Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius was emperor of Rome at the height of its power. He was also, by every account, a thoughtful and reluctant ruler. Every night, in tents along the Danube frontier or in palaces in Rome, he wrote brief Greek notes to himself, reminders of how to act — how to bear insults, how to face death, how not to be corrupted by power.

These notes, never meant for publication, became the Meditations: twelve short books of aphorisms that together form perhaps the most personal philosophical text ever written. There is no system, no argument; just an honest man trying to live well according to the Stoic principles he had inherited.

He is the answer to the question what does Stoic philosophy actually look like in a human life? He grieved, he doubted, he was often weary. He kept showing up.