MED. 7.71Discipline of assent
George Long · 1862EN · Long

It is a ridiculous thing for a man not to fly from his own TERMbadness, DOGMAwhich is indeed possible, but to fly from other men's badness, DOGMAwhich is impossible.

Original · ancient Greek

Γελοῖόν ἐστι τὴν μὲν ἰδίαν κακίαν μὴ φεύγειν, ὃ καὶ δυνατόν ἐστι, τὴν δὲ τῶν ἄλλων φεύγειν, ὅπερ ἀδύνατον.

Leopold · Teubner 1908
Commentary

Mixed-up addresses. A single sentence with a precise logical trap: it is ridiculous (γελοῖον) to flee what one cannot flee, and not to flee what one can. People spend their strength fleeing the TERMvice of others (their malice, folly, injustice) — ἀδύνατον, an impossible enterprise: another's character cannot be remade nor hidden from. And meanwhile they do not flee their own κακίαὃ καὶ δυνατόν, the one thing that is in their power.

The dichotomy applied to vice. This is the DOGMAdichotomy of control in its most practical form: the mapping of effort along the axis "possible/impossible" = "mine/not-mine." Another's vice is "not ours" (not to be changed, not to be escaped); one's own is "ours" (the only one that can be removed). The absurdity of ordinary moral life is that indignation is addressed outward (where it is powerless) and inattention inward (where it is all-powerful). The reversal is simple: redirect all the energy of flight from another's κακία to one's own. Cf. 05-25 (another sins — his affair; I keep my own), 9.38, 12.16. The governing discipline is assent (to map rightly what is in my power); the sustaining one, action (to flee one's own vice).

DisciplineDiscipline of assent
Record added2026-07-16
Statuspublished
Discipline of assent

Original · ancient Greek

Γελοῖόν ἐστι τὴν μὲν ἰδίαν κακίαν μὴ φεύγειν, ὃ καὶ δυνατόν ἐστι, τὴν δὲ τῶν ἄλλων φεύγειν, ὅπερ ἀδύνατον.

Leopold · Teubner 1908
Related2
Commentary

Mixed-up addresses. A single sentence with a precise logical trap: it is ridiculous (γελοῖον) to flee what one cannot flee, and not to flee what one can. People spend their strength fleeing the TERMvice of others (their malice, folly, injustice) — ἀδύνατον, an impossible enterprise: another's character cannot be remade nor hidden from. And meanwhile they do not flee their own κακίαὃ καὶ δυνατόν, the one thing that is in their power.

The dichotomy applied to vice. This is the DOGMAdichotomy of control in its most practical form: the mapping of effort along the axis "possible/impossible" = "mine/not-mine." Another's vice is "not ours" (not to be changed, not to be escaped); one's own is "ours" (the only one that can be removed). The absurdity of ordinary moral life is that indignation is addressed outward (where it is powerless) and inattention inward (where it is all-powerful). The reversal is simple: redirect all the energy of flight from another's κακία to one's own. Cf. 05-25 (another sins — his affair; I keep my own), 9.38, 12.16. The governing discipline is assent (to map rightly what is in my power); the sustaining one, action (to flee one's own vice).

DisciplineDiscipline of assent
Record added2026-07-16
Statuspublished