Marcus Aurelius Meditations
Marcus Aurelius: Who can choose but wonder at them? They…
Who can choose but wonder at them? They will not speak well of them that are at the same time with them, and live with them; yet they themselves are very ambitious, that they that shall follow, whom they have never seen, nor shall ever see, should speak well of them. As if a man should grieve that he hath not been commended by them, that lived before him.
The passage follows a public-domain translation of Meditations. The reading beside it is ours.
We want the approval of people we do not know, including people who have not even been born yet. At the same time, we may dismiss, criticize, or take for granted the people actually sharing our lives. Marcus sees the absurdity clearly. Why sacrifice peace for a reputation among strangers when we cannot even be generous with those close to us? Legacy has its place, but it can become another excuse to perform rather than live. The imagined audience is never satisfied: it always has another standard, another opinion, another generation to impress. Your real life is happening among specific people now—your partner, team, neighbor, friend, child, or parent. Are you more concerned with being remembered well than with treating them well? Today, trade one act of reputation management for an act of present kindness. Give your attention where it can actually be received.
Related passages
- Marcus Aurelius Doth either the sun take upon him to do that which belongs to the rain? or his son Aesculapius that, which unto the…
- Seneca Some have been led hither by friendship, some by industry, which finds here a wide field for the display of its…
- Marcus Aurelius He that knoweth not what the world is, knoweth not where he himself is. And he that knoweth not what the world was…