Sublime

One man means as much to me as a multitude, and a multitude only as much as one man."

even though they may seem to adapt themselves to the better things in a small degree, obtain the superiority all at once, and carry us away. But do thou, I say, simply and freely choose the better, and hold to it. — But that which is useful is the better. — Well then, if it is useful to thee as a rational being, keep to it; but if it is only useful

Quand, le 7 mars 161, Marc Aurèle accède à l'empire, c'est donc un événement inattendu et extraordinaire qui se produit. Rome a un empereur qui fait profession d'être un philosophe, et qui plus est un philosophe stoïcien.

les efforts et les découvertes d’une vie longue de soixante ans ne doivent pas être totalement perdus et rester sans effet. Cet homme humilié recouvre ainsi sa véritable force et il rédige dans ces jours de solitude, comme legs pour les générations futures, sa dernière et plus grande œuvre, le traité Des devoirs (De officiis), où il enseigne les de

Marcus also offers some words of advice to those who value what many would take to be the ultimate form of fame: immortal fame. Such fame, Marcus says, is “an empty, hollow thing.” After all, think about how foolish it is to want to be remembered after we die. For one thing, since we are dead, we will not be able to enjoy our fame. For another, we

This new system, which operated for most of the second century CE, was sometimes presented as a major shift in the ideology of political power, almost a meritocratic revolution. Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (now called ‘Pliny the Younger’, to distinguish him from his uncle ‘the Elder’) justified the procedure in precisely those terms, in a spee