Marcus Aurelius

Life

Marcus Aurelius was born in Rome in 121 AD into a wealthy senatorial family. He attracted the attention of the emperor Hadrian as a boy, and when Hadrian arranged his succession he had Antoninus Pius adopt Marcus as his heir. Marcus received a thorough education in rhetoric and philosophy, and his teachers included the orator Fronto, with whom he exchanged letters that survive, and the Stoic Junius Rusticus, who introduced him to the writings of Epictetus.

He became emperor in 161 on the death of Antoninus and at first ruled jointly with his adoptive brother Lucius Verus. His reign was difficult. A war with Parthia in the east was followed by a plague that spread through the empire, and from the late 160s onward he spent most of his time on the Danube frontier fighting Germanic and Sarmatian tribes. In 175 one of his generals, Avidius Cassius, proclaimed himself emperor in the east; the revolt collapsed within months.

Marcus died in 180 at Vindobona, the modern Vienna, or nearby, while on campaign. He was succeeded by his son Commodus, whose reign is usually taken to mark the end of the period historians call that of the five good emperors.

Literary significance

Marcus Aurelius was not a writer by profession, and the single work that survives under his name, the Meditations, was never meant for an audience. It is a notebook of Stoic self-instruction, written in Greek, probably during the last decade of his life and partly in military camps. Its lack of system and its repetition are the marks of a private document.

That privacy is the source of its influence. The Meditations is the most widely read Stoic text and one of the few books by a head of state that is valued for what it reveals about the writer’s inner life. It has been read as a guide to conduct by soldiers, politicians and ordinary readers for centuries, and it is central to the modern popular revival of Stoicism.

Where to start

There is only one place: Meditations, which is in this library. It is short and can be read in any order.