Place in the book. After the one-line exercise of assent in 05-02, a principle of the discipline of action, fused with the theme of self-respect: act according to nature and do not look to others' estimate.

The worth of the deed. The opening — "judge yourself worthy (ἄξιον) of every word and deed that is according to nature" — is paired with "do not deem yourself unworthy" (μὴ σεαυτὸν ἀπαξίου) of the fine thing you can do or say. This is not vanity but its opposite: the measure of an act is its agreement with TERMnature, not how it will be received. Self-respect here is a function of rightness, not of reputation.

Indifference to blame. "Let not the blame (μέμψις) or talk (λόγος) that follows from certain people distract you (μή σε περισπάτω)." Reputation is external, "not ours"; so it must not "drag away" (περισπᾶν) attention from the one thing in our power — right action. Cf. Med. 4.18 (04-18): "how much trouble he avoids who looks not to what his neighbour says or does, but only to his own act — that it be just and pure."

Others have their own ruling part. Marcus explains others' blame not by malice but by psychology: "they have their own TERMἡγεμονικόν, and they use their own TERMὁρμή." Each acts out of his own ruling part and his own impulse; therefore "do not look round at them" (μὴ περιβλέπου) — do not judge, do not measure yourself against them. The diagnosis frees you: another's verdict is the motion of another's ἡγεμονικόν, not a truth about you.

One's own nature and the common nature — one road. The close is a compressed formula of the Stoic telos: go straight on (εὐθεῖαν πέραινε), following "your own nature (ἰδία) and the common (κοινή) — and the road of both is one" (μία ἀμφοτέρων ἡ ὁδός). This is the Chrysippean doubling of "nature" (see DOGMAlive-according-to-nature): the individual reason is the Logos of the whole at a local point, so that "to do one's own" and "to do what the cosmos wants" are one and the same movement. Cf. κοινὴ φύσις.

Disciplines and parallels. The principal one is action (ὁρμή according to nature, in the teeth of blame); the secondary is desire (reputation as an indifferent). Parallels: Med. 4.18 (04-18); the "according to nature" formula — Med. 2.9; ὁρμή and the common good — Med. 8.7.