Greece & Rome · 121–180
Marcus Aurelius
Roman emperor who wrote Stoic notes to himself
In private notes, partly written on military campaigns, he reminded himself to accept fate, do his duty to the human community and remember that everything is fleeting. They show Stoicism as daily self-examination rather than theory.
Life and thought
Marcus Aurelius was adopted into the imperial succession as a youth and ruled Rome from 161 to 180 CE, spending much of his reign fighting Germanic peoples on the Danube frontier while the Antonine Plague ravaged the empire. His teacher Junius Rusticus introduced him to Epictetus’ lectures, and he treated Stoicism as a guide for his own conduct rather than an academic subject.
The Meditations, twelve books of notes written in Greek “to himself”, partly in army camps, were never meant for publication. Again and again he reminds himself of a few Stoic thoughts: everything is fleeting and soon forgotten; whatever happens is part of a rational whole and can be accepted; others’ wrongs cannot harm his character unless he lets them; and his task is to act justly for the common good, since all rational beings share in one reason. The book shows Stoicism as daily self-examination, and it has found readers ever since it was first printed in the 16th century.