Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §12.9.1

Practicing Principles: The Pancratiast over the Gladiator

Passage 460 of 486 · Greek

Summary

The author advises that in applying one's principles, one should be like a pancratiast who always has his hands ready, rather than a gladiator who must pick up his sword.

§12.9.1Ὅμοιον δ’ εἶναι δεῖ ἐν τῇ τῶν δογμάτων χρήσει παγκρατιαστῇ, οὐχὶ μονομάχῳ·
In the application of your principles, you must be like a pancratiast, not a gladiator.
ὁ μὲν γὰρ τὸ ξίφος ᾧ χρῆται ἀποτίθεται καὶ ἀναιρεῖται· ὁ δὲ τὴν χεῖρα ἀεὶ ἔχει καὶ οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ συστρέψαι αὐτὴν δεῖ.
For the latter puts down and takes up the sword which he uses, but the former always has his hand, and needs to do nothing else than clench it.

Notes

  1. §12.9.1Ὅμοιον ... δεῖ — The accusative neuter (or masculine) ὅμοιον serves as the predicate of the infinitive εἶναι which is governed by the impersonal verb δεῖ, referencing an implied subject in the accusative. The compared terms (παγκρατιαστῇ, μονομάχῳ) are in the dative, governed by ὅμοιος.
  2. §12.9.1οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ συστρέψαι αὐτὴν δεῖ — The phrase οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ functions as "nothing other than," with the active aorist infinitive συστρέψαι (to clench, to double up) depending directly on δεῖ. The pronoun αὐτήν refers back to τὴν χεῖρα.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §12.9.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:12.9.1

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