INTRODUCTION

MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS was born on April 26, A.D. 121. His real name
was M. Annius Verus, and he was sprung of a noble family which claimed
descent from Numa, second King of Rome. Thus the most religious of
emperors came of the blood of the most pious of early kings. His father,
Annius Verus, had held high office in Rome, and his grandfather, of
the same name, had been thrice Consul. Both his parents died young, but
Marcus held them in loving remembrance. On his father's death Marcus
was adopted by his grandfather, the consular Annius Verus, and there was
deep love between these two. On the very first page of his book Marcus
gratefully declares how of his grandfather he had learned to be gentle
and meek, and to refrain from all anger and passion. The Emperor Hadrian
divined the fine character of the lad, whom he used to call not Verus
but Verissimus, more Truthful than his own name. He advanced Marcus to
equestrian rank when six years of age, and at the age of eight made him
a member of the ancient Salian priesthood. The boy's aunt, Annia Galeria
Faustina, was married to Antoninus Pius, afterwards emperor. Hence it
came about that Antoninus, having no son, adopted Marcus, changing his
name to that which he is known by, and betrothed him to his daughter
Faustina. His education was conducted with all care. The ablest teachers
were engaged for him, and he was trained in the strict doctrine of the
Stoic philosophy, which was his great delight. He was taught to dress
plainly and to live simply, to avoid all softness and luxury. His body
was trained to hardihood by wrestling, hunting, and outdoor games; and
though his constitution was weak, he showed great personal courage to
encounter the fiercest boars. At the same time he was kept from the
extravagancies of his day. The great excitement in Rome was the strife
of the Factions, as they were called, in the circus. The racing drivers
used to adopt one of four colours--red, blue, white, or green--and their
partisans showed an eagerness in supporting them which nothing could
surpass. Riot and corruption went in the train of the racing chariots;
and from all these things Marcus held severely aloof.

In 140 Marcus was raised to the consulship, and in 145 his betrothal
was consummated by marriage. Two years later Faustina brought him a
daughter; and soon after the tribunate and other imperial honours were
conferred upon him.

Antoninus Pius died in 161, and Marcus assumed the imperial state. He
at once associated with himself L. Ceionius Commodus, whom Antoninus had
adopted as a younger son at the same time with Marcus, giving him the
name of Lucius Aurelius Verus. Henceforth the two are colleagues in the
empire, the junior being trained as it were to succeed. No sooner was
Marcus settled upon the throne than wars broke out on all sides. In
the east, Vologeses III. of Parthia began a long-meditated revolt by
destroying a whole Roman Legion and invading Syria (162). Verus was sent
off in hot haste to quell this rising; and he fulfilled his trust by
plunging into drunkenness and debauchery, while the war was left to his
officers. Soon after Marcus had to face a more serious danger at home in
the coalition of several powerful tribes on the northern frontier. Chief
among those were the Marcomanni or Marchmen, the Quadi (mentioned in
this book), the Sarmatians, the Catti, the Jazyges. In Rome itself there
was pestilence and starvation, the one brought from the east by Verus's
legions, the other caused by floods which had destroyed vast quantities
of grain. After all had been done possible to allay famine and to supply
pressing needs--Marcus being forced even to sell the imperial jewels to
find money--both emperors set forth to a struggle which was to continue
more or less during the rest of Marcus's reign. During these wars, in
169, Verus died. We have no means of following the campaigns in detail;
but thus much is certain, that in the end the Romans succeeded in
crushing the barbarian tribes, and effecting a settlement which made the
empire more secure. Marcus was himself commander-in-chief, and victory
was due no less to his own ability than to his wisdom in choice of
lieutenants, shown conspicuously in the case of Pertinax. There were
several important battles fought in these campaigns; and one of them has
become celebrated for the legend of the Thundering Legion. In a battle
against the Quadi in 174, the day seemed to be going in favour of
the foe, when on a sudden arose a great storm of thunder and rain the
lightning struck the barbarians with terror, and they turned to rout.
In later days this storm was said to have been sent in answer to the
prayers of a legion which contained many Christians, and the name
Thundering Legion should be given to it on this account. The title of
Thundering Legion is known at an earlier date, so this part of the story
at least cannot be true; but the aid of the storm is acknowledged by one
of the scenes carved on Antonine's Column at Rome, which commemorates
these wars.

The settlement made after these troubles might have been more
satisfactory but for an unexpected rising in the east. Avidius Cassius,
an able captain who had won renown in the Parthian wars, was at this
time chief governor of the eastern provinces. By whatever means induced,
he had conceived the project of proclaiming himself emperor as soon as
Marcus, who was then in feeble health, should die; and a report having
been conveyed to him that Marcus was dead, Cassius did as he had
planned. Marcus, on hearing the news, immediately patched up a peace and
returned home to meet this new peril. The emperors great grief was that
he must needs engage in the horrors of civil strife. He praised the
qualities of Cassius, and expressed a heartfelt wish that Cassius might
not be driven to do himself a hurt before he should have the opportunity
to grant a free pardon. But before he could come to the east news had
come to Cassius that the emperor still lived; his followers fell away
from him, and he was assassinated. Marcus now went to the east, and
while there the murderers brought the head of Cassius to him; but the
emperor indignantly refused their gift, nor would he admit the men to
his presence.

