Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 10.5 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 10.5
Whatever may happen to thee, it was prepared for thee from all eternity; and the implication of causes was from eternity spinning the thread of thy being, and of that which is incident to it.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 10.5, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/10.5
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesEverything that happens to you was woven into the chain of causes long before you arrived, so your life's events are not random strikes against you but threads in the same fabric that made you. Seeing this makes it easier to accept what comes rather than fight it.
Older wording
- “implication of causes”
- — the interwoven chain of causes
- “incident to it”
- — that happens to it
Themes and situations
- Acceptance and fate
- Nature and the cosmos
- Failure and mistakes
Quote cards
The opening line of this passage as an image, with its citation — for sharing or keeping.