Think Like a Roman Emperor
How Marcus Aurelius Thrived as One of the World’s Great Leaders
Marcus Aurelius is perhaps the best known Roman Emperor for the right reasons. Most of us know the names of Nero and Caligula for their despotism and destructive indulgences, but Marcus comes close to universal praise for the way he wielded power over the greatest empire the world has known.
He is known principally for his journals, compiled into a book known as the Meditations. The journals documented the common and sometimes surprising struggles that come with absolute power and Marcus’s philosophical thoughts as a practicing Stoic.
Along with Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian and Antonius Pious, Marcus is known as one of the five “good emperors”, first coined by Niccolò Machiavelli. The Italian statesman and political philosopher pointed out the curious fact that all the best emperors of Rome were adopted and not raised as biological heirs.
The good emperors, Machiavelli wrote,
“had no need of praetorian cohorts, or of countless legions to guard them, but were defended by their own good lives, the good-will of their subjects, and the attachment of the Senate.”
Curiously still, all the “good” emperors reigned in succession from 96–192 CE. Edward Gibbon, the great historian of…
