{"id": "card_n_51d7b943ee3f", "kind": "note", "title": "Aurelius, Meditations 12.21: To them that ask thee, Where hast thou seen the Gods, or how knowest thou cer...", "body": "To them that ask thee, Where hast thou seen the Gods, or how knowest thou certainly that there be Gods, that thou art so devout in their worship? I answer first of all, that even to the very eye, they are in some manner visible and apparent. Secondly, neither have I ever seen mine own soul, and yet I respect and honour it. So then for the Gods, by the daily experience that I have of their power and providence towards myself and others, I know certainly that they are, and therefore worship them.", "source": {"label": "Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (c. AD 170)", "url": "", "ref": "aur_12_xxi", "authority_tier": "external_aligned"}, "shelf": "classics", "box": "aurelius_meditations", "bands": ["aurelius", "meditations", "stoic", "pre_christian"], "connections": [{"to_card_id": "card_n_54aba1d3c8cb", "relationship": "same_section", "origin": "nesting_2026_06_12"}, {"to_card_id": "card_n_51a06cb8369b", "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": "2026-05-19T13:20:58.562580+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-05-19T19:57:55.237142+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": "50b8c6b243a5af181ff6b8fae9988630dcc44308df39799b89874a0502de24e0", "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", "call": "classics.aurelius.meditations", "facets": {"concept": ["pre_christian"]}, "presentation": {"glyph": "•", "kind_label": "aurelius meditations", "by": "Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (c. AD 170)", "authority": "external_aligned", "posted": "", "standing": ""}, "neighbors": [{"id": "card_n_54aba1d3c8cb", "title": "Aurelius, Meditations 10.6: Either with Epicurus, we must fondly imagine the atoms to be the cause of all...", "relationship": "same section", "why": "", "href": "/card/card_n_54aba1d3c8cb", "resolved": true}, {"id": "card_n_51a06cb8369b", "title": "Aurelius, Meditations 11.14: How rotten and insincere is he, that saith, I am resolved to carry myself her...", "relationship": "same section", "why": "", "href": "/card/card_n_51a06cb8369b", "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}]}