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That, and her characterization of Marcus Aurelius as a "misanthropic, warmongering emperor" and his Meditations as having been written "for his own edification"
by acabal 3y ago
That, and her characterization of Marcus Aurelius as a "misanthropic, warmongering emperor" and his Meditations as having been written "for his own edification" as if it were some kind of selfish or self-aggrandizing work worthy of dismissal.
As far as I was aware, Marcus Aurelius had a reputation as a wise and temperate philosopher king in his lifetime, and was later considered the last of the "five good emperors". If he was a warmonger then let us remind ourselves that even in the modern day our leaders have spent the last hundred years waging war somewhere or another in order to maintain a sphere of power too. And Meditations was in reality his private diary - like any regular person would routinely keep - and was not intended to ever be published. Characterizing it like she did is uncharitable at best and misleading at worst.
(Meditations is also an excellent read for those interested in Stoic philosophy.)
- nverno 3y agoThat line stuck in my craw as well. I can't reconcile her characterization of the man or what I've read from Meditations- it seems almost polar opposite to how I would describe it. In my mind he was about as ideal a leader one could hope for (judging from his writings alone).
- Viliam1234 3y ago> the last of the "five good emperors" This is less of a compliment than it may sound like, because it is his own fault that he was the last. The previous good emperors each selected their own equally good successors (by adopting them, so that they technically became their "heirs"). Marcus ignored this tradition and left the empire to his crazy biological son, who immediately ruined it.
- vondur 3y agoI don't think Marcus Aurelius had much of a choice in the matter. If he didn't leave his son as heir, a civil war would have broken out. He probably looked at the example of the year of the four emperors and decided that was a worse choice...