Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 12.30 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 12.30
There is one light of the sun, though it is interrupted by walls, mountains, and other things infinite. There is one common substance, though it is distributed among countless bodies which have their several qualities. There is one soul, though it is distributed among infinite natures and individual circumscriptions [or individuals]. There is one intelligent soul, though it seems to be divided. Now in the things which have been mentioned all the other parts, such as those which are air and matter, are without sensation and have no fellowship: and yet even these parts the intelligent principle holds together, and the gravitation towards the same. But intellect in a peculiar manner tends to that which is of the same kin, and combines with it, and the feeling for communion is not interrupted.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 12.30, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/12.30
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesDespite being divided up by walls, mountains and separate bodies, there is one sunlight, one shared substance and one intelligent soul. Reasoning beings are drawn toward their own kind, so the feeling of fellowship is never really cut off.
Older wording
- “circumscriptions”
- — boundaries or limits that mark off individuals
- “gravitation”
- — natural pull toward something
Themes and situations
- Nature and the cosmos
- Community and our duty to others
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