r<\/a>\u00a0and example who provides a resounding yes.<\/p>\nMarcus Annius Verus was born in a prominent and established family but nobody at the time would have predicted that he would one day be Emperor of the Empire. There is little that is known of his childhood but he was\u00a0a serious young man\u00a0who also enjoyed wrestling, boxing and hunting. Around his teenage years, the reigning emperor at the time, Hadrian was nearing death and was childless. He had to pick a successor and after his first choice, Lucius Ceionius, died unexpectedly, he chose Antoninus. He was a senator who was also childless and he would have to adopt Marcus, as per Hadrian\u2019s condition, as well as Ceionius\u2019s son, Lucius Verus. This is how Marcus\u2019s name changed to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.<\/p>\n
Once Hadrian died, it was clear that Marcus was next in line for the most important position in the empire. His education would become of serious concern and he would have the privilege of studying under Herodes Atticus, a rhetorician from Athens (Marcus would later write his\u00a0Meditations<\/em>\u00a0in Greek) as well as Marcus Cornelius Fronto, his instructor in Latin whose\u00a0letters of correspondence\u00a0with Marcus survive to this day. Marcus would also serve as a consul twice thus receiving a valuable and practical education.<\/p>\nIn 161, as Antoninus died and ended one of the longest reigns, Marcus became the Emperor of the Roman Empire and ruled for nearly two decades until his death in 180. He also co-ruled in the beginning with Lucius Verus, his adopted brother until Lucius\u2019 death eight years later. His reign wasn\u2019t easy: wars with\u00a0the Parthian Empire, the barbarian tribes\u00a0menacing the Empire on the northern border, the rise of Christianity as well\u00a0as the plague\u00a0that left numerous dead.<\/p>\n
Marcus\u2019s death came in 180 in his military headquarters in modern day Vienna. The historian Cassius Dio describes Marcus\u2019s attitude towards his son, Commodus who he made co-emperor few years earlier and was now to succeed him: \u201c[Marcus] was not strong in body and was involved in a multitude of troubles throughout practically his entire reign. But for my part, I admire him all the more for this very reason, that amid unusual and extraordinary difficulties he both survived himself and preserved the empire. Just one thing prevented him from being completely happy, namely, that after rearing and educating his son in the best possible way he was vastly disappointed in him.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is important to realize the gravity of that position and the magnitude of power that Marcus possessed. He held one of\u2014if not the most\u2014powerful positions in the world at the time. If he chose to, nothing would be off limits. He could indulge and succumb to temptations, there was nobody that could restrain him from any of his wishes. There is a reason the adage that power in absolute absolutely corrupts has been repeated throughout history\u2014it unfortunately tends to be true. And yet, as the essayist Matthew Arnold remarked, Marcus proved himself worthy of the position he was in.<\/p>\n
And it was not only him who offered that verdict. The famous historian Edward Gibbon wrote that under Marcus, the last of the \u2018Five Good Emperors,\u2019 \u201cthe Roman Empire was governed by absolute power, under the guidance of wisdom and virtue\u201d. The guidance of wisdom and virtue. That\u2019s what separates Marcus from the majority of past and present world\u00a0leaders. Just think of the diary that he left behind, which is now known as his\u00a0Meditations<\/em>\u00a0which we discuss below: the private thoughts of the most powerful man in the world, admonishing himself on how to be more virtuous, more just, more immune to temptation, wiser.<\/p>\nAnd for Marcus,\u00a0Stoicism provided a framework\u00a0for dealing with the stresses of daily life as a\u00a0leader\u00a0of one of the most powerful empires in human history. It is not surprising that he wrote his\u00a0Meditations<\/em>\u00a0in the last decade of his life, while on campaigning against foreign invaders. Passed down from his mentors and teachers, Marcus embraced the studies of Stoicism which we see in him\u00a0thanking his teacher\u00a0Rusticus for introducing him to Stoicism and Epictetus inside\u00a0Meditations<\/em>. Another influence on Marcus came from Heraclitus, whose concepts we can see throughout\u00a0Meditations<\/em>\u00a0and who had\u00a0a strong influence\u00a0on Stoic thought. Given\u00a0the literary world\u00a0at the time, Marcus was mostly likely not exposed to Seneca, another one of the three most prominent Stoics.<\/p>\nWhat is tragic about Marcus, as\u00a0one scholar wrote, is how his \u201cphilosophy\u2014which is about self-restraint, duty, and respect for others\u2014was so abjectly abandoned by the imperial line he anointed on his death.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now it is on us to pick it back up.<\/p>\n
Notable Works & Suggested Readings<\/h3>\n
