The body's organs "are but like the ax, [any tool of any artizan,] with this only difference, that they are naturally united with us: since, none of these parts are of any more service, without the cause which moves and stops them, than the shuttle is to the weaver; the pen, to the writer; or the whip, to the charioteer."

— 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
The body's organs "are but like the ax, [any tool of any artizan,] with this only difference, that they are naturally united with us: since, none of these parts are of any more service, without the cause which moves and stops them, than the shuttle is to the weaver; the pen, to the writer; or the whip, to the charioteer."
Metaphor in Context
38. Remember, 'tis that which lies hid within, which draws and turns you as the wires do the puppet. 'Tis that, is eloquence: That, life: That, if I may say so, is the man. Never blend with it, in your imagination, this surrounding earthen vessel, and these little organs. They are but like the ax, [any tool of any artizan,] with this only difference, that they are naturally united with us: since, none of these parts are of any more service, without the cause which moves and stops them, than the shuttle is to the weaver; the pen, to the writer; or the whip, to the charioteer.
(X.38)
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>
Date of Entry
06/08/2010

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.