"Now, such ought to be the direction and diffusion of your understanding, not an effusion or emptying of itself, but an extension of it toward even any obstacle that occurs: Not violently and impetuously dashing against it, nor falling aside, but terminating directly on it, and illuminating whatever will receive it."
— Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180), Francis Hutcheson (1694-1746), and James Moor (bap. 1712, d. 1779)
Place of Publication
Glasgow
Publisher
Robert Foulis
Date
1742
Metaphor
"Now, such ought to be the direction and diffusion of your understanding, not an effusion or emptying of itself, but an extension of it toward even any obstacle that occurs: Not violently and impetuously dashing against it, nor falling aside, but terminating directly on it, and illuminating whatever will receive it."
Metaphor in Context
57. The sun seems to be poured forth, and is diffused all around; but not poured out, or emptied. This diffusion is a sort of extension of its rays, and hence the Greek word for the rays is thought to be derived. The nature of a ray you may observe, if you see it entring through some small hole into a darkened chamber. Its direction is straight; and it is reflected around, when it falls upon any solid body, which does not admit it into itself. Upon this the light is fixed, no part of it is lost, or falls aside. Now, such ought to be the direction and diffusion of your understanding, not an effusion or emptying of itself, but an extension of it toward even any obstacle that occurs: Not violently and impetuously dashing against it, nor falling aside, but terminating directly on it, and illuminating whatever will receive it. Such opaque objects as will not receive and transmit the rays, deprive themselves of the splendor.
(VIII.57)
(VIII.57)
Categories
Provenance
Reading (OLL)
Citation
At least 5 entries in ESTC (1742, 1749, 1752, 1753, 1764).
See The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. Newly Translated from the Greek: With Notes, and an Account of His Life. (Glasgow: Printed by Robert Foulis; and sold by him at the College; by Mess. Hamilton and Balfour, in Edinburgh; and by Andrew Millar, over against St. Clements Church, London, 1742). <Link to ECCO>
Searching Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, trans. Francis Hutcheson and James Moor, ed. and with an Introduction by James Moore and Michael Silverthorne (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2008). <Link to OLL>
See The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. Newly Translated from the Greek: With Notes, and an Account of His Life. (Glasgow: Printed by Robert Foulis; and sold by him at the College; by Mess. Hamilton and Balfour, in Edinburgh; and by Andrew Millar, over against St. Clements Church, London, 1742). <Link to ECCO>
Searching Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, trans. Francis Hutcheson and James Moor, ed. and with an Introduction by James Moore and Michael Silverthorne (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2008). <Link to OLL>
Date of Entry
06/06/2010
