Book I

1 From my grandfather Verus: good character and freedom from anger.

2 From the reputation and memory of my father: modesty and manliness.

3 From my mother: piety and generosity, and refraining not only from doing wrong but even from thinking of it; and simplicity in her way of living, far removed from the habits of the rich.

4 From my great-grandfather: not to have attended the public schools, but to have had good teachers at home, and to have learned that on such things one should spend generously.

5 From my tutor: not to have become a partisan of the Greens or the Blues at the races, or of the light or the heavy shields at the games;¹ to bear hardship and need little; to do my own work and not meddle in other people's affairs; and to be slow to listen to slander.

6 From Diognetus: not to waste my energy on trifles; not to believe what miracle-workers and charlatans say about spells and the driving out of spirits and the like; not to keep fighting quails or be excited about such things; to tolerate plain speaking; to become at home with philosophy, and to hear first Baccheius, then Tandasis and Marcianus; to write dialogues as a boy; and to want the plank bed and the hide, and everything else that belongs to the Greek discipline.²

7 From Rusticus: to become aware that my character needed correction and care; not to be led astray into the ambitions of the sophists, nor to write treatises on abstract questions, nor to deliver little moralising sermons, nor to make a show of myself as the man of strict discipline or of tireless activity so as to impress people;

to keep away from rhetoric, poetry and fine language; not to walk about the house in formal dress, nor to do anything of that kind; to write letters simply, like the one he himself wrote to my mother from Sinuessa;

to be easily reconciled with those who have been angry with me or wronged me, as soon as they themselves are willing to come back; to read carefully, and not be satisfied with a general idea, nor be quick to agree with those who talk too much; and to have come to know the Discourses of Epictetus, which he gave me from his own library.

8 From Apollonius: freedom of mind and steady resolve, leaving nothing to chance; to look to nothing else, not even for a moment, but to reason; to be always the same, in sharp pain, in the loss of a child, in long illness; to see clearly in a living example that the same man can be both very intense and relaxed;

not to be impatient in explaining things; to see a man who plainly regarded his experience and skill in teaching philosophy as the least of his merits; and to learn how to accept what pass for favours from friends without being made servile by them or letting them go unacknowledged.

9 From Sextus: kindliness; the example of a household governed in a fatherly way; the idea of living according to nature; dignity without affectation; close attention to the interests of friends; patience with the ignorant and with those who form opinions without reflection;

the ability to suit himself to everyone, so that his company was more pleasant than any flattery, while at the same time those who were with him held him in the highest respect; a clear and methodical way of discovering and ordering the principles necessary for life;

never to show a sign of anger or any other passion, but to be at once wholly free from passion and full of affection; to praise without noise, and to be very learned without display.

10 From Alexander the grammarian: not to find fault, and not to pounce reproachfully on those who use a foreign word, a solecism or an awkward expression, but tactfully to introduce the right expression in the course of an answer, or of a confirmation, or of a discussion of the matter itself rather than of the word, or by some other graceful reminder of this kind.

11 From Fronto: to observe how much envy, double-dealing and hypocrisy belong to a tyrant, and that, for the most part, those whom we call patricians are somehow lacking in natural affection.

12 From Alexander the Platonist: not often, nor without necessity, to say to anyone or write in a letter, "I am too busy", nor in this way continually to excuse myself from the duties owed to those around us, on the plea of pressing affairs.

13 From Catulus: not to disregard a friend's complaint, even if it happens to be unreasonable, but to try to restore him to his usual disposition; to speak warmly in praise of one's teachers, as is recorded of Domitius and Athenodotus; and to love one's children truly.

14 From my brother Severus:³ love of family, love of truth and love of justice; to have come through him to know Thrasea, Helvidius, Cato, Dion and Brutus;⁴ and to have formed the idea of a state with the same law for all, governed by equal rights and equal freedom of speech, and of a monarchy that values above all the freedom of its subjects;

from him too: consistency and steadiness in honouring philosophy; doing good, giving generously, being hopeful, and trusting in the love of friends; frankness towards those whom he found at fault; and that his friends never had to guess what he wanted or did not want, but it was plain.

15 From Maximus: self-mastery and not being swayed by anything; cheerfulness in all circumstances, and in illness too; a well-balanced character, gentle and dignified; doing what lies before one without complaint;

that everyone believed that he thought what he said, and that whatever he did, he did with no bad intent; never to be astonished or startled, never hurried or hesitant or at a loss, never downcast or forcing a smile, nor again angry or suspicious;

to be beneficent, forgiving and truthful; to give the impression of a man who is straight rather than one who has been straightened; that no one would ever have thought himself looked down on by him, nor would have dared to think himself his superior; and to be pleasantly witty.

16 From my father:⁵ gentleness, and unshakable firmness in decisions reached after due examination; indifference to vain glory in what pass for honours; love of work and perseverance; readiness to listen to anyone who had something to contribute to the common good; giving each man unswervingly what he deserved; knowing from experience when there was need of tension and when of relaxation;

putting a stop to the love affairs of young men; consideration for others, and releasing his friends from any obligation to dine with him or to accompany him on his journeys, while those who had stayed behind for some reason always found him the same; careful and persistent inquiry in council, never breaking off the investigation content with first impressions; keeping his friends, never tiring of them nor being infatuated with them; being self-sufficient in everything, and cheerful;

foreseeing things from afar and arranging the smallest matters beforehand without fuss; checking acclamations and every kind of flattery directed at him; always guarding the resources the empire needed, being sparing in public expenditure and putting up with the criticism this brought; no superstition towards the gods, and towards men no courting of the people, no eagerness to please, no pandering to the crowd, but sobriety and steadiness in everything, never vulgar, never a lover of novelty;

using the things that make life comfortable, of which fortune gave him plenty, without arrogance and without apology, so that he enjoyed them without affectation when they were there and did not miss them when they were not; that no one could have called him a sophist, a pert slave or a pedant, but rather a mature man, complete, above flattery, able to govern both his own affairs and those of others.

