Written among the Quadi on the River Gran
- At this time, Marcus is with his troops in Slovakia, trying to defend the northern borders of his empire from the Quadi, a Germanic tribe. He is not amused by this situation.
- Marcus opens this book by reminding himself that he's going to meet with some pretty unpleasant dudes every day. But he also reminds himself that these people are ignorant of true good—so their nastiness isn't really their fault.
- Marcus, however, knows better because he has observed good behavior. Also, he recognizes that both the bad and the good are closely related, since they both have the divine in them.
- Even though good and bad are opposites, then, they must work together as part of a cosmic Whole. It is against rational nature to believe or behave otherwise.
- Marcus reminds himself that he is made up of several parts: flesh, breath, and directing mind (or reason). The only thing that matters to him, really, is reason.
- Marcus isn't going to cultivate reason through books, since this is not his strong point. Instead, he moves toward meaningful action, behaving as though each day were the last day of his life.
- Marcus contemplates the role of the gods in human life. They are essentially providential, he thinks, ordering things for the greater good.
- Marcus believes providence governs other forces: fortune, nature, fate. For him, each part of nature is part of the greater Whole (cosmos, divinity). Even the movements and changes of each part are ordered by the gods to maintain balance and harmony.
- Marcus urges himself to be content with his part and to thank the gods for his portion in life.
- Marcus reminds himself that his time on earth is limited and that he has to spend some time contemplating that. He only has a short time to get his mind right and live properly.
- Marcus admonishes himself to act like a man and a Roman, and to focus on his present tasks. He believes that has to approach the present as if it is the last moment of his life.
- Marcus also has to tackle his tasks without thoughts for his own pride or self-love; he has to be totally without prejudices or judgments in order to behave and work properly.
- How hard can this be? Marcus asks himself. The gods really don't ask much of a human being.
- Marcus addresses his soul. He tells himself that his life is nearly done, and yet he still remains dependent on others, lacking self-sufficiency.
- Focus, Marcus. Our hero continues to tell himself to find direction and keep only what is truly important on his radar in the present. He is especially wary of "impulse," which seems to govern the weak.
- Marcus reminds himself of the importance of empathy: it's crucial to be able to understand what's happening inside other people.
- Marcus restates his relationship to the greater Whole (he's one part of the universe) and claims personal responsibility for all that he does and says; it's ingrained in his nature to behave this way.
- Marcus reflects on the sins of anger and lust. Which one is worse?
- Marcus cites Theophrastus, who believed that lust was worse than anger, since we succumb to lust in pleasure (and therefore it is less "manly"). On the other hand, anger is a knee-jerk reaction to some form of pain and may be excused.
- To recap: lust is worse, since it is consent to pleasure, and hence it is an inward urging; anger is excusable, since one is injured by an outside party.
- Marcus once more reminds himself that he could die AT ANY MOMENT. Keep that in mind, okay?
- But don't fret. Death is nothing to freak out about, says Marcus. If the gods exist, we'll just be able to hang out with them, and they have no intention of hurting us.
- If the gods don't exist (or if they don't have his best interests at heart), then there's no point in living, anyway.
- None of that speculation matters, though, says Marcus, because the gods DO exist. As such, they give every person the opportunity to keep him- or herself safe and out of trouble.
- The general good of humankind is on the agenda for the divine Whole. It directs all things benignly, so that people can keep out of danger or fix things if they screw up.
- Marcus doesn't deny that good and bad things happen to all kinds of people. If these things are viewed dispassionately, they are neither right nor wrong in themselves. It's how humans view them that makes them seem right or wrong.
- Marcus thinks about the transience of absolutely everything physical in the world. It's all gonna die. And rot. And dissipate. You get the idea.
- Moreover, the memory of all who trod the earth will fade very quickly. This reminds Marcus not to set any store by these things—or to worry very much about death. Death is just part of the natural cycle of things, and it's essentially good for the Whole.
- Marcus ends this contemplation by suggesting that it is not the physical part of man that touches the gods, anyway.
- Marcus emphasizes the importance of being still and focusing on one's own inner divinity. Don't worry about what the neighbors are thinking, okay?
- Marcus wants to be able to keep the divine spark in him pristine and not dirty it with the petty concerns of the outside world.
- We get some further emphasis on the importance of the present. This time, Marcus examines individual mortality: humans lose only the life that they have—no more, no less.
- Therefore, it doesn't matter if a man dies young or lives on. He can't lose a future he doesn't have, nor can the past be taken from him.
- Marcus cheers himself by observing that it doesn't matter how long he lives, since life is cyclical. All the same stuff will continue to happen over the years, so he won't be missing anything.
- If a young man dies, Marcus reiterates, he loses the same thing as an old man would: his present life.
- Marcus reiterates an idea that Shakespeare will later use in Hamlet: all things are only as you think they are. The mind has an amazing way of shaping the experience of the man.
- Marcus shows his stoicism in full blossom here by saying that we should never resent anything that happens to us. To do that means to separate ourselves from the Whole, which is super bad. And we don't mean good when we say that.
- Marcus uses a fantastic image to illustrate his point. He says that resenting your fate means that you think you're an exception to the rules of the Universe, which makes you an excess growth. That's right: grumbling about your fate makes you a TUMOR ON THE UNIVERSE.
- An individual soul harms itself when it turns away from the Whole. It also causes itself pain when it indulges in pleasure, succumbs to pain, lies, or behaves randomly.
- In other words, a healthy soul needs to be directed by reason, and it needs to play its individual part in the grand scheme of the Whole.
- Just in case you missed it before, man is a putrefying pile of nothing. Moreover, everything in the world is slipping away with time. Yeah, you got it: all we are is dust in the wind.
- Marcus says that even the things of the mind are ephemeral, since they are part of bodily experience. And lasting fame? Forget it.
- But don't give up yet. Marcus has philosophy on his side, and that is the best thing to safeguard against existential angst.
- In order for philosophy to do its thing, you've got to keep control over your passions, stay focused on your inner divinity, have integrity, and not be swayed by others.
- Accepting your lot in life is priority, because in doing that, you show reverence for the Whole, which is the source of your life to begin with.
- Part of accepting your lot? You guessed it: welcoming death when it comes. Hey, it's nothing but the dissolution of elements, baby—and that's all part of nature.