Marcus Aurelius succeeded his adoptive father to become the emperor
of Rome in A.D. 161.
Shortly after being adopted, the emperor of Rome died, and Marcus was
first in line for the throne. He grew up "upper class", and his
education was of great importance. At the time, "upper class" Romans
were essentially bilingual in Greek and Latin.
Many great thinkers of the time were Greek, and thus
discussion of philosophy at the time would required knowledge of the
language.
It is interesting that this book was published so long ago, yet schools
around the world (I only know the US) remain in the state of producing
workers for factories. Maybe this is not so interesting, because it is
obvious, but it remains that this book was published over 100 year ago.
This book discusses the processes by which a mind
comes to know something and the teacher's duty of providing the student
with the means to reach a point of knowledge on their own -- in contrast
to simply regurgitating knowledge. The book also discusses what it means
to be a teacher -- a position of the highest moral obligation.