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I really wanted to like meditations but found the translation i bought to be almost intentionally difficult. Like they were translating to role play ancient ro
by anm89 5y ago
I really wanted to like meditations but found the translation i bought to be almost intentionally difficult. Like they were translating to role play ancient roman actor english instead of modern english.
did you by any chance find a translation that wasnt like that?
- rramadass 5y agoI have about half a dozen translations of the Meditations and i suggest the following; * Translation by Gregory Hays published in "The Modern Library" classics. This is highly approachable and should be the first one you start with. * Translation by Martin Hammond and published by Penguin Classics. Lots of illuminating Notes. * Translation by Robin Hard and published in "Oxford World's Classics" series. Robin Hard also has a translation of Epictetus' Discourses/Enchiridion/Fragments and Sayings and Anecdotes of Diogenes in the same Oxford series, both of which are also excellent. PS: All of the above contain a detailed Introduction to the work which you should not skip. They set the background, Worldview, Time etc. which help you understand the ideas in the book better.
- anm89 5y agoWow, better answer than I could have hoped for. Thank you!
- rramadass 5y agoSome more ;-) This great website allows you to compare the public domain translations: https://www.stoicsource.com/ https://www.stoicsource.com/ The Stoicism subreddit : https://old.reddit.com/r/Stoicism/ https://old.reddit.com/r/Stoicism/ Checkout the Recommended texts.
- bennysomething 5y agoThe one I had is one of the easiest things I've read. Strangely I couldn't understand why my brother found it difficult going. Now you ve made me realise it's probably varying translations.