Commentary on Meditations: B1.11

11. From Fronto: to understand the effect of suspicion, caprice, and hypocrisy in the exercise of absolute rule; and that for the most part these people we call 'Patricians' are somewhat short of human affection.

For this passage, let me provide definitions and then some brief commentary.

Suspicion means having cautious distrust.

Caprice means a sudden and unaccountable change of mood or behavior.

Hypocrisy means the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform.

A patrician is an aristocrat or nobleman.

I think another way to view this passage is to think of a time when someone treated you with suspicion.  They didn't trust you and perhaps there was no reason for them to mistrust you.

Or, think of the time when a friend or a teacher or coach went from being happy to super grumpy in a moment.

Or, think of a time when someone tells you to do one thing, but they in turn they violate their own instruction.

In each of these cases, you probably don't feel much friendship or trust toward the other person. Having identified how these things are not virtuous, then you should commit to not be that way! As Marcus says at the end, these people are "short of human affection."