Do Few Things
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ʽ Ὀλίγα πρῆσσε, φησίν, εἰ μέλλεις εὐθυμήσειν. ʼ μήποτε ἄμεινον τἀναγκαῖα πράσσειν καὶ ὅσα ὁ τοῦ φύσει πολιτικοῦ ζῴου λόγος αἱρεῖ καὶ ὡς αἱρεῖ; τοῦτο γὰρ οὐ μόνον τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ καλῶς πράσσειν εὐθυμίαν φέρει, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ ὀλίγα πράσσειν. τὰ πλεῖστα γὰρ ὧν λέγομεν καὶ πράσσομεν οὐκ ἀναγκαῖα ὄντα ἐάν τις περιέλῃ, εὐσχολώτερος καὶ ἀταρακτότερος ἔσται. ὅθεν δεῖ καὶ παῤ ἕκαστα ἑαυτὸν ὑπομιμνῄσκειν· μήτι τοῦτο τῶν οὐκ ἀναγκαίων; δεῖ δὲ μὴ μόνον πράξεις τὰς μὴ ἀναγκαίας περιαιρεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ φαντασίας· οὕτως γὰρ οὐδὲ πράξεις παρέλκουσαι ἐπακολουθήσουσιν.
"Do few things," he says, "if you would be of good cheer." But is it not better to do the necessary things, and whatever the reason of a naturally social creature prescribes, and as it prescribes? For this brings the cheerfulness that comes not only from doing well, but also from doing few things — since most of what we say and do is unnecessary, and if a man strips it away he will have more leisure and be less troubled. So at each thing one must remind oneself: is this not one of the unnecessary things? And one must prune away not only unnecessary actions but unnecessary impressions as well; for then no superfluous actions will follow from them.
Democritus advised "do few things" for tranquillity; Marcus improves the rule — do the *necessary* things, and only what a social being’s reason approves. That yields a double calm: from acting well and from acting little. So prune not just needless deeds but needless impressions.
Marcus takes a maxim of Democritus — ὀλίγα πρῆσσε, "do few things," the recipe for εὐθυμία (cheerfulness) — and refines it. Mere fewness is not enough; the criterion should be necessity and rightness, "the necessary things and whatever the reason of a naturally social animal prescribes." With that correction the rule yields a double dividend: the satisfaction of having acted well (καλῶς πράσσειν) and the extra calm of having acted little. Since "most of what we say and do is unnecessary," pruning it away buys both leisure (εὐσχολία) and freedom from disturbance (ἀταραξία).
The practical device is the running self-question he recommends: at each thing, ask "is this not among the unnecessary?" But the sharpest turn is at the end. It is not enough to cut needless actions; one must also cut needless φαντασίαι, the impressions and mental images we entertain — because superfluous action grows out of superfluous imagining. Chase an idle thought and an idle deed will follow. This links the discipline of action to the discipline of assent (compare 4.22): simplify the mind’s intake, and the life simplifies of itself. The undercurrent is that busyness is usually a failure of judgment, not a necessity of circumstance.
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Meditations 4.24 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/meditations-greek/4.24/