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MED. 8.5Discipline of action

George Long · 1862EN · Long

This is the chief thing: DOGMABe not perturbed, DOGMAfor all things are according to the nature of the universal; and EXERCISEin a little time thou wilt be nobody and nowhere, like PERSONHadrian and PERSONAugustus. In the next place EXERCISEhaving fixed thy eyes steadily on thy business look at it, and at the same time remembering that TERMit is thy duty to be a good man, and TERMwhat man's nature demands, do that without turning aside; and speak as it seems to thee most just, only let it be with a good disposition and with modesty and without hypocrisy.

Original · ancient Greek

Τὸ πρῶτον μὴ ταράσσου· πάντα γὰρ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ὅλου φύσιν καὶ ὀλίγου χρόνου οὐδεὶς οὐδαμοῦ ἔσῃ, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ Ἁδριανὸς οὐδὲ Αὔγουστος. ἔπειτα ἀτενίσας εἰς τὸ πρᾶγμα ἴδε αὐτὸ καὶ συμμνημονεύσας ὅτι ἀγαθόν σε ἄνθρωπον εἶναι δεῖ καὶ τί τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἡ φύσις ἀπαιτεῖ, πρᾶξον τοῦτο ἀμεταστρεπτὶ καὶ εἰπέ, ὡς δικαιότατον φαίνεταί σοι· μόνον εὐμενῶς καὶ αἰδημόνως καὶ ἀνυποκρίτως.

Leopold · Teubner 1908

Commentary

Two beats: calm, then the deed. The passage is built as a coupling of two movements (τὸ πρῶτον… ἔπειτα — "first… next"). The first is a settling of the mind, DOGMA"be not troubled" (μὴ ταράσσου): the ground is double — cosmological (DOGMA"all is according to the nature of the Whole", πάντα κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ὅλου φύσιν) and memorial (EXERCISE"soon you will be nobody and nowhere"). Both dissolve anxiety: the event is lawful, and the one troubled by it is short-lived.

Hadrian and Augustus as the measure. The names are not chosen at random: the two most powerful principes, one of them the recent adoptive "grandfather" of Marcus himself. If they are already "nowhere," then the care for "how you will seem" (8.1) is emptier still. The transience of power is a standing motif (cf. Med. 8.31: the court of Augustus is gone; 4.33).

From contemplation to act. The second beat is EXERCISE"look into the matter" (ἀτενίσας εἰς τὸ πρᾶγμα): the gaze is not scattered but fixed on the task at hand. Then a threefold remembrance: TERM"you must be a good man", recall TERM"what man's nature requires" (τί ἡ φύσις ἀπαιτεῖ), and do it "without turning back" (ἀμεταστρεπτί). The closing triad of adverbs sets the quality of the act: εὐμενῶς (with goodwill), αἰδημόνως (with modesty-conscience), ἀνυποκρίτως (without play-acting). The strict terms by the word are φύσις and ἀγαθόν; αἰδημόνως is left unlinked to αἰδώς (an adverb of a different lexeme), and δικαιότατον to δικαιοσύνη. The governing discipline is action (to do the deed at hand), the sustaining one desire (not to be troubled at the order of the Whole).

Read·Book VIII

Discipline of action

George Long · 1862· EN · Long

This is the chief thing: DOGMABe not perturbed, DOGMAfor all things are according to the nature of the universal; and EXERCISEin a little time thou wilt be nobody and nowhere, like PERSONHadrian and PERSONAugustus. In the next place EXERCISEhaving fixed thy eyes steadily on thy business look at it, and at the same time remembering that TERMit is thy duty to be a good man, and TERMwhat man's nature demands, do that without turning aside; and speak as it seems to thee most just, only let it be with a good disposition and with modesty and without hypocrisy.

Original · ancient Greek

Τὸ πρῶτον μὴ ταράσσου· πάντα γὰρ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ὅλου φύσιν καὶ ὀλίγου χρόνου οὐδεὶς οὐδαμοῦ ἔσῃ, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ Ἁδριανὸς οὐδὲ Αὔγουστος. ἔπειτα ἀτενίσας εἰς τὸ πρᾶγμα ἴδε αὐτὸ καὶ συμμνημονεύσας ὅτι ἀγαθόν σε ἄνθρωπον εἶναι δεῖ καὶ τί τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἡ φύσις ἀπαιτεῖ, πρᾶξον τοῦτο ἀμεταστρεπτὶ καὶ εἰπέ, ὡς δικαιότατον φαίνεταί σοι· μόνον εὐμενῶς καὶ αἰδημόνως καὶ ἀνυποκρίτως.

Leopold · Teubner 1908

Related8

TERMφύσιςnature TERMἀγαθόνthe good DOGMATo live according to nature — the Stoic *telos*-formula DOGMAAmor fati — accepting what happens as a rational order EXERCISEProsochē — attention to the present action EXERCISEMeditatio mortis — living under the sign of "as one already dying"PERSONHadrianRoman emperor (117–138); adoptive "grandfather" of Marcus by the adoption chain (Hadrian → Antoninus Pius → Marcus); in Marcus, the standing exemplum of the vanity of imperial power PERSONAugustusfirst Roman emperor (princeps, 27 BCE – 14 CE), founder of the principate; in Marcus, the archetype of supreme power swallowed by time (paired with Hadrian)

Commentary

Two beats: calm, then the deed. The passage is built as a coupling of two movements (τὸ πρῶτον… ἔπειτα — "first… next"). The first is a settling of the mind, DOGMA"be not troubled" (μὴ ταράσσου): the ground is double — cosmological (DOGMA"all is according to the nature of the Whole", πάντα κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ὅλου φύσιν) and memorial (EXERCISE"soon you will be nobody and nowhere"). Both dissolve anxiety: the event is lawful, and the one troubled by it is short-lived.

Hadrian and Augustus as the measure. The names are not chosen at random: the two most powerful principes, one of them the recent adoptive "grandfather" of Marcus himself. If they are already "nowhere," then the care for "how you will seem" (8.1) is emptier still. The transience of power is a standing motif (cf. Med. 8.31: the court of Augustus is gone; 4.33).

From contemplation to act. The second beat is EXERCISE"look into the matter" (ἀτενίσας εἰς τὸ πρᾶγμα): the gaze is not scattered but fixed on the task at hand. Then a threefold remembrance: TERM"you must be a good man", recall TERM"what man's nature requires" (τί ἡ φύσις ἀπαιτεῖ), and do it "without turning back" (ἀμεταστρεπτί). The closing triad of adverbs sets the quality of the act: εὐμενῶς (with goodwill), αἰδημόνως (with modesty-conscience), ἀνυποκρίτως (without play-acting). The strict terms by the word are φύσις and ἀγαθόν; αἰδημόνως is left unlinked to αἰδώς (an adverb of a different lexeme), and δικαιότατον to δικαιοσύνη. The governing discipline is action (to do the deed at hand), the sustaining one desire (not to be troubled at the order of the Whole).

DisciplineDiscipline of action

Record added2026-07-16

Statuspublished