Marcus Aurelius. A traumatizált lélek és a terapeuta
Marcus Aurelius: The traumatized soul and the therapist

Summary/Abstract: A favourite genre of ancient moral philosophy is the precept. It is addressed to the disciple by the philosopher-master. He calls the disciple to reflect upon such thoughts and to follow such forms of behaviour whose correctness and usefulness have been previously demonstrated. Quite many of the precepts of Marcus Aurelius, which he addressed to himself, are such that they are inconsistent both with the teachings of stoic moral philosophy and with the other precepts of the emperor. These “layman precepts” are characterised by lethargy, fear of death, and misanthropy, as if in a therapy the soul suffering from traumas were talking to itself in the voice of the therapist. In this paper I argue for the point that the layman precepts do not serve therapy but rather contain the diagnosis of the trauma: the emperor gives an account of his own mental disposition in need of the therapy of moral philosophy.

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