in life, of whatever class and in whatever position, in the field of speculation as in that of action. The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius were, with Machiavelli's Art of War, the daily study of Captain John Smith, the real founder of the United States. They are placed by Mr Mill in his posthumous essay on the Utility of Religion as
almost equal in ethical elevation to the Sermon on the Mount.Aurelius early embraced, and throughout life adhered to, the Stoical philosophy, probably because he considered it as the sternest and most solid system to oppose to the corruption of his time. But, as Tenneman says, he imparted to it “a character of gentleness and benevolence, by making it subordinate to a love of mankind, allied to religion.” In the Meditations it is difficult to discover anything like a systematic philosophy, which, indeed, means, as he used the word, tranquillity, or a serene habit of mind. From the manner, however, in which he seeks to distinguish between matter (ὕλη) and cause or reason (αἰτία, λόγος), and from the Carlylean earnestness with which he advises men to examine all the impressions on their minds (φαντασίαι), it may be inferred that he held the view of Anaxagoras—that God and matter exist independently, but that God governs matter. There can be no doubt that Aurelius believed in a deity, although Schultz is probably right in maintaining that all his theology amounts to this,—the soul of man is most intimately united to his body, and together they make one animal which we call man; and so the deity is most intimately united to the world or the material universe, and together they form one whole. We find in the Meditations no speculations on the absolute nature of the deity, and no clear expressions of opinion as to a future state. We may also observe here that, like Epictetus, he is by no means so decided on the subject of suicide as the older Stoics. Aurelius is, above all things, a practical moralist. The goal in life to be aimed at, according to him, is not happiness, but tranquillity, or equanimity. This condition of mind can be attained only by “living conformably to nature,” that is to say, one's whole nature, and as a means to that, man must cultivate the four chief virtues, each of which has its distinct sphere—wisdom, or the knowledge of good and evil; justice, or the giving to every man his due; fortitude, or the enduring of labour and pain; and temperance, or moderation in all things. It is no “fugitive and cloistered virtue” that Aurelius seeks to encourage; on the contrary, man must lead the “life of the social animal,” must “live as on a mountain;” and “he is an abscess on the universe who withdraws and separates himself from the reason of our common nature through being displeased with the things which happen.” While the prime principle in man is the social, “the next in order is not to yield to the persuasions of the body, when they are not conformable to the rational principle which must govern.” This “divinity within a man,” this “legislating faculty” (τὸ ἡγεμονικόν) which, looked at from one point of view, is conscience, and from another is reason, must be implicitly obeyed. He who thus obeys it will attain tranquillity of mind; nothing can irritate him, for everything is according to nature, and death itself “is such as generation is, a mystery of nature, a composition out of the same elements, and a decomposition into the same, and altogether not a thing of which any man should be ashamed, for it is not contrary to the nature of a reasonable animal, and not contrary to the reason of our constitution.”
The morality of Marcus Aurelius cannot be said to have been new when it was given to the world, far less can it be said to be systematic. Compared, indeed, with elaborate treatises on ethics, the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius are as tonic medicine to succulent food. The charm of his morality lies in its exquisite accent and its infinite tenderness. Where can the connoisseur in morals find anything finer than such sentences as this?—“The pride which is proud of its want of pride is the most intolerable of all;” or where can a more delicate rebuke to the Pharisaism which lurks in the breast of every man be obtained than this?—“One man, when he has done a service to another, is ready to set it down to his account as a favour conferred. Another is not ready to do this, but still, in his own mind, he thinks of the man as his debtor, and he knows what he has done. A third in a manner does not even know what he has done, but he is like a vine which has produced grapes, and seeks for nothing more after it has once produced its proper fruit. So a man when he has done a good act, does not call out for others to come and see, but he goes on to another act as a vine goes on to produce again the grapes in season.” But above all, what gives the sentences of Marcus Aurelius their enduring value and fascination, what renders them superior to the utterances of other moralists of the same school, such as Epictetus and Seneca, is that they are the gospel of his life. His practice was in accordance with his precepts, or rather his precepts are simply the records of his practice. To the saintliness of the cloister he added the wisdom of the man of the world; constant in misfortune, not elated by prosperity, never “carrying things to the sweating point;” preserving, in a time of universal corruption, unreality, and self-indulgence, a nature sweet, pure, self-denying, unaffected, Marcus Aurelius has given to the world one of the finest examples of the possibilities of humanity.
The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius have been translated into English, German, French, Spanish, and Italian. The two chief English translations are those of Jeremy Collier (1702) and of George Long; the last may be considered final. The text most commonly used is the Greek one edited by J. M. Schultz (republished by Tauchnitz in 1821). Many books have been written on the life and times of Aurelius, and the essays on his Meditations are innumerable. One of the best estimates of him is contained in Mr F. W. Farrar's Seekers after God, 1868. A scholarly work issued in 1874 by M. Gaston Boissin, entitled La Religion Romaine d'Auguste aux Antonines, gives, perhaps, the most interesting existing account of the state of society under the Antonines.
AUREOLA, Aureole, the radiance or luminous cloud which, in paintings of sacred personages, is represented as surrounding the whole figure. In the earliest periods of Christian art this splendour was confined to the figures of the persons of the Godhead, but it was afterwards extended to the Virgin Mary and to several of the saints. The aureola, when enveloping the whole body, is generally oval or elliptical in form, but is occasionally circular or quatrefoil. When it is merely a luminous disk round the head, it is called specifically a nimbus, while the combination of nimbus and aureole is called a glory. The strict dis tinction between nimbus and aureole is not commonly maintained, and the latter term is most frequently used to denote the radiance round the heads of saints, angels, or persons of the Godhead.
AURICH, a town of Prussia, in the province of Hanover, situated on the Trecktief canal. It is regularly built ; possesses a castle, which was former 1 y the residence of the prince of East Friesland, a lyceum, and four libraries ; and carries on the manufacture of leather, paper, pottery, and tobacco. The famous meeting-place of the East Fries- landers, Upstaalsboom, is in the neighbourhood. Population, 4264.
