From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordPyrrhus is the conquering king in the anecdote, and Cineas the philosophical counsellor who questions his purpose.
- In TraherneAsked what each conquest will achieve, the king promises another, until universal success should allow him and his friends to live quietly at home.
- In this editionThe 2026 note identifies Plutarch’s Life of Pyrrhus 14 and explains that Traherne’s European conquests differ from the ancient narrative.
- A place to beginThe repeated questioning of conquest supplies an analogy for indefinitely multiplying wealth.
Meaning
Pyrrhus is the conquering king in the anecdote, and Cineas the philosophical counsellor who questions his purpose. Epire is Traherne’s form of Epirus; the story concerns the pursuit of rest through endless acquisition.
Use in the book
Asked what each conquest will achieve, the king promises another, until universal success should allow him and his friends to live quietly at home. Cineas points out that the desired quiet is available already. Traherne then transfers the pattern to income, land, and ordinary acquisitiveness. The anecdote is not a rejection of every large desire, however: the same meditation calls the soul’s insatiability noble and measures whole worlds as inadequate to it. Its mistake is postponing enjoyment until competitive acquisition has supplied what no finite conquest can provide. The reader is therefore invited to redirect greatness of desire as well as expose its futile itinerary.
Places to read
- I.22The repeated questioning of conquest supplies an analogy for indefinitely multiplying wealth.
In this edition
The 2026 note identifies Plutarch’s Life of Pyrrhus 14 and explains that Traherne’s European conquests differ from the ancient narrative. Preserve that distinction instead of correcting his anecdote silently.
Source note
Primary text: I.22; historical identification and source comparison: 2026 edition note to I.22.