{"id": "card_n_1607e57e890c", "kind": "note", "title": "Aurelius, Meditations 8.3: Alexander, Caius, Pompeius; what are these to Diogenes, Heraclitus, and Socra...", "body": "Alexander, Caius, Pompeius; what are these to Diogenes, Heraclitus, and Socrates? These penetrated into the true nature of things; into all causes, and all subjects: and upon these did they exercise their power and authority. But as for those, as the extent of their error was, so far did their slavery extend.", "source": {"label": "Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (c. AD 170)", "url": "", "ref": "aur_08_iii", "authority_tier": "external_aligned"}, "shelf": "classics", "box": "aurelius_meditations", "bands": ["aurelius", "meditations", "stoic", "pre_christian"], "connections": [{"to_card_id": "card_n_1642be4314a5", "relationship": "same_section", "origin": "nesting_2026_06_12"}, {"to_card_id": "card_n_15bc196ee012", "relationship": "same_section", "origin": "nesting_2026_06_12"}, {"to_card_id": "card_spine_classics", "relationship": "member_of", "evidence": "a member of the classics shelf in the keeping"}], "author": "engine", "created_at": "2026-05-19T13:20:58.349445+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-05-19T19:57:55.775183+00:00", "visibility": "public", "lifecycle_stage": "public", "volatility": "permanent", "metrics": {"paperclips_count": 0, "helpful_count": 0, "not_helpful_count": 0, "cite_count": 4, "walks_through_count": 0, "flagged_count": 0}, "source_hash": "383682ff21ce1f88ecfcb48fa27a34d7c8670cc60d3c43ae5105b4500ad7122f", "witnesses": [{"class": "manuscript_tradition", "label": "Vaticanus Graecus 1950 — earliest complete Greek MS", "ref": "Vat-Gr-1950"}, {"class": "critical_edition", "label": "Dalfen, Marci Aurelii Antonini Ad Se Ipsum Libri XII (Teubner 1987)", "ref": "Dalfen-Teubner"}, {"class": "translation", "label": "George Long translation (1862) — public domain English", "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2680", "ref": "Long-1862"}, {"class": "translation", "label": "Hays translation (Modern Library, 2002)", "ref": "Hays-2002"}, {"class": "republication", "label": "Internet Archive — Meditations Long translation", "url": "https://archive.org/details/meditations00auregoog", "ref": "IA-Meditations"}], "witness_status": "passed", "witness_status_reason": "5 witnesses across 4 independence classes: ['critical_edition', 'manuscript_tradition', 'republication', 'translation']", "surface": "secular", "presentation": {"glyph": "•", "kind_label": "aurelius meditations", "by": "Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (c. AD 170)", "authority": "external_aligned", "posted": "", "standing": ""}, "neighbors": [{"id": "card_n_1642be4314a5", "title": "Aurelius, Meditations 7.34: Thou must continually ponder and consider with thyself, what manner of men th...", "relationship": "same section", "why": "", "href": "/card/card_n_1642be4314a5", "resolved": true}, {"id": "card_n_15bc196ee012", "title": "Aurelius, Meditations 5.12: What those things are in themselves, which by the greatest part are esteemed ...", "relationship": "same section", "why": "", "href": "/card/card_n_15bc196ee012", "resolved": true}, {"id": "card_spine_classics", "title": "The classics — the great books, kept whole", "relationship": "on the shelf of", "why": "a member of the classics shelf in the keeping", "href": "/card/card_spine_classics", "resolved": true}]}