Preface to Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius

And the first 400 reviews of our graphic novel about Stoicism

Our graphic novel, Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, was released last July, and chosen by Amazon as one of their “best history” editor’s picks. We weren’t sure how it would be received because a comic book aimed at adults, with this amount of history and philosophy, is a relatively unusual idea. Would comic book fans be interested in Stoicism? Would people who read How to Think Like a Roman Emperor, and other Stoicism books, be open to reading a graphic novel? We had to wait and see…

Below I’ve included my preface from the book but first here is the feedback from our readers. Verissimus, which is available both in hardback and ebook formats, has now been rated/reviewed nearly 200 times on Amazon. It has a solid 4.8 star rating with “well done”, “great book” and “highly recommend” among the most common phrases used by reviewers, according to Amazon. The most popular review says:

This book takes the disparate sources on Marcus' life and hammers out a portrait of the most relatable soul of pre-Christian antiquity. From Marcus' own words to Herodian and Cassius Dio down to the dodgy Historia Augusta, Robertson has raided the sources and made them make sense.. Robertson also mimics Marcus' style very well. But it is the illustration which really won me over. Ze Nuno Fraga definitely knows Roman architecture, military equipment and ancient fashion. He also knows what the various nationalities neighboring the Romans: Germanics, Parthians, even the Sarmatians are well turned out here. — Doug Welch

Verissimus also has nearly 200 ratings/reviews on Goodreads, where it has 4.2 stars. The most popular one says:

I solemnly promise not to slip into Gladiator gushing as I review this, never fear, but I'd have to be obtuse to not see that the opening chapter is reminiscent of the film, with Marcus Aurelius up North in the war with the Germans and dying in the presence of his insufferable son, Commodus. But the film is fictional and has numerous historical blunders, whilst Verissimus is the true story of the last of the Five Good Emperors, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus…

Robertson knows the emperor's philosophical thought well, has stayed faithful to the sources and stuck to what's credible, taking very minor creative liberties, about which you can read in the afterword notes… It's a beautiful novel, in my opinion… I appreciated that the artist was as careful with historical accuracy as the writer. The armour, legion formations, architecture, clothing, hairdos, and so on, are well-done without being excessively detailed. I highly recommend it! — Marquise

We can also announce, incidentally, that Brazilian Portuguese will be the first foreign translation available. We’re hopeful that there could also, one day, be a movie or animation based on the book. Below, you can read the whole preface from Verissimus, where I explain how the graphic novel was written and what to expect.

Preface to Verissimus

I’d like to welcome you to the world of Marcus Aurelius, second-century Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher.

The book you are now holding in your hands is the product of nearly twenty-five years of research. While writing my preceding book, How to Think Like a Roman Emperor, I was contacted by a young Portuguese illustrator named Zé Nuno Fraga. Zé showed me some amazing work he’d been doing on a play by Aristophanes. We began experimenting with ideas for illustrations about the life and thought of Marcus Aurelius, and eventually found ourselves at work on a graphic novel for St. Martin’s Press, which acquired the title Verissimus.

A lot of patience was needed to verify the accuracy of the philosophical and historical content of this book, including spending time at the magnificent archaeological park in Carnuntum, and interviewing scholars for our research. I also have to thank our “focus group” of philosophy, comic book, and Roman history enthusiasts for their invaluable feedback on the initial drafts. You’re about to read a truly epic story told in a sweeping cinematic style. As well as Marcus Aurelius the philosopher and statesman, you’ll see him in action as imperator or commander in chief of the Roman legions. However, there’s no way we could have hoped to cover the whole of Marcus’s life and the whole of Stoic philosophy. We had to be selective and focus on specific ideas and events.

This book isn’t intended as an introduction to Stoic philosophy. How to Think Like a Roman Emperor and Stoicism and the Art of Happiness serve that purpose well enough, I hope. Instead, we chose to do something completely new by presenting Marcus’s philosophical precepts and psychological techniques in a more concrete way, placing them within the context of real events from his life. We show how Stoicism influenced some of his decisions as Roman emperor and helped him to cope with the many challenges he faced, in particular the problem of anger and revenge. You’ll find an appendix at the end of this book outlining the main psychological techniques used by Marcus, and indeed by many modern Stoics, for managing anger.

I know some readers are probably unaware of how much historical information we actually possess about the life of Marcus Aurelius. The Roman histories of Cassius Dio, Herodian, and the Historia Augusta are our main sources. We also have fragments of evidence in many other ancient texts, even quotes from Marcus’s rescripts in Roman legislative records, and archeological evidence from monuments, coins, etc. However, it would, of course, be impossible to retell the story of Marcus Aurelius’s life verbatim. There are gaps, ambiguities, and contradictions in the surviving record, as you’d expect. Our goal was to remain as faithful as possible to the historical evidence while also engaging the reader in an exciting story and teaching them some valuable things about Stoicism along the way.

Where there’s information in our sources that seemed dubious or contradictory, we employed the device of presenting it in differently-shaped panels, denoting the character’s imagination, or as gossip, to place its reliability more obviously in question. See also the notes at the end of this book for some examples of decisions that were made regarding notable historical controversies. However, we don’t expect you to read this book as a conventional biography or a philosophy textbook... No, this is a “ripping yarn” about a great man’s philosophical, psychological, and spiritual journey.

My main goal in writing Verissimus was to help you... I want Marcus’s story to bring his philosophy to life for those finding out about it for the first time. I also want to give those familiar with Stoicism a new perspective on some of its main teachings and practices. I hope it inspires you to learn more about Marcus’s life and the philosophy of Stoicism, perhaps by reading Meditations, if you haven’t already done so. Fate permitting, some of you will find that the remarkable story of Marcus’s personal challenges resonates very deeply with you.

May it even help liberate you from the grip of anger and the other toxic passions against which Stoics waged their inner war.

Donald Robertson, Athens, Greece