Meditations (Signature Classics)
Discover Meditations with this striking collector’s edition from Union Square & Co.'s Signature Editions series! The classic texts that shaped our culture feature exclusive cover art by distinguished artist Malika Favre. Her bold, graphic style gives each classic book a small masterpiece for a jacket. Collect the set or prize this Meditations special edition as your showpiece of Stoic philosophy.
 
Unhappy am I, because this has happened to me—Not so, but happy am I, though this has happened to me, because I continue free from pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearing the future. For such a thing as this might have happened to every man; but every man would not have continued free from pain on such an occasion. Why then is that rather a misfortune than this a good fortune? – Book IV, 49.

Literary history and meaning: Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius, is a collection of personal writings, ruminations, and reflections by the second-century Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, composed during his reign from 161 to 180 AD. Though not formally published during his lifetime, these reflections on Stoic philosophy and the nature of existence have since been compiled into one of the most influential works of ancient philosophy. Marcus Aurelius's teachings on living a virtuous life, accepting the inevitable, and finding tranquility amid chaos have transcended time and continue to inspire readers seeking guidance to navigating life's challenges. Its relevance today lies in its timeless wisdom and practical insights into human nature, making it a perennial source of guidance for individuals striving for inner peace and personal growth.

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Meditations (Signature Classics)
Discover Meditations with this striking collector’s edition from Union Square & Co.'s Signature Editions series! The classic texts that shaped our culture feature exclusive cover art by distinguished artist Malika Favre. Her bold, graphic style gives each classic book a small masterpiece for a jacket. Collect the set or prize this Meditations special edition as your showpiece of Stoic philosophy.
 
Unhappy am I, because this has happened to me—Not so, but happy am I, though this has happened to me, because I continue free from pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearing the future. For such a thing as this might have happened to every man; but every man would not have continued free from pain on such an occasion. Why then is that rather a misfortune than this a good fortune? – Book IV, 49.

Literary history and meaning: Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius, is a collection of personal writings, ruminations, and reflections by the second-century Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, composed during his reign from 161 to 180 AD. Though not formally published during his lifetime, these reflections on Stoic philosophy and the nature of existence have since been compiled into one of the most influential works of ancient philosophy. Marcus Aurelius's teachings on living a virtuous life, accepting the inevitable, and finding tranquility amid chaos have transcended time and continue to inspire readers seeking guidance to navigating life's challenges. Its relevance today lies in its timeless wisdom and practical insights into human nature, making it a perennial source of guidance for individuals striving for inner peace and personal growth.

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Meditations (Signature Classics)

Meditations (Signature Classics)

by Marcus Aurelius
Meditations (Signature Classics)

Meditations (Signature Classics)

by Marcus Aurelius

Hardcover

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Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher, distills the wisdom of great thinkers before him into a volume that has stood the test of time.

Discover Meditations with this striking collector’s edition from Union Square & Co.'s Signature Editions series! The classic texts that shaped our culture feature exclusive cover art by distinguished artist Malika Favre. Her bold, graphic style gives each classic book a small masterpiece for a jacket. Collect the set or prize this Meditations special edition as your showpiece of Stoic philosophy.
 
Unhappy am I, because this has happened to me—Not so, but happy am I, though this has happened to me, because I continue free from pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearing the future. For such a thing as this might have happened to every man; but every man would not have continued free from pain on such an occasion. Why then is that rather a misfortune than this a good fortune? – Book IV, 49.

Literary history and meaning: Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius, is a collection of personal writings, ruminations, and reflections by the second-century Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, composed during his reign from 161 to 180 AD. Though not formally published during his lifetime, these reflections on Stoic philosophy and the nature of existence have since been compiled into one of the most influential works of ancient philosophy. Marcus Aurelius's teachings on living a virtuous life, accepting the inevitable, and finding tranquility amid chaos have transcended time and continue to inspire readers seeking guidance to navigating life's challenges. Its relevance today lies in its timeless wisdom and practical insights into human nature, making it a perennial source of guidance for individuals striving for inner peace and personal growth.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781435172494
Publisher: Union Square & Co.
Publication date: 04/05/2022
Series: Signature Editions
Pages: 192
Sales rank: 384,142
Product dimensions: 5.40(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Marcus Aurelius (121–180 CE) was a second-century Roman emperor and philosopher.

