Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

Chapter I

From my grandfather Verus[A] [I learned] good morals and the government of my temper.

2. From the reputation and remembrance of my father,[B] modesty and a manly character.

3. From my mother,[C] piety and beneficence, and abstinence, not only from evil deeds, but even from evil thoughts; and further, simplicity in my way of living, far removed from the habits of the rich.

4. From my great-grandfather,[D] not to have frequented public schools, and to have had good teachers at home, and to know that on such things a man should spend liberally.

[A] Annius Verus was his grandfather's name. There is no verb
in this section connected with the word "from," nor in the
following sections of this book; and it is not quite certain
what verb should be supplied. What I have added may express the
meaning here, though there are sections which it will not fit.
If he does not mean to say that he learned all these good
things from the several persons whom he mentions, he means that
he observed certain good qualities in them, or received certain
benefits from them, and it is implied that he was the better
for it, or at least might have been: for it would be a mistake
to understand Marcus as saying that he possessed all the
virtues which he observed in his kinsmen and teachers.