MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS was born in 121 ce, born into a family which had ruled Rome for generations. As a young man he became fascinated by philosophy and rhetoric, being tutored by a range of Greek and Roman thinkers, before coming under the spell of the most influential philosophy of the day, Stoicism. On becoming emperor in 161, at the age of forty, Marcus realized that the empire was besieged from both within and without. Much of his time as emperor was spent on campaign against barbarian threats to the empire and it was during these campaigns that he began what amounted to a philosophical diary “to myself” as he called it: a collection of philosophical maxims, judgements, and reflections written in Greek and ranging across an astonishingly wide range of concerns. Marcus was a remarkably honest man, both in his writings (which were not intended for publication) and in his dealings as emperor. He has been seen, since the publication of his “meditations,” as his reflections have become known, as the very paradigm of the Stoic sage, yet he was also an extremely skilled warrior and diplomat with a true vision for his empire that was largely in tune with the Stoic philosophy he had developed. He never, however, had the chance to develop it. On campaign as usual in 180 ce he fell ill and was dead within days.
From Meditations
17. Of the life of man the duration is but a point, its substance streaming away, its perception dim, the fabric of the entire body prone to decay, and the soul a vortex, and fortune incalculable, and fame uncertain.
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