The one and only philosopher king

There have been a large number of kings and philosophers in the world. However, philosopher kings were a rare breed. There was a philosopher king who ruled a part of Greece in the days of yore. He is overshadowed by an emperor who was also a celebrated philosopher. The noted philosopher king was none other than Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 CE).

Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emperor, was a scholar and recluse who lived surrounded with commotion, deception and crowds. As any other ruler, he was surrounded by flatterers, liars and enemies. At one time, he was betrayed by one of his trusted generals. While he was engaged in warfare in foreign countries, his wife is rumoured to have had many clandestine affairs with other men. He also suffered immensely over the death of his five sons.

The people knew the tremendous agony the emperor was undergoing but they loved and respected him for his kindness and scholarly attitude to life. Although he was aware of his wife’s tainted character, he stood by her all the time. What is more he promoted some of his wife’s lovers when he realised that they would be useful for the welfare of the kingdom.

Great emperor

After Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony, Marcus Aurelius was the last great emperor of Imperial Rome. While his predecessors were fearless warriors, Aurelius combined classical philosophy with spiritual quality. Historians tell us that he was the wisest, kindest and the most virtuous of philosophers.

It was inevitable that he had to fight against enemy forces. Even in such expeditions Marcus Aurelius found time to sit in his tent and write his now famous Meditations. Being a Stoic to the core, he recorded his genuine thoughts in the journal for his own perusal. On his last campaign he died at the age of 59 worn down by fatigue.

Stoics generally believed that our lives are not entirely our own. However, Marcus Aurelius did not throw up his hands in despair. Instead he changed the focus of responsibility. While the Stoics said that people should not complain about what they could not control, Marcus Aurelius wanted them to master their own minds.

According to the Stoics, our will is in accord with the Logos or the World Reason. The Logos guides the universe to keep it rational and orderly. The Roman scholar Seneca said, “Events do not happen, but arrive by appointment.” In a way, Stoicism had a semblance of Fatalism. Seneca’s statement proves it. The Stoics were firm believers of the nexus between the universe and the Logos. They said that if the universe is divinely ordered, everything happens according to a plan.

Divine plan

Modern philosophers may not subscribe to this view. If you accept this view, nothing can be good or bad because everything happens according to a divine plan. The Stoics believed that they did not have to fear for the past, present or the future because every human activity was preordained. Accordingly, they could remain calm and quiet in times of social turmoil. Even if they lost everything in life, they could remain philosophers.

Certain aspects of the Logos had a shadow of Buddhism. According to Buddhism, you can remain happy if you can give up all attachments. Similarly, the Stoics believed that people should view life’s events with “disinterest.” For instance, a judge or a teacher should be disinterested when they pass judgements. Marcus Aurelius promoted some of his wife’s secret lovers because he was disinterested.

People try to achieve happiness in different means. The Stoics said that a disinterested attitude to life leads to happiness. Marcus Aurelius did not listen to rumours or believed what his flatterers said. He adopted a disinterested attitude to everything in life. The question is whether we can do the same in the modern times.

The Logos

If you take Stoicism to the extremes, will people become happier? Can we leave everything to the Logos or Fate? Marcus Aurelius has enlightened us: “Out of the universal substance, as out of wax, Nature fashions a colt, then break him up and uses the material to form a tree, and after that a man and next some other thing and not one of these endures for more than a brief span. Nature, the universal dispenser, will change everything you see and out of their substance will make fresh things, and yet again others form theirs, to the perpetual renewing of the world’s youthfulness.”

While the Stoics placed rational humanity at the centre of the universe, Christian values place a personal God at the centre. Many of the stoics anticipated the advent of Christian values. Therefore, Stoicism stands as the most influential transitional philosophy between classical and Christian values.