The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus · Living the Life Series · 133 pages

The Golden Book of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus — the Meditations complete in twelve books, in Meric Casaubon's translation, running to 133 pages with an introduction, a note on the chief English translations, and a note on this edition. It is the longest document in the section and among the most recently revised, its version line dated December 2025.

The twelve books are given whole, each starting on its own page in the contents. The first is unlike the rest and is worth knowing about before opening the file: rather than reflections, it is a long list of debts — what the emperor believed he owed to his grandfather, his father, his mother, his tutors and his adopted father, itemised trait by trait. The remaining eleven are the notebooks proper, written in the field and never intended for publication, in which the same handful of subjects return again and again from different angles: the shortness of life and the indifference of the universe to it, the duty of the part to the whole, the uselessness of anger at other men's faults, and the discipline of judging one's own impressions before acting on them. The apparatus at the front, listing the chief English translations and explaining the choice of Casaubon's, is a courtesy to the reader that matters with this text more than most — Casaubon's version of 1634 is markedly older and more mannered than the modern renderings, and knowing that in advance is part of choosing whether to download it.

Read the full text (PDF, 2.5 MB, 133 pages)