Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

v MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS cxxi
tone adjust themselves completely to the grave linea-
ments the sculptor has transcribed for us in stone, 1 the
countenance of reflective and enduring fortitude, not
so wholly sad but that it is tinged with the far-off vision
of fruitions not yet revealed, but possibly in store
for humankind ; acquainted sadly with the worth and
worthlessness of Csesarean estate ; not unaware of low
motives or mean men, yet bent on dispensation
of an
even justice to the conquered, the captive, or the
coward ;
'
2
a priest and minister of gods,' passing in an
imperial calm the proffered homage of barbarians and
the noisy plaudits of the crowd, 3 unelated, unillusioned,
and 'till god sounds the withdrawal, still ready for the
march.' 4
Throughout the Thoughts the moral standpoint is
imperial. It is not only or chiefly that the Ideal Prince
is set forth in the pattern of Antoninus, 5 that there are
references to Court life and its conditions, 6 or to the
duty
of 'the ram to the flock and the bull to the
herd ' 7
;
it is the moral climate of the whole, that which
makes the work unique in interest and use. Here is no
Stoic declamation about chains and racks, tyrants and
libertines, but a Caesar of Rome to whom the emptiness
of riches, the vanity of power, and the hollowness
of praise or fame 8 are not a topic but an experience
1 The reliefs from the Triumphal Arch of Marcus Aurelius, particularly
the scenes of Sacrifice and of Pardon.
2
iii. 4.
3
x. 34.
4
iii.
5.
5
i. 16, 17 ; vi. 30.
6 iv. 3 ; v. 16 ; vi. 12 ; viii. 9, 31 ; x. 27, etc.
7 xi. 18 (i) ; cf. iii. 5.
8 ii. 12, 17; iii. 6, 10 ; iv.
3, 19, 20, 33; v. 33; vi. 16; vii.
6 ; viii. 21, 44, 52, 53 ; ix. 30, 34 ; x. 34 ; xii. 8.