Marcus Aurelius: The Dialogues

'In this delightful and well written book, Alan Stedall … has done an enormous service in making some of Marcus Aurelius's reflections very accessible to the modern reader' Faith & Freedom 'The Dialogues are eminently readable and immediate …in places it is irresistible' The Philosopher 'I was drawn deeper and deeper into the simple solid reasoning …Stedall's imagined dialogue had me fully in the present' Midwest Book Review 'I knew within a few lines this was going to be a treasure... Stedall is a word master... Bravo!' The Smoking Poet Marcus Aurelius, one of the greatest Roman emperors, is remembered less for his military exploits than for his private reflections. His Meditations, as they became known, have been a major influence on Western thought and behaviour down the centuries the pen is mightier than the sword. Seeking an alternative to faith based religion, Alan Stedall came across the book and found rational answers to questions about the meaning and purpose of life that had been troubling him. Here too were answers to his concern that, in the absence of moral beliefs based on religion, we risk creating a world where relativism, the rejection of any sense of absolute right or wrong, prevails. In such a society any moral position is considered subjective and amoral behaviour is unchallengeable. Because the Meditations were jotted down in spare moments during a busy life ruling and defending a huge empire, they lack order and sequence.