The
Ethical Theosophy of Ancient Western World
Musonius Rufus
Musonius Rufus
Hard work is not a bad thing, says the neo-stoic philosopher Musonius
Rufus
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An Editorial Note:
The
following twelve fragments were selected
and
translated from the volume “Tabla de
Cebes -
Musonio
Rufo, Disertaciones, Fragmentos Menores,
Epicteto,
Manual, Fragmentos”, Editorial Gredos,
Madrid, 1995, 250 pp. We indicate the page number
at the
end of each quotation. Stoic philosopher
Musonius
Rufus lived from 28 C.E. through 100 C.E.
We add
commentaries to items 5 and 12, in italics.
(Carlos
Cardoso Aveline)
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1) To be a philosopher is the same as to be
good. (p. 60)
2) Philosophy consists in
dedicating oneself to perfect honesty and nothing else. (p.
59)
3) Virtue is not a
theoretical science, only. It is also practical, just like Medicine and Music
are. (p. 59)
9) That pleasure is not
good in itself is not easily perceived at once, because pleasure stimulates
desire as if it were a good thing. But if we adopt as a main and known premise
the idea that every good thing is preferable, and if we add to it a second,
known premise, which says that some pleasures are not preferable, we will have
demonstrated then that pleasure is not good in
itself. (p. 72)
11) It is not necessary
for the master of a philosopher to teach a great amount of reasonings and
demonstrations; but he should talk about each topic in the right time. He must
adjust his speech to the discernment of the students. He must use effective
ideas that cannot be easily refuted, and above all, he must talk about that
which is most useful, and act in accordance with what he talks. This is the way to lead his hearers. (p. 74)
4) Why should men research and
investigate how to live better, which is the aim of philosophy, and not women?
Is it perchance convenient that men should be good, and women should not? (p. 77)
5) It is not possible to live today in a
correct manner unless we live it as if it were our last day alive. (p. 149)
This sentence
by Musonius Rufus got famous since it was adopted by Marcus Aurelius, the
emperor-philosopher of Ancient Rome, in his “Meditations”. In fact, Musonius
taught Epictetus (55 C.E.-135 C.E.), and Epictetus taught Marcus Aurelius (121
C.E.-180 C.E.). In the 20h century, Carlos Castaneda adopted the same idea in
his own books.
6) Why do we complain
about politicians, if we are often worse than them? We have similar impulses to
theirs, in different contexts. (p.
149)
7) You will deserve the
respect of all, if you start by having respect for yourself in the first place. (p. 151)
8) If you want to stay
above all within that which is correct, don’t get sad or irritated by
circumstances. Think of the many things that have happened to you not according
to your wishes, but according to what is correct. (p. 150)
10) ... And the fact that
hard work is not an evil thing does not seem to be acceptable at first; the
opposite seems to be more convincing; that to work is a bad thing. But if we
adopt a major and self-evident premise, that one ought to avoid every evil, and
we add to it another and even more evident premise, that many forms of work
must not be avoided, then we come to the conclusion
that hard work is not a bad thing. (p. 72)
12) ... As to the student, he must concentrate on what is
said to him [by the teacher]. On one hand his goal must be not to allow a
mistake to remain unseen, and to admit his own mistakes; and on the other hand
- by Zeus! -, he must not wish to listen to long demonstrations regarding
truth, but clear demonstrations instead. (p. 74)
“Not to allow a mistake to remain
unseen”. That must include mistakes made by the
teacher. The student is not supposed to renounce his own discernment (limited
as it may be). True teachers respect that; and they never pose as perfect.
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The above Fragments were first
published as such in the December 2014 edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist” (pp. 6-7).
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See
here a one-minute video produced by our associated websites:
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