Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §11.2.1

Overcoming Allure by Division into Constituent Parts

Passage 414 of 486 · Greek

Summary

The author suggests a method of overcoming the allure of songs, dancing, and combat by analyzing them into their constituent parts, urging to apply this analytical deconstruction to all things except virtue, and to life as a whole.

§11.2.1Ὠιδῆς ἐπιτερποῦς καὶ ὀρχήσεως καὶ παγκρατίου καταφρονήσεις, ἐὰν τὴν μὲν ἐμμελῆ φωνὴν καταμερίσῃς εἰς ἕκαστον τῶν φθόγγων καὶ καθ’ ἕνα πύθῃ σεαυτοῦ, εἰ τούτου ἥττων εἶ·

You will come to despise a delightful song, and dancing, and the pancratium, if you divide the tuneful voice into its single notes, and ask yourself concerning each of them, whether you are mastered by this.

διατραπήσῃ γάρ·

For you will be turned away.

ἐπὶ δὲ ὀρχήσεως τὸ ἀνάλογον ποιήσας καθ’ ἑκάστην κίνησιν ἢ σχέσιν, τὸ δ’ αὐτὸ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ παγκρατίου.

And if you do the analogous thing in the case of dancing with respect to each movement or posture, and the very same also in the case of the pancratium.

ὅλως οὖν, χωρὶς ἀρετῆς καὶ τῶν ἀπ’ ἀρετῆς, μέμνησο ἐπὶ τὰ κατὰ μέρος τρέχειν καὶ τῇ διαιρέσει αὐτῶν εἰς καταφρόνησιν ἰέναι, τὸ δ’ αὐτὸ καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν βίον ὅλον μετάφερε.

In short, then, except for virtue and what proceeds from virtue, remember to run to the individual parts, and by analyzing them to come to despise them; and transfer this same practice to life as a whole.

Notes

11.2.1καταφρονήσεις — Future active indicative second person singular of the verb καταφρονέω (to despise, look down upon). It functions as the main verb of the apodosis corresponding to the following ἐάν clause (protasis). It governs the genitive nouns at the beginning of the sentence (Ὠιδῆς... καὶ ὀρχήσεως καὶ παγκρατίου).
11.2.1πύθῃ — Aorist middle subjunctive second person singular of πυνθάνομαι (to inquire, learn), governed by the conjunction ἐάν. It takes the genitive of the reflexive pronoun σεαυτοῦ to mean 'ask of yourself' or 'inquire of yourself', and introduces the indirect question clause εἰ τούτου ἥττων εἶ (whether you are mastered by this).
11.2.1διατραπήσῃ — Future passive indicative second person singular of διατρέπω (to turn away, confound). In this context, it describes the psychological effect of losing interest or being 'turned away' from the attraction of the object once it has been analyzed into its trivial components.
11.2.1χωρὶς ἀρετῆς καὶ τῶν ἀπ’ ἀρετῆς — A prepositional phrase with χωρίς (except, apart from) governing the genitive. It indicates that in Stoic ethics, 'virtue' and 'what proceeds from virtue' (moral actions) are unique exceptions that must not be subjected to this kind of deconstructive analysis aimed at contempt.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §11.2.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:11.2.1

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