The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

Book excerpt: This book contains a complete translation, by George Long, of the 12 books that make up "The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus", which are his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy. It is 'abridged' only in the sense that most of the footnotes have been omitted in order to publish a 'cleaner' translation. George Long's translation is considered to be one of the more accurate ones. Many of the footnotes that have been left out contained sections written in the original Koine Greek language, eg: which for most of us would be unintelligible anyway Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was a Roman emperor from 161 AD to 180 AD, ruling jointly with Lucius Verus until Verus' death in 169 AD and jointly with his son, Commodus, from 177 AD. He was the last of the so-called Five Good Emperors. He was born: April 26, 121 AD, in Rome, Italy and died March 17, 180 AD, in Vindobona, Austria. His spouse was Faustina the Younger (m. 145 AD-175 AD). His father, Annius Verus, died while he was praetor. His mother was Domitia Calvilla, also named Lucilla. The Emperor T. Antoninus Pius married Annia Galeria Faustina, the sister of Annius Verus, and was consequently the uncle of Marcus Antoninus. When Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius and declared him his successor in the empire, Antoninus Pius adopted both L. Ceionius Commodus, the son of Aelius Caesar, and Marcus Antoninus, whose original name was Marcus Annius Verus. Antoninus then took the name of Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus, to which was added the title of Caesar in a. d. 139: the name Aelius belonged to Hadrian's family, and Aurelius was the name of Antoninus Pius. When Marcus Antoninus became Augustus, he dropped the name of Verus and took the name of Antoninus. Accordingly he is generally named Marcus Aurelius Antoninus or simply Marcus Antoninus.