That neutral feeling tickled me as I gazed at this headless statue. And it led me to ask…was Marcus Aurelius a beggar?
That statue with a certain regal bearing, a presumption of status, not deigning to tread on the naked earth is the statue of an emperor. Perhaps the most not-a-beggar one could be.
Perhaps adding a tree to the barren landscape near the gate, for shade and fruit along the path, and a bird in the sky, may make it clearer how the path is to be developed in harmony with nature.