ARISTOTLE TO AUGUSTINE In many periods Epictetus’ writings have been found comforting by those who have had to live under the rule of tyrants But in his own time the person who was most impressed by them was himself the ruler of the Roman world Marcus Aurelius Antoninus became emperor in 161 and spent much of his life defending the frontiers of the Roman Empire, now at its furthest extent Though himself a Stoic, he founded chairs of philosophy at Athens for all of the major schools, Platonic, Peripatetic, and Epicurean During his military campaigns he found time to make entries into a philosophical notebook, which has been known in modern times as the Meditations It is a collection of aphorisms and discourses on themes such as the brevity of life, the need to work for the common good, the unity of mankind, and the corrupting nature of power He sought to combine patriotism with a universalist viewpoint ‘My city and country,’ he says, ‘so far as I am Antoninus, is Rome; but so far as I am a man, it is the world.’ He hails the universe as ‘Dear City of Zeus’ One of Marcus Aurelius’ friends was the medical doctor Galen, who came to Rome after being physician to the gladiators of Pergamum His voluminous writings belong rather to the history of medicine than to that of philosophy, though he was a serious logician and once wrote a treatise with the title That a Good Doctor Must Be a Philosopher He corrected Aristotle’s physiology on an important point which was crucial for a true appreciation of the mind–body relationship Aristotle had believed that the heart was the seat of the soul, regarding the brain as a mere radiator to cool the blood Galen discovered that nerves arising from the brain and spinal cord are necessary for the initiation of muscle contraction, and hence he regarded the brain, and not the heart, as the primary seat of the soul Early Christian Philosophy With Marcus Aurelius, Stoicism took its last bow, and Epicureanism was already in retirement Among the schools of philosophy to whom the emperor assigned chairs in Athens, one was conspicuous by its absence: Christianity Indeed, Marcus instituted a cruel persecution of Christians, and dismissed their martyrdoms as histrionic One of those who was executed in his reign was Justin, the Wrst Christian philosopher, who had dedicated to him an Apologia for Christianity 109