Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §4.39.1

Evil in One's Own Judgment and the Maintenance of Calm

Passage 89 of 486 · Greek

Summary

Evil exists only in one's own faculty of judgment, not in external factors or others' minds. If the judging part remains calm and free from opinion, even physical suffering cannot cause true harm.

§4.39.1Ἐν ἀλλοτρίῳ ἡγεμονικῷ κακὸν σὸν οὐχ ὑφίσταται οὐδὲ μὴν ἔν τινι τροπῇ καὶ ἑτεροιώσει τοῦ περιέχοντος.
Your evil does not exist in another's governing principle, nor indeed in any turning and alteration of your surroundings.
ποῦ οὖν;
Where then?
ὅπου τὸ περὶ κακῶν ὑπολαμβάνον σοί ἐστι.
There where your power of forming opinions concerning evils is.
τοῦτο οὖν μὴ ὑπολαμβανέτω καὶ πάντα εὖ ἔχει.
Let this part then not form such opinions, and all is well.
κἂν τὸ ἐγγυτάτω αὐτοῦ, τὸ σωμάτιον, τέμνηται, καίηται, διαπυίσκηται, σήπηται, ὅμως τὸ ὑπολαμβάνον περὶ τούτων μόριον ἡσυχαζέτω· τουτέστι, κρινέτω μήτε κακόν τι εἶναι μήτε ἀγαθόν, ὃ ἐπίσης δύναται κακῷ ἀνδρὶ καὶ ἀγαθῷ συμβαίνειν.
Even if its closest neighbor, the body, is cut, burned, suppurates, or rots, still let the part which judges concerning these things remain quiet; that is, let it judge that to be neither good nor bad which can happen equally to a bad man and a good man.
ὃ γὰρ καὶ τῷ παρὰ φύσιν καὶ τῷ κατὰ φύσιν βιοῦντι ἐπίσης συμβαίνει, τοῦτο οὔτε κατὰ φύσιν ἐστὶν οὔτε παρὰ φύσιν.
For that which happens equally to him who lives contrary to nature and to him who lives according to nature, is neither according to nature nor contrary to nature.

Notes

  1. §4.39.1τοῦ περιέχοντος — A substantive use of the present participle, meaning 'that which surrounds' or 'encompasses', referring either to the physical body enclosing the soul, or to the external material environment of the cosmos. It indicates that alterations in the physical world outside the governing principle have no bearing on moral evil.
  2. §4.39.1σοί — A dative of possession or ethical dative ('in you'). Combined with the verb ἐστί, it closely links the power of judgment to the individual ('the judging part that belongs to you' or 'is in you').
  3. §4.39.1αὐτοῦ — Genitive of the personal pronoun, referring back to 'the judging part' (τὸ ὑπολαμβάνον) or 'the governing principle' (ἡγεμονικόν). The physical body (τὸ σωμάτιον) is described in apposition as its closest neighbor (ἐγγυτάτω).

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §4.39.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.39.1

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