Stoic from beginning to end
Thanks to three surviving histories, we know more about the life of Marcus Aurelius than perhaps any other Stoic or ancient philosopher. Cassius Dio’s Roman History, Herodian’s History of the Empire from the Death of Marcus, and the multi-authored Augustan History give us valuable insights into the biography of the man who, alongside Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius, would later be known as one of the Five Good Emperors.
Early Teachers
Marcus Annius Catilius Severus—who would later become Marcus Aurelius—was born in Rome on 26 April, 121 AD.
He was the son of the Roman praetor Marcus Annius Verus and the noblewoman Domitia Calvilla. When Marcus was three years old, his father died and he was subsequently adopted and reared by his paternal grandfather. This grandfather was close to the emperor Hadrian, who recognized the potential in the young Marcus. In fact, he so admired the youth’s honesty that he joked his family name Verus (meaning “true”) should be changed to Verissimus—meaning “truest.”
After Hadrian’s adopted son, Aelius Caesar, died in 138, Hadrian chose Antoninus Pius as his new heir. Antoninus then adopted Marcus and Lucius, Aelius’s son. When Hadrian died that same year, Antoninus became emperor, making Marcus the new heir to the throne.
Marcus’s upbringing was unusually costly and advanced in terms of the private tuition he received. He was trained by renowned philosophers and rhetoricians, and so became interested in philosophy at a young age. The following were the biggest influences on Marcus:
- Junius Rusticus – A Stoic philosopher who introduced Marcus to the works of Epictetus and deeply influenced his Stoic beliefs.
- Apollonius of Chalcedon – A Stoic philosopher who taught Marcus about discipline and self-control.
- Sextus of Chaeronea – A philosopher who emphasized ethical behavior and practical wisdom.
- Claudius Maximus – A Stoic known for his simplicity and endurance.
- Diognetus – played a key role in introducing Marcus to philosophy and encouraged him to appreciate a simple, rational way of thinking.
- Herodes Atticus – A famous orator who trained Marcus in rhetoric.
- Fronto (Marcus Cornelius Fronto) – A respected teacher of Latin literature and rhetoric who corresponded with Marcus extensively.
- Alexander of Cotiaeum – A Greek grammarian who helped with Marcus’s language and literary studies.
Public duties
In 138 AD, Marcus was betrothed to Antoninus’s daughter, Faustina. Faustina gave birth to at least fourteen children over the course of their marriage, however roughly half of these children wouldn’t go on to outlive their parents.
In 140 AD, Marcus served as consul for the first time and was named Caesar, Antoninus’s official heir. He would serve again as consul in 145 AD and as joint consul alongside his adoptive brother Lucius Verus.
When Antoninus died in 161 AD, the adoptive brothers were given joint power as co-emperors.
Lucius Verus was by no means as well liked as Marcus and took a relative back seat in the running of things until his death from a severe illness in 169 AD.
The Philosopher King
Marcus Aurelius faced many troubles during his time as emperor—wars, plagues, rebellions, natural disasters, deaths of friends and family, and his own poor health, to name a few.
And yet the more desperate things got, the more rational his responses seemed to be. He delayed the acceptance of titles and accolades after wars, he held a public auction of imperial treasures to raise funds, he pardoned people who rebelled against him, and he argued for the rights of women, children, and slaves.
The background of his upbringing was vital in this regard. From key tutors like Junius Rusticus and Fronto to essential role models like his mother and his adoptive father, Antoninus Pius, they all played a part in shaping the future Stoic emperor.
Cassius Dio summarizes perfectly in his Roman History why we’re still impressed with this historical figure almost 2,000 years since he took his last breath:
He did not meet with the good fortune he deserved, for he was not strong in body and was involved in a multitude of troubles throughout practically his entire reign. But for my part, I admire him all the more for this very reason, that amid unusual and extraordinary difficulties he both survived himself and preserved the empire.
Health Struggles
As Cassius Dio alludes to, Marcus struggled with poor health throughout his life. He often suffered from chronic illnesses, fatigue, and possibly stomach or chest issues.
Despite this, he continued his duties as emperor, leading military campaigns and governing the empire. His health worsened during his later years, especially while managing wars along the northern borders. In 180 AD, while campaigning against Germanic tribes, he fell seriously ill—possibly due to the Antonine Plague—and died in Vindobona (modern-day Vienna).
