From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordA monument may be a commemorative structure, but monuments can also be records or writings that preserve knowledge.
- In TraherneThe small piece of a kingly monument illustrates relational value: detached from the whole, its beauty disappears, whereas in place it gives and receives ornament.
- In this editionThe 2026 note to IV.74 supplies the documentary gloss.
- A place to beginA fragment of a royal monument illustrates the dependence of beauty on relation and place.
Meaning
A monument may be a commemorative structure, but monuments can also be records or writings that preserve knowledge. Traherne uses both the physical and documentary ranges.
Use in the book
The small piece of a kingly monument illustrates relational value: detached from the whole, its beauty disappears, whereas in place it gives and receives ornament. The monuments of Arabia, by contrast, are records in which Pico says he read a saying about humanity’s excellence. Reading the latter as buildings would mislocate the act of reading and conceal the chain of textual testimony. The contrast is a useful reminder that preserved memory can be material, architectural, or written without giving the noun a single fixed referent throughout the book.
Places to read
In this edition
The 2026 note to IV.74 supplies the documentary gloss. The speaker of the embedded “I have read” is Pico as rendered by Traherne, not a fresh claim about Traherne’s own archival research.
Source note
Primary text: III.55, IV.74; documentary gloss: 2026 edition note to IV.74.