From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordMeekness is a restrained and gentle disposition, especially under provocation.
- In TraherneThe Cross teaches meekness in company with courage, zeal, constancy, and action.
- In this editionDo not isolate meekness from the active virtues listed beside it.
- A place to beginMeekness is learned at the Cross alongside courage, zeal, and perseverance.
Meaning
Meekness is a restrained and gentle disposition, especially under provocation. It need not imply timidity, passivity, or lack of moral strength.
Use in the book
The Cross teaches meekness in company with courage, zeal, constancy, and action. Traherne’s list refuses the idea that gentleness disables energetic service. What the beholder learns is a manner of loving others after Christ’s likeness.
In the account of holy companionship, meekness helps make a person amiable and fit for the enjoyment of others. It belongs to a reciprocal discipline: one seeks good company while becoming capable of contributing to it. The social result is not mere absence of conflict but an environment of rest, honour, and mutual sweetness. The virtue prepares relations in which other people can appear as treasures rather than threats.
Places to read
In this edition
Do not isolate meekness from the active virtues listed beside it. Their coexistence is part of the passage’s account of Christian strength.