Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §5.10.1-5.10.2

The Obscurity of Things and Obeying Nature

Passage 111 of 486 · Greek

Summary

Highlighting the incomprehensibility of things and the transience of life, the author reflects on the difficulty of enduring others and oneself, concluding that one should find peace only in obeying the nature of the whole and remaining faithful to one's own daemon.

§5.10.1Τὰ μὲν πράγματα ἐν τοιαύτῃ τρόπον τινὰ ἐγκαλύψει ἐστίν, ὥστε φιλοσόφοις οὐκ ὀλίγοις οὐδὲ τοῖς τυχοῦσιν ἔδοξε παντάπασιν ἀκατάληπτα εἶναι, πλὴν αὐτοῖς γε τοῖς Στωικοῖς δυσκατάληπτα δοκεῖ·
Things are in such a kind of envelopment, so to speak, that they have seemed completely incomprehensible to not a few philosophers, and those of no ordinary status; even to the Stoics themselves they seem difficult to comprehend.
καὶ πᾶσα ἡ ἡμετέρα συγκατάθεσις μεταπτώτη· ποῦ γὰρ ὁ ἀμετάπτωτος;
And all our assent is mutable; for where is the immutable man?
μέτιθι τοίνυν ἐπ’ αὐτὰ τὰ ὑποκείμενα ὡς ὀλιγοχρόνια καὶ εὐτελῆ καὶ δυνάμενα ἐν κτήσει κιναίδου ἢ πόρνης ἢ λῃστοῦ εἶναι.
Pass on then to the material things themselves, how short-lived they are, and worthless, and capable of being in the possession of a pathic, or a prostitute, or a robber.
μετὰ τοῦτο ἔπιθι ἐπὶ τὰ τῶν συμβιούντων ἤθη, ὧν μόλις ἐστὶ καὶ τοῦ χαριεστάτου ἀνασχέσθαι, ἵνα μὴ λέγω, ὅτι καὶ ἑαυτόν τις μόγις ὑπομένει.
After this, turn to the characters of those who live with you, even the most agreeable of whom it is difficult to endure, not to say that a man can hardly endure himself.
§5.10.2ἐν τοιούτῳ οὖν ζόφῳ καὶ ῥύπῳ καὶ τοσαύτῃ ῥύσει τῆς τε οὐσίας καὶ τοῦ χρόνου καὶ τῆς κινήσεως καὶ τῶν κινουμένων τί ποτέ ἐστι τὸ ἐκτιμηθῆναι ἢ τὸ ὅλως σπουδασθῆναι δυνάμενον, οὐδ’ ἐπινοῶ.
In such darkness then and filth, and in such a constant flux of substance and of time, and of motion and of things moved, what there is that can be valued or indeed worthy of any serious pursuit, I cannot even conceive.
τοὐναντίον γὰρ δεῖ παραμυθούμενον ἑαυτὸν περιμένειν τὴν φυσικὴν λύσιν καὶ μὴ ἀσχάλλειν τῇ διατριβῇ, ἀλλὰ τούτοις μόνοις προσαναπαύεσθαι· ἑνὶ μὲν τῷ, ὅτι οὐδὲν συμβήσεταί μοι ὃ οὐχὶ κατὰ τὴν τῶν ὅλων φύσιν ἐστίν· ἑτέρῳ δέ, ὅτι ἔξεστί μοι μηδὲν πράσσειν παρὰ τὸν ἐμὸν θεὸν καὶ δαίμονα· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ὁ ἀναγκάσων τοῦτον παραβῆναι.
On the contrary, a man ought to console himself and wait for his natural dissolution, and not to be vexed at the delay, but to rest quiet in these two things only: first, that nothing will happen to me which is not in accordance with the nature of the whole; second, that it is in my power to do nothing contrary to my god and daemon; for there is no one who will compel me to transgress this.

Notes

  1. §5.10.1οὐδὲ τοῖς τυχοῦσιν — Combined with the negation, it means 'not even to the ordinary ones' (i.e., highly distinguished or exceptional philosophers). ὁ τυχών refers to a casual or ordinary person.
  2. §5.10.1ὧν μόλις ἐστὶ καὶ τοῦ χαριεστάτου ἀνασχέσθαι — The relative genitive ὧν has τῶν συμβιούντων as its antecedent, functioning as a partitive genitive related to the subsequent τοῦ χαριεστάτου ('even the most agreeable of them'). The impersonal ἐστί is used in the sense of 'it is possible', governing the infinitive ἀνασχέσθαι.
  3. §5.10.1ἵνα μὴ λέγω — Although taking the form of a purpose clause ('lest I say'), it functions rhetorically as a parenthetical expression meaning 'not to say' or 'let alone'.
  4. §5.10.2τὸ ἐκτιμηθῆναι ἢ τὸ ὅλως σπουδασθῆναι δυνάμενον — The articular infinitives ἐκτιμηθῆναι ('to be valued') and σπουδασθῆναι ('to be pursued') are modified as a whole by the neuter participle δυνάμενον ('that which is capable of').

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §5.10.1-5.10.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.10.1-5.10.2

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