Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 5.7 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.7
A prayer of the Athenians: Rain, rain, O dear Zeus, down on the ploughed fields of the Athenians and on the plains.—In truth we ought not to pray at all, or we ought to pray in this simple and noble fashion.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.7, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/5.7
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesA simple Athenian prayer for rain, with no personal demands, is held up as the only kind of prayer worth making: either do not pray at all, or ask in this plain, noble way rather than begging for private favours.
Older wording
- “Zeus”
- — the chief Greek god, here standing for the ruling power of the universe
Themes and situations
- Acceptance and fate
- Pride and humility
- Nature and the cosmos
- Desire and craving
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