Complete Works of Marcus Aurelius

by Marcus Aurelius

The celebrated ‘Meditations’ of Marcus Aurelius have endured as a potent expression of Stoic belief and remain an intriguing insight into the mind of one of Rome’s greatest emperors. The Ancient Classics series provides eReaders with the wisdom of the Classical world, with both English translations and the original Latin and Greek texts. This comprehensive eBook presents the complete extant works of Marcus Aurelius, with beautiful illustrations, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1)* Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Marcus’ life and works* Features the complete extant works of Marcus, in both English translation and the original Greek* Includes section numbers – ideal for classical students* Concise introduction to the ‘Meditations’* Features Haines’ seminal translation from the Loeb Classical Library edition* Excellent formatting of the texts* Easily locate the sections or works you want to read with individual contents tables* Includes Marcus’ rare speeches and sayings, first time in digital print* Provides a special dual English and Greek text, allowing readers to compare the sections paragraph by paragraph – ideal for students* Features two bonus biographies – discover Marcus’ ancient world* Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genresPlease some Kindle software programs cannot display Greek characters correctly; however the characters do display correctly on Kindle devices.Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting TranslationsMEDITATIONSTHE SPEECHES OF MARCUSTHE SAYINGS OF MARCUSThe Greek TextCONTENTS OF THE GREEK TEXTThe Dual TextsDUAL GREEK AND ENGLISH TEXTThe BiographiesINTRODUCTION TO MARCUS AURELIUS by W. H. D. RouseBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS by George LongPlease visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles

Genres: Philosophy, Ancient History

480 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 23, 2014

About the author

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (often referred to as "the wise") was Emperor of the Roman Empire from 161 to his death in 180. He was the last of the "Five Good Emperors", and is also considered one of the more important Stoic philosophers. His two decades as emperor were marked by near continual warfare. He was faced with a series of invasions from German tribes, and by conflicts with the Parthian Empire in the east. His reign also had to deal with an internal revolt in the east, led by Avidius Cassius.

Marcus Aurelius' work Meditations, written in Greek while on campaign between 170 and 180, is still revered as a literary monument to a government of service and duty and has been praised for its "exquisite accent and its infinite tenderness."

Reviews

[lavenderbud · Rating 5 out of 5]

This "Complete Workz of Marcus Aurelius" is really just Meditations, as he was not a writer in the modern sense of the word, and the only work he likely left behind was this journal, that he seems to me to have used to check himself against his ideals of what a good man and life should be.
This translation into english, as the author says, was made for his own use, and subsequently published near the beginning of the 20th century. The style is a bit dated and hard to parse at first, but once you get used to it, it becomes a pretty quick read. The rest of the book contains two short biographies of Marcus, which are an interesting read but ultimately not very relevant to the purpose most people would read Meditations for, which is personal/emotional development. The extent to which Marcus actually followed his beliefs is debatable as he was a flawed man like any other; this internal conflict is quite visible in the journal itself, and to me it only makes his words more precious and worth paying heed to, as he doesn't pretend to be the perfect man, he only strives to rise to his own standards.
There is a noticeable debate in the biographies regarding Marcus' poor treatment of the Christians, as many people seem to have deified him and thought him the perfect paragon of virtue who never did anything wrong, which to me is a bit strange because, as I mentioned before, his internal conflict comes across quite well from his journal, and it is quite evident that he *struggled* with himself as any other man does - what sets him apart is that he actually had an ideal of conduct that he wanted to follow to the best of his ability.
The book also contains the Greek version of Meditations as well as a Greek/English side by side comparison, for those who know the language. I am not one of them so I could only review the English parts.