Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

“ This at least we know, that Stoicism inspired some of the noblest lives ever lived, left its humanizing impress upon the Roman Law, which we have inherited, and appeals in an especial way to some of the higher instincts of our nature. ”

“ They too are part of the Cosmos and subject to its limitations, and by our own loyalty to Destiny we contribute to the welfare and permanence of God himself. But a predestined Order of things involved fatalism, and the Stoics were hard put to it to maintain the complete freedom of the will.
Unfortunately the Stoic scheme left no room for Immortality. At most a soul could only exist till the next conflagration, when it must be absorbed again into the Primary Being. ”

“ To the Stoics the Universe—God and Matter— [13] was One, all Substance, unified by the close sympathy [14] and interdependence of the parts, forming with the rational Power, that was co-extensive with it, a single entity. The Primary Being, by means of its informing Force, [15] acting as igneous or atmospheric current [16] upon inert matter, evolved out of itself a Cosmos, subsequent modifications being by way of consequence. ”

“ How far did he succeed? "By nature a good man," says Dio, "his education and the moral training he imposed upon himself made him a far better one. [9] " "As was natural to one who had beautified his soul with every virtuous quality he was innocent of all wrong-doing." [10] The wonderful revelation here given of the ἄσκησις of the spiritual athlete in the contests of life is full of inspiration still even for the modern world. ”

“ As a matter of fact, Marcus has been condemned as a persecutor of the Christians on purely circumstantial and quite insufficient grounds. The general testimony of contemporary Christian writers is against the supposition. So is the known character of Marcus. His distinguishing characteristic, in which he excelled all recorded rulers, was humanity. ”

“ And the acquaintance of a man like Marcus Aurelius is such an imperishable benefit that one can never lose a peculiar sense of obligation towards the man who confers it. Apart from this however, Jeremy Collier's version deserves respect for its genuine spirit and vigour, the spirit and vigour of the age of Dryden. His warmth of feeling gave to his style an impetuosity and rhythm which from Mr. Long's style are absent." The real defect of Collier as a translator, adds Arnold, is his imperfect acquaintance with Greek. ”

“ But virtue must also show itself, like faith, in right actions. It means not only self-control but justice and benevolence to others and piety towards the Gods.
By the Gods Marcus sometimes means the controlling Reason, [38] sometimes, apparently, Gods in a more popular sense, such as are even visible to the eyes. [39] He often puts the alternative God (or Gods) and Atoms, [40] but himself firmly believes that there are immortal Gods [41] who care for mankind, live with them, and help even bad men. ”

“ More religious in character than any other Greek philosophy, it brought a new moral force into the world. It put intellectual speculation more into the background, and carried the moral attitude of the Cynics further into the domain of right conduct. ”

“ In yet another place (iii. 16) , in words that point still more conclusively to the Christians, he acknowledges that to own the Intelligence as ruler and guide to what is a clear duty is found also among "those who do not believe in Gods, and those who will not stand by their country, and those who do their (evil) work behind closed doors." Now all these three were the stock charges against Christians, and who can doubt they are hinted at here? Lastly there is the reference to exorcism (i. 6) , [7] in which Marcus says that Diognetus taught him to disbelieve. ”

“ Other Christian slaves in the royal household survived him. If he wished to put down Christianity, why did he not begin with his own palace and with Rome? [10]
So far from persecuting them, we know that as subordinate ruler with Pius [11] he was responsible for the letter to the Greek cities forbidding outrages against the Christians. The letter to the Common Assembly of Asia, given below, if authentic, emanated from him in conjunction with Pius or from him alone. Its genuineness in the main has been upheld by Harnack, and is certainly capable of defence. ”

“ It is certain, however, that the Stoic admission of slaves into the brotherhood of man had an ameliorating effect upon slavery, and the well-known bias of Marcus in favour of enfranchisement may well have been due to his creed. ”

“ That some Christians suffered for their religion in the reign of Marcus is most probable, though there is perhaps no single martyrdom attributed to this period of which the date [9] is certain beyond cavil. That there was in any sense a general persecution of the Christians at this time is contrary to all the facts. ”

“ The Stoics permitted suicide on the grounds of patriotism or philanthropy, poverty, incurable illness, senile decay, or when the true life could not otherwise be maintained, but Marcus only admitted the last Suidas (circa 900) quotes Marcus 29 times, and most probably refers to him without name on 30 other occasions. ”