Marcus\u2019s\u00a0Meditations\u00a0<\/em>is perhaps the only document of its kind ever made. It is the private thoughts of the world\u2019s most powerful man giving advice to himself on how to make good on the responsibilities and obligations of his positions. Originally titled,\u201dTo Himself,\u201d\u00a0Meditations<\/em>\u00a0is the definitive text on self-discipline, personal ethics, humility, self-actualization, and strength. It proved to be equally inspirational to writers like\u00a0Ambrose Bierce\u00a0and\u00a0Robert Louis Stevenson\u00a0as he has been for statesmen like\u00a0Theodore Roosevelt,\u00a0Wen Jiabao, and\u00a0Bill Clinton. If you read it and aren\u2019t profoundly changed by it, it\u2019s probably because as Aurelius says \u201cwhat doesn\u2019t transmit light creates its own darkness.\u201d As John Stuart Mill put it in his\u00a0On Liberty<\/em>,\u00a0Meditations<\/em>\u00a0are \u201cthe highest ethical product of the ancient mind\u201d.<\/p>\nIt is important to remind ourselves that we are lucky to have access to these. As Gregory Hays explains, for centuries traces of it was lost until the beginning of the 10th century, \u201cit reappears in a letter from the scholar and churchman Arethas.\u201d<\/p>\n
3 Stoic Exercises From Marcus Aurelius<\/h3>\n1.Practice The Virtues You Can Show<\/h4>\n
It\u2019s easy to succumb to self-pity when we start telling ourselves that we lack certain talents, that we miss stuff that seems to come so easily to other people. We need to catch ourselves when we do so. We need instead to focus on the things that are always within us: our capacity and potential for virtuous action. \u00a0As Marcus wrote to himself,<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one could ever accuse you of being quick-witted.<\/p>\n
All right, but there are plenty of other things you can\u2019t claim you \u201chaven\u2019t got in you.\u201d Practice the virtues you can show: honesty, gravity, endurance, austerity, resignation, abstinence, patience, sincerity, moderation, seriousness, high-mindedness. Don\u2019t you see how much you have to offer\u2014beyond excuses like \u201ccan\u2019t\u201d? And yet you still settle for less.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
2. Draw Strength from Others<\/h4>\n
As discussed earlier, Marcus most likely wrote the notes to himself which are now\u00a0Meditations<\/em>\u00a0on the battlefield, during the last decade of his life. In those times of difficulty and adversity, he\u2019d write to himself notes of encouragement, to pick himself back again, to do his duty. One exercise that we can borrow from him is to draw strength from people in our lives or simply role models that inspire us. As he wrote,<\/p>\n\u201cWhen you need encouragement, think of the qualities the people around you have: this one\u2019s energy, that one\u2019s modesty, another\u2019s generosity, and so on. Nothing is as encouraging as when virtues are visibly embodied in the people around us, when we\u2019re praactically showered with them. It\u2019s good to keep this in mind.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
3.Focus on The Present<\/h4>\n
Marcus knew the temptations that exist for all of us to let our imagination run wild envisioning all the ways things can go wrong. Of course, such an exercise can be useful in preparing us for the future and making us ready for adversity, but Marcus well understood that it can become a crippling fear that will paralyze us from any useful action. As he put it,<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole. Don\u2019t try to picture everything bad that could possibly happen. Stick with the situation at hand, and ask, \u201cWhy is this so unbearable? Why can\u2019t I endure it?\u201d You\u2019ll be embarrassed to answer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Then remind yourself that past and future have no power over you. Only the present\u2014and even that can be minimized. Just mark off its limits. And if your mind tries to claim that it can\u2019t hold out against that\u2026well, then, heap shame upon it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Marcus Aurelius Quotes<\/h3>\n\u201cYes, you can\u2013if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\u201cAt dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: \u2018I have to go to work \u2013 as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I\u2019m going to do what I was born for \u2013 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?\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\u201cWhen you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can\u2019t tell good from evil.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\u201cNot to feel exasperated, or defeated, or despondent because your days aren\u2019t packed with wise and moral actions. But to get back up when you fail, to celebrate behaving like a human\u2013however imperfectly\u2013and fully embrace the pursuit that you\u2019ve embarked on.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\u201cThe mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\u201cNo carelessness in your actions. No confusion in your words. No imprecision in your thoughts.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Who Is Marcus Aurelius? Getting To Know The Roman Emperor Introduction Agasicles, king of the Spartans,\u00a0once quipped\u00a0that he wanted to be \u2018the student of men whose son I should like to be as well.\u2019 It is a critical consideration we need to make in our search for role models.\u00a0Stoicism\u00a0is no exception. Before we begin our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stoicism"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/marcus-5c532d8e46e0fb0001be5ee6.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2619"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8919,"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2619\/revisions\/8919"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}