One of the great Stoic Philosophers of history, Marcus Aurelius is oft touted as a “Philosopher King”, a great leader of men, and is the writer of the book “Meditations” which is the subject of today’s reading. It has been on my reading list for some time, and while I have read parts of it, I’ve never finished the whole book. Today marks chapter one in that adventure, where I will share my thoughts on the book and its contents, including important quotations, thoughts, and meditations on the personal notes of a historic legend.
“From Rusticus I received the impression that my character required improvement and discipline.”
The first chapter of Meditations is a detailed list of teachers and things learned by Aurelius, and they are beautifully stated. While I don’t see a proper order to the list, I do note some interesting details, including the listings for his grandfather:
“From my grandfather Verus, I learned good morals and the government of my temper.”
The very first acknowledgement went to the man who taught him good morals and to control his temper. Imagine the importance of these to things that when you sit down to write, the first person you think of is the one who taught you this.
It’s a powerful acknowledgment, and speaks to the importance of both things.
Secondly, the longest portion of the book seems devoted to Aurelius’ father, Marcus Annius Verus. This fascinates me, because historians believe he would have died around the time that Aurelius was 3-4 years old. Marcus speaks both of his memory:
“From the reputation and remembrance of my father, modesty and a manly character.”
As well as his own personal observations, which I can only assume were things told to him by his family and friends.
Another point of not is from his great grandfather, from whom he learned:
“Not to have frequented public schools, and to have good teachers at home, and to know that on such things a man should spend liberally,”
I find this to be one of Aurelius’ most important lessons, even carried into the modern age. It is so important, even in our older years, not only to continue learning but to surround ourselves with GOOD teachers. To spend good money to learn the skills and information necessary to succeed.
The last point I’ll touch on is Rusticus (you may have noted the quote from above).
“And from him I learned not to be led astray by sophistic emulation, nor to writing on speculative matters, nor to delivering little hortatory orations, nor to showing myself off as a man who practices much discipline, or does benevolent acts in order to make a display”
And man, that’s a hard hitting point. A lot of modern culture has centered in on discipline or oration as strong strong points in a masculine person, and yet here Aurelius tells us not to fall into the practice of “hortatory orations” or showing yourself off as “a man who practices much discipline”.
To some this might seem devoid of wisdom. But it’s important to not exact wording. Hortatory oration would be an attempt to convince others through words to be or do something a certain way. Now, it’s possible Aurelius was implying that he did not have skill in speaking, but given the quality of his written words, I find this less likely than him saying “hey, it’s a waste of time trying to convince people to do things they don’t want to. Lead by example.”
In keeping with that, he doesn’t say “don’t have discipline” he says “don’t show off”. After all, if you are disciplined, you’re disciplined for YOUR benefit. You force your body to be under the control of your mind, your will, and thus strengthen both. There is no need to show it off, it’s not for other people to know.
So there you have it, my basic thoughts on chapter 1. I’ll be posting more of these in the following days, so stay tuned!
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