File:Library of the world's best literature, ancient and modern (1896) (14761220136).jpg

Identifier: cu31924066437454 (find matches)
Title: Library of the world's best literature, ancient and modern
Year: 1896 (1890s)
Authors: Warner, Charles Dudley, 1829-1900
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Publisher: New York, International Society
Contributing Library: Cornell University Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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mon creed of wise men, from which allother views may well seem mere deflections on the side of an unwar-ranted credulity or of an exaggerated despair. From the pomp andcircumstance of state surrounding him, from the manifold cares ofhis exalted rank, from the tumult of protracted wars, the Emperorretired into the pages of this book as into the sanctuary of his soul,and there found in sane and rational reflection the peace that theworld could not give and could never take away. The tone andtemper of the work is unique among books of its class. It is sweetyet dignified, courageous yet resigned, philosophical and speculative,yet above all, intensely practical. Through all the ages from the time when the Emperor Diocletianprescribed a distinct ritual for Aurelius as one of the gods; from thetime when the monks of the Middle Ages treasured the Meditationsas carefully as they kept their manuscripts of the Gospels, the workhas been recognized as the precious life-blood of a master spirit. An
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IMBUE MARCOS AURELIUS ANTONINUS .„„„ 1023 adequate English translation would constitute to-day a most valuablevade mecum of devotional feeling and of religious inspiration. Itwould prove a strong moral tonic to hundreds of minds now sinkinginto agnosticism or materialism. The distinguished French writer M. Martha observes that in the•Meditations of Marcus Aurelius> «we find a pure serenity, sweetness,and docility to the commands of God, which before him were unknown,and which Christian grace has alone surpassed. One cannot read thebook without thinking of the sadness of Pascal and the gentleness ofFenelon. We must pause before this soul, so lofty and so pure, tocontemplate ancient virtue in its softest brilliancy, to see the moraldelicacy to which profane doctrines have attained. Those in the past who have found solace in its pages have notbeen limited to any one country, creed, or condition in life. Thedistinguished Cardinal Francis Barberini the elder occupied his lastye

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