Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §2.11.1-2.11.4

Readiness for Death, Providence, and Indifferents

Passage 28 of 486 · Greek

Summary

Urging oneself to live with the constant readiness for death, and arguing that the gods and the nature of the whole exist to care for humans, while indifferent things like life and death are neither good nor evil.

§2.11.1Ὡς ἤδη δυνατοῦ ὄντος ἐξιέναι τοῦ βίου, οὕτως ἕκαστα ποιεῖν καὶ λέγειν καὶ διανοεῖσθαι.

As if it were already possible to depart from life, so do and say and think every single thing.

τὸ δὲ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀπελθεῖν, εἰ μὲν θεοὶ εἰσίν, οὐδὲν δεινόν· κακῷ γάρ σε οὐκ ἂν περιβάλοιεν·

But to depart from among men, if there are gods, is nothing terrible; for they would not involve you in evil.

εἰ δὲ ἤτοι οὐκ εἰσὶν ἢ οὐ μέλει αὐτοῖς τῶν ἀνθρωπείων, τί μοι ζῆν ἐν κόσμῳ κενῷ θεῶν ἢ προνοίας κενῷ;

But if they either do not exist, or do not care for human affairs, what is it to me to live in a universe void of gods or void of providence?

§2.11.2ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰσὶ καὶ μέλει αὐτοῖς τῶν ἀνθρωπείων καὶ τοῖς μὲν κατ’ ἀλήθειαν κακοῖς ἵνα μὴ περιπίπτῃ ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἐπ’ αὐτῷ τὸ πᾶν ἔθεντο·

But they both exist and do care for human affairs, and they have put it entirely in man's own power so that he may not fall into what are truly evils.

τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν εἴ τι κακὸν ἦν, καὶ τοῦτο ἂν προείδοντο, ἵνα ἐπὶ παντὶ ᾖ τὸ μὴ περιπίπτειν αὐτῷ.

And if any of the remaining things were an evil, they would have provided for this too, so that it might be in every way possible for one not to fall into it.

ὃ δὲ χείρω μὴ ποιεῖ ἄνθρωπον, πῶς ἂν τοῦτο βίον ἀνθρώπου χείρω ποιήσειεν;

But that which does not make a man worse, how could this make a man's life worse?

§2.11.3οὔτε δὲ κατ’ ἄγνοιαν οὔτε εἰδυῖα μέν, μὴ δυναμένη δὲ προφυλάξασθαι ἢ διορθώσασθαι ταῦτα ἡ τῶν ὅλων φύσις παρεῖδεν ἄν, οὔτ’ ἂν τηλικοῦτον ἥμαρτεν ἤτοι παρ’ ἀδυναμίαν ἢ παρ’ ἀτεχνίαν, ἵνα τὰ ἀγαθὰ καὶ τὰ κακὰ ἐπίσης τοῖς τε ἀγαθοῖς ἀνθρώποις καὶ τοῖς κακοῖς πεφυρμένως συμβαίνῃ.

The nature of the whole would not have overlooked these things either through ignorance, or through knowing indeed but being unable to guard against or correct them; nor would it have made so great a mistake, either through lack of power or lack of skill, as to let good things and bad things happen equally to good and bad men alike in a confused way.

§2.11.4θάνατος δέ γε καὶ ζωή, δόξα καὶ ἀδοξία, πόνος καὶ ἡδονή, πλοῦτος καὶ πενία, πάντα ταῦτα ἐπίσης συμβαίνει ἀνθρώπων τοῖς τε ἀγαθοῖς καὶ τοῖς κακοῖς, οὔτε καλὰ ὄντα οὔτε αἰσχρά.

But death and life, honor and dishonor, pain and pleasure, wealth and poverty, all these things happen equally to good and bad men alike, being neither noble nor shameful.

οὔτ’ ἄρ’ ἀγαθὰ οὔτε κακά ἐστι.

Therefore, they are neither good nor evil.

Notes

2.11.1Ὡς ἤδη δυνατοῦ ὄντος ἐξιέναι τοῦ βίου — A genitive absolute construction introduced by the particle ὡς. The impersonal expression δυνατὸν ὄν (it being possible) takes the genitive form δυνατοῦ ὄντος, with the subject of the infinitive ἐξιέναι omitted. The particle ὡς expresses a subjective assumption, 'as if...'.
2.11.2τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν εἴ τι κακὸν ἦν, καὶ τοῦτο ἂν προείδοντο — A contrary-to-fact conditional sentence (εἰ with the imperfect indicative in the protasis, and ἄν with the aorist indicative in the apodosis). It states a hypothetical situation contrary to reality: if the gods had considered these other things to be evil, they would have provided against them beforehand.
2.11.3παρεῖδεν ἄν, οὔτ’ ἂν τηλικοῦτον ἥμαρτεν — The particle ἄν combined with the aorist indicatives (παρεῖδεν and ἥμαρτεν) expresses a past contrary-to-fact possibility ('would not have overlooked', 'would not have made such a mistake'). The subject is ἡ τῶν ὅλων φύσις (the nature of the whole), asserting strongly that nature could not have made such an error.
2.11.4ἀνθρώπων τοῖς τε ἀγαθοῖς καὶ τοῖς κακοῖς — The genitive ἀνθρώπων is a partitive genitive qualifying the dative phrases (τοῖς τε ἀγαθοῖς καὶ τοῖς κακοῖς, 'to the good and the bad'), meaning 'among men, to both the good and the bad'.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §2.11.1-2.11.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:2.11.1-2.11.4

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