Words left out: esse, sum and others understood

Latin often leaves out a word the reader can supply, especially est, sunt and esse, or a verb already used in the same sentence.

Examples

• adversari itaque sibi invicem praeter naturam 2.1so to oppose one another (is) against nature
• tu ergo sic tecum 2.2so (say) to yourself like this
• quae homines, cognationis ratione, sunt amica 2.13what men (do) is dear to us, because they are our kin
• natura, fluxa: sensus, obscurus 2.17its substance (is) in flux, perception (is) dim

In the text 374

• I.2 A fama memoriaque genitoris mei, modestam simul ac masculam indolem.From here on the main verb is left out, and the reader supplies accepi "I received" (compare accepisse in §1) or didici "I learned". Each item is in the form that verb needs: a noun in the accusative is its object, as indolem here; an infinitive means "(I learned) to …"; an ut or ne clause with the subjunctive means "(I was taught) to …" or "not to …"; and a quod clause with the subjunctive means "(I owe it to him) that I …".
• I.3 A matre, pietatis studium, et largiendi promptitudinem: nec a malo patrando tantum, sed cogitando etiam, continere.As in §2, supply accepi or didici. The first two items are accusative nouns, objects of the understood verb: "(I received) devotion … and readiness". The third is an infinitive: "(I learned) to hold back".
• I.3 tum victu simplici, quique ab opulentorum more ac instituto abscedat quam longissime, contentum esse.Another infinitive item, with didici understood: "(I learned) to be content". victu simplici is the ablative that goes with contentum, "content with a simple way of living". The infinitive comes last, so hold the ablatives in mind until you reach it.
• I.4 A proavo, quod publicas exercitationes adierim; quodque bonis praeceptoribus privatim sim usus; et quod in res istiusmodi impense erogandum intellexerim.Here each item is a quod clause, "that I …": understand debeo "I owe it to him", as Marcus himself writes in §6 (eidem debeo, quod). The verbs adierim, sim usus and intellexerim are perfect subjunctive: the subjunctive presents each thing as what Marcus acknowledges, and the perfect is the tense for a past action after a present verb ("I owe").
• I.5 Ab educatore, ne in certamine equestri Prasinae, aut Venetae factioni, neve in gladiatorio Thraci aut secutori fautor fierem:The verb is understood again, and here the items are clauses with the subjunctive: supply "I learned" (didici) or "I was taught". ne … fierem "(I learned) not to become"; in the next sentence ut … sustinerem "(I learned) to endure". These clauses work like indirect commands. Their verbs are imperfect subjunctive because the understood verb is in the past.certamen equestre "the horse contest" is the chariot racing in the circus. gladiatorio agrees with certamine understood: "in the gladiatorial (contest)".
• I.5 ut labores sustinerem; minimo contentus agerem; operi manus admoverem: negotiis alienis me neutiquam immiscerem; nec delationem facilis ullam admitterem.didici is still understood, and one ut governs all five subjunctives down to admitterem: "(I learned) to endure …, to live …, to put …, in no way to meddle …, and not to accept …". The last item is negative, so it is joined by nec "and not".
• I.6 A Diogneto, ne rebus inanibus studium impenderem:As in §5, the verb didici "I learned" is understood, and each item is a clause with the subjunctive: ne … impenderem "(I learned) not to spend", neve … adhiberem "and not to give credence", ut(que) … sustinerem "(and) to bear". Later in the section Marcus writes the verb himself: eidem debeo, quod … "to the same man I owe it that …". Diognetus taught Marcus painting.
• I.6 neve eis fidem adhiberem, quae a praestigiatoribus magisque de incantationibus, deque daemonibus averruncandis, aliisque ejusmodi imposturis dicuntur:neve "and not" continues the ne of the last sentence, with didici still understood. fidem adhibere with the dative is "to give credence to, believe", and eis "those things" is the antecedent of quae: "not to believe the things which are said …".
• I.6 ne coturnices ad pugnam alerem, neve rebus istiusmodi animum adjicerem: utque libere dicta aequanimiter sustinerem.The same understood didici "I learned": two more negative items with ne and neve, then a positive one with utque "and to …".
• I.7 A Rustico, quod in eam cogitationem devenerim, morum correctione curationeque indigere me:Again the verb is understood, and this long section mixes the kinds of item. First come quod clauses with debeo understood, "(I owe it to him) that I …", running to abstinuerim; then ne and ut clauses with didici understood, "(I learned) not to … / to …", from ne togatus on; and at the end Marcus writes the verb himself, huic … debeo, quod "to him I owe it that". The verbs of all these clauses are subjunctive.
• I.7 quodque ad aemulationem ambitionemque Sophisticam nullus declinaverim, vel de theorematibus aliquid conscribendo, vel oratiunculas hortatorias declamando, vel exercitia obire operasque edere potis speciem praebendo, quo ad stuporem ac admirationem mei homines traherem.Another quod item, with debeo understood: "and (I owe it to him) that I …". nullus, agreeing with the subject "I", is used for a strong "not": "that I in no way turned aside". The sophists of Marcus's day were star lecturers and speech-makers who toured the cities and competed for applause.
• I.7 quod rhetoricae item, poeticaeque, et dictionis elegantioris studiis abstinuerim.A third quod item, with debeo understood. rhetoricae, poeticae and dictionis are all genitives with studiis: "the studies of rhetoric, of poetry and of style". Rhetoric was the core of a Roman education; Marcus had studied it under Fronto.
• I.7 ne togatus intra aedes obambularem, neve ejusmodi alia, quae fastum resiperent, facerem.Now the items change from quod clauses to ne clauses, with didici understood and the imperfect subjunctive: "(I learned) not to walk about …, nor to do …".
• I.7 epistolas etiam simpliciter scriberem, ad normam scil. earum quas Sinuessa ad matrem meam idem ipse dederat.scriberem has no ut of its own. After the negatives ne … neve, supply ut, with didici still understood: "(and I learned) to write my letters simply too".
• I.7 adhaec ut placabilis et reconciliatu facilis essem, adversus eos, qui offensionis caussam dederint, aut deliquerint aliquid, simulatque illi in gratiam redire vellent.adhaec (= ad haec "besides these things") adds a new item, an ut clause like those in §5, with didici understood: "(I learned) to be …".
• I.7 porro ut accurate legerem, nec comprehensione summaria contentus essem; nec garrulis quibusvis temere assentirer.porro "further" adds another ut item (didici understood), and the two nec clauses continue it: "to read …, and not to be content …, and not to agree …".
• I.8 Ab Apollonio, ut liber essem; firmumque ac certum citra fluctuationem omnem consilii ingeniique tenorem retinerem: neque aliud quicquam, vel minimum, praeter rationem solam, intuerer:Each section of Book I names a teacher and leaves out the main verb. In 1.1 Marcus wrote it out, accepisse agnosco "I acknowledge that I received"; here Gataker gives it only at the end of the section, ab isto didici "from him I learned", and that is the verb to supply throughout: "From Apollonius (I learned) …". What was learned comes in several shapes: ut clauses "that I should …", quod clauses "that I …", and at the end an indirect question.
• I.8 ut idem semper essem, in doloribus acerrimis, in liberorum amissione, in morbis diuturnis.A new ut clause, still with didici understood: "(I learned) to be always the same". idem is nominative masculine, "the same man", the predicate of essem.
• I.8 adhaec, quod in ipso, tanquam in exemplari vivo, evidenter cernere licuit, posse eundem, prout occasiones se dabant, et vehementissimum et remissum esse.adhaec "besides" brings in a new kind of item, a quod clause "the fact that …". Supply debeo "I owe it to him", the verb Gataker writes out in 1.7 (huic denique debeo, quod …): "(I owe it to him) that it was possible to see …". licet "it is allowed, it is possible" is impersonal, and its subject is the infinitive cernere: cernere licuit "it was possible to see", i.e. "one could see".
• I.8 sed et quod in disciplinis tradendis neutiquam morose se gereret:Another quod clause with debeo understood, but now the subject is Apollonius: se gereret "he behaved" (se gerere "to conduct oneself"). The imperfect describes his habit. sed et "but also".
• I.8 quodque hominem viderim, qui peritiam suam et in theorematibus tradendis solertiam, bonorum suorum minimum existimare se, palam faceret.Again supply debeo: "and (I owe it to him) that I saw a man …". The man is Apollonius himself.
• I.8 ab isto didici, et quo modo beneficia, quae dicuntur, ab amicis accipere oporteret, ut nec acceptis obnoxius fierem, nec citra sensum tamen omnem transmitterem.Here at last Gataker writes out the verb understood through the whole section: didici "I learned", perfect of disco. isto is simply "him", Apollonius; iste need not be contemptuous.
• I.9 A Sexto, benevolum erga alios affectum: familiae affectu paterno administratae specimen: de vita naturae convenienter instituenda cogitationem:As in every section of Book I, the main verb is left out. Here what Marcus took from Sextus is named by accusative nouns, so supply accepi "I received" (from 1.1, accepisse agnosco): "(I received) a kindly disposition towards others". Each item set off by a colon is another object of this accepi, until a quod clause takes over near the end.
• I.9 gravitatem item neutiquam personatam: et sedulam amicorum observationem: et imperitorum, eorumque qui citra considerationem opinione mera ducuntur, tolerationem:More objects of the understood accepi, set off by colons. personatus comes from persona "an actor's mask": a dignity "in no way masked", not put on for show.
• I.9 quodque nec iracundiae, nec perturbationis alius alicujus, indicium exhibebat; sed cum affectibus immunis prorsus existeret, ad affectum genuinum erat tamen propensissimus:A quod clause again, with debeo understood: "and (I owe it to him) that he showed …". The subject is still Sextus, as with extiterit before, and the main verbs are indicative, exhibebat "he showed" and erat "he was", because they state facts about him; only existeret, in the cum clause, is subjunctive. What Marcus owes is the example.
• I.9 favere promptus, sed sine strepitu: varieque, citra ostentationem, eruditus.Two more items, with no verb. promptus and eruditus are nominative masculine singular: they go on from erat … propensissimus before, with Sextus still the subject: "(he was) ready to show approval … and learned". promptus "ready" takes the infinitive favere "to show favour, applaud".
• I.10 Ab Alexandro Grammatico, increpationibus abstinere;The verb is left out again. This time what Marcus learned is given by infinitives, so supply didici "I learned", as in 1.8: "(I learned) to refrain from rebukes". The infinitives that follow, excipere and proponere, hang on the same didici. A grammaticus taught language and literature; Alexander taught Marcus Greek.
• I.11 A Frontone, ut scirem, quae invidentia, versutia, simulatio tyrannidem consequatur:The verb is left out, as in every section of Book I. With an ut clause, supply didici "I learned" (as in 1.8), or "I was taught": "(I learned) to know". scirem is the imperfect subjunctive of scio "know".
• I.11 quodque ut plurimum qui patricii nobis nuncupantur, ab affectu genuino alieniores existant.A second thing learned from Fronto, in a quod clause "and that …": take it with the understood didici, or with scirem, "that I should know … and that …". Its verb existant "they are" is present subjunctive, like consequatur: a lasting truth, given as something learned.
• I.12 Ab Alexandro Platonico, ne crebro, neve nisi necessitate adactus, aut dicto aut scripto significem alicui, non vacare me:Like every section of Book I, this one names a teacher and lists what Marcus got from him, leaving out the main verb. The book opens with it in full, Ab avo meo Vero accepisse agnosco "I acknowledge that I received from my grandfather Verus"; after that, supply accepi "I received" or didici "I learned". An accusative noun is then its object, an infinitive means "(I learned) to …", a quod clause with the subjunctive "(I owe it to him) that I …", and an ut or ne clause with the subjunctive, as here, "(I was taught) to … / not to …".
• I.12 neve hoc modo sub negotiorum distinentium praetextu officia ea, quae vitae hujus necessitudo a nobis exigit, solens deseram.A second thing taught, still with didici understood: neve … deseram "and not to neglect". The verb waits till the very end, after the long object officia ea, quae … exigit. hoc modo "in this way" points back to the excuse "I have no time".
• I.13 A Catulo, ne insuper haberem amicorum querimonias, etiamsi ratio earum nulla subesset, sed in statum ipsos pristinum restituere anniterer:As in every section of Book I, the main verb is left out. The book's first words have it in full, Ab avo meo Vero accepisse agnosco "I acknowledge that I received from my grandfather Verus"; here supply didici "I learned". Then an accusative is what Marcus received, an infinitive "(I learned) to …", a quod clause with the subjunctive "(I owe it to him) that I …", and an ut or ne clause with the subjunctive, as here, "(I was taught) to … / not to …".
• I.13 ut praeceptores prompte impenseque praedicarem; quod de Domitio atque Athenodoto refertur; liberosque meos affectu sincero prosequerer.Another lesson from Catulus, with didici still understood: ut with the subjunctive, "(I was taught) to praise". praedicarem comes from praedicare (1st conj.) "to proclaim, praise in public", not from praedicere "to foretell"; the long ā of praedicārem shows the conjugation.
• I.14 A fratre meo Severo, familiares diligere; veri justique rationem habere.The main verb is left out, as in every section of Book I (§1 has it in full: accepisse agnosco "I acknowledge that I received"); supply didici "I learned". An accusative would be its object, an ut or ne clause "(I was taught) to … / not to …"; here the lessons are infinitives, "(I learned) to love …, to have regard for …", with Marcus as their subject. Then come quod clauses with the subjunctive, "(I owe it to him) that I …"; further on Gataker writes the verb out, ab eodem item didici; and the section ends with clauses about Severus himself.
