es, Plato, and Marcus Aurelius were all very pessimistic, that they all suffered from what was classically called melancholia or is now called depression. This is not to discount their abilities or accomplishments, but it could account for their temperaments. (There doesnÆt seem to be enough data in The Art of Courtly Love to justify a similar hypothesis about Capellanus, although it could be a reasonable inference from his apparently bifurcated attitude about romantic love.)
Perhaps the clearest evidence for this possibility exists in the case of Marcus Aurelius. His Meditations express exactly the sort of Stoic philosophy that was also used by slaves in his world. It advocated a sort of default faith in the wisdom of the gods, who had established oneÆs fate, and taught that the only thing a person could control in life was his or her own attitude. It proposed a kind of emotional detachment, not totally di
...