Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 6.46 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 6.46
As it happens to thee in the amphitheatre and such places, that the continual sight of the same things and the uniformity make the spectacle wearisome, so it is in the whole of life; for all things above, below, are the same and from the same. How long then?
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 6.46, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/6.46
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesJust as watching the same spectacle again and again makes the arena dull, life can feel repetitive, because everything comes from the same sources and follows the same patterns. The passage ends on a weary question of how long this will go on.
Older wording
- “amphitheatre”
- — a Roman arena for shows and gladiator contests
- “spectacle”
- — a public show
Themes and situations
- Change and impermanence
- Time and the present
- Acceptance and fate
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