Genre and place in the book. The fifth passage is short and gnomic: a compressed rule of life. After the developed portrait of 03-04, its distillation into an epigram — a list of "nots" (how to act), then the positive image of the inner god as guardian of a man at his post, and the closing aphorism "be upright, not propped upright." It continues the theme of 03-04 (the inner divinity, self-sufficiency) in aphoristic form.

Structure — three parts.

1. Seven prohibitions (μήτε… μήτε…). Act: not unwillingly (ἀκούσιος), not unsocially (ἀκοινώνητος), not unexamined (ἀνεξέταστος), not pulled apart (ἀνθελκόμενος — "dragged in opposite directions"); let no affectation (κομψεία) prettify your thought; be neither verbose (πολυρρήμων) nor a busybody (πολυπράγμων — cf. περίεργον in 03-04). A compressed checklist touching all three disciplines: willing + social action (action), examined + undistracted + unadorned thought (assent), non-interference (action).
2. The inner god as guardian. ὁ ἐν σοὶ θεὸς ἔστω προστάτης — "let the god in you be the protector." This is the doctrine of the inner daimon (02-13, 02-17, 03-04): only here Marcus names the inner divinity with the word θεός, not δαίμων (his interchangeable names for the rational self are θεός, δαίμων, νοῦς, ἡγεμονικόν). The god should govern a being who is manly, mature, civic, Roman, a ruler (ἄρρην, πρεσβύτης, πολιτικός, Ῥωμαῖος, ἄρχων) — a stack of Marcus's own roles. This is the Stoic ethics of roles (καθήκοντα from one's σχέσεις, cf. Epictetus' "appropriate action is discovered from the names," 01-12): virtue is enacted through what you are, not apart from it. ἀνατεταχότος ἑαυτόν — "having drawn himself up [into formation]" — the military image of the soldier at his post.
3. Readiness for death and self-sufficiency. The soldier awaits the recall-signal (τὸ ἀνακλητικόν — the trumpet that calls back from battle) "from life," εὔλυτος ("easily loosed," ready to cast off). This is the Socratic-Platonic doctrine of the post: Plato, Apol. 28d (Socrates will not desert the post at which he was stationed) and Phaedo 62b (we are in a guard-post, φρουρά; one may not release oneself without the god's sign — the basis of the Stoic prohibition of unauthorized suicide). Marcus nuances the ἐξαγωγή of 03-01: not "depart when you yourself judge," but "stand ready, await the recall" — without clinging and without desertion (see EXERCISEmeditatio-mortis, MOTIFgrateful-departure). Then self-sufficiency: needing neither oath (ὅρκος) nor human witness (μάρτυς); integrity is self-grounded, not propped by external guarantees. And MOTIFcheerfulness (τὸ φαιδρόν) + the "not-needing" (ἀπροσδεές) of external service and of the tranquility that others provide.

The closing aphorism. ὀρθὸν οὖν εἶναι χρή, οὐχὶ ὀρθούμενον — "one must be upright, not be set upright." The image of standing straight: virtue must be one's own posture, not an external prop. The active/passive of one root (ὀρθόν/ὀρθούμενον) makes a formula to keep "ready to hand" (prokheiron); the same thought returns in Med. 7.12. The link to DOGMAthe doctrine of the self-sufficient ruling part: the self is load-bearing, not propped.

The disciplines. The leading one is action (a rule of conduct, the ethics of roles, the man at his post, for the common good). The secondary is desire (readiness for the recall, i.e. death; self-sufficient contentment). The first sentence also clearly engages assent (examined, undistracted, unadorned thought).

Stylistics. The anaphoric μήτε-chain (seven negations) — a compressed checklist. The strung-together role-nouns (ἄρρενος καὶ πρεσβύτου καὶ πολιτικοῦ καὶ Ῥωμαίου καὶ ἄρχοντος). The military metaphors (the post, the recall-signal). The closing minimal antithesis ὀρθόν/ὀρθούμενον.

Parallels. "Post / recall" — Plato Apol. 28d–29a; Phd. 62b; Epictetus Disc. 1.9.16; 3.24.95 ff.; Med. 7.45; 11.20. ὀρθόν/ὀρθούμενον — Med. 7.12. The ethics of roles — Epictetus Disc. 2.10 ("from the names"); 01-12, the card kathekon. "Do few things, for cheerfulness" — Med. 4.24 (Democritus' εὐθυμία; cf. democritus). The retreat into oneself, needing no other's calm — Med. 4.3; 7.28. The disdain of κομψεία/rhetoric — Med. 1.7; 1.17.