Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 4.19 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.19
He who has a vehement desire for posthumous fame does not consider that every one of those who remember him will himself also die very soon; then again also they who have succeeded them, until the whole remembrance shall have been extinguished as it is transmitted through men who foolishly admire and perish. But suppose that those who will remember are even immortal, and that the remembrance will be immortal, what then is this to thee? And I say not what is it to the dead, but what is it to the living? What is praise except indeed so far as it has a certain utility? For thou now rejectest unseasonably the gift of nature, clinging to something else…
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.19, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/4.19
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesCraving fame after death overlooks that everyone who remembers you will die soon, as will those who come after them, until the memory is gone. Even if the memory were eternal, praise is of no use to you unless it serves a real purpose, and chasing it means neglecting what nature has given you now.
Older wording
- “posthumous fame”
- — fame after death
- “vehement”
- — intense, passionate
- “unseasonably”
- — at the wrong time
Themes and situations
- Reputation and others' opinions
- Death and mortality
- Time and the present
- Ambition and success
- Handling success
- Searching for meaning
- Fear of death
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