Read an Excerpt

The Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

It has been said that the Stoic philosophy first showed its real value when it passed from Greece to Rome. The doctrines of Zeno and his successors were well suited to the gravity and practical good sense of the Romans; and even in the Republican period we have an example of a man, M. Cato Uticensis, who lived the life of a Stoic and died consistently with the opinions which he professed. He was a man, says Cicero, who embraced the Stoic philosophy from conviction; not for the purpose of vain discussion, as most did, but in order to make his life conformable to the Stoic precepts. In the wretched times from the death of Augustus to the murder of Domitian, there was nothing but the Stoic philosophy which could console and support the followers of the old religion under imperial tyranny and amidst universal corruption. There were even then noble minds that could dare and endure, sustained by a good conscience and an elevated idea of the purposes of man’s existence. Such were Paetus Thrasae, Helvidius Priscus, Cornutus, C. Musonius Rufus, and the poets Persius and Juvenal, whose energetic language and manly thoughts may be as instructive to us now as they might have been to their contemporaries. Persius died under Nero’s bloody reign, but Juvenal had the good fortune to survive the tyrant Domitian and to see the better times of Nerva, Trajan, and Hadrian. His best precepts are derived from the Stoic school, and they are enforced in his finest verses by the unrivalled vigour of the Latin language.

Book II

1. Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil. But I who have seen the nature of the good that it is beautiful, and of the bad that it is ugly, and the nature of him who does wrong, that it is akin to me; not [only] of the same blood or seed, but that it participates in [the same] intelligence and [the same] portion of the divinity, I can neither be injured by any of them, for no one can fix on me what is ugly, nor can I be angry with my kinsman, nor hate him. For we are made for co-operation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth. To act against one another, then, is contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away.

2. Whatever this is that I am, it is a little flesh and breath, and the ruling part. Throw away thy books; no longer distract thyself: it is not allowed; but as if thou wast now dying, despise the flesh; it is blood and bones and network, a contexture of nerves, veins, and arteries. See the breath also, what kind of a thing it is; air, and not always the same, but every moment sent out and again sucked in. The third, then, is the ruling part; consider thus: Thou art an old man; no longer let this be a slave, no longer be pulled by the strings like a puppet to unsocial movements, no longer be either dissatisfied with thy present lot, or shrink from the future.

3. All that is from the gods is full of providence. That which is from fortune is not separated from nature or without an interweaving and involution with the things which are ordered by providence. From thence all things flow; and there is besides necessity, and that which is for the advantage of the whole universe, of which thou art a part. But that is good for every part of nature which the nature of the whole brings, and what serves to maintain this nature. Now the universe is preserved, as by the changes of the elements so by the changes of things compounded of the elements. Let these principles be enough for thee; let them always be fixed opinions. But cast away the thirst after books, that thou mayest not die murmuring, but cheerfully, truly, and from thy heart thankful to the gods.


12. How quickly all things disappear, in the universe the bodies themselves, but in time the remembrance of them; what is the nature of all sensible things, and particularly those which attract with the bait of pleasure or terrify by pain, or are noised abroad by vapoury fame; how worthless, and contemptible, and sordid, and perishable, and dead they are—all this it is the part of the intellectual faculty to observe. To observe too who these are whose opinions and voices give reputation; what death is, and the fact that, if a man looks at it in itself, and by the abstractive power of reflection resolves into their parts all the things which present themselves to the imagination in it, he will then consider it to be nothing else than an operation of nature; and if any one is afraid of an operation of nature, he is a child. This, however, is not only an operation of nature, but it is also a thing which conduces to the purposes of nature. To observe too how man comes near to the deity, and by what part of him, and when this part of man is so disposed (VI, 28).

Book VI

1. The substance of the universe is obedient and compliant; and the reason which governs it has in itself no cause for doing evil, for it has no malice, nor does it do evil to anything, nor is anything harmed by it. But all things are made and perfected according to this reason.

2. Let it make no difference to thee whether thou art cold or warm, if thou art doing thy duty; and whether thou art drowsy or satisfied with sleep; and whether ill-spoken of or praised; and whether dying or doing something else. For it is one of the acts of life, this act by which we die; it is sufficient then in this act also to do well what we have in hand (VI, 22, 28).

