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Meditations · Book IV · 30Meditations

Book IV · 30

The one is a philosopher without a tunic, and the other without a book: here is another half naked: Bread I have not, he says, and I abide by reason—and I do not get the means of living out of my learning, and I abide [by my reason].

One philosopher goes without a shirt, a second without a book, a third yonder half-naked: says he, I am starving for bread, yet cleave I fast to Reason; and I get no living out of my learning, yet cleave I to her.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations IV.30. Translated by George Long (1862). The Stoic Library.