Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §7.13.1

Rational Beings as Limbs of One Body and Benefiting Others

Passage 209 of 486 · Greek

Summary

Using the analogy of body parts, the author argues that doing good to others as an organic limb of the whole is equivalent to doing good to oneself.

§7.13.1Οἷόν ἐστιν ἐν ἡνωμένοις τὰ μέλη τοῦ σώματος, τοῦτον ἔχει τὸν λόγον ἐν διεστῶσι τὰ λογικά, πρὸς μίαν τινὰ συνεργίαν κατεσκευασμένα.
The relation which the limbs of the body have in unified entities, rational beings—constituted for a single cooperation—have in separate entities.
μᾶλλον δέ σοι ἡ τούτου νόησις προσπεσεῖται, ἐὰν πρὸς ἑαυτὸν πολλάκις λέγῃς, ὅτι μέλος εἰμὶ τοῦ ἐκ τῶν λογικῶν συστήματος. ἐὰν δὲ διὰ τοῦ ῥῶ στοιχείου μέρος εἶναι ἑαυτὸν λέγῃς, οὔπω ἀπὸ καρδίας φιλεῖς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους· οὔπω σε καταληκτικῶς εὐφραίνει τὸ εὐεργετεῖν· ἔτι ὡς πρέπον αὐτὸ ψιλὸν ποιεῖς, οὔπω ὡς ἑαυτὸν εὖ ποιῶν.
The understanding of this will strike you more forcibly if you say to yourself often: "I am a limb of the system composed of rational beings." But if, using the letter rho, you say that you are a part, you do not yet love human beings from the heart; doing good does not yet delight you with full conviction; you still do it merely as a proper thing to do, not yet as doing good to yourself.

Notes

  1. §7.13.1Οἷόν ἐστιν... τοῦτον ἔχει τὸν λόγον — The correlative construction "οἷόν ἐστιν" (just as...) and "τοῦτον ἔχει τὸν λόγον" (holds this same relation/ratio) is used to draw an analogy between the limbs of a body and rational beings. There is also a stark contrast between "ἐν ἡνωμένοις" (in unified things) and "ἐν διεστῶσι" (in separate things).
  2. §7.13.1διὰ τοῦ ῥῶ στοιχείου μέρος εἶναι ἑαυτὸν λέγῃς — Based on a wordplay between "μέλος" (limb) and "μέρος" (part). Replacing lambda with rho changes "limb" (an organic, inseparable part of a body) to "part" (a detached fraction or external component), illustrating the difference in how one conceives their connection to others.
  3. §7.13.1καταληκτικῶς — An adverb derived from the Stoic technical term "καταληπτικός" (cognitive, apprehensive). Here, it is used in the sense of "with full conviction," "completely," or "wholeheartedly," indicating a state of being internally convinced and grasping the rational structure of the cosmos, rather than acting merely out of external duty.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §7.13.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:7.13.1

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