Genre and place in the book. A programmatic formula of the disciplines of action and assent: two "readinesses" (ἑτοιμότητες) to be kept always EXERCISEat hand. After the series on the wrongdoer and judgment (04-11), here is the make-up of a rightly working ruling part: how to act and how to revise.

The first readiness — action for the common good. To do only what the "TERMreason of the ruling and legislating faculty" (ὁ τῆς βασιλικῆς καὶ νομοθετικῆς λόγος, literally "the reason of the kingly and legislative [art]") suggests — that is, the ruling part described as king (self-governing) and lawgiver (giving itself its law) — and to do it ἐπ' ὠφελείᾳ ἀνθρώπων, for the benefit of human beings. This is the discipline of action rooted in DOGMAthe social nature: every act is referred to the common good (cf. the single σκοπός — the common benefit).

The second readiness — openness to correction. To be ready to change one's mind (μεταθέσθαι) if someone is at hand to correct it and move one away from a "conceit" (οἴησις). This is the famous Stoic intellectual humility; the close twin is Med. 6.21: "if anyone can show me that I think or act wrongly, I will gladly change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever harmed." Not obstinacy, but fidelity to the truth.

The criterion of revision. The subtlety lies in the ground: to change one's view only on the "persuasion" (πιθανότης) of the just (δίκαιον) or the common-beneficial (κοινωφελές) — not because a thing is pleasant (ἡδύ) or glorious (ἔνδοξον). Revision is subordinate to the good, not to pleasure and reputation — the latter being indifferents (cf. DOGMAvirtue-is-sufficient). Note the use of προηγμένα: here it is not strictly "preferred indifferents" (health, wealth — see axia), but "what is worth preferring" in a choice — and the criterion of preference is again the good, not pleasantness. (On προηγμένα see adiaphora and axia.)

The disciplines. The principal one is action (the first readiness: to act for the common good). The secondary is assent (the second readiness: to revise a judgment on the right ground).

Parallels. Gladly changing one's mind when shown to be wrong — Med. 6.21; 8.16. Acting for the common benefit by reason — Med. 8.7; 02-01; 02-16. Choosing by the just / common-good, not the pleasant / glorious — 03-06; cf. DOGMAvirtue-is-sufficient. The doctrine of προηγμένα — DL 7.105–107 (see axia).