Perhaps even more than the great Athenian statesman Pericles, the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius fulfilled Plato’s notion of the philosopher-king. He was well trained for the role, having been handpicked by Hadrian at the age of eight to succeed that imperial luminary. The beneficiary of the finest education the ancient world could offer, Aurelius was drawn to the study of moral philosophy, and his every move as a man of action seems to have been judged according to its lights, as his Meditations attest. Talking to himself in these pages, he has spoken to countless generations across the centuries, showing that retreat into the contemplative chambers of the self can stimulate a brave passage to a truer life, available to us all no matter what our station: “Anywhere you can lead your life, you can lead a good one.”