“ For the history and doctrines of Stoicism besides the standard work of Zeller and the recent treatise on "Roman Stoicism" by E. V. Arnold, the following will be found useful:—N. Bach (mentioned above) 1826; H. Doergens, "de comparatione Antoninianae philosophiae cum L. Annaei Senecae," 1816; the admirable essay on Stoicism by G. H. Rendall prefixed to his edition of 1898; "Greek and Roman Stoicism" by C. H. S. Davis, 1903 ”

“ They indeed show the more outspoken confidence in their God, while you during the whole time of your apparent ignorance both neglect all the other Gods and the worship of the Ever-living One, [6] whose worshippers, the Christians, you in fact harass and persecute to the death. ”

“ Letter of Antoninus to the Common Assembly of Asia (about our religion) .
The Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus [Armenius [1] ] Pontifex Maximus, in the fifteenth year of his Tribunate, Consul for the third time, [2] to the Common Assembly of Asia greeting.
I am confident [3] that the Gods also look to it that such persons should not escape detection. For it is much more their concern than yours to punish those who refuse to worship them. But you harass these men, [4] and harden them in their conviction, to which they hold fast, by accusing them of being atheists. ”

“ Rome, vi. 44 Rufus, see Velius Rusticus, Stoic philosopher, teacher and intimate friend of Marcus, who, as praefectus urbi, condemned Justin to martyrdom; lessons learnt from him, self-discipline, contempt of dialectics, theoric, rhetoric, poetry and fine writing, not to be a prig, to cultivate good taste, simplicity in letter-writing, sweet reasonableness, care in reading, suspicion of volubility, and a knowledge of Epictetus, i. ”

“ Zeller also says that the Stoics imagined two sorts of motion, the one (= our Repulsion) tending outwards and giving rise to the qualities of matter, the other (our Attraction) tending inwards and causing condensation. ”

“ He was renowned as astronomer, physician and geometer Euphrates, mentioned as recently alive, x. 31. A Stoic philosopher much praised by Pliny (Ep. i. 10) who held that a philosopher should be a man of affairs, an administrator, and judge. Hadrian allowed him to commit suicide by drinking hemlock (Dido 69, 8, § 2) in 118 Euripides, quotations from, Bellerophon (Frag. 289 Dind.) ”

“ Marcus does not seem to use the word in the sense of Atmospheric Current unless XII. 30 affords an instance.
πνεύματα, what remains of things when ουσία, ψυχή, and νοερὰ ψυχὴ are subtracted, XII. 30
πνευματικόν,τό, the Soul (= τὸ πνευμάτιον) of which the πνεῦμα or breath element at death goes back into τὸ ἀερῶδες, and the νοῦς into τὸ πυρῶδες, IV. 4; Χ.7 ; XI. 20
πνευμάτιον, τό = (1) ψυχή (Soul) in its lower sense (σῶμα, πνευμάτιον, νοῦς, XII. 14) II. 2; VIII. 56; IX, 36; XII. 3, 14; (2) ψυχή in its higher sense, including the vous, V. 26. 33; VI. 14; IX. 8, 34; XII. 30 ”

“ Marcus has no clear view of the future of the soul, whether there is another life or (he merely puts the alternative) unconsciousness, iii. 3, or a different sort of consciousness, viii. 58; or extinction, vii. ”

“ Maecenas, the minister of Augustus and friend of Horace, viii. 31 Marcianus, an unknown philosopher, i. 6. There was a notable physician of this name (Martianus) in the time of Marcus Maximus, Claudius, a Stoic philosopher and teacher, highly esteemed by Marcus, whom he thanks the Gods that he knew, i. 17, § 10; whose character he draws as that of a perfect man, i. 15; his illness, i. 10 ad. fin.; survived by his wife, viii. 25 ”

“ R. Graves in 1792 remarks that it "abounds with so many vulgarities, anilities and even ludicrous expressions . . . that one cannot now read it with any patience." The comment of G. Long in 1862 is much the same, but it called forth an unexpected champion of the older translator in Matthew Arnold, who says: "Most English people, who knew Marcus Aurelius before Mr. ”

