An exercise of joy. A therapeutic technique for producing good gladness (εὐφροσύνη): when you wish to gladden yourself, turn the mind not to external goods but to the good qualities (προτερήματα) of those you live with — the energy of one, the modesty of another, the generosity of a third. The governing discipline is desire (the cultivation of joy); the sustaining one is action (attention to the virtue of one's neighbours).

Images of the virtues. Nothing gladdens so much as the "likenesses of TERMthe virtues" (ὁμοιώματα τῶν ἀρετῶν) showing through in the characters (ἤθη) of those close by — especially when they meet us "all together," in abundance. This is the positive opposite of the usual attention to others' vices: Marcus teaches one to gather in the mind a gallery of living examples of the good.

"Keep them ready" (πρόχειρα). The conclusion is to keep these images "at hand" (πρόχειρα, cf. the exercise of prokheiron): not a chance sentiment but a deliberately prepared resource, turned to at will. Joy becomes a manageable practice rather than a matter of mood.

Parallels. TERMVirtue; "keeping ready" — the ready-to-hand; attention to the good in one's neighbours instead of their faults — Med. 3.4 (not to spend time on others' misdeeds); 6.30 (to imitate the good qualities of Antoninus). Cf. the contrast with 02-01 (in the morning, of others' vices, so as not to be surprised); here the reverse, "bright" move.