On this journey his wife, Faustina, died. At his return the emperor
celebrated a triumph (176). Immediately afterwards he repaired to
Germany, and took up once more the burden of war. His operations were
followed by complete success; but the troubles of late years had been
too much for his constitution, at no time robust, and on March 17, 180,
he died in Pannonia.

The good emperor was not spared domestic troubles. Faustina had borne
him several children, of whom he was passionately fond. Their innocent
faces may still be seen in many a sculpture gallery, recalling with odd
effect the dreamy countenance of their father. But they died one by
one, and when Marcus came to his own end only one of his sons still
lived--the weak and worthless Commodus. On his father's death Commodus,
who succeeded him, undid the work of many campaigns by a hasty and
unwise peace; and his reign of twelve years proved him to be a ferocious
and bloodthirsty tyrant. Scandal has made free with the name of Faustina
herself, who is accused not only of unfaithfulness, but of intriguing
with Cassius and egging him on to his fatal rebellion, it must be
admitted that these charges rest on no sure evidence; and the emperor,
at all events, loved her dearly, nor ever felt the slightest qualm of
suspicion.

As a soldier we have seen that Marcus was both capable and successful;
as an administrator he was prudent and conscientious. Although steeped
in the teachings of philosophy, he did not attempt to remodel the world
on any preconceived plan. He trod the path beaten by his predecessors,
seeking only to do his duty as well as he could, and to keep out
corruption. He did some unwise things, it is true. To create a compeer
in empire, as he did with Verus, was a dangerous innovation which could
only succeed if one of the two effaced himself; and under Diocletian
this very precedent caused the Roman Empire to split into halves. He
erred in his civil administration by too much centralising. But the
strong point of his reign was the administration of justice. Marcus
sought by-laws to protect the weak, to make the lot of the slaves
less hard, to stand in place of father to the fatherless. Charitable
foundations were endowed for rearing and educating poor children. The
provinces were protected against oppression, and public help was given
to cities or districts which might be visited by calamity. The great
blot on his name, and one hard indeed to explain, is his treatment
of the Christians. In his reign Justin at Rome became a martyr to
his faith, and Polycarp at Smyrna, and we know of many outbreaks of
fanaticism in the provinces which caused the death of the faithful. It
is no excuse to plead that he knew nothing about the atrocities done in
his name: it was his duty to know, and if he did not he would have been
the first to confess that he had failed in his duty. But from his own
tone in speaking of the Christians it is clear he knew them only from
calumny; and we hear of no measures taken even to secure that they
should have a fair hearing. In this respect Trajan was better than he.

To a thoughtful mind such a religion as that of Rome would give small
satisfaction. Its legends were often childish or impossible; its
teaching had little to do with morality. The Roman religion was in fact
of the nature of a bargain: men paid certain sacrifices and rites, and
the gods granted their favour, irrespective of right or wrong. In this
case all devout souls were thrown back upon philosophy, as they had
been, though to a less extent, in Greece. There were under the early
empire two rival schools which practically divided the field between
them, Stoicism and Epicureanism. The ideal set before each was
nominally much the same. The Stoics aspired to ἁπάθεια, the repression
of all emotion, and the Epicureans to ἀταραξία, freedom from all
disturbance; yet in the upshot the one has become a synonym of stubborn
endurance, the other for unbridled licence. With Epicureanism we have
nothing to do now; but it will be worth while to sketch the history and
tenets of the Stoic sect.

Zeno, the founder of Stoicism, was born in Cyprus at some date unknown,
but his life may be said roughly to be between the years 350 and 250
B.C. Cyprus has been from time immemorial a meeting-place of the East
and West, and although we cannot grant any importance to a possible
strain of Phoenician blood in him (for the Phœnicians were no
philosophers), yet it is quite likely that through Asia Minor he may
have come in touch with the Far East. He studied under the cynic
Crates, but he did not neglect other philosophical systems. After many
years' study he opened his own school in a colonnade in Athens called
the Painted Porch, or Stoa, which gave the Stoics their name. Next to
Zeno, the School of the Porch owes most to Chrysippus (280--207 b.c.),
who organised Stoicism into a system. Of him it was said,

'But for Chrysippus, there had been no Porch.'

The Stoics regarded speculation as a means to an end and that end was,
as Zeno put it, to live consistently (ὁμολογουμένος ζῆν), or as it was
later explained, to live in conformity with nature (ὁμολογουμένος τῇ
φύσει ζῆν). This conforming of the life to nature was the Stoic idea of
Virtue. This dictum might easily be taken to mean that virtue consists
in yielding to each natural impulse; but that was very far from the
Stoic meaning. In order to live in accord with nature, it is necessary
to know what nature is; and to this end a threefold division of
philosophy is made—into _Physics_, dealing with the universe and its
laws, the problems of divine government and teleology; _Logic_, which
trains the mind to discern true from false; and _Ethics_, which applies
the knowledge thus gained and tested to practical life.

The Stoic system of physics was materialism with an infusion of
pantheism. In contradiction to Plato's view that the Ideas, or
Prototypes, of phenomena alone really exist, the Stoics held that
material objects alone existed; but immanent in the material universe
was a spiritual force which acted through them, manifesting itself
under many forms, as fire, æther, spirit, soul, reason, the ruling
principle.

The universe, then, is God, of whom the popular gods are manifestations;
while legends and myths are allegorical. The soul of man is thus an
emanation from the godhead, into whom it will eventually be re-absorbed.
The divine ruling principle makes all things work together for good,
but for the good of the whole. The highest good of man is consciously
to work with God for the common good, and this is the sense in which
the Stoic tried to live in accord with nature. In the individual it
is virtue alone which enables him to do this; as Providence rules the
universe, so virtue in the soul must rule man.

