The future emperor who slept on the floor until his mother intervened
At about eleven, in April 132, young Marcus Aurelius adopted the life of a philosopher at his painting teacher's urging. He studied in a rough Greek cloak and slept on the bare ground, until his mother talked him into using a bed. Six years later Hadrian's succession plans placed him in line for the Roman throne.
The teacher was Diognetus, a painting master who seems to have introduced the boy to philosophy as a way of living. Marcus was born in Rome on 26 April 121 and grew up in his mother's villa on the Caelian Hill, which he fondly called my Caelian. His father died when he was three, and he was raised largely by his grandfather, whom he later thanked for teaching him good character and an even temper. He loved wrestling and boxing, learned to fight in armour, and was schooled at home rather than in public classes.
His path to power was a chain of adoptions. Hadrian first picked Lucius Aelius, who was so frail he could not lift a ceremonial shield alone and died early in 138. Hadrian then chose Antoninus Pius, Marcus's uncle by marriage, on condition that Antoninus adopt Marcus and Aelius's son Lucius. Marcus reportedly greeted the news with sadness and moved only reluctantly into Hadrian's house. His biographer insists the elevation left him as thrifty and respectful as before.
He became emperor in 161, sharing power with his adoptive brother, now Lucius Verus. His reign was anything but calm. Rome fought a revived Parthian Empire in the east and the Marcomanni, Quadi and Iazyges along the Danube, the Antonine Plague killed perhaps five to ten million people from 165 or 166, and he debased the silver denarius. He was the last of the so-called Five Good Emperors, and his death in 180 closed the long Roman peace known as the Pax Romana.
What survives most vividly is his private notebook, the Meditations. Largely undateable and short on worldly detail, it remains one of the most important windows into ancient Stoic thought.
Source: Marcus Aurelius