“ There were some egregious cases of voluntary martyrdom in Spain under the Moslems (see the present writer's Christianity and Islam in Spain, pp. 37 ff.) . See also the conduct of Callistus, afterwards Bishop of Rome. Hippolytus, Refut. ”

“ IX. 10, 42; x. 31, 32 (νοῦς καὶ λ.) ; right reason, (= virtue, Cic. Tusc. iv. 15. 34) , III. 6, 12; XI. 9; XII. 35; civic reason, IV. 29; IX. 12; common to Gods and men, VII. 53; λ. of Nature, IV. 29; v 32; VI. 58; VII. 10; common to all intelligent creatures, IV. 4; VII. 9; = a man's self (τὸ ἡγεμονικόν, q.v.) , VIII. 40; convincing reason II. 5; IV. 24; σπερματικοὶ λόγοι, of the Universe into which all things are taken back = seminal principles, IV. 14, 21; VI 24; = λόγος only, VII. 10; x. 7; λογικός, applied to ζῷον, ἡγεμονικόν, τέχνη, φύσις, ψυχή
οἴησις, self-conceit or illusion, iv. 12 ”

“ Marcus made him his assessor on the bench (so Suidas) and attended his lectures late in life (Philost. Vit. Soph., n. 9) Sextus Empiricus, of date uncertain but probably near the end of the 2nd century. He was an "empiric" physician and the great champion of Sceptical Philotophy, possibly quoted (adv. Math. iv. 81) , vi. 14; "all is vanity" (from Monimus, see also Menander; Sext. Emp. ii. 1) , ii. 15 Silvanus, an unknown philosopher of a previous age, x. ”

“ Schenkl in loc.) the quotation, "The Universe is transformation, and Life is opinion," iv. 3 Democritus of Abdera, death, by lice, iii. 3; "do not many things," iv. 24; "all things by law," vii. 31; atoms, vii. 31 (see also under "Epicurus") Dentatus (Wyse's emendation for Λεοννάτος) , conqueror of the Samnites and Pyrrhus, iv. 33 Diogenes, the Cynic, mentioned with Heraclitus and Socrates, viii. 3, as writer of plays, xi. ”

“ IX. 25; X. 7; XII. 30
πολιτικός, mostly = κοινωνικός. See κοινός
προαιρεσις, free will or choice. See under ἀπροαίρετα
προαιρετικόν, τό (= τὸ ἡγεμονικόν) , the faculty of choice, VIII. 56 προηγούμενον, τό, the leading or cardinal thing, VII. 55; VIII. 49; IX. 41. Marcus does not use the Stoic expression τὰ προηγμένα things preferential
πρόληψις = a primary conception possessed by all rational beings, Chrysippus in Diog. Laert. vii 53 (έννοια φυσικὴ τῶν καθ' όλου) . ”

“ Ecl. ii. 160) , impulse of the mind towards a thing (see ὄρεξις) , resulting in a πάθος
ὁσιότης = δικαιοσύνη πρὸς θεόν, piety, sanctity, holiness
οὐσία, Substance or Being, sometimes = ὕλη, matter; ) ( ψυχή, IV. 40
πάθος, the “affect” resulting through πεῖσις from ὁρμή, the second stage of ὄρεξις, which depends itself on assent (συγκατάθεσις) . Stobaeus defines it (Ecl. ii. 164) as a motion of the Soul contrary to Nature; παθολογεῖν. ”

“ Aesculapius, prescribes to his votaries, v. 8; definite sphere of work, vi. 43 Aesop, fable of, xi. 22, possibly taken from Horace Agrippa, war minister of Augustus, viii. 31 Alciphron (? the Sophist and writer of fictitious new comedy letters) , named as recently alive, x. 31 Alexander, the Grammarian of Cotiaeum, teacher and tutor of Marcus, i. 10; the Platonist ("Clay-Plato") , Greek secretary to Marcus in 174, a.d., i. 12; the Great, in. 3; vi. 24; viii. 3; ix. 29; x. 27 Annia Cornificia, sister of Marcus, (see Introd. p. xiv.) ”

“ Oed. Rex 1390, Epict. i. 24, 16) , xi. 6; "the house is smoky and I quit it" (suicide, Epict. i. 25, 18) , v. 29; "a soul deprived of truth only against its will" (Epict. i. 28, 4; ii. 22, 37; cp. Plato Rep. in. 412) , vii. ”

