Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §12.3.1-12.3.2

Freeing the True Mind from External Ties to Live the Present

Passage 454 of 486 · Greek

Summary

Explains that among the body, breath, and mind that compose a human, one must separate the true self (the mind) from external factors, the past, and the future. By training oneself to live only in the present, one can live peacefully in harmony with one's own daimon until death.

§12.3.1Τρία ἐστὶν ἐξ ὧν συνέστηκας· σωμάτιον, πνευμάτιον, νοῦς.
There are three things of which you are composed: body, breath, and mind.
τούτων τἄλλα μέχρι τοῦ ἐπιμελεῖσθαι δεῖν σά ἐστι, τὸ δὲ τρίτον μόνον κυρίως σόν.
Of these, the first two are yours to the extent that you must care for them, but only the third is properly your own.
ὃ ἐὰν χωρίσῃς ἀπὸ σεαυτοῦ, τουτέστιν ἀπὸ τῆς σῆς διανοίας, ὅσα ἄλλοι ποιοῦσιν ἢ λέγουσιν ἢ ὅσα αὐτὸς ἐποίησας ἢ εἶπας καὶ ὅσα ὡς μέλλοντα ταράσσει σε καὶ ὅσα τοῦ περικειμένου σοι σωματίου ἢ τοῦ συμφύτου πνευματίου ἀπροαίρετα πρόσεστιν καὶ ὅσα ἡ ἔξωθεν περιρρέουσα δίνη ἑλίσσει, ὥστε τῶν συνειμαρμένων ἐξῃρημένην καὶ καθαρὰν τὴν νοερὰν δύναμιν ἀπόλυτον ἐφ’ ἑαυτῆς ζῆν, ποιοῦσαν τὰ δίκαια καὶ θέλουσαν τὰ συμβαίνοντα καὶ λέγουσαν τἀληθῆ· §12.3.2ἐὰν χωρίσῃς, φημί, τοῦ ἡγεμονικοῦ τούτου τὰ προσηρτημένα ἐκ προσπαθείας καὶ τοῦ χρόνου τὰ ἐπέκεινα ἢ τὰ παρῳχηκότα, ποιήσῃς τε σεαυτόν, οἷος ὁ Ἐμπεδόκλειος "σφαῖρος κυκλοτερὴς μονίῃ περιηγέι γαίων," μόνον τε ζῆν ἐκμελετήσῃς ὃ ζῇς, τουτέστι τὸ παρόν· δυνήσῃ τό γε μέχρι τοῦ ἀποθανεῖν ὑπολειπόμενον ἀταράκτως καὶ εὐμενῶς καὶ ἵλεως τῷ σαυτοῦ δαίμονι διαβιῶναι.
If you separate from yourself, that is, from your mind, all that others do or say, or all that you yourself did or said, and all that troubles you as future, and all that is attached to your surrounding body or your innate breath without your choice, and all that the external-whirling vortex sweeps along, so that the intellectual power, freed and purified from what is fated, may live independent by itself, doing what is just, willing what happens, and speaking the truth— if, I say, you separate from this ruling center all that is attached to it by passion, and time future or past, and make yourself like the Empedoclean "sphere, well-rounded, exulting in its encircling solitude," and practice living only that which you live, that is, the present, you will be able to pass the time that remains until death undisturbed, benevolently, and at peace with your own daimon.

Notes

  1. §12.3.1μέχρι τοῦ ἐπιμελεῖσθαι δεῖν — Meaning 'so far as it is necessary to care for them.' The preposition μέχρι is followed by a genitive phrase combining the articular infinitive τοῦ ἐπιμελεῖσθαι with δεῖν, the infinitive of the impersonal verb δεῖ.
  2. §12.3.1ὅσα ἄλλοι ποιοῦσιν... — The series of parallel clauses beginning with the relative pronoun ὅσα function as the direct objects of the preceding verb χωρίσῃς. After this long, parenthetical enumeration, the construction is resumed and clarified in §12.3.2 with the repetition ἐὰν χωρίσῃς, φημί ('if you separate, I say').
  3. §12.3.2τοῦ ἡγεμονικοῦ τούτου τὰ προσηρτημένα — τοῦ ἡγεμονικοῦ τούτου is a genitive of separation dependent on the transitive verb χωρίσῃς ('separate from...'). τὰ προσηρτημένα ('the things attached') is a substantivized participle acting as the direct object of χωρίσῃς.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §12.3.1-12.3.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:12.3.1-12.3.2

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.