He always paid a great Regard to his Preceptors, as being fully sensible of the Advantages of Education, and of the Value of that Pains which had been taken with him. This acknowledging Temper work'd so far that he erected Statues for Fronto, and Rusticus, which Rusticus, and Proculus, another of his Masters, He rais'd to the Consulship: And the latter having no great Fortune, he furnish'd him with Mony to live up to the Grandeur of his Office : And as for Rusticus, he always did him the Honour to Salute him before the Captain of the Guards. But this was not all. For being convinc'd, that Mony and Preferment, were no sufficient Return for Sense and Principles, which latter Advantages being either the first Growth, or at least the Improvements of Instruction ; he was willing to let the World know how much he was indebted to the Care of these Great Men : The satisfying of this Obligation was the Principal Motive which put him upon Writing his admirable Meditations. An extraordinary piece of Gratitude This, which as 'twas an Original in him ; so no body since has had the Ingenuity to Copy after it. When People have any good Qualities, they are apt to thank themselves for the getting them. To impute their Virtue to the Assistance of another, is the way, they fancy to tarnish the Lustre, and lose the Credit on't. But Marcus Aurelius was always a declar'd Enemy to this sort of Self-Love : This Impartiality of Temper made his Acknowledgments run high, and treat his Masters almost with the same Respect he did his Deities. For after their Death he erected them Statues of Gold among his Domestick Gods, made frequent Visits to their Tombs, and there honoured them with the Solemnity of Sacrifices and Flowers.