Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §4.5.1

Death as a Natural Mystery and Dissolution

Passage 55 of 486 · Greek

Summary

The author explains that death, like birth, is a mystery of nature involving the composition and dissolution of the same elements, and is a natural process that is not to be ashamed of as it conforms to the nature of a rational being.

§4.5.1Ὁ θάνατος τοιοῦτον, οἷον γένεσις, φύσεως μυστήριον· σύγκρισις ἐκ τῶν αὐτῶν στοιχείων, εἰς ταὐτὰ λύσις.
Death is such a thing as birth is, a mystery of nature: a composition out of the same elements, and a dissolution into the same.
ὅλως δὲ οὐκ ἐφʼ ᾧ ἄν τις αἰσχυνθείη· οὐ γὰρ παρὰ τὸ ἑξῆς τῷ νοερῷ ζῴῳ οὐδὲ παρὰ τὸν λόγον τῆς κατασκευῆς.
And on the whole, it is nothing of which one should be ashamed; for it is not contrary to the sequence proper to an intellectual living being, nor contrary to the reason of its constitution.

Notes

  1. 4.5.1φύσεως μυστήριον — Expresses the essence of death contrasted with birth. The word μυστήριον (mystery, rite) here refers to the "hidden operation or order of nature" in a natural-philosophical sense, using the metaphor of religious mysteries to show that death is a natural process.
  2. 4.5.1οὐκ ἐφʼ ᾧ ἄν τις αἰσχυνθείη — A construction where the preposition ἐπί and the relative pronoun ὅς (here ᾧ) are followed by ἄν and the potential optative (αἰσχυνθείη). It means "not based on anything for which one might feel ashamed," i.e., "nothing to be ashamed of."
  3. 4.5.1παρὰ τὸ ἑξῆς τῷ νοερῷ ζῴῳ — The preposition παρά with the accusative means "contrary to." The phrase τὸ ἑξῆς is a substantivized expression meaning "sequence," "succession," or "natural course," which is combined with the dative τῷ νοερῷ ζῴῳ (to/for the intellectual living being). The whole phrase is interpreted as "not contrary to the sequence proper to an intellectual living being."

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §4.5.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.5.1

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