Word: aurelius
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What They're Reading in China Since Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao claimed last November to have read Marcus Aurelius' Meditations nearly 100 times, the Roman Emperor's 1,800-year-old treatise on Stoic philosophy has become a hit in China, reaching No. 5 on China Book International's best-seller list. A tome extolling the importance of virtue may seem an unlikely must-read amid the country's go-go economic boom, but it suggests many are looking for deeper meaning in their lives--and getting frustrated with China's wide wealth...
...heads of government and of state met to sign the European Union (EU) constitution. The tulips were Dutch, the direction Italian (Franco Zeffirelli, of “Romeo and Juliet” fame) and all the politicians looked dapper indeed as they posed before the iconic statue of Marcus Aurelius. In true European style, however, the performance was surrounded by a flurry of chaotic disagreement...
...later years, when his genius had pried him from anonymity, Guinness played all manner of historical celebrities, from Marcus Aurelius to Pope Innocent III, Hitler to Freud. By then, his eminence had become a cloak that he wore with cool majesty. It was like his "mischievous dolphin smile that spreads and flits away" (John le Carre's words). That smile was tight, wary and tinged with a seer's sadness; it invited affection but repelled intimacy. Emerging from a Guinness film, spectators wondered, "Who was that unmasked...
...plot, familiar from the 1964 epic The Fall of the Roman Empire, is this: in A.D. 180, Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) is ailing. He anoints his best general, Maximus (Crowe), a man whose motto is "Strength and Honor," as Protector of Rome until it can again become a republic. Before announcing his decision, Marcus informs his son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), who lusts to be Emperor. Commodus is displeased by the news; he smothers Marcus in his bosom, murdering him with a filial embrace, and proclaims himself Emperor. In short order, the nasty boy has swiped Maximus' job, ordered...
...terms of plot, Gladiator has some fairly epic ambitions of its own. Maximus is adored by the Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris), who is nearing death and tortured by uncertainties over his place in history. Therefore, he decides to bypass his power-hungry son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), as emperor and invest all his authority in Maximus, who can then re-empower the senate and help Rome return to its glory days as a republic. Maximus is not particularly enthusiastic he'd much rather occupy his time with a less stressful task, like tending crops, but he reluctantly agrees. Next...