Meditations

The first thing that comes

It is a fine service that this translation has been made freely available.

For myself, however, I find it an unsatisfactory translation, because the translator insists on using antique phrasings in the style of the King James Bible. Perhaps this was an effort to dignify and honor Aurelius' work, but Aurelius' thoughts need no such assistance, and are harmed by the artificial patina of age applied here, and the air of pontification it creates. Instead, his thoughts require only the clearest possible translation into modern English. That done, they speak for themselves and unpretentiously make their own dignity.

Unwittingly, in my view, this translation deprives Aurelius' thoughts of their natural dignity, forthrightness, and ability to speak directly to the reader across the millennia, by inserting the barrier of a pulpit between Aurelius and his reader.

Victorian translation. Accurate, but sounds a bit stilted to a modern ear.