Besides this: honouring those who truly practised philosophy, without reproaching the others or being led astray by them; being easy and pleasant company, but not to excess; taking reasonable care of his body, not as one who clings to life, nor for the sake of appearances, nor yet neglecting it, so that by his own attention he hardly ever needed a doctor, medicines or ointments;

above all, giving way without envy to those who had some special ability — in eloquence, say, or in knowledge of the laws, of customs or of other matters — and helping them eagerly, so that each might win renown according to his own gifts; doing everything according to ancestral custom, yet without trying to be seen guarding ancestral custom.

Further: not being restless or changeable, but keeping to the same places and the same affairs; after his attacks of headache, returning at once fresh and vigorous to his usual work; having few secrets — very few and rare, and those only concerning public affairs; being prudent and measured in the provision of public spectacles, in public building, in largesses and the like, as a man who looks to what has to be done, not to the reputation to be won by doing it.

He did not bathe at odd hours, was not fond of building, was not particular about his food, nor about the weave and colour of his clothes, nor about the good looks of his slaves. His clothing came from his country house at Lorium, most of his things from Lanuvium; there was the way he treated the tax-collector at Tusculum who apologised to him — such was his whole manner.

There was nothing harsh in him, nothing implacable or violent, nothing of which one could say "he has broken into a sweat"; everything was weighed separately, as if at leisure, calmly, in order, vigorously and consistently. What is told of Socrates would suit him too: that he could both abstain from and enjoy those things which most people are too weak to abstain from and too self-indulgent in enjoying.

To be strong and to endure and to keep sober in both is the mark of a man with a perfect and invincible soul, as he showed in the illness of Maximus.

17 From the gods: to have had good grandparents, good parents, a good sister, good teachers, good companions, kinsmen and friends — nearly all of them good; and that I did not stumble into giving offence to any of them, although I had a disposition that might well have led me to do something of the kind if the occasion had arisen; it is a kindness of the gods that no combination of circumstances arose to put me to the test.

That I was not brought up any longer with my grandfather's concubine; that I kept the bloom of my youth, and did not become a man before the time, but even put it off for a while.

That I was subject to a ruler and a father who was to strip me of all vanity and bring me to understand that it is possible to live in a palace without needing bodyguards, embroidered robes, torches, statues and such pomp, and that one can live very nearly like a private citizen without being on that account more humble or more negligent in the duties a ruler must perform for the common good.

That I had a brother⁶ whose character could rouse me to care for myself, while he delighted me with his respect and affection; that my children were not born dull-witted or deformed in body; that I made no further progress in rhetoric, poetry and the other pursuits in which I might perhaps have become absorbed, if I had felt myself advancing easily.

That I lost no time in raising those who brought me up to the honours they seemed to desire, and did not put it off in the hope that, since they were still young, I would do it later; that I came to know Apollonius, Rusticus and Maximus.

That I have had clear and frequent conceptions of what the life according to nature is, so that, as far as the gods and their gifts, help and inspiration are concerned, nothing prevents me from living according to nature now; and if I still fall short of it, it is through my own fault, and because I do not heed the reminders, indeed almost the instructions, of the gods;

that my body has held out so long in such a life; that I did not touch Benedicta or Theodotus, and that later too, when I fell into the passions of love, I was cured of them; that, though I was often angry with Rusticus, I never did anything more that I would have regretted; that my mother, though she was to die young, nevertheless spent her last years with me.

That whenever I wished to help someone in poverty or in any other need, I never heard that I had no money to do it with; and that I never fell into such need myself as to have to take help from another; that my wife is what she is, so obedient, so affectionate, so simple; that I had plenty of good tutors for my children.

That remedies were given to me in dreams, especially against spitting blood and dizziness, and that at Caieta, as from an oracle;⁷ that when I set my heart on philosophy I did not fall into the hands of some sophist, nor sit down to write treatises, or to analyse syllogisms, or to busy myself with the phenomena of the heavens. For all these things "need the help of the gods and of fortune".

Written among the Quadi, on the Gran.⁸

1. The Greens and the Blues were the rival factions of the chariot races; the "light shields" and "heavy shields" were classes of gladiators, each with its own supporters. ↩
2. The austere life of the philosophers, who slept on a plank covered with a skin. ↩
3. Probably Claudius Severus, a Peripatetic philosopher and friend of Marcus. ↩
4. Statesmen and philosophers remembered for their resistance to tyranny. ↩
5. Antoninus Pius, emperor from 138 to 161, who adopted Marcus. ↩
6. Lucius Verus, Marcus' adoptive brother and co-emperor. ↩
7. The sense of this phrase in the Greek is uncertain. ↩
8. The Gran (Hron) is a tributary of the Danube in present-day Slovakia; Marcus was campaigning there against the Quadi, a Germanic people. ↩