Meditations
Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν
EditionTranslated from the original Greek
The private notebook of a Roman emperor on campaign: how to work, bear with others, and face death, written to no one but himself.
Also in the library: the complete Korean translation.
Anyone can read the first chapter. Join free to read to the end and download EPUB and PDF.
DRM-free files. Translation CC BY-NC 4.0; the original work is in the public domain.
About the book
Marcus Aurelius ruled the Roman Empire from 161 to 180, and spent much of that time at war on the Danube frontier. There he kept a notebook in Greek, addressed to himself: reminders to get up in the morning and do the work of a human being, to bear with difficult people, to hold fame and death at their true size, and to see both the whole of nature and his own mind clearly. He did not write it for publication.
This complete English translation is made directly from the Greek text edited by J. H. Leopold (1908). It keeps the twelve books and the traditional chapter numbers, sets each of the 533 paragraphs of the source as one paragraph, and adds short notes only on people, quotations, and damaged passages.
Highlights
- The universe is change, life is judgment.
- Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years.
- Dig within. Within is the spring of good, and it can always well up, if you always dig.
Contents
Anyone can read up to the first chapter. Chapters with a lock are open to free members.
Colophon
Translated from the original Greek. Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.Full colophon
Meditations
Original title · Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν
Author · Marcus Aurelius (121–180)
Translator · Ether Library
First publication · Written in Greek in the 170s for the author’s own use; first printed by Wilhelm Xylander, Zurich, 1559.
Source text · A public-domain digital transcription of the edition by J. H. Leopold, M. Antoninus Imperator Ad Se Ipsum (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908). Translated directly from the Greek.
Extent · Complete and unabridged · twelve books · 487 chapters · 533 paragraphs, as in the source · 115 short translator’s notes
Copyright · The author died in 180; the original work and the 1908 edition are in the public domain.
This translation · Translated from the Greek by Ether Library. The English text is © Ether Library and is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0): you may copy and share it for noncommercial purposes, with attribution.
Edition · English edition 1.0 · October 2026
Typography · Set in Lora (SIL Open Font License 1.1). Cover painting and design by Ether Library.
Original in the public domain · English translation CC BY-NC 4.0
Ether Library · No. 0011