ROMAN EMPEROR PHILOSOPHER---MARCUS AURELIUS AND STOICISM.

We had princes who turned into philosophers in Buddha and Mahavira but they come from tribal republics who were not war loving. But Can a Roman Emperor continuously trying to expand his empire and fighting against the enemies of his Empire be a Philosopher?  That looks impossible to us but history has many personages that look stranger than fiction. One such is Marcus Aurelius the Roman Emperor. He is a philosopher of Stoicism. If anyone has seen the movie Gladiator they would have seen Marcus Aurelius in action.  

Let us see what Stoicism is.  The founder of Stoicism was Zeno. He was born in Cyprus in 350 BC. He studied at the Platonic Academy in Athens. After that he established his own school in Athens at a place called Nova Stoicley, thus the name Stoicism to this philosophy. 

STOICISM: Surprisingly Stoicism is similar and reminds us of the teachings of the Bhagawadgita.

Stoics preached that happiness and sorrow belong to the outer world. They depend on the external circumstances. They do not come if we want and go if we want. They come and go by themselves. We should not be concerned with them. We have to control our mind and keep it free. We have to improve our patience.

Like a drop of water that does not touch wet a lotus leaf, man has to live. Action is for the sake of action itself and not for the sake of result. We should suppress all love, affection, fear and hatred and conquer our passions.

We can do anything without passion, and without any interest. Bad is not in the action we perform but it is in our mind. Even if we perform right actions with passion, then the act would in fact be bad. Dispassionate mind and lack of attachment are the most important.   

MARCUS AURELIUS: He was born in the year 121 AD. His father was the Head of the Judiciary at Rome. Aurelius had his first education with Rusticus, the Stoic philosopher. Aurelius was adopted by the Emperor Titus Antonius Pius as he did not have any male children, he married his daughter Faustina to him and proclaimed him to be the future Emperor.

Aurelius was introverted and most of the time was immersed in deep thought and reading. He preferred loneliness and rejected the kingly life, riches and pomp. He digested the sayings of the Cynics and the Stoics. He used to wear coarse clothes, ate ordinary food and slept on a cot without mattresses.

But all that was Aurelius’s interior.  To others he appeared normal. He learnt riding, swordsmanship and politics.

The Emperor Titus Antonius Pius died in 161 AD and Aurelius became Emperor. He left the kingdom in the hands of Lucius Verus who was also raised by the king along with him and immersed himself in philosophy. Unfortunately for him Verus died suddenly and Aurelius had to turn himself to the affairs of the kingdom.

Faustina bore him 13 children of which 8 died. The Empire became full of rebellions and was subjected to attacks by tribes. Then the plague claimed lots of the population. It is estimated that one third of the population so perished. He compiled his famous book “Meditations” in the battlefield tents while fighting the rebellions against the Empire. It is through this book that the contemporary philosophers learnt more about Stoicism.  

His commander Evideous Cassius in whom Aurelius has placed a great faith rebelled in Syria. The Emperor had to move against Cassius and put down the rebellion. One of the followers of Cassius murdered him, but Aurelius pardoned Cassius’s family and his other followers. There was a rumor that Faustina was also involved with the rebellion but Aurelius refused to believe it and when she died, he was heartbroken. He got an epitaph erected for her and put her golden idol there.  

He finally quelled all the rebellions on the Empire by 179 AD but died a year later. He reigned for 19 years and all the time he was in trouble but he confronted them with a stoic demeanor.