TIME: "Why We Still Read Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations"

Read my new article on Marcus Aurelius versus Modern Self-Improvement Influencers

In the middle of the second century CE, the most powerful man in the Western world sat in the legionary fortress of Carnuntum, by the River Danube, contemplating the fact that one day nobody would remember his name. “Near is your forgetfulness of all things,” he wrote, “and near the forgetfulness of you by all” —but he spoke too soon.

More than eighteen …