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Symbols
In Meditations, the word “city” can literally refer to Rome or another city, but it can also symbolize the world as a whole. This is connected to the Stoic philosophical view that parts combine harmoniously to make up greater wholes—just as citizens make up a city, and multiple cities ultimately make up the world, with the well-being of individuals inseparable from the well-being of the larger community and world. While identifying himself as a Roman, Marcus Aurelius also mentions the importance of remembering that he is “a citizen of [a] higher city” (i.e., a citizen of the world), thus figuring individual cities as the households that make up one town. In another place, he reminds himself that his “city” is the world. He also writes that when a person is making decisions, they should always consider what’s best both for oneself and for their city, since a person can’t live a good life without being connected to a thriving city—or a global community.
City Quotes in Meditations
The Meditations quotes below all refer to the symbol of City. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Book 12
Quotes
36. You've lived as a citizen in a great city. Five years or a hundred—what's the difference? […]
And to be sent away from it, not by a tyrant or a dishonest judge, but by Nature, who first invited you in—why is that so terrible?
[…] This will be a drama in three acts, the length fixed by the power that directed your creation, and now directs your dissolution. Neither was yours to determine.
So make your exit with grace—the same grace shown to you.
Related Characters:
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Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Meditations LitChart as a printable PDF.
City Symbol Timeline in Meditations
The timeline below shows where the symbol City appears in Meditations. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 3: In Carnuntum
...as a whole—which also helps a person understand oneself as “a citizen of that higher city” of which cities are households. In this way, when a person analyzes what happens, they...
(full context)
Book 6
...derides as “blasphemous”), each person can certainly make decisions about what benefits himself and his city.
(full context)
Book 10
15. Live as if you’re in the wilderness. Your “city,” after all, is the world.
(full context)
Book 12
36. Marcus has lived as a citizen in a “great city.” Being sent away from it by Nature (not exiled by a corrupt judge) isn’t so...
(full context)
