In Book I, Marcus Aurelius describes skills and character traits he has learned from his family and friends. Book I makes an impression that Marcus Aurelius was a young man who was eager to learn new things and develop his personality.
It seems that his family was rather strong and his family gave Marcus Aurelius a lot of care and support. Also, Book I makes an impression that Marcus Aurelius had many friends and teachers who played a significant role in his personal development.
The general argument of the author is that family and friends were the ones who influenced the development of personality and character of Marcus Aurelius. Also, the author is thankful to gods that they let him have a wonderful family, good teachers and friends. The author says that mostly everything in his life was helping him to become a person he was and that he liked everything that was given to him by the gods.
Some of the main ideas that relate to the argument of Marcus Aurelius are that we become who we are depending on the people who we spend our time with. Obviously, family and friends are such people, and they have a tremendous influence on who we are.
I agree with this point of Marcus Aurelius and think that his assertions are compelling. I believe that our families and friends determine who we are and the decisions we make.
All in all, The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius is an interesting book for me to read. Author provides many arguments that seem to be rather logical for me, and one can draw many conclusions for himself from reading this book.
References
The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. (n.d.). Retrieved November 16, 2014, from http://classics.mit.edu/Antoninus/meditations.1.one.html
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