Abstract
The focus of the paper is the recurring appeal in the Meditations to live non-tragically. This appeal goes beyond mere metaphor and presents an original concept of non-tragic theatre with strong ethical connotations.
The concept is based on the opposition of proper (oikeios) and alien (xenos) which can be understood within the framework of the stoic theory of appropriation (oikeiosis) and particularly the Chrysippean differentiation between appropriation and estrangement in DL VII, 85. An alienated person, carried away by passions and amazed by events, is perceived as alienated from nature, an actor of a life's tragedy.
On the contrary, the one who acts right is presented as an actor of non-tragic theatre who at the same time unifies himself with the universal cause and nature and distances himself from passions and usual roles distributed in life.