Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §6.25.1

Simultaneous Coexistence of All Events in the Universe

Passage 162 of 486 · Greek

Summary

By drawing a contrast with the multitude of bodily and mental events occurring in an individual at any single moment, the author argues that it is not surprising for all events to coexist simultaneously within the one and all, which we call the universe.

§6.25.1Ἐνθυμήθητι πόσα κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν ἀκαριαῖον χρόνον ἐν ἑκάστῳ ἡμῶν ἅμα γίνεται σωματικὰ ὁμοῦ καὶ ψυχικά.
Reflect on how many things, both bodily and mental, come to pass at the same time in each of us in the same instant of time.
καὶ οὕτως οὐ θαυμάσεις εἰ πολὺ πλείω, μᾶλλον δὲ πάντα τὰ γινόμενα ἐν τῷ ἑνί τε καὶ σύμπαντι, ὃ δὴ κόσμον ὀνομάζομεν, ἅμα ἐνυφίσταται.
And thus you will not wonder if far more things, or rather all things that come into being in the one and all, which we indeed call the universe, coexist at the same time.

Notes

  1. §6.25.1οὐ θαυμάσεις εἰ — The clause introduced by εἰ after verbs of emotion (here θαυμάσεις) does not express a pure condition, but rather introduces the fact or possibility that is the cause of the emotion ('that...' or 'if...').
  2. §6.25.1τῷ ἑνί τε καὶ σύμπαντι, ὃ δὴ κόσμον ὀνομάζομεν — The phrase τῷ ἑνί τε καὶ σύμπαντι is a neuter singular dative governed by the preposition ἐν. The relative pronoun ὃ is a neuter singular accusative serving as the direct object of ὀνομάζομεν, with κόσμον as its predicate accusative in a double accusative construction.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §6.25.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:6.25.1

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