1: The year was 161 AD. Marcus Aurelius‘s adoptive father, Antoninus Pius, died, and Marcus was named Emperor of Rome, a position only fifteen people had ever held.
What was his first action as Emperor?
One hundred eighty-two years earlier, when Augustus became Emperor, he was advised to “get rid of young Caesarion, the son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra,” Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman write in their book Lives of the Stoics.
“It’s not good to have too many Caesars,” the advisor suggested.
“Nero had eliminated so many rivals that Seneca had to remind him that no king had it in his power to get rid of every successor,” Ryan and Stephen note.
Marcus Aurelius was in a tricky situation. “He had an adoptive brother, Lucius Verus, who had even closer ties to [the prior Emperor] Hadrian’s legacy.
“What ought he do?” the authors ask. “What would you do?”
What Marcus did was name his adoptive brother co-emperor.
“The first thing Marcus Aurelius did with absolute power was voluntarily share half of it,” Ryan and Stephen write.
“This alone,” they note, “would make him worthy of the kind of awe that King George III felt upon hearing that George Washington would return to private life—’ If he does that, sir, he will be the greatest man in the world. . .”
2: But this was just the first of many gestures that would define Marcus Aurelius, the stoic philosopher king.
In 165 AD, the Antonine Plague decimated the Roman Empire. “The streets were littered with bodies and danger hung in the air,” Ryan and Stephen write, and “no one would have faulted him for fleeing the city. In fact, it might have been the more prudent course of action.”
But that’s not what Marcus did.
He stayed in Rome, “braving it like the British royal family during the Blitz,” the authors note, “never showing fear, reassuring the people by his very presence that he did not value his safety more than the responsibilities of office.”
Later, the treasury of Rome had been severely reduced due to the ravaging plague and unceasing warfare with barbarians. Once again, Marcus Aurelius was faced with a difficult situation.
“He could have levied high taxes, he could have looted the provinces, he could have kicked the can down the road, running up bills his successors would have to deal with,” the authors write.
“Instead, Dio Cassius tells us, Marcus ‘took all the imperial ornaments to the Forum and sold them for gold. When the barbarian uprising had been put down, he returned the purchase price to those who voluntarily brought back the imperial possessions, but used no compulsion in the case of those who were unwilling to do so.’ ”
As Emperor, Marcus had unchecked control over Rome’s budget but never acted that way.
“As for us,” he once said to the Senate about his family, “we are so far from possessing anything of our own that even the house in which we live is yours.”
3: Near the end of Marcus’s life, he faced another difficult situation. His most trusted general, Avidius Cassius, had turned on him and was attempting a coup.
“Incredibly, Marcus decided the attempted coup was an opportunity,” Ryan and Stephen write.
“They could, he said to his soldiers, go out and ‘settle this affair well and show to all mankind there is a right way to deal even with civil wars.’
“It was a chance ‘to forgive a man who has wronged one, to remain a friend to one who has transgressed friendship, to continue faithful to one who has broken faith.’ ”
Avidius was killed by an assassin, likely looking to win favor with the Emperor.
Yet, Dio Cassius writes: Marcus “was so greatly grieved at the death of Cassius that he could not bring himself even to look at the severed head of his enemy, but before the murderers drew near gave orders that it should be buried.”
Back in Rome, he treated Avidius’s co-conspirators with leniency, including several senators who had actively endorsed the rebellion.
“I implore you, the senate, to keep my reign unstained by the blood of any senator,” Marcus appealed to those who lusted for vengeance on his behalf. “May it never happen.”
Marcus’s stoic philosophy of life and leadership was direct and to the point: “Do the right thing. The rest doesn’t matter.”
“No better expression or embodiment of Stoicism,” Ryan and Stephen write, “is found in his line (and his living of that line) than: “Waste no more time talking about what a good man is like. Be one.”
More tomorrow.
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Reflection: Am I facing a difficult situation? How would Marcus Aurelius have handled it?
Action: Journal about my answer to the questions above.
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