Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §4.47.1

The Insignificance of the Timing of One's Death

Passage 97 of 486 · Greek

Summary

Explains that just as there is little difference between dying tomorrow or the day after, there is no significant difference between dying tomorrow or many years later, advising against clinging to the timing of death.

§4.47.1Ὥσπερ εἴ τίς σοι θεῶν εἶπεν, ὅτι αὔριον τεθνήξῃ ἢ πάντως γε εἰς τρίτην, οὐκέτ’ ἂν παρὰ μέγα ἐποιοῦ τὸ εἰς τρίτην μᾶλλον ἢ αὔριον, εἴ γε μὴ ἐσχάτως ἀγεννὴς εἶ· πόσον γάρ ἐστι τὸ μεταξύ; οὕτως καὶ τὸ εἰς πολλοστὸν ἔτος μᾶλλον ἢ αὔριον μηδὲν μέγα εἶναι νόμιζε.
Just as if one of the gods had told you that you would die tomorrow, or at any rate on the day after tomorrow, you would no longer make it a great matter to die on the day after tomorrow rather than tomorrow, unless you were utterly mean-spirited—for how much is the interval between?—so also consider it no great thing to die after many years rather than tomorrow. Just as if one of the gods had told you that you would die tomorrow, or at any rate on the day after tomorrow, you would no longer make it a great matter to die on the day after tomorrow rather than tomorrow, unless you were utterly mean-spirited—for how much is the interval between?—so also consider it no great thing to die after many years rather than tomorrow.

Notes

  1. §4.47.1εἰς τρίτην — Meaning "on the third day," but according to the Greek inclusive method of counting (today being the first, tomorrow the second, and the day after the third), it practically means "on the day after tomorrow." The noun ἡμέραν is omitted.
  2. §4.47.1παρὰ μέγα ἐποιοῦ — The imperfect indicative with ἂν forms the apodosis of a contrary-to-fact condition. The phrase παρὰ μέγα ποιεῖσθαι is an idiomatic expression meaning "to make a great matter of" or "to regard as a big difference," where the preposition παρά with the accusative denotes comparison or standard.
  3. §4.47.1τὸ εἰς τρίτην — The future infinitive (here, τεθνήξεσθαι, "to die") is omitted after the neuter article τὸ. A similar omission is found in the contrasting phrase τὸ εἰς πολλοστὸν ἔτος.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §4.47.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.47.1

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