Alone with myself

Alone with myself

Alone with myself. Reflections” is a collection of aphoristic thoughts of Marcus Aurelius, written by him in Greek (Koine) in the 70s of the 2nd century during the war on the Danube border. It enjoyed undoubted success in late antiquity, and in the 16th century was revived in European philosophical circles.

These personal notes reflect the emperor’s persistent desire not only to be guided in his worldview by the teachings of the Stoics, but also to develop it further, calling the leading principle in man not the soul, but the mind, which must be brought into harmony with the nature of the whole, thus achieving dispassion.