Marcus Aurelius, #02

I finished reading the biography of Marcus Aurelius I mentioned in an earlier blog entry. I said that I would come back and give my full opinion after I finished reading it. It must be difficult to write a biography of this kind. Anthony Birley does a great job in the first part, but the latter part of the book falls totally flat. Marcus' death is accurately portrayed in the sense that it happened suddenly. I believe there are few details, if any, beyond speculation because his death took place outside of Rome. It just seems to me that despite the citations from Dio, Birley did little to entertain or inform in the latter part of the book. If I find another (better) biography of Marcus Aurelius I will read it and review it here.