Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §8.10.1

The Definition of Repentance and Why Pleasure Is Not Good

Passage 281 of 486 · Greek

Summary

The author defines repentance as self-reproof for missing something useful, and argues that since a good man never regrets missing pleasure, pleasure is neither useful nor good.

§8.10.1Ἡ μετάνοιά ἐστιν ἐπίληψίς τις ἑαυτοῦ ὡς χρήσιμόν τι παρεικότος· τὸ δὲ χρήσιμον ἀγαθόν τι δεῖ εἶναι καὶ ἐπιμελητέον αὐτοῦ τῷ καλῷ καὶ ἀγαθῷ ἀνδρί· οὐδεὶς δ’ ἂν καλὸς καὶ ἀγαθὸς ἀνὴρ μετανοήσειεν ἐπὶ τῷ ἡδονήν τινα παρεικέναι· οὔτε ἄρα· χρήσιμον οὔτε ἀγαθὸν ἡδονή.
Repentance is a kind of self-reproof for having passed by something useful; but what is useful must be something good, and it must be cared for by the good and honorable man; yet no good and honorable man would repent of having passed by some pleasure; therefore, pleasure is neither useful nor good.

Notes

  1. 8.10.1ἑαυτοῦ ὡς χρήσιμόν τι παρεικότος — The perfect active participle in the genitive case, παρεικότος (from παρίημι, 'to let pass, miss'), agreeing with the genitive pronoun ἑαυτοῦ. The conjunction ὡς introduces the subjective ground for the self-reproof ('as one who has missed...').
  2. 8.10.1ἐπιμελητέον αὐτοῦ τῷ καλῷ καὶ ἀγαθῷ ἀνδρί — An impersonal construction with the verbal adjective ἐπιμελητέον (from ἐπιμελέομαι, 'to care for'). The agent of the action is expressed by the dative τῷ καλῷ καὶ ἀγαθῷ ἀνδρί (dative of agent), and the object of care is in the genitive αὐτοῦ.
  3. 8.10.1ἂν ... μετανοήσειεν — A potential optative consisting of the particle ἄν and the weak aorist active optative (from μετανοέω, 'to repent'), expressing a potential or hypothetical negative statement ('would never repent').
  4. 8.10.1ἐπὶ τῷ ἡδονήν τινα παρεικέναι — An articular infinitive construction consisting of the preposition ἐπί, the dative article τῷ, and the perfect active infinitive παρεικέναι (from παρίημι), expressing the ground or cause of the regret ('on account of having missed some pleasure').

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §8.10.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.10.1

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.