Expert: Maria - 7/11/2010

Question
I am assuming that when Marcus Aurelius wrote this quote in his diary that it was in latin but i do now know. I am looking for what he wrote which translates to "Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears" Thank you in advance.

Answer
Hello,

"Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears" is nothing but an adaptation from the book IV, paragraph 7, of  Marcus Aurelius diary, entitled “Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν” (Greek letters) transliterated as “Τà eis heautón” ["Thoughts  addressed to himself"], i.e. a series of meditations  he wrote for his self-improvement.

Since Marcus Aurelius, who was Roman Emperor from 161 to his death in 180 AD, knew Greek language besides Latin, which was his mother tongue, and  wrote his diary just in Greek, the original quotation we read in book IV, paragraph 7, sounds as follows:

“ἆρον τὸ βέβλαμμαι, ἦρται ἡ βλάβη”
(literally, “Take away/ Remove the complaint, "I have been harmed" and the harm is taken away/ removed”).

As for its Latin translation, here it is:

“Tolle illud "laesus sum" et  sublatum est damnum”.
(literally, “Take away/ Remove  the complaint "I have been harmed" and the harm is taken away/ removed”).

As you can see, the phrase “Remove/Take away  the complaint "I have been harmed" and the harm is removed” corresponds to "Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears", since if no man shall think himself wronged, then the injury itself will disappear.

Best regards,
Maria