Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §6.24.1

Death as the Great Leveler of Human Fate

Passage 161 of 486 · Greek

Summary

Using Alexander the Great and his groom as examples, the author explains that regardless of status, everyone meets the same fate after death, either being absorbed into the cosmic seminal principles or dispersed into atoms.

§6.24.1Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μακεδὼν καὶ ὁ ὀρεωκόμος αὐτοῦ ἀποθανόντες εἰς ταὐτὸ κατέστησαν· ἤτοι γὰρ ἀνελήφθησαν εἰς τοὺς αὐτοὺς τοῦ κόσμου σπερματικοὺς λόγους ἢ διεσκεδάσθησαν ὁμοίως εἰς τὰς ἀτόμους.
Alexander the Macedonian and his groom, having died, were brought to the same state; for they were either received back into the same seminal principles of the universe, or likewise dispersed into atoms.

Notes

  1. §6.24.1ὀρεωκόμος — Meaning 'mule-driver' or 'groom'. By contrasting Alexander, the ruler of a world empire, with an extremely humble servant, it serves to emphasize the absolute equality of human beings in the face of death.
  2. §6.24.1ἤτοι γὰρ ἀνελήφθησαν... ἢ διεσκεδάσθησαν... — The construction ἤτοι... ἢ... ('either... or...') sets up a juxtaposition between the two major philosophical hypotheses of antiquity regarding the fate of the soul and body after death: the Stoic cosmological view of reabsorption into the rational 'seminal principles' (spermatikoi logoi), and the Epicurean materialistic view of dispersion into atoms.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §6.24.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:6.24.1

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