… tions.’ He almost seemed to think that the body tricked a person because the physical body senses pain and pleasure, two of the things he tried best to avoid. Neither of these things could affect a person’s soul, so he considered the soul far superior to the body. Aurelius’ view on death is very much like that of Democritus’. He viewed death simply as the dissolution of atoms, while Democritus believed that death was simply objects breaking apart. Aurelius also believed that the fear of death was useless, and that is was ignorant to fear something that one has never experienced before.
He considered death only one step of a cycle. Life was short, only a moment in the history of all that has been and all that will be. A person is born, lives a short while, dies, and becomes ashes. Since life is so short, it is important to appreciate what time a person does have, whether it is ten years, or one hundred. In the end, we all die, so it is of little importance how long we live, as long as we live well, in accordance with nature. He says that humans are ‘daily nearer to death,’ and that we must never put off living a reasonable life.
Even though a person may live a long time, a person’s perceptions and understanding of things end first, and all that is left is the inferior senses. Insignificant things such as posthumous fame (which he thought far too many people were concerned with) were worthless, also. The people who would remember a famous ruler or philosopher would soon be dead themselves, therefore completing the cycle. One’s time was better spent on obeying reason than trying to achieve fame at any point. Aurelius’ outlook on truth was that one should question everything that passes by, try to strip it to it’s bare minimum, and ask certain questions. Questions such as, what does this consist of? What does it change to? What will it be like when it changes? Will it sustain harm? Once these questions have been answered, one should try to categorize the object.
What kind of matter is this? What type of form is it in? What is it’s purpose in the universe? This is how one attains the truth. This method greatly resembles the dialectic, or the Socratic method, whose basic definition is to question everything. According to Aurelius, knowledge should be used to live the good life, where the days are spent living in accordance with reason, and obeying nature. One gains knowledge by questioning, and one should use his superior intelligence to help his brothers who may not be so fortunate as to be living the reasonable life.
Virtue, or ‘the good will,’ according it Aurelius, are such things as wisdom, justice, fortitude, and moderation. Attaining wisdom, pursuing justice, showing fortitude, and practicing moderation were all signs of a virtuous soul. Ignoring both pleasure and pain was also considered virtuous. One interesting point to mention is that Aurelius considered pain an opinion. An important belief in Stoicism was that a man is simply one small part of the whole universe. Therefore, if one person was hurt, then all people were affected, and hurt, also.
However, God would never create such a fault so that everything was hurt. So, there was no point when everyone in the universe hurt. In turn, one person couldn’t be hurt, either. Pain was an opinion, formed by one’s body, and an opinion that should be ignored. Pleasure, on the other hand, was false, and tried to lead a person from what is true, nature and reason. Both should be ignored if a person were to live a virtuous life as a Stoic.
Reason and nature were the most important virtuous things a person could attain. Aurelius also believed in numerous philosophies which do not fit into the above categories. For example, he believed that man should never think anything that he would be embarrassed to share with others. Inferior things exist for the sake of superior things.
Even things on earth which are considered by humans to be ugly are beautiful because they are natural. (Aurelius finds the cracks present in homemade bread beautiful, even though they are ‘contrary to the purpose of the baker.’ ) A person who commits generous acts and expects rewards from them is on the same level of a man who commits no such acts. The best way of getting revenge is not to become like the one who did harm. These are just some of the numerous miscellaneous philosophies found in Aurelius’ book. In order to become the person Aurelius eventually became, he needed the numerous teachers he received education from to help influence his views. Throughout his life, Aurelius was the pupil to many talented and famous philosophers.
An early teacher to Aurelius was Epictetus, the freed slave who was actually considered a philosopher. The two men have similar views on many theories, which is natural when one is the pupil of the other. Q. Junius Rustic us was also a teacher to Aurelius. He was the official teacher of philosophy to Aurelius, and later went on to become Aurelius’ advisor after the need for a teacher for Aurelius had diminished. Also, such philosophers as Socrates, Epicurus, Plato, Aristotle, and Homer are quoted in Meditations a great many times.
It does not seem as though Aurelius influenced a great many other people, or at least during his time. There were really no future rulers of Rome who were philosophers that shared his view. Starting from his son, Commodus, and on from there, the rulers of Rome were not the least bit philosophical. It seems that when Aurelius died, his way of ruling died with him. Aurelius was also considered one of the last, if not the last great Stoic. Aurelius definitely spent much time contemplating the law.
He considered the natural law the highest kind of law, but, as he was an emperor, he also was concerned with the laws of an empire. He was considered a caring and humane person to his brothers, as is necessary when one is a Stoic. Dealing with the equality of man, he realized that men were divided into classes, and he was ‘superior’ to others. However, as a Stoic, one should be satisfied with his job in life, and that should be enough to keep a man at peace with himself. And, if a man is tranquil and in accordance with nature, they were all equal in the eyes of God. And obviously, the government was of major concern to Aurelius, as he was emperor of what once was the greatest empire.
He did his best to keep the government an honest as possible, and tried to use it for the advantage of the people, which was it’s original purpose. Aurelius obviously was concerned with many different areas of both his empire and his religion. Marcus Aurelius, through his book Meditations, has attained something he scorned in principle – posthumous fame. Throughout his life, he was known as a generous emperor, and not considered to be a student in philosophy. After his death, however, his diary was discovered, and the true inner thoughts of Marcus Aurelius were published for the entire world to read.
Although the vast majority of the philosophies included in Aurelius’ book still hold true and make sense, we know that at least one was wrong. Aurelius believed that even posthumous fame was short-lived, for a person’s named is never carried from generation to generation. However, this melancholy collection of philosophies written by a lonely man centuries ago is still considered to be one of the most influential books ever written. Although he never received the opportunity to be a philosopher during his life, Marcus Aurelius certainly deserved the title.