Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was the last of the so-called ‘Five Good Emperors’ of Rome. He ruled during plague, Parthian war, and Germanic invasions, yet carved out time each night to write brief, unvarnished notes to himself on how a person should live. Those notes — never intended for publication — became Meditations, and are taught today in leadership programs from West Point to Silicon Valley.

Because Marcus wrote in Greek for his own eyes alone, the text has no agenda beyond self-correction. It returns again and again to a handful of themes: accept what you can’t control, do your duty, remember you will die, be kind. The videos below pair readings of the text with modern Stoic commentary (Ryan Holiday, Donald Robertson) so you get both the primary source and a bridge to using it today.