INTRODUCTION
the author's life, we might expect to find definite historical allusions which should fix the order in which individual passages were composed, and in this way determine the periods in which the Books were written. Secondly, the same problem might be resolved by the manner of writing used by the author, that is either by stylistic evidence, or by the way in which he treats his subjects of contemplation. Both these lines of investigation have been pursued, but neither with any definite result.[1]
Mr. Haines's summary of the two inquiries arrives at the conclusion that the Meditations were 'composed as a connected whole, Books ii–xii being written consecutively in that order and Book i added afterwards as an introduction.' The dates which he tentatively suggests are:
Book ii written in the land of the Quadi, a.d. 171–2.
Book iii at Carnuntum, a.d. 172–3.
Books iv–viii at the front, a.d. 173–5.
Books ix–x during the revolt of Cassius, a.d. 175–6.
Books xi–xii at Rome before Marcus went North, a.d. 178.
Book i written in or shortly after a.d. 178.
I have discussed some of these questions in the introduction to the several Books; here it is enough to say that the results attained are extremely doubtful, and are reached only by minimizing the negative instances. In fact the only certain points are that the whole work was clearly written towards the end of the life of Marcus, certainly after his accession to the throne, and, as to details, that the death of Domitia Lucilla (circa a.d. 156) is mentioned in i. 17. 7, and implied in viii. 25 and ix. 21; that Marcus alludes to Lucius Aurelius Verus' death (a.d. 169) as some time past in viii. 37; that Marcus probably refers to his title Sarmaticus (a.d. 175) in x. 10; that he certainly
- ↑ Schenkl, Berl. ph. W. 1916, col. 33; Wiener Studien, xxxiv, 1912; Breithaupt, De M. Aurelii Ant. Commentariis Quaestiones selectae, Göttingen, 1913; Haines, J. of Phil. xxxiii, 1914, pp. 278–95.
