Marcus Aurelius: How to Lead Responsibly

The last emperor of Rome's golden age exemplified wise rulership

Marcus Aurelius was a Stoic philosopher and the last of the "Five Good Emperors" of Rome. abxyz/Shutterstock

“If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world, during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus.”

So writes Edward Gibbon near the beginning of his classic work, “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.” He was referring to the second half of the period we know as the “Pax Romana,” or Roman Peace. It was an age of prosperity and wise rulership comparable to the early days of the American republic. During this time, the Roman Empire was governed by five good emperors: Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. Of these, the most celebrated is the last.

A Philosopher King

Marcus Aurelius was a bookish man who, given the choice, would have liked nothing more than to be a philosopher. Instead, he was raised to the position of emperor in A.D. 161 and reigned for nearly 20 years. His writings, which were recorded in Greek and never intended for publication, had no official title, but have become known as “Meditations.” They were probably written in the last few years of his life, when he was conducting a war against German tribes in the Danube region.

Aurelius is one of the best examples of Plato’s “philosopher king” the world has known. With his reputation for wisdom, he is comparable in biblical history with King Solomon (minus the 700 wives). But while Solomon’s weakness was his pride, the dominant tone in “Meditations” is humility. There is a total absence, in this book, of the public-oriented reflections contained in the memoirs of most politicians, where their main concern is to defend the decisions they made while in office. Aurelius, by contrast, having no need to campaign for reelection, is honest in putting his weaknesses on display.

Avoid Power Trips

Although he was the most powerful man in the known world, Aurelius was never corrupted by the power bestowed on him, as were so many of the other Roman emperors (including his own son, who succeeded him). He even deferred much of that power to the Senate, restoring the ancient authority they wielded during the days of the Republic, which, by the time of the Roman empire, had become largely ceremonial. Aurelius was happy to do this; while he never neglected the duties of ruling, he looked upon them as an onerous burden that he wouldn’t wish upon anyone. His virtuous example is instructive for leaders today.

Aurelius’s first rule for wielding influence is, somewhat ironically, to avoid positions of power when you can: “Take care that you are not made into a Caesar, that you are not dyed with this dye; for such things happen.” His advice is unexpected, but not irrational. Being hungry for power is often indicative of an underlying personality disorder, and we tend to distrust those who express an active desire for it. Assume mantles of authority only when necessary.

Embrace Virtue

If you do happen to be vested with power, though, the next step is to not let it go to your head: “Keep yourself then simple, good, pure, serious, free from affectation, a friend of justice, a worshipper of the gods, kind, affectionate, strenuous in all proper acts.”

This is easier said than done. One of the most potentially frustrating things in life, whether you are a president or a customer service representative, is that you will often find yourself interacting with unpleasant people. Aurelius experienced this too and even worked the reflection into his daily routine as a way of dealing with it: “Begin the morning by saying to yourself, I shall meet with the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil.”

But as long as you understand that the good and the bad are all part of the same divine order of things, Aurelius writes, you can tell yourself that you cannot “be injured by any of them.” Sometimes, people just have bad days. Try to be cooperative rather than work against others, as difficult as that can sometimes be.

Virtue is of paramount importance to a ruler in preventing a loss of perspective. As powerful as you might become, there are still a great many things that will always be beyond your control, even in an age such as ours, in which surveillance technology allows leaders to keep tabs on citizens to an unprecedented degree. Leaders are not gods. Whoever you are, you are still a fallible human being in the end, composed of “a little flesh and breath.” An individual, in the larger scheme of the universe, is but “a grain of a fig,” and occupies the earth for only “the turning of a gimlet.”

Lead Yourself First

The secret to carrying out your duties well and leading others is, at bottom, leading yourself and not allowing emotions to overwhelm you. We have all had bosses who throw temper tantrums when things don’t go right, and we feel, at such times, that such people have lost control over their own leadership abilities. “Consider how much more pain is brought on us by the anger and vexation caused by such acts than by the acts themselves,” Aurelius writes.

Aurelius’s son Commodus often lost sight of this piece of wisdom. After the good emperor’s death in A.D. 180, the Roman Empire fell into decline. While there would be occasional effective emperors here and there, the governing tendencies of the age that followed were marked by fluctuations between decadence and chaos. But while few leaders seem to have heeded Aurelius’s advice, occasional references to “Meditations” in late antiquity and the Middle Ages indicate that he wasn’t completely forgotten. When the first printed edition of the book was released in 1558 or 1559, it became popular again.

Aurelius’s reputation has remained especially high among military and political leaders such as Robert E. Lee. But one need not wield a position of power to find valuable advice in “Meditations.” Everyone, after all, has the responsibility of governing their own constitution. As Aurelius said, “Put an end once [and] for all to this discussion of what a good man should be, and be one.”