• I.14 item quod per eundem Thraseam, Helvidium, Catonem, Dionem, Brutum nosse ceperim;Now a quod clause with the subjunctive, the verb again understood: "(I owe it to him) that I began …". The subjunctive ceperim marks it as something Marcus acknowledges, as after accepisse agnosco in §1.
• I.14 et quod imaginem animo conceperim status popularis, in quo per aequalitatem jurisque aequabilitatem res administrentur; regnique, in quo subditorum libertate nihil antiquius habeatur.Another quod clause, "(I owe it to him) that I formed …". Its object imaginem "an idea, a picture" has two genitives far apart: status popularis "of a popular state" and regni "of a kingship", joined by -que. Each has its own in quo clause.
• I.14 ab eodem item didici, simpliciter vivere; in philosophiae cultu constanter persistere;For once Gataker writes the verb that the sections leave out: didici "I learned". It confirms how to read the infinitives, here and before: "(I learned) to live …", with Marcus as their subject. ab eodem "from the same man" is Severus.
• I.14 prompte benefacere, impense largiri; spes bonas fovere; de amicorum dilectione nihil ambigere.More infinitives after didici, with Marcus as subject. largiri is the deponent largior: passive in form (-ri), active in meaning, "to give freely".
• I.14 quin et quod si quorum mores minus probaret, palam id prae se ferret;Here the subject changes to Severus himself. Another quod clause, "(I owe it to him) that …", but its verbs now describe his own conduct: probaret and ferret here, foret and erat in the next sentence. quin et is "and what is more".
• I.15 A Maximo, mei compotem esse; nec ulla in re transversum abripi.As in every section of Book I, the main verb is left out; supply didici "I learned" (§1 has it in full: accepisse agnosco "I acknowledge that I received"). An accusative would be its object, an ut or ne clause "(I was taught) to … / not to …", a quod clause "(I owe it to him) that …"; here the lesson is an infinitive, "(I learned) to be …". compos with a genitive is "in control of", and mei "of myself" shows that Marcus is the subject: "to be master of myself".
• I.15 sed et animo bono esse, cum in morbis, tum et in aliis casibus adversis;Still "(I learned) to …", with didici understood. animo bono esse "to be of good mind" is an ablative of description with esse: "to be in good spirits". The next sentence has the same construction, moribus esse … temperatis.
• I.15 moribus esse probe temperatis, suavibus, verendis: negotia objecta citra quiritationem conficere.Again "(I learned) to be …", and again an ablative of description: "to be of ways (i.e. of a character) well tempered, gentle, to be respected". temperatis is the perfect participle of tempero "mix in due measure"; verendis is the gerundive of the deponent vereor "revere", and, unlike the deponent's other forms, it is passive in meaning, "to be revered".
• I.15 adhaec quod ita se gerebat, ut fidem quibusvis faceret; quaecunque diceret, ex animi sententia dixisse; quaecunque faceret, animo haud malo fecisse.Here the subject changes from Marcus to Maximus. quod … gerebat "that he conducted himself" begins a run of quod clauses about what Maximus was like, with "(I owe it to him)" understood. Gataker mixes the moods in them: the indicative (gerebat, admirabatur, erat) states a plain fact about Maximus, the subjunctive (videretur, inventus sit, affectaverit) puts it as something Marcus acknowledges; the sense is the same. adhaec is Gataker's one-word ad haec "besides".
• I.15 nusquam perplexus, aut dejectus, aut ringi solitus: nec rursus iracundiae, aut suspicionibus deditus.The list runs on with no verb of its own: supply erat from the sentence before, "(he was) never at a loss …". All the nominatives, perplexus, dejectus, solitus, deditus, agree with Maximus, its subject.
• I.15 adhaec quod benefacere promptus, et ignoscere.The verb is left out: supply erat, "that (he was) ready to do good, and to forgive". promptus "ready" takes the infinitive, as in favere promptus in §9; the second infinitive, ignoscere, follows as an afterthought.
• I.15 quod verax; quodque hominis ejusmodi specimen dare videretur, qui perverti nesciret potius, quam qui corrigi unquam opus haberet.The shortest item has no verb: supply erat, "that (he was) truthful". The next quod clause has one, videretur "he seemed", the passive of video in its sense "to seem", which takes an infinitive: specimen dare videretur "he seemed to give the picture", i.e. he looked like a man of that kind.
• I.15 quod nemo quisquam inventus sit, qui vel contemptui ab illo haberi se existimaret, vel praestantiorem se illo opinaretur.A quod clause with the subjunctive, again about Maximus: "(I owe it to him) that no one at all was found …". inventus sit is the perfect passive subjunctive.
• I.15 denique quod urbanitatis laudem neutiquam affectaverit.
• I.16 A patre mansuetudinem, et in rebus accurate jam decretis constantiam immotam.As in each section of Book I after the first, the main verb is left out; supply it from §1, accepisse agnosco "I acknowledge that I received", or simply accepi. mansuetudinem and constantiam are its objects: "From my father (I received) gentleness … and firmness". The father is Antoninus Pius, emperor from 138 to 161, who adopted Marcus.
• I.16 quod in honoribus, qui habentur, istis, gloriae inani nihil concesserit;Here the list turns from nouns (mansuetudinem, constantiam) to clauses about the father, and most of the section is made of them: quod "that" with a finite verb, "(I owe it to him, I saw in him) that he …". The verb is sometimes subjunctive (concesserit, dederit, fuerit), sometimes indicative (noverat, permittebat, insistebat); the indicative states a plain fact about him, the subjunctive presents it as something Marcus acknowledges, and the sense is the same. Where no verb is written, supply erat.
• I.16 quod etiam amicorum retinendi studiosus; nec fastidio mutans, nec insane diligens.
• I.16 quod in statu quocunque sorte contentus, vultuque serenus.Again no verb: supply erat, "that (he was) content …"; contentus and serenus are nominative, agreeing with the father. sorte is ablative with contentus "content with"; vultu is an ablative of respect, "calm in face". quocunque is Gataker's spelling of quocumque.
• I.16 e longinquo futuri praesagus; et de minimis quibusque citra tumultum providus.Not even quod now: praesagus "foreseeing" and providus "providing" are nominative adjectives describing the father, with erat supplied. praesagus takes the genitive: futuri "of the future".
• I.16 nec in Deis colendis superstitiosus, nec in hominibus, aut muneribus, aut blanditiis auram captans popularem; sed in rebus quibusque sobrius, solidus, nusquam ineptus, aut novitatis studiosus.Back to nominatives with no verb: superstitiosus, captans, sobrius and the rest all describe the father, with erat understood: "(he was) not superstitious …". in Deis colendis "in gods to be worshipped", i.e. "in worshipping the gods", is a gerundive phrase.
• I.16 Porro quod ad vitam commodius transigendam conducentibus rebus, quarum copiam illi dapsilem sors suppeditabat, citra fastum, nec libere tamen minus, utebatur; ut et praesentibus simpliciter frueretur, neque absentia multum desideraret.
• I.16 in congressibus facilis, et festivus, nec ad fastidium id tamen.
• I.16 quod nec dimoveri proclivis, nec divagari, sed cum locis, tum et rebus eisdem, immorari consuetus.
• I.16 prudentiam item et moderationem, in spectaculis exhibendis, fabricis extruendis, congiariis largiendis, aliisque istiusmodi;Here the list goes back to nouns in the accusative, as at the very start (mansuetudinem, constantiam), objects of the understood verb: "(I received from him, I saw in him) likewise good sense and moderation".
• I.16 non illi intempestivus balneorum usus; non aedificandi studium insanum,The description changes shape here: no more quod clauses, but short statements with no verb. Supply erat: non illi (erat) … usus "there was to him no untimely use of the baths", i.e. "he had no …". illi is a dative of possession; the subjects are nominative.
• I.16 non de victu, non de vestium textura tincturave, non de servitiorum specie exquisita curiositas.curiositas "fussiness, over-careful attention" is the subject of the whole clause, held back to the end, and each non de … "not about …" depends on it: "(there was) no studied fussiness about food …". Supply erat again.
• I.16 toga, qua Lorii utebatur, a villa inferiore comparata: Lanuvii tunicatus plerunque in Tusculano, sed quod excusare solebat, paenulatus.Supply erat: "his toga, which he wore at Lorium, was got from the lower villa", that is, from his own country estate, not from the shops of Rome. utor "use" takes the ablative, hence qua; of clothes it means "wear".
• I.16 nihil immite; nihil immodestum, nihil vehemens, aut de quo usurpari posset, quod solet vulgo dici, Ad sudorem usque:
• II.1 siquidem ad mutuas operas nati sumus; quo modo pedes, manus, palpebrae, dentium superiorum inferiorumque ordines.quo modo "in the way in which", i.e. "just as". The verb is left out: supply nati sunt "(are) born (for working together)" with each of the nominatives.
• II.2 Quin et animam considera, qualis sit. Spiritus est, sive aer, nec is semper idem, sed qui jugiter efflatus denuo resorbetur.Supply est: "and it is not always the same, but (a breath) which, continually breathed out, is drawn in again". qui has no antecedent written; understand spiritus.
• II.2 tu ergo sic tecum: senex es: partem tui principem servire ulterius ne siveris; sed nec motibus a communione humana alienis raptari, nec quicquam, quod fato destinatum tibi fuerit, vel jam ascitum aversari, vel futurum pavere.No verb: supply "speak" or "think": "so (talk) thus with yourself". tecum = cum te "with yourself".
• II.4 tandem advertas oportet, cujusnam mundi pars sis, et cujusnam mundi rectoris propago.The second question shares the verb of the first: supply sis, 'of what ruler of the world you are the offspring'.
• II.9 Horum meminisse semper oportet: quae universi, quae tua natura sit; quomodo haec ad illam affecta, qualisque pars qualis universi existat:
• II.13 Nihil homine illo miserius est, qui omnia undique pervagatur, et cum ea quae subter terram sunt, quod ille ait, scrutatur, tum quae in animis alienis, conjectura nititur indagare;Supply sunt: quae in animis alienis [sunt] "what is in other people's minds". The whole clause is the object of indagare, which depends on nititur "he strives".
• II.13 quae enim Dii agunt, virtutis nomine, veneranda; quae homines, cognationis ratione, sunt amica;Supply agunt from the first clause: quae homines [agunt] "what men do".
• II.14 itaque nihil interesse, per centum, an per ducentos, an per tempus interminatum, eadem quis visurus sit.Supply annos "years" with both numbers: "for a hundred (years), or for two hundred". The years have been spoken of since the start of the section (ter mille annos).
• II.14 alterius vero, quod is qui quam diutissime vixerit, et is qui quam celerrime mortuus fuerit, tantundem vitae prorsus amittit uterque.Supply meminisse oportebit from before: "and (you will need to remember) the other thing, that …".
• II.17 Vitae humanae tempus, punctum est: materia, fluida: sensus, obscurus: corporis universi fabrica, putrescere prona: anima, vaga: fortuna, res impervestigabilis: fama, res incerta:A list of short statements without verbs. est is written only in the first; in each of the others supply "is" where the comma stands: materia, fluida "its matter (is) fluid". materia here means the stuff human life is made of, which is always flowing away.
• II.17 et ut verbo dicam, omnia, corporis quidem, fluvius; animae vero, somnium et fumus: vita, militia, et hospitis in peregrino mora: fama posthuma, oblivio mera.
• III.1 sed et illud reputandum, quod, si quis diutius vitam protraxerit, incertum sit, utrum mentis vires pariter idoneas sit habiturus ad rerum intelligentiam, et ad contemplationem eam quae ad rerum divinarum humanarumque peritiam contendit.
• III.1 Festinandum itaque, non hac sola ratione, quia mortem propius per momenta singula acceditur, sed hac insuper, quia rerum cogitatus et intellectus ante mortem nos saepenumero destituit.
• III.3 quorsum ista? navem conscendisti, navigasti, appulisti: egredere.quorsum (from quo vorsum "turned towards what?") means "to what end?". The verb is left out, as usual in this phrase; supply spectant "tend": "what do these things point to?", i.e. "what is the lesson of all this?"
• III.3 si ad vitam alteram; nihil, ne ibi quidem, numinis est inane.The si clause has no verb: supply egrederis "you are going out" from egredere just before: "if (you go ashore) to another life". Marcus weighs the two things death may be, the first introduced by si "if", the second by sin "but if".
• III.4 oportet itaque in cogitationum serie frustraneum et superfluum omne declinare: curiosum autem et malignum multo magis.The verb is left out: supply declinare oportet, "but (you must avoid) what is meddlesome and malicious much more". multo "by much" is the ablative of the degree of difference with the comparative magis "more".
• III.6 itaque si conducere tibi videbitur, quatenus ratione praeditus es, retineas; sin, quatenus animatus es tantum, repudies;videri "to seem" takes an infinitive: "if it will seem to benefit you", English "if it seems". The subject "it", the thing under consideration, is left out, and so is the object of retineas and repudies.
