The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius is a name I've often encountered - his words quoted at the beginning of novels or mentioned in passing by 'intellectual' characters - so, on spotting this reissued translation of his Meditations on NetGalley, I couldn't help but to request the book. Unsurprisingly for a work that's over eighteen centuries old, there are many translations in existence so I feel lucky that this very readable Martin Hammond translation was the one to find me. I accept the irony of a book reviewer who got a free ARC saying this, but I believe it is worth paying for this particular Aurelius-Hammond partnership. Yes, you can also get free Marcus Aurelius Meditations ebooks, but their reviews are dire!

This Penguin Classics edition begins with a lengthy essay by Diskin Clay that gives a lot of reasonably interesting background information about Aureliys, his life and times. It's admittedly nowhere near as pompous as other Classics introductions I've read in the past, but I did find it a harder slog than Marcus himself. Once I made it through to the Meditations, I was blown away! This book is amazing! I really felt as though each paragraph was someone speaking directly to me, and speaking meaningfully. Not every exhortation was vividly eye-opening of course. This particular one is patently ridiculous:

And give up your thirst for books so that you do not die a grouch Seriously, Marcus? Not going to happen!

However other guidance like:

Most of what we say and do is unnecessary; remove the superfluity, and you will have more time and less bother

or

All things are short lived - this is their common lot - yet you pursue likes and dislikes as if all was fixed for eternity.

were scarily pertinent!

I could immediately understand the idea of Marcus Aurelius being a life guide and of reading a paragraph or so a day as my own personal Meditation. I am even sorely tempted to buy myself a good paper edition to crease and annotate as I do. I am still struggling to get my head around how a philosopher from nearly two millennia ago can be as insightful and relevant to right now, yet he is. Thank you Penguin for giving me the opportunity to read this potentially life-changing book.

It's difficult to review a book that has been read by many thousands or millions of people over the past two thousand years or so, including world leaders, philosophers and other academics, athletes, and everyday people who just want to live their best lives possible. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome (161-180), was never intended to be read by anyone other than its author. It is a collection of Aurelius' thoughts as they occurred to him, presumably over the course of his life. This book has no plot, no story arc, and no relatable characters, per se. Instead, it's a record of his daily journal that has been translated, interpreted, and transcribed repeatedly down through the ages. The individual entries have been compiled into 12 books, which are loosely arranged in chronological order; although there is some debate about that.

This book is remarkable for two important reasons. It provides a glimpse into the thoughts of a Roman emperor, and it defines his personal life philosophy. Aurelius was a student of Stoic philosophy, which he carried with him throughout his life. Meditations represents his version of Stoic philosophy as he applied it to his own life. It's this philosophy that informed his approach not just as a ruler, but also as a human being. The philosophical virtues that were important to Aurelius and other ancient Stoic philosophers transcend time and are just as applicable today as they were back then.

This is not a book to be read once and returned to the shelf to collect dust. It's meant to be read slowly and repeatedly; it's meant to be studied. I found myself often reflecting on individual passages while I searched for ways these ideas were relevant to me and my own circumstances. I've only read this book once, but it's clear to me that new revelations are likely to emerge with each subsequent reading. Very few books can maintain their relevance beyond a few decades, let alone centuries or millennia. But this one does. This is one book to which I will return often as I polish my own personal philosophy, as so many have done before me.

3.5
Lots of good quotes in this book, here are some of my favorites:

"I do what is mine to do; the rest doesn't disturb me."

"Wait for it patiently - annihilation or metamorphosis."

"Close to fogetting it all, close to being forgotten."

"None of us have much time. And yet you act as if things were eternal - the day you fear and long for them..."

"Bear in mind that everything that exists is already fraying at the edges, and in transition, subject to fragmentation and to rot."

"That to be remembered is worthless. Like fame. Like everything."

"Think about your life: childhood, boyhood, youth, old age. Every transformation a kind of dying. Was that so terrible?"

"Fear of death is fear of what we may experience. Nothing at all, or something quite new, but if we experience nothing, we can experience nothing bad. And if our experience changes, then our existence will change with it - change, but not cease."

"People out for posthumous fame forget that the Generations to Come will be the same annoying people they know now."

"Close to forgetting it all, close to being forgotten."