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Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §11.37.1

Epictetus on Assent, Impulse, and Restraining Desire

Passage 449 of 486 · Greek

Summary

Citing Epictetus, the passage discusses acquiring an art of assent, maintaining attention in impulses under specific conditions, and limiting desire and aversion to things in our control.

§11.37.1Τέχνην, ἔφη, δεῖ περὶ τὸ συγκατατίθεσθαι εὑρεῖν καὶ ἐν τῷ περὶ τὰς ὁρμὰς τόπῳ τὸ προσεκτικὸν φυλάσσειν, ἵνα μεθ’ ὑπεξαιρέσεως, ἵνα κοινωνικαί, ἵνα κατ’ ἀξίαν, καὶ ὀρέξεως μὲν παντάπασιν ἀπέχεσθαι, ἐκκλίσει δὲ πρὸς μηδὲν τῶν οὐκ ἐφ’ ἡμῖν χρῆσθαι.
He said that one must find an art in the matter of assent, and in the area of impulses preserve attentiveness, so that they may be with reservation, social, and according to value; and that one must abstain altogether from desire, and employ aversion toward nothing of those things not in our power.

Notes

  1. §11.37.1κοινωνικαί — The feminine plural nominative ending of the adjective indicates that the omitted subject of the ἵνα clauses is αἱ ὁρμαί (derived from the preceding accusative τὰς ὁρμάς). The present subjunctive third-person plural verb ὦσιν (that they may be) is also omitted.
  2. §11.37.1ἀπέχεσθαι — The infinitive ἀπέχεσθαι and the subsequent χρῆσθαι depend on the impersonal verb δεῖ (one must) at the beginning of the sentence, functioning as infinitives of obligation.
  3. §11.37.1ἐκκλίσει — Dative singular of the noun ἔκκλισις (aversion), serving as the complement/object controlled by the verb χρῆσθαι (to use/employ) which governs the dative.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §11.37.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:11.37.1

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