AURELIUS, Marcus. Meditations Of Marcus Aurelius. Translated By Meric Casaubon and with Engravings By Hans Alexander Mueller.

New York: The Limited editions club, 1956. Royal octavo. pp. xv, [3], 230, [2]. Quarter black morocco on marbled boards. Edition limited to 1500 copies, signed by Hans Alexander Mueller. Top edge gold. A fine copy in slipcase.
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180) was a Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good Emperors (a term coined some thirteen centuries later by Niccolò Machiavelli), and the last emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace and stability for the Roman Empire. He served as Roman consul in 140, 145, and 161.
Commodus's succession after Marcus has been a subject of debate among both contemporary and modern historians. The Column of Marcus Aurelius and Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius still stand in Rome, where they were erected in celebration of his military victories. Meditations, the writings of "the philosopher" – as contemporary biographers called Marcus – are a significant source of the modern understanding of ancient Stoic philosophy. These writings have been praised by fellow writers, philosophers, monarchs, and politicians centuries after his death.

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