The Stoicism of Marcus Aurelius, The Roman Emperor: Meditations to Myself: Meditations

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good Emperors (a term coined some 13 centuries later by Niccolò Machiavelli), and the last emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace and stability for the Roman Empire lasting from 27 BCE to 180 CE. Meditations (Koinē Greek: Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν, romanized: Ta eis heauton, lit.'things to one's self'), as posthumously were named the personal writings of "the philosopher" – as contemporary biographers called Marcus – are a significant source of the modern understanding of ancient Stoic philosophy. They have been praised by fellow writers, philosophers, monarchs, and politicians centuries after his death. Meric Casaubon's translation from Greek was first published in 1634 with the title "Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, His Meditations concerning himselfe". This later edition, was edited with an introduction, appendix and glossary by W. H. D. Rouse, and in 1900.