Torturer of Countless Christians

I watched part of Gladiator while eating dinner. And it made me think of Marcus Aurelius.

When I went to my first college (I was in Obama’s class at Columbia, two years before Obama transferred in), we had a compulsory class called Contemporary Civilization, in which we read authors like Macchiavelli and Epictetus. I don’t think Marcus Aurelius was on the list. I wouldn’t know, because I read virtually nothing. I felt bad about that tonight. After all, Hannibal Lecter referred to Marcus Aurelius, and he was a very smart, albeit fictional, guy.

I grabbed a copy of the Meditations, which is the book Aurelius wrote. It seemed to espouse such wonderful values; I had to marvel that a pagan could be so moral. Maybe I had been wrong to skip all those classes.

I got on the Internet and checked him out. And here is what I learned. Under his reign, persecution of Christians increased dramatically, and they were often tortured to death. Some of the more popular methods included putting Christians on iron stools which were then heated over fires, and throwing them into the arena to be torn apart by hungry predators. And sometimes various tortures were inflicted consecutively, until the victim died and ruined the festivities.

Marcus Aurelius was an evil man. He didn’t have a particle of compassion, as we know it. He considered himself moral, but he wasn’t troubled by human suffering. So much for Ridley Scott’s version. I shouldn’t be surprised. Mary Poppins wasn’t real, either.

Marcus Aurelius wasn’t even a good pagan. He didn’t believe in an afterlife. No wonder he didn’t think suffering was significant. It doesn’t really matter how much pain you endure, if in the end, it’s fleeting and has no lasting repercussions.

I can’t understand why the Romans hated Christians so much, but then I can’t understand why leftists hate us, either. A lot of misguided priests and pastors are hardcore leftists.

I don’t see any reason to finish the book. This man was clearly a hypocrite and maybe a bit of a psychopath.