Have you ever read Marcus Arulius' Memoirs?

@SW-User Really? I'd rate him far above Aurelius, tbh, because, (1) Commodus, and (2) he had a pretty sturdy & wellmaintained empire handed to him, and cruised on it. Severus had to really struggle, and I thought did considerably better over all.

Oh, plus Stoic philosophy utterly sucks, so there's that.

@firefall Fucking Commodus, man. You are right that the empire was fairly strong at that point, but Marcus Aurelius was strong enough to maintain that strength where a weaker man (Commodus) could easily have weakened that stability. Yes, Severus did have quite a struggle, but unfortunately his efforts just weren't enough. To be honest, I'd actually rate them about the same, as I believe that Aurelius and Severus would probably have been able to do what the other did if they were to be swapped. Both were capable emperors, with circumstances beyond their control (political situations, stability, etc) being ultimately what dictated which was deemed great and which was overlooked.

I agree about Stoicism.

@SW-User yeah, thats probably fair.

@SW-User This is paraphrased, but "In order to be a great emperor, I must be in love with my people". I liked that, and I think that all great leaders should have this quality.

He said
Whenever you are about to find fault with someone,
ask yourself the following question:
What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?

@SW-User The man was chock full of wisdom, and I think his memoirs should be required reading in schools.

@firefall Yep...I knew misspelled that....!!