Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius

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The philosophical thought of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius represents the reflection of the last great exponent of the Stoic doctrine, belonging to the so-called new Stoa or "Roman Stoicism". His philosophy retraces the Stoic attitude, starting from the withdrawal into oneself, aided by political activism, following the Fate. The celebration of interiority is clearly evident from the title of his only written work, the Meditations, also known as Thoughts, Memoirs, or To Himself. Marcus Aurelius wrote the twelve books that make up the work between 170 and 180, during breaks from his numerous travels, in Greek of the koinè, as an exercise for his own guidance and self-improvement, influenced by some of his youth teachers who had pushed him towards philosophy; among them Quintus Junius Rusticus, Diognetus, Claudius Maximus, and Apollonius of Chalcedon, remembered in Book I. The literary style is inspired by that of the grammarian Alexander of Cotiaeum, another of his tutors, as Marcus...

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