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Following Ryan Holiday's recommendation (http://www.ryanholiday.net/reading-list/ http://www.ryanholiday.net/reading-list/), I highly, highly advise you to go w
by hvass 14y ago
Following Ryan Holiday's recommendation (http://www.ryanholiday.net/reading-list/ http://www.ryanholiday.net/reading-list/), I highly, highly advise you to go with the Gregory Hays' translation (http://amzn.to/XQSimT http://amzn.to/XQSimT)!
I have a copy of Long's and it doesn't do it justice.
If you want to dive deeper consider Pierre Hadot's 'The Inner Citadel: The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius" - http://amzn.to/YuWyvh http://amzn.to/YuWyvh
I am also fond of these YouTube lectures on the Meditations: http://youtu.be/nLD09Qa3kMk http://youtu.be/nLD09Qa3kMk
- prs 14y agoA Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy - by William Irvine Notes by Derek Sivers available at http://sivers.org/book/StoicJoy http://sivers.org/book/StoicJoy Tim Ferriss also frequently shows his admiration for Stoicism. A quick read that also provides a broad overview with a few reading recommendations. Stoicism 101: A Practical Guide for Entrepreneurs http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/04/13/stoicism-101-a-practical-guide-for-entrepreneurs/ http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/04/13/stoicism-101...
- cpursley 14y ago+1 on A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy.
- ecmendenhall 14y agoI second this. But don't take my word for it. Here is 5.24 (one of my favorites) translated by Long: "Think of the universal substance, of which thou hast a very small portion; and of universal time, of which a short and indivisible interval has been assigned to thee; and of that which is fixed by destiny, and how small a part of it thou art." And by Hays: "Remember: Matter. How tiny your share of it. Time. How brief and fleeting your allotment of it. Fate. How small a role you play in it."
- grannyg00se 14y agoVery diffeernt styles but I'm not sure how I would choose one over the other. I don't know which is closer to the original. Actually, I'm not even sure that's a consideration I'm interested in. I might be more interested in a translation that most efficiently communicates the intended message.
- fcmk 14y agoI wouldn't be surprised if someone's personal writings were concise. This is how I write for myself, so I prefer Hays.
- thisrod 14y agoA literal translation, the Stoics having doubtless written in formal Latin, it being so concise, might appear more as riddle than prose to English speakers.
- stan_rogers 14y agoKoine (vulgar or Hellenist) Greek, actually, but the point still stands.
- civilian 14y agoThis translation rocks so hard. My new motto is lifted directly from the book: "Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one."
- Havoc 14y ago>Pierre Hadot's 'The Inner Citadel: The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius" As someone who bought this book, I'