Marcus Aurelius on why sincere kindness is hard to defeat. From Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, about 175 AD.
In 174, at his army base at Sirmium, Marcus Aurelius heard a case against Herodes Atticus. Herodes was the richest man in Athens, and once Marcus’s own teacher.
The Athenians accused him of ruling their city like a tyrant. Herodes had just lost two girls he had raised to a lightning strike. Wild with grief, he insulted the emperor to his face.
In 174 at Sirmium, Herodes Atticus, once Marcus Aurelius’s teacher, insulted the emperor to his face at his own trial. Philostratus says Marcus never frowned, heard the case out, punished as mildly as he could, and later wrote to Herodes as a friend. His notebook says a kind spirit cannot be beaten, if it is sincere and not a show.
Real kindness is hard to fight, because it refuses to fight back. Practical advice: answer anger calmly, and make your point later, in private.
Likely, on the evidence · checked against 5 sourcesAnswer the next sharp word calmly, and save your point for later, in private.
“My teenager keeps lashing out at me. How do I stay kind without letting them walk all over me?”
Kindness Can’t Be Beaten and the other 11 ideas of Meditations, a minute at a time.
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