For several years he himself commanded his armies in chief.
In camp before the Quadi he dates the first book of his Meditations,
and shows how he could retire within himself amid the coarse
clangour of arms. The pomps and glories which he despised
were all his; what to most men is an ambition or a dream,
to him was a round of weary tasks which nothing but the stern
sense of duty could carry him through. And he did his work well.
His wars were slow and tedious, but successful.
With a statesman's wisdom he foresaw the danger to Rome of the
barbarian hordes from the north, and took measures to meet it.
As it was, his settlement gave two centuries of respite
to the Roman Empire; had he fulfilled the plan of pushing
the imperial frontiers to the Elbe, which seems to have
been in his mind, much more might have been accomplished.
But death cut short his designs.

Truly a rare opportunity was given to Marcus Aurelius of showing what
the mind can do in despite of circumstances. Most peaceful of warriors,
a magnificent monarch whose ideal was quiet happiness in home life,
bent to obscurity yet born to greatness, the loving father of children
who died young or turned out hateful, his life was one paradox.
That nothing might lack, it was in camp before the face of the enemy
that he passed away and went to his own place.

Translations THE following is a list of the chief English translations of
Marcus Aurelius: (1) By Meric Casaubon, 1634; (2) Jeremy Collier, 1701;
(3) James Thomson, 1747; (4) R. Graves, 1792; (5) H. McCormac, 1844;
(6) George Long, 1862; (7) G. H. Rendall, 1898; and (8) J. Jackson, 1906.
Renan's "Marc-Aurèle"--in his "History of the Origins of Christianity,"
which appeared in 1882--is the most vital and original book to be had