The private philosophical notebook of a Roman emperor, written in Greek during military campaigns and never intended for publication -- one of the most enduring texts of Stoic philosophy.
Marcus Aurelius wrote the Meditations in Greek, not Latin, the language of Roman philosophy rather than Roman law and administration -- a private, unpolished record of Stoic self-discipline composed largely during military campaigns near the empire's northern frontier, and never intended for anyone else to read. It survived by accident of transmission rather than design, copied and recopied across the centuries until it became one of the most widely read works of ancient philosophy. This Oedio pairs an 18th-century printing of the original Greek and Latin text with George Long's standard 19th-century English translation.