Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν
The private notebook of an emperor, written for nobody, on campaign, to steady himself.
Marcus Aurelius ruled Rome from 161 to 180 CE through plague, war and the deaths of most of his children, and he wrote these notes in Greek to steady himself—reminders, rebukes, arguments he needed to have with himself again the next morning. Because he never intended publication, it is the least performative religious text we have. Its Stoicism is practical: distinguish what is up to you from what is not; do the work in front of you; remember that you will die and that this is not a problem; treat other people as limbs of one body. It is the closest thing the West has to the Gita's ethic of duty without attachment, and it is here so that a reader can see that the Gita's counsel is not a Hindu peculiarity but something a Roman emperor arrived at alone in a tent.
Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil.
The morning practice of a man who had to run an empire.
In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present—I am rising to the work of a human being.
Beside Gita 3.35 on one's own duty, and Sarada Devi on work.
The best way of avenging thyself is not to become like the wrong-doer.
Kural 314 and Dhammapada 223.
Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.
Thomas 70 and Chāndogya 3.14.1.
If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it. And it is in thy power to wipe out this judgment now.
Yoga Sutra 2.33 and Sri Aurobindo's “stand back and say, I don't want this.”
Do not act as if thou wert going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over thee. While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good.
The Yaksha's question and kural 336, from a Roman tent.
If it is not right, do not do it: if it is not true, do not say it.
Taittirīya 1.11: speak the truth, practise dharma.
Where the translation is marked “Aumidhra”, the English is our own plain rendering from the original, made with the public-domain translations above as reference. Where a translator is named, the wording is theirs.
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