Post

The Meditations were never meant to be published. I wrote them in Greek — not Latin, which was unusual for a Roman emperor — during military campaigns on the Danube frontier. The German tribes were pressing and I was pressing back, and in the evenings I wrote reminders to myself about how to behave.

Do not waste what remains of your life in thoughts about other people. Return to your principles when you stray from them. You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realise this, and you will find strength.

I was writing to myself, not to posterity. But since posterity has found them useful, I will not object. The whole point was that these are not exotic ideas requiring an emperor's particular circumstances. Anyone can try them.