Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §12.34.1

Contempt of Death Shown Even by Hedonists

Passage 484 of 486 · Greek

Summary

Points out that the fact that even those who deem pleasure as good and pain as evil despised death is the strongest incentive to despise death.

§12.34.1Πρὸς θανάτου καταφρόνησιν ἐγερτικώτατον ὅτι καὶ οἱ τὴν ἡδονὴν ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸν πόνον κακὸν κρίνοντες ὅμως τούτου κατεφρόνησαν.
What is most effective for awakening contempt for death is the fact that even those who judge pleasure to be good and pain to be evil have nevertheless despised it.

Notes

  1. §12.34.1ἐγερτικώτατον ὅτι — The copula ἐστί is omitted after the predicate adjective ἐγερτικώτατον (superlative neuter singular, 'most awakening'), with the ὅτι clause functioning as the subject clause.
  2. §12.34.1καὶ οἱ ... κρίνοντες — Here, καὶ is not a conjunction but an adverbial modifier focusing on the following participle phrase ('those who judge...'), meaning 'even'.
  3. §12.34.1τούτου — Genitive masculine singular of the demonstrative pronoun οὗτος, serving as the object of the verb κατεφρόνησαν (which governs the genitive). It refers back to the masculine noun θανάτου (death) at the beginning of the sentence.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §12.34.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:12.34.1

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