The Meditations
It was only during the last ten years of his life that Marcus Aurelius is believed to have compiled his great work, the Meditations.
The purpose of the Meditations, wrote Pierre Hadot in The Inner Citadel, was to practice Stoic spiritual exercises:
He was using writing as a technique or procedure in order to influence himself, and to transform his inner discourse by meditating on the Stoic dogmas and rules oflife. This was an exercise of writing day by day, ever-renewed, always taken up again and always needing to be taken up again, since the true philosopher is he who is conscious of not yet having attained wisdom.
As Hadot also says, for the ancients in general, but particularly for the Stoics and for Marcus Aurelius, philosophy was, above all, a way of life. This is why the Meditations strive, by means of an ever-renewed effort, to describe this way of life and to sketch the model that one must have constantly in view: that of the ideal good man.
We therefore have a document that shows us a Philosopher-King in the midst of his philosophical practice.
Between 2012 and 2019, sales of the Mediations increased from 16,000 to 100,000 before skyrocketing further during pandemic lockdowns in 2020.
But what keeps people coming back to a Roman emperor’s 2000-year-old journal? To help answer that question here, and hopefully give an insight into Marcus’s practice, I’d like to share one short lesson from each of the twelve books of the Meditations.
Before we get into the lessons, here’s a little of the lesser-known history on the Meditations:
- The first direct mention of the work was by Arethas of Caesarea in the early 10th century.
- The first printed edition was made in the 16th century. Today’s text is based almost entirely upon two manuscripts — the Codex Palatinus and the Codex Vaticanus 1950.
- Marcus Aurelius wrote the twelve books of the Meditations in Koine Greek.
- The first Latin translation was made in 1558. The first English translation was published in 1634.
Short Lessons from Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations
1. Learn from everyone around you
Learn to be observant, and to take note of what you admire. Learn to be grateful for your role models.
From my mother, [I learned] piety and beneficence, and abstinence, not only from evil deeds, but even from evil thoughts; and further, simplicity in my way of living, far removed from the habits of the rich.
— Meditations 1.3
2. Life is short
Life is fragile and could be taken from us at any time. Life is to be lived while we have the chance.
You may leave this life at any moment: have this possibility in your mind in all that you do or say or think.
— Meditations 2.11
3. Help yourself and others
Help yourself by placing less importance on the opinions of others. Help yourself by minimizing comparison to others. But still, help others as much as you can.
Do not waste the remainder of your life in thoughts about others, when you are not thinking with reference to some aspect of the common good.
— Meditations 3.4
4. Be mindful of your judgments
Judge an event as “bad” to make it bad. Judge an event as “good” to make it good. Don’t judge an event at all and it remains neither good nor bad.
Remove the judgment, and you have removed the thought ‘I am hurt’: remove the thought ‘I am hurt’, and the hurt itself is removed.
— Meditations 4.7
5. Your thoughts determine a lot
Your thoughts determine your happiness. Your thoughts determine your tranquility. Guard your thoughts, and practice permitting nothing negative into your mind.
The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.
— Meditations 5.16
6. You’re stronger than you think
By making an effort and persisting through difficulty, you will discover you are capable of so much more than you thought.
Do not think that what is hard for you to master is humanly impossible; but if a thing is humanly possible, consider it to be within your reach.
— Meditations 6.19
7. The future doesn’t exist, it can only be imagined
We often imagine it to be worse than what it turns out to be. Plan for the future, but don’t obsess. Continue to live in the present.
Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.
— Meditations 7.8
8. Teach or tolerate
If you can, show people a better way to act. If you can’t, at least be tolerant.
Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then or bear with them.
— Meditations 8.59
9. Step up when it is right to do so
Courage is acting justly when it would be so much easier not to act at all.
And you can also commit injustice by doing nothing.
— Meditations 9.5
10. Actions speak louder than words
You can’t prove your character by your own words. But you can prove your character by your own actions.
Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.
— Meditations 10.16
11. The reward for a good deed is to have done it
Good deeds should be done for their own sake, not for the praise they may bring.
Have I done something for the general interest? Well then I have had my reward. Let this always be present to thy mind, and never stop doing such good.
— Meditations 11.4
12. Do what’s right, say what’s true
Act with integrity. Speak with honesty. And you’ll never have to worry about getting caught in a lie.
If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it.
— Meditations 12.17