Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

M. Antoninus was born at Rome, A.D. 121, on the 26th of April. His father, Annius Verus, died while he was praetor. His mother was Domitia Calvilla, also named Lucilla. The Empe...

The persecution in which Polycarp suffered at Smyrna belongs to the time of M. Antoninus. The evidence for it is the letter of the church of Smyrna to the churches of Philomeliu...

There are English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish translations of M. Antoninus, and there may be others. I have not seen all the English translations. There is one by Jere...

[B] I remark, in order to anticipate any misapprehension, that all these general terms involve a contradiction. The "one and all," and the like, and "the whole," imply limitatio...

[B] This is also Swedenborg's doctrine of the soul. "As to what concerns the soul, of which it is said that it shall live after death, it is nothing else but the man himself, wh...

It would be tedious, and it is not necessary, to state the emperor's opinions on all the ways in which a man may profitably use his understanding towards perfecting himself in p...

16. In my father[A] I observed mildness of temper, and unchangeable resolution in the things which he had determined after due deliberation; and no vain-glory in those things wh...

2. We ought to observe also that even the things which follow after the things which are produced according to nature contain something pleasing and attractive. For instance, wh...

19. He who has a vehement desire for posthumous fame does not consider that every one of those who remember him will himself also die very soon; then again also they who have su...

8. Just as we must understand when it is said, That Aesculapius prescribed to this man horse-exercise, or bathing in cold water, or going without shoes, so we must understand it...

14. Most of the things which the multitude admire are referred to objects of the most general kind, those which are held together by cohesion or natural organization, such as st...

9. All things are implicated with one another, and the bond is holy; and there is hardly anything unconnected with any other thing. For things have been co-ordinated, and they c...

[A] It is not easy to understand this section. It has been suggested that there is some error in [Greek: ê alogista] &c. Some of the translators have made nothing of the passage...

47. If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it. And it is in thy power to wipe out this judgment now. But i...

31. Let there be freedom from perturbations with respect to the things which come from the external cause; and let there be justice in the things done by virtue of the internal...

21. "The earth loves the shower;" and "the solemn ether loves;" and the universe loves to make whatever is about to be. I say then to the universe, that I love as thou lovest. A...

18. [If any have offended against thee, consider first]: What is my relation to men, and that we are made for one another; and in another respect I was made to be set over them,...

24. These three principles thou must have in readiness: In the things which thou doest, do nothing either inconsiderately or otherwise than as justice herself would act; but wit...

Resignation and contentment, iii. 4 (l. 27, etc.), 16 (l. 10, etc.); iv. 23, 31, 33 (sub f.), 34; v. 8 (sub f.), 33 (l. 16); vi. 16 (sub f.), 44, 49; vii. 27, 57; ix. 37; x. 1,...