It has been said that Marcus Aurelius was philosophy enthroned.  Without any desire to contest or detract from that compliment, let it be added that he was conscientiousness enthroned.  It is his grand and original characteristic that he governed the Roman empire and himself with a constant moral solicitude, ever anxious to realize that ideal of personal virtue and general justice which he had conceived, and to which he aspired.  His conception, indeed, of virtue and justice was incomplete, and even false in certain cases; and in more than one instance, such as the persecution of the Christians, he committed acts quite contrary to the moral law which he intended to put in practice towards all men; but his respect for the moral law was profound, and his intention to shape his acts according to it, serious and sincere.  Let us cull a few phrases from that collection of his private thoughts, which he entitled For Self, and which is really the most faithful picture man ever left of himself and the pains he took with himself.  “There is,” says he, “relationship between all beings endowed with reason.  The world is like a superior city within which the other cities are but families. . . .  I have conceived the idea of a government founded on laws of general and equal application.  Beware lest thou Caesarze thyself, for it is what happens only too often.  Keep thyself simple, good, unaltered, worthy, grave, a friend to justice, pious, kindly disposed, courageous enough for any duty. . . .  Reverence the gods, preserve mankind.  Life is short; the only possible good fruit of our earthly existence is holiness of intention and deeds that tend to the common weal. . . .  My soul, be thou covered with shame!  Thy life is well nigh gone, and thou hast not yet learned how to live.”  Amongst men who have ruled great states, it is not easy to mention more than two, Marcus Aurelius and Saint Louis, who have been thus passionately concerned about the moral condition of their souls and the moral conduct of their lives.  The mind of Marcus Aurelius was superior to that of Saint Louis; but Saint Louis was a Christian, and his moral ideal was more pure, more complete, more satisfying, and more strengthening for the soul than the philosophical ideal of Marcus Aurelius.  And so Saint Louis was serene and confident as to his fate and that of the human race, whilst Marcus Aurelius was disquieted and sad—­ sad for himself and also for humanity, for his country and for his times:  “O, my sole,” was his cry, “wherefore art thou troubled, and why am I so vexed?”

We are here brought closer to the fact which has already been foreshadowed, and which characterizes the moral and social condition of the Roman world at this period.  It would be a great error to take the five emperors just spoken of—­Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius—­as representatives of the society amidst which they lived, and as giving in a certain degree the measure of its enlightenment,