Synopsis
The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) offer a wide range of fascinating spiritual reflections and exercises developed as the Roman Emperor struggled to understand himself and make sense of the universe. Spanning doubt and despair to conviction and exaltation, they cover such diverse topics as the question of virtue, human rationality, the nature of the gods and Aurelius's own emotions. The Meditations are a readable exposition of the system of metaphysics known as stoicism. Stoics maintained that by putting aside great passions, unjust thoughts and indulgence, man could acquire virtue and live at one with nature.
This classic translation is by A. S. L. Farquharson.
Publisher information
- Publisher: Pan Macmillan
- ISBN: 9781907360268
- Number of pages: 192
- Dimensions: 157 x 102 x 14 mm
- Weight: 138g
Customer Reviews
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Meditations
This book will soon become an essential item to carry around with you for a quick glance now and again - solace and wisdom can seldom be found so readily i... READ MORE
Relevant today
I've been curious about this book for a long time but kept putting it off, thinking it would be too dense and too hard to read. Wrong! I'm left with a visi... READ MORE
The struggle to he a stoic
The meditations are a collection of his thoughts and notes written for himself. So not a systematic philosophy that you will find in other works. You'll re... READ MORE
Essential reading
This quickly became one of my top 3 book recommendations. For me it legitimised and affirmed my way of thinking, it was also a strange yet comforting feeli... READ MORE
More than an Emperor
His words are stuck with me every day, and it made me a person to implement good values into my life.
Life changing.
As relevant today as it was thousands of years ago. This versions annotations add excellent additional colour.
It is a gift to read the inner dialog of an emperor of Rome and to see that he shares the same challenges as we all do today. Even with all of his relative... READ MORE