• III.10 reliquum tempus vel jam exactum, vel in incerto plane situm.No verb is written: supply est with each participle, "the rest of time either has already been spent, or lies wholly in uncertainty". exactum is from exigo in its sense "complete, spend (time)"; situm, from sino, "placed", as sita sunt in §9.
• III.10 exiguum est itaque, quod vivit quisque; exiguus et telluris, in quo vitam agit, angulus:Supply est again: "small too (is) the corner of the earth". et here means "too". The noun phrase telluris … angulus is spread round the relative clause in quo vitam agit, and its head angulus waits to the end.
• III.10 exiguum quiddam, quae et diutissime prorogatur, posthuma fama;Again est is left out: "a small something (is) fame after death". The relative clause comes before the noun it describes: quae et diutissime prorogatur … fama "fame, even that which is prolonged the longest".
• III.10 eaque homuncionum morti celerrime concedentium, qui ne seipsos quidem probe norint, nedum jam olim defunctum quempiam, successionibus propagata.Read the frame first: eaque … propagata (supply est) "and that too (is) handed on", successionibus "by successions". Everything in between describes the people through whom fame passes. eaque = et ea.
• III.11 quamnam, hominem quod attinet, qui civem agit civitatis supernae illius, cujus reliquae civitates istae quasi familiae existunt;Supply dignitatem obtineat from the clause before: "what worth (it has) as far as man is concerned". The usual idiom is quod ad hominem attinet "as for what concerns man"; Gataker leaves out ad and puts hominem first.
• III.11 hoc a fati serie connexa contextaque, vel a concursu fortuito istiusmodi:Supply venit: "this (comes) from the chain of fate". The participles connexa contextaque agree with serie (ablative singular feminine): fate is pictured as a chain of causes "linked and woven together".
• III.11 hoc a contribuli, congenere, sodale; qui ipse quidem quid naturae suae consentaneum sit nescit.Supply venit again. The three nouns all say that the other person is one of our own: "a fellow tribesman, a kinsman, a companion". congenere is the adjective congener "akin" used as a noun.
• III.16 Corpus, anima, mens. corporis sensus sunt, animae affectus, mentis decreta.Three headings with no verb: the parts of a person in Stoic thought, the body, the anima (the life-breath that animates it) and the mens (the ruling mind).
• IV.3 ecquid est enim, quod aegre ferre debeas? nunquid hominum improbitatem?nunquid (classical numquid) asks a doubtful question: "is it perhaps …?". The verb is left out: improbitatem is accusative as the object of aegre ferre debeas from the last question: "(Ought you to resent) the wickedness of men?"
• IV.3 tum quam inanes plane applausus isti; quam mutabile et judicii expers faventium vulgus; quam angusto denique spatio laus ista terminetur.Still depending on cogita, three more "how" clauses. In the first two the verb is left out: supply sint and sit, "how empty that applause is", "how changeable the crowd is". applausus is a 4th-declension plural, "applause". isti "that (applause of yours)" is scornful, as iste often is.
• IV.3 alterum vero, quod universa quae hic vides, mox sunt mutatura, nec futura amplius.
• IV.3 alteratione mundus constat, opinione vita.constare + ablative is "to consist in, rest on". The verb is said once and understood again: "the world consists in change, life (consists) in opinion". alteratio "alteration, change" is a late Latin word.
• IV.4 si ratio, etiam ea quae quid agendum, quid omittendum praescribit, ratio communis est.The verb is left out because it is the one just used: si ratio stands for si ratio communis est "if reason is common".
• IV.4 si haec, lex quoque communis est.haec "this" is the reason that prescribes, from the last sentence, and again communis est is understood: "if this (is common), law too is common". A reason that tells us what to do and what to avoid is, in effect, a law.
• IV.4 hoc si conceditur, cives sumus: et hoc dato, politiae alicujus participes: et ex consequenti, civitatis instar mundus est.
• IV.4 unde ergo nobis intellectu, ratione, atque adeo lege agere posse, nisi inde, a communi illa civitate?There is no finite verb: supply est or venit. posse "being able" is an infinitive used as a noun, the subject; nobis is a dative, "to us". Word for word: "from where then (comes it) to us to be able to act …?", i.e. "where do we get the power to act …?"
• IV.4 quicquid humidum, ab elemento diverso; quicquid aereum, a fonte suo aliquo; quicquid calidum et igneum item a fonte aliquo peculiari:The verbs are not repeated: with each quicquid supply in me existit … mihi obvenit from the first part: "whatever (in me is) moist (comes to me) from another element". diverso "different" means other than the earth just named, i.e. water.
• IV.5 Tale quiddam mors est, quale nativitas; naturae utrumque mysterium est.
• IV.5 ex eisdem elementis concretio illic, in quae istic resolutio. nihil omnino, cujus quenquam pudeat:No verbs: supply est twice. illic "there" and istic "here" mean "in the one case … in the other": the combining (concretio) is birth, the dissolving (resolutio) is death. The antecedent of in quae "into which" is eisdem elementis: we are dissolved into the very elements we were put together from.
• IV.6 illud interim omnino memineris, brevi futurum; ut vestrum uterque defungatur: tum paulo post ne nomina quidem utriusque superfutura.Still after memineris: supply esse with superfutura, the future participle of supersum "survive", making a future infinitive. ne … quidem "not even" encloses the word it stresses: ne nomina quidem "not even the names". In paulo post "a little later", paulo "by a little" goes with the adverb post "afterwards".
• IV.12 veruntamen sententiae mutatio ista niti semper debet probabilitate aliqua, vel justum esse, vel in publicum utile, vel aliud hujusmodi, id ad quod transitur, non autem quod jucundum aut gloriosum existat.
• IV.15 Multae thuris glebulae in ara eadem; alia citius, alia serius decidit: citius autem an serius, nihil interest.The first clause has no verb: supply sunt "there are". Marcus sets down a picture: "many little lumps of incense on the same altar". glebulae is a diminutive of gleba "clod", and thuris is the genitive of thus "incense": lumps of incense thrown on the altar fire.
• IV.19 et qui huic successerit, ipse pariter; donec tandem memoria omnis prorsus per suspicientes eosdemque mox extinctos protelata, et ipsa prorsus extinguatur.Still inside fore ut: "and (that) he who has succeeded this one will himself likewise (yield to fate)"; sit concessurus is understood from the last part. succedo "come after, succeed" takes the dative huic, and successerit is perfect subjunctive, the subjunctive of reported thought.
• IV.19 finge, vero et immortales, qui tui meminerint, memoriamque tui et ipsam immortalem fore, quid hoc ad te tamen?A common idiom with the verb left out: "what (is) this to you?", i.e. "what does it matter to you?". The answer expected is "nothing".
• IV.20 quod est igitur vere bonum, id nihilo ulterius indigebit, non magis quam lex, quam veritas, quam benevolentia, quam modestia.indigeo "need" takes the ablative (or the genitive): nihilo is the ablative of nihil, and the adverb ulterius "further" goes with it, "will need nothing further", nothing besides itself, such as praise. non magis quam is "no more than", with the verb understood each time: "no more than law (needs it), than truth …". The future indigebit says what will always hold.
• IV.20 quid aurum, ebur, purpura, pugio, flosculus, arbuscula?No verb: "what about gold, ivory …?". The nouns are nominative because the last question is understood with each: does gold become worse if it is not praised? purpura is the costly purple dye or cloth; flosculus and arbuscula are diminutives, "a little flower", "a little tree".
• IV.27 Mundus vel est ordine justo dispositus, vel miscela temeraria, congesta quidem ea, sed ut mundus sit tamen.Supply est: congesta quidem ea (est) "heaped together it is, granted". quidem … sed grants one point to make another: "but in such a way that it is still a world". mundus renders the Greek kosmos, which means both "world" and "order", so even a jumble, if it is a world at all, has some order.
• IV.28 Mores nigri, effoeminati, praefracti, belluini, pecuini, pueriles, stolidi, subdoli, scurriles, perfidi, tyrannici.A list with no verb: one noun, Mores, and eleven adjectives agreeing with it in the nominative plural masculine. mores in the plural means "character, ways". Marcus writes down, as a reminder to himself, the kinds of character to shun; supply "such is" or "beware of".
• IV.29 profugus, qui rationem civilem fugit. caecus, qui mentis oculos clausos habet. mendicus, qui alterius cujusquam indiget, neque apud se habet, quicquid ad vitam conducat.The definitions go on in the same pattern, with est understood each time: "(he is) a fugitive who …, (he is) blind who …, (he is) a beggar who …". profugus, caecus and mendicus are adjectives used as nouns. rationem civilem "civic reason" is the reason that makes all rational beings fellow citizens of one city; to flee it is to go into exile.
• IV.29 abscessus mundi, qui abscedit, seque a naturae communis ratione sejungit, dum eis quae contingunt offenditur.
• IV.29 abscissus civitatis, qui animam propriam a rationalium reliquorum anima, quae una omnium est communis, abscindit.
• IV.30 Iste sine tunica philosophatur; ille sine libro: alius quispiam seminudus.
• IV.33 porro quidnam est hoc ipsum memoriam aeternam consequi? mera vanitas.
• IV.33 unum hoc, ut mens sit justa, actio socialis, dictio mentiri nescia, affectio quicquid contigerit amplecti prompta, ut necessarium, ut familiare, ut a principio fonteque istiusmodi profluens.
• IV.36 etenim semina ea sola opinari, quae in terram uterumque dejiciuntur, plebeium est nimis.After opinari comes an accusative and infinitive with esse left out: ea sola (esse) semina "that those things alone are seeds", namely those quae in terram uterumque dejiciuntur "which are cast into the earth and the womb".
• IV.37 Jam jam moriturus es: necdum simplex es, imperturbatus, posse extrinsecus laedi suspicione immunis, cunctis propitius, juste agere unicam prudentiam ratus?necdum "and not yet" governs the whole list, which Gataker ends with a question mark: "and are you not yet …?". After simplex es the verb is not repeated: imperturbatus, immunis, propitius and ratus are each another predicate of es, all nominative masculine singular agreeing with "you": "are you not yet simple, (not yet) untroubled, …?". Three are adjectives and the last a participle, but they work the same way.
• IV.39 In alterius mente malum tuum non est situm. sed nec in mutatione et alteratione corporis animam ambientis.sed nec "but not … either", i.e. "nor yet", with est situm understood again. ambientis "surrounding" is a present participle agreeing with corporis: "the body that surrounds the soul", the body pictured as a shell around it. alteratio is a late Latin word, "a becoming other".
• IV.39 ubi ergo? in ea nimirum parte tui; quae de malis opinatur.Marcus puts a question to himself and answers it at once. ubi "where?" is the question word, and the verb is left out: "where, then, (does your evil lie)?" The answer, in ea … parte, also leaves out est situm.
• IV.44 Quodcunque contingit, tam consuetum tamque notum est, quam aut rosa vere, aut aestate fructus.
• IV.44 tale quiddam et morbus, et mors, et calumnia, et insidiae, et quicquid fatuos homines vel exhilarat, vel contristat.No verb is written; supply est. tale quiddam "something of this kind" is the predicate, and the subjects follow, each brought in by et: disease, death, slander, plots, and whatever cheers or saddens fools are all as ordinary as roses and fruit. Only foolish people are moved by them.
• IV.45 neque enim rerum enumeratio simplex est a se invicem discretarum, quae necessitate tamen quadam contineantur; sed rationi consentanea connexio;
• IV.46 Dictum illud Heracliti in memoria semper habeatur; terrae mors est, aquam fieri; aquae mors est, aerem fieri; aeris vero, ignem fieri: et e converso.The third saying is cut short: supply mors est, "(the death) of air (is) to become fire". vero here only marks the last step: "and".
• IV.46 item nihil tanquam per somnum agendum, dicendumve. siquidem dormientes quoque multa agere, et dicere videmur.
• IV.46 sed nec puerorum instar quicquam agendum, hoc est, ex mera traditionis ratione, quia a parentibus sic accepimus.
• IV.47 Quemadmodum si Deorum quis praediceret tibi, aut cras, aut summum perendie, moriturum te, haud in magno poneres, nisi animi esses abjectissimi, perendie potius quam crastino mori.crastino is the ablative of crastinus "of tomorrow" with die "day" understood: "on tomorrow('s day)", i.e. tomorrow. perendie is "the day after tomorrow".
• IV.47 pari modo nec magni quicquam existimes, ad millesimum annum potius, quam ad crastinum diem.Supply mori "to die" from the first sentence: "(to die) at the thousandth year rather than on tomorrow's day". ad with a point of time means "at, on". A thousand years against one day is as small a difference, set against eternity, as one day against two.
• IV.48 quot mathematici, qui aliorum fata, quasi magnum quid esset id posse, praedixerint:mathematici in imperial Latin are astrologers, who cast horoscopes and foretold how and when a man would die (the Greek says "Chaldaeans"). Only quot is given: supply sint mortui "have died" from the first question, here and with each quot that follows.
• IV.49 quamobrem ergo illud infelicitatis potius, quam felicitatis istud loco habetur?loco with a genitive means "in the place of, as": aliquid alicujus loco habere is "to regard something as …". So illud infelicitatis loco habetur "that is regarded as misfortune", and the second half shares loco and the verb: "rather than this (is regarded) as good fortune". illud "that" is the event; istud "this" is the steady bearing of it.
