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Book 10
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Meditations, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Philosophy, The Mind, and Living Well
Relationships and The City
Nature and the Gods
Mortality and Dying Well
Summary
Analysis
1. A rational soul can make of itself whatever it wants. It also cares for its neighbors, is truthful, humble, and just.
It’s up to an individual to shape their soul. At the same time, they have obligations to their communities as well, which don’t conflict with individual well-being.
Themes
2. It’s best to become indifferent to everything (except for virtues) by breaking down and analyzing its constituent parts.
Taking things apart, in order to understand their nature, helps a person respond to things reasonably instead of become either too attached or too upset by them.
Themes
3. A strong soul makes its own decision about separation from the body, not doing so in response to external forces, or with drama, like the Christians do.
During Marcus’s reign, the growing Christian religion was viciously persecuted by provincial governors in some parts of the empire. However, it’s unknown how directly responsible Marcus was for the persecutions. In these remarks (which scholars have suggested were interpolated by a later editor), Marcus disdains what he regards as the Christians’ dramatic embrace of martyrdom—it’s unbefitting a strong soul, which greets death with indifference.
Themes
8. When people cut themselves away from their community through hatred, they don’t realize they’re cutting themselves off from “the whole civic enterprise.” But the gods make it possible for us to reattach ourselves.
People can’t thrive if they detach themselves from their city, because individuals’ well-being is contingent on that of the greater whole.
Themes
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13. If somebody hates you, that’s their problem. Your job is not to do anything hateful, and to be patient toward everyone, no matter what.
People should pursue good relationships with others by acting well, not resenting others, and being transparent.
Themes
15. People who say something like, “I’m going to level with you,” are fake. People’s honesty should be self-evident.
A person who’s truly honest doesn’t need to brag about their honesty. Virtues like honesty should be clear and unambiguous.
Themes
16. Everyone has the potential to live a good life. They just have to learn to study the nature of things, train their perceptions, make judgments, and accept what happens. Nobody is prevented from pursuing good.
Living philosophically is within anyone’s reach. That doesn’t mean it’s a simple process, however. Training one’s judgment is a lifelong task, and necessary for benefiting others.
Themes
18. It takes a great deal of knowledge to be able to judge other people’s actions justly. Being angry or grieving over what others do causes more damage than the actions themselves. Sincere kindness is the most effective tool for setting another person straight, not accusations or meanness. In addition, it’s not “manly” to fly into a rage. A man is courteous and kind, and not a whiner, either.
Lack of control in one’s behavior is unseemly, and complaining about one’s circumstances shows that one’s mind is untrained.
Themes
27. (Marcus now lists various short quotes and allusions he finds worth remembering.) The Pythagoreans encourage looking at the stars at dawn and thinking about their consistency—they always do their tasks the same way.
Marcus uses this section of his notebooks as a collection of valuable insights from others. His note about the Pythagoreans emphasizes his theme of remaining focused, steadfast, and consistent while pursuing one’s goals.
Themes
36. Epictetus: “No thefts of free will reported.”
One’s free will cannot be violated—basically, nobody can threaten one’s ability to make their own choices. Epictetus was a Stoic philosopher who died during Marcus’s lifetime and whose writings Marcus studied avidly.
Themes
39. If you want a rational, healthy mind, Socrates says, then work on it. And if you already have, then stop squabbling.
Philosophy isn’t something that a person achieves once and for all; it requires steady, earnest effort. Fighting with others suggests that a person hasn’t progressed as far as they think they have.
Themes
