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Read/Book IV/4.21
MED. 4.21Discipline of assent
George Long · 1862EN · Long

If souls continue to exist, how does the air contain them from eternity? But how does the earth contain the bodies of those who have been buried from time so remote? For as here the mutation of these bodies, after a certain continuance, whatever it may be, and their TERMdissolution make room for other dead bodies; so the TERMsouls which are removed into the air after subsisting for some time are transmuted and diffused, and assume a fiery nature by being received into the seminal TERMintelligence of the universe, and in this way make room for the fresh souls which come to dwell there. And this is the answer which a man might give on the hypothesis of souls continuing to exist.

But we must not only think of the number of bodies which are thus buried, but also of the number of animals which are daily eaten by us and the other animals. For what a number is consumed, and thus in a manner buried in the bodies of those who feed on them! And nevertheless this earth receives them by reason of the changes of these bodies into blood, and the transformations into the aerial or the fiery element.

What is the investigation into the truth in this matter? EXERCISEThe division into that which is material and that which is the cause of form, the formal.

Original · ancient Greek

Εἰ διαμένουσιν αἱ ψυχαί, πῶς αὐτὰς ἐξ ἀιδίου χωρεῖ ὁ ἀήρ; πῶς δὲ ἡ γῆ χωρεῖ τὰ τῶν ἐκ τοσούτου αἰῶνος θαπτομένων σώματα; ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐνθάδε ἡ τούτων μετὰ ποσήν τινα ἐπιδιαμονὴν μεταβολὴ καὶ διάλυσις χώραν ἄλλοις νεκροῖς ποιεῖ, οὕτως αἱ εἰς τὸν ἀέρα μεθιστάμεναι ψυχαί, ἐπὶ ποσὸν συμμείνασαι, μεταβάλλουσι καὶ χέονται καὶ ἐξάπτονται εἰς τὸν τῶν ὅλων σπερματικὸν λόγον ἀναλαμβανόμεναι καὶ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον χώραν ταῖς προσσυνοικιζομέναις παρέχουσι. τοῦτο δ’ ἄν τις ἀποκρίναιτο ἐφ’ ὑποθέσει τοῦ τὰς ψυχὰς διαμένειν.

χρὴ δὲ μὴ μόνον ἐνθυμεῖσθαι τὸ πλῆθος τῶν θαπτομένων οὑτωσὶ σωμάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ τῶν ἑκάστης ἡμέρας ἐσθιομένων ζῴων ὑφ̓ ἡμῶν τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων. ὅσος γὰρ ἀριθμὸς καταναλίσκεται καὶ οὑτωσί πως θάπτεται ἐν τοῖς τῶν τρεφομένων σώμασι, καὶ ὅμως δέχεται ἡ χώρα αὐτὰ διὰ τὰς ἐξαιματώσεις, διὰ τὰς εἰς τὸ ἀερῶδες ἢ πυρῶδες ἀλλοιώσεις.

Τίς ἐπὶ τούτου ἡ ἱστορία τῆς ἀληθείας; διαίρεσις εἰς τὸ ὑλικὸν καὶ εἰς τὸ αἰτιῶδες.

Leopold · Teubner 1908
Commentary

Genre and place in the book. An extended physics of death — the companion of the brief 04-14: there, "you will be received into the seminal reason"; here, how this works at the level of the cosmic "economy of room."

The "there is room" argument. The objection: if souls are immortal, the air would long since be full (as would the earth, with bodies over so many ages). The answer by analogy: as bodies, by dissolution (TERMμεταβολὴ καὶ διάλυσις), make room for new dead, so TERMsouls, after a time in the air, are transmuted, diffused, and "kindled" (ἐξάπτονται), taken up into the seminal TERMreason (λόγος σπερματικός) of the Whole, and make room for newcomers. The reabsorption of the part into the whole is the DOGMAunity of the cosmos (cf. 04-14).

"On the hypothesis that souls survive." A nicety: Marcus offers this conditionally (ἐφ’ ὑποθέσει) — he does not dogmatically assert the immortality of souls. Stoic orthodoxy: souls subsist only until the world-conflagration (ἐκπύρωσις), then are reabsorbed (DL 7.156–157). His point: even granting survival, there is no accumulation — all is transmuted.

The animals eaten. A second argument: count too the number of creatures eaten each day — they are "buried" in the bodies of those who eat them, and there is room, through conversion into blood and changes into the airy and the fiery. All is TERMtransformation; nothing piles up.

Method: matter and cause. The close is a methodological formula: "the inquiry into truth here is διαίρεσις εἰς τὸ ὑλικὸν καὶ εἰς τὸ αἰτιῶδες," the division into the material and the causal-formal. This is the EXERCISEanalytic division of a thing into matter and cause — a recurring move in Marcus (Med. 7.29: "divide every object into the causal and the material"; 12.10: matter, form, purpose).

The disciplines. The principal one is assent: the physical analysis and the matter/cause method. The secondary is desire: the acceptance of one's own dissolution as a recasting into the Whole.

Parallels. Return into the seminal reason, transformation making room — 04-14; 04-05; Med. 8.18; 02-03; 6.24 (Alexander and his groom alike into the seminal reasons, or into atoms). Nothing accumulates: even what is eaten is transmuted into blood, air, and fire — the same transformation principle. Souls subsist until the ἐκπύρωσις — DL 7.156–157; SVF II 809. The division into matter and cause — Med. 7.29; 12.10 (see EXERCISEdefinitio).

