Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §7.18.1

The Necessity of Change for Universal Nature

Passage 214 of 486 · Greek

Summary

Explains the necessity and importance of change for the nature of the whole through everyday examples such as bathing and eating.

§7.18.1Φοβεῖταί τις μεταβολήν;

Does anyone fear change?

τί γὰρ δύναται χωρὶς μεταβολῆς γενέσθαι, τί δὲ φίλτερον ἢ οἰκειότερον τῇ τῶν ὅλων φύσει;

For what can come to pass without change, and what is dearer or more closely related to the nature of the whole?

σὺ δὲ αὐτὸς λούσασθαι δύνασαι, ἐὰν μὴ τὰ ξύλα μεταβάλῃ;

Can you yourself take a bath unless the firewood undergoes a change?

τραφῆναι δὲ δύνασαι, ἐὰν μὴ τὰ ἐδώδιμα μεταβάλῃ;

Can you be nourished unless the food undergoes a change?

ἄλλο δέ τι τῶν χρησίμων δύναται συντελεσθῆναι χωρὶς μεταβολῆς;

Can any other of the things that are useful be accomplished without change?

οὐχ ὁρᾷς οὖν ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ σὲ μεταβαλεῖν ὅμοιόν ἐστι καὶ ὁμοίως ἀναγκαῖον τῇ τῶν ὅλων φύσει;

Do you not see, then, that your own undergoing of change is of the same kind and equally necessary for the nature of the whole?

7.18.1τῇ τῶν ὅλων φύσει — Meaning 'the nature of the whole' or 'the nature of the universe'. The substantivized neuter plural adjective τῶν ὅλων refers to 'the whole' or 'the universe' in Stoic terminology.
7.18.1τὸ σὲ μεταβαλεῖν — Meaning 'your own undergoing of change'. This is an articular infinitive construction where the infinitive μεταβαλεῖν takes the accusative pronoun σέ as its subject, and the entire phrase is substantivized by the neuter singular article τό.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §7.18.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:7.18.1

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