Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §7.26.1

Pity and Forgiveness Based on Another's View of Good

Passage 222 of 486 · Greek

Summary

The author advises that when someone wrongs you, reflecting on their conception of good and evil will foster pity rather than anger. One can easily forgive by realizing that they either share similar values or have risen above such false divisions.

§7.26.1Ὅταν τις ἁμάρτῃ τι εἰς σέ, εὐθὺς ἐνθυμοῦ τί ἀγαθὸν ἢ κακὸν ὑπολαβὼν ἥμαρτε.
When someone does you a wrong, immediately reflect on what conception of good or evil led him to wrong you.
τοῦτο γὰρ ἰδὼν ἐλεήσεις αὐτὸν καὶ οὔτε θαυμάσεις οὔτε ὀργισθήσῃ.
For when you see this, you will pity him, and will neither wonder nor be angry.
ἤτοι γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς τὸ αὐτὸ ἐκείνῳ ἀγαθὸν ἔτι ὑπολαμβάνεις ἢ ἄλλο ὁμοειδές· δεῖ οὖν συγγινώσκειν.
For either you yourself still hold the same thing as he does to be good, or something else of the same kind; therefore you must forgive him.
εἰ δὲ μηκέτι ὑπολαμβάνεις τὰ τοιαῦτα ἀγαθὰ καὶ κακά, ῥᾷον εὐμενὴς ἔσῃ τῷ παρορῶντι.
But if you no longer hold such things to be good and evil, you will more easily be well-disposed toward the one who errs.

Notes

  1. 7.26.1τί ἀγαθὸν ἢ κακὸν ὑπολαβὼν — The interrogative adjective τί modifies the substantivized adjectives ἀγαθὸν ἢ κακὸν, meaning 'what good or evil'. The participle ὑπολαβὼν (aorist active of ὑπολαμβάνω) means 'having assumed or conceived', indicating the motive or underlying judgment of the subject in the indirect question.
  2. 7.26.1τὸ αὐὸ ἐκείνῳ — The pronoun αὐτός with the definite article (τὸ αὐτό) means 'the same thing', and is accompanied by the dative of comparison ἐκείνῳ ('with him' or 'as he does') to mean 'the same thing as he'.
  3. 7.26.1τῷ παρορῶντι — Substantive use of the present active participle, masculine dative singular, of the verb παροράω (to overlook, mistake, or err), meaning 'the one who errs' or 'the mistaken one'. It functions as the dative complement required by the adjective εὐμενής (well-disposed, kind).

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §7.26.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:7.26.1

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