• IV.50 exiguum enim omnino intercedit spatium; idque per quot molestias, cum quibus hominibus, in quali corpusculo exantlatum?Supply est: "and that (span) is drained out through how many troubles …". exantlatum comes from exantlare, a word taken from Greek, "to bale out, drain to the dregs", and so "to live through to the end". quot, quibus and quali make three exclamatory questions: "with what men!", "in what a body!". corpusculum "little body" is a diminutive, said with contempt.
• IV.51 compendiosa est ea, quae secundum naturam est. in omni nimirum cum dictione, tum actione veri rectique curam habere.Supply via: "the short (road) is the one which is according to nature". The road of nature is the shortest because it goes straight to what matters.
• V.1 Nunquid ergo ad oblectandum te natus es? non autem ad faciendum aut agendum aliquid?Supply natus es again: "and (were you) not (born) for making or doing something?" facere is to make or produce, agere to act or carry something through; together they cover every kind of activity. aliquid "something" is the object of both gerunds.
• V.1 At quiete quoque opus est, inquis. Est fateor; sed quiescendi modum etiam natura praescripsit.The answer repeats only the verb: est "there is (need of rest)". fateor "I admit", a deponent, is put in without a conjunction, like English "there is, I grant you".
• V.1 praescripsit et edendi atque bibendi. tu vero ultra modum, ultra id quod sufficit, in istis procedis.modum is understood from the sentence before: "she has prescribed (a limit) of eating and drinking too". et here means "also". edendi is the gerund of edo "eat" (short e), not of ēdo "give out".
• V.1 tu vero naturam tuam minoris aestimas, quam tornator tornaturam, aut histrio histrioniam, aut avarus argentum, aut ambitiosus gloriolam.The verb is not repeated: with each pair supply aestimat "values": "than the turner (values) his turning, the actor his acting". Each man is set beside his own pursuit: the turner at his lathe and the art of turning, the actor and the art of acting. (Marcus's Greek names an engraver and a dancer.)
• V.4 eoque recidendo, unde et seminium mei pater, et sanguinem mater, et lac nutrix collegit;One verb, collegit "gathered", serves three subjects, each with its own object: the father the seed, the mother the blood, the nurse the milk. et … et … et is "both … and … and". mei is the genitive of ego, not a form of meus: seminium mei "the seed of me", the seed from which I came. In ancient belief the mother's blood fed the child in the womb.
• V.8 proinde ita excipiamus ista, quomodo ea solemus, quae Aesculapius praeceperit.Supply excipere after solemus: "as we are used (to accepting) those things which Aesculapius has prescribed". praeceperit is a perfect subjunctive, the relative clause being part of the exhortation; praecipere is the regular word for a doctor's instructions, English "prescribe".
• V.9 nec, tanquam ad paedagogum, ad philosophiam redeas; sed quomodo ad ovum et penicillum, qui oculis laborant, quomodo ad emplastrum alius, alius ad perfusionem, confugit.Supply redeas after sed: "but (go back) as …". Two comparisons follow, each with quomodo "as, the way that". In the first, qui oculis laborant "those who suffer in the eyes" has neither its antecedent (ii) nor its verb, which is borrowed in the plural from confugit: they turn to egg and sponge, the soothing remedies for sore eyes (egg white was laid on inflamed eyes). In the second, alius … alius "one … another": one man turns to a plaster, another to a lotion. Philosophy is a remedy one comes back to gladly, because it brings relief.
• V.11 num pueruli? num adolescentuli? num mulierculae? num tyranni? num jumenti? num belluae?Each num question supplies animam gero from the sentence before: "(Do I have the soul) of a little boy?" num expects "no", but the questions are meant to catch himself out. puerulus, adolescentulus and muliercula are diminutives of puer, adolescens and mulier, here belittling: the soul of a mere child, a callow youth, a silly woman.
• V.13 et haec rursus in aliam mundi partem mutabitur: et sic in infinitum.in infinitum "into the infinite", i.e. "without end" (English "ad infinitum"); infinitum is the neuter of the adjective used as a noun. No verb is given: supply mutabitur "and so (it will be changed) without end". This is the chain of changes: each part becomes another part of the world, which becomes another, and so on.
• V.13 mutationis autem hujusmodi opera et ipse extiti, et qui me genuerant, atque ita retro in aliud infinitum.et ipse … et qui me genuerant "both I myself … and those who had begotten me": the antecedent ("those") is left out, and so is their verb, extiterunt "came into being". genuerant, pluperfect of gigno, puts their begetting before my coming to be. Going back, the chain runs "into another infinity": their parents, and theirs, without end, as forward it runs without end.
• V.14 a suo itaque cientur prodeuntque principio; at ad propositum sibi finem recta proficiscuntur.recta is an ablative feminine with via "road" understood: recta (via) "by the straight road", i.e. "straight on, directly". Latin often leaves via out of this phrase. proficiscuntur "they set out, travel" is a deponent, passive in form but active in sense. The next sentence plays on this straight road.
• V.16 imbue ergo illam cogitationibus istiusmodi. verbi gratia; ubicunque vivere, ibidem et bene vivere licere.
• V.16 an non enim liquet plane, deteriora quaeque praestantiorum gratia esse condita, praestantiora sui invicem?
• V.16 praestant autem inanimatis quidem animata; ex animatis vero quae ratione sunt praedita.praestant is not repeated: "and among the living, those (excel) which are endowed with reason". The quae clause, its antecedent left out, is the subject. So the ladder runs lifeless, living, rational; and since the rational are made for one another, our good is fellowship.
• V.22 si civitati ab hac re nihil nocetur, nec mihi:
• V.28 Num succenses ei qui hircum olet? num ei, cui halitum gravem os emittit?
• V.28 proinde, tu quoque ratione cum sis praeditus, rationali facultate tua eandem in illo excitato, errorem ostendito, commonefacito.eandem "the same" agrees with rationem, understood from ratione: "rouse the same (reason) in him". rationali facultate tua "with your rational faculty" is the means. Reason is to be met with reason, not with anger.
• V.28 (Nec tragoedus, nec scortum.)A terse aside, kept in brackets as in Gataker, who prints square brackets and a capital Nec; supply "be": "(be) neither a tragic actor nor a whore". When you correct someone, do not rant and strike attitudes like an actor in a tragedy, and do not coax and flatter like a prostitute: speak plainly. The words are Marcus's own, but editors are unsure how they fit here; they read like a note he made to himself.
• V.31 cogita et vitae tuae historiam jam esse consummatam, munereque tuo te jam defunctum.The second half leaves out esse: te defunctum (esse) "that you have discharged". The deponent defungor "to perform and be done with" takes the ablative: munere tuo "your service", the public duty that a life is. Its participle defunctus also means "dead", and both senses are meant: your task is done, and you may go.
• V.33 siquidem res sensui subjectae, mutari pronae, et consistere nesciae; sensus ipsi hebetes et imagines falsas admittere proclives:siquidem "for, since" gives the reasons why nothing should hold you here, in a list with every sunt left out. First, res sensui subjectae "things subject to sense", the objects we perceive: they are mutari pronae "prone to be changed" and consistere nesciae "not knowing how to stand still". pronus, nescius and proclivis all take an infinitive, like English "apt to", "unable to".
• V.36 num ergo et te fatuum esse necesse est, quia illi sunt?
• VI.9 neque enim secundum aliam ullam, quae vel exterius contineat, vel interius contineatur, vel extra etiam quasi appensa sit.Supply naturam perficiuntur: "for (they are) not (completed) according to any other (nature)". neque … ullam "not … any".
• VI.10 si prius illud, quid est, quod desiderem in temeraria miscela colluvieque istiusmodi ulterius commorari?Supply est or verum est: "if (it is) that former (alternative)", the jumble. prius "former" is the neuter of prior, agreeing with illud; ille "that" commonly points to the first of two things named.
• VI.12 ad hanc saepius accede, hac acquiesce, cujus ope, cum quae ibi occurrunt tibi futura sunt toleratu facilia, tum et ipse in eis toleratu facilis.
• VI.13 Quemadmodum de obsoniis atque eduliis ejusmodi cogitare licet, hoc piscis esse cadaver, hoc avis, hoc suis:
• VI.15 Quaedam fieri properant, quaedam fuisse: et illius etiam quod fit, aliquid jam abscessit.
• VI.16 itaque nec linguarum strepitu excipi. quid enim sunt aliud vulgi acclamationes, quam linguarum strepitus?The words est … dignum are carried over again: "therefore (it is) not (worthy) to be received with a clatter of tongues either". nec here means "not … either": praise from the crowd is only applause by another name.
• VI.16 hoc unum, opinor, secundum conditionis suae rationem, moveri seque sistere, hoc est, ad quod studia reliqua artesque nos ducunt.opinor "I think" is dropped in parenthetically, like English "I suppose"; the sentence itself is hoc unum (est pretio dignum) "this one thing (is worth valuing)", and the infinitives that follow say what "this" is.
• VI.24 vel enim in easdem mundi rationes seminales recepti, vel in atomos pariter sunt dissipati.rationes seminales "seed-principles" (Greek logoi spermatikoi) are the Stoic forces in the world from which each thing grows and into which it is taken back. recepti has no verb of its own: sunt in the second half serves both participles. atomus is feminine, as in Greek, so atomos is accusative plural.
• VI.26 quid igitur? si irascuntur tibi, num tu vicissim illis succensebis?quid igitur? "what then?" is a short question that turns to the next step; a verb such as est is understood.
• VI.30 fructus unus hic terrestris vitae istius, dispositio pia, actioque benefica.est is left out: fructus unus hic (est) "the one fruit is this". hic agrees with fructus but points ahead to the two nouns after the comma, which say what the fruit is: dispositio pia "a holy disposition" and actio benefica "kindly action".
• VI.30 ut morum actionumque accuratus explorator fuerit; non conviciator, non meticulosus, non suspiciosus, non sophista.Four more predicates with fuerit understood: he was not abusive, not timid, not suspicious, not a sophist. The repeated non makes each denial stand by itself.
• VI.30 ut paucis contentus, tecto nempe, strato, veste, victu, servitio: ut laborum amans, irasci tardus,From here the ut clauses leave out their verb: supply fuerit, "how he was content with little". contentus takes the ablative: paucis "with few things".
• VI.30 eodem loci ad vesperam usque, diaetae tenuis beneficio, manere potis; nec excernere, nisi tempore consueto, necesse habens.potis "able" is an old indeclinable adjective; with fuerit understood, potis (fuerit) comes to the same as potuerit "he was able". Like posse it takes an infinitive: manere "to stay".
• VI.30 adhaec constantiam et aequabilitatem in amicitiis colendis.Back to the accusatives of the first list, with imitare understood from there: "(imitate) his constancy and evenness".
• VI.33 si autem praeter naturam illi non est, nec malum est ei.The subject, labor, is understood from before. The argument is Stoic: only what is against nature can be an evil, so labour done as a man's work is no evil.
• VI.35 num ferendum ergo, architectum medicumve artis suae rationem pluris facere, quam hominem suae, quae est illi cum Diis ipsis communis?A shortened comparison: quam hominem (artis) suae (rationem facere) "than (that) a man (values the principle of the art) of his own". A man's own art is living by reason, and quae refers to it.
• VI.36 Asia, Europa, orbis sunt anguli. mare quodvis orbis guttula; Athos mons, ejusdem glebula; tempus instans omne, punctum aevi.Athos mons "Mount Athos", the name and the noun side by side. ejusdem "of the same" stands for orbis, so as not to repeat it a third time.
• VI.36 parva omnia, caduca, evanida.
• VI.38 sunt enim omnia quodammodo sibi invicem implexa, atque ea ratione sibi invicem amica.
• VI.42 ex abundanti vero et is qui quiritatur, et qui in adversum nititur, et qui ea quae fiunt, tollere conatur.There is no verb: supply operam confert from the last sentence, "even the man who complains contributes". ex abundanti "out of abundance" means "in full measure, more than enough": the grumbler and the rebel do their share as well, and plenty of it.
• VI.42 tu vero cave pars ejusmodi sis, qualis in fabula vilis et ridiculus versus ille, cujus meminit Chrysippus.
• VI.43 Nunquid Sol pluviae munus ambit, aut telluris Aesculapius?Supply munus ambit: "or (does) Aesculapius (seek the office) of the Earth?". Aesculapius is the god of healing; tellus the Earth, as the power that brings forth crops. Healing and feeding are different works, and each god does his own.
• VI.43 quid sidera ipsa, nonne diversa quamvis sint, ad unum tamen idemque efficiendum operas mutuas conferunt?quid? "what (of)?" brings in a new example, with a verb such as dicam "shall I say" left out: "what of the stars themselves?". Then nonne opens a question that expects "yes": "do they not …?".
• VI.44 porro natura mea rationalis et civilis est: civitas et patria, qua Antoninus, Roma; qua homo, mundus.No verbs: supply mihi est "(my) city and country is": "as Antoninus, Rome; as a man, the world". qua (an old ablative of qui, "by which way") means "in so far as, in the capacity of". Antoninus here is Marcus himself, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, who took the name of his adoptive father, Antoninus Pius, on becoming emperor in 161. Every man is a citizen of two cities: his own, and the city of the world shared by gods and men.
• VI.44 hisce civitatibus quae utilia, et mihi sunt bona.
