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00 - Introduction - The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius · The Philosophy Insights Collection

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  Introduction. Marcus Arnius Verus was born in Rome in eight e one hundred and
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  twenty one and assumed the name of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, by which he is
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  known to history, on his adoption by the Emperor to Aurelius Antoninus. He
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  succeeded to the imperial throne in one hundred and sixty one and ruled till his
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  death in one hundred eighty. His reign, though marked by justice and moderation
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  at home, was troubled by constant warfare on the frontiers of the Empire,
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  and Aurelius spent much of his later years in the uncongenial task of commanding armies
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  that no longer proved irresistible against the barbarian hordes. M Aurelius was educated by
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  the orator Fronto, but turned aside from rhetoric to study of the Stoic philosophy,
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  of which he was the last distinguished representative. The Meditations, which he
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  wrote in Greek, are among the most noteworthy expressions of this system, and
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  exhibited favorably on its practical side. His own precepts he carried out with singular
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  consistency, and both in his post public and his private life, he was
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  in the highest degree conscientious. He and his predecessor are noted as the only
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  Roman emperors who can be said to have ruled with a single eye to the
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  welfare of their subjects. During his reign, Rome was visited by a severe
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  pestilence, and this, with reverses suffered by his armies, threw the populace
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  into a panic and led them to demand the sacrifice of the Christians, whom
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  they regarded as having brought down the anger of the gods. Aurelius seems to
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  have shared the panic, and his record it's stained by his sanction of the
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  cruel persecution. This incident, in the career of the last and one of
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  the loftiest of the pagan moralists, may be regarded as symbolic of the dying
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  effort of Heathenism to check the advancing tide of Christianity. The meditations picture with
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  faithfulness the mind and character of this noblest of the emperors. Simple in style
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  and sincere in tone, they record for all time the height reached by pagan
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  aspirations in its effort to solve the problem of conduct, and the essential agreement
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  of his practice with his teaching proved that even in a palace, life may
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  be led well.