3. Look within. Let neither the peculiar quality of anything nor its value escape thee.

4. All existing things soon change, and they will either be reduced to vapour, if indeed all substance is one, or they will be dispersed.

5. The reason which governs knows what its own disposition is, and what it does, and on what material it works.

6. The best way of avenging thyself is not to become like [the wrong doer].

7. Take pleasure in one thing and rest in it, in passing from one social act to another social act, thinking of God.

8. The ruling principle is that which rouses and turns itself, and while it makes itself such as it is and such as it wills to be, it also makes everything which happens appear to itself to be such as it wills.

Table of Contents

MeditationsBook One
Book Two
Book Three
Book Four
Book Five
Book Six
Book Seven
Book Eight
Book Nine
Book Ten
Book Eleven
Book Twelve

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“The emperor Marcus Aurelius, the proverbial philosopher-king, produced in Greek a Roman manual of piety, the Meditations, whose impact has been felt for ages since. Here, for our age, is his great work presented in its entirety, strongly introduced and freshly, elegantly translated by Gregory Hays for the Modern Library.”
—Robert Fagles

Reading Group Guide

1. The Meditations refers often to the need to act "unselfishly, " yet much of its advice seems to center on seeking tranquillity within oneself and ignoring the outside world. Is this a contradiction? Do other people really matter to Marcus, or is his philosophical outlook fundamentally selfish?

2. What qualities does Marcus praise his relatives and teachers for in Book 1? Are they the same qualities he seeks to acquire in the remainder of the work?

3. Marcus ruled at a time when Christianity was beginning to become more prominent in the Roman world. What elements of Christianity would he have found sympathetic? What elements would have been incompatible with his outlook? Do aspects of Marcus's Stoicism find echoes in other religious traditions, for example in Buddhism?

4. Marcus several times uses the image of life as a play (e. g. 3.8, 11.1, 12.36). What specific similarities does he see? Is the image helpful in encapsulating his philosophy in other ways?

5. "We need to practice acceptance, " Marcus says (7.3). "Without disdain." Do the entries in the Meditations show him doing that?

6. At several points Marcus expresses disapproval of the Epicureans for making pleasure their highest goal. Why does he find this attitude so objectionable?

7. The English poet and critic Matthew Arnold faulted the Meditations for a lack of joy. The translator's introduction agrees, and suggests that Marcus's pessimistic evaluation of human life is "impoverishing." Is this a fair criticism?

8. Marcus often describes the world as being in a process of constant change, yet he sees an underlying unity and direction in theway it works. Are these two conceptions compatible? Do modern theories about the nature of the universe make Marcus's outlook more appealing than it might have seemed a century ago?

9. Does the Stoics' emphasis on accepting all that happens to us as natural prevent them from trying to change the world in positive ways? Would a Stoic have participated in the civil rights movement, for example?

10. Marcus asserts (4.8) that only what harms our character can harm us. Is this true?

11. In urging himself not to fear death, Marcus makes use of several arguments found in other ancient thinkers: that others have faced extinction with courage, that death is a natural process, that non-existence did not harm us before our birth and can't harm us after it, that death is unavoidable in any case. Are these arguments intellectually convincing? Do you find them emotionally persuasive?

12. What is the significance of the anecdote about the Spartans at 11.24?

13. Like many Romans, Marcus finds it helpful to use certain historical figures (e. g. Alexander the Great, Socrates, Nero) as touchstones of human virtue or vice. What historical figures serve a similar function for us? Is this practice useful or potentially misleading?

14. Would the Stoics' respect for nature translate into an endorsement of modern-day environmentalism?

15. Marcus's two sketches of his predecessor Antoninus Pius (1.16; 6.30) might be regarded as a kind of "mirror for princes, " i. e. a portrait of the ideal ruler. Are the characteristics Marcus singles out the ones we look for in modern-day leaders? What other characteristics might he have added?

16. If you were to compile a catalogue of "debts and lessons" like the first book of the Meditations, who would appear in it?

17. Marcus advises himself at one point "to stop talking about what the good man is like and just be one" (10.16). Is it possible to be good without self-reflection? Are self-reflective people always the best?

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