Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §11.21.1

A Social Aim for Consistency in Life

Passage 433 of 486 · Greek

Summary

The author argues that in order to remain consistent throughout life, it is not enough to merely have an aim, but that aim must be established as a social and civic one directed toward the common good.

§11.21.1ʽὯι μὴ εἶς καὶ ὁ αὐτός ἐστιν ἀεὶ τοῦ βίου σκοπός, οὗτος εἷς καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς δι’ ὅλου τοῦ βίου εἶναι οὐ δύναται. ʼ οὐκ ἀρκεῖ τὸ εἰρημένον, ἐὰν μὴ κἀκεῖνο προσθῇς, ὁποῖον εἶναι δεῖ τοῦτον τὸν σκοπόν.
'“He who has not one and the same aim in life always, cannot be one and the same through his whole life.”' This saying is not sufficient, unless you add also this, what kind of aim this ought to be.
ὥσπερ γὰρ οὐχ ἡ πάντων τῶν ὁπωσοῦν τοῖς πλείοσι δοκούντων ἀγαθῶν ὑπόληψις ὁμοία ἐστίν, ἀλλ’ ἡ τῶν τοιῶνδέ τινων, τουτέστι τῶν κοινῶν, οὕτω καὶ τὸν σκοπὸν δεῖ τὸν κοινωνικὸν καὶ πολιτικὸν ὑποστήσασθαι.
For just as the conception of all the things which in any way whatsoever seem good to the majority is not uniform, but only that of certain kinds of things, namely, of things of common interest, so also we must set up the aim as social and political.
ὁ γὰρ εἰς τοῦτον πάσας τὰς ἰδίας ὁρμὰς ἀπευθύνων πάσας τὰς πράξεις ὁμοίας ἀποδώσει καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο ἀεὶ ὁ αὐτὸς ἔσται.
For he who directs all his own impulses towards this aim will make all his actions uniform and in this respect will always be the same.

Notes

  1. §11.21.1Ὧι — The relative pronoun ᾧ is a dative of possession with an omitted antecedent ἐκείνῳ ('for him to whom...'). It functions as the virtual subject of the conditional statement, corresponding with the pronoun οὗτος in the main clause.
  2. §11.21.1τῶν ὁπωσοῦν τοῖς πλείοσι δοκούντων ἀγαθῶν — The participial phrase τῶν ... δοκούντων modifies the substantivized adjective ἀγαθῶν (good things). τοῖς πλείοσι is the dative complement of δοκέω ('seem to the majority'). The adverb ὁπωσοῦν ('in any way whatsoever') modifies the participle, indicating the diverse worldly objects perceived as good by the masses.
  3. §11.21.1ὑποστήσασθαι — An infinitive in the middle voice governed by the impersonal verb δεῖ, meaning 'to set up for oneself' or 'to establish as a foundation'. Its semantic object is τὸν σκοπὸν, which is modified by the adjectives τὸν κοινωνικὸν καὶ πολιτικὸν.
  4. §11.21.1ὁμοίας ἀποδώσει — The adjective ὁμοίας (uniform, consistent) functions as a predicate adjective modifying the object πάσας τὰς πράξεις (all actions). Combined with the verb ἀποδώσει (will render/produce), it expresses the resulting state of rendering all actions consistent with one another.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §11.21.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:11.21.1

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