Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (April 26, 121 – March 17, 180). Roman politician, strategist, philosopher, and the last emperor of the Five Great Emperors of the Roman Empire (reigned from March 8, 161 to March 17, 180).
Marco Aurelius holds the title of Imperator Caesar. There is a work written in Greek called "The Record of Meditation" that has been passed down. He yearns for peace, but possesses extraordinary military leadership skills.

As a philosopher of the Stoic school, Marco Aurelius may not have many philosophical propositions that can be regarded as personal creativity, but he is a practitioner of this philosophy, not just a talkative scholar. It is not difficult to practice a kind of cynicism, or even an existentialism, but it is difficult to practice the Stoic philosophy.
Later people often dug up many suspicious questions in Aurelius' philosophy. For example, the contradictions between fatalism and freedom, nihilism and benevolence, righteousness and morality are put together. Moreover, his unconditional universal love ideology from the perspective of the universe is also seen as a fantasy of love, a utopia of love, and a lie of love. But in Aurelius' life, in the furnace of his soul, the spear and shield had melted together, revealing the essence of metal. The path of inner sage and outer king was unified in him. Aurelius also personally practiced this seemingly impossible love. Around 169 years ago, when the Roman army was looting the Temple of Apollo at Seleucia, it was said to have opened a mysterious golden box containing the poisonous bacteria of the epidemic. As a result, the end came, and many villages and cities in Italy were reduced to ruins, with nearly ten thousand people dying in the city of Rome. Just as Aurelius was struggling to provide relief to the victims, his trusted general, Avidius Cassius, the governor of the eastern empire, rebelled in Syria with the intention of seizing the throne. The rebellion was ultimately quelled. The one who killed Cassius was his subordinate general. But for Cassius' death, Aurelius deeply regrets it. He felt a deep pain for the desire for power to poison the general's soul, and said that it should have been him who had originally requested forgiveness. Aurelius also carefully destroyed all documents related to the rebellion to avoid implicated those involved. Aurelius does what he says. When Aurelius said that one should not seek happiness from external things such as power, status, and reputation, but rather maintain spiritual dignity in the face of material phenomena, he is not only facing others. Which emperor in history divided his throne in half and gave half to another person? This political paradigm of "two day coexistence" emerged during the reign of Aurelius. Of course, we cannot leave Aurelius' historical situation to demand that he change the overall appearance of society and the accumulated drawbacks of history with the power of a single person - this is also not in line with Aurelius' philosophy. Russell once pointed out that "Marco Aurelius indeed decreed that gladiator must fight with blunt swords, but this reform was temporary, and he did not make any reform in the fight between man and beast".

After centuries of conquest and expansion, especially during the reign of Octavian, the territory of the Roman Empire became very vast. Its borders span the three continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa, reaching north to the English Channel, Rhine River, Black Sea, and Caucasus, south to northern Africa, and east to the Arabian Desert. In an era where transportation information is so inconvenient, it is very difficult to rule such a huge empire. Moreover, as the territory expands, more and more people of different races and beliefs are incorporated into a country, resulting in an increase in factors of instability, posing more and more challenges to the country and making it less suitable for emperors. Therefore, after a victory that was not worth the loss, Octavian instructed future generations not to blindly expand. During the reign of Aurelius, the empire had already shifted to a defensive position, but the internal affairs of the country were still unable to remain calm. It must always accept challenges from people of different races and beliefs, and these challenges often come along with natural disasters.
When Vologases IV of Parthia succeeded, he invaded Armenia and Syria, recaptured Edsa, and led to the outbreak of the Roman Sabbath War from 161-166. Aurelius ordered his co ruler, Verus, to guard Syria. On the other hand, he made the general Marcus Statius Priscus invade Armenia in 163, and another Roman general, Avidius Cassius, invaded Mesopotamia in 164.
The Romans captured Seleucia and Tethyphon and burned them down. At this time, some Roman soldiers contracted a fatal disease (possibly smallpox), and the Roman army had to retreat. This plague later became widespread in the Roman Empire (the Anthony plague). But they still controlled Dura Europus after retreating.
On the other hand, Aurelius himself engaged in a long Makomani war with the Germanic tribes such as the Makomani and Quadi. [1]
Since 166, German tribes such as the Makomani and the Quad, who had already lived in the north of the Danube (Bohemia and Moravia), began to launch a large-scale attack on Rome in 166. Their vanguard troops once rushed into northern Italy. The Roman authorities mobilized all their forces, and even incorporated slaves and gladiator into the army to deal with the crisis.
The Salmats also supported the Germanic people and joined in the invasion of the Roman Empire. Among them, the Iaquigos, who were skilled in ice cavalry, were brutally defeated by the Roman army in the Battle of the Ice on the Danube, leading to their decline.
The emperor personally participated in commanding the battle, and the battle was extremely fierce. Finally, he was driven out of the country and a peace treaty was signed in 175. But their threat to Rome still exists. Some were resettled by Rome to farm on the border land, while others joined the Roman army to assist in combat, causing changes in the composition of the Roman army. In 179, Marco Aurelius once again launched a campaign against the Marcomanni people, and the war did not end when he passed away (180 AD).

