Hindrance by the grades of nature. Marcus builds a ladder of "natures" on Stoic biology: a hindrance to sensation (αἴσθησις) and to TERMimpulse (ὁρμή) is an evil to the TERManimal nature (ζωτικὴ φύσις); the plant constitution (φυτικὴ κατασκευή) has its own hindrance; and a hindrance to TERMmind (νοῦς) is an evil to the intelligent nature (νοερὰ φύσις). Then the imperative: "transfer all this to yourself" (ἐπὶ σεαυτὸν μετάφερε).

Sorting by parts. Do pain and TERMpleasure "touch" you? — "let sensation see to it" (ὄψεται ἡ αἴσθησις): that is the affair of the sensory part, not of reason. Did your impulse meet an obstacle? Here is the key distinction: if you set out "without reservation" (ἀνυπεξαιρέτως) — then the obstacle is an evil to the rational being; but if you take "the common course" (τὸ κοινὸν λαμβάνεις — with the reserve-clause "if nothing hinders"), then "you are not yet harmed nor impeded." The harm comes not from the obstacle but from the rigidity of an impulse that made no reservation (cf. 5.20; 6.50).

The mind-sphere. The close is the DOGMAinvulnerability of the ruling part: "what is proper to the mind no one impedes — neither fire, nor iron, nor tyrant, nor slander touches it." The image is the Empedoclean sphere (σφαῖρος κυκλοτερής, fr. 27/28 DK): a perfectly round mind "at rest," which nothing from outside can reach; Marcus returns to it at 11.12. The strict terms by the word are φύσις, ὁρμή, νοῦς, ἡδονή; ἀνυπεξαιρέτως carries the reserve-clause, but the privative adverb is not entered among the terms. The governing discipline is assent (the mind lets nothing touch it), the sustaining one desire (to strive with a reservation).