The Life of Marcus Aurelius

The author of this life begins by noting that the subject under discussion enjoyed a reputation during his lifetime that has scarcely been matched before or since. Those who knew him personally, as well as those who encountered him only through the offices of his administration, are agreed on this point, though they differ considerably on the precise nature of his virtues.

He was born, according to the best sources, in the city of Rome itself, though some authorities place his origins in the provinces, a question that remained disputed even among his contemporaries. His early education followed the customary pattern for young men of his station, with instruction in rhetoric, philosophy, and the management of estates.

What distinguished him from his peers, even in those early years, was a quality that is difficult to define precisely but that contemporaries invariably attempted to describe: a kind of concentrated attention, a capacity for sustained thought that those around him found alternately admirable and unnerving. He read widely and remembered what he read, a combination rarer in public life than one might suppose.