Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · English Edition
Centuries of Meditations
Annotated Edition · With an Introduction, Notes and an Outline.
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English Edition · Branch 233 of 454
The Third Century · Meditation III.19
Centuries of Meditations
p. 23319
In making bodies Love could not express Itself, or art, unless it made them less. O what a monster had in man been seen, Had every thumb or toe a mountain been! What worlds must he devour when he did eat? What oceans drink! yet could not all his meat, Or stature, make him like an angel shine; Or make his Soul in Glory more Divine. A Soul it is that makes us truly great, Whose little bodies make us more complete. An understanding that is infinite, An endless, wide, and everlasting sight, That can enjoy all things and nought exclude, Is the most sacred greatness may be viewed. ’Twas inconvenient that his bulk should be An endless hill; he nothing then could see: No figure have, no motion, beauty, place, No colour, feature, member, light, or grace. A body like a mountain is but cumber. An endless body is but idle lumber: It spoils converse, and time itself devours, While meat in vain, in feeding idle powers; Excessive bulk being most injurious found, To those conveniences which men have crowned: His wisdom did His power here repress, God made man greater while He made him less.Socrates
Reading Centuries of Meditations · The Third Century · Meditation III.19
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Thomas Traherne’s Centuries explore felicity, childhood vision, love, and the soul’s capacity to enjoy the world. This annotated English edition presents all 410 meditations across five Centuries, with an introduction, explanatory notes, an outline, and textual apparatus.
Historical Text
The Centuries survive in Traherne’s manuscript and were first published by Bertram Dobell in London in 1908. The supplied edition follows the corrected Dobell text, with manuscript readings documented in its Note on the Text and Textual Notes. The four complete Centuries contain one hundred meditations each; the unfinished Fifth contains ten.
About This Edition
Diotimos Editions prepared the introduction, explanatory notes, glossary, reading guide, outline, and textual apparatus for this English original. Century and meditation numbers preserve the work’s structure, while verse line breaks, italics, and struck-through manuscript cancellations remain visible. Notes accompany their passages in the reader and Book Mode.
Rights
Thomas Traherne’s historical text and Bertram Dobell’s 1908 printing are in the public domain. The introduction, notes, and apparatus are © 2026 Diotimos Editions. Historical printing and transcription links identify the edition’s copy-text; manuscript corrections and unresolved readings are documented in the supplied editorial apparatus.