In Logic, the Stoic system is noteworthy for their theory as to the
test of truth, the _Criterion_. They compared the new-born soul to a
sheet of paper ready for writing. Upon this the senses write their
impressions (φαντασίαι), and by experience of a number of these the
soul unconsciously conceives general notions (κοιναὶ ἔννοιαι) or
anticipations (προλήψεις). When the impression was such as to be
irresistible it was called (καταληπτικὴ φαντασία) one that holds fast,
or as they explained it, one proceeding from truth. Ideas and
inferences artificially produced by deduction or the like were tested
by this 'holding perception.' Of the Ethical application I have already
spoken. The highest good was the virtuous life. Virtue alone is
happiness, and vice is unhappiness. Carrying this theory to its
extreme, the Stoic said that there could be no gradations between
virtue and vice, though of course each has its special manifestations.
Moreover, nothing is good but virtue, and nothing but vice is bad.
Those outside things which are commonly called good or bad, such as
health and sickness, wealth and poverty, pleasure and pain, are to him
indifferent (ἀδιάφορα). All these things are merely the sphere in which
virtue may act. The ideal Wise Man is sufficient unto himself in all
things (αὐταρκής); and knowing these truths, he will be happy even when
stretched upon the rack. It is probable that no Stoic claimed for
himself that he was this Wise Man, but that each strove after it as an
ideal much as the Christian strives after a likeness to Christ. The
exaggeration in this statement was, however, so obvious, that the later
Stoics were driven to make a further subdivision of things indifferent
into what is preferable (προηγμένα) and what is undesirable
(ἀποπροηγμένα). They also held that for him who had not attained to the
perfect wisdom, certain actions were proper. (καθήκοντα) These were
neither virtuous nor vicious, but, like the indifferent things, held a
middle place.

Two points in the Stoic system deserve special mention. One is a
careful distinction between things which are in our power and things
which are not. Desire and dislike, opinion and affection, are within
the power of the will; whereas health, wealth, honour, and other such
are generally not so. The Stoic was called upon to control his desires
and affections, and to guide his opinion; to bring his whole being
under the sway of the will or leading principle, just as the universe
is guided and governed by divine Providence. This is a special
application of the favourite Greek virtue of moderation, (σωφροσύνη)
and has also its parallel in Christian ethics. The second point is a
strong insistence on the unity of the universe, and on man's duty as
part of a great whole. Public spirit was the most splendid political
virtue of the ancient world, and it is here made cosmopolitan. It is
again instructive to note that Christian sages insisted on the same
thing. Christians are taught that they are members of a worldwide
brotherhood, where is neither Greek nor Hebrew, bond nor free and that
they live their lives as fellow-workers with God.

Such is the system which underlies the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.
Some knowledge of it is necessary to the right understanding of the
book, but for us the chief interest lies elsewhere. We do not come to
Marcus Aurelius for a treatise on Stoicism. He is no head of a school to
lay down a body of doctrine for students; he does not even contemplate
that others should read what he writes. His philosophy is not an eager
intellectual inquiry, but more what we should call religious feeling.
The uncompromising stiffness of Zeno or Chrysippus is softened and
transformed by passing through a nature reverent and tolerant, gentle
and free from guile; the grim resignation which made life possible to
the Stoic sage becomes in him almost a mood of aspiration. His book
records the innermost thoughts of his heart, set down to ease it, with
such moral maxims and reflections as may help him to bear the burden of
duty and the countless annoyances of a busy life.

It is instructive to compare the _Meditations_ with another famous book,
the _Imitation of Christ_. There is the same ideal of self-control in
both. It should be a man's task, says the _Imitation_, 'to overcome
himself, and every day to be stronger than himself.' 'In withstanding of
the passions standeth very peace of heart.' 'Let us set the axe to the
root, that we being purged of our passions may have a peaceable mind.'
To this end there must be continual self-examination. 'If thou may not
continually gather thyself together, namely sometimes do it, at least
once a day, the morning or the evening. In the morning purpose, in the
evening discuss the manner, what thou hast been this day, in word, work,
and thought.' But while the Roman's temper is a modest self-reliance,
the Christian aims at a more passive mood, humbleness and meekness,
and reliance on the presence and personal friendship of God. The Roman
scrutinises his faults with severity, but without the self-contempt
which makes the Christian 'vile in his own sight.' The Christian, like
the Roman, bids 'study to withdraw thine heart from the love of things
visible'; but it is not the busy life of duty he has in mind so much as
the contempt of all worldly things, and the 'cutting away of all
lower delectations.' Both rate men's praise or blame at their real
worthlessness; 'Let not thy peace,' says the Christian, 'be in the
mouths of men.' But it is to God's censure the Christian appeals, the
Roman to his own soul. The petty annoyances of injustice or unkindness
are looked on by each with the same magnanimity. 'Why doth a little
thing said or done against thee make thee sorry? It is no new thing; it
is not the first, nor shall it be the last, if thou live long. At best
suffer patiently, if thou canst not suffer joyously.' The Christian
should sorrow more for other men's malice than for our own wrongs; but
the Roman is inclined to wash his hands of the offender. 'Study to be
patient in suffering and bearing other men's defaults and all manner
infirmities,' says the Christian; but the Roman would never have thought
to add, 'If all men were perfect, what had we then to suffer of other
men for God?' The virtue of suffering in itself is an idea which does
not meet us in the _Meditations_. Both alike realise that man is one of a
great community. 'No man is sufficient to himself,' says the Christian;
'we must bear together, help together, comfort together.' But while
he sees a chief importance in zeal, in exalted emotion that is, and
avoidance of lukewarmness, the Roman thought mainly of the duty to be
done as well as might be, and less of the feeling which should go with
the doing of it. To the saint as to the emperor, the world is a poor
thing at best. 'Verily it is a misery to live upon the earth,' says the
Christian; few and evil are the days of man's life, which passeth away
suddenly as a shadow.

