Living without comprehension. Marcus Aurelius 5.10

Marcus meditates on the futility of human knowledge: even when we are very well informed, life shows us important events over which we lack final control. While these events don't always look the same today as in antiquity, we still see them (in similar places, even: battlefields, markets, matters of love, all the things Seneca would put within the realm of fortune). How do we handle this lack? Marcus recommends pious resignation, where others have chosen to rebel and fight harder. Why?

Τὰ μὲν πράγματα ἐν τοιαύτῃ τρόπον τινὰ ἐγκαλύψει ἐστίν, ὥστε φιλοσόφοις οὐκ ὀλίγοις οὐδὲ τοῖς τυχοῦσιν ἔδοξε παντάπασιν ἀκατάληπτα εἶναι, πλὴν αὐτοῖς γε τοῖς Στωικοῖς δυσκατάληπτα δοκεῖ· καὶ πᾶσα ἡ ἡμετέρα συγκατάθεσις μεταπτώτη· ποῦ γὰρ ὁ ἀμετάπτωτος; μέτιθι τοίνυν ἐπ’ αὐτὰ τὰ ὑποκείμενα ὡς ὀλιγοχρόνια καὶ εὐτελῆ καὶ δυνάμενα ἐν κτήσει κιναίδου ἢ πόρνης ἢ λῃστοῦ εἶναι. μετὰ τοῦτο ἔπιθι ἐπὶ τὰ τῶν συμβιούντων ἤθη, ὧν μόλις ἐστὶ καὶ τοῦ χαριεστάτου ἀνασχέσθαι, ἵνα μὴ λέγω, ὅτι καὶ ἑαυτόν τις μόγις ὑπομένει. ἐν τοιούτῳ οὖν ζόφῳ καὶ ῥύπῳ καὶ τοσαύτῃ ῥύσει τῆς τε οὐσίας καὶ τοῦ χρόνου καὶ τῆς κινήσεως καὶ τῶν κινουμένων τί ποτέ ἐστι τὸ ἐκτιμηθῆναι ἢ τὸ ὅλως σπουδασθῆναι δυνάμενον, οὐδ’ ἐπινοῶ. τοὐναντίον γὰρ δεῖ παραμυθούμενον ἑαυτὸν περιμένειν τὴν φυσικὴν λύσιν καὶ μὴ ἀσχάλλειν τῇ διατριβῇ, ἀλλὰ τούτοις μόνοις προσαναπαύεσθαι· ἑνὶ μὲν τῷ, ὅτι οὐδὲν συμβήσεταί μοι ὃ οὐχὶ κατὰ τὴν τῶν ὅλων φύσιν ἐστίν· ἑτέρῳ δέ, ὅτι ἔξεστί μοι μηδὲν πράσσειν παρὰ τὸν ἐμὸν θεὸν καὶ δαίμονα· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ὁ ἀναγκάσων τοῦτον παραβῆναι.

The things that matter to us lie so well hidden from view that not a few famous philosophers judge them utterly impossible to comprehend. Unlike these philosophers, the Stoics think that they can be grasped, though it is very hard to hold them. For our assent to the existence of any actually important matter is fleeting, easily given and revoked: where is the man who never changes his mind? Still, chase the total sum of human affairs to ground, and you'll find it short and simple, falling easily into the power of punks, whores, and pirates. Pursue it further, into the intimate habits of those who share your life, and you'll find they have a hard time enduring even the greatest good fortune, so that I am compelled to affirm that each man scarcely survives the burden of his own existence. What really deserves our honor and total commitment in this dark and dirty world, this great swirling vortex of being and time and movement and things being moved? I don't know. Nevertheless, each of us must speak comfort to himself, waiting patiently for his physical destruction without complaining as it comes to pass, resting content with nothing more than the following two sureties. First, that nothing beyond or against the nature of the universe shall ever befall me. And finally, that it is impossible for me to do anything outside the realm of the god or spirit that controls me. For nobody can force the gods beyond their limits.