Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §4.40.1

The Universe as One Living Being and the Web of Things

Passage 90 of 486 · Greek

Summary

The author urges to constantly contemplate the universe as a single living being with one substance and soul, where all things are unified through its perception, impulse, causal cooperation, and web of connection.

§4.40.1Ὡς ἓν ζῷον τὸν κόσμον, μίαν οὐσίαν καὶ ψυχὴν μίαν ἐπέχον, συνεχῶς ἐπινοεῖν καὶ πῶς εἰς αἴσθησιν μίαν τὴν τούτου πάντα ἀναδίδοται καὶ πῶς ὁρμῇ μιᾷ πάντα πράσσει καὶ πῶς πάντα πάντων τῶν γινομένων συναίτια καὶ οἵα τις ἡ σύννησις καὶ συμμήρυσις.
Constantly picture the universe as one living being, possessing one substance and one soul; and how all things are referred to its single perception, and how it does all things by a single impulse, and how all things are cooperating causes of all things that come to be, and what kind of spinning together and winding together there is.

Notes

  1. §4.40.1ἐπινοεῖν — The infinitive is used as an imperative (imperatival infinitive), urging the reader to "constantly picture" or "contemplate."
  2. §4.40.1Ὡς ἓν ζῷον τὸν κόσμον — Accompanied by the conjunction ὡς ("as"), τὸν κόσμον (accusative) functions as the object and ἓν ζῷον (accusative) as the predicate accusative.
  3. §4.40.1πάντα πράσσει — Although the neuter plural πάντα could be the subject of the singular verb πράσσει (according to the rule of neuter plural subjects with singular verbs), in this context it is syntactically smoother to take "the one living being (the universe)" as the implied subject of πράσσει, with πάντα as its object ("it does all things"), which fits better with "by a single impulse (ὁρμῇ μιᾷ)."
  4. §4.40.1σύννησις καὶ συμμήρυσις — Both nouns are prefixed with σύν- / συμ- ("together"). σύννησις means "spinning together," and συμμήρυσις means "winding together" or "weaving together," using the metaphor of spinning fate to express the interconnectedness of all events in the universe.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §4.40.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.40.1

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