Meditations I.3

From my Mother, the fear of God, and generosity; and abstention not only from doing ill but even from the very thought of doing it; and furthermore to live the simple life,³ far removed from the habits of the rich.

• 3.Compare Aristides, To the King 115 (Jebb) διαίτης εὐτέλεια (of Marcus).

  Aelius Aristides was a Greek orator of the 2nd century. To the King is a speech in praise of an emperor transmitted among his works, cited here by section in Samuel Jebb’s edition; the phrase diaitēs euteleia, “simplicity of living,” is used there of the emperor, whom Haines takes to be Marcus.