His writings have intrigued heads of state from Frederick the Great of Prussia to US President Bill Clinton. When Wen Jiabao, China’s premier between 2003 and 2013, claimed to have read the Meditations more than a hundred times, the work became one of the most widely published Greek classics in the country.
Amid brutal campaigns against the Germanic peoples of the Danube, Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote a series of reflections that placed him among the most influential thinkers of antiquity. In the second century AD, Emperor Marcus Aurelius’ world was in turmoil. A great plague ravaged western Europe, and he waged a long and bloody war against the Germanic tribes along the Danube border. Faced with these calamities, along with old age and thoughts of death, the emperor sought solace in philosophy.
Throughout his life, especially at odd moments during military campaigns, he wrote down his personal struggles, philosophical convictions, and insights into being a better ruler and person. From this candid expression of introspection emerged 12 books that deal with life and the human condition. In total, this collection is called Meditations.
THE IMPERIAL PHILOSOPHER
Born in 121 to an aristocratic family in Rome, Marcus Aurelius received an excellent education in rhetoric and philosophy. He studied Greek and especially Homer and Euripides. Perhaps this is why he wrote the Meditations in Greek rather than Latin, the official language of the Roman Empire. At an early age, he also became interested in philosophy, especially Stoicism, a school of thought that flourished in antiquity. One of its main principles emphasizes the development of inner strength and the acceptance of those things that are beyond one’s control. Founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium around 300 BC, Stoicism grew to become one of the major philosophies of the ancient world.
It flourished in ancient Rome, with Cicero among its chief scholars (and a good source of information on Stoicism in Rome). Epictetus, a formerly enslaved Greek, became an influential Stoic philosopher studied by Marcus Aurelius. In fact, the Meditations bear some resemblance to Epictetus’ collection of moral principles called the Enchiridion (Manual).
But Marcus Aurelius’s work adds his own original voice to the philosophical tradition of Stoicism. He added weight to this school of thought and came to believe that perception is the basis of true knowledge. Happiness can be found through the practice of virtue and the guidance of reason at all times in the face of life’s vicissitudes. It is believed that Marcus Aurelius wrote the Meditations as a form of introspection rather than for wider public consumption. They range from open-ended maxims to persuasive dissertations, and there is no definitive organization to the work—although some patterns have been identified, with themes organized around Stoic philosophy.
WITH GRATITUDE
The work begins as a kind of confession, in which Marcus Aurelius thanks all those who positively influenced him throughout his life. For example, he credits his teachers who kept him away from superstitions and vices and turned him towards a better and virtuous life. The most important of these teachers, he recalls, was Quintus Junius Rusticus, who corrected his impetuous character and introduced him to the Stoic philosophers. Marcus Aurelius also recalls his life at the court of Rome, where he arrived at the age of 17. His adoptive father, the emperor Antoninus Pius, lived a modest lifestyle, and so the young Marcus Aurelius did not enter a world of luxurious clothing and living; he didn’t even have a bodyguard. The future emperor admired the dedication with which his adoptive father ran the empire and his calm but determined personality.
Marcus Aurelius ascended the throne in 161, co-ruling with his adoptive brother Lucius Verus until Lucius died in 169. While Marcus Aurelius does not directly reflect on his life as emperor, he touches on important themes related to it , including the weight of responsibilities and the need to respect justice. He accepts that he must make decisions in the best interest of the people he governs. He writes: “Begin each day by saying to yourself: Today I will encounter interference, ingratitude, insolence, infidelity, malice and selfishness… None of these things can hurt me, because no one can implicate me in what is humiliating”.
He acknowledges that power can be a burden and a temptation, emphasizing the importance of avoiding arrogance and maintaining humility in the face of authority. He also offers insights into how to deal with difficult situations, maintain inner peace, and stay focused on your goal in the face of obstacles. Among his more personal observations are the things that seem to bother him. He admits to hating what most human beings seem to love. Gladiatorial games, for example, disgust him; sex is reduced to “a brief pleasure.” And he doesn’t understand why people are impressed by the purple robes worn by senators and emperors, when these are simply “sheep’s wool dyed with shellfish blood.”
He tries to remain calm at all times and not worry about what his neighbor will say or think about him. As he reminds himself: “I am always surprised: We all love ourselves more than other people, but we care more about their opinion than ours.”
Family plays a minor role in his writings, although he is extremely grateful to his wife, Faustina the Younger, the daughter of Antonius Pius. He describes her as “so obedient, so loving, and so simple.” Other contemporary sources were not so kind to Faustina. Historians such as Cassius Dio have accused her of adultery with handsome soldiers and gladiators. However, in his writings, Marcus Aurelius has only kind words for her. The two had 13 children together, but only six lived beyond childhood. When Faustina died in 175, the emperor grieved her loss. He buried his wife in the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome.
WAR AND DEATH
Writing night after night from his military camp along the Danube, Marcus Aurelius turns to darker themes, including the nature of war. At various points, he notes the horrific reality of combat: “Have you ever seen a severed hand or foot, or a severed head, lying far from the body to which it once belonged…?” But as the day draws to a close, those musings fade and reality takes over. The philosopher by night must be a military leader by day. He admits that it is not always easy. “At dawn, when you find it difficult to get out of bed, say to yourself: ‘I must go to work—as a human being,’ even though you prefer to “cuddle under the blanket.”
Throughout the Meditations, Marcus Aurelius repeats, almost to the point of obsession, the idea that everyone ultimately shares the same fate in this short life: death. “The lives of men are short and insignificant,” he writes.
There are reflections on the great generals of the past, such as Alexander the Great, Caesar and Pompey, and how, despite their triumphs, “they too departed from this life.” Also mentioned are the anonymous inhabitants of Pompeii and Herculaneum, who drowned under the ash of Mount Vesuvius. Above all, the emperor’s greatest quest is to find peace of mind, as he contemplates how quickly life passes: “Existence passes us by like a river: the ‘what’ is in constant flux, the ‘why’ has a thousand variations.” He says the best course is to “do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life.”
And yet, death offers Marcus Aurelius a kind of liberation, a chance to break away from a world where many ignore the only values he knows – those of rational virtue and moral goodness. The true drama of the philosopher-emperor is that he tries to love other people: “The things destined for you – teach yourself to be one with them. And the people who share them with you – treat them with love. With true love.”
All this Marcus Aurelius tells himself without anxiety or despair. Even death should be accepted with gratitude: “Do not look down upon death, but welcome it.” Death is part of the natural scheme of things, he thinks, comparing it to “an olive tree that ripens and falls. Praising the mother, thanking the tree where it grew.” He says to accept death “with joy and truth, grateful to the gods from the bottom of the heart”. When Marcus Aurelius died on March 17, 180, aged 58, a victim of the plague, he left an indelible mark. His writings have intrigued heads of state from Frederick the Great of Prussia to US President Bill Clinton. When Wen Jiabao, China’s prime minister between 2003 and 2013, claimed to have read the Meditations more than a hundred times, the work became one of the country’s most widely published Greek classics.
