It may seem strange for a radical collection to include a Stoic meditation by a Roman Emperor. After all, from a certain perspective, Stoicism was simply a way powerful conquerors managed to find peace despite their own cruel actions. At the same time, however, Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations were a favourite of a poet such as Goethe, who in turn was Marx’s favourite. Hegel himself would write: “In regard to morality and power of willing the good, nothing more excellent can be read than what Marcus Aurelius has written in his Meditations on himself […].” [1]
So, there is much to much of Stoic philosophy. And we must somehow grasp it. [2]
This particular excerpt is section 49 of book 4 of Hicks & Hicks’s translation The Emperor’s Handbook: A New Translation of the Meditations (2002).
The emperor writes,
How should you be? You should be like a rocky promontory against which the restless surf continually pounds. It stands fast while the churning sea is lulled to sleep at its feet. I hear you say, “How unlucky that this should happen to me.” But not at all. Perhaps say instead, “How lucky I am that I am not broken by what has happened and I’m not afraid of what is about to happen. For the same blow might have struck anyone, but not many who would have absorbed it without capitulation or complaint.”
After all, why do we speak of good luck and bad luck anyway? Would you call something that is not contrary to a man’s nature a piece of bad luck? And can something be contrary to a man’s nature that nature wills? Well, you know perfectly well what nature wills. Do the waves that crash upon you prevent you in any way from being just, forgiving, moderate, discerning, truthful, loyal, free-spirited, and in possession of all the other noble qualities that nature wills for man’s well-being? The next time you are tempted to complain of your bad luck, remember to apply this maxim: “Bad luck borne nobly is good luck.”