23. Let this always be plain to thee, that this piece of land is like

any other; and that all things here are the same with things on the top of a mountain, or on the sea-shore, or wherever thou choosest to be. For thou wilt find just what Plato says, Dwelling within the walls of a city as in a shepherd's fold on a mountain. [The three last words are omitted in the translation.][B]

[A] These words are from Euripides. They are cited by Aristotle, Ethic. Nicom. viii. 1. Athenaeus (xiii. 296) and Stobaeus quote seven complete lines beginning [Greek: era men ombrou gaia]. There is a similar fragment of Aeschylus, Danaides, also quoted by Athenaeus.

It was the fashion of the Stoics to work on the meanings of words. So Antoninus here takes the verb [Greek: philei], "loves," which has also the sense of "is wont," "uses," and the like. He finds in the common language of mankind a philosophical truth, and most great truths are expressed in the common language of life; some understand them, but most people utter them without knowing how much they mean.

[B] Plato, Theaet. 174 D.E. But compare the original with the use that Antoninus has made of it.

24. What is my ruling faculty now to me? and of what nature am I now making it? and for what purpose am I now using it? is it void of understanding? is it loosed and rent asunder from social life? is it melted into and mixed with the poor flesh so as to move together with it?