Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 4.27 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.27
Either it is a well-arranged universe or a chaos huddled together, but still a universe. But can a certain order subsist in thee, and disorder in the All? And this too when all things are so separated and diffused and sympathetic.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.27, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/4.27
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesEither the universe is well ordered or it is a jumble, but in both cases it is one connected whole, and it would be odd for order to exist in you while the whole is disordered. A short argument for trusting that the world is orderly.
Older wording
- “the All”
- — the whole universe
- “sympathetic”
- — mutually connected and affecting one another
Themes and situations
- Nature and the cosmos
- Acceptance and fate
- Peace of mind
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