But there is one great difference between the two books we are
considering. The _Imitation_ is addressed to others, the _Meditations_
by the writer to himself. We learn nothing from the _Imitation_ of
the author's own life, except in so far as he may be assumed to have
practised his own preachings; the _Meditations_ reflect mood by mood the
mind of him who wrote them. In their intimacy and frankness lies their
great charm. These notes are not sermons; they are not even confessions.
There is always an air of self-consciousness in confessions; in such
revelations there is always a danger of unctuousness or of vulgarity for
the best of men. St. Augus-tine is not always clear of offence, and John
Bunyan himself exaggerates venial peccadilloes into heinous sins. But
Marcus Aurelius is neither vulgar nor unctuous; he extenuates nothing,
but nothing sets down in malice. He never poses before an audience; he
may not be profound, he is always sincere. And it is a lofty and serene
soul which is here disclosed before us. Vulgar vices seem to have no
temptation for him; this is not one tied and bound with chains which
he strives to break. The faults he detects in himself are often such as
most men would have no eyes to see. To serve the divine spirit which
is implanted within him, a man must 'keep himself pure from all violent
passion and evil affection, from all rashness and vanity, and from all
manner of discontent, either in regard of the gods or men': or, as he
says elsewhere, 'unspotted by pleasure, undaunted by pain.' Unwavering
courtesy and consideration are his aims. 'Whatsoever any man either
doth or saith, thou must be good;' 'doth any man offend? It is against
himself that he doth offend: why should it trouble thee?' The offender
needs pity, not wrath; those who must needs be corrected, should be
treated with tact and gentleness; and one must be always ready to learn
better. 'The best kind of revenge is, not to become like unto them.'
There are so many hints of offence forgiven, that we may believe the
notes followed sharp on the facts. Perhaps he has fallen short of his
aim, and thus seeks to call his principles to mind, and to strengthen
himself for the future. That these sayings are not mere talk is plain
from the story of Avidius Cassius, who would have usurped his imperial
throne. Thus the emperor faithfully carries out his own principle, that
evil must be overcome with good. For each fault in others, Nature (says
he) has given us a counteracting virtue; 'as, for example, against the
unthankful, it hath given goodness and meekness, as an antidote.'

One so gentle towards a foe was sure to be a good friend; and indeed his
pages are full of generous gratitude to those who had served him. In his
First Book he sets down to account all the debts due to his kinsfolk
and teachers. To his grandfather he owed his own gentle spirit, to
his father shamefastness and courage; he learnt of his mother to be
religious and bountiful and single-minded. Rusticus did not work in
vain, if he showed his pupil that his life needed amending. Apollonius
taught him simplicity, reasonableness, gratitude, a love of true
liberty. So the list runs on; every one he had dealings with seems
to have given him something good, a sure proof of the goodness of his
nature, which thought no evil.

If his was that honest and true heart which is the Christian ideal, this
is the more wonderful in that he lacked the faith which makes Christians
strong. He could say, it is true, 'either there is a God, and then all
is well; or if all things go by chance and fortune, yet mayest thou use
thine own providence in those things that concern thee properly; and
then art thou well.' Or again, 'We must needs grant that there is a
nature that doth govern the universe.' But his own part in the scheme
of things is so small, that he does not hope for any personal happiness
beyond what a serene soul may win in this mortal life. 'O my soul, the
time I trust will be, when thou shalt be good, simple, more open and
visible, than that body by which it is enclosed;' but this is said of
the calm contentment with human lot which he hopes to attain, not of a
time when the trammels of the body shall be cast off. For the rest, the
world and its fame and wealth, 'all is vanity.' The gods may perhaps
have a particular care for him, but their especial care is for the
universe at large: thus much should suffice. His gods are better than
the Stoic gods, who sit aloof from all human things, untroubled and
uncaring, but his personal hope is hardly stronger. On this point he
says little, though there are many allusions to death as the natural
end; doubtless he expected his soul one day to be absorbed into the
universal soul, since nothing comes out of nothing, and nothing can be
annihilated. His mood is one of strenuous weariness; he does his duty as
a good soldier, waiting for the sound of the trumpet which shall sound
the retreat; he has not that cheerful confidence which led Socrates
through a life no less noble, to a death which was to bring him into the
company of gods he had worshipped and men whom he had revered.

