Dio said of him, “He did not meet with the good fortune he deserved for he was not strong in body and was involved in a multitude of troubles throughout his reign.” We see in Marcus’ Meditations the stoic spirit of a man reconciled to a life he had not wished for himself:
“Oh wretched I to whom this mischance has happened… I can continue without grief; neither wounded by that which is present, nor in fear of that which is to come. For as for this, it might have happened to any man…”