Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius1980
Hast any philosophy in the shepherd?            Will never cease to be the test of a wellborn nature.                        Touchstones, William James.  
Marcus, the Emperor, taught stoic philosophy, with reason.His flaunting wife sent lovers past his impotent hide.                         Her revenge felt righteous, no doubt.
His fight to control a nature more alive than his failed. The struggle to hold onto sanity claimed                         emotional peace, left its wisdom writ down.
But among the columns of tall marble he spied as departing gladiators tucked their togas in relieved                        waists content to dream of a death waiting in their wings.
Every one of them easily recalled her loveless embrace.