Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §11.8.1

The Analogy of the Branch: Separation and Reunion

Passage 420 of 486 · Greek

Summary

Marcus uses the analogy of a branch and a plant to warn that alienating oneself from a neighbor cuts one off from the whole community, explaining both the possibility of reunion and the danger of repeated divisions.

§11.8.1Κλάδος τοῦ προσεχοῦς κλάδου ἀποκοπεὶς οὐ δύναται μὴ καὶ τοῦ ὅλου φυτοῦ ἀποκεκόφθαι.
A branch cut off from its neighboring branch cannot but be cut off from the whole plant as well.
οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου ἀποσχισθεὶς ὅλης τῆς κοινωνίας ἀποπέπτωκε.
In the very same way, a human being, when severed from a single human being, has fallen away from the whole community.
κλάδον μὲν οὖν ἄλλος ἀποκόπτει· ἄνθρωπος δὲ αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν τοῦ πλησίον χωρίζει μισήσας καὶ ἀποστραφείς, ἀγνοεῖ δὲ ὅτι καὶ τοῦ ὅλου πολιτεύματος ἅμα ἀποτέτμηκεν ἑαυτόν.
Now, a branch is cut off by someone else; but a human being separates himself from his neighbor by his own act, through hating and turning away from him, and he does not realize that he has at the same time severed himself from the whole commonwealth.
πλὴν ἐκεῖνό γε δῶρον τοῦ συστησαμένου τὴν κοινωνίαν Διός· ἔξεστι γὰρ ἡμῖν πάλιν συμφῦναι τῷ προσεχεῖ καὶ πάλιν τοῦ ὅλου συμπληρωτικοῖς γενέσθαι.
Yet there is indeed that gift of Zeus who established the community; for it is in our power to grow together again with what is neighbor to us, and once more to become complementary parts of the whole.
πλεονάκις μέντοι γινόμενον τὸ κατὰ τὴν τοιαύτην διαίρεσιν δυσένωτον καὶ δυσαποκατάστατον τὸ ἀποχωροῦν ποιεῖ.
However, if this kind of division happens too often, it makes the parting member difficult to unite with and hard to restore.
ὅλως τε οὐχ ὅμοιος ὁ κλάδος ὁ ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς συμβλαστήσας καὶ σύμπνους συμμείνας τῷ μετὰ τὴν ἀποκοπὴν αὖθις ἐγκεντρισθέντι, ὅ τι ποτὲ λέγουσιν οἱ φυτουργοί.
And in general, the branch that has grown together from the beginning and remained in shared life is not like the one that has been grafted back on after being cut off, whatever the gardeners may say.
Ὁμοθαμνεῖν μέν, μὴ ὁμοδογματεῖν δέ.
Grow from the same root, but do not necessarily share the same opinions.

Notes

  1. 11.8.1οὐ δύναται μὴ καὶ τοῦ ὅλου φυτοῦ ἀποκεκόφθαι — The double negation (οὐ δύναται μὴ followed by the infinitive) expresses a strong necessity ('cannot but be...'). The perfect infinitive ἀποκεκόφθαι indicates the resulting permanent state of being cut off.
  2. 11.8.1πλεονάκις ... γινόμενον — The present participle γινόμενον is neuter singular, agreeing with the subject phrase τὸ κατὰ τὴν τοιαύτην διαίρεσιν ('that which happens through such division'). This phrase as a whole qualifies the direct object of ποιεῖ, namely τὸ ἀποχωροῦν ('the departing part').
  3. 11.8.1Ὁμοθαμνεῖν μέν, μὴ ὁμοδογματεῖν δέ — The two infinitives (ὁμοθαμνεῖν and ὁμοδογματεῖν), contrasted by μέν... δέ, are used independently without a main verb, functioning as infinitives of command or exhortation.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §11.8.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:11.8.1

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