Meditations VI.38 — academic edition

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MED. 6.38Discipline of desire

George Long · 1862EN · Long

EXERCISEFrequently consider the connexion of all things in the universe and their relation to one another. For in a manner all things are implicated with one another, and all in this way are friendly to one another; for one thing comes in order after another, and this is by virtue of the active movement and mutual conspiration and the DOGMAunity of the substance.

Original · ancient Greek

Πολλάκις ἐνθυμοῦ τὴν ἐπισύνδεσιν πάντων τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ καὶ σχέσιν πρὸς ἄλληλα. τρόπον γάρ τινα πάντα ἀλλήλοις ἐπιπέπλεκται καὶ πάντα κατὰ τοῦτο φίλα ἀλλήλοις ἐστί· καὶ γὰρ ἄλλῳ ἄλλο ἑξῆς ἐστι ταῦτα διὰ τὴν τονικὴν κίνησιν καὶ σύμπνοιαν καὶ τὴν ἕνωσιν τῆς οὐσίας.

Leopold · Teubner 1908

Commentary

The exercise of connexion. The imperative "consider frequently" (πολλάκις ἐνθυμοῦ) sets up the EXERCISEcontemplation of nature as a regular practice: to hold in mind the interlinking (ἐπισύνδεσις) of all that is. The governing discipline is desire (acceptance of the order through the contemplation of the Whole).

The sympatheia of the cosmos. All things are "in a way interwoven" (ἐπιπέπλεκται) and therefore friendly to one another (φίλα ἀλλήλοις). Marcus names three physical grounds of this bond: τονικὴ κίνησις (the tonic, "tensile" movement of pneuma that binds the cosmos), σύμπνοια (conspiration, mutual breathing-together), and ἕνωσις τῆς οὐσίας (the DOGMAunity of substance). This is the Stoic doctrine of συμπάθεια — the universal sympathy of the parts of the one living body of the world.

Parallels. Med. 7.9 ("all things are interwoven, and the bond is sacred; scarcely anything is alien to another"); 04-40 (the world as one living being); 04-45 (the wonderful kinship of things); the doctrine of DOGMAthe unity of the cosmos. The term συμπάθεια — SVF II 473, 534, 546.

Discipline of desire

George Long · 1862· EN · Long

EXERCISEFrequently consider the connexion of all things in the universe and their relation to one another. For in a manner all things are implicated with one another, and all in this way are friendly to one another; for one thing comes in order after another, and this is by virtue of the active movement and mutual conspiration and the DOGMAunity of the substance.

Original · ancient Greek

Πολλάκις ἐνθυμοῦ τὴν ἐπισύνδεσιν πάντων τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ καὶ σχέσιν πρὸς ἄλληλα. τρόπον γάρ τινα πάντα ἀλλήλοις ἐπιπέπλεκται καὶ πάντα κατὰ τοῦτο φίλα ἀλλήλοις ἐστί· καὶ γὰρ ἄλλῳ ἄλλο ἑξῆς ἐστι ταῦτα διὰ τὴν τονικὴν κίνησιν καὶ σύμπνοιαν καὶ τὴν ἕνωσιν τῆς οὐσίας.

Leopold · Teubner 1908

Related2

DOGMAThe unity of the cosmos — all things bound by a single Logos EXERCISEContemplation of nature — φυσική as a spiritual exercise

Commentary

The exercise of connexion. The imperative "consider frequently" (πολλάκις ἐνθυμοῦ) sets up the EXERCISEcontemplation of nature as a regular practice: to hold in mind the interlinking (ἐπισύνδεσις) of all that is. The governing discipline is desire (acceptance of the order through the contemplation of the Whole).

The sympatheia of the cosmos. All things are "in a way interwoven" (ἐπιπέπλεκται) and therefore friendly to one another (φίλα ἀλλήλοις). Marcus names three physical grounds of this bond: τονικὴ κίνησις (the tonic, "tensile" movement of pneuma that binds the cosmos), σύμπνοια (conspiration, mutual breathing-together), and ἕνωσις τῆς οὐσίας (the DOGMAunity of substance). This is the Stoic doctrine of συμπάθεια — the universal sympathy of the parts of the one living body of the world.

Parallels. Med. 7.9 ("all things are interwoven, and the bond is sacred; scarcely anything is alien to another"); 04-40 (the world as one living being); 04-45 (the wonderful kinship of things); the doctrine of DOGMAthe unity of the cosmos. The term συμπάθεια — SVF II 473, 534, 546.

DisciplineDiscipline of desire

Record added2026-07-18

Statuspublished