The Meditations, Marcus Aurelius
The Meditations, Marcus Aurelius
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The Meditations

Author: Marcus Aurelius

Narrator: Seth Thompson

Unabridged: 5 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/03/2020


Synopsis

Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations is the philosopher’s writing on his personal philosophies and private life. The book is made up of 12 books that Marcus Aurelius used to outline his ideas for self-improvement and guidance.
While these writings were likely never meant to become a published work, Meditations has remained an important work of philosophical writing several centuries later as one of the earliest works of Stoic philosophy. This Stoicism reveals itself through the writing as Marcus Aurelius posits that individuals can separate themselves from sensory experiences to free themselves from the pain of the world. He presents a philosophy rooted in logic and rationality, and seeks to gain control of what he can while letting go the things he cannot control.
Centuries after Meditations was written, philosophers began studying the work and using it as a means of discourse. This work is acclaimed for its writing style and Marcus Aurelius’ ability to write what he believed plainly. This work is an essential philosophical piece that has stood the test of time.

About Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius (April 121–March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 until his death. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Lucius's death in 169. Marcus was the last of the "Five Good Emperors" and is also considered one of the most important Stoic philosophers. His tenure was marked by wars in Asia against a revitalized Parthian Empire and with Germanic tribes along the Limes Germanicus into Gaul and across the Danube. A revolt in the East, led by Avidius Cassius, who previously fought under Lucius Verus against the Parthians, failed.

Marcus's 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.


Reviews

Goodreads review by ❧TheTrueScholar on May 12, 2021

How ridiculous and ignorant of the world is one who is surprised at anything that comes to pass in life. (12.13) Cast everything else aside, then, and hold to these few truths alone; and remember, furthermore, that each of us lives only in the present, this fleeting moment of time, and that the re......more

Goodreads review by Amy on February 20, 2020

Full review available at warmdayswillnevercease.wordpress.com I found this book very interesting. Far more interesting than I expected to if I’m honest. It was fascinating to read Aurelius’ thoughts and his ideas about self-improvement. He’s very self-reflective and, knowing that this was his private......more

Goodreads review by Derek on September 13, 2016

Had Marcus not been such a bleeding heart pagan he surely would have been canonized a saint by the early Catholic Church. It's unmistakable the huge influences I noted with the tone of religious reverence Marcus has for nature law and the universe; it's unmistakably in my mind the influences this ha......more

Goodreads review by Lily on March 24, 2025

Read for uni. Left many of the lectures feeling a peace, knowing that the most powerful man in the western world (of the ancient world that is) didn’t need an ego trip and wanted to be a good person… but when he talks about death, it becomes some of the hardest stuff I’ve read. Maybe not a tradition......more

Goodreads review by Maan on April 30, 2025

such a great book!......more