I hope you enjoy the post! We always focus on Marcus's Meditations but rarely read into his history. It is well worth exploring. It makes his work that much more impactful. Stay blessed!
"But from history, I know of Rome, and judging by the standards of that period, we cannot expect the Roman standards of fidelity to be put on a very high pedestal. Things we think are wrong today have been considered acceptable in the past."
I really dislike this part, I was speaking with a Greek friend at some point about Marcus Aurelius after having read a copy of his meditations. It had some letters in the appendix, in one of them, addressed to one of his teachers, he talked about how much he loved him in a way that sounded like they'd had a sexual relationship. I brought this up to my friend saying it sounded like Marcus Aurelius was gay. He said it was normal back then for men to sleep together and that men often slept with boys too!
Going by the contents and from my friends comments, its likely that Marcus Aurelius was sexually abused by his teacher(s). My friend said it was a different time back then, they had different standards and didn't know that this was wrong back then and, that we shouldn't judge people from the past by today's standards.
I have the feeling that people may look back on this period we're going through right now in a couple of hundred/thousand years and say the same thing. The truth is that we know that these things are wrong now and I suspect the people in the past knew that they were wrong as well. It's just that there are a lot powerful people trying to normalise this (infidelity included) and I also think that this is probably what happened back then.
I imagine that those who weren't in power back then found these things to be just as scandalous as we find them today.
I agree with your points. I think they knew right and wrong but what was morally acceptable I think really was defined clearly to the Christian world that would emerge from the teachings of Christ. Really good points and something I will think about as I read through these older works. Thanks for checking out my post and stay blessed!
You're probably right. I think it has a lot to do with societal pressure, like we see today. The fear of losing you job, friend or family for doing what you know deep down is right.
I hope you enjoy the post! We always focus on Marcus's Meditations but rarely read into his history. It is well worth exploring. It makes his work that much more impactful. Stay blessed!
"But from history, I know of Rome, and judging by the standards of that period, we cannot expect the Roman standards of fidelity to be put on a very high pedestal. Things we think are wrong today have been considered acceptable in the past."
I really dislike this part, I was speaking with a Greek friend at some point about Marcus Aurelius after having read a copy of his meditations. It had some letters in the appendix, in one of them, addressed to one of his teachers, he talked about how much he loved him in a way that sounded like they'd had a sexual relationship. I brought this up to my friend saying it sounded like Marcus Aurelius was gay. He said it was normal back then for men to sleep together and that men often slept with boys too!
Going by the contents and from my friends comments, its likely that Marcus Aurelius was sexually abused by his teacher(s). My friend said it was a different time back then, they had different standards and didn't know that this was wrong back then and, that we shouldn't judge people from the past by today's standards.
I have the feeling that people may look back on this period we're going through right now in a couple of hundred/thousand years and say the same thing. The truth is that we know that these things are wrong now and I suspect the people in the past knew that they were wrong as well. It's just that there are a lot powerful people trying to normalise this (infidelity included) and I also think that this is probably what happened back then.
I imagine that those who weren't in power back then found these things to be just as scandalous as we find them today.
Anyway, great article. Keep it up!
I agree with your points. I think they knew right and wrong but what was morally acceptable I think really was defined clearly to the Christian world that would emerge from the teachings of Christ. Really good points and something I will think about as I read through these older works. Thanks for checking out my post and stay blessed!
You're probably right. I think it has a lot to do with societal pressure, like we see today. The fear of losing you job, friend or family for doing what you know deep down is right.
Thanks for the quality work !