Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 10.28 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 10.28
Imagine every man who is grieved at anything or discontented to be like a pig which is sacrificed and kicks and screams. Like this pig also is he who on his bed in silence laments the bonds in which we are held. And consider that only to the rational animal is it given to follow voluntarily what happens; but simply to follow is a necessity imposed on all.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 10.28, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/10.28
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesSomeone who rages or complains about how things are is like a sacrificial pig kicking and screaming, and so is someone who quietly laments in bed that life binds us. Everything must go along with what happens, and only a reasoning being can choose to go along willingly.
Older wording
- “bonds”
- — the constraints that fate places on us
Themes and situations
- Acceptance and fate
- Emotions and the passions
- Freedom
- Resilience and endurance
- Anxiety about the future
Quote cards
The opening line of this passage as an image, with its citation — for sharing or keeping.