For though we are made especially for the sake of one another, still the ruling power of each of us has its own office, for otherwise my neighbor's wickedness would be my harm, which God has not willed, in order that my unhappiness may not depend on another.
From his personal reflections, this passage explains that while humans are made for mutual aid, individual happiness should not depend on the wickedness of others.
Share
More from Marcus Aurelius
In the application of thy principles thou must be like the pancratiast, not like the gladiator; for the gladiator lets fall the sword which he uses and is killed; but the other always has his hand, and needs to do nothing else than use it.
How ridiculous and what a stranger he is who is surprised at anything which happens in life.
Other voices in this conversation
