Meditations (Prometheus Classics)
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Publisher Description
This collection contains an active table of contents (HTML), which makes reading easier to make it more enjoyable.
Marcus Annius Verus was born in Rome, A. D. 121, and assumed the name of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, by which he is known to history, on his adoption by the Emperor T. Aurelius Antoninus. M. Aurelius was educated by the orator Fronto, but turned aside from rhetoric to the study of the Stoic philosophy, of which he was the last distinguished representative. The "Meditations," which he wrote in Greek, are among the most noteworthy expressions of this system, and exhibit it favorably on its practical side. The "Meditations" picture with faithfulness the mind and character of this noblest of the Emperors. Simple in style and sincere in tone, they record for all time the height reached by pagan aspiration in its effort to solve the problem of conduct; and the essential agreement of his practice with his teaching proved that "Even in a palace life may be led well."
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"When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they do not know how to tell good from evil. But I... have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own." This and other useful affirmations from the second century Stoic philosopher and Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius have been retranslated for the first time in 35 years by Hays, classics professor at the University of Virginia. He includes an introduction that sketches the life of Aurelius and also summarizes the principles of Stoicism.
