On Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations" from a high place

Photo by Nicholas Sorrenti on Unsplash

By Chilltown Blues

Where would lovers of dynasties be without the Roman Empire? Or, you know, perennially digging it up and slapping an English accent on it for extra hierarchical points? And Marcus Aurelius’ “Meditations,” in which he writes about the ideas he believes life boils down to, can be considered the marker of a high point; all the backstabbing, violence and pomp and circumstance of this “city on a hill (or seven)” subsided somewhat under one refined caesar/king whose Stoic philosophy offers an argument that someone with so much power can find a way to be ethically at peace with that. Or at least it offers that to those who tout it as a guidebook for life and business — alongside Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” and probably something about Warren Buffett, the USA’s most well-known pre-tech billionaire.