Meditations

In the first chapter of Book 8, Marcus laments that his opportunity to be a philosopher has slipped away. He will not be able “to win the reputation of a philosopher, and besides your station in life is a contrary pull” (76). He has not found “the good life” anywhere (76). Characteristically, Marcus does not elaborate on what has provoked his self-doubt, but in Chapter 7 of Book 11, he offers a contrary perspective: “How clearly it strikes you that there is no other walk of life so conducive to the exercise of philosophy as this in which you now find yourself!” (107). Here, though, he refers to famed Roman emperors as enslaved by their ambitions.

The shifting perspectives can make Marcus’s work puzzling to interpret. It is helpful to remember that Marcus’s Meditations are not meant to provide a comprehensive synthesis and response to philosophical works up to his time, or even necessarily to be read by anyone other than himself as he struggles day-by-day to live a virtuous life. From comments he makes elsewhere in the Meditations, he has read widely and is well-versed in core literary and philosophical texts of the Greek and Roman worlds. However, although Marcus is drawn to ethics, he himself admits that he did not undertake the full Stoic training, meaning studying its other two branches of logic and physics (what is today usually referred to as the “natural sciences”). Marcus’s approach is therefore one of practical self-direction, a kind of applied philosophy or philosophy as analogous to a medical treatment for the soul.

The self-doubt that opens Book 8 is not where Marcus lingers; rather, acknowledging his own limitations is an entry point into his familiar exercises and refrains: Living a virtuous life means living as the gods have ordained, which means practicing reason to control his thoughts and actions. Something is good if it leads to the practice of justice, self-control, bravery, and freedom from impulse and distorting thoughts. The praise of others and enjoyment of fine things do not contribute to virtue or bring him closer to his purpose to teach and tolerate others so as to work toward the common good during the short time that he is alive.