The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~40,600 words · 193 passages
Cite this work
- APAMarcus Aurelius. (n.d.). The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/marcus-aurelius/the-meditations-of-the-emperor-marcus-aurelius-antoninus
- MLAMarcus Aurelius. "The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/marcus-aurelius/the-meditations-of-the-emperor-marcus-aurelius-antoninus.
- ChicagoMarcus Aurelius. The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/marcus-aurelius/the-meditations-of-the-emperor-marcus-aurelius-antoninus.
What it is about
The private notebooks of a Roman emperor reminding himself how to live: what is in our power, how to bear pain and death, and why another's offence should not govern us.
Context and history
Written in Greek between AD 170 and 180, much of it during the military campaigns on the Danube, and never meant for publication: they are one man's notes to himself. They survived through chance copies and were not printed until 1559. That the most widely read Stoic book in the world was written by the most powerful man of his age — and that he writes in it about his own irritability — is much of what makes it last.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
1. I learned from my grandfather, Verus, to use good manners, and to put restraint on anger. 2. In the famous memory of my father I had a pattern of modesty and manliness. 3. Of my mother I learned to be pious and generous; to keep myself not only from evil deeds, but even from evil thoughts; and to live with a simplicity which is far from customary among the rich. 4. I owe it to my great-grandfather that I did not attend public lectures and discussions, but had good and able teachers at home; and I owe him also the knowledge that for things of this nature a man should count no expense too great. 5. My tutor taught me not to favour either green or blue at the chariot races, nor, in the contests of gladiators, to be a supporter either of light or heavy armed. He taught me also to endure labour; not to need many things; to serve myself without troubling others; not to intermeddle in the affairs of others, and not easily to listen to slanders against them. 6. Of Diognetus I had the lesson not to busy myself about vain things; not to credit the great professions of such as pretend to work wonders, or of sorcerers about their charms, and their expelling of Demons and the like; not to keep quails (for fighting or divination), nor to run afte
Themes in this work
Quotes
“The best revenge is not to copy him that wronged you.”
“Adapt yourself to the things which your destiny has given you: love those with whom it is your lot to live, and love them with sincere affection.”
“The Universe is either a confusion ravelled and unravelled again, or else a unity compact of order and forethought.”