Completed the intro so far and here are some of the facts I was able to retain:

• Marcus’s dad died young he was adopted into the ruling class
• Roman names are really hard to remember and spell
• The assumption is Marcus started this reflection at around age 39 when doing military campaigns
• Was co-emperor until the other guy died instantly and then assumed the title
• Boy did Rome love titles. I couldn’t keep up with all the titles Marcus had.
• Condemned the Christians but it appears he doesn’t discuss it much in the book.
• He self reflected in Greek and thus wrote in Greek. He thought Latin was too noisy and caught up in Roman culture. Writing in Greek at the time was more of a philosophy approach to writing and self reflection.

I am sure other facts may come to mind as I haven’t started the books yet. But so far the early ideas kind of resonated with me. The comment about men after 40 feels like life is on repeat is amazing. Look forward to more of this book.