Marcus Aurelius

Roman · b. 121

Marcus Aurelius ruled Rome from 161 to 180 through plague, flood, and constant frontier war — the closest history has come to Plato's philosopher-king. The Meditations were his private Greek notebooks, written in army camps on the Danube and addressed 'to himself'; never meant for readers, they became Stoicism's most practiced text and the pocket companion of soldiers, presidents, and prisoners ever since.