Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §6.53.1

Attentive Listening and Entering into Another's Mind

Passage 190 of 486 · Greek

Summary

The author urges one to accustom oneself to listen closely to another's words without distraction and to enter as much as possible into the speaker's soul.

§6.53.1Ἔθισον σεαυτὸν πρὸς τῷ ὑφ’ ἑτέρου λεγομένῳ γίνεσθαι ἀπαρενθυμήτως καὶ ὡς οἷόν τε ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ τοῦ λέγοντος γίνου.
Accustom yourself to attend closely to what is said by another without distraction, and as far as possible, enter into the soul of the speaker.

Notes

  1. §6.53.1πρὸς τῷ ὑφ’ ἑτέρου λεγομένῳ γίνεσθαι — The combination of the preposition `πρός` with the dative case expresses close contact or devotion to an object. Here, used with the intransitive verb `γίνεσθαι`, it means "to bring oneself to attend closely to what is said by another." This infinitive phrase functions as an object complement to `σεαυτόν` (yourself) governed by the main verb `Ἔθισον` (accustom).
  2. §6.53.1ἀπαρενθυμήτως — An extremely rare adverb derived from the negative adjective of the verb `παρενθυμέομαι` (to look aside, let the mind wander). It means "without distraction" or "without letting the mind wander to other thoughts," prescribing an attitude of selfless, attentive listening without introducing one's own preconceptions.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §6.53.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:6.53.1

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