Meditations IV.12

Thou shouldest have these two readinesses always at hand; the one which prompts thee to do only what thy reason in its royal and law-making capacity shall suggest for the good of mankind; the other to change thy mind,²³ if one be near to set thee right, and convert thee from some vain conceit. But this conversion should be the outcome of a persuasion in every case that the thing is just or to the common interest—and some such cause should be the only one—not because it is seemingly pleasant or popular.

• 23.Compare Capitolinus’s Life of Marcus xxii. 4.

  Capitolinus records Marcus’s saying that it is fairer for him to follow the advice of so many friends than for so many friends to follow his will.