The Ways of Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emperor

Marcus Aurelius

121 - 180

Marcus Aurelius was the Roman Emperor in 161-180. Marcus's way of life was Stoicism, and the gathering of his thoughts and virtues all compiled into one writing called Meditations showed prominent proof of that.

Marcus Aurelius, the author of Meditations, should not directly be seen as a philosopher, but rather as a guide for the correct moral path of life. I would not even call him a philosopher - but a man who successfully implemented the Stoic philosophy into his personal life.

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• Early life

Marcus Aurelius was born into a prominent and wealthy family, with exposure to great power. His mother basically a saint, to whom Marcus recalled as a woman who was incapable of wrongdoings. Based on his own memories and the stories that he had heard, Marcus's father was a form of manliness from which Marcus learned later in life.

Somewhere at the age of 17, Marcus started learning the ways of politics under the wing of his adopted father Antoninus. Marcus became a leader of the senate and was exposed to a wider range of responsibilities.

• Becoming Emperor

After Antoninus's death, it is believed that Marcus was chosen as a successor, though he insisted that his adoptive brother takes part in the ruling. Their rule was marked with blood, disease and war, unlike the rule of Antoninus. The two "brothers" took part in wars against Parthian Empire as well as the Germans. After the death of Marcus's adoptive brother, he alone was left with the burden of war.

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• The Meditations

As stated before, the Meditations are collective of Marcus Aurelius's thoughts and was never meant for a wider audience. The Meditations are categorized into 12 books, each discussing existence, morality, virtues, relationship with gods and more.

Though there's a lot Marcus Aurelius has to say in the Meditations, some core ideas can be extracted from the collection. In Book I, Marcus lists the people who have influenced his growth and shaped him towards the man he became.

3. MY MOTHER
Her reverence for the divine, her generosity, her inability not only to do wrong but even to conceive of doing it. And the simple way she lived—not in the least like the rich.

13. CATULUS
Not to shrug off a friend’s resentment—even unjustified resentment—but try to put things right. To show your teachers ungrudging respect (the Domitius and Athenodotus story), and your children unfeigned love.

Marcus believed that the correct way of living is according to nature. In Book V, Marcus shows how the natural world order must be applied for overall balance.

1. At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for— the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?

—But it’s nicer here. . . .

So you were born to feel “nice”? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?

—But we have to sleep sometime. . . .

Agreed. But nature set a limit on that—as it did on eating and drinking. And you’re over the limit. You’ve had more than enough of that. But not of working. There you’re still below your quota.

You don’t love yourself enough. Or you’d love your nature too, and what it demands of you. People who love what they do wear themselves down doing it, they even forget to wash or eat. Do you have less respect for your own nature than the engraver does for engraving, the dancer for the dance, the miser for money or the social climber for status? When they’re really possessed by what they do, they’d rather stop eating and sleeping than give up practicing their arts. Is helping others less valuable to you? Not worth your effort?

In Marcus's mind, that's how happiness is achieved - living according to nature and not excluding yourself as superior to life's tasks and hardships. In return, the mind of such a man could never be interrupted by life's difficulties, as it is the inevitable.

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@cheaky