Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE
Meditations 9.8 — Marcus Aurelius
Translation by George Long (1862)
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 9.8
Among the animals which have not reason one life is distributed; but among reasonable animals one intelligent soul is distributed: just as there is one earth of all things which are of an earthy nature, and we see by one light, and breathe one air, all of us that have the faculty of vision and all that have life.
Cite this passage
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 9.8, tr. George Long (1862)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/meditations/9.8
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesHumans share one common intelligence, just as everything made of earth shares one earth and every seeing creature shares one light and air. This shared reason is the basis for treating other people as kin.
Older wording
- “reasonable animals”
- — rational beings, meaning humans
Themes and situations
- Nature and the cosmos
- Community and our duty to others
Quote cards
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