Still, the
appeals to human nature have a good deal in common; upon man's rational
and social qualities especial stress is apt to be laid.
116. HUMAN NATURE AND THE LAW OF NATURE.--"Every nature," said Marcus
Aurelius, [Footnote: _Thoughts_, translated by George Long, viii,
7.] "is contented with itself when it goes on its way well; and a
rational nature goes on its way well, when in its thoughts it assents to
nothing false or uncertain, and when it directs its movements to social
acts only, and when it confines its desires and aversions to the things
which are in its power, and when it is satisfied with everything that is
assigned to it by the common Nature."
In the last clause the Stoic turns from the contemplation of man's
nature, taken by itself, and dwells upon the nature of the universe,
which he conceives to be controlled by reason. He thus gains an added
argument for the obligations laid upon man by his own nature. He writes:
"Every instrument, tool, vessel, if it does that for which it has been
made, is well, and yet he who made it is not there.
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