| Marcus Aurelius |
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Maiia:
Marcus Aurelius Emperor of Rome - for nearly 20 years wrote a personal
journal, "To Himself"
(translated as Meditations) it has remained popular throughout the centuries...
Penguin Editon. 1964 translation by Maxwell Staniforth.
Marcus Aurelius, opens his book talking about his family... Here's some ancient Greek writing... Staniforth suggests being Roman writing in Greek was not Aurelius greatest strength.
Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν (-Meditations)
Παρὰ τῆς μητρὸς τὸ θεοσεβὲς καὶ μεταδοτικὸν καὶ ἀφεκτικὸν
οὐ μόνον τοῦ κακοποιεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ ἐπὶ ἐννοίας γίνεσθαι
τοιαύτης· ἔτι δὲ τὸ λιτὸν κατὰ τὴν δίαιταν καὶ πόρρω τῆς
πλουσιακῆς διαγωγῆς.
"My mother set me an example of piety and generosity, avoidance of all uncharitableness - not in actions only, but in thought as well - and a simplicity of life quite unlike the usual habits of the rich."
"Courtesy and serenity of temper I first learnt to know from my grandfather.
Manliness without ostentation i learnt from what I have heard and remember of my father."
The translator notes say the work was first translated (paraphrased he suggests) in 1634. A more literal version of 1862 by scholar George Long brought it to greater public awareness.
Presented as a collection of thoughts and observations, it can be dipped into by fancy, as much as read from cover to cover like a novel. I find it a source of inspiring wisdom, remarkably similar to what is popular today...
Book 9 .13 "Today I have got myself out of all my perplexities; or rather, i have got the perplexities out of myself - for they were not without but within; they lay in my own outlook."
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