Genre and place in the book. A diptych: (1) the vanity of posthumous fame — the names of the great grow antiquated and sink into oblivion; (2) the answer — the one thing that deserves serious effort (σπουδή). It is almost the coda of Book 4's "transience" cycle (cf. 04-19 — fame after death; 04-32 — bygone epochs), but with a sharp turn to the positive: what, then, is to be done?

Names that have become glosses. γλώσσημα is an obsolete word needing explanation (a dictionary gloss). Marcus transfers the image to people: the names of Camillus, Caeso… PERSONAugustus, PERSONHadrian, PERSONAntoninus form a ladder from half-legendary antiquity down to Marcus's own household. Even the nearest, dearest name (Antoninus Pius, his adoptive father) is already a "gloss," soon a tale, soon παντελὴς λήθη (complete oblivion). The proverbial Homeric tag ʽἄιστοι, ἄπυστοιʼ (Od. 1.242) seals it: of most, not even a memory remains.

DOGMA"An eternal remembrance is wholly empty" (ὅλον κενόν). The climax of the negation: even τὸ ἀείμνηστον, the most "ever-remembered," is "all empty." Fame, posthumous reputation — nothing (cf. 04-19; Med. 2.17; 7.21). The last handhold of vanity is removed: to labour for the memory of posterity is pointless, for there will be no memory.

The one thing worth effort — the three disciplines. To the question "for the sake of what, then, should one strive?" — ἓν τοῦτο, "this one thing," followed by a fourfold formula in which all three disciplines of Epictetus–Hadot are recognisable: διάνοια δικαία (just thought — the discipline of assent); πράξεις κοινωνικαί (acts that serve the common good — the discipline of action); a truthful TERMλόγος (speech incapable of lying — truthfulness, also the domain of assent / inner discourse); and DOGMAδιάθεσις ἀσπαζομένη πᾶν τὸ συμβαῖνον (an accepting disposition — the discipline of desire). It is a compact twin of the canonical formula at Med. 9.6 (ὑπόληψις καταληπτική / πρᾶξις κοινωνική / διάθεσις εὐαρεστική); cf. also 7.54; 8.7; Epictetus, Disc. 3.2.1–2 (the three τόποι). (λόγος here is "truthful speech," the uttered word; but in the Stoic sense this is reason expressed without falsehood.)

"As flowing from a source" — providence beneath amor fati. The acceptance of all that happens is grounded: ὡς ἀναγκαῖον (as necessary — fate), ὡς γνώριμον (as familiar, already seen), and ὡς ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς τοιαύτης καὶ πηγῆς ῥέον — as flowing "from such an origin and source." This is DOGMAthe love of fate rooted in providence (all flows from one good source; cf. the hymn 04-23; 04-10).

The disciplines. The principal one is assent: everything rests on the right judgement of value (fame = empty; only "this one thing" is worthy), and διάνοια δικαία opens the list. The secondary is desire: the accepting disposition (amor fati) is the emotional climax. The third, action (πράξεις κοινωνικαί), is named too: rarely so explicit, the passage gives all three at once.

Parallels. The vanity of posthumous fame — 04-19; Med. 2.17; 7.21; 8.44 (cf. EXERCISEview-from-above). The succession of forgotten names — 04-32; Med. 6.47; 3.3. The three disciplines together — Med. 9.6; 7.54; 8.7; Epictetus Disc. 3.2.1–2. The acceptance of all as from one source — 04-23; 04-10 (cf. DOGMAamor-fati).