DisciplineDiscipline of assent
Record added2026-06-26
Statuspublished
Read·Book IV
Discipline of assent

George Long · 1862· EN · Long

If souls continue to exist, how does the air contain them from eternity? But how does the earth contain the bodies of those who have been buried from time so remote? For as here the mutation of these bodies, after a certain continuance, whatever it may be, and their TERMdissolution make room for other dead bodies; so the TERMsouls which are removed into the air after subsisting for some time are transmuted and diffused, and assume a fiery nature by being received into the seminal TERMintelligence of the universe, and in this way make room for the fresh souls which come to dwell there. And this is the answer which a man might give on the hypothesis of souls continuing to exist.

But we must not only think of the number of bodies which are thus buried, but also of the number of animals which are daily eaten by us and the other animals. For what a number is consumed, and thus in a manner buried in the bodies of those who feed on them! And nevertheless this earth receives them by reason of the changes of these bodies into blood, and the transformations into the aerial or the fiery element.

What is the investigation into the truth in this matter? EXERCISEThe division into that which is material and that which is the cause of form, the formal.

Original · ancient Greek

Εἰ διαμένουσιν αἱ ψυχαί, πῶς αὐτὰς ἐξ ἀιδίου χωρεῖ ὁ ἀήρ; πῶς δὲ ἡ γῆ χωρεῖ τὰ τῶν ἐκ τοσούτου αἰῶνος θαπτομένων σώματα; ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐνθάδε ἡ τούτων μετὰ ποσήν τινα ἐπιδιαμονὴν μεταβολὴ καὶ διάλυσις χώραν ἄλλοις νεκροῖς ποιεῖ, οὕτως αἱ εἰς τὸν ἀέρα μεθιστάμεναι ψυχαί, ἐπὶ ποσὸν συμμείνασαι, μεταβάλλουσι καὶ χέονται καὶ ἐξάπτονται εἰς τὸν τῶν ὅλων σπερματικὸν λόγον ἀναλαμβανόμεναι καὶ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον χώραν ταῖς προσσυνοικιζομέναις παρέχουσι. τοῦτο δ’ ἄν τις ἀποκρίναιτο ἐφ’ ὑποθέσει τοῦ τὰς ψυχὰς διαμένειν.

χρὴ δὲ μὴ μόνον ἐνθυμεῖσθαι τὸ πλῆθος τῶν θαπτομένων οὑτωσὶ σωμάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ τῶν ἑκάστης ἡμέρας ἐσθιομένων ζῴων ὑφ̓ ἡμῶν τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων. ὅσος γὰρ ἀριθμὸς καταναλίσκεται καὶ οὑτωσί πως θάπτεται ἐν τοῖς τῶν τρεφομένων σώμασι, καὶ ὅμως δέχεται ἡ χώρα αὐτὰ διὰ τὰς ἐξαιματώσεις, διὰ τὰς εἰς τὸ ἀερῶδες ἢ πυρῶδες ἀλλοιώσεις.

Τίς ἐπὶ τούτου ἡ ἱστορία τῆς ἀληθείας; διαίρεσις εἰς τὸ ὑλικὸν καὶ εἰς τὸ αἰτιῶδες.

Leopold · Teubner 1908
Related6
TERMψυχήsoulTERMμεταβολήchange, transformationTERMλόγοςreason, word, the cosmic LogosDOGMAThe unity of the cosmos — all things bound by a single LogosEXERCISEMeditatio mortis — living under the sign of "as one already dying"EXERCISEPhysical definition — the stripped-down view of things
Commentary

Genre and place in the book. An extended physics of death — the companion of the brief 04-14: there, "you will be received into the seminal reason"; here, how this works at the level of the cosmic "economy of room."

The "there is room" argument. The objection: if souls are immortal, the air would long since be full (as would the earth, with bodies over so many ages). The answer by analogy: as bodies, by dissolution (TERMμεταβολὴ καὶ διάλυσις), make room for new dead, so TERMsouls, after a time in the air, are transmuted, diffused, and "kindled" (ἐξάπτονται), taken up into the seminal TERMreason (λόγος σπερματικός) of the Whole, and make room for newcomers. The reabsorption of the part into the whole is the DOGMAunity of the cosmos (cf. 04-14).

"On the hypothesis that souls survive." A nicety: Marcus offers this conditionally (ἐφ’ ὑποθέσει) — he does not dogmatically assert the immortality of souls. Stoic orthodoxy: souls subsist only until the world-conflagration (ἐκπύρωσις), then are reabsorbed (DL 7.156–157). His point: even granting survival, there is no accumulation — all is transmuted.

The animals eaten. A second argument: count too the number of creatures eaten each day — they are "buried" in the bodies of those who eat them, and there is room, through conversion into blood and changes into the airy and the fiery. All is TERMtransformation; nothing piles up.

Method: matter and cause. The close is a methodological formula: "the inquiry into truth here is διαίρεσις εἰς τὸ ὑλικὸν καὶ εἰς τὸ αἰτιῶδες," the division into the material and the causal-formal. This is the EXERCISEanalytic division of a thing into matter and cause — a recurring move in Marcus (Med. 7.29: "divide every object into the causal and the material"; 12.10: matter, form, purpose).

The disciplines. The principal one is assent: the physical analysis and the matter/cause method. The secondary is desire: the acceptance of one's own dissolution as a recasting into the Whole.

Parallels. Return into the seminal reason, transformation making room — 04-14; 04-05; Med. 8.18; 02-03; 6.24 (Alexander and his groom alike into the seminal reasons, or into atoms). Nothing accumulates: even what is eaten is transmuted into blood, air, and fire — the same transformation principle. Souls subsist until the ἐκπύρωσις — DL 7.156–157; SVF II 809. The division into matter and cause — Med. 7.29; 12.10 (see EXERCISEdefinitio).

DisciplineDiscipline of assent
Record added2026-06-26
Statuspublished