But although Marcus Aurelius may have held intellectually that his soul
was destined to be absorbed, and to lose consciousness of itself, there
were times when he felt, as all who hold it must sometimes feel, how
unsatisfying is such a creed. Then he gropes blindly after something
less empty and vain. 'Thou hast taken ship,' he says, 'thou hast sailed,
thou art come to land, go out, if to another life, there also shalt
thou find gods, who are everywhere.' There is more in this than the
assumption of a rival theory for argument's sake. If worldly things
'be but as a dream, the thought is not far off that there may be an
awakening to what is real. When he speaks of death as a necessary
change, and points out that nothing useful and profitable can be brought
about without change, did he perhaps think of the change in a corn of
wheat, which is not quickened except it die? Nature's marvellous power
of recreating out of Corruption is surely not confined to bodily things.
Many of his thoughts sound like far-off echoes of St. Paul; and it is
strange indeed that this most Christian of emperors has nothing good
to say of the Christians. To him they are only sectaries 'violently and
passionately set upon opposition.

Profound as philosophy these _Meditations_ certainly are not; but Marcus
Aurelius was too sincere not to see the essence of such things as
came within his experience. Ancient religions were for the most
part concerned with outward things. Do the necessary rites, and you
propitiate the gods; and these rites were often trivial, sometimes
violated right feeling or even morality. Even when the gods stood on the
side of righteousness, they were concerned with the act more than with
the intent. But Marcus Aurelius knows that what the heart is full of,
the man will do. 'Such as thy thoughts and ordinary cogitations are,' he
says, 'such will thy mind be in time.' And every page of the book shows
us that he knew thought was sure to issue in act. He drills his soul, as
it were, in right principles, that when the time comes, it may be guided
by them. To wait until the emergency is to be too late.

He sees also the true essence of happiness. 'If happiness did consist
in pleasure, how came notorious robbers, impure abominable livers,
parricides, and tyrants, in so large a measure to have their part of
pleasures?' He who had all the world's pleasures at command can write
thus 'A happy lot and portion is, good inclinations of the soul, good
desires, good actions.'

By the irony of fate this man, so gentle and good, so desirous of quiet
joys and a mind free from care, was set at the head of the Roman Empire
when great dangers threatened from east and west. For several years he
himself commanded his armies in chief. In camp before the Quadi he dates
the first book of his _Meditations_, and shows how he could retire within
himself amid the coarse clangour of arms. The pomps and glories which
he despised were all his; what to most men is an ambition or a dream, to
him was a round of weary tasks which nothing but the stern sense of duty
could carry him through. And he did his work well. His wars were slow
and tedious, but successful. With a statesman's wisdom he foresaw the
danger to Rome of the barbarian hordes from the north, and took measures
to meet it. As it was, his settlement gave two centuries of respite
to the Roman Empire; had he fulfilled the plan of pushing the imperial
frontiers to the Elbe, which seems to have been in his mind, much more
might have been accomplished. But death cut short his designs.

Truly a rare opportunity was given to Marcus Aurelius of showing what
the mind can do in despite of circumstances. Most peaceful of warriors,
a magnificent monarch whose ideal was quiet happiness in home life, bent
to obscurity yet born to greatness, the loving father of children who
died young or turned out hateful, his life was one paradox. That nothing
might lack, it was in camp before the face of the enemy that he passed
away and went to his own place.

The following is a list of the chief English translations of Marcus
Aurelius: (1) By Meric Casaubon, 1634; (2) Jeremy Collier, 1701; (3)
James Thomson, 1747; (4) R. Graves, 1792; (5) H. McCormac, 1844; (6)
George Long, 1862; (7) G. H. Rendall, 1898; and (8) J. Jackson, 1906.
Renan’s “Marc-Aurèle”—in his “History of the Origins of Christianity,”
which appeared in 1882—is the most vital and original book to be had
relating to the time of Marcus Aurelius. Pater’s “Marius the Epicurean”
forms another outside commentary, which is of service in the
imaginative attempt to create again the period.


NOTES

This being neither a critical edition of the text nor an emended edition
of Casaubon's translation, it has not been thought necessary to add full
notes. Casaubon's own notes have been omitted, because for the most part
they are discursive, and not necessary to an understanding of what is
written. In those which here follow, certain emendations of his
are mentioned, which he proposes in his notes, and follows in the
translation. In addition, one or two corrections are made where he has
mistaken the Greek, and the translation might be misleading. Those which
do not come under these two heads will explain themselves.

The text itself has been prepared by a comparison of the editions of
1634 and 1635. It should be borne in mind that Casaubon's is often
rather a paraphrase than a close translation; and it did not seem worth
while to notice every variation or amplification of the original. In
the original editions all that Casaubon conceives as understood, but
not expressed, is enclosed in square brackets. These brackets are here
omitted, as they interfere with the comfort of the reader; and so have
some of the alternative renderings suggested by the translator. In a few
cases, Latin words in the text have been replaced by English.

Numbers in brackets refer to the Teubner text of Stich, but the
divisions of the text are left unaltered. For some of the references
identified I am indebted to Mr. G. H. Rendall's _Marcus Aurelius_.

BOOK II "Both to frequent" (4). Gr. τὸ μή, C. conjectures τὸ μὲ. The
text is probably right: "I did not frequent public lectures, and I was
taught at home."

VI Idiots.... philosophers (9). The reading is doubtful, but the meaning
seems to be: "simple and unlearned men"

XII "Claudius Maximus" (15). The reading of the Palatine MS. (now lost)
was paraklhsiz Maximon, which C. supposes to conceal the letters kl as
an abbreviation of Claudius.

XIII "Patient hearing... He would not" (16). C. translates his
conjectural reading epimonon ollan. on proapsth Stich suggests a reading
with much the same sense: .....epimonon all antoi "Strict and rigid
dealing" (16). C. translates tonvn (Pal. MS.) as though from tonoz,
in the sense of "strain." "rigour." The reading of other MSS. tonvn is
preferable.

