1.
Russell once commented on an ancient Roman figure: "He is a sad man; among a series of various desires that must be resisted, he feels that the most attractive one is to retreat to a peaceful countryside. The kind of desire to live. But the opportunity to realize this desire has never come. "
If I tell you that this man has appeared in the Hollywood movie "Gladiator", you must think that he is one of the Roman generals, that is to say, later My slave hero Maximus, indeed, what attracted me to this film was the image of Maximus dreaming of returning to his hometown. The vast wheat field and his hands slowly brushing over the ears of wheat, and his chestnut eyes A scene of a child running with a foal. At the beginning of the film, after the Roman army defeated the Germanic barbarians, in a father-son conversation with the old emperor, he fondly reviewed the "quiet country life".
In fact, Russell is not describing Maximus, but the old emperor himself, his prototype is Marcus Aurelius (Marcus Aurelius).
2.
About 400 years ago, Zeno, a Greek from Cyprus, sailed on the Aegean Sea. Unfortunately, he was in a shipwreck. Although he survived the catastrophe, none of the belongings remained. He suddenly found out when he was depressed. Control his inner world, so the loss of property can't prevent him from pursuing spiritual happiness. If such a thing happened in China, he would definitely be silent, in case someone made up an idiom similar to "cover one's ears and steal the bell" to laugh at him. But in fact, after Zeno returned to the land, he spread the word about the encounter and the thoughts caused by it. Later, he founded the greatest philosophical school of ancient Rome in Athens through meditation similar to that of the ancient Indians when they practiced yoga. Stoics. It can be seen from the above that the Stoic school emphasizes the happiness of the soul and the importance of indifference and self-cultivation. It even talks about the harmony of the universe.
The reason why I want to review the origins of the Stoic school is because the Roman emperor Marco Aurelius was an outstanding Stoic heir, and he was also a great thinker in the history of Western philosophy, and was honored by later generations. Philosophy King". In his two identities as philosopher and emperor, the former brings greater influence and thinking to future generations.
From 96 to 180 AD, Rome was ruled by five wise emperors, known as the "five wise kings". They were Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Anthony Bjorn, and Marco Ole. Keep. Under their rule, the territory of Rome expanded to an unprecedented level. From the Euphrates River in the east, the Atlantic Ocean in the west, North Africa in the south, and Great Britain in the north, thousands of citizens swore allegiance to the emperor and accepted his favor. In the Colosseum of Rome, slaves were forced to fight with them to entertain the Roman citizens and nobles, show the power of the empire, and at the same time frighten the barbarians in the distance and the unruly conspirators around the emperor.
Marco Ole remained in power for 20 years. For more than half of the time, he could not stay in Rome. He could only travel between the provinces of the empire to quell the riots caused by the plague and the invasion of barbarians. These barbarians People include the Parthians in the east and the Germans north of the Danube. The great thing about Marco Aurelius is that, during his ten-year military career, he wrote on the back of a running horse the "Meditations" that has been passed down through the ages. It uses Marco Aurelius to talk to himself. The method explores topics such as human virtues, mental difficulties and recourse. Even today, almost 2000 years later, these dialogues are still wise, full of concise but profound wisdom as fables.
Different from the narration in the movie "Gladiator", in real history, Marco Aurelius was not killed by his son. In 180 AD, Marco died in the present-day Vienna area due to long-term fatigue and exhaustion. During his reign, he did encounter a conspiracy to usurp the throne. General Cassius in Syria wanted to kill the emperor and inherit his supreme power, but things were quickly revealed. In dealing with this matter, the philosopher king again Once he showed his tolerance and kindness. In order to avoid the expansion of the incident and the loss of more sergeants and nobles, he ordered the evidence of Casius' rebellion to be burned. He didn't even punish Casius very much, but the latter quickly Killed by his own subordinates. This whole incident is a wonderful interpretation of Marco Aurelius's life thinking: everything has its own reasonable destination, don't impose your own power to influence them. After 1500, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty of China began to think about the same proposition. They wrote the word "wuwei" on the plaque of the palace hall to reveal the top wisdom of governing the country (the existing emperors of the Tang Dynasty were deeply interested in inaction, but It seems that Kangxi is the one who really dictates it and tries to abide by it.)
Marco Aurelius's vision was not limited to the Roman Empire, he encouraged merchants to trade freely in distant countries. The Book of the Later Han Dynasty records that in 166 AD, the Roman Emperor Anton sent envoys to China, and Anton was Marco Aurelius himself.
