XIV. From my brother Severus, to love my kin, and to love truth, and to love justice; and through him I learned to know Thrasea, Helvidius, Cato, Dion, Brutus; and from him I received the idea of a polity in which there is the same law for all, a polity administered with regard to equal rights and equal freedom of speech, and the idea of a kingly government which respects most of all the freedom of the governed; I learned from him also + consistency and undeviating steadiness in my regard for philosophy; and a disposition to do good, and to give to others readily, and to cherish good hopes, and to believe that I am loved by my friends; and in him I observed no concealment of his opinions with respect to those whom he condemned, and that his friends had no need to conjecture what he wished or did not wish, but it was quite plain.
Probably Claudius Severus, a Peripatetic, whose son married one of Marcus’s daughters. Long renders the Greek as “my brother”; whether that is what it means is argued over, and no birthplace is recorded.
Where they were from
Where they were fromNo place is recorded for Severus.
When, in his life
Where it comes from
"A kingly government which respects most of all the freedom of the governed" — written by a man with absolute power, about the kind of rule he intended to exercise. Judge it against the reign.