Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 10.27 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 10.27
Constantly consider how all things such as they now are, in time past also were; and consider that they will be the same again. And place before thy eyes entire dramas and stages of the same form, whatever thou hast learned from thy experience or from older history; for example, the whole court of Hadrian, and the whole court of Antoninus, and the whole court of Philip, Alexander, Croesus; for all those were such dramas as we see now, only with different actors.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 10.27, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/10.27
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesEverything happening now has happened before, so picture whole scenes from history, such as the courts of emperors and kings, and see them as the same play with different actors. Nothing you meet at work or in public life is truly new, which takes some of the weight off it.
Older wording
- “Croesus”
- — a king of Lydia famed for his enormous wealth
Themes and situations
- Change and impermanence
- Ambition and success
- Time and the present
- Reputation and others' opinions
- Conflict at work
- Handling success
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