Mind vs public opinion

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Often appears with: will, choice, and freedom · virtue as interpretation of events · universal nature · the passions and the emotions · justice as a virtue · inner freedom and tranquility

Usually: argument (1) · confronting death (1) · injustice endured (1) · detachment (1) · exhortation (1)

Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius primary

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus · composed during the reign and campaigns of Marcus Aurelius; tradition places major composition in the 2nd century CE
Section. I have also added a “1.” before the first “thought” in each > BOOK VII. (7/7)

This section claims one can remain free from compulsion and keep a just judgment even amid public hostility and bodily destruction, because every event is material for virtue and the practice of art.

becoming a dialectician and skilled in the knowledge of nature, do not for this reason renounce the hope of being both free and modest, and social and obedient to God. 68. It is in thy power to live free from all compulsion in the greatest tranquillity of mind, even if all the world cry out against thee as much as they choose, and even if wild beasts tear in pieces the members of this kneaded matter which has grown …