Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 4.41 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.41
Thou art a little soul bearing about a corpse, as Epictetus used to say.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.41, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/4.41
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesYou are a little soul carrying a corpse around, a blunt reminder that the body is perishable and your mind is what matters. It can put aches, ageing and bodily worries into perspective.
Older wording
- “bearing about”
- — carrying around
Themes and situations
- Death and mortality
- Illness and the body
- Ageing
- What is in our control
- Illness or diagnosis
- Getting older
Quote cards
The opening line of this passage as an image, with its citation — for sharing or keeping.