• VI.47 eo nimirum nos concedere oportet, quo tot oratores diserti, tot philosophi verendi, Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Socrates;eo … quo "to that place … to which" are adverbs of motion, "thither … whither". The verb of the quo clause is left out for the whole long list that follows: supply concesserunt "have gone", from concedere. concedere "to withdraw, depart" is used of dying, as English says "pass away"; nos concedere oportet "it is necessary that we depart", "we must depart".
• VI.47 at ecquid inde illis mali?
• VI.47 ecquid et illis, quorum ne nomina quidem supersunt?
• VI.50 quid ergo? conatum istiusmodi.A question and its answer, both cut short: supply appetebas "were you aiming at": "What then (were you aiming at)? (At) an effort of that kind." conatum is accusative as the object of the understood verb. What you aimed at was your own effort, and that is always in your power.
• VI.51 In actione aliena ambitiosus bonum suum situm opinatur: in passione sua voluptuarius: in actione sua vir prudens.opinatur bonum suum situm is to be supplied twice. actio is what one does, passio what one undergoes or feels (from pati "to suffer, be acted on"): the pleasure-lover looks for his good in sensations that happen to him, the ambitious man in what others do, and only vir prudens "the man of understanding" in his own action.
• VI.55 aut quo modo exequerentur illi, quod navigantibus salutem pareret, aegrotantibus sanitatem?
• VI.57 Aurigine affectis mel amarum videtur; a cane rabido morsis, aqua formidabilis: contra pueris pila pulcrum quid.videtur is to be supplied in the second and third clauses. pulcrum quid "something fine" is aliquid pulchrum: quid is indefinite here, and Gataker writes pulcrum without the h, as in 6.36. contra "on the other hand" is an adverb: the child's ball is the opposite case, a trifle that seems precious.
• VII.1 Quid est vitiositas? hoc, quod saepe vidisti.Quid "what?" is neuter, and so is the answer hoc "this": Latin asks "what thing is vice?". The answer has no verb; supply est: "(it is) this, which you have often seen". vitiositas "viciousness, vice" is badness of character, the opposite of virtue.
• VII.2 possum de re ista, quod oportet, opinari.quod oportet is short for (id) quod opinari oportet "what one ought (to think)": the antecedent and the infinitive are both left out. oportet "it is right, one ought" is impersonal. opinari "to hold an opinion" is the infinitive of the deponent opinor, with possum "I can".
• VII.2 Si possum, quid perturbatur mihi animus?
• VII.5 vel quod possum facio, eo adscito qui mentis meae opera usus id possit, quod ad societatem humanam est hoc ipso tempore tempestivum ac utile.
• VII.7 hoc est enim tibi propositum, ut quod est muneris tui facias, quomodo militi in dimicatione murali.quomodo "as" introduces a comparison with the verb left out: "as (it is set before) a soldier"; militi is dative like tibi. dimicatio muralis "fighting at a wall" is the storming of a city wall, where each man holds his place and climbs as best he can.
• VII.7 quid ergo, si ad propugnaculum ascendere solus, quia claudus es, nequeas, ab altero vero adjutus possis?
• VII.9 siquidem et perfectio una animantium sibi invicem congenerum, ejusdemque rationis participum.
• VII.13 Quomodo se habent in continuis corporis membra, eodem se habent in dissitis quae ratione sunt praedita.
• VII.16 eademque ratione et perturbatione et impedimento omni immunis, nisi ipsa se perturbaverit aut impediverit.eadem ratione "by the same reckoning, in the same way" is an ablative of manner, and -que "and" joins this sentence to the last. The verb est and the subject mens are carried over from it: "(the mind is) free".
• VII.18 ecquid autem aut gratius aut familiarius universi naturae?Supply est: "is anything more pleasing or more familiar to the nature of the universe?". The other half of the comparison is left unsaid: "than change". gratius and familiarius are neuter comparatives agreeing with ecquid, and both take the dative universi naturae; familiaris is "of the household, one's own": change is at home in nature.
• VII.18 num nutriri, ni edulia itidem mutentur?Supply poteris from the last sentence: "(will you be able) to be fed?". nutriri is the present passive infinitive of nutrio "feed". Food too must be changed, digested, before it can feed you.
• VII.18 nunquid aliud utile quicquam perfici, nisi interveniente mutatione?nunquid (= num) again expects "no". Supply potest: "can anything else useful be accomplished?". quicquam "anything" is the usual word in a question that expects "no"; aliud and utile agree with it.
• VII.19 Per mundi substantiam, tanquam per torrentem, corpora transeunt universa, ipsa universo, prout membra sibi invicem nostra, coalita et eidem cooperantia.prout "just as" brings in a comparison set in the middle of the phrase, with its verb left out: "as our limbs (are grown together and work together) with one another". sibi invicem is "to one another"; nostra agrees with membra though the two words are apart.
• VII.21 Instat tempus, quo tu omnium oblitus eris; instat, et quo omnes tui.The second half is cut short: supply tempus and obliti erunt: "the time is at hand also when all (will have forgotten) you". tui is the genitive of tu, which the verb of forgetting needs; it is not a form of tuus "your". et here means "also".
• VII.22 hoc fiet, si una succurrat tibi, tum esse tibi cognatos, tum inscios invitosque peccare: adhaec, paulo post utrosque vestrum morti concessuros: prae omnibus denique, nihil eos te laesisse.concessuros is the future participle with esse left out, as often: concessuros (esse) is the future infinitive, "that (both of you) will yield". morti concedere "to give way to death" is a way of saying "to die". The plural utrosque vestrum "both of you" counts two parties: you on one side, the wrongdoers on the other.
• VII.23 quem mox denuo diffingit, ejusdemque materia ad arborem producendam abutitur; tum ad homuncionem, dein ad aliud quidpiam.The series goes on without the gerundive: ad homuncionem (producendum), ad aliud quidpiam (producendum). homuncio "a little man" matches equuleus: both are little wax figures, and the diminutive also belittles man.
• VII.25 Quaecunque vides, universa mox est mutatura universi rectrix natura, aliaque ex eorum materia effectura, et ex horum rursus alia, ut mundus perpetim renovetur.effectura needs est from the first clause, and the last part needs both verb and noun: ex horum (materia) rursus alia (est effectura) "and out of (the material) of these, others again". eorum are the things you see now; horum the new things made from them.
• VII.26 forsan enim vel idem illud, quod ille, vel aliud quidpiam ejusmodi, ipse pariter cum illo bonum esse opinaris.
• VII.31 quid vero si elementa sola?quid si …? "what if …?" is a short way of raising an objection, and the verbs are left out. Supply them from the quoted line: quid vero (dicendum est), si elementa sola (certa lege decurrunt)? "but what (is to be said) if only the elements run by fixed law?", and not all things. The next sentence answers: even so, enough of the world runs by law.
• VII.32 Mortem quod attinet, sive fuerit dissipatio, sive in atomos redactio, sive exinanitio; vel est extinctio, vel translatio.
• VII.34 Quod ad gloriam, animos eorum, a quibus ea expetitur, considera, quales existant, et qualia tum fugiant, tum et sectentur.Short for quod ad gloriam attinet "as for glory": the verb is often left out of this phrase. Compare Mortem quod attinet in 7.32, where Gataker leaves out ad instead.
• VII.35 Platonis dictum.
• VII.36 Antisthenis illud.
• VII.40 Spicas velut frugiferas, sic vitam meti: Ut hic sit, ille non sit.
• VII.44 Platonis ista.
• VII.44 Parum recte censes, mi homo, si hominem, qui vel ullius sit usus, existimas mortis vitaeque discrimen in numero aliquo habiturum;
• VII.44 nec hoc duntaxat consideraturum, id quod agit, justum an injustum, hominisque probi an improbi sit.
• VII.46 sed istis Deo dimissis, et mulierculis etiam fide adhibita, fieri non posse ut fatum quisquam quoquo modo effugiat; hoc deinceps ei perpendendum, quomodo tempus hoc, quo victurus sit, quam optime exigat.
• VII.52 at vide ne liberalior, ne modestior, ne ad casus quosvis obsequentior, ne adversus aliorum errata placidior.
• VII.55 porro, condita sunt, reliqua quidem rationalium gratia, quemadmodum et in re omni alia, deteriora praestantiorum; rationalia vero sui invicem.gratia 'for the sake of' follows its genitive: rationalium gratia 'for the sake of rational beings'. condita sunt 'have been made' is said once and understood three times, and gratia with it: the other things for the sake of the rational, the worse for the sake of the better (deteriora praestantiorum), the rational for the sake of one another.
• VII.58 at ubi tandem jam illi? nusquam plane.Neither question nor answer has a verb: supply sunt, "where are they now? (They are) nowhere at all." tandem in a question is "pray, after all", pressing for an answer. The complainers are dead and gone, and their complaints with them.
• VII.61 Ars vivendi est luctatoriae quam saltatoriae similior. cum in hoc sit posita, ut adversus contingentia improvisa in procinctu semper quis ac immotus consistat.
• VII.63 Omnis anima, inquit ille, veritate privatur invita. quin et justitia pariter, et temperantia, et aequanimitate, et hujusmodi quavis virtute.quin et "and indeed also" adds to what was said. privatur is understood again, and every noun is ablative like veritate: "(it is deprived) equally of justice, of temperance …". The Greek has "kindliness" where Gataker writes aequanimitate "equanimity".
• VII.64 neque enim eam, aut quatenus materiale quiddam, aut quatenus societatis est studiosa, corrumpit.quatenus "in so far as" sets out two sides of the mind: as materiale quiddam "something material" (supply est) and as societatis studiosa "devoted to fellowship". studiosus takes the genitive of what one is eager for. neque … aut … aut is "not … either … or": pain spoils the mind in neither respect.
• VII.65 Cave erga inhumanos sic afficiaris, quomodo ipsi erga homines solent.sic … quomodo "in such a way … as". After solent "they are accustomed" supply affici: "as they themselves are usually disposed towards men". inhumanos "the inhuman" is an adjective used as a noun, set against homines: do not become inhuman towards them as they are towards human beings.
• VII.66 utrum hoc contentus agere poterat, quod in rebus humanis justus, in divinis pius existeret,
• VIII.1 etenim expertus jam es, per quam multa divagatus, vitam bonam beatamque nusquam inveneris; non in syllogismis, non in divitiis, non in gloria, nec in voluptate, nec ullibi.The places he searched, with inveneris understood: logic (the syllogism is the logician's tool), wealth, fame and pleasure. ullibi "anywhere" after nec closes the list: "nor anywhere at all".
• VIII.1 quaenam, inquis, decreta? de bonis malisque, ut nihil nimirum homini bonum censeat, quod non justum, temperantem, fortem, liberalem faciat; nihil malum, quod non istis contrarium.inquis "you say" is set into the question it reports: Marcus imagines himself objecting. The verb is left out, quaenam (sunt) decreta? "what principles (are they)?", and the answer too is a phrase: "(those) about good and evil things".Shortened: supply censeat, eum and faciat: "(that one should judge) nothing evil which does not (make him) the opposite of these". contrarius "opposite" takes the dative: istis contrarium "opposite to these".
• VIII.2 prope adest tempus, quo moriturus sum, omniaque mihi transitura.
• VIII.3 Alexander, Cajus, Pompejus, quid ad Diogenem, Heraclitum, Socratem?quid ad …? "what (are they) compared with …?" is a common short question with the verb left out; ad here means "in comparison with". The answer expected is: nothing.
• VIII.3 illis vero, cum ea neutiquam perspecta haberent, de quam multis solicitos esse necesse fuit? quam multis rebus inservire?
• VIII.4 Eadem nihilominus facturos memineris, etiamsi tu te ruperis.
• VIII.5 ipse autem paulo post, nullus, nusquam futurus es, quomodo et Hadrianus, et Augustus. tum rem ipsam penitius intuitus, eam in se considera.quomodo here means "just as", and the verb comes from what precedes: "just as both Hadrian and Augustus (are no one, nowhere)". Two great emperors: Augustus the first of them, Hadrian the one who chose Marcus's line.
• VIII.6 Siremps denique omnibus de istis lex.siremps is an old word of Roman law meaning "the same"; statutes said siremps lex esto "let the same law apply". Gataker uses the formula here with est left out: "the same law (holds) for all these things". The Greek says rather that the shares are equal.
• VIII.9 Nemo, aut vitam aulicam, aut tuam etiam, insimulantem te audiat.
• VIII.11 quaenam illius substantia sive materia? quae forma? quid in mundo facit? quamdiu consistit?est is left out in these short questions: quaenam (est) illius substantia "what is its substance", quae (est) forma "what (is its) form". illius "its" refers back to Hoc. Matter and form are the two sides of every thing in Marcus's physics: the stuff it is made of, and what makes it the thing it is (the Greek calls it the causal part).
• VIII.13 Assidue, in omni, quantum potes, viso menti oblato, considera, quaenam ejus natura, ad mores quid faciat, quid in se habeat veritatis.
• VIII.14 Ubi quenquam conveneris, statim tu tecum, Iste quaenam habet de bonis malisque decreta?A verb of saying is understood: statim tu tecum (dic) "at once (say) to yourself". tecum is te + cum, "with yourself", that is, in your own mind; the question that follows is what you are to say.
