MED. 10.30Discipline of action
George Long · 1862EN · Long

When thou art offended at any man's TERMfault, forthwith turn to thyself and reflect TERMin what like manner thou dost err thyself; for example, in thinking that money is a TERMgood thing, or TERMpleasure, or DOGMAa bit of reputation, and the like. For by attending to this thou wilt quickly forget thy anger, if this consideration also is added, that the man is compelled: for what else could he do? or, if thou art able, DOGMAtake away from him the compulsion.

Original · ancient Greek

Ὅταν προσκόπτῃς ἐπί τινος ἁμαρτίᾳ, εὐθὺς μεταβὰς ἐπιλογίζου τί παρόμοιον ἁμαρτάνεις· οἷον, ἀργύριον ἀγαθὸν εἶναι κρίνων ἢ τὴν ἡδονὴντὸ δοξάριον καὶ κατ’ εἶδος. τούτῳ γὰρ ἐπιβάλλων ταχέως ἐπιλήσῃ τῆς ὀργῆς, συμπροσπίπτοντος τοῦ ὅτι βιάζεται· τί γὰρ ποιήσει; ἤ, εἰ δύνασαι, ἄφελε αὐτοῦ τὸ βιαζόμενον.

Leopold · Teubner 1908
Commentary

Turn round, do not argue back. Ὅταν προσκόπτῃς — "when you stumble" at another's TERMfault (the same verb that opens 9.42). And the first movement is εὐθὺς μεταβάς, "having at once shifted" — that is, immediately changing the direction of one's look: not to examine the other's guilt but to look in oneself for τί παρόμοιον, "what like thing" one does oneself. Not "you too are not sinless" in general, but a search for the same type of error.

And the type is named exactly. Marcus does not leave the exercise vague; he supplies the class: judging money a TERMgood, or TERMpleasure, or DOGMAthe scrap of reputation (δοξάριον) — "and by kind" (κατ’ εἶδος), that is, and so on down the list. The point of the comparison: the other's offence grew out of a false judgement about the good — and your irritated anger grew out of just such another. You have both gone wrong in the same place, only on different material.

The second argument: he is compelled. συμπροσπίπτοντος τοῦ ὅτι βιάζεται — "when there falls in along with it [the thought] that he is under compulsion." The verb is exact: the argument is not deduced but falls in together with the first, in passing. And the question τί γὰρ ποιήσει; — "for what will he do?" — is not rhetorical: a man with that judgement about the good genuinely has no choice.

A close the others do not have. , εἰ δύνασαι, DOGMAἄφελε αὐτοῦ τὸ βιαζόμενον — "or, if you can, take away from him what compels him." Here the passage goes beyond the usual therapy of anger: not "forgive" and not "endure," but remove the cause — that is, re-teach his judgement about the good. Cf. 10.4 (διδάσκειν εὐμενῶς) and 9.42, where the same thought appears as "re-teaching the man gone astray"; the full compendium is Med. 11.18. The governing discipline is action, the sustaining one assent.

DisciplineDiscipline of action
Record added2026-07-16
Statuspublished
Discipline of action

Original · ancient Greek

Ὅταν προσκόπτῃς ἐπί τινος ἁμαρτίᾳ, εὐθὺς μεταβὰς ἐπιλογίζου τί παρόμοιον ἁμαρτάνεις· οἷον, ἀργύριον ἀγαθὸν εἶναι κρίνων ἢ τὴν ἡδονὴντὸ δοξάριον καὶ κατ’ εἶδος. τούτῳ γὰρ ἐπιβάλλων ταχέως ἐπιλήσῃ τῆς ὀργῆς, συμπροσπίπτοντος τοῦ ὅτι βιάζεται· τί γὰρ ποιήσει; ἤ, εἰ δύνασαι, ἄφελε αὐτοῦ τὸ βιαζόμενον.

Leopold · Teubner 1908
Related5
Commentary

Turn round, do not argue back. Ὅταν προσκόπτῃς — "when you stumble" at another's TERMfault (the same verb that opens 9.42). And the first movement is εὐθὺς μεταβάς, "having at once shifted" — that is, immediately changing the direction of one's look: not to examine the other's guilt but to look in oneself for τί παρόμοιον, "what like thing" one does oneself. Not "you too are not sinless" in general, but a search for the same type of error.

And the type is named exactly. Marcus does not leave the exercise vague; he supplies the class: judging money a TERMgood, or TERMpleasure, or DOGMAthe scrap of reputation (δοξάριον) — "and by kind" (κατ’ εἶδος), that is, and so on down the list. The point of the comparison: the other's offence grew out of a false judgement about the good — and your irritated anger grew out of just such another. You have both gone wrong in the same place, only on different material.

The second argument: he is compelled. συμπροσπίπτοντος τοῦ ὅτι βιάζεται — "when there falls in along with it [the thought] that he is under compulsion." The verb is exact: the argument is not deduced but falls in together with the first, in passing. And the question τί γὰρ ποιήσει; — "for what will he do?" — is not rhetorical: a man with that judgement about the good genuinely has no choice.

A close the others do not have. , εἰ δύνασαι, DOGMAἄφελε αὐτοῦ τὸ βιαζόμενον — "or, if you can, take away from him what compels him." Here the passage goes beyond the usual therapy of anger: not "forgive" and not "endure," but remove the cause — that is, re-teach his judgement about the good. Cf. 10.4 (διδάσκειν εὐμενῶς) and 9.42, where the same thought appears as "re-teaching the man gone astray"; the full compendium is Med. 11.18. The governing discipline is action, the sustaining one assent.

DisciplineDiscipline of action
Record added2026-07-16
Statuspublished