This evening someone called me to assist them with a paper they had to write regarding certain literature from the time period 120-180. I am not going to bore you with all of the details except to say that Marcus was not the focus of this however, when I began my long drawn out over-detailed answer this suddenly popped into my head. Immediately after ending the conversation I had to go and dig through some old books to find the exact one and re-read it.

This is from Book I of Meditations. I typically refer to it as Pros Heauton Book I as I feel it is a more accurate description. Pros Heauton was after all both the intended title and meaning. ("To Himself" is what most with any intellect believe Marcus intended) In all reality Marcus is speaking about Antoninus Pius, his adoptive father who reigned from 138-161. It is, according to Marcus, his depiction of an Ideal ruler and the type he wanted to live up to.

I have taken the liberty of utilizing a somewhat difficult to find (easier now with the internet and all) 1964 translation by Maxwell Staniforth. More likely than not the best effort in putting the Meditation book together and with translation was and is A.S.L Farquharson's published in 1944. We don't have time for that LOL. There are plenty of others out there you may be more familiar with . . . one in particular(sorry George Long doesn't work for me). I don’t like them. So this is what you get. Now on with it . . .

The qualities I admired in my father were his lenience, his firm refusal to be diverted from any decision he had deliberately reached, his complete indifference to meretricious honors, his industry, his perseverance, and willingness to listen to any project for the common good; the unvarying insistence that rewards must depend on merit; the expert’s sense of when to tighten the reins and when to relax them; and the efforts he made to suppress pederasty.

He was aware that social life must have its claims: his friends were under no obligation to join him at his table or attend his progresses, and when they were detained by other engagements it made no difference to him. Every question that came before him in council was painstakingly and patiently examined; he was never content to dismiss it on a cursory first impression. His friendships were enduring; they were not capricious, and they were not extravagant. He was always equal to an occasion; cheerful, yet long-sighted enough to have all his dispositions unobtrusively perfected down to the last detail. He had an ever-watchful eye to the needs of the Empire, prudently conserving its resources and putting up with the criticisms that resulted. Before his gods he was not superstitious; before his fellow-men he never stooped to bid for popularity or woo the masses, but pursued his own calm and steady way, disdaining anything that savoured of the flashy or new-fangled. He accepted without either complacency or compunction such material comforts as fortune had put at his disposal; when they were to hand he would avail himself of them frankly, but when they were not he had no regrets.

(You are reading this right? John McCain John McCain John McCain. It is near impossible to think of anyone else at this time when reading this)

Not a vestige of the casuist’s quibbling, the lackey’s pertness, the pedant’s over-scrupulosity could be charged against him; all men recognized him a mature and finished personality, that was impervious to flattery and entirely capable of ruling both himself and others. Moreover, he had a high respect for all genuine philosophers; and though refraining from criticism of the rest, he preferred to dispense with their guidance. In society he was affable and gracious without being fulsome. The care he took of his body was reasonable; there was no solicitous anxiety to prolong its existence, or to embellish its appearance, yet he was far from unmindful of it, and indeed looked after himself so successfully that he was seldom in need of medical attention or physic or liniments. No hint of jealousy showed in his prompt recognition of outstanding abilities, whether in public speaking, law, ethics, or any other department, and he took pains to give each man the chance of earning a reputation in his own field. Though all his actions were guided by a constitutional precedent, he would never go out of his way to court public recognition of this.

Slainte'

Mad



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