The second discipline, that of action, relates to our
relationship with other people. Human beings, for Marcus as
for the Stoics generally, are social animals, a point he makes
often (e.g., 5.16, 8.59, 9.1). All human beings possess not
only a share of the logos but also the ability to use it (that is
what makes us human and distinguishes us from other
animals). But it would perhaps be more accurate to say that
we are participants in the logos, which is as much a process
as a substance. Marcus himself more than once compares the
world ruled by logos to a city in which all human beings are
citizens, with all the duties inherent in citizenship. As human
beings we are part of nature, and our duty is to accommodate
ourselves to its demands and requirements—“to live as
nature requires,” as Marcus often puts it. To do this we must
make proper use of the logos we have been allotted, and
perform as best we can the functions assigned us in the
master plan of the larger, cosmic logos, of which it is a part.
This requires not merely passive acquiescence in what
happens, but active cooperation with the world, with fate
and, above all, with other human beings. We were made,
Marcus tells us over and over, not for ourselves but for
others, and our nature is fundamentally unselfish. In our
relationships with others we must work for their collective
good, while treating them justly and fairly as individuals.
Marcus never defines what he means by justice, and it is
important to recognize what the term implies and what it