XIII "Congiaries" (13). dianomais, "doles."

XIV "Cajeta" (17). The passage is certainly corrupt. C. spies a
reference to Chryses praying by the sea-shore in the Illiad, and
supposes M. Aurelius to have done the like. None of the emendations
suggested is satisfactory. At § XV. Book II. is usually reckoned to
begin. BOOK II III. "Do, soul" (6). If the received reading be right,
it must be sarcastic; but there are several variants which show how
unsatisfactory it is. C. translates "en gar o bioz ekasty so par eanty",
which I do not understand. The sense required is: "Do not violence to
thyself, for thou hast not long to use self-respect. Life is not (v. 1.
so long for each, and this life for thee is all but done."

X. "honour and credit do proceed" (12). The verb has dropt out of the
text, but C. has supplied one of the required meaning.

XI. "Consider," etc. (52). This verb is not in the Greek, which means:
"(And reason also shows) how man, etc."

BOOK IV XV. "Agathos" (18): This is probably not a proper name, but the
text seems to be unsound. The meaning may be "the good man ought"

XVI. oikonomian (16) is a "practical benefit," a secondary end. XXXIX.
"For herein lieth all...." (~3). C. translates his conjecture olan for
ola.

BOOK V XIV. katorqwseiz (15): Acts of "rightness" or "straightness."
XXIII. "Roarer" (28): Gr. "tragedian." Ed. 1 has whoremonger,' ed.
2 corrects to "harlot," but omits to alter' the word at its second
occurrence.

XXV. "Thou hast... them" (33): A quotation from Homer, Odyssey, iv. 690.

XXVII. "One of the poets" (33): Hesiod, Op. et Dies, 197.

XXIX and XXX. (36). The Greek appears to contain quotations from sources
not known, and the translation is a paraphrase. (One or two alterations
are here made on the authority of the second edition.) BOOK VI XIII.
"Affected and qualified" (i4): exis, the power of cohesion shown in
things inanimate; fusiz, power of growth seen in plants and the like.

XVII. "Wonder at them" (18): i.e. mankind.

XXXVII. "Chrysippus" (42): C. refers to a passage of Plutarch De
Communibus Notitiis (c. xiv.), where Chrysippus is represented as saying
that a coarse phrase may be vile in itself, yet have due place in a
comedy as contributing to a certain effect.

XL. "Man or men..." There is no hiatus in the Greek, which means:
"Whatever (is beneficial) for a man is so for other men also."

XLII. There is no hiatus in the Greek.

BOOK VII IX. C. translates his conjecture mh for h. The Greek means
"straight, or rectified," with a play on the literal and metaphorical
meaning of ortoz.

XIV. endaimonia. contains the word daimwn in composition. XXII. The text
is corrupt, but the words "or if it be but few" should be "that is
little enough."

XXIII. "Plato": Republic, vi. p. 486 A.

XXV. "It will," etc. Euripides, Belerophon, frag. 287 (Nauck).

"Lives," etc. Euripides, Hypsipyle, frag. 757 (Nauck). "As long," etc.
Aristophanes, Acharne, 66 i.

"Plato" Apology, p. 28 B.

"For thus" Apology, p. 28 F.

XXVI. "But, O noble sir," etc. Plato, Gorgias, 512 D. XXVII. "And as
for those parts," etc. A quotation from Euripides, Chryssipus, frag. 839
(Nauck).

"With meats," etc. From Euripides, Supplices, 1110. XXXIII. "They both,"
i.e. life and wrestling.

"Says he" (63): Plato, quoted by Epictetus, Arr. i. 28, 2 and 22.

XXXVII. "How know we," etc. The Greek means: "how know we whether
Telauges were not nobler in character than Sophocles?" The allusion is
unknown.

XXVII. "Frost" The word is written by Casaubon as a proper name,
"Pagus.'

"The hardihood of Socrates was famous"; see Plato, Siymposium, p. 220.

BOOK X XXII. The Greek means, "paltry breath bearing up corpses, so that
the tale of Dead Man's Land is clearer."

XXII. "The poet" (21): Euripides, frag. 898 (Nauck); compare Aeschylus,
Danaides, frag. 44.

XXIV. "Plato" (23): Theaetetus, p. 174 D.

XXXIV. "The poet" (34): Homer, Iliad, vi. 147.

XXXIV. "Wood": A translation of ulh, "matter."

XXXVIII. "Rhetoric" (38): Rather "the gift of speech"; or perhaps the
"decree" of the reasoning faculty.

BOOK XI V. "Cithaeron" (6): Oedipus utters this cry after discovering
that he has fulfilled his awful doom, he was exposed on Cithaeron as
an infant to die, and the cry implies that he wishes he had died there.
Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus, 1391.

V. "New Comedy...," etc. C. has here strayed from the Greek rather
widely. Translate: "and understand to what end the New Comedy was
adopted, which by small degrees degenerated into a mere show of skill
in mimicry." C. writes Comedia Vetus, Media, Nova. XII. "Phocion" (13):
When about to be put to death he charged his son to bear no malice
against the Athenians.

XXVIII. "My heart," etc. (31): From Homer, Odyssey ix. 413. "They will"
From Hesiod, Opera et Dies, 184.

"Epictetus" Arr. i. II, 37.

