Place in the book. "Live with the gods" — a formula of the discipline of desire (contentment with one's lot) plus the doctrine of the daimon as the true "I."

Living with the gods = being content with one's lot. συζῆν θεοῖς is no cultic act but an inner state: continually to show the gods a soul "content with what is assigned" (DOGMAἀρεσκομένην τοῖς ἀπονεμομένοις — the acceptance of fate), and doing what the daimon wills. The measure of communion with the gods is not sacrifice but agreement with what the common order gives.

The daimon = Zeus's gift = the "I." The TERMδαίμων that Zeus gave each as "guardian and guide" (προστάτης καὶ ἡγεμών) is a TERMfragment torn off from god himself (ἀπόσπασμα ἑαυτοῦ). And this daimon is each one's "TERMmind and TERMreason": that is, DOGMAthe god within = the ruling part = the true "I". To serve the daimon (cf. 02-13: keep it pure from passion, rashness, and discontent) just is to live with the gods.

Zeus. The Stoic Zeus is not the Olympian of myth but a name for the cosmic god-Logos governing the Whole; "to give each a daimon" is to lodge in each a particle of his own reason. So theology (DOGMAprovidence) and psychology (the ruling part) meet at a single point: my rational core is of one kind with the divine.

Discipline and parallels. The principal discipline is desire (contentment with one's lot, communion with the gods); the secondary is assent (the daimon as rightly-judging mind). Parallels: 02-13 (ὁ ἔνδον δαίμων; the service of it), Med. 3.4; 3.16 (philosophy = to keep the daimon unspoiled); 02-01 (θεία ἀπομοῖρα, kinship by reason); Epictetus Disc. 1.14.