Meditations with selected correspondence - Softcover

Marcus Aurelius

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199573204 ISBN 13: 9780199573202

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2011

Synopsis

'Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to live ... while you have life in you, while you still can, make yourself good.'

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) is a private notebook of philosophical reflections, written by a Roman emperor probably on military campaign in Germany. In short, highly charged comments, Marcus draws on Stoic philosophy to confront challenges that he felt acutely, but which are also shared by all human beings - the looming presence of death, making sense of one's social role and projects, the moral significance of the universe. They bring us closer to the personality of the emperor, who is often disillusioned with his own status and with human activities in general; they are both an historical document and a remarkable spiritual diary.

This translation by Robin Hard brings out the eloquence and universality of Marcus' thoughts. The introduction and notes by Christopher Gill place the Meditations firmly in the ancient philosophical context. A selection of Marcus' correspondence with his tutor Fronto broadens the picture of the emperor as a person and thinker.
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About this title

About the Author

Robin Hard has previously collaborated with Christopher Gill on a Wordsworth edition of Marcus Aurelius and an Everyman edition of Epictetus. For Oxford World's Classics he has edited and translated Apollodorus' Library of Greek Mythology.

Christopher Gill has translated Plato's Symposium with an introduction and notes for Penguin Classics and is the author of Personality in Greek Epic, Tragedy and Philosophy: The Self in Dialogue (pbk 1998) and The Structured Self in Hellenistic and Roman Thought (2008) both OUP.

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0199573204
• ISBN 13: 9780199573202
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208