Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 10.21 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 10.21
“The earth loves the shower”; and “the solemn æther loves”: and the universe loves to make whatever is about to be. I say then to the universe, that I love as thou lovest. And is not this too said, that “this or that loves [is wont] to be produced”?
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 10.21, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/10.21
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesThe earth longs for rain and the sky for the earth, and the universe loves to bring about whatever is about to be, so the speaker joins in that love, wanting for himself what the universe wants. It is a way of saying yes to how things unfold.
Older wording
- “æther”
- — the bright upper sky, the heavens
- “wont”
- — accustomed, inclined
Themes and situations
- Acceptance and fate
- Nature and the cosmos
- Gratitude
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