Marcus Aurelius reflects on the morning awakening, on food, on love! His statue, set against the sunset, questions itself, embarking on an ever more polarized dialectical process.
The text of the video was written by me, with quotations and reworkings drawn from various translations of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, in particular the American one by Gregory Hays and the Italian one by Maristella Ceva.
Marcus Aurelius is perhaps one of the most striking victims of the way time reshapes the reading of works and historical figures. I call him a “victim” because his translations and popularizations — which have introduced words such as anxiety, a term never used by Marcus Aurelius and only recognized as a medical concept in the twentieth century — have broadened both the audience and the misunderstandings.
Over time, this new readership has increasingly identified with a masculine, macho model that interprets Stoicism as a philosophy of numbing emotions and life itself. A kind of “psychotherapy with gladiators,” which risks leading many young people toward questionable life choices, in tandem with misogynistic and violent rhetoric.
In my Conversation with Himself — a title that echoes one of the Italian names given to the Meditations — Marcus Aurelius appears divided, hesitant, incapable, yet longing to enjoy small pleasures. He doubts whether Stoicism is truly an adequate response to living. And yet, for him, it remains the only possible one.
This video was presented at the San Fedele prize in Milan, where I arrived in first place.