Meditations

In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius makes only passing reference to his being the emperor of Rome. He once refers to himself as a “ruler” and elsewhere makes cryptic references to his station (19). One notable example is when he cautions himself “not to be Caesarified, or dyed in purple” (51), with the former a reference to those who preceded him in his office (who held the title Caesar), and the latter to the color (purple) reserved for ruling classes. Other passing comments treat his role as one that either presents an obstacle to living the virtues he believes in or an opportunity to manifest his discipline by rejecting its trappings. If he were not famed as the “philosophical emperor,” one could conceivably read Meditations and fail to realize that he served in the highest office of a vast empire.

In part, this may be due to the private nature of his writing. Marcus would hardly need to keep reminding himself that he is the emperor, especially given the intention of his Meditations as a corrective exercise for his own moral improvement. Nevertheless, the inattention he gives to his role is telling of its unimportance to him, which accords with his overall goal to divest things in the material world of their fanciful embellishments and boil them down to their essentials.