Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 7.48 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.48
This is a fine saying of Plato: That he who is discoursing about men should look also at earthly things as if he viewed them from some higher place; should look at them in their assemblies, armies, agricultural labours, marriages, treaties, births, deaths, noise of the courts of justice, desert places, various nations of barbarians, feasts, lamentations, markets, a mixture of all things and an orderly combination of contraries.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.48, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/7.48
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesAnyone reflecting on human affairs should picture them from high above: assemblies, armies, farming, weddings, treaties, births, deaths, courtrooms, feasts, funerals and markets all at once. Seen from that height, life is a messy but orderly mix of opposites, which loosens the grip of any one worry.
Older wording
- “contraries”
- — opposites
- “discoursing”
- — speaking or writing at length
Themes and situations
- Nature and the cosmos
- Community and our duty to others
- Change and impermanence
- Everyday irritations
Quote cards
The opening line of this passage as an image, with its citation — for sharing or keeping.