Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §5.25.1

Indifference to Others' Wrongs and Following One's Nature

Passage 126 of 486 · Greek

Summary

The author explains that another's wrongdoing is their own concern, while he himself must possess what the common nature wills and do what his own nature wills.

§5.25.1Ἄλλος ἁμαρτάνει τι εἰς ἐμέ;

Does another commit some wrong against me?

ὄψεται· ἰδίαν ἔχει διάθεσιν, ἰδίαν ἐνέργειαν.

Let him look to it; he has his own disposition, his own activity.

ἐγὼ νῦν ἔχω, ὅ με θέλει νῦν ἔχειν ἡ κοινὴ φύσις, καὶ πράσσω, ὅ με νῦν πράσσειν θέλει ἡ ἐμὴ φύσις.

I now have what the common nature wishes me now to have, and I do what my own nature wishes me now to do.

Notes

§5.25.1ὄψεται — Third-person singular future middle of ὁράω ("to see"). Here used idiomatically to mean "he will see to it himself" or "it is his own concern / responsibility."
§5.25.1ὅ με θέλει νῦν ἔχειν ἡ κοινὴ φύσις — The relative pronoun ὅ is the direct object of the infinitive ἔχειν. The verb θέλω takes an accusative with infinitive construction (subject accusative με, infinitive ἔχειν), with ἡ κοινὴ φύσις as the subject of the clause. The subsequent clause ὅ με νῦν πράσσειν θέλει ἡ ἐμὴ φύσις shares the exact same structure.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §5.25.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.25.1

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