Genre and place in the book. A terse exhortation to moral effort. The principal discipline is assent (to correct the judgment about one's own capacity); the sustaining one is action (the effort, προκοπή, to which that judgment opens the way).

Do not judge it impossible (ὑπολαμβάνειν). The first half is against a false inference: "this is hard for me (δυσκαταπόνητον), therefore it is impossible for a human being." Marcus forbids such a TERMjudgment (ὑπολαμβάνειν): a difficulty for you now is not an impossibility for the human being as such. Here the Stoic thesis "all is judgment" (πάντα ὑπόληψις) is at work: a premature verdict of "impossible" kills the effort before the attempt.

What is proper to man is attainable (οἰκεῖον / ἐφικτόν). The second half is the positive norm: if something is possible for a human being and "proper" to him (οἰκεῖον — in keeping with his nature), then "consider (νόμιζε) that it is attainable (ἐφικτόν) for you too." This removes the excuse "I have no natural aptitude": what belongs to human nature is in principle open to every human being, and so to you. Hence the imperative of προκοπή: not to plead incapacity but to strive toward what befits a human being. Cf. Med. 5.5 (the virtues are in your power, even if you lack sharpness of wit).

Disciplines and parallels. The principal one is assent (a right judgment about one's own capacity); the secondary is action (the effort toward what one ought). Parallels: Med. 5.5 (what befits a human being is in his power); the ὑπόληψις leitmotif ("all is judgment"); οἰκεῖον ↔ life according to nature (the human τέλος is attainable).