Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §5.27.1

Living with the Gods and Obedience to the Inner Daemon

Passage 128 of 486 · Greek

Summary

The author explains that living with the gods means constantly demonstrating to them a soul that is content with its destiny and obedient to the inner daemon (intellect and reason) granted by Zeus.

§5.27.1ʽΣυζῆν θεοῖς. ʼ συζῇ δὲ θεοῖς ὁ συνεχῶς δεικνὺς αὐτοῖς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν ἀρεσκομένην μὲν τοῖς ἀπονεμομένοις, ποιοῦσαν δὲ ὅσα βούλεται ὁ δαίμων, ὃν ἑκάστῳ προστάτην καὶ ἡγεμόνα ὁ Ζεὺς ἔδωκεν, ἀπόσπασμα ἑαυτοῦ.
'Live with the gods.' And he lives with the gods who constantly shows them his own soul satisfied with what is assigned to it, and doing whatever is willed by the daemon, whom Zeus gave to each as a protector and guide, a fragment of himself.
οὗτος δέ ἐστιν ὁ ἑκάστου νοῦς καὶ λόγος.
And this is each person's intellect and reason.

Notes

  1. §5.27.1ἀρεσκομένην ... ποιοῦσαν — The participles `ἀρεσκομένην` and `ποιοῦσαν` are feminine accusative singular, agreeing with `τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν` (his own soul). They function as predicate participles with `δεικνὺς` ("showing his soul to be satisfied... and doing...").
  2. §5.27.1ἀπόσπασμα ἑαυτοῦ — An appositive phrase to the relative pronoun `ὃν` (referring to `ὁ δαίμων`). The reflexive genitive `ἑαυτοῦ` (of himself) refers to the subject of the relative clause, `ὁ Ζεὺς` (Zeus), meaning "a fragment of Zeus himself."

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §5.27.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.27.1

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.