Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 8.19 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.19
Everything exists for some end, a horse, a vine. Why dost thou wonder? Even the sun will say, I am for some purpose, and the rest of the gods will say the same. For what purpose then art thou? to enjoy pleasure? See if common sense allows this.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.19, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/8.19
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesEverything has a function, from a horse to a vine to the sun, so you can ask what yours is. Living just to enjoy pleasure hardly passes the test of common sense.
Themes and situations
- Nature and the cosmos
- Virtue and character
- Desire and craving
- Pleasure and pain
- Searching for meaning
- Feeling life is slipping by
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