ABSTRACT
Chapter 8 focuses on Marcus Aurelius’ account of providence: his defence of the perfection of the world and of the compatibility between good and evil; how god has given humans both the power not to fall into evil and the right to self-correct; and what light the Stoic doctrine of the principles can shed on providence. The chapter ends with a study of god’s benevolence towards human beings (in particular those that are bad and ungrateful) and how this is used as a model of perfect political leadership by Marcus.
