VII. From Rusticus I received the impression that my character required improvement and discipline; and from him I learned not to be led astray to sophistic emulation, nor to writing on speculative matters, nor to delivering little hortatory orations, nor to showing myself off as a man who practises much discipline, or does benevolent acts in order to make a display; and to abstain from rhetoric, and poetry, and fine writing; and not to walk about in the house in my outdoor dress, nor to do other things of the kind; and to write my letters with simplicity, like the letter which Rusticus wrote from Sinuessa to my mother; and with respect to those who have offended me by words, or done me wrong, to be easily disposed to be pacified and reconciled, as soon as they have shown a readiness to be reconciled; and to read carefully, and not to be satisfied with a superficial understanding of a book; nor hastily to give my assent to those who talk overmuch; and I am indebted to him for being acquainted with the discourses of Epictetus, which he communicated to me out of his own collection.
Quintus Junius Rusticus, Stoic, twice consul and Prefect of the City. As prefect he later presided over the trial and execution of Justin Martyr.
Where they were from
Where they were fromPrefect of the City.
When, in his life
The years in which Marcus became a Stoic.
Where it comes from
It was Rusticus who lent him Epictetus from his own library. Nearly everything Stoic in the Meditations arrives through that loan, which makes this the most consequential entry in the book.
Where he says it again
The Epictetus that Rusticus lent him is quoted more than any other source — most heavily in Books XI and XII.