Invincibility through self-collection. The classic formula of Stoic freedom: the TERMruling faculty becomes "unconquerable" (ἀκαταμάχητον), "coiled into itself" (εἰς ἑαυτὸ συστραφέν) and "content with itself" (ἀρκεσθῇ ἑαυτῷ) — doing nothing it does not will. Marcus adds a subtlety: it is impregnable even when it resists "unreasonably" (ἀλόγως); all the more when it judges TERM"with reason" (μετὰ λόγου) and circumspectly. A refusal (even a stubborn one) already shows that the external has no power over assent; a reasoned refusal makes that power complete.

A citadel free of passions. Hence the image central to Hadot, the inner citadel: EXERCISE"the acropolis (ἀκρόπολις) is the mind free of passions (ἐλευθέρα παθῶν διάνοια)". A man has no stronghold "more secure" (ὀχυρώτερον): once he has fled into it, he is henceforth "unassailable" (ἀνάλωτος). This refuge is not in the wilds nor in retirement but in the DOGMAruling part itself (cf. 4.3 — "no retreat is quieter than one's own soul"; 7.28 — "coil into yourself"). The close is a stark fork: he who has not seen this citadel is "ignorant" (ἀμαθής); he who has seen it but does not flee to it is "unfortunate" (ἀτυχής): knowledge without the refuge is useless. The strict terms by the word are ἡγεμονικόν, λόγος; ἐλευθέρα παθῶν carries freedom from passion, but the lemma ἀπάθεια itself is not in the text. The governing discipline is assent (to collect the mind into itself), the sustaining one desire (not to do the unwilled).