Three axes of one life. A maximally compressed map of relations into which Marcus fits the whole of ethics: a human has "three relations" (τρεῖς σχέσεις), and each answers to one of the disciplines. (1) To the DOGMA"enveloping vessel" (τὸ ἀγγεῖον τὸ περικείμενον) — the body: it is only a shell, a "vessel," not the man himself (cf. the image of the soul carrying a corpse); the right relation is not to identify with it. (2) To the DOGMA"divine cause" (θεία αἰτία), "from which all things happen to all" (ἀφ’ ἧς συμβαίνει πᾶσι πάντα) — the source of events: the right relation is acceptance (the love of fate). (3) To the DOGMA"fellow-livers" (οἱ συμβιοῦντες) — the people beside one: the right relation is justice and affection.

Completeness without remainder. The three axes cover the whole field: my body, the world-cause, my neighbours — that is, the relation to oneself-as-not-body, to the whole, and to others. Nothing important drops out: it is the same tripartite frame as in 8.7 (impressions — impulses — acceptance of what is assigned) and 8.26 (the four "proper" works). To hold all three "relations" right at once is precisely to live according to nature. There are no term-lemmata in the text. The governing discipline is action (toward the fellow-livers), the sustaining one desire (toward the body and the divine cause).