Marcus Aurelius: How to Lead Responsibly

The last emperor of Rome's golden age exemplified wise rulership

Marcus Aurelius was a Stoic philosopher and the last of the "Five Good Emperors" of Rome. abxyz/Shutterstock

“If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world, during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus.”

So writes Edward Gibbon near the beginning of his classic work, “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.” He was referring to the second half of the period we know as the “Pax Romana,” or Roman Peace. It was an age of prosperity and wise rulership comparable to the early days of the American republic. During this time, the Roman Empire was governed by five good emperors: Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. Of these, the most celebrated is the last.

A Philosopher King

Marcus Aurelius was a bookish man who, given the choice, would have liked nothing more than to be a philosopher. Instead, he was raised to the position of emperor in A.D. 161 and reigned for nearly 20 years. His writings, which were recorded in Greek and never intended for publication, had no official title, but have become known as “Meditations.” They were probably written in the last few years of his life, when he was conducting a war against German tribes in the Danube region.