Humanitext Reader

Marcus Aurelius · Meditations §8.54.1

Thinking in Harmony with the Cosmic Intellect

Passage 325 of 486 · Greek

Summary

The author exhorts the reader not only to breathe physical air but to align their intellect with the cosmic mind, explaining that this intellectual power is as universally pervasive for those receptive to it as physical air is for breathing.

§8.54.1Μηκέτι μόνον συμπνεῖν τῷ περιέχοντι ἀέρι, ἀλλ’ ἤδη καὶ συμφρονεῖν τῷ περιέχοντι πάντα νοερῷ.
No longer only breathe with the surrounding air, but now also think with the intellect that surrounds all things.
οὐ γὰρ ἧττον ἡ νοερὰ δύναμις πάντῃ κέχυται καὶ διαπεφοίτηκε τῷ σπάσαι δυναμένῳ ἤπερ ἡ ἀερώδης τῷ ἀναπνεῦσαι δυναμένῳ.
For the intellectual power is no less poured out and diffused everywhere for him who is able to draw it in, than the airy power is for him who is able to breathe.

Notes

  1. 8.54.1συμπνεῖν — An independent infinitive used with an imperative force (imperative infinitive). Along with the subsequent συμφρονεῖν, it forms a contrastive structure that delivers a practical exhortation to the reader or the author himself.
  2. 8.54.1τῷ σπάσαι δυναμένῳ — A substantivized participle in the dative case, corresponding to τῷ ἀναπνεῦσαι δυναμένῳ in the latter half of the sentence. The verb σπάω (to draw in, absorb) is used metaphorically to denote the mental absorption of the intellectual power.
  3. 8.54.1ἡ ἀερώδης — The feminine noun δύναμις (power) is omitted and must be supplied based on the tight parallel structure with the preceding ἡ νοερὰ δύναμις.

Cite this passage

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations §8.54.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0562.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.54.1

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