XXX. "Cut down grapes" (35): Correct "ears of corn." "Epictetus"(36):
Arr. 3, 22, 105.




GLOSSARY

This Glossary includes all proper names (excepting a few which are
insignificant or unknown) and all obsolete or obscure words. ADRIANUS,
or Hadrian (76-138 A. D.), 14th Roman Emperor.

Agrippa, M. Vipsanius (63-12 B.C.), a distinguished soldier under
Augustus.

Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, and Conqueror of the East,
356-323 B.C.

Antisthenes of Athens, founder of the sect of Cynic philosophers, and an
opponent of Plato, 5th century B.C Antoninus Pius, 15th Roman Emperor,
138-161 AD. one of the best princes that ever mounted a throne.

Apathia: the Stoic ideal was calmness in all circumstance an
insensibility to pain, and absence of all exaltation at, pleasure or
good fortune.

Apelles, a famous painter of antiquity.

Apollonius of Alexandria, called Dyscolus, or the 'ill-tempered,'
a great grammarian.

Aposteme, tumour, excrescence.

Archimedes of Syracuse 287-212 B.C., the most famous mathematician of
antiquity.

Athos, a mountain promontory at the N. of the Aegean Sea.

Augustus, first Roman Emperor (ruled 31 B.C.-14 AD.).

Avoid, void.

BACCHIUS: there Were several persons of this name, and the one meant is
perhaps the musician.

Brutus (1) the liberator of the Roman people from their kings, and (2)
the murderer of Cæsar.

Both names were household words.

Cæsar, Caius, Julius, the Dictator and Conqueror.

Caieta, a town in Latium.

Camillus, a famous dictator in the early days of the Roman Republic.

Carnuntum, a town on the Danube in Upper Pannonia.

Cato, called of Utica, a Stoic who died by his own hand after the battle
of Thapsus, 46 B.C. His name was proverbial for virtue and courage.

Cautelous, cautious.

Cecrops, first legendary King of Athens.

Charax, perhaps the priestly historian of that name, whose date is
unknown, except that it must be later than Nero.

Chirurgeon, surgeon.

Chrysippus, 280-207 B.C., a Stoic philosopher, and the founder of
Stoicism as a systematic philosophy.

Circus, the Circus Maximus at Rome, where games were held.
There were four companies who contracted to provide horses, drivers,
etc. These were called Factiones, and each had its distinguishing
colour: russata (red), albata (white), veneta (blue), prasina (green).
There was high rivalry between them, and riots and bloodshed not
infrequently.

Cithaeron, a mountain range N. of Attica.

Comedy, ancient; a term applied to the Attic comedy of Aristophanes and
his time, which criticised persons and politics, like a modern comic
journal, such as Punck. See New Comedy.

Compendious, short.

Conceit, opinion.

Contentation, contentment.

Crates, a Cynic philosopher of the 4th century B.C.

Crœsus, King of Lydia, proverbial for wealth; he reigned 560-546 B.C.

Cynics, a school of philosophers, founded by Antisthenes. Their texts
were a kind of caricature of Socraticism. Nothing was good but virtue,
nothing bad but vice. The Cynics repudiated all civil and social claims,
and attempted to return to what they called a state of nature. Many of
them were very disgusting in their manners.

DEMETRIUS of Phalerum, an Athenian orator, statesman, philosopher, and
poet. Born 345 B.C.

Democritus of Abdera (460-361 B.C.), celebrated as the 'laughing
philosopher,' whose constant thought was 'What fools these mortals be.'
He invented the Atomic Theory.

Dio of Syracuse, a disciple of Plato, and afterwards tyrant of Syracuse.
Murdered 353 B.C.

Diogenes, the Cynic, born about 412 B.C., renowned for his rudeness and
hardihood.

Diognetus, a painter.

Dispense with, put up with.

Dogmata, pithy sayings, or philosophical rules of life.

EMPEDOCLES of Agrigentum, fl.
5th century B.C., a philosopher, who first laid down that there were
"four elements." He believed in the transmigration of souls, and the
indestructibility of matter.

Epictetus, a famous Stoic philosopher. He was of Phrygia, at first a
slave, then freedman, lame, poor, and contented.
The work called Encheiridion was compiled by a pupil from his
discourses.

Epicureans, a sect of philosophers founded by Epicurus, who "combined
the physics of Democritus," i.e. the atomic theory, "with the ethics of
Aristippus."

They proposed to live for happiness, but the word did not bear that
coarse and vulgar sense originally which it soon took.

Epicurus of Samos, 342-270 B.C.

Lived at Athens in his "gardens," an urbane and kindly, if somewhat
useless, life. His character was simple and temperate, and had none of
the vice or indulgence which was afterwards associated with the name of
Epicurean.

Eudoxus of Cnidus, a famous astronomer and physician of the 4th century
B. C.

FATAL, fated.

Fortuit, chance (adj.).

Fronto, M. Cornelius, a rhetorician and pleader, made consul in 143 A.D.
A number of his letters to M, Aur. and others are extant.

GRANUA, a tributary of the Danube.

HELICE, ancient capital city of Achaia, swallowed up by an earthquake,
373 B.C.

Helvidius Priscus, son-in-law of Thrasea Paetus, a noble man and a lover
of liberty. He was banished by Nero, and put to death by Vespasian.

Heraclitus of Ephesus, who lived in the 6th century B.C. He wrote on
philosophy and natural science.