Ole's twenty years in office were spent dealing with these events. But in the midst of war, Aurelius continued his contemplation of the universe and life. Many chapters of 'Meditation Record' were written on the journey of sword light and shadow.

Enjoy exploring the origin of things
Marco Aurelius showed an interest in exploring the origin of all things from a young age. At the age of eleven, he intentionally wore the simple robes worn by ancient Greek and Roman philosophers, imitating their way of life. His youthful mind received the best education in the world at that time. In the first chapter of "Meditation", he listed a long list of people who had a significant impact on his personality. They are his grandfather, father, mother, governess, and some philosophers. It is interesting to note that most of the lessons that Aurelius listed for himself were qualitative. For example, his mother taught him not to harbor thoughts of revenge in his heart; His tutor taught him not to join either side on the sports field - whether it's the blue or green team; nor to praise either side in a fighting match - whether they are holding a square shield or a round shield; Rasticus warned him not to write contemplative texts or speak eloquently about morality due to vanity, and not to pretend to be passionate; Apollonius taught him not to let his heart rely on chance. Wait a minute.
Favorite Philosophy
Aurelius' love for philosophy cannot be seen as the artless elegance of high-ranking officials, it stems from his nature. During the reign of Aurelius, Stoic philosophy was prevalent in the Roman Empire. The entire Stoicism originated from a journey of the ancient Greek philosopher Zeno. On the way to Athens, Zeno's ship sank deep into the Aegean Sea, and the philosopher lost all his belongings. However, he was surprised to find that his spiritual qualities were intact. So there was the Stoicism - the philosophy of this sage.

Russell: "He is a sorrowful person; among a series of desires that must be resisted, the most attractive one he feels is the desire to retreat to a peaceful rural life. However, the opportunity to fulfill this desire never came." He longed to become a saint, a philosopher like Socrates, but fate set him on a seemingly opposite path. As the adopted son protected by Emperor Anthony, he was elected as the consul of Rome when he was still a young man of nineteen years old. He was then re elected twice and married the emperor's daughter. He became increasingly trapped in secular affairs and could not extricate himself until 161, when his adopted father passed away, he was pushed to the seat of the highest ruler of the empire. It seems that he is a person who follows the arrangement and call of fate. Let fate be your only intention, because there is nothing more reasonable than that. "This sentence doesn't seem to be saying to others.
The suffering caused by the evil of slavery still exists. This criticism is equally relevant. Nevertheless, despite the occasional wars, plagues, and earthquakes that occurred during the reign of Emperor Aurelius, historians still rated this period as one of the most suitable times for human life. The people living in his era are fortunate. The death of Marco Aurelius on March 17, 180 AD marked the end of the Golden Age of the Roman Empire. The only son who inherited the throne, Commodus, was one of the most famous tyrants. Later generations seemed to have failed to bring so many benefits to their subjects as Aurelius did. He gave birth to a child but couldn't give birth to his heart.