“ Programm der K. Studienanstatt, Zweibrücken, 1880/1.
⁠The same editor brought out an edition for the Teubner Series in 1882, and a second revised edition in 1903, with valuable introductions and index.
Nauck.—August Nauck, "De M. Antonini Commentariis," 1882, Bulletin de l' Académie impériale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg (28) , pp. 196–210. See also "Mélanges Gréco-Romains" ii. 743–5. ”

“ Cleanthes calls τόνος a πληγὴ πυρός
ὕλη, τὸ ὑλικόν, matter on which the αἴτιον (q.v.) acts
ὑποκείμενον, τό (or plural) , matter not in its primary condition but as formed by the αἴτιον, VII. 29; ὑποκειμένη ὕλη, ΙΧ. 36; all material things and objects, V. 10; vI. 4, 23; VIII. 22, 24: IX. 3; X. 18
ὑπεξαίρεσις, IV. 1; v. 20; VI. 50; XI. 37, exception or reservation; cp. "sapiens ad omnia cum exceptione (μεθ' ὑπεξαιρέσεως) veniet, si nihil inciderit, quod impediat (Seneca, De Benef. iv. 34)
ὑπόλήψις, opinion, imagination; all things are merely what we think them to be, II. 15 ”

“ Vampires or Ghouls, used by Socrates in the sense of "bugbears" (μορμολυκεῖα, Epict.) , xi. 23 Latinisms, ἵν’ οὕτως εἴπω, iv. 48; σιγιλλάρια, vii. 3; i. 5. Πρασιανός, etc.; i. 16, § 4, οὐερνάκλος Law, x. 25, 33, ad fin.; xi. 1, § 2; xii. 1; one, vii. 9; "all by law," vii. 31; same for God and man, viii. 2; equality of, i. 14 Left hand, let not, know what right hand does, v. 6, § 2; ix. 29 Letter-writing, i. 7, 12 Liar, xi. 1, 2 Life, a warfare, ii. 17 ”

“ Marcus, simple life, i. 3, 6; taught at home. i. 4; dislike of the "Games," i. 5; not superstitious, i. 6; a devout worshipper, xii. 28; writes dialogues, i. 6; learns humility, i. 7; eschews poetry, rhetoric, and fine writing i. 7, 17, cp. p. 346; reads Epictetus, i. 7; learns toleration, i. 9; tact, i. 10; love of his children, i. 13, 17; reads Stoic writers, i. 14; gratitude of, i. 17; disposition to do evil, i. ”

“ Marcus a man intensely eager for the common weal, xi. 13; his patrimony, 360; regret at adoption by Hadrian, 360; evils of sovranty, 360; resists popular clamour, 362; firmness of, 364; weeps, 368, 373; true to philosophy, 368 ”

“ Frag. 28) , xi. 38; elenchus on quarrelling (Socrates, (?) from Epictetus) , xi. 39; life a drama, (Epict. Man, 17) , xii. 36; Marcus plainly Epictetizes (Schol. to Codex D.) , ii. 1; cp. also v. 27 Epicurus, on intolerable pain, vii. 33, 64; account of his illness, ix. 41; atoms (see also Democritus) , vi. 10 (so Schol. to Codex D.) ; vii. 33; ix. 28; "to think on great men," xi. 26 (by emendation Ἐπικουρείων for Ἐφεσίων) Epitynchanus, possibly one of Hadrian's clientèle, viii. ”

“ Diotimus, a freedman or favourite of Hadrian, viii. 25, 37 Domitius (Dometius) , i. 13. The Domitii were maternal (adoptive) ancestors of Marcus
Empedocles, quoted, "the sphere," xii. 3; (?) viii. 41; ἀλλοίωσις, iv. 3; v. 15; ix. 19, 28 Epictetus, mentioned, vn. 19; his "Memorabilia," i. 7; "a little soul bearing a corpse" (Epict. Frag. 26) , iv. 41; ix. 24; "words of ill-omen" (Epict. iii. 24, 88, 89) , xi. 34; looking for impossibilities (Epict. iii. 24, 86, 87) , xi. 33; "no man can rob us of our free will" (Epict. iii. 22, 105) , xi. 36 ”