Place in the book. A brief reflection on prayer. Marcus cites an old Athenian rain-prayer as a model of the right way to address the gods.

The prayer of the Athenians. "Rain, rain, O dear Zeus, upon the ploughland of the Athenians and upon the plains" (ὗσον, ὗσον, ὦ φίλε Ζεῦ). It is simple and directed to the common good — rain on all the fields, not "on my field"; no begging for private advantage, no bargaining. And the address φίλε ("dear Zeus") is trusting, not servile.

How to pray — or not to pray. "Either one ought not to pray at all, or thus — ἁπλῶς (simply) and ἐλευθέρως (freely, nobly)." This is Marcus's reform of prayer: not to turn it into a list of wishes for externals. Cf. the fuller Med. 9.40: pray not "how may I get or avoid this," but "how may I not fear, not desire, not grieve" — that is, about what is up to us. The free spirit uses what is in its power, instead of servilely fretting over what is not.

Discipline and parallels. The principal discipline is desire (freedom from self-interest, acceptance of what is given). The social note (rain on all the fields, not one's own) draws the prayer toward the social disposition. Parallel: Med. 9.40; the theological background — providence.