Notes to himself

Marcus Aurelius ruled the Roman Empire and spent many of his later years on military campaigns. In quiet moments he wrote notes to himself in Greek. They were never meant to be published. They are a private record of a powerful man trying to live by the Stoic philosophy he admired.

The first book is a list of thanks. He names what he learned from family, teachers and friends, including a teacher who lent him the writings of Epictetus. Above all he praises his adoptive father, the emperor Antoninus Pius, for his calm, fairness and hard work.