Sublime

Marc Aurèle s'efforce de percevoir le processus de dissolution déjà à l'œuvre dans les objets et les hommes qui l'entourent. Il aurait approuvé la princesse Bibesco qui, pour méditer sur la mort, se contentait de contempler un bouquet de violettes 317. Il évoque les cours impériales du passé, comme celle d'Auguste, pour mieux prendre conscience du

“Indeed, no one can thwart the purposes of your mind—for they can’t be touched by fire, steel, tyranny, slander, or anything.” —MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.41

approbation

Marcus Aurelius is persuaded that God gives every man a special daemon as his guide—a belief which reappears in the Christian guardian angel. He finds comfort in the thought of the universe as a closely-knit whole; it is, he says, one living being, having one substance and one soul. One of his maxims, is: “Frequently consider the connection of all

There were under the early empire two rival schools which

“Indeed, if you find anything in human life better than justice, truth, self-control, courage—in short, anything better than the sufficiency of your own mind, which keeps you acting according to the demands of true reason and accepting what fate gives you outside of your own power of choice—I tell you, if you can see anything better than this, turn

“Just as the nature of rational things has given to each person their rational powers, so it also gives us this power—just as nature turns to its own purpose any obstacle or any opposition, sets its place in the destined order, and co-opts it, so every rational person can convert any obstacle into the raw material for their own purpose.” —MARCUS AU

dolce; la propensione a dir bene di tutti, e ciò senza strepito;