Lend Me Your Ears

The Roman emperor known to history as Marcus Aurelius is synonymous with that Roman emperor known as Antoninus in the Talmudic literature. This Antoninus was a close friend and student of Rabbi Y'hudah HaNasi (aka "Rebbi"), the temporal and spiritual leader of the Jewish people in the land of Israel at the end of the 2nd century C.E. This relationship between the leaders of these two peoples is unknown to secular historians, as Antoninus had to keep this relationship secret due to the enmity the Romans had for the Jews at this time. In any event, he is considered by Jewish tradition to have been a great, wise and pious man.

I was fascinated, therefore, when I noticed on the bookshelf in a secular bookstore on a recent visit to the United States a book of philosophy entitled Meditations authored by none other than Marcus Aurelius himself! Curious to discover the wisdom of Antoninus and always on the lookout for good bathroom reading, I purchased the volume. What follows, and what I expect will be a regular occurance of posts, are quotes I found to be significant, not only for their inherent wisdom, but also because of their close reflection to ideas found in the Jewish tradition.

"Thou art a little soul bearing about a corpse."

-Meditations, Ch. IV, pp. 41

"Just as we must understand when it is said, That Aesculapius prescribed to this man horse-exercise, or bathing in cold water, or going without shoes, so we must understand it when it is said, That the nature of the universe prescribed to this man disease or mutilation or loss or anything else of the kind… Let us then receive these things, as well as those which Aesculapius prescribes."

-Meditations, Ch. V, pp. 8

"Nothing happens to a man which he is not formed by nature to bear."

-Meditations, Ch. V, pp. 18