Index of Persons
This list covers only persons named, referred to, or quoted in the text of the
Meditations itself.
GRIPPA: Roman general; adviser and close associate of AUGUSTUS, whose
daughter he married. (8.31)
LCIPHRON: Not certainly identified, although the context makes it clear that he
must be a contemporary of Marcus’s. He might be the Alciphron who
authored a surviving collection of imaginary letters from courtesans,
fishermen, etc., or a philosopher from Magnesia on the Maeander, quoted
twice by the third-century antiquarian Athenaeus. (10.31)
LEXANDER (1) “THE LITERARY CRITIC”: A Greek from Cotiaeum in Syria,
teacher of the great orator Aelius Aristides, as well as Marcus. (1.10)
LEXANDER (2) “THE PLATONIST”: A literary figure, mockingly dubbed
Alexander Peloplaton (“The Play-Doh Plato”) by his rivals. He served as
head of the Greek side of the imperial secretariat. (1.12)
LEXANDER (3) “THE GREAT”: (356–323 B.C.), ruler of Macedon (336–323)
who conquered much of the Near and Middle East before dying at the age of
thirty-three. His career was a favorite topic for moralizers and rhetoricians.
(3.3, 6.24, 8.3, 9.29, 10.27)
NTISTHENES: Follower of SOCRATES and forerunner of the Cynic school
(quoted 7.36).
NTONINUS: Titus Aurelius Antoninus Pius, Roman emperor (138–161). He
adopted Marcus in 138 at the age of sixteen (1.16, 1.17, 4.33, 6.30, 8.25, 9.21,
10.27). Marcus also refers to himself by this name (6.44).
POLLONIUS: Apollonius of Chalcedon, Stoic philosopher and one of Marcus’s
teachers. (1.8, 1.17)