Meditations

Book 10 opens with Marcus asking his soul if it can live up to the qualities and practices that he has been discussing across the Meditations so as “to share the society of gods and men” (94) without criticizing them or being condemned by them. Whether he feels that he can bear something or not, he must not complain but remember that fulfilling his duty means bearing whatever happens to him. Whether he believes in atoms or order, he is part of the Whole that nature governs and is connected to its other parts, and everything the Whole assigns is for its benefit and the benefit of its parts. Thus, he will not resent what the Whole has assigned him. When he feels himself slipping away from what is good, he must take care to regain control, keeping his mind on the gods.

Marcus returns again to the need to reflect on the mutability of time and the inevitability of death, by which he means change. Doing so cultivates perspective on what is worth caring about (justice and being a good man) and what is not (flattery; pleasure in material things). All that is happening has happened before, “just a different cast” (100).