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We begin with this phrase: “Faced with the meaninglessness of the world and its outdated reality, the only way left for the wise man is to withdraw into himself, which gives meaning to his own individual existence.” Marcus Aurelius (Rome, 121-Vindobona (modern Vienna), 180) was an emperor of the Roman Empire from the year 161 until the year of his death.
His government was marked by military conflicts in Asia and in Germania Superior and in Gaul and along the Danube. During the period of his empire he had to face a revolt in the eastern provinces led by Avidius Cassius. From 177 he ruled alongside his son Commodus, who would succeed him.
Marcus Aurelius’s great work is Meditations, written during the campaigns of the 170s. It is still considered a monument to perfect government. It is often described as “a work written exquisitely and with infinite tenderness.”
His Meditations are considered a literary monument to a government in the service of duty. It is a work that has been praised for its exquisite accent and sweetness. Like many of the emperors of Rome, Marcus Aurelius was loved by his people.
The book was first published in 1558 in Zurich, transcribed from a manuscript that is now lost. The copy of the lost manuscript is in the Vatican Museums.
The importance of death was loaded with great meaning in Stoic philosophy, although he did not believe in life after death. In one of his works, Marcus Aurelius writes:
“We live for an instant, only to fall into complete oblivion and the infinite void of time of this part of our existence.” “Think of what they have done, after a life of relentless enmity, suspicion, hatred… now they are dead and reduced to ashes.”
According to Marcus Aurelius, everything ends up being forgotten, even legends. He is considered one of the most representative figures of Stoic philosophy along with Seneca and Epictetus.
Stoicism is a philosophical school founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens at the beginning of the 3rd century BC. It is a philosophy of personal ethics based on your logical system and your views on the natural world.
The Stoics believed that everything around them operated according to a law of cause and effect that gave the universe a rational structure. They thought that people “can’t control what happens around us, but we can control what we think about these events” instead of imagining a falsely positive ideal society.
His philosophical doctrine was based on the mastery and control of facts, things and passions that disturb life, using the courage and reason of personal character. As rational beings, their goal was to achieve, based on tolerance and self-control, eudaimonia (happiness or bliss) and the wisdom in accepting the moment as it presents itself, by not allowing oneself to be dominated by the desire for pleasure, immediate reward or fear of pain; In short, it is about using the mind to understand the world and embrace the plan of nature
The Stoics are especially known for teaching that “virtue is the only good” for human beings, and that those external things, such as health, wealth, and pleasure, are not good or bad in themselves but have value as ” material for virtue to act.”
Along with Aristotelian ethics, the Stoic tradition constitutes one of the main foundational approaches to virtue ethics. The Stoics thought that the best indication of an individual’s philosophy was not what he said but how he behaved.
Stoicism influenced numerous later philosophical currents, from the early Church Fathers to Descartes and Kant.
The early fathers of the Church admired the ethics of Stoicism, which they considered especially close to their own; His calm, his serenity, as well as his position in the face of adversity caused some Christians such as Tertullian to treat Stoics such as Seneca in the terms of “saepe noster” (“often, one of our own”), while Saint Jerome considered him included in his catalog of saints.
The legend even spread that Seneca had been baptized before dying by Saint Paul, with whom he also maintained a correspondence.
During the Renaissance, Stoicism gained diffusion among the humanist and university currents. Calvin’s first work was an edition of Seneca’s De clementia , and references to new Stoicism are constant in Erasmus, Juan Luis Vives and Michel de Montaigne. At this time the stoic vital attitude was revalued.
