Humanity, Nobility. Marcus Aurelius, 5.15

What is humanity? Marcus would say that any action involving what is good (noble, virtuous, worthy) is properly human. If there is no nobility, no virtue, no worth inherent in some action that becomes uniquely pleasing or evident when that action is performed by us, by humans, then the action is beneath our attention. It might be necessary, or pleasant, but it is not a thing worth our devotion. It is not humane, and whatever value or purpose it serves is not properly humanity.

Οὐδὲν τούτων τηρητέον ἀνθρώπῳ, ἃ ἀνθρώπῳ, καθὸ ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν, οὐκ ἐπιβάλλει. οὐκ ἔστιν ἀπαιτήματα ἀνθρώπου οὐδὲ ἐπαγγέλλεται αὐτὰ ἡ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου φύσις οὐδὲ τελειότητές εἰσι τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου φύσεως. οὐ τοίνυν οὐδὲ τὸ τέλος ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐστι τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ κείμενον οὐδέ γε τὸ συμπληρωτικὸν τοῦ τέλους, τὸ ἀγαθόν. ἔτι, εἴ τι τούτων ἦν ἐπιβάλλον τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, οὐκ ἂν τὸ ὑπερφρονεῖν αὐτῶν καὶ κατεξανίστασθαι ἐπιβάλλον ἦν οὐδὲ ἐπαινετὸς ἦν ὁ ἀπροσδεῆ τούτων ἑαυτὸν παρεχόμενος, οὐδ’ ἂν ὁ ἐλαττωτικὸς ἑαυτοῦ ἔν τινι τούτων ἀγαθὸς ἦν, εἴπερ ταῦτα ἀγαθὰ ἦν. νῦν δ’, ὅσῳπερ πλείω τις ἀφαιρῶν ἑαυτοῦ τούτων ἢ τοιούτων ἑτέρων ἢ καὶ ἀφαιρούμενός τι τούτων ἀνέχεται, τοσῷδε μᾶλλον ἀγαθός ἐστιν.

Mark nothing for humanity to which we are not devoted, to which we dedicate no uniquely human effort. Such things have no claims on us. The nature of mankind does not impose them on us, and they offer no prospect of perfecting what belongs to that nature. The end that lies within them does not pertain to humanity, for it fulfills none of our end, which is nobility, dignity, goodness. Still, if any of these things ever did manage to become pertinent, then it would not do for us to despise or reject it, and the man who took no share in it would deserve no praise. For if anything be truly noble or good, then no man who withholds himself from it can remain worthy. But as matters stand, a man stays noble by steadily refusing to devote himself to inhuman things.