§10.29.1Κατὰ μέρος ἐφ’ ἑκάστου ὧν ποιεῖς ἐφιστάνων ἐπερώτα σεαυτὸν εἰ ὁ θάνατος δεινὸν διὰ τὸ τούτου στέρεσθαι.
At every individual thing that you do, stop and ask yourself if death is a terrible thing because you are deprived of this.
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §10.29.1
Death Feared for the Loss of Daily Activities
Summary
The author urges self-examination on whether death is terrifying simply because it deprives one of the individual activities of daily life.
Notes
- 10.29.1ἐφιστάνων — Present active participle modifying the implied subject of the main imperative ἐπερώτα, meaning "fixing your attention" or "stopping to reflect" on each action.
- 10.29.1ὧν — Relative pronoun, originally ἃ (accusative as the direct object of ποιεῖς), attracted into the genitive case by its antecedent ἑκάστου.
- 10.29.1τούτου — Genitive demonstrative pronoun acting as the complement of the passive infinitive στέρεσθαι (to be deprived of), referring back to the antecedent ἑκάστου ὧν ποιεῖς (each of the things you do).
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §10.29.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:10.29.1
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