• VIII.15 Memineris, aeque turpe esse mirari quenquam tanquam de re insueta, quod ea mundus, quorum ferax est, profert; ac mirari quenquam, quod ficus ficus ferat, aut mirari medicum, quod quis febricitaverit, gubernatorem, quod ventus adversus flaverit.aut mirari is understood again: "or (for) a helmsman (to wonder)". adversus here is not the preposition but the adjective agreeing with ventus: "the wind against him, a contrary wind".
• VIII.17 sin alterius, quem incusas? atomos, an Deos? insani utrumque est.sin "but if" answers si; supply arbitrii est: "but if (it is in) another's (power)". alterius is the genitive of alter.The accusatives depend on incusas, understood again: "(do you blame) the atoms, or the gods?". an "or" joins the two halves of a direct question. These are the two accounts of the world that Marcus keeps setting side by side: chance atoms, as Epicurus taught, or the providence of the gods. atomus is a feminine Greek word, hence atomos.
• VIII.19 tu ergo ad quid? nunquid ad oblectandum te?Supply natus es: "and you, then, (were you born) for what?".
• VIII.20 ecquid autem pilae, vel sursum missae boni, vel descendenti cadentique mali?
• VIII.20 ecquid et bullae vel consistenti boni, vel subsidenti mali?
• VIII.21 adhaec et in plagae istius angulo duntaxat id geritur; ubi etiam neque omnes inter se consentiunt, neque quisquam sibi.inter se "among themselves" means "with one another". In the second half consentit is understood: "nor does anyone (agree) with himself". Those who praise do not agree with one another, and none of them is even consistent with himself.
• VIII.24 oleum, sudor, sordes, aqua, strigmentum; putida omnia.sunt is left out: "all (are) disgusting". omnia "all things" is a neuter plural used as a noun, and putida "rotten, stinking, disgusting" agrees with it.
• VIII.25 Secunda Maximum; mox et Secunda.From here on the verbs are left out, since the pattern is set: "(buried) Maximus; soon Secunda too (was buried)". Maximus is Claudius Maximus, the Stoic teacher Marcus thanks in 1.15; Secunda was probably his wife.
• VIII.25 horum ergo memineris, aut compagem tui dissipatum iri, aut extinctum spiritum, aut migraturum, atque alibi iri dispositum.The same construction goes on: extinctum (iri) spiritum "that the breath will be put out", with iri understood, and alibi iri dispositum "that it will be settled elsewhere", where iri is written out again. Between them stands a future active infinitive, migraturum (esse) "that it will move on", agreeing with spiritum. extinctum is Gataker's spelling of exstinctum. These are the three outcomes of death that Marcus often weighs: the self scattered, put out like a flame, or moved elsewhere.
• VIII.27 Affectiones singuli quique tres habent; unam, ad caussam ambientem, alteram, ad caussam divinam, a qua proveniunt omnibus omnia; tertiam, ad eos quibuscum in hac vita versatur.affectionem is understood with each: "one (relation) … the second … the third". alter counts "the second" in a series as well as "the other" of two.
• VIII.31 nec illud minus, quod tumulis inscribi solet, Ultimus hic generis sui.The verb is carried over from the last sentence: "and (think) no less of that which …". illud "that" points ahead to the words of the epitaph. tumulis "on tombs" is dative with inscribi, a compound of in; solet "is wont" with an infinitive means "is usually, is often".
• VIII.32 sed exterius aliquid obstabit? nihil quicquam, quo minus juste, sobrie, considerate in ea te geras.Marcus answers an imagined objection. The answer leaves out the verb of the question: nihil quicquam (obstabit) "nothing at all (will stand in the way)"; quicquam "anything" adds weight to nihil. exterius is the neuter of the comparative adjective exterior "outer", agreeing with aliquid: "something from outside".
• VIII.37 Nunquid etiamnum Veri tumulo assidet Panthea; aut Pergamus? nunquid Hadriani Chabrias, aut Diotimus? ridiculum foret.Supply tumulo assidet from the first question: "(sit by the tomb) of Hadrian". Chabrias and Diotimus were favourites or freedmen of Hadrian, known only from the Meditations. The most devoted mourners have gone the same way as their masters.
• VIII.40 quis ipse? ratio. at non sum ratio. esto,A short exchange with an objector. quis ipse? "who is the 'yourself'?" asks what ipse in the last sentence meant (supply est); the answer is ratio "reason", the ruling part of you. The objector: at non sum ratio "but I am not (only) reason": I have a body too, and it feels pain. Marcus replies esto "so be it, granted". esto is the future imperative of esse, "let it be", and is the usual Latin for conceding a point in argument; Gataker runs straight on from it with a comma into the conclusion.
• VIII.43 me vero, si mentem sanam habuerim, quae nec hominem quenquam, aut humanum quicquam aversetur; sed quicquid obvenit, oculo benigno aspiciat excipiatque, et pro sui existimatione singulis utatur.Supply oblectat from the sentence before: "but me (it delights)". What delights is told by the si clause: "if I keep my mind sound". habuerim is the perfect subjunctive of habeo: the condition is put as a supposition, "should I have kept my mind sound". sanam is predicate rather than mere description: "have my mind sound".
• VIII.46 Nihil homini cuiquam contingere potest, quod non humanus sit casus; nec bovi, quod non bovis sit; nec viti, quod non vitis sit, nec lapidi, quod non lapidis ipsius sit.
• VIII.48 hoc qui non videt, imperitus; qui videt, nec eo recipit se, infelix est.hoc is the object of videt, pulled in front of qui for emphasis. Neither qui clause has an antecedent: "(he) who …". With imperitus supply est, from the end of the sentence.
• VIII.49 nunciatur tibi, hunc vel illum tibi conviciatum.
• VIII.49 non et illud laesum esse te.Supply nunciatum est from the sentence before: "that other thing has not also been reported". et means "also". illud is then explained by the accusative and infinitive laesum esse te "that you have been harmed". The report brings the fact; the harm is a judgement we add ourselves.
• VIII.50 vepres in via: declina.sunt is left out: "(there are) brambles in the path". vepres "thorn-bushes, brambles" is nominative plural; the word is used mostly in the plural.
• VIII.50 ludibrio enim futurus es homini scientiae naturalis perito, perinde ac fabro aut sutori, si huic vitio verteres, quod eorum quae conficit ramenta ac segmenta in officina ejus cerneres.perinde ac "just as". The datives fabro aut sutori run parallel to homini: "(as you would be a laughing-stock) to a carpenter or a shoemaker". faber is any worker in wood or metal; the shavings make him a carpenter here.
• VIII.54 neque enim minus vis illa intellectualis ubique diffusa est et permeat cuivis exposita qui attrahere eam potest, quam aeria cuilibet qui respirationis est compos.
• VIII.55 particulatim nec alteri cuiquam.Subject and verb are carried over from the sentence before: (malitia) particulatim nec alteri cuiquam (obest) "wickedness taken singly does not harm anyone else either". nec is "not … either", and alteri cuiquam "anyone other" is anyone but the wicked man himself.
• VIII.57 recta enim procedit, et refringitur quodammodo, ubi corpus aliquod solidum occurrerit, quod aerem ultra non admittit.recta is ablative feminine with via "road" understood: "by the straight road", straight on. The subject of procedit and of the verbs that follow is the light just described.
• VIII.58 atqui, si sensum nullum prorsus habueris, nec mali quicquam sensurus es; sin sensum aliusmodi, animal aliusmodi futurus es, nec vivere desines.sin "but if" answers the si; supply habueris: "but if (you have) sensation of another kind". animal is a neuter nominative, the predicate of futurus es: "you will be a living creature of another kind". Whatever feels is alive, so nec vivere desines "you will not cease to live".
• VIII.60 mens enim tam cum cavet, quam cum considerat, recta fertur, nec minus ad scopum sibi propositum tendit.
• VIII.61 In mentem alterius cujusque descende; sed et in tuam ipsius descendere quemlibet patere.Supply mentem: in tuam (mentem) "into your (mind)". The genitive ipsius "of yourself" strengthens the possessive: tuam ipsius "your own".
• IX.1 sed et eadem, quae natura, veritas quoque nuncupatur; estque prima omnium quae vera sunt, caussa.eadem "the same (power)" is the subject, and quae natura is a relative clause with its verb left out: "which (is) nature". So: "this same power that is nature is also called truth". nuncupari "to be named" takes a predicate nominative, veritas, as dici "to be called" does. sed et "but also" here just adds a further point: "and moreover".
• IX.1 qui nolens nesciusque, in quantum universi naturae dissentit, et in quantum mundi ordinem pulchre compositum infringit, dum mundi naturae adversatur.The verbs are carried over from the first half: "(he) who (lies) unwillingly and unknowingly (acts impiously)". nolens, the present participle of nolo "be unwilling", answers volens, and nescius "not knowing" answers sciens. This is the man who says what is false believing it to be true.
• IX.1 et qui voluptatem sectatur, injuriam inferendo non abstinebit. hoc autem aperte impium.est is left out: "and this (is) plainly impious". aperte "openly, plainly" is the adverb of apertus "open".
• IX.2 secundus autem ab hoc gradus, horum satur saltem ut emori praeoptet, quam improbitati immorari.Supply est: "the second step after this (is)". secundus ab + ablative is "next after", and hoc is the course just named. The best is never to taste these vices at all; the next best is to leave life once one is sick of them. The Greek has "the second voyage", a proverb for the next-best way, which Gataker makes a "second step".
• IX.5 Saepenumero contingit ut injuste agat, tam qui non facit aliquid, quam et qui facit.
• IX.9 ad terram mole sua fertur terrestre quodvis; in idem confluit humidum omne; et aereum itidem quodcunque. ut necesse sit vi aliqua intercludi ea, id ne faciant.
• IX.9 cum omni vero, qui istic est, igni adeo simul accendi proclivis est, ut materia omnis siccior paulo incendi prompta admodum sit, eo quod minus sibi admixtum habeat, quod incendium prohibeat.The subject is still ignis: "but (fire) is so ready to be kindled together with every fire that is here". cum … igni "with fire" is split by vero and the relative clause qui istic est "which is here", down on earth. proclivis "inclined, ready" takes the infinitive accendi "to be kindled".
• IX.9 hinc et in rationalibus, respublicae, amicitiae, familiae, concilia; item belli tempore foedera, et induciae.No verb: supply existunt "there are" from the sentence about the animals. respublicae is the plural of respublica, Gataker's one-word spelling of res publica "state".
• IX.14 praesentia omnia, qualia apud illos quos sepelivimus.No verbs are written: "all present things (are) such as (they were) among those whom we have buried". apud illos "among those" means in their lifetime: nothing has changed since the days of the dead.
• IX.15 quid ergo de eis pronunciat? mens.quid "what" is nominative here, the subject of pronunciat, not its object: "what pronounces on them?" The answer is one word, mens "the mind", with the verb understood: "the mind (pronounces)". pronunciat (classical pronuntiat) is the word for a judge declaring a verdict. mens is Gataker's word for the ruling part of the soul: things are silent, and the mind passes judgement on them.
• IX.16 Non in passione, sed actione situm est, rationalis ac civilis animantis bonum malumque: quo modo nec virtus vitiumve illius in passione, sed in actione consistit.passio is not "passion" in the English sense but "being acted upon", what happens to us; actio is "acting", what we do. They are Gataker's words for the Greek pair "undergoing" and "activity". in is not repeated before actione, but it governs both: "not in being acted upon, but in acting".
• IX.17 Lapidi projecto nihil est mali, quod deorsum feratur; quod sursum, nihil boni.quod "(in) that" brings in the thing judged: "in its being carried down". The subjunctive feratur puts it as a case to think about rather than a fact asserted. The second half leaves out both verbs: quod (feratur) sursum, nihil (est) boni. The stone only undergoes, so neither movement touches its good, as §16 said.
• IX.19 tu quoque in jugi alteratione, et corruptione quadam versaris; et mundus tecum universus.Supply versatur: "and the whole world (is caught up in it) along with you". tecum is cum te "with you".
• IX.21 ad aetates transi, puerilem puta, adolescentiam, juvenilem, senilem.puerilem, juvenilem and senilem are feminine singular adjectives agreeing with aetatem understood: "the child's (age)", "the young man's (age)", "the old man's (age)". adolescentiam "youth" is a noun in their line. puta "say", the imperative of puto, means "for instance".
• IX.21 et harum mutatio omnis mors est quaedam. sed nunquid grave?nunquid (classical numquid) asks a question expecting "no": "surely it is nothing grievous?" Supply est; grave is neuter, "a grievous thing".
• IX.21 pari igitur modo nec grave quicquam in vitae totius terminatione, cessatione, mutatione.Supply est: "in the same way, then, (there is) nothing grievous either in …". pari modo "in like manner" is an ablative of manner. The three nouns at the end take up the words of the first sentence, terminatio, cessatio, mutatio: the end of a whole life is only the largest of the many small deaths already passed through.
• IX.22 Recurrito ad mentem tuam, ad universi, ad delinquentis cujusvis.mentem is said once and understood twice: "to (the mind) of the universe, to (the mind) of any wrongdoer". universi is the neuter adjective used as a noun, "the universe". delinquentis is the present participle of delinquo used as a noun, "of one doing wrong", and cujusvis "of anyone at all" goes with it.
