Marcus Aurelius died in a cold, dark place, but his last words shined bright with a message of hope: “Go to the rising sun, for I am already setting.” He delivered these words not to a beloved, but to a guard of the night’s watch in his military camp near the frontline of war. We know quite a bit about the death of Marcus Aurelius. We have descriptions of his demeanor. There are records of his final deeds and words. We, the readers of history, have the advantage of retrospection. So, in this article, let us study Marcus Aurelius’ death to see if we learn something about life. We’ll look back together at how this man, the last of the great Stoics and great Roman Emperors, returned to nature in harmony with virtue and reason—how he died as any good Stoic lives.
“Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.” – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (paid link)
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How did Marcus Aurelius die?
It was 180 AD, nearing the end of winter at the front of a brutal war with northern tribes in what is modern-day Vienna. It was there that Marcus contracted the Antonine plague. War and disease. These were the chief executioners that killed millions during Marcus’ lifetime. So throughout his life, beginning with the loss of his father when he was just three, Marcus had become familiar with death. He outlived eight of his thirteen children. He lost his wife of thirty-five years.
Accounts of his final six days tell us that he faced the end with calm and indifference. But we also know that this acceptance didn’t come naturally to Marcus. It wasn’t an inherent quality he was born with. As a boy, he once wept over the death of his beloved tutor so uncontrollably that those involved in his early grooming to become emperor questioned whether he was fit for the title.
So, as with all of us, he learned from experience. With each loss, he gained perspective. He had many opportunities to see and feel, first hand, what his Stoic teachers taught: that to accept death is to free oneself. To accept death is the highest use of reason, and to the Stoics, to live with reason was the ultimate goal.
Nature bestowed upon us the gift of reason. It’s the gift that gives us agency. It allows us to choose to circumvent base desires and instead choose the more difficult path towards the greater good. It allows us to stare down fear and move forward despite it. Since death is among the most certain of all things, accepting it is among the most reasonable of choices.
“Do not say of anything, ‘I have lost it,’ but rather, ‘I have given it back.’ Has your wife died? You have given her back. Has your child died? You have given him back. Have you lost your home? You have given it back. ‘But…,’ you may retort, a bad person took it. It is not your concern by what means something returns to the source from which it came, for as long as the source entrusts something to your hands, treat it as something borrowed, like a traveler at an inn.” – Epictetus, The Manual (paid link)
The death of Marcus Aurelius: practicing until the end
Marcus didn’t just passively accept his failing health in those final days. He continued to practice and display virtue. He was practicing wisdom when he asked his physicians to describe in great detail each of his symptoms and how the disease was slowly choking his organs. He wanted to lean into the truth.
Upon seeing his reflection in a porcelain mirror, he engaged in an old Stoic practice of imagining his predecessors staring back at him. He visualized the decayed faces of his adopted father and grandfather. Again, he leaned into his fate, rather than distracting himself from it.
At one point in those final days, surrounded by his remaining children and closest advisors, he suddenly lost consciousness mid speech. His physicians were able to rouse him, and, upon waking, he found some of his children crying hysterically, fearing that he had just passed. Seeing this reminded him of the times that he, too, violently wept over the losses of those he loved. But even in this moment of unsurpassed weakness, he had the courage and wisdom to redirect the room toward forward momentum. He urged them not to lament the inevitable. Instead, he directed them to focus on what would be his final mission.
Related article: Summary of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations: The Most Popular Parts
Justice until the end
Marcus’ only remaining son, Commodus, was seemingly just days, or even hours, away from succeeding Marcus as Emperor of Rome. But this passage to power would not be a smooth transition, not without taking the correct precautions.
Marcus had seen Commodus falling in with the wrong crowd. He knew his son was not sufficiently resistant against the unhealthy passions of fear and desire. Commodus feared death and desired the comfort of warm baths awaiting him back in Rome.
So Marcus laid there on his deathbed, having just nearly succumbed to a permanent loss of consciousness, to find his closest allies and family members weeping helplessly. He had them swear that they would look after Commodus, that they would keep him away from those tempting him towards the easy path of comfort and pleasure.
It was imperative that Commodus remain at the warfront to oversee its nearing end. Returning back to Rome with the war’s end within sight would signal weakness to Rome’s enemies, emboldening more of them to join the fight. At home, it would signal to the Senate that the new emperor was unfit to rule, which would lead to power-grabs, instability, and, likely, civil war.
So despite his frailty and declining faculties, Marcus held strong onto his final act of justice, which was to put an end to the war and reduce the likelihood of further suffering among all those under his care. He called meetings with his most trusted officials to order them to push Commodus in the right direction. He counseled Commodus on the vital importance of his next moves.
As he neared even closer to the end, he did all he could within his sphere of influence to make the world a better place—to act, despite being bedridden, with courage, justice, and wisdom. His failing body was no longer under his control, and to that, he acquiesced.
Related article: Master The Art Of Acquiescence For Resilience & Perspective
Life lessons from the death of Marcus Aurelius
So we must approach death the same way we ought to approach life. We should seek truth and take steps to uphold that truth in our speech and actions. We should embrace fate in all its glorious mystery. We should always choose the path, no matter how arduous, towards peace and reconciliation.
We prepare for death by living. If we live a long life of genuine commitment to upholding values and virtues, then we’ll know what to do when death approaches. Afterall, the final days are days not unlike any other day. There will be things to say. Things to do. Choices to make.
We may see ‘memento mori’ quotes on social media and think that Stoicism is morbid—that Stoics are nonchalant about death. But ultimately, Stoicism teaches us to live with forward momentum, propelled by our intimate understanding of the finite nature of everything, promoting as much positive change along the way as we can. The lessons learned over the course of a life lived this way will grant us the skills to not only accept death when it comes, but to live it—to experience what is ultimately a return to nature, a return to our source.
“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.” – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (paid link)
Credits:
I relied heavily on the book How To Think Like A Roman Emperor by Donald Robertson (paid link) when researching this article.
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