The Death of Marcus Aurelius

The Death of Marcus Aurelius

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 9.9.1


All things that participate in anything that is common to them all, move towards that which is of the same kind with themselves. Everything that is earthy turns towards the earth, everything that is liquid flows together, and everything that is of an aerial kind does the same, so that they require something to keep them asunder, and the application of force.

Fire indeed moves upwards on account of the elemental fire, but it is so ready to be kindled together with all the fire that is here, that even every substance which is somewhat dry is easily ignited, because there is less mingled with it of that which is a hindrance to ignition.

Accordingly, then, everything also that participates in the common intelligent nature moves in like manner towards that which is of the same kind with itself, or moves even more. For so much as it is superior in comparison with all other things, in the same degree also is it more ready to mingle with and to be fused with that which is akin to it.

Accordingly among animals devoid of reason we find swarms of bees, and herds of cattle, and the nurture of young birds, and in a manner, loves between them; for even in animals there are souls, and that power that brings them together is seen to exert itself in a superior degree, and in such a way as never has been observed in plants, nor in stones, nor in trees.

But in rational animals there are political communities and friendships, and families and meetings of people; and in wars, treaties and armistices. . . .

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 9.9 (tr Long)

I think here of the expression, “like knows like”. My great-grandmother would say that “birds of a feather will flock together”, and I seem to recall a little song that went along with the phrase, though I have sadly forgotten the other words.

Now we may be tempted to put down the physics of the Ancients as primitive and crude, convinced that we are far smarter when it comes to explaining how the world works. We forget, however, that what we know only builds upon what they knew, and I always seek to find the common truths from different times and traditions.

So yes, while it seems to make sense to say that heavy things fall together and light things rise together, is it not true also that temperature will move from hot to cold, or that air flows from a higher pressure to a lower pressure? Doesn’t magnetism involve like poles repelling one another, and opposite poles attracting one another? Were the Ancients too ignorant to see this?

I would suggest that the principle Marcus Aurelius is trying to describe here isn’t only about things coming to rest together. Rather, it is saying that things that share in the same nature will always act for the same purpose and in the same way. Whatever the form of that action, whether it is about gravity, or heat, or gasses, or electromagnetism, the same things will behave “like” one another.

In other words, it doesn’t necessarily mean things of the same nature are all going to the same place, but that they are all doing the very same sort of thing. They will continue to do so, together, until something else stands in their way.

We may not speak in terms of the Classical Four Elements anymore, but the Ancients did understand these as states of matter, and change as a result of the interaction between these states of matter, out of the balance between opposites. Earth, water, air, and fire will behave according to their nature, according to what they are, hindered only by a contrary force.

This principle of nature, where being disposed in a certain way is what joins things, is to be found in living things as well. As a child I was fascinated that dogs seemed to prefer being together, but cats seemed to prefer being apart. They were quite different from one another, but quite alike among themselves. A dozen dogs in the same room and a dozen cats in the same room will act very differently; I can only speculate about all of them in the same room.

And this is also true of rational life. However fully they may or may not choose to reflect upon it, all men seek happiness, and they pursue their happiness through their own understanding of what is good for them. So it is that we form associations with one another, not merely by a physical force, or by an instinct, but out of our own choices. We may have friends, for example, who are very different from us in some ways, but what we have in common is a shared end or goal.

Even when we battle among ourselves, out of a flawed conviction that our respective goods are in conflict, we can still find ourselves drawn to making peace, to resolving differences, to finding a common way.

Boulders will roll downhill, and birds will flock together, and men will try to build a community. Each of these tendencies follows from a likeness of nature, from the lesser to the greater, from the more determined to the more free, from the unconscious to the conscious.

Written in 8/2008



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