Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §3.7.1

Rejecting What Harms Integrity and Serving the Inner Daemon

Passage 41 of 486 · Greek

Summary

The author advises never to value anything that forces one to betray trust or morals, and declares that those who choose their own reason and inner deity live without tragic complaints or fear of death.

§3.7.1Μὴ τιμήσῃς ποτὲ ὡς συμφέρον σεαυτοῦ, ὃ ἀναγκάσει σέ ποτε τὴν πίστιν παραβῆναι, τὴν αἰδῶ ἐγκαταλιπεῖν, μισῆσαί τινα, ὑποπτεῦσαι, καταράσασθαι, ὑποκρίνασθαι, ἐπιθυμῆσαί τινος τοίχων καὶ παραπετασμάτων δεομένου.
Never value as useful to yourself that which will one day force you to betray your trust, to abandon your self-respect, to hate anyone, to suspect, to curse, to dissemble, or to desire anything that requires walls and curtains.
ὁ γὰρ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ νοῦν καὶ δαίμονα καὶ τὰ ὄργια τῆς τούτου ἀρετῆς προελόμενος τραγῳδίαν οὐ ποιεῖ, οὐ στενάζει, οὐκ ἐρημίας, οὐ πολυπληθείας δεήσεται·
For he who has preferred his own mind and deity, and the mysteries of its virtue, does not make a tragedy, does not groan, and will have no need of solitude or of a crowd.
τὸ μέγιστον, ζήσει μήτε διώκων μήτε φεύγων, πότερον δὲ ἐπὶ πλέον διάστημα χρόνου τῷ σώματι περιεχομένῃ τῇ ψυχῇ ἢ ἐπ’ ἔλασσον χρήσεται, οὐδ᾽ ὁτιοῦν αὐτῷ μέλει·
Most of all, he will live neither pursuing nor fleeing; and whether he shall use the soul enclosed in the body for a longer or a shorter interval of time, is no concern to him at all.
κἂν γὰρ ἤδη ἀπαλλάσσεσθαι δέῃ, οὕτως εὐλύτως ἄπεισιν, ὡς ἄλλο τι τῶν αἰδημόνως καὶ κοσμίως ἐνεργεῖσθαι δυναμένων ἐνεργήσων, τοῦτο μόνον παρ’ ὅλον τὸν βίον εὐλαβούμενος, τὸ τὴν διάνοιαν ἔν τινι ἀνοικείῳ νοεροῦ καὶ πολιτικοῦ ζῴου τροπῇ γενέσθαι.
For even if he must depart immediately, he will go as readily as he would perform any other of those acts which can be done with self-respect and order, guarding against this alone throughout his whole life: that his mind should fall into any state unbecoming to a rational and social being.

Notes

  1. §3.7.1Μὴ τιμήσῃς — A negative hortatory construction using "μὴ" with the second-person singular aorist subjunctive, expressing a strong prohibition.
  2. §3.7.1τοίχων καὶ παραπετασμάτων δεομένου — The genitive present participle δεομένου of the verb δέομαι (to need), which governs the genitive nouns τοίχων and παραπετασμάτων, modifies the indefinite pronoun τινος. It is a metaphor for shameful deeds that must be hidden from public view.
  3. §3.7.1τραγῳδίαν οὐ ποιεῖ — Literally meaning "does not make a tragedy." In Stoic philosophy, it refers to refraining from making a dramatic display of one's suffering or complaining excessively about one's fate.
  4. §3.7.1τῷ σώματι περιεχομένῃ τῇ ψυχῇ — Dative case serving as the object of the verb χρήσεται (from χράομαι, to use). περιεχομένῃ is a present passive participle modifying ψυχῇ.
  5. §3.7.1τὸ τὴν διάνοιαν ... γενέσθαι — An appositional infinitive clause defining the demonstrative pronoun τοῦτο in the preceding phrase τοῦτο μόνον ... εὐλαβούμενος. τὴν διάνοιαν is the subject accusative of the infinitive γενέσθαι.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §3.7.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:3.7.1

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