Respectful of philosophers, moderate in self-care
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πρὸς τούτοις δὲ καὶ τὸ τιμητικὸν τῶν ἀληθῶς φιλοσοφούντων, τοῖς δὲ ἄλλοις οὐκ ἐξονειδιστικὸν οὐδὲ μὴν εὐπαράγωγον ὑπ’ αὐτῶν· ἔτι δὲ τὸ εὐόμιλον καὶ εὔχαρι οὐ κατακόρως· καὶ τὸ τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος ἐπιμελητικὸν ἐμμέτρως, οὔτε ὡς ἄν τις φιλόζωος οὔτε πρὸς καλλωπισμὸν οὔτε μὴν ὀλιγώρως, ἀλλ’ ὥστε διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν προσοχὴν εἰς ὀλίγιστα ἰατρικῆς χρῄζειν ἢ φαρμάκων καὶ ἐπιθεμάτων ἐκτός·
Besides all this, his respect for those who genuinely pursued philosophy, while toward the rest he neither found fault nor let himself be led astray by them; further, his easy good company and graciousness, never cloying; and the measured care of his own body — neither as one clinging to life, nor for the sake of show, nor yet neglectfully — but such that, by his own attentiveness, he had next to no need of medicine, or of drugs and salves.
Continues the catalogue of Antoninus Pius's virtues in Meditations 1.16: his genuine regard for true philosophers without scorning others or being led astray by them, his pleasant sociability kept short of excess, and his measured, undemanding care for his own body.
This fragment continues the catalogue of Antoninus Pius's virtues that fills Meditations 1.16. Marcus balances two dispositions that do not usually travel together: real respect for those "genuinely pursuing philosophy" (the qualifier ἀληθῶς matters — Antoninus keeps company with philosophers without becoming their partisan) and a flat refusal either to reproach everyone else for not being one, or to be flattered into credulity by the philosophers themselves (εὐπαράγωγος, "easily led," an uncommon compound). The same evenness governs his social manner: εὐόμιλον καὶ εὔχαρι, good company and gracious, but οὐ κατακόρως, never cloying. Nothing here reads as effusive; each virtue is immediately hedged by its own limit.
The clause on his body extends the same logic inward. Antoninus tends himself — ἐπιμελητικόν, ἐμμέτρως — but the three negatives that follow (not life-clinging, not vain about appearance, not careless) rule out the usual failure modes on both sides of that mean. The payoff is stated as a plain fact rather than a moral: because of his own attentiveness (προσοχή, the word Epictetus later makes technical for the watchfulness that keeps judgment sound) he almost never needed a doctor, a drug, or a plaster. It is a small, physical instance of the discipline Marcus keeps trying to practice on himself throughout the notebook — care exercised so steadily that it becomes invisible, leaving nothing behind for medicine to fix.
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Meditations 1.16.5 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/meditations-greek/1.16.5/