Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §8.14.1

Actions of Others Arise from Their Beliefs and Cause No Surprise

Passage 285 of 486 · Greek

Summary

The author advises predicting that any person met will act according to their personal opinions on good, bad, pleasure, and pain, meaning their actions should never surprise us.

§8.14.1Ὧι ἂν ἐντυγχάνῃς, εὐθὺς σαυτῷ πρόλεγε· οὖτος τίνα δόγματα ἔχει περὶ ἀγαθῶν καὶ κακῶν;
Whomever you meet with, straightway say to yourself beforehand: "What opinions does this man hold concerning good and bad?
εἰ γὰρ περὶ ἡδονῆς καὶ πόνου καὶ τῶν ποιητικῶν ἑκατέρου καὶ περὶ δόξης, ἀδοξίας, θανάτου, ζωῆς, τοιάδε τινὰ δόγματα ἔχει, οὐδὲν θαυμαστὸν· ἢ ξένον μοι δόξει, ἐὰν τάδε τινὰ ποιῇ, καὶ μεμνήσομαι ὅτι ἀναγκάζεται οὕτως ποιεῖν.
For if concerning pleasure and pain and the things productive of each, and concerning glory, ignominy, death, life, he holds such and such opinions, it will seem nothing wonderful or strange to me if he does such and such things, and I shall remember that he is compelled to act in this way."

Notes

  1. §8.14.1Ὧι ἂν ἐντυγχάνῃς — Relative pronoun ὅς in the dative ᾧ with ἄν and the subjunctive, forming an indefinite relative clause expressing a general condition ('whomever you meet with'). The dative ᾧ is governed by the verb ἐντυγχάνω (meet with).
  2. §8.14.1οὖτος — The demonstrative pronoun οὗτος ('this man') is placed at the beginning of the question for emphasis and serves as a proleptic reference to the antecedent implied in ᾧ ἂν ἐντυγχάνῃς.
  3. §8.14.1οὐδὲν θαυμαστὸν· ἢ ξένον μοι δόξει — Although there is a high dot after θαυμαστόν in some punctuations, the particle ἢ ('or') coordinates θαυμαστόν and ξένον as complements of δόξει. Thus, it is best construed as 'it will seem to me nothing wonderful or strange.' Alternatively, οὐδὲν θαυμαστόν [ἐστιν] could be treated as an independent clause ('it is nothing wonderful'), but taking both as coordinated under δόξει fits the overall flow much better.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §8.14.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.14.1

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