Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §9.2.1

Departing from Vice and Mind's Corruption as True Plague

Passage 334 of 486 · Greek

Summary

The author states that departing from life without tasting falsehood is best, and doing so when satiated with it is the second best option, warning that the corruption of the mind is a far worse pestilence than physical sickness.

§9.2.1Χαριεστέρου μὲν ἦν ἀνδρός, ἄγευστον ψευδολογίας καὶ πάσης ὑποκρίσεως καὶ τρυφῆς καὶ τύφου γενόμενον ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀπελθεῖν.

It would have been the part of a more gracious man to depart from among men without having tasted falsehood, and all hypocrisy, luxury, and pride.

τὸ δ’ οὖν κορεσθέντα γε τούτων ἀποπνεῦσαι δεύτερος πλοῦς.

But, at any rate, to breathe one's last when quite satiated with these is the second best voyage.

ἢ προῄρησαι προσκαθῆσθαι τῇ κακίᾳ καὶ οὔπω σε οὐδὲ ἡ πεῖρα πείθει φεύγειν ἐκ τοῦ λοιμοῦ;

Or have you resolved to remain seated by vice, and does not even experience yet persuade you to flee from this pestilence?

λοιμὸς γὰρ διαφθορὰ διανοίας πολλῷ γε μᾶλλον ἤπερ ἡ τοῦ περικεχυμένου τούτου πνεύματος τοιάδε τις δυσκρασία καὶ τροπή· αὕτη μὲν γὰρ ζῴων λοιμός, καθὸ ζῷά ἐστιν, ἐκείνη δὲ ἀνθρώπων,καθὸ ἄνθρωποί εἰσιν.

For the destruction of the mind is a pestilence far more than any such corruption and change of this surrounding breath; for this latter is a pestilence of animals, insofar as they are animals, but the former is of men, insofar as they are men.

Notes

9.2.1Χαριεστέρου μὲν ἦν ἀνδρός — The imperfect ἦν expresses an unrealized possibility or a sense of propriety ("it would have been"). The genitive Χαριεστέρου ἀνδρός is a genitive of characteristic or duty modifying the infinitive ἀπελθεῖν.
9.2.1δεύτερος πλοῦς — Literally "the second voyage." A Greek proverbial expression referring to the next best course of action taken when the primary and best method (such as sailing with favorable wind) fails. It functions as a predicate nominative here.
9.2.1αὕτη μὲν ... ἐκείνη δὲ — The demonstrative pronoun αὕτη (this) refers to the closer antecedent, namely the corruption of breath (δυσκρασία), while ἐκείνη (that) refers to the more remote but principal subject, namely the destruction of the mind (διαφθορὰ διανοίας). Translating them respectively as "the latter" and "the former" preserves the contrast clearly.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §9.2.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:9.2.1

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