• IX.22 ad tuam, ut ipsam justam exhibeas: ad universi, ut recorderis, cujusnam sis pars:
• IX.24 Puerulorum rixae, et ludicra; et animulae cadavera gestantes; ut vehementius afficiat quod in Mortualibus exhibetur.A sketch of human life in three items, with no verb: supply "such is our life". puerulorum "of little boys" is a diminutive of puer, and ludicra "games, playthings" is the neuter plural of the adjective ludicrus used as a noun. What grown men busy themselves with is no more than children's squabbling and play.
• IX.28 mox futurum est ut tellus nos omnes condat: dein et ipsa in alia mutabitur: et ista in infinitum mutabuntur: et ista rursus in infinitum.ipsa "itself" is the earth: it too will be turned into other things, and those (ista) into others, in infinitum "to infinity", without end. In the last clause the verb is left out: et ista rursus (mutabuntur) in infinitum. dein is a short form of deinde.
• IX.31 justitiae ratio in eis quae ab interna efficiuntur.There is no verb: supply tibi sit from the last sentence, "let the rule of justice be yours". ab interna stands for ab interna caussa "by a cause within", that is, your own choices and acts. Calm for what happens to you, justice for what you do.
• IX.32 cum et immensum sit quod ortum praecesserit, et interminatum pariter, quod interitum sit consecuturum.
• IX.37 num forma? hanc vide.Supply te percellit: "is it the form (that strikes you down)? Look at it." Form and matter are the two parts of every thing, as in 36; examine each, and nothing else is left.
• IX.37 num materia? et hanc.et hanc "this too": supply vide from the last sentence.
• IX.40 siquidem enim omnino hominibus opem suam conferre possunt, etiam ad haec possunt.Supply opem conferre with the second possunt: "they can (give their help) for these things too". siquidem is "if indeed", and omnino "at all".
• IX.40 alter, quomodo illius imperium abjiciam? tu, quomodo ut ne abjicere opus habeam?Supply orat: "another prays". alter "another, a second" here is varied by alius in the next pair. abjiciam is a deliberative subjunctive, "how am I to throw off …?"; illius imperium is "that man's rule", someone's power over him.Supply ora and fiet: "you (pray): how (will it come about) that I have no need to throw it off?". opus habere with an infinitive is "to need to".
• IX.41 eadem tu, quae ille, sive in morbo, si contigerit, sive in alio quovis casu adverso, feceris.
• IX.42 Quando alterius cujuspiam impudentia offenderis, statim sic percontare te, Fierine ergo potest, ut impudentes in mundo ne sint? non potest.The answer, with fieri understood from the question: "it cannot (happen)".
• IX.42 tu itaque quod non potest, ne poscas.
• IX.42 hoc est perinde ac si oculus visus mercedem poscat, aut pedes incessus.perinde ac si "just as if" brings in an imagined comparison, so the verb is subjunctive: poscat "(the eye) were to demand". visus and incessus are genitive singulars of fourth-declension nouns, with a long -ūs: "(payment) for seeing", "for walking". With pedes the verb and its object are left out: "or (as if) the feet (were to demand payment) for walking".
• X.1 sed et a Deis provenire, beneque habitura, quaecunque ipsis concedere visum est, et quaecunque concessuri sunt,Still under persuasum habitura es: "(that all things) come from the gods, and (that they) will be well". habitura stands for the future infinitive habitura esse, with esse left out, as it often is; bene habere without se also means "to be well".
• X.3 Quicquid contingit, vel ita contingit, ut id ferre natus sis, vel ut non sis.
• X.3 si contingit ita, ut ferre natus sis, ne gravatim te habeas, sed prout natus es, feras.prout natus es "as you were born (to)": ferre is understood from before.
• X.4 aut hoc si nequeas, te culpa, vel nec te etiam.
• X.6 deinde, necessitudine me quadam partibus generis ejusdem esse conjunctum.The verb statuatur carries on from the last sentence: "(let it be laid down) next, that I am joined …". necessitudo is a close tie of kinship or obligation; quadam "a certain" softens it: "a kind of bond". The partes generis ejusdem "parts of the same kind" are other human beings, parts of the whole as I am.
• X.7 sin, misso quis naturae nomine, ita nata esse dicere voluerit, vide quam ridiculum sit, ut qui dicat universi partes mutare natas, idem hoc ipsum mutare illas, tanquam quod praeter rerum ipsarum naturam contingat, miretur et aegre ferat:An accusative and infinitive after dicat, with esse left out: partes natas (esse) mutare "that the parts are born to change". mutare is intransitive, "to change", here and in hoc ipsum mutare illas "this very thing, that they change", where a second accusative and infinitive explains hoc ipsum.
• X.8 unanimis nomen, exceptionem eorum omnium spontaneam, quae a natura communi fuerint assignata.Still after memineris, with denotare understood: "(remember that) the name 'of one mind' (means) …". unanimis renders Greek symphrōn "agreeing in mind", here with nature. exceptio is used in its root sense, from excipere "to receive": a "taking up, acceptance", not an "exception".
• X.8 magnanimi vero, subvectionem mentis supra omnem lenem asperumve carnis affectum, supra gloriolam, supra mortem, et ejusmodi universa.Again nomen and denotare are understood: "(and that the name) of 'great-minded' (means) the raising …". subvectio is a "carrying up", the mind lifted above what would drag it down.
• X.8 meminisse et, ficum esse quae ea quae ficus sunt facit; canem, quae canis; apem, quae apis; et hominem pariter, qui quae hominis.The same pattern is repeated with more and more left out: "a dog, (doing) what (belongs to) a dog; a bee, what (belongs to) a bee". In the last member a second relative comes back, qui for the doer beside quae for the deeds: "and likewise a man, he who (does) what (belongs to) a man". A man is fully a man when he does a man's work, which is to live up to the names of this section.
• X.9 oportet autem unumquodque ita et considerare et agere, ut et activa facultas consummetur, et contemplativa simul exerceatur, et fiducia ex certa rei cujusque scientia orta servetur, latens quidem, nec abscondita tamen.The mind has an active power (activa), which deals with the business in hand, and a contemplative one (contemplativa), which studies and understands; with contemplativa the noun facultas is understood. Each thing done should complete the first and exercise the second at the same time. consummare is "to bring to its sum", to complete.
• X.10 Aranea muscam ubi ceperit, se effert tanquam magni quid egerit; alius ubi lepusculum; alius, ubi reticulo apuam ceperit; alius, ubi apros; alius ubi ursos; alius ubi Sarmatas,Each alius "another (man)" takes se effert from the first clause, and each ubi takes ceperit, which is written only once here: "another (is puffed up) when (he has caught) a leveret". The catch grows from a sprat to boars and bears, and then to men.
• X.11 corpus exuit, qui sic affectus est, reputansque secum, mox esse sibi, relictis his omnibus, ab hominibus discedendum, totum sese permittit, justitiae, in eis quae ab ipso fiunt; universi naturae, in eis quae obveniunt ipsi.permittere se alicui is "to give oneself up, entrust oneself to someone". The second half leaves out sese permittit: "(he gives himself up) to the nature of the universe". The two halves divide life between what he does (quae ab ipso fiunt), which he rules by justice, and what happens to him (quae obveniunt ipsi), which he accepts from nature. ipso and ipsi "him himself" point back to the man.
• X.11 negotiis vero studiisque reliquis omnibus missis, nihil aliud velit, quam recta juxta legem proficisci, rectaque proficiscentem Deum ipsum sequi.
• X.12 et siquidem id perspexeris, placide ac constanter ea progredi; sin minus, consistere, et optimos quosque in consilium adhibere,From here to the end of the next sentence come bare infinitives, as in the Greek: progredi, consistere, adhibere, and again progredi. Gataker carries the question on to adhaerendo?, so they still hang on praesto sit in the first sentence: "when it is open to you to consider …, and to go forward …". They can also be read as instructions, "(you should) go forward". ea is an ablative of the way, with via understood: "by that road, that way".
• X.13 nunquid oblitus sis, quales isti, qui de aliis laudandis vituperandisque tantopere se efferunt, in lecto sint, quales ad mensam,
• X.16 Ne ulterius occupere totus, disserendo qualis vir bonus sit, sed enitendo ut ipse sis.
• X.17 quodque particularia omnia, substantiam quod attinet, milii sunt instar; tempus quod attinet, terebri circumvolutio.Supply sunt again: "(they are) one turn of a drill". circumvolutio is a single turning round, and terebrum (more often terebra) is a borer or gimlet. Set against all time, any one thing lasts no longer than one twist of the tool; the Greek has the same picture.
• X.19 rursus, quales, ubi inflantur, efferuntur, irascuntur, tanquam in sublimi siti aliquos increpant.
• X.21 amat et almus aether.et here means "also", and imbrem is understood: "the kindly sky loves (the rain) too", that is, loves to send it down. aether is the bright upper air, here the sky. almus "nourishing, kindly" (from alo "nourish") is Gataker's word; the Greek calls the sky "majestic, holy".
• X.23 eademque esse omnia istic agentibus, quae eis, qui in montium verticibus, vel in litorum crepidinibus, vel alibi ubicunque volueris, versantur.
• X.24 nunquid est intellectu vacua? nunquid a societate communi soluta et revulsa?Supply est from the question before: "is it loosened and torn away from the common fellowship?" The second participle says the same as the first, more strongly; the fellowship is the shared life of rational beings.
• X.24 nunquid carunculae ita agglutinata et permixta, ut cum illa mutetur una?
• X.26 hoc alia deinceps excipiens natura, foetum fabricat et absolvit; ex quali qualem?A question of wonder with almost every word left out: "out of what sort of (thing), what sort of (thing does it make)?" quali is ablative after ex, neuter to go with semine "seed" understood; qualem is accusative masculine, the object, agreeing with foetum. From a drop of seed, a living child: the gap between the two is the marvel.
• X.26 quod alia insuper caussa ubi exceperit, sensum, motumque, adeoque vitam ac vires et alia (quot ea numero et qualia?) conficit.A cry of wonder set in brackets, with sunt left out: "how many they are in number, and of what kinds!" numero is an ablative of respect, "in number"; quot "how many" never changes its ending.
• X.27 Cogita tecum jugiter, qualia nunc sunt omnia, talia prius actitata; cogita et talia futura esse.
• X.27 aulam Hadriani totam, totam Antonini, illam item Philippi, Alexandri, Croesi.Still objects of propone: examples of the scenes. The second totam needs aulam supplied, "the whole court of Hadrian, the whole (court) of Antoninus"; putting totam last and then first again (a chiasmus) binds the two together. These are courts Marcus knew himself: Hadrian, emperor 117–138, and Antoninus Pius, 138–161, his adoptive father. aula is a palace hall, and so the court, the whole household round a ruler.
• X.31 et Alciphrone viso, Tropaeophorum cogita; et Xenophonte, Critonem vel Severum.Both verbs are left out: supply viso with Xenophonte and cogita with Critonem vel Severum: "and (Xenophon having been seen, think of) Crito or Severus".
• X.31 et temet ubi respexeris, Caesarum aliquem.
• X.31 et in quolibet cogitando, geminum ei quempiam.Supply cogita: "(think of) someone twin to him". geminus "twin" takes the dative ei, like similis "like": a man of the past who matches the one before you.
• X.33 siquidem cylindro quidem non conceditur, ut motu proprio ubique feratur; sed nec aquae, nec igni, nec alii rei cuiquam, quae a natura mera, vel anima regitur irrationali.Supply conceditur: "nor (is it granted) to water, nor to fire, nor to any other thing". All are datives. sed nec "nor, for that matter" widens the claim from the cylinder to everything without reason.
• X.33 tu ergo ob oculos istud habens, rationem per omnia facilitate ferri eadem plane, qua ignis sursum, lapis deorsum, per declive cylindrus, nihil quaeras ulterius.facilitate eadem plane, qua "with exactly the same ease with which" is an ablative of manner answered by the relative qua. After it the verb fertur is understood three times: fire (is carried) upward, a stone downward, a cylinder down a slope. Each moves as its nature directs, and so does reason.
• X.33 in summa memineris, civem indigenam nihil laedere, ni civitatem laedat: civitatem nihil laedere, ni legem laedat.After the colon the same pattern again, with no "and": "(and) that nothing harms the city unless it harms the law".
• X.34 foliola itidem, qui famam tui posthumam excepturi sunt.No verb and no antecedent: supply sunt ii, "(those are) little leaves likewise, who …".
• X.34 mora parvula, et lumina tibi condentur: eumque qui te extulerit, alius aliquis lugebit.Two clauses set side by side where English might say "after a little while": "a very little delay (there will be), and your eyes will be closed". The verb of the first is left out. lumina "lights" is the poets' word for the eyes, and condere "to put away" is used of closing the eyes of the dead; tibi "for you" serves as "your". The Greek says simply "a little while, and you will close your eyes".
• X.35 et stomachi valentis, adversus edulia quaevis pariter se habere; sicut molam ad omnia, ad quae molenda condita est.est is understood from before: "and (it is the mark) of a strong stomach". valens, the present participle of valeo "be strong, be well", serves as an adjective. se habere "to hold oneself" means "to be disposed": the healthy stomach treats all foods alike.
• X.36 haec igitur de viro bono.No verb: supply dicta sunt "(these things have been said)". The phrase closes one point before the next: "so much for the good man"; now for the rest of us.
