Genre and place in the book. The sixth passage of Book II — the shortest and the sharpest of the opening series. If 02-04 was a calm self-reproach for postponement, 02-06 is almost a cry: «ὕβριζε, ὕβριζε σεαυτήν, ὦ ψυχή». The address is not to an interlocutor, not to a reader, but directly to one's own TERMsoul in the second-person feminine (ψυχή is a feminine noun). This is a rare register in Marcus — an apostrophe to oneself in the form of a pure rhetorical address.

Structure of the argument. A single movement, unfolded inward.

1. Imperative-as-indictment. Ὕβριζε, ὕβριζε σεαυτήν — a double repetition: "outrage yourself, outrage yourself." The verb ὑβρίζειν is strong: not "do harm to," but "inflict insult, dishonour, outrage." By pressing the inverted imperative to its limit, Marcus mimics what the soul actually does when it refuses aidōs: it is already outraging itself, and what remains is only to recognise it.
2. The condition of time. "Soon you will no longer have the chance to TERMhonour yourself" — and the expansion: εἷς γὰρ ὁ βίος ἑκάστῳ, οὗτος δέ σοι σχεδὸν διήνυσται — "for each person has one life, and yours is almost run through." This argument is already familiar from 02-04 (the time allotted) and EXERCISEthe memory of death, but here it is applied locally: the point is not death as such, but the exhaustion of the window of opportunity for return to oneself.
3. Diagnosis of the error. The soul does not respect itself (μὴ TERMαἰδουμένῃ σεαυτήν), but "lodges its εὐμοιρία in the souls of others." This is the compact formula of the categorial error of the DOGMAdichotomy: placing one's good in what is external.

The discipline of desire is the principal one. The whole work of the passage is the correct localisation of the good. The discipline of assent is engaged through aidōs (the correct evaluative assent with respect to oneself); the discipline of action through the posture "do it while there is time."

Terminological subtlety I — TERMτιμή and TERMαἰδώς. Marcus uses TERMτιμᾶν ἑαυτήν ("to honour oneself") and TERMαἰδεῖσθαι ἑαυτήν ("to feel reverent shame before oneself") as functional equivalents — but they are different lexemes: timē from the root τιμ- (to value, to render honour); aidōs from the root αἰδ- (inner reverence, shame). The semantic overlap: τιμᾶν ἑαυτόν is an act; aidōs is the disposition from which the act follows. In Epictetus, aidōs is "the daughter of προαίρεσις" (Disc., book 1; precise chapters to verify [verify:schenkl]) — the inner self-regulation that does not exist apart from the faculty of choice; the loss of aidōs equals philosophical death. Marcus makes the same step here — which is why the language is so harsh.

Terminological subtlety II — εὐμοιρία and the μοῖρα-cluster. Εὐμοιρία is a rare form, a synonym of εὐδαιμονία, but with an accent on the root TERMμοῖρα ("portion," "lot," "what is measured out"). It rounds off the cluster begun in 02-02 (εἱμαρμένη — what is measured out as such) and in 02-05 (τὰ συμμεμοιραμένα — what is measured out together with me). The paradox of 02-06: the soul lodges its εὐμοιρία in the souls of others — but εὐμοιρία is by definition the state of my own μοῖρα, and so cannot reside in another's μοῖρα. The categorial error is written into the very word.

Stylistics. The epizeuxis (ὕβριζε, ὕβριζε) sets the intonation of reproach. Σεαυτήν recurs at three positions (ὕβριζε σεαυτήν, τιμῆσαι σεαυτήν, αἰδουμένῃ σεαυτήν), winding the return to the self. Grammatically, ψυχή is feminine; all the participles agree in the feminine (αἰδουμένῃ, τιθεμένῃ), and Marcus speaks with himself as with a beloved being given a scolding. This tender-and-angry note is unusual for the register of Books I–II, where the tone is generally more restrained.

A textual note. Long renders εἷς γὰρ ὁ βίος ἑκάστῳ as "Every man's life is sufficient" — a reading error (εἷς is the numeral "one," not a form of the verb "to suffice"). The right sense is "for each person, there is one life," and it is precisely this singularity that drives the whole argument. Modern English versions (Hays, Hammond, Hard) give "one life for each"; Rogovin's Russian — "жизнь вообще мимолётна" — is free, but in the right direction. The modernisation corrects.

Parallels. The main background is Epictetus on aidōs: Disc., book 1 (αἰδώς as "the daughter of προαίρεσις"); book 2 (on the value of the human being); book 3 ("nothing is dearer than aidōs and faithfulness"); Ench. 24 (do not give up aidōs for external goods). Precise Epictetan chapters to verify [verify:schenkl]. The theme recurs in Marcus: Med. 3.4 (do not squander what remains of your life on thoughts about others); 5.5 (what is left of you that is your own?); 12.4 (how can one value others' opinions above one's own?). The Greek background is steady in Marcus — Plato's Alcibiades I 124a–135e (the whole conversation is about aidōs and the care of the self as ψυχή); cf. Foucault, Le souci de soi, on the genealogy of ancient care of the self.