Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

cxlii INTRODUCTION SECT.
steeped in the near consciousness of its approach. 1 For
just appreciation of thejr purport, and sympathetic
rapport with their mood, they must be regarded as
farewell reflections upon life and a greeting given in
advance to death. The first book is a retrospect on
life, moving among its treasured memories of help and
friendship ;
'
' 2
thou art an old man is the- prelude to the
second ;
'
its tale fully told
thy life is all but finished,' *
and its service
' 3
accomplished ;
it remained, while the
powers of mind and body still held out, 4 to adjust
himself as in the presence of death for reunion with the
whole. Life's day had been laborious, and its setting
was grey and solitary. At seventeen he had entered
the responsibilities of Csesarship, and from that day the
wear and tear of office had been continuous. At forty
the whole weight of Empire fell upon his shoulders,
and the colleagueship of L. Verus proved
an addition
rather than a relief to care. At forty-six came the
imperious call which summoned him to the long exile
and the imminent fate of Rome hung on
of the Camp :
the staunchness of his resolution.
' As man, as Roman,
as Imperator, he held the van keeping a
5
brave face.'
But the strain of self-sustainment, 'upright, not
uprighted,' 6 was exhausting. The attachments of his
youth had been to older men, and death or circumstance
had. withdrawn them from his side ; the philosophers
and councillors shunned the privations of the camp;
1
ii. 5, II, 17; iii. 16; iv. 37; v. 33; vi. 30; vii. 29, 69;
xi. 18 ; xii. I.
2 ii. 2 ; cf. iii. 5.
5 iii. 5.
3 ii. 6 ; v. 31.
6 iii. 5 ; vii. 12.
4 iii. i.