Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §8.23.1

Acting for Human Good and Accepting What Befalls

Passage 294 of 486 · Greek

Summary

The author advises that any action should be directed toward human welfare, while any occurrence should be accepted as coming from the divine source of all things.

§8.23.1Πράσσω τι;
Am I doing something?
πράσσω ἐπ’ ἀνθρώπων εὐποιίαν ἀναφέρων.
I do it referring it to the benefit of human beings.
συμβαίνει τί μοι;
Does something happen to me?
δέχομαι ἐπὶ τοὺς θεοὺς ἀναφέρων καὶ τὴν πάντων πηγήν, ἀφ’ ἧς πάντα τὰ γινόμενα συμμηρύεται.
I accept it referring it to the gods and the source of all things, from which all that happens is spun together.

Notes

  1. §8.23.1ἀναφέρων — Present active participle, nominative masculine singular, agreeing with the subject of the main clauses ('I'). It means 'referring [something] to,' governing the preposition ἐπί with the accusative.
  2. §8.23.1ἐπ’ ἀνθρώπων εὐποιίαν — The preposition ἐπί governs the accusative εὐποιίαν, not the genitive ἀνθρώπων, which is intercalated between the preposition and its noun. It means 'for the doing of good to human beings.'
  3. §8.23.1συμμηρύεται — Third-person singular present indicative passive of συμμηρύομαι (to wind up together, spin together, or interweave). The subject is the neuter plural πάντα τὰ γινόμενα (all things that happen), which takes a singular verb according to Greek grammatical rules.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §8.23.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.23.1

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