Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

V. MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS
HISTORY represents Marcus as discoursing for three
days to the assembled Senate the days preceding his
departure for his last campaign upon the principles of
philosophy and the way of virtue ; and modern philosophic
romance has drawn upon the Thoughts to dramatise the
scene in full. While such a resetting is interesting and
legitimate, and while it is possible to reproduce with
certainty the general
colour and contents which such
Imperial exhortations must have exhibited, we must not
be misled as to the true characters of the Thoughts them-
selves. These soliloquies were never meant, as some
would seem to think, for a set exposition of philosophy ;
neither are they a homily or treatise intended for edifica-
tion of readers or the ears of Roman Senators. For
adaptation to that purpose something must be put in,
and much must be left out. They belong to the privacy
of the closet, addressed to no eye or ear but his own
reminiscences, reflections, interrogations, admonitions
' To Himself' This is the one title that has any vestige
of authority, and it were well if they had been always
so described and known. They are a manual of personal
duty and of self-examination, by which a solitary soul,
charged with immense responsibilities, sought to under-