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Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §11.24.1

The Spartans Offering Shaded Seats to Foreign Strangers

Passage 436 of 486 · Greek

Summary

This section relates an anecdote illustrating the Spartan character, where they provided shaded seats for foreign guests during public spectacles while they themselves sat anywhere.

§11.24.1Λακεδαιμόνιοι τοῖς μὲν ξένοις ἐν ταῖς θεωρίαις ὑπὸ τῇ σκιᾷ τὰ βάθρα ἐτίθεσαν, αὐτοὶ δὲ οὗ ἔτυχεν, ἐκαθέζοντο.
The Lacedaemonians, at the spectacles, used to place the seats for the strangers in the shade, but they themselves sat down anywhere.

Notes

  1. §11.24.1οὗ ἔτυχεν — An idiomatic phrase consisting of the relative adverb οὗ ('where') and the impersonal aorist of τυγχάνω (ἔτυχεν, 'it happened'), meaning 'wherever it happened to be' or 'anywhere'.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §11.24.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:11.24.1

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