Marcus Aurelius: 58 (Loeb Classical Library)

I bought this for my boyfriends bday but got them damaged I bought three books all managed to be damaged not impressed

Excellent copy: sturdy construction, easy to read, an excellent size. The Greek text is good for those of us who like to have it close by, but it isn't necessary to justify the purchase. (I am giving a review only of the physical attributes of the book; as I concur with those who have already given high marks for the contents).

Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher-emperor, marks the high point of pagan thought in the late Roman empire. This Loeb edition collects all of his (then) known works, principally in Greek but also in Latin, and provides an edition of the text with footnotes, facing (as the Loeb always does) a modernish English translation. Like much of Loeb, this volume is now quite elderly, though, with a static corpus and a relatively uncontroversial text, it does not particularly show its age except in the grammar of the English text.The translation was entirely new for this edition. However, it is written in archaising English with 'thee' and 'thou' to distinguish Greek and Latin second person singular from plural. Back at the end of the 19th century, this was still relatively common practice, although, except in dialects and poetry, these words had fallen out of common use a couple of hundred years before. To 21st century readers, it initially comes across as rather distant. However, after a few pages of reading, this fades from the mind.It's probably worth admitting that one would not read Marcus Aurelius now as self-help—though, in effect, that is what this book principally is, giving screeds of wise advice. However, as a window into the mind of a pagan stoic, this is incomparable. What is fascinating to modern readers is the way Marcus Aurelius weaves what would now be considered to be secular ethics in with ideas of what the gods require, and what they are likely to do. On the one hand this is the writings of a sensible man who expects relatively little from the gods, and uses them in many senses as metaphysical hypotheticals—"if the gods… either they will… or they will…" On the other, he is also writing as an emperor who accepts the notion that his predecessors are divine, and, one would imagine, expects to be accorded the same divinity later. What it reveals to us is therefore an extraordinary insight into a religious viewpoint which is utterly foreign to the Abrahamic tradition: an impersonal faith, where the gods can be invoked as proxies in discussions of ethics, but where action is thoroughly in the human sphere.

As always the Loeb has the original text, in this case koine Greek on the verso and the English translation on the front page. The translation is a little formal, even crisp, but this was the private notes of the man who would be Emperor. But what private notes they are. Reflections on how he achieved, improvements, how to evaluate talent both within and without. Progress and how to discern it and how to cultivate it. He pulls no punches here.

very good quality