“He had the ability both to refrain from and enjoy the things that most people are too weak to refrain from and too inclined to enjoy,” Marcus said of Antoninus, likening his capacity for maintaining this difficult balance to Socrates, who was notably frugal but notoriously fun. He had “strength of will,” Marcus wrote in Meditations, “the ability to persevere in the one situation and remain sober in the other.” Life handed Antoninus material comforts in abundance, which he accepted and utilized without arrogance or dependence. “If they were there,” Marcus noted, “he took advantage of them. If
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