Mailbox: Meeting a modern Marcus Aurelius

In a recent interview with Rob Hersov, a fascinating anecdote was shared. A former Johannesburg City Councillor recounts an encounter while canvassing in Coronationville. He discovered a unique piece of topiary shaped like a flat-topped acacia tree. The sculptor, a man named Marcus Aurelius Pieterse, was unaware of the historical figure after whom he was named. The Councillor enlightened him, humorously noting that this modern Marcus seemed more Epicurean than Stoic in his approach to life..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here..The seventh BizNews Conference, BNC#7, is to be held in Hermanus from March 11 to 13, 2025. The 2025 BizNews Conference is designed to provide an excellent opportunity for members of the BizNews community to interact directly with the keynote speakers, old (and new) friends from previous BNC events – and to interact with members of the BizNews team. Register for BNC#7 here..By John Mendelsohn.After watching your most recent interview of Rob Hersov I must share this anecdote with you..A few years ago I was canvassing for the DA in Coronationville( I am a retired Johannesburg City Councillor) . Whilst pounding the pavements I noticed a most unusual piece of topiary growing in the centre of a traffic circle. It was a privet which had been pruned into the shape of a flat-topped acacia tree, standing about two metres high..I decided to take a photograph of this phenomenon. Whist opening the camera app on my cell phone a youngish man approached me and informed me that he was the sculptor of the work of art and requested me to include him in the picture. I duly obliged him. Unfortunately I have not kept that photograph..I asked him for his name and he introduced himself as Marcus Aurelius Pieterse. I was greatly astonished, I asked him if he knew who originally bore that name. All he could tell me was that his mother had informed him that he was named after someone very important. I then proceeded to enlighten him as to whose namesake he was. .I departed from his company after having provided him, at his request, the wherewithal with which to celebrate his newfound enlightenment..Quite clearly our present day Marcus Aurelius, rather than being a follower of the Stoic philosophy, was more inclined to Epicureanism..Read also:.Rob Hersov: A roadmap for South Africa, what our country needsRob Hersov: South Africa into the Abyss?Rob Hersov: Release the beast – there is a way out of our ANC-ruled morass

Mailbox: Meeting a modern Marcus Aurelius

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