Attention to what is at hand. Two short rules welded into one passage. The first is EXERCISEprosokhē: "attend to the subject" (τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ) — or to the "doctrine" (δόγμα, the judgment), the "activity" (ἐνέργεια), the "meaning" (σημαινόμενον, the sense of a word). Four points of application cover the object, the thought of it, the act, and the speech: nothing in present experience should slip by unanalysed (cf. 8.13 — to every impression; Med. 8.49).

"Good — today." The second is a reproach to delay: "you suffer this justly" (δικαίως πάσχεις), since "you would rather become good tomorrow than be good today." A fine sting: the very formula "I will become virtuous later" is a choice not to be it now — and so already a bad choice. Hence EXERCISE"no more delay": virtue is not postponed; it exists only in the present act (cf. 2.4 — remember how long you have been deferring; Med. 12.1). There are no term-lemmata in the text (δόγμα, ἐνέργεια are not carded; ἀγαθὸς is an adjective within the idiom "to be good"). The governing discipline is assent (attention to the subject and the judgment), the sustaining one action (to be good now).