"The List"; or "How To Think Like An Emperor"

The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) took time to record with gratitude the wisdom received from significant individuals in his life (see previous post). A reader should be challenged to consider “who” has contributed “what” in one’s own life when reading similar matter as that found in in “The Meditations.” 

Marcus Aurelius does not merely give a roster of people and things, but creates a kind of an album where the reader gets a real sense of who these people were by their imparted wisdom. They seem almost familiar. There is also a kind of praise for the people he apparently admires. He heard their words, saw how they lived and was influenced by them.

What follows is a summative outline of The Emperor’s list (as I understand it) emphasizing wherever possible the shared wisdom and/or how life principles were modeled in such a way that impacted him.

As you skim the list, be aware if you are suddenly reminded of ways someone who invested in you, directly or indirectly. Have you shown gratitude for who they are and what they have done? Make a list for yourself as you read:

1. Verus (grandfather): “I learned good morals and the government of my temper.”

2. Father: “modesty and a manly character."

3. Mother:

• Wisdom: Piety, beneficence, abstinence, “not only from evil deeds, but even from evil thoughts”; 
• Observations [modeled for him]: “simplicity in my way of living, far removed from the habits of the rich.”

4. Great-grandfather: “not to have frequented public schools, and to have had good teachers at home, and to know that on such things a man should spend liberally.”

5. Tutor:

• Don’t play at politics, favoring one side over another even when entertained. 
• Work hard with your own hands, want little, 
• Don’t “meddle with other people's affairs, and not to be ready to listen to slander.”

6. Diognetus:

• Don’t busy with “trifling things”, be skeptical;
• Don’t gamble;
• “Endure freedom of speech,” become “intimate with philosophy”; 
• Listen to teachers and write; 
• Let your lifestyle match what you think. 

7. Rusticus:

• “the impression that my character required improvement and discipline”;
• Don’t be deceptive to make a point;
• Don't write about what you don’t know, speak just to be heard or be a show off in order to be noticed;
• Don’t be lazy;
• Write simply;
• Reconcile quickly with those who offend or do wrong;
• Read carefully, to understand;
• Don’t quickly assent to a fast-talker
• “and I am indebted to him for being acquainted with the discourses of Epictetus, which he communicated to me out of his own collection.”

8. Apollonius:

• “freedom of will and undeviating steadiness of purpose”; 
• Use Reason;
• Have integrity; 
• Find someone who: 
• “can be both most resolute and yielding, and not peevish in giving his instruction”; 
• has “clearly considered his experience and his skill in expounding philosophical principles as the smallest of his merits”
• Can teach “how to receive from friends what are esteemed favours, without being either humbled by them or letting them pass unnoticed.”

[Comment: while writing the above comments, Aurelius may have been led to remember . . . ]

9. Sextus:

• Wisdom: have a “benevolent disposition”
• Observation [Sextus modeled for him]: 
• “the example of a family governed in a fatherly manner, and the idea of living conformably to nature; 
• Effortless, genuine seriousness;
• “look carefully after the interests of friends”;
• “tolerate ignorant persons, and those who form opinions without consideration”;
• Be readily available, without flattery, highly venerated in community;
• Intelligently and methodically ordered life;
• Without anger, free from passion but affectionate; without “noisy display”
• Express knowledge without desire to impress. 

10. Alexander the grammarian [a linguist]: refrain from fault-finding; use tact to correct, confirm or answer someone in error.

11. Fronto: how wicked, immoral, “cold” the upper class can be.

12. Alexander the Platonic:

• Don’t complain about having no leisure;
• Don’t neglect duty with lame excuses. 

13. Catulus

• Observation [modeled for him]: was not “indifferent when a friend finds fault, even if he should find fault without reason” but tried to restore his friend
• Wisdom: 
• “be ready to speak well of teachers”
• “love my children truly. “

14. Severus (brother [most likely a cousin]):

• Observation [modeled] 
• Love for kin, truth, and justice; 
• “Network” with statesmen; 
• “from him I received the idea of a polity in which there is the same law for all . . . with regard to equal rights and equal freedom of speech, and the idea of a kingly government which respects most of all the freedom of the governed.”
• “no concealment of his opinions with respect to those whom he condemned, and that his friends had no need to conjecture what he wished or did not wish, but it was quite plain.”
• Wisdom: 
• Have philosophical consistency; 
• “a disposition to do good, and to give to others readily, and to cherish good hopes, and to believe that I am loved by my friends”

15. Maximus [modeled for him]:

• Self-government, “and not to be led aside by anything”; 
• “cheerfulness in all circumstances”
• “do what was set before me without complaining”
• “I observed that everybody believed that he thought as he spoke, and that in all that he did he never had any bad intention”
• “he never showed amazement and surprise, and was never in a hurry, and never put off doing a thing, nor was perplexed nor dejected, nor did he ever laugh to disguise his vexation, nor, on the other hand, was he ever passionate or suspicious.” 
• “He was accustomed to do acts of beneficence, and was ready to forgive, and was free from all falsehood; and he presented the appearance of a man who could not be diverted from right rather than of a man who had been improved.”
• “No man could ever think that he was despised by Maximus, or ever venture to think himself a better man. He had also the art of being humorous in an agreeable way.”

16. “In my father I observed . . .” [here he means the preceding Caesar, Antioninus Pius or Hadrian]

• “mildness of temper, and unchangeable resolution” after making a decision; 
• “no vainglory in those things which men call honours”; 
• “a love of labour and perseverance”; 
• “readiness to listen to those who had anything to propose for the common weal”
• “undeviating firmness in giving to every man according to his deserts”; 
• “knowledge derived from experience of the occasions for vigorous action and for remission.” 
• “he had overcome all passion for boys’ ; 
• “he considered himself no more than any other citizen”; 
• Did not force friends into obligations 
• “his habit of careful inquiry in all matters of deliberation, and his persistency, and that he never stopped his investigation through being satisfied with appearances which first present themselves”; 
• “His disposition was to keep his friends, and not to be soon tired of them, nor yet to be extravagant in his affection”; 
• “be satisfied on all occasions, and cheerful”; 
• Plan ahead and prepare for contingencies; 
• Avoid “popular applause and all flattery”; 
• Be a watchful administrator and responsible manager of resources
• Not superstitious;
• Handle matters seriousness and with sobriety; 
• Use what you have without arrogance and go without if you lack. Do not covet. 
• Behave in such a way people speak well of you. 
• Be “easy in conversation, and . . . agreeable without any offensive affectation.”
• Take care of the body and appearance. 
• Don’t be envious of someone who may be better, be of assistance when possible; 
• Perform duties on time, at the right time; 
• Don’t be distracted with possessions, food, textures, colors. 
• Both abstain and enjoy