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Read/Book VIII/8.35
MED. 8.35Discipline of desire
George Long · 1862EN · Long

As TERMthe nature of the universal has given to every rational being all the other powers that it has, so we have received from it this power also. For as the universal nature DOGMAconverts and fixes in its predestined place everything which stands in the way and opposes it, and makes such things a part of itself, so also MOTIFthe rational animal is able to make every hindrance its own material, and to use it for such purposes as it may have designed.

Original · ancient Greek

Ὥσπερ τὰς ἄλλας δυνάμεις ἑκάστῳ τῶν λογικῶν σχεδὸν ὅσον ἡ τῶν λογικῶν φύσις, οὕτως καὶ ταύτην παρ’ αὐτῆς εἰλήφαμεν. ὃν τρόπον γὰρ ἐκείνη πᾶν τὸ ἐνιστάμενον καὶ ἀντιβαῖνον ἐπιπεριτρέπει καὶ κατατάσσει εἰς τὴν εἱμαρμένην καὶ μέρος ἑαυτῆς ποιεῖ, οὕτως καὶ τὸ λογικὸν ζῷον δύναται πᾶν κώλυμα ὕλην ἑαυτοῦ ποιεῖν καὶ χρῆσθαι αὐτῷ, ἐφ’ οἷον ἂν καὶ ὥρμησεν.

Leopold · Teubner 1908
Commentary

A cosmic power — and ours. An analogy of capacity: as TERMthe nature of the Whole (the manuscripts have ἡ τῶν λογικῶν φύσις, "the nature of rational beings"; Rogovin and Long read τῶν ὅλων) has endowed rational beings with all their other powers, so it has given this one too — to turn a hindrance to one's own use. The model is the cosmos itself: "everything that resists and opposes" (πᾶν τὸ ἐνιστάμενον καὶ ἀντιβαῖνον) it "turns about" (ἐπιπεριτρέπει), TERM"orders into fate" (εἰς τὴν εἱμαρμένην), and makes a part of itself. No resistance stays outside the world-order — it is absorbed as material.

The obstacle as fuel. Hence the ethical conclusion: the rational animal "can make every obstacle (κώλυμα) its own material (ὕλη) and use it" — for the very end it was set upon (ἐφ’ οἷον ἂν καὶ ὥρμησεν). This is the exact formula of MOTIFthe fire that turns a hindrance into its food (4.1; 5.20 — "that which is a hindrance is made a furtherance to an act; and that which is an obstacle on the road helps us on this road"). A pair to 8.32: there a thwarted act is replaced by another; here the metaphysical guarantee is given — the power to transform the hindrance is inherited from the nature of the Whole, which does just this with everything. DOGMAAcceptance is thereby not passive: to accept is to convert into the material of virtue. The governing discipline is desire (to accept the hindrance as material), the sustaining one action (to put it to use).

DisciplineDiscipline of desire
Record added2026-07-16
Statuspublished
Read·Book VIII
Discipline of desire

Original · ancient Greek

Ὥσπερ τὰς ἄλλας δυνάμεις ἑκάστῳ τῶν λογικῶν σχεδὸν ὅσον ἡ τῶν λογικῶν φύσις, οὕτως καὶ ταύτην παρ’ αὐτῆς εἰλήφαμεν. ὃν τρόπον γὰρ ἐκείνη πᾶν τὸ ἐνιστάμενον καὶ ἀντιβαῖνον ἐπιπεριτρέπει καὶ κατατάσσει εἰς τὴν εἱμαρμένην καὶ μέρος ἑαυτῆς ποιεῖ, οὕτως καὶ τὸ λογικὸν ζῷον δύναται πᾶν κώλυμα ὕλην ἑαυτοῦ ποιεῖν καὶ χρῆσθαι αὐτῷ, ἐφ’ οἷον ἂν καὶ ὥρμησεν.

Leopold · Teubner 1908
Related4
TERMφύσιςnatureTERMεἱμαρμένη (глагол εἵμαρται; συγκαθείμαρτο, «со-суждено», у Марка)fate, the destinedDOGMAAmor fati — accepting what happens as a rational orderMOTIFThe mind as fire — the flame that turns obstacles into fuel
Commentary

A cosmic power — and ours. An analogy of capacity: as TERMthe nature of the Whole (the manuscripts have ἡ τῶν λογικῶν φύσις, "the nature of rational beings"; Rogovin and Long read τῶν ὅλων) has endowed rational beings with all their other powers, so it has given this one too — to turn a hindrance to one's own use. The model is the cosmos itself: "everything that resists and opposes" (πᾶν τὸ ἐνιστάμενον καὶ ἀντιβαῖνον) it "turns about" (ἐπιπεριτρέπει), TERM"orders into fate" (εἰς τὴν εἱμαρμένην), and makes a part of itself. No resistance stays outside the world-order — it is absorbed as material.

The obstacle as fuel. Hence the ethical conclusion: the rational animal "can make every obstacle (κώλυμα) its own material (ὕλη) and use it" — for the very end it was set upon (ἐφ’ οἷον ἂν καὶ ὥρμησεν). This is the exact formula of MOTIFthe fire that turns a hindrance into its food (4.1; 5.20 — "that which is a hindrance is made a furtherance to an act; and that which is an obstacle on the road helps us on this road"). A pair to 8.32: there a thwarted act is replaced by another; here the metaphysical guarantee is given — the power to transform the hindrance is inherited from the nature of the Whole, which does just this with everything. DOGMAAcceptance is thereby not passive: to accept is to convert into the material of virtue. The governing discipline is desire (to accept the hindrance as material), the sustaining one action (to put it to use).

DisciplineDiscipline of desire
Record added2026-07-16
Statuspublished