The Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius - College of Stoic Philosophers

"
To
EDITOR S
NOTE
the gods am indebted I for having
good grandfathers, good parents, a good
sister, good teachers, good associates, good
kinsmen, nearly everything good." In this
manner Marcus Aurelius, the best of the
Roman Emperors, and the noblest of pagan
philosophers, summarises the influences which
went to the making of his character. Of
patrician birth he responded eagerly to the
teaching of his tutors, and at eleven years of
age he embraced those doctrines of Stoicism
which became the controlling force, and the
object of study, for the remainder of his life.
When as a child he attracted the attention of
the Emperor Hadrian, his character was so
definitely formed that the Emperor renamed
him Verissimus(" the most true ").
His life s
story as related in the following pages reveals
him as a man of extraordinary calibre.
His Meditations, composed as opportunity
presented in the whirl of his strenuous life,
contain thoughts which represent the finest
fruits of paganism. His philosophy was
sternly practised by himself. He not merely
wrote precepts -his life suggested them.
The translation here presented
is that of
the eminent classical scholar Professor George
Long, who was born Nov. 4, 1 800, and died
Aug. 10, 1879.
Marcus Tullius Cicero, the greatest orator
and writer of ancient Rome, was born 106 B.C.
and died 43 B.C. In him centred the full
glory of classic culture, and through the long
centuries the light of his genius has burned
with undiminished brilliance.