Meditation

Aquincum today,with modern trains passing by in every 20 minutes.
Photo by HongYu

It was believed that Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote part of his philosophy in Aquincum (Budapest today).

Limestone portrait of Emperor Marcus Aurelius that was found in Pest.
Photo by HongYu

Some quotations of this great work are listed below. Should take note of that, the Emperor which mother tongue was Latin,wrote all of this in Greek:

- "Do not suppose that you are hurt, and your complaint will cease."

- "Natrue works up the matter of the universe like wax: Now it is a horse, soon you will find it melted down and run into the figure of a tree, then a man, then something else. Only for a brief time is it fixed in any soecies."

- "Soon you will be ashes and bones. A mere name at most - and even that is just a sound, an echo. The things we want in life are empty, stale, trivial."

- "Consider in what condition both in body and soul a man should be when he was overtaken by death. And consider the shortness of life, the boundless abyss of time past and futrue, the feebleness of all matter."

I do really appreciate, that he wrote such beatiful things.