The Death of Marcus Aurelius

The Death of Marcus Aurelius

Sunday, May 31, 2020

Wisdom from the Early Stoics, Zeno of Citium 15


And in very truth in this species of virtue and in dignity he surpassed all mankind, yes, and in happiness; for he was ninety-eight when he died and had enjoyed good health without an ailment to the last. 

Persaeus, however, in his ethical lectures makes him die at the age of seventy-two, having come to Athens at the age of twenty-two. But Apollonius says that he presided over the school for fifty-eight years. 

The manner of his death was as follows. As he was leaving the school he tripped and fell, breaking a toe. Striking the ground with his fist, he quoted the line from the Niobe: 

I come, I come, why do you call for me? 

and died on the spot through holding his breath. 

—Diogenes Laërtius, 7.28

 

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