• X.36 quin rursus, nec tanquam vitae avulsus, sed, prout eis, quibus mortis felicitas quaedam obtigit, animula a corpore leniter exolvitur, talis et tua ab istis etiam esto discessio.Supply discedas again: "nay more, (leave) not as one torn away from life either". vitae is dative with avulsus: verbs of taking away, especially in poetry, can take a dative of the thing taken from.
• X.36 at nunc disjungit.Supply natura and te from the last sentence: "but now (nature) is parting (you)". dis- undoes con-: conjungo "join together", disjungo "part, separate".
• X.38 illud est suadela, illud vita, illud (si fas dicere) homo est.si fas (est) dicere "if it is right to say (so)", a hedge before a bold claim: the man himself is what is inside, not the body. fas is what divine law permits; the infinitive dicere is the subject.
• XI.1 se cernit, fingit, artatque, ut lubet, qualemque vult ipsa, facit: fructum, quem profert, ipsa carpit.
• XI.5 Quam artem profiteris? bene vivendi.
• XI.6 Primo tragoediae invectae sunt, quae casuum et eventuum homines commonefacerent, quo et ista sic fieri nata monerentur; nec quibus in scena oblectarentur, ea in scena majori, gravatim sustinerent:
• XI.6 Et, Spicas velut frugiferas, sic vitam meti.
• XI.6 et caetera quae sunt ejusmodi."and the rest that are of that sort": the list of useful sayings is cut short. caetera is Gataker's spelling of cetera, as in English "et cetera"; ejusmodi "of that kind" never changes its ending.
• XI.6 considera et quae deinceps fuerit media comoedia, et quorsum tandem introducta sit nova, quae in mimicum artificium paulatim defluxit.
• XI.6 sed et quo spectet totum hoc poesios hujusmodi et fabularum agendi institutum.
• XI.9 uterque enim ex aequo stationis desertae reus est, et qui metu perculsus, et qui natura cognatum sibi atque amicum fuerit aversatus.et … et "both … and" names the two deserters, and each qui has its antecedent left out: "both (he) who …, and (he) who …". With perculsus "struck down" supply the verb from the second clause: qui metu perculsus (fuerit). fuerit aversatus is the perfect subjunctive of the deponent aversor, with fuerit in place of sit.
• XI.15 fronti inscriptam statim oportuit vocem hanc, in oculis ipsis relucere statim, quomodo animus se habeat: sicut in amantis oculo cuncta statim dignoscit amasius.
• XI.15 talem plane virum simplicem bonumque oportet esse, qualis is qui hircum olet; ut qui astiterit, simulac accesserit, velit, nolit ipse, protinus persentiscat.
• XI.16 sin praeter naturam, investiga, quid sit naturae tuae congruum, et ad hoc te accinge, etiamsi minus gloriosum sit.sin "but if" brings in the other case, with sunt understood: "but if (they are) contrary to nature". praeter is "beyond", and so "contrary to".
• XI.18 tu autem speciali quadam ratione etiam illis praefectus, ut gregi aries, armento taurus.Supply es: illis praefectus (es) "you have been set over them". praeficio "set over, put in charge" takes the dative of what one is put in charge of, here illis. Marcus is thinking of his place as emperor; speciali quadam ratione "in a certain special way" is an ablative of manner.A comparison with its verb left out: "as the ram (is set over) the flock, the bull (over) the herd". gregi and armento are datives like illis, the ones led; aries and taurus are nominatives, the leaders. The two halves stand side by side with no "and".
• XI.18 hoc si est, deteriora constat praestantiorum causa esse condita, praestantiora sui invicem.Supply causa esse condita: "the superior (were made) for the sake of one another". sui invicem "of one another" is the reflexive genitive strengthened by invicem. Rational beings are the higher things, and they exist for each other: so you exist for those who wrong you too.
• XI.18 omnis etenim anima, prout veritate privatur invita, sic etiam erga quemque pro dignitate cujusque gerendi se peritia.Supply privatur again: "so (it is deprived) also of the skill". peritia is ablative like veritate and comes last, after the words that depend on it: gerendi se "of conducting itself", erga quemque "towards each person", pro dignitate cujusque "according to the worth of each".
• XI.18 Septimo, non esse actiones aliorum, quae nos conturbant; sunt enim hae in mentibus ipsorum sitae: sed opiniones tantum nostras.The sentence takes up again after the parenthesis: "but (it is) only our own opinions (that trouble us)". opiniones is accusative, like actiones.
• XI.18 adversus iram vero praesto sit illud; irasci haud virile esse; sed mansuetum placidumque animi affectum, ut humanius quiddam, ita et masculum magis.Supply esse: "(that) a gentle and calm disposition of mind (is) more manly". ut … ita "as … so": "as it is something more humane, so it is also more manly". humanius is the comparative of humanus, neuter to agree with quiddam; masculum magis is a comparative formed with magis.
• XI.18 quemadmodum autem tristitia, sic et ira, imbecillis est animi. utraque enim vulnus accepit, et succubuit.
• XI.19 cogitatio ista non est necessaria; ista societatis inimica; istud non a te dicturus es.The verdicts, one for each fault. In the second, cogitatio and est are carried over from the first: "this (thought is) an enemy of fellowship". inimica is used as a noun, "an enemy", and so takes the genitive societatis; as an adjective, "hostile", it would take the dative.
• XI.20 et huic tamen nihil violentum injungitur, sed ea sola quae ei secundum naturam sunt. nec sustinet tamen, sed in contrarium fertur.Supply the verb again: "but (there are laid on it) only those things which are according to nature for it". ei "for it" is a dative of reference; secundum naturam "according to nature" is the Stoic watchword.
• XI.35 Uva acerba, matura, passa; mutationes sunt omnia ista, non in id quod non est, sed in id quod nondum est.Three stages of one grape, with no verb: "the grape (is) unripe, ripe, dried". acerbus "sour" is the word for unripe fruit; passa, the participle of pando "spread out", is a grape spread out to dry in the sun, a raisin (uva passa). The image is again from Epictetus (Discourses 3.24.91–92).
• XI.39 Socratis dictum. Quid vultis? rationalium, an irrationalium animas habere? rationalium.A heading, "a saying of Socrates", with est understood. The little dialogue is not in Plato or Xenophon; Marcus may have it, like the sayings before it, from Epictetus.Socrates questions his hearers, and they answer in a word. vultis is the second person plural of volo "want", understood again before habere: "(do you want) to have the souls of rational beings, or of irrational ones?" an "or" joins the two halves of a double question. The answer, rationalium "of rational (beings)", leaves out all that has already been said.
• XI.39 quorumnam rationalium? sanorum an pravorum? sanorum.
• XII.1 ad pietatis normam, dum quicquid destinatur tibi diligis; cum et tibi hoc natura tulerit, et huic te:direxeris is understood from the last sentence: "(you will direct the present) to the standard of piety". dum with the present indicative is "while", here nearly "by": you keep to piety by loving (diligis) whatever (quicquid) is allotted (destinatur) to you. The whole quicquid clause is the object of diligis.
• XII.1 ad justitiae, dum libere et sine ambage ulla quae vera sunt proloqueris, et quae legi consentanea ac pro rei cujusque dignitate sunt, facis:Shortened like the last sentence: ad justitiae (normam direxeris) "(you will direct it) to (the standard) of justice". Justice is then described, like piety, by a dum clause.
• XII.5 Si enim justum erat, et fieri poterat; et si juxta naturam, id natura protulisset.erat is understood again: "if (it was) according to nature". The pluperfect subjunctive protulisset of profero is unreal: "nature would have brought it forth". It has not, so it was not according to nature.
• XII.6 nam et sinistra manus, cum ad alia opera per desuetudinem inepta sit, fraenum quam dextra validius tenet; quia huic operi assuevit.
• XII.8 Formas corticibus nudatas contemplare: actionum item intentiones: quid dolor; quid voluptas; quid mors; quid gloria: quis cuique molestiarum autor: quo modo nemo ab alio quopiam impediatur:A string of indirect questions with sit left out each time: "what pain (is), what pleasure (is) …". They are objects of contemplare, like formas and intentiones.
• XII.12 Quicquid naturae consentaneum contingit, de eo nec Dii sunt incusandi; nihil enim vel sponte vel inviti peccant: nec homines: nihil enim et ipsi sponte.Two things are left out: supply sunt incusandi with homines, and peccant after sponte. et ipsi "they too". Men do wrong, but never willingly: the old teaching, from Socrates, that no one errs on purpose, only from not knowing the good.
• XII.14 si necessitas inviolabilis, quorsum reniteris?est is understood from the first sentence: "if (it is) an unbreakable necessity". quorsum "to what end, why"; reniteris is the deponent renitor "struggle against", with a passive-looking ending.
• XII.14 sin providentia, quae placari possit, auxilio divino dignum te praesta.
• XII.14 si denique confusio rectoris orba, sat habe, quod in aestu istiusmodi rectricem quandam intra te mentem habes.
• XII.16 Ubi obrepserit tibi cogitatio, peccasse aliquem, haec tu tibi, Unde novi, an peccatum hoc sit; aut si peccavit, an peccati ipse se reum peregerit?A verb of saying is left out: "(say) this to yourself". The words to be said follow at once as direct speech, from Unde novi.
• XII.19 num metus? num suspicio? num libido? num aliud aliquid istiusmodi?Each question leaves out the verb: supply est, "is it fear?", that is, is my mind now fear? num asks a question that hopes for the answer "no": "it isn't fear, is it?" libido is desire or craving of any kind, not only lust.
• XII.21 Cogita tecum, brevi fore, ut nec ipse ullus usquam futurus sis, nec quicquam eorum quae vides, nec horum quisquam qui nunc vivunt.The verb is understood from the first clause: "nor (will) anything of the things you see (be), nor anyone of these who are now alive". quicquam is the neuter "anything", quisquam the masculine "anyone"; both are used after a negative. eorum and horum are partitive genitives, "of those things", "of these people".
• XII.22 Omnia in opinione sita sunt: et haec ipsa in te.situs, the perfect participle of sino, means "placed, lying"; in aliquo situm esse is "to lie in, depend on". With haec ipsa in te supply sita est: "and this very (opinion) lies in you", i.e. is in your power. haec is feminine because it stands for opinio, which here is the judgement you form about a thing.
• XII.22 quandocunque ergo volueris, opinionem tolle, et sicut promontorium praetervecto tranquillitas, sic stabilia tibi futura sunt omnia, et sinus aestu immunis.
• XII.23 tempus autem et terminum assignat natura: eaque quandoque peculiaris, ut in senectute fit; semper vero communis,Supply est and natura: "and that (nature) is sometimes (a man's own) particular (nature) …, but always the common (nature)". A man's own nature sets his term when he dies of old age; the nature of the whole, of which his is a part, sets it every time. quandoque here is "sometimes", and vero "but" marks the contrast.
• XII.23 proinde vitae cessatio non est malum cuiquam, quia nec inhonestum: siquidem nec optionis sit nostrae, nec communitatis legibus adversetur.nec inhonestum "not shameful either" leaves out est. The argument is Stoic: only what is shameful is truly evil, so if the end of life is not shameful it is no evil. The predicates malum, inhonestum are neuter although cessatio is feminine: "an evil thing", "a shameful thing". cuiquam "for anyone" is the form of quisquam used after a negative.
• XII.23 imo bonum est; siquidem universo tempestivum, eidemque conducens et congruum.
• XII.23 ita numine divino fertur, qui eadem, qua Deus, via fertur, menteque sua ad eadem fertur.
• XII.24 secundum, qualenam unumquodque sit a satione usque ad animationem, ab animatione usque ad animam emissam.
• XII.24 tertium, si in sublime subvectus res humanas despiceres, ubi varietatem earum quanta esset perspexisses, simulque uno conspectu comprehenderes, quantum undiquaque aeriorum et aetheriorum sedes suas habeat, quod quotiescunque subvectus esses, eadem semper occurrerent.
• XII.26 item peccatum alterius nihil ad te.Still under oblitus es: "(you have forgotten) that another's wrongdoing is nothing to you". nihil ad te is an everyday idiom with the verb left out (esse, or pertinere "concern"): "it is none of your business". Another's fault harms only the one who commits it.
• XII.26 adhaec, quicquid fit, ita semper factum, semperque futurum, et nunc etiam ubique fieri.Three infinitives for past, future and present, with esse left out of the first two: factum (esse) "has happened", futurum (esse) "will be", fieri "is happening". factum is the participle that fio uses for its perfect (factum est "it has happened"). The subject of all three is the clause quicquid fit "whatever happens".
• XII.30 una materia communis, etiamsi corporibus peculiaribus affectionibus distinctis innumerabilibus dispescatur:est is understood from the first sentence, here and in the next two: "one (is) the common matter, … one the soul, … one the rational soul".
• XII.30 una anima, etiamsi naturis innumerabilibus, et circumscriptionibus peculiaribus dispescatur.
• XII.30 una anima rationalis, etiamsi dirimi videatur.
• XII.32 quantula item totius materiae? quantulum et animae universae? in quantula etiam telluris totius glebula repis?The verb is carried over from the first question: "how tiny a part, likewise, of all matter (is given to each)?". With the soul Gataker varies the word: quantulum, a neuter used as a noun, takes the partitive genitive animae universae, "how little of the universal soul". So the 1652 edition prints it; the 1744 and 1704 have quantulam, and the errata of the 1704 quantula.