Herculaneum, near Mount Vesuvius, buried by the eruption of 79 AD.

Hercules, p. 167, should be Apollo. See Muses.

Hiatus, gap.

Hipparchus of Bithynia, an astronomer of the 2nd century B.C., "The true
father of astronomy."

Hippocrates of Cos, about 460-357 B.C. One of the most famous physicians
of antiquity.

IDIOT, means merely the non-proficient in anything, the "layman," he who
was not technically trained in any art, craft, or calling.

LEONNATUS, a distinguished general under Alexander the Great.

Lucilla, daughter of M. Aurelius, and wife of Verus, whom she survived.

MÆCENAS, a trusted adviser of Augustus, and a munificent patron of wits
and literary men.

Maximus, Claudius, a Stoic philosopher.

Menippus, a Cynic philosopher.

Meteores, ta metewrologika, "high philosophy," used specially of
astronomy and natural philosophy, which were bound up with other
speculations.

Middle Comedy, something midway between the Old and New Comedy. See
Comedy, Ancient, and New Comedy.

Middle things, Book 7, XXV. The Stoics divided all things into virtue,
vice, and indifferent things; but as "indifferent" they regarded most of
those things which the world regards as good or bad, such as wealth or
poverty. Of these, some were "to be desired," some "to be rejected."

Muses, the nine deities who presided over various kinds of poesy, music,
etc. Their leader was Apollo, one of whose titles is Musegetes, the
Leader of the Muses.

NERVES, strings.

New Comedy, the Attic Comedy of Menander and his school, which
criticised not persons but manners, like a modern comic opera. See
Comedy, Ancient.

PALESTRA, wrestling school.

Pancratiast, competitor in the pancratium, a combined contest which
comprised boxing and wrestling.

Parmularii, gladiators armed with a small round shield (parma).

Pheidias, the most famous sculptor of antiquity.

Philippus, founder of the Macedonian supremacy, and father of Alexander
the Great.

Phocion, an Athenian general and statesman, a noble and high-minded man,
4th century B.C.

He was called by Demosthenes, "the pruner of my periods."

He was put to death by the State in 317, on a false suspicion, and left
a message for his son "to bear no grudge against the Athenians."

Pine, torment.

Plato of Athens, 429-347 B.C. He used the dialectic method invented by
his master Socrates.

He was, perhaps, as much poet as philosopher. He is generally identified
with the Theory of Ideas, that things are what they are by participation
with our eternal Idea. His "Commonwealth" was a kind of Utopia.

Platonics, followers of Plato.

Pompeii, near Mount Vesuvius, buried in the eruption of 79 A. D.

Pompeius, C. Pompeius Magnus, a very successful general at the end of
the Roman Republic (106-48 B.C.).

Prestidigitator, juggler.

Pythagoras of Samos, a philosopher, scientist, and moralist of the 6th
century B.C.

QUADI, a tribe of S. Germany.

M. Aurelius carried on war against them, and part of this book was
written in the field.

RICTUS, gape, jaws.

Rusticus, Q. Junius, or Stoic philosopher, twice made consul by M.
Aurelius.

SACRARY, shrine.

Salaminius, Book 7, XXXVII. Leon of Sala-mis. Socrates was ordered by
the Thirty Tyrants to fetch him before them, and Socrates, at his own
peril, refused.

Sarmatae, a tribe dwelling in Poland.

Sceletum, skeleton.

Sceptics, a school of philosophy founded by Pyrrho (4th century B.C.).
He advocated "suspension of judgment," and taught the relativity of
knowledge and impossibility of proof. The school is not unlike the
Agnostic school.

Scipio, the name of two great soldiers, P. Corn. Scipio Africanus,
conqueror of Hannibal, and P.

Corn. Sc. Afr. Minor, who came into the family by adoption, who
destroyed Carthage.

Secutoriani (a word coined by C.), the Sececutores, light-armed
gladiators, who were pitted against others with net and trident.

Sextus of Chaeronea, a Stoic philosopher, nephew of Plutarch.

Silly, simple, common.

Sinuessa, a town in Latium.

Socrates, an Athenian philosopher (469-399 B.C.), founder of the
dialectic method. Put to death on a trumped-up charge by his countrymen.

Stint, limit (without implying niggardliness).

Stoics, a philosophic system founded by Zeno (4th century B.C.), and
systematised by Chrysippus (3rd century B.C.). Their physical theory
was a pantheistic materialism, their summum bonum "to live according
to nature." Their wise man needs nothing, he is sufficient to himself;
virtue is good, vice bad, external things indifferent.

THEOPHRASTUS, a philosopher, pupil of Aristotle, and his successor as
president of the Lyceum. He wrote a large number of works on philosophy
and natural history. Died 287 B.C.

Thrasea, P. Thrasea Pactus, a senator and Stoic philosopher, a noble and
courageous man. He was condemned to death by Nero.

Tiberius, 2nd Roman Emperor (14-31 AD.). He spent the latter part of his
life at Capreae (Capri), off Naples, in luxury or debauchery, neglecting
his imperial duties.

To-torn, torn to pieces.

Trajan, 13th Roman Emperor, 52-117 A.D.

VERUS, Lucius Aurelius, colleague of M. Aurelius in the Empire.

He married Lucilla, daughter of M. A., and died 169 A.D.

Vespasian, 9th Roman Emperor XENOCRATES of Chalcedon, 396-314 B.C., a
philosopher, and president of the Academy.
