Last month when I read Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations, it reminded me of a series of pep talks and sometimes it even made me laugh out loud.
“Don’t be irritated at people’s smell or bad breath. What’s the point? With that mouth, with those armpits, they’re going to produce that odor.
– But they have a brain! Can’t they figure it out? Can’t they recognize the problem?
So you have a brain as well. Good for you. Then use your logic to awaken his. Show him. Make him realize it. If he’ll listen, then you’ll have solved the problem. Without anger.“
Marcus Aurelius was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and most likely penned Meditations in the 170s. He is generally known as a Stoic philosopher, though he had other influences. After I read his writings (translated by Gregory Hays) I went back to Hays’ introduction to get an idea of the context and see what else I could learn about Marcus Aurelius and about Stoicism.
Hays writes that in ancient Greece and Rome religion “privileged ritual over doctrine and provided little in the way of moral and ethical guidelines. Nor did anyone expect it to. That was what philosophy was for.”
One such school of philosophy was Stoicism, founded in Athens by Zeno (332/3 – 262 BC). His successor was Cleanthes (331-232 BC) who was followed Chryssipus (280 – c. 206 BC). Chryssipus systematized the teachings of Stoicism and wrote extensively.
Stoics viewed the world as rational and coherent, governed by a force called the logos. In individuals we might liken the logos to reason and in the universe to Providence. However, the logos also had a physical embodiment called the pneuma, the vital force found in all things. Objects in the world are constantly being destroyed and reintegrated into the logos.
Chryssipus divided knowledge into three areas: logic, physics, and ethics. The early Stoics were interested in the nature of the physical world, logic, etymology, and later history and anthropology.
Stoicism came to Rome with the Hellenization of the aristocracy beginning around 200 BC. Panaetius (c. 185 to 109 BC) and Posidonius (c. 135 – 50 BC) were two Greek Stoic philosophers who lectured in Rome. Part of the appeal of Stoicism was its approval of participation in public life. For the Romans Stoicism became a practical discipline, more than an abstract system of thought as Zeno had taught. The idea of someone being “stoic” when they face misfortune calmly comes from this Roman version of Stoicism.
A famous Roman Stoic was Cato the Younger who sided with Julius Caesar’s rival Pompey and killed himself when Caesar triumphed. He quickly became a symbol of Stoic resistance to tyranny. Seneca the Younger was another influential Roman Stoic, particularly because he wrote his philosophical views in Latin. Gaius Musonius Rufus (c.30-100) and Epictetus (c. 55 – c. 135) were Stoic philosophers not from the upper classes. Epictetus’s teachings were written down by Arrian (c. 86 – 160).
Marcus Aurelius was particularly influenced by Epictetus, whose philosophy was “a radically stripped down version of its Hellenistic predecessor.”
Marcus Aurelius was mainly concerned with metaphysics and ethics, rather logic and physics. Central to his philosophy are the disciplines of perception, action, and will. The discipline of perception requires “that we see things dispassionately for what they are” (Hays). Impressions are neutral, but our interpretations can be problematic (such as designating things “good” or “evil”). The discipline of action involves our cooperation with other people and participation in the logos; we ought to live “as nature requires” and treat others justly (that is, as they deserve, not necessarily as equals). Finally, the discipline of will involves accepting the things that are outside our control, which can only harm us if we allow them to.
I realize that this was just a brief overview of Stoicism. If you’re interested in learning more, Meditations is a pretty quick read and gives you lots to think about. I’ll leave you with one more quotation from Marcus Aurelius.
“People ask, ‘Have you seen the gods you worship? How can you be sure they exist?’
Answers:
i. Just look around you.
ii. I’ve never seen my soul either. And yet I revere it.
That’s how I know the gods exist and why I revere them — from having felt their power, over and over.”