Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §4.21.1-4.21.2

Transmutation of Souls and Bodies into the Universe

Passage 71 of 486 · Greek

Summary

Addressing the spatial capacity for surviving souls and buried bodies, the author uses the analogy of physical decomposition and digestion/assimilation, explaining how souls are resolved back into the seminal reason of the universe, and asserts that truth should be investigated by dividing things into the material and the formal.

§4.21.1Εἰ διαμένουσιν αἱ ψυχαί, πῶς αὐτὰς ἐξ ἀιδίου χωρεῖ ὁ ἀήρ;
If souls continue to exist, how does the air contain them from eternity?
πῶς δὲ ἡ γῆ χωρεῖ τὰ τῶν ἐκ τοσούτου αἰῶνος θαπτομένων σώματα;
And how does the earth contain the bodies of those who have been buried for so long an age?
ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐνθάδε ἡ τούτων μετὰ ποσήν τινα ἐπιδιαμονὴν μεταβολὴ καὶ διάλυσις χώραν ἄλλοις νεκροῖς ποιεῖ, οὕτως αἱ εἰς τὸν ἀέρα μεθιστάμεναι ψυχαί, ἐπὶ ποσὸν συμμείνασαι, μεταβάλλουσι καὶ χέονται καὶ ἐξάπτονται εἰς τὸν τῶν ὅλων σπερματικὸν λόγον ἀναλαμβανόμεναι καὶ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον χώραν ταῖς προσσυνοικιζομέναις παρέχουσι.
For just as here the change and dissolution of these bodies after a certain duration of stay makes room for other dead bodies, so the souls that are transferred into the air, after remaining there for a certain time, are changed, diffused, and ignited, being received into the seminal reason of the universe, and in this way they make room for those that come to dwell with them.
τοῦτο δ’ ἄν τις ἀποκρίναιτο ἐφ’ ὑποθέσει τοῦ τὰς ψυχὰς διαμένειν.
This is the answer one might give on the hypothesis that souls continue to exist.
§4.21.2χρὴ δὲ μὴ μόνον ἐνθυμεῖσθαι τὸ πλῆθος τῶν θαπτομένων οὑτωσὶ σωμάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ τῶν ἑκάστης ἡμέρας ἐσθιομένων ζῴων ὑφ̓ ἡμῶν τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων.
But we must not only contemplate the multitude of bodies that are thus buried, but also that of the animals which are daily eaten by us and by other animals.
ὅσος γὰρ ἀριθμὸς καταναλίσκεται καὶ οὑτωσί πως θάπτεται ἐν τοῖς τῶν τρεφομένων σώμασι, καὶ ὅμως δέχεται ἡ χώρα αὐτὰ διὰ τὰς ἐξαιματώσεις, διὰ τὰς εἰς τὸ ἀερῶδες ἢ πυρῶδες ἀλλοιώσεις.
For what a great number is consumed and thus in a manner buried in the bodies of those who feed on them! And yet the space receives them, by reason of their conversion into blood, and their changes into air or fire.
Τίς ἐπὶ τούτου ἡ ἱστορία τῆς ἀληθείας;
What, then, is the investigation of the truth in this matter?
διαίρεσις εἰς τὸ ὑλικὸν καὶ εἰς τὸ αἰτιῶδες.
Division into the material and the formal.

Notes

  1. §4.21.1ἐξ ἀιδίου — A prepositional phrase meaning "from eternity" (from time immemorial), setting up the temporal infinity that complicates the question of spatial capacity.
  2. §4.21.1εἰς τὸν τῶν ὅλων σπερματικὸν λόγον ἀναλαμβανόμεναι — The nominative feminine plural passive participle ἀναλαμβανόμεναι modifies the subject αἱ ψυχαί, meaning "being received/absorbed into the seminal reason of the universe." τῶν ὅλων is a genitive dependent on σπερματικὸν λόγον.
  3. §4.21.2τὸ τῶν ἑκάστης ἡμέρας ἐσθιομένων ζῴων — The noun πλῆθος (multitude/number) from the preceding clause is omitted and represented only by the article τὸ. It must be supplied as "the (multitude) of the animals eaten daily."
  4. §4.21.2διὰ τὰς ἐξαιματώσεις — A physiological term referring to the process of food being converted into blood (assimilation), governed by the preposition διά with the accusative to express cause.
  5. §4.21.2τῆς ἀληθείας — An objective genitive governed by the noun ἱστορία (inquiry/investigation), meaning "the investigation of the truth."

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §4.21.1-4.21.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.21.1-4.21.2

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