", "ref": "aur_08_xiii", "authority_tier": "external_aligned"}, "shelf": "classics", "box": "aurelius_meditations", "bands": ["aurelius", "meditations", "stoic", "pre_christian"], "connections": [{"to_card_id": "card_n_f798a6cbec5d", "relationship": "same_section", "origin": "nesting_2026_06_12"}, {"to_card_id": "card_n_f6040291094a", "relationship": "same_section", "origin": "nesting_2026_06_12"}], "author": "engine", "created_at": "2026-05-19T13:20:58.361773+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-05-19T19:57:55.200936+00:00", "visibility": "public", "lifecycle_stage": "public", "volatility": "permanent", "metrics": {"paperclips_count": 0, "helpful_count": 0, "not_helpful_count": 0, "cite_count": 4, "walks_through_count": 0, "flagged_count": 0}, "source_hash": "6aa4ff7db5dc457c84ea4f60de378366bf82b23f450b20439a81f51d359d04be", "witnesses": [{"class": "manuscript_tradition", "label": "Vaticanus Graecus 1950 — earliest complete Greek MS", "ref": "Vat-Gr-1950"}, {"class": "critical_edition", "label": "Dalfen, Marci Aurelii Antonini Ad Se Ipsum Libri XII (Teubner 1987)", "ref": "Dalfen-Teubner"}, {"class": "translation", "label": "George Long translation (1862) — public domain English", "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2680", "ref": "Long-1862"}, {"class": "translation", "label": "Hays translation (Modern Library, 2002)", "ref": "Hays-2002"}, {"class": "republication", "label": "Internet Archive — Meditations Long translation", "url": "https://archive.org/details/meditations00auregoog", "ref": "IA-Meditations"}], "witness_status": "passed", "witness_status_reason": "5 witnesses across 4 independence classes: ['critical_edition', 'manuscript_tradition', 'republication', 'translation']", "surface": "secular"}