Marcus Aurelius Meditations
Marcus Aurelius: Alexander of Macedon, and he that…
Alexander of Macedon, and he that dressed his mules, when once dead both came to one. For either they were both resumed into those original rational essences from whence all things in the world are propagated; or both after one fashion were scattered into atoms.
The passage follows a public-domain translation of Meditations. The reading beside it is ours.
Death removes the distinctions we build our lives around. Alexander the Great and the person who cared for his animals ended in the same human condition. One had power, fame, and a place in history; the other likely had none of those things. Marcus does not say their lives were identical. He says mortality exposes how little status can finally protect. This should not make you indifferent to excellence. It should make you careful about the kind of excellence you pursue. If achievement is meant only to establish superiority over other people, death makes the project look rather thin. The title, the follower count, the salary, and the résumé all have their uses, but none makes you a different species of person. Today, let this level your interactions. Treat the person serving you, reporting to you, or competing with you as someone sharing the same fragile fate. That is where dignity begins.
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- Marcus Aurelius Alexander and the keeper of his mule came to the same end: absorbed into nature’s reason or dispersed among its atoms.
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