Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 6.33 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 6.33
Neither the labour which the hand does nor that of the foot is contrary to nature, so long as the foot does the foot’s work and the hand the hand’s. So then neither to a man as a man is his labour contrary to nature, so long as it does the things of a man. But if the labour is not contrary to his nature, neither is it an evil to him.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 6.33, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/6.33
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesHands and feet are not harmed by doing the work they were made for, and neither is a person harmed by doing the work proper to a human being. If your labour fits your nature it cannot be an evil for you.
Themes and situations
- Duty and roles
- Nature and the cosmos
- Virtue and character
- Adversity and hardship
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