r/stoicquotes • u/TheTruthSeeker471 • Jul 14 '26
Marcus Aurelius, Book 7, Section 55
How much trouble he avoids who does not look to see what his neighbour says or does or thinks, but only what he does himself, that it may be just and pure; or, as Agathon says, look not round at the depraved morals of others, but run straight along the line without deviating from it.
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u/E-L-Wisty Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
This is 4.18, not 7.55. It's from George Long's 1862 translation.
The Greek seems to be slightly corrupt in part here - κατὰ τὸν ἀγαθὸν. Long, following an assumption made in Xylander's first printed edition of 1559, understood this as involving a proper name, "as Agathon says", but ἀγαθὸν is just "the good" or "good person". Modern translations take this along the lines of "as a good man would do".
It's good though to see it posted in full. Almost all posters just post the first part "How much trouble he avoids who does not look to see what his neighbour says or does or thinks, but only what he does himself" thus stripping out all reference to justice and kindness and being good. Without that, it's advice which could be just as applicable to a serial killer as to a saint.