Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

xcviii INTRODUCTION SECT.
the great. 1 Such households maintained large bodies
of dependents, who as readers, scribes, stewards,
doctors, and artists of all kinds, ministered to luxury
and directed the labours of the slaves. Among them
the position of the Stoic has been compared
to that of
the domestic chaplain of a bygone day. He was part
of the decorum of a great house, with functions half
moral and half social ; he was expected to advise, to
edify, to sympathise, to entertain, to ease the wheels of
domestic life and intercourse. The position of such
men, foreigners and pensioners, as professional moralists
was full of difficulty, and there were, no doubt, pro-
fessing Stoics, who (like other men) sacrificed dignity
or paltered with morals to keep in the good graces of
an employer. The Graeculus esuriens at times found the
Stoic garb the most convenient in which to ingratiate him-
self and get a livelihood. But the first book 2 of the
Thoughts shows how much they contributed to set high
standards of courtesy and conscientiousness and ethical
refinement ;
and critics as well as eulogists admit that in
the hour of trial the bereaved, the sick, and the dying
turned for support to the presence and consolations of
the philosopher.
Political history, except in its personal bearings upon
Marcus, lies outside our compass. Throughout the
vast area of the Empire peace, order, and good government
prevailed ; supervision, vigilant and effective, was
exercised over military and civil governors, and the
frontiers were kept with vigour and self-restraint ; free
developments of civic and provincial life were liberally
1 Cf. i. 16.
2 i. 5-15.