The Eulogium on Marcus Aurelius

The French poet and literary critic Antoine Léonard Thomas wrote the Eulogium on Marcus Aurelius in 1775. It was translated into English by David Bailie Warden in 1808, who dedicated it to Thomas Jefferson, "the Marcus Aurelius of the United States". This "course" is just a repository for download links, which you can use to obtain copies of the EPUB, Kindle (MOBI) or PDF versions of the book. New: I've now added an audiobook version in MP3 format, which I narrated myself.

The book is part historical fiction, part biography, part philosophy. It opens with a fictional scene in which the aged Stoic philosopher, Apollonius of Chalcedon delivers a eulogy over the coffin of Marcus Aurelius, upon its arrival at Rome for his state funeral.

"Marcus Aurelius, after a reign of 20 years, died at Vienna. He was then preparing to make war against the Germans. His body was carried to Rome, where it was received in the midst of tears and public sorrow. The Senate, in mourning, preceded the funeral chariot, which was accompanied by the people and the army. The son of Marcus Aurelius, the Emperor Commodus, followed the chariot. The procession was slow and silent. Suddenly an old man advanced in the crowd. His stature was tall, his air venerable, all knew him. It was Apollonius, the Stoic philosopher, esteemed at Rome, and more respected for his talents than for his great age. He had all the rigid virtues of his sect, and, moreover, he had been the instructor and the friend of Marcus Aurelius. He stopped near the coffin, looked sadly at it, and suddenly raising his voice..."

The rest of the book consists of a biographical account of Marcus' life expounded by Apollonius and a summary of his philosophy. The biographical details are almost entirely derived from the historical sources and Thomas provides a compelling account of Marcus' evolution as a philosopher and his version of Stoicism. Apollonius was a real philosopher, a childhood tutor of Marcus Aurelius, about whom little is known.

This text has been carefully edited and proofread to make it more accessible to modern readers. I have also included a short foreword explaining more about Apollonius and his role in Marcus' education.

They never said to him, ‘Love the unfortunate’, but they relieved, before him, those who were so. No one said to him, ‘Be worthy of friends’; he saw one of his teachers sacrifice his fortune to an oppressed friend. I saw a warrior, who, to give him a lesson of courage, showed him his bosom all covered with wounds. In the same way they spoke to him of mildness, magnanimity, justice, and firmness. I myself had the glory of being associated with these illustrious instructors. Called to Rome from the extremity of Greece, and charged with his education, I was ordered to the palace. If he had been no more than a simple citizen, I would have gone there, but I conceived that the first lesson I owed a Prince was that of dependence and equality. I remained until he came to me. Pardon me, Marcus Aurelius! I thought then that you were only a common prince. I soon knew you, and whilst you asked for lessons, I often instructed myself.

Here the philosopher paused for a moment. The innumerable crowd of citizens who listened to him pressed near him, eager to hear. To this great impulse, a profound silence ensued. Alone between the people and the philosopher, the new emperor was uneasy and pensive. One hand of Apollonius leaned on the tomb, the other held a paper, traced with the pen of Marcus Aurelius. He resumed his discourse, and read as follows.

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