“How good it is, when you have roast meat or suchlike foods before you, to impress on your mind that this is the dead body of a fish, this the dead body of a bird or pig.”

Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was a Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher who ruled from 161 to 180. He was a member of the Nerva Antonine dynasty and is remembered as the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors, as well as the last emperor of the Pax Romana. He served as Roman consul in 140, 145, and 161. His name is closely associated with Stoic thought and with the late years of the Roman Empire’s long period of relative peace and stability.