Meditations VI.12

Hadst thou at once a stepmother and a mother thou wouldst pay due service to the former, and yet thy constant recourse would be to thy mother. So hast thou now the court and philosophy for stepmother and mother. Cease not then to come to the latter and take thy rest in her,¹³ whereby shall both thy court life seem more tolerable¹⁴ to thee, and thou to thy court life.

• 13.Seneca’s Epistles 103.
• 14.For life in kings’ courts see Lucian’s On Slander 10, and Icaromenippus 16.

  Lucian’s On Slander is an essay on calumny; in Icaromenippus Menippus flies up to heaven and looks down on the affairs of men.