Philosopher
Marcus Aurelius
121–180 CE
Roman emperor and Stoic whose private notebook, the Meditations, shows him trying to live by the Stoic view that virtue is the only good.
Marcus Aurelius ruled the Roman Empire from 161 until his death in 180, much of that time on military campaigns along the Danube. During those years he wrote the notes, in Greek, that we know as the Meditations: reminders addressed to himself rather than a work meant for publication.
The Meditations apply the Stoic teaching that only virtue is good and only vice bad, and that health, wealth, reputation and even death make no difference to whether a life goes well. He returns again and again to the brevity of life, the duty to serve the common good, and the discipline of judging events calmly.
- Tradition
- Western
- Region
- Rome
- Schools
- Stoicism
- Period
- Ancient Greek and Roman
Key works
- Meditations (Ta eis heauton)
Sources
- Rachana Kamtekar, Marcus Aurelius, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy