Meditations: The Thoughts of Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

A new edition of George Long's 1880 translation of Marcus Aurelius's classic work of stoic philosophy, Meditations. Meditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, recording his private notes to himself and setting forth his philosophy of life and leadership, heavily indebted to the Stoic school of philosophy. Originally written in Koine Greek and likely never intended for mass publications, the Meditations are set forth in twelve books, compiling thoughts and reflections -- some a brief line or two long, others paragraphs in length -- that he wrote and collected mostly during his limited free time while on military campaign. For centuries, Marcus Aurelius's words have provided readers with inspiration and insight into self-mastery and leadership and are among the finest examples and most significant academic sources of ancient Stoic philosophy.

Excerpted from George Long's 1880 edition published under the title The Thoughts of Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, this edition focuses just on Marcus Aurelius's own words, excluding many of the academic annotations regarding translations choices included by Long, though this edition preserves most of the helpful cross-references to Epictetus's stoic works.

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (A.D. 121 – 180) was the emperor of Rome from A.D. 161 to 180 and a notable Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good Emperors, and the last emperor of the Pax Romana (27 BC to 180 AD), an age of relative peace and stability for the Roman Empire.