In The Meditations, Marcus thanks the gods he didn't fall under the spell of a Sophist when he first began to study philosophy. He must surely have in mind Herodes Atticus, who was by far the most famous Sophist of the era, and a family friend.
Herodes was raised in the household of his maternal grandfather, alongside Marcus' mother, Lucilla. However, he was in Athens when Marcus' higher education in rhetoric began, although he was appointed his Greek rhetoric tutor somewhat later.
Although Herodes was a family friend, arguably the leading intellectual of his day, and the most famous of his tutors, Marcus doesn't mention him once in The Meditations. Instead of Herodes, he praises more obscure teachers, including an unnamed tutor who was probably a slave.
Herodes was a critic of Stoicism. He argued that by urging us to master our more vigorous emotions the Stoics risked going to far and eliminating all emotional energy from life. Herodes also had a violent temper, though, and stood trial for kicking his pregnant wife to death.
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