From this point of view, Marco Aurelius is almost a perfect person. But being too kind and easy to trust others still left him with some embarrassing stories. Marco Aurelius’s wife, Fostinera, is not generally beautiful, nor is it ordinary lewdness. She has an affair with many people, and through Marco Aurelius’s love for herself, her lovers are in the empire. Served in important positions. This is almost well-known throughout Rome, but the emperor himself lived in his own fantasy. He wrote in Volume 1 of "The Meditations": I have a very meek, affectionate and simple wife. This is the greatest irony and the saddest thing for Marco Aurelius' sincerity. What is even more unbearable is that the emperor, through his own influence, ordered the Senate to erect statues of his wife in various temples, allowing her to accept the treatment of the gods. The infatuated emperor also stipulated that every couple of newcomers in Rome At the time of marriage, they must go to the temple where Faustinara is worshipped, in order to learn her loyalty and simplicity.
Another depressing thing that Marco Oleliu did was to hand over the heir to the throne to his son, Kang Maude. In "Gladiator", Marco Aurelius wanted to make Maximus a consul and protector of Roman citizens. At the end of the conversation with Maximus, he said: Please give me a hug between father and son. . This sentence actually has a deep meaning. In the past 100 years or so, in the Roman tradition, the generation of heirs was made by the old emperor who selected talented people, accepted him as a righteous son, trained him, and established him as consul when he became an adult, Marco Ao. Leliu himself was the adopted son of Anthony Bjorn (even Hadrian was once Marco's adoptive father). In the movie, Marco Aurelius said this, but it meant that he would follow the fine tradition of Rome and pass the throne to Maximus. But in historical facts, Marco Aurelius broke the tradition and allowed his son, Kang Maod, to participate in politics since the age of 14 or 5. In fact, he knows Commode's incompetence well, but dreams that the sages in the Senate can guide Commode and make him an honest man who cherishes honor. Just as Marco Aurelius expected, after his death, Commodore took the throne and became the first "born emperor" in Rome in nearly 100 years. Marco Aurelius never imagined that Commodore would become a tyrant with Nero, Caligula, and Domitian, and the Roman Empire would go from its heyday to decline.
In the movie, before the death of Marco Aurelius, he witnessed the Germans being beaten down by the Roman army. In historical facts, 300 years after Marco Aurelius' death, the Germans broke through the city of Rome, massacred and destroyed the Western Roman Empire.
3.
The little emperor in "Gladiator" is a sinister and jealous person. His distance from nobility and integrity is exactly the distance between the earth and the blue sky. In the movie, he still maintains an ambiguous relationship with his sister Lucia.
Compared with his divine father, the cowardice and vulgarity of Commode is surprising. Yoshimoto, the author of "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," commented on him: "(Commod) from a very young age, He showed a feeling of disgust for all rational or noble things. "This kind of character determines that he cannot be a noble king. In the first three years of his ascension, he was relatively restrained and respected the opinions of the Senate. Unlike the movie, in fact, the relationship between Commod and Lucia is not so close. One night, on the way back to the palace, he met an assassin. The assassin shouted "This is the decision of the Senate" and rushed towards him with a sword. After being subdued by the Imperial Guard, the assassin admitted that he was sent by the emperor’s sister Lucia to assassinate the emperor because the emperor’s wife had too much power and caused Lucia’s jealousy. Lucia was killed shortly after exile. As a suspicious and insecure person, Commodore ceased to trust the Senate and began to kill people in the Senate in various names. Among them were the two brothers Maximus and Condianus of the Quintilian family. . When Marco Ole remained alive, Maximus and Condianus had won the trust of the old emperor by virtue of their talents and character, and were entrusted to manage the government of Greece, while controlling the military power. In the conspiracy of Commod, Maximus and Condianus are the most regrettable victims. They won a great victory in a battle against Germania, but were later executed by Commod.
This is the only place where Maximus, the protagonist of "Gladiator", appears in historical materials. In "History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", the text involving him is only more than 300 words.
One thing in "Gladiator" is right. Commodore really likes fighting. He likes to wrestle with armored and naked slaves. The weapon of the latter is a big net and a three-bladed fork. According to historical records, he participated in more than 700 gladiatorial fights in his not too long life (BT Ah) . His other stunt is shooting arrows, and the beasts collected from all provinces of the empire died under the arrows. If he represents Rome to participate in the Olympic Games, he can at least win two gold medals in free combat and moving target archery for Rome.
Commodore did not die in a gladiatorial fight. He was choked to death by a professional wrestler after being fed poison by his mistress. He reigned for 12 years instead of just one or two years as described in "Gladiator".
4.
"The meaningless exhibition, the performance on the stage, the sheep, the herd, the training of knives and guns, a bone thrown at a puppy, a bit of bread thrown in a fish pond, the work and transportation of ants, I was frightened. The running of a mouse, a puppet manipulated by a thread, and so on. Then, in these things, it is your duty to show a good humor rather than pride."
This paragraph is from Marco Aurelius’s "Contemplation" The words in "Record" warn every idealist to be irresponsible if he has any idea of being far away from the worldly life. To all the mediocrity, our attitude is "humor" rather than "prudence." Another well-known saying by Marco Aurelius is:
Life is just an opinion.
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