Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §5.13.1

Eternity of Cause and Matter and Universal Change

Passage 114 of 486 · Greek

Summary

Marcus discusses how he is composed of causal and material elements, which never perish but continually change and recirculate infinitely within the universe.

§5.13.1Ἐξ αἰτιώδους καὶ ὑλικοῦ συνέστηκα, οὐδέτερον δὲ τούτων εἰς τὸ μὴ ὂν φθαρήσεται, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος ὑπέστη.
I consist of the causal and the material; and neither of these will perish into non-existence, just as neither arose from non-existence.
οὐκοῦν καταταχθήσεται πᾶν μέρος ἐμὸν κατὰ μεταβολὴν εἰς μέρος τι τοῦ κόσμου καὶ πάλιν ἐκεῖνο εἰς ἕτερον μέρος τι τοῦ κόσμου μεταβαλεῖ καὶ ἤδη εἰς ἄπειρον.
Therefore every part of me will be reassigned through change into some part of the universe, and that again will change into another part of the universe, and so on to infinity.
κατὰ τοιαύτην δὲ μεταβολὴν κἀγὼ ὑπέστην καὶ οἱ ἐμὲ γεννήσαντες καὶ ἐπανιόντι εἰς ἄλλο ἄπειρον.
And by such a change I too was brought into being, as were those who begot me, and so on back into another infinity.
οὐδὲν γὰρ κωλύει οὕτως φάναι, κἂν κατὰ περιόδους πεπερασμένας ὁ κόσμος διοικῆται.
For there is nothing to prevent us from saying this, even if the universe is administered according to finite periods.

Notes

  1. §5.13.1ὑπέστη — The subject of the singular verb ὑπέστη is οὐδέτερον from the preceding clause, indicating that neither of the two elements arose from non-existence.
  2. §5.13.1μεταβαλεῖ — The third-person singular future active of μεταβάλλω, used intransitively to mean 'it will change (itself)'. Its subject is the preceding ἐκεῖνο (that part of the universe into which my part was reassigned).
  3. §5.13.1ἐπανιόντι — The present active participle dative singular masculine of ἐπάνειμι (to go back), functioning as a dative of reference or conditional ('for one going back' or 'if one traces back' the chain of causation/generation).

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §5.13.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.13.1

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