A rather careless and irreverent review of a new translation of the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

The emperor's home truths - The Guardian.

"In Marcus's universe, everything has a purpose, from horses to vine shoots. Man's purpose, as a thinking animal, is to clear his mind of junk - to rid himself of illusions. The acclaim of peers is one illusion. The acclaim of posterity - "people you've never met and never will" - is another: "To be remembered is worthless. Like fame. Like everything." Discard your vain ambitions, accept that you're "minuscule, transitory, insignificant", and you can begin to play your little part in the interconnected whole: "Things push and pull on each other, and breathe together, and are one."