How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius

Donald Robertson, a cognitive-behavioral psychotherapist, opens the book by recounting how his father's death from lung cancer, when Robertson was 13, sent him into years of anger, depression, and delinquency. His father, a humble construction worker, had lived by simple values, refusing an inherited farm and insisting that money cannot bring happiness. After the funeral, Robertson's mother gave him his father's wallet, which contained only a worn passage from the Book of Exodus: "I AM THAT I AM." Robertson's desire to understand what those words meant to his father launched a lifelong philosophical journey. He discovered that his father had been a Freemason, an organization celebrating the cardinal virtues of Greek philosophy. Robertson eventually encountered the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, enrolled at the University of Aberdeen to study philosophy, and later trained in psychotherapy. When he discovered Stoicism through the scholar Pierre Hadot's research into ancient philosophy as a way of life, he recognized it as the school most explicitly designed to function as psychological therapy. He also found that the founders of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), Albert Ellis and Aaron T. Beck, had cited Stoic philosophy as their inspiration. Robertson structures the book around the life of Marcus Aurelius, a second-century Roman emperor and Stoic practitioner who left behind a personal philosophical journal known as The Meditations.

The narrative begins in 180 AD, with Marcus lying on his deathbed at a military camp in Vindobona (modern-day Vienna), dying of what was probably the Antonine Plague, likely a smallpox epidemic. Despite his frailty, Marcus appeared calm, having spent decades preparing for death through Stoic exercises. He summoned his family to urge them to care for his only surviving son, Commodus, who had served as junior co-emperor but showed no interest in philosophy. When Marcus lost consciousness and his friends began weeping, he roused himself and gently asked why they wept for him "instead of thinking about the plague . . . and about death as the common lot of us all" (25). He covered his head and died quietly during the seventh night of his illness.

Robertson traces the origins of Stoicism to a shipwreck roughly 500 years earlier. Zeno of Citium, a Phoenician merchant, lost his entire cargo when his ship sank. Stranded in Athens, he read the ancient Greek writer Xenophon's anecdotes about Socrates, which transformed his life. Zeno studied under several philosophical schools, including the Cynics, who stressed austere self-discipline, before founding his own school at the Stoa Poikile, or "Painted Porch," from which the name "Stoic" derives. Over the centuries, Stoicism migrated to Rome, influencing figures such as Cicero, Seneca, and the former slave Epictetus, whose teachings became the most quoted source in Marcus's Meditations.

The Stoics believed the goal of life was to live in agreement with Nature, which meant living wisely and virtuously. They adopted Socrates's four cardinal virtues: wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation. Virtue, they argued, was the only true good, while externals like health and wealth were "preferred indifferents," worth pursuing but never at the expense of virtue. Robertson corrects the misconception that Stoics suppress emotions, explaining that they distinguished between healthy emotions such as joy, unhealthy passions such as fear and anger, and natural automatic feelings like being startled. The goal was not suppression but transformation of unhealthy emotions into healthy ones by examining the beliefs that produce them.

Turning to Marcus's early life, Robertson describes how Marcus was born in 121 AD and lost his father at about age three. Raised by his mother and grandfather, Marcus earned the nickname "Verissimus" ("most truthful") from Emperor Hadrian for his plain speaking. His mother, Domitia Lucilla, though immensely wealthy, lived simply and modeled generosity. Around age 12, his painting master Diognetus introduced him to philosophy. When Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius as his successor, Antoninus in turn adopted Marcus, placing him in line for the throne. Marcus viewed Antoninus as his ideal role model. His main Stoic tutor, Junius Rusticus, a Roman statesman of consular rank, persuaded Marcus to abandon formal rhetoric in favor of Stoic philosophy, a turning point in Marcus's development. Rusticus gave Marcus copies of Epictetus's Discourses, challenged his character flaws, and taught him to recover composure. Robertson speculates that Marcus began writing The Meditations after Rusticus's death as a way of mentoring himself.

Robertson explains the Stoic approach to language as psychological therapy. Stoics practiced "objective representation," describing events in factual, unemotive terms rather than imposing value judgments. He draws a parallel to the modern CBT technique of "decatastrophizing," in which therapists help clients reframe catastrophic interpretations into something more realistic. The Stoics held that emotions are shaped not by events themselves but by the judgments we attach to them, a principle foundational to cognitive therapy.

The book contrasts Marcus with his adoptive brother and co-emperor Lucius Verus through "The Choice of Hercules," an ancient allegory in which the young hero chooses between Vice's easy path and Virtue's difficult one. While Marcus dedicated himself to philosophy and public duty, Lucius became notorious for extravagant parties, heavy drinking, and neglect of responsibilities. The Stoics distinguished between ordinary pleasure, or hedone, and the deeper joy, or chara, that comes from living wisely. Lucius died suddenly in 169 AD, possibly from the plague, at 39, while the frail Marcus lived to nearly 60.

Robertson devotes a chapter to Marcus's chronic health problems. Marcus endured chest and stomach pains, poor appetite, and recurring illness, yet spent over a decade commanding legions on the northern frontier. Drawing on Stoic and Epicurean teachings (Epicureanism being a rival philosophical school), Marcus employed cognitive distancing to separate judgments about pain from pain itself, active acceptance rather than resistance, and contemplation of impermanence.

The book's account of the Marcomannic Wars, fought against Germanic and Sarmatian tribes along the Danube, illustrates Marcus's Stoicism under extreme pressure. After Lucius's death, Marcus took sole command of roughly 140,000 troops with no prior military experience. He used the Stoic "reserve clause," undertaking actions while accepting that outcomes are not entirely under his control, and practiced "premeditation of adversity," visualizing worst-case scenarios each morning to build emotional resilience. He cultivated an "inner citadel," insisting that true peace comes from the quality of one's thoughts rather than external circumstances.

The climactic crisis arrived when the general Avidius Cassius, commander of the eastern provinces, declared himself emperor in 175 AD, claiming Marcus was dead. Marcus responded without bitterness, promising clemency and expressing his desire "to be still a friend to one who has trodden friendship underfoot" (226). Three months later, Cassius was assassinated by his own officers. Marcus refused to view the severed head, ordered it buried, and wrote to the Senate pleading that no senator be punished and that Cassius's children be pardoned. Robertson uses this episode to present Marcus's strategies for managing anger, including the reminders that humans are social creatures, that nobody does wrong willingly, and that expecting imperfect people to act perfectly is irrational.

The final chapter is an extended internal monologue as Marcus lies dying. He reflects on the river of time carrying all things away, mourns his lost children and wife, and addresses Death as an old friend. His mind ascends in the Stoic "view from above" meditation, surveying the earth from a great height and perceiving humanity's struggles as insignificant against the vastness of the cosmos. He envisions the universe as a single living being and finds peace in the conviction that only philosophy can guide a person through life's uncertainty. The book closes with Marcus accepting that he will not live to see another sunrise and concluding that it does not matter.