Marcus Aurelius

I, the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, 
Have seen with my two eyes, 
Know in this head on which the helmet weighs, 
That there is nothing new under the sun. 
As a man and a stoic I am of the universe, 
But since I am Antoninus I am Rome. 
According to the mask I wear I could build 
A temple reflecting blood or mercy, 
But blood flows and has always flowed. 
I have decreed that gladiators use blunted swords, 
But this new sect who have the symbol of the fish 
Are dangerous to the state, so I feed them to lions. 
I follow the strictest personal rules: 
When a man drops a false construction in his speech 
I will never correct him to his face, 
But I repeat the proper phrasing afterwards. 
During these endless frontier wars 
As I sit in my tent at night writing 
These meditations no one will read, 
I am not happy. I was not called 
For happiness when Antoninus adopted me, 
A simple life on a farm would please me more. 
But the skeins of my life were ravelled 
Before my birth, and I follow them to my death.