Meditations

Meditations was never meant to be read by anyone but its author. Marcus Aurelius, emperor of Rome, kept these notes for himself, many of them written in army camps while he led long campaigns along the Danube. They are divided into twelve short books, and most entries run from a single line to a paragraph or two.

The first book is a list of thanks, in which Marcus records what he learned from his family, his teachers and his friends, and the qualities he admired in each of them. After that, the entries circle a handful of themes. We cannot control events, only our judgments about them. Other people's rudeness is no reason to give up our own good conduct. Fame fades, everything changes, and the present moment is all anyone truly has. He returns again and again to working for the common good, and to the discipline of getting out of bed in the morning and doing the job in front of him.

This edition uses Gregory Hays's clear, modern translation, with a helpful introduction to Marcus's life and Stoic thought. About 272 pages, best read a few entries at a time.