A few days ago — on April 26th — was the 1901st birthday of the emperor philosopher, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, author of one of the most famous Stoic texts, the Meditations.
To celebrate, my friend and colleague Rob Colter and I have put out a new episode of the Philosophy as a Way of Life podcast (n. 27, to be precise), where we talk about the passages in the Meditations that have most influenced our lives, ask whether Marcus persecuted Christians, why he didn’t abolish slavery, and why on earth he picked his son Commodus to succeed him! (listen at Anchor)
Massimo Pigliucci 
Great episode!
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Massimo
When I was a young teenager I told my father how I felt about war and its portrayal on the nightly news. All he replied was that I sounded like Marcus Aurelius. I had no idea who that was and I let it pass. We didn’t speak much. And maybe because of that, or maybe not, since then I’ve been vaguely annoyed whenever I hear the philosopher’s name.
But I enjoyed your talk with Rob Colter. It felt familiar, and different, and it finally sunk in that Meditations was a diary.
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“Let every action aim solely at the common good”
I especially like that quote.
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Marc, glad I could contribute to your appreciation of Marcus!
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