Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 4.29 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.29
If he is a stranger to the universe who does not know what is in it, no less is he a stranger who does not know what is going on in it. He is a runaway, who flies from social reason; he is blind, who shuts the eyes of the understanding; he is poor, who has need of another, and has not from himself all things which are useful for life. He is an abscess on the universe who withdraws and separates himself from the reason of our common nature through being displeased with the things which happen, for the same nature produces this, and has produced thee too: he is a piece rent asunder from the state, who tears his own soul from that of reasonable animals, which is one.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.29, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/4.29
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesResenting what happens cuts you off from the world and from other people, as if you were a runaway, blind or poor, or a diseased lump on the universe. The same nature produced both the event and you, so rejecting it is like tearing yourself away from the human community.
Older wording
- “abscess”
- — a swollen, infected lump
- “rent asunder”
- — torn apart
- “social reason”
- — the reason that binds people into a community
Themes and situations
- Acceptance and fate
- Community and our duty to others
- Nature and the cosmos
- Judgements and impressions
- Being angry with someone
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