Page:Marcus Aurelius (Haines 1916).djvu/19

 INTRODUCTION

is not known how this small but priceless book of private devotional memoranda came to be preserved for posterity. But the writer that in it puts away all desire for after-fame has by means of it attained to imperishable remembrance. As Rénan has said, "tous, tant que nous sommes, nous portons au cœur le deuil de Marc Aurèle comme's il était mort d hier." Internal evidence proves that the author was Marcus Antoninus, emperor of Rome 7 March 161 to 17 March 180, and notes added in one MS between Books I and II and II and III shew that the second Book was composed when the writer was among the Quadi on the Gran, and the third at Carnuntum (Haimburg). The headquarters of Marcus in the war against the barbarians were at Carnuntum 171–173, and we know that the so-called "miraculous victory" against the Quadi was in 174. But Professor Schenkl has given good reasons for thinking that the first book was really written last and prefixed as a sort of introduction to the rest of the work. It was probably written as a whole, while the other books consist mostly of disconnected jottings. The style