37. Accustom thyself as much as possible on the occasion of anything
being done by any person to inquire with thyself, For what object is this
man doing this? But begin with thyself, and examine thyself first.

38. Remember that this which pulls the strings is the thing which is
hidden within: this is the power of persuasion, this is life, this, if
one may so say, is man. In contemplating thyself never include the vessel
which surrounds thee and these instruments which are attached about it.
For they are like to an axe, differing only in this, that they grow to
the body. For indeed there is no more use in these parts without the
cause which moves and checks them than in the weaver's shuttle, and the
writer's pen, and the driver's whip.




BOOK XI.


1. These are the properties of the rational soul: it sees itself,
analyses itself, and makes itself such as it chooses; the fruit which it
bears itself enjoys,--for the fruits of plants and that in animals which
corresponds to fruits others enjoy,--it obtains its own end, wherever the
limit of life may be fixed. Not as in a dance and in a play and in such
like things, where the whole action is incomplete if anything cuts it
short; but in every part, and where-ever it may be stopped, it makes what
has been set before it full and complete, so that it can say, I have what
is my own. And further it traverses the whole universe, and the
surrounding vacuum, and surveys its form, and it extends itself into the
infinity of time, and embraces and comprehends the periodical renovation