"The World of Rome" by Michael Grant

While most of the citizens of the Greek and Roman worlds relied heavily on some form of emotional religion, there were a few that sought their personal guidance through philosophy. The high degree of self-control as well as self-cultivation that was needed to live the philosophical life was, by foremost, the reasoning behind why there were so few. Even though philosophy began with such Greeks as Plato and Aristotle, and given that Romans were not a very philosophical people, there were some that obtained a higher sense of self guidance than had any Greek. There were Romans such as Lucretius who vehemently denied any higher power, but believed in Epicureanism. Also Cicero had found inspiration and comfort in Stoic philosophy. Marcus Aurelius, who was not in the true sense a philosopher himself, found guidance in his Meditations that were not for public record, but for his own quest in self truth. While Michael Grant wrote of other Roman philosophers, this report will focus on these three.
…