Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §7.46.1

Focusing on Living Well Rather Than Mere Survival

Passage 242 of 486 · Greek

Summary

Socrates explains to his interlocutor that the truly noble and good is different from mere survival, and that a true man should leave the length of life to God and focus on how to live the remaining time as well as possible.

§7.46.1ʽἈλλ̓, ὦ μακάριε, ὅρα μὴ ἄλλο τι τὸ γενναῖον καὶ τὸ ἀγαθὸν ᾖ τοῦ σῴζειν τε καὶ σῴζεσθαι·
'But, my dear friend, see to it whether the noble and the good is not something other than saving and being saved.
μὴ γὰρ τοῦτο μέν, τὸ ζῆν ὁποσονδὴ χρόνον, τόν γε ὡς ἀληθῶς ἄνδρα ἐατέον ἐστὶ καὶ οὐ φιλοψυχητέον, ἀλλ’ ἐπιτρέψαντα περὶ τούτων τῷ θεῷ καὶ πιστεύσαντα ταῖς γυναιξίν, ὅτι τὴν εἱμαρμένην οὐδ’ ἂν εἶς ἐκφύγοι, τὸ ἐπὶ τούτῳ σκεπτέον τίνα ἂν τρόπον τοῦτον ὃν μέλλει χρόνον βιῶναι ὡς ἄριστα βιῴη. ʼ
For a man who is truly a man must disregard this—namely, living for however long a time—and must not cling to life, but, having entrusted these matters to God and having believed the women's saying that no single person can escape destiny, he must next consider in what way he might live as well as possible this time which he has yet to live.'

Notes

  1. §7.46.1ὅρα μὴ ... ᾖ — A subjunctive clause (ᾖ) of apprehension introduced by ὅρα (imperative), meaning 'consider whether ... is not' or 'see to it lest ...'.
  2. §7.46.1τόν γε ὡς ἀληθῶς ἄνδρα — An accusative functioning as the logical subject (agent) of the impersonal verbal adjectives ἐατέον ἐστὶ (and φιλοψυχητέον, σκεπτέον). While the agent of a verbal adjective is typically in the dative, the accusative is used here in an irregular construction akin to the subject of an infinitive. The subsequent accusative participles ἐπιτρέψαντα and πιστεύσαντα agree with this phrase.
  3. §7.46.1τὸ ἐπὶ τούτῳ — An adverbial phrase meaning 'next' or 'after this', modifying the verbal adjective σκεπτέον. It marks the contrast between τοῦτο (this, i.e., the length of life) and τὸ ἐπὶ τούτῳ (what follows this, i.e., how to live), which is structured by μέν and ἀλλά.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §7.46.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:7.46.1

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