Run Straight on the Line
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Ὅσην εὐσχολίαν κερδαίνει ὁ μὴ βλέπων τί ὁ πλησίον εἶπεν ἢ ἔπραξεν ἢ διενοήθη, ἀλλὰ μόνον τί αὐτὸς ποιεῖ, ἵνα αὐτὸ τοῦτο δίκαιον ᾖ καὶ ὅσιον ἢ † κατὰ τὸν ἀγαθὸν· μὴ μέλαν ἦθος περιβλέπεσθαι, ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ τῆς γραμμῆς τρέχειν ὀρθόν, μὴ διερριμμένον.
How much leisure he gains who does not look at what his neighbor said or did or thought, but only at what he himself is doing, that this very thing may be just and holy and in accord with the good man; not to gaze around at another’s black character, but to run straight on the line, not swerving aside.
The peace of mind won by minding one’s own conduct: never watching what a neighbor said, did, or intended, but only whether one’s own act is just and holy — running straight in one’s own lane, not veering off to stare at another’s bad character.
Marcus praises a specific kind of freedom — εὐσχολία, unhurried leisure of mind — and locates its source in a discipline of attention. The busy, agitated life is spent monitoring other people: what the neighbor said, did, or even privately intended (εἶπεν ἢ ἔπραξεν ἢ διενοήθη). All of that is subtracted at a stroke by the man who watches only his own conduct and asks of it a single question: is this act δίκαιον καὶ ὅσιον, just toward men and holy before the gods, the sort of thing the good man would do? The energy others pour into surveillance of their neighbors he keeps for the one thing that is his to govern.
The closing image is athletic. Rather than "gaze around" (περιβλέπεσθαι) at someone else’s μέλαν ἦθος, his "black character," one should run ἐπὶ τῆς γραμμῆς ὀρθόν — straight along the line, keeping to one’s own lane in the race, μὴ διερριμμένον, not flung off course. A runner who turns to watch his rivals loses both speed and direction; the moralist who keeps checking others’ faults loses his own peace and his own way. The undercurrent is that attention is a limited resource, and minding your own business is not indifference but the very condition of running your race well. (Leopold marks a textual corruption here with a dagger; the sense of "in accord with the good man" is secure enough for the reading.)
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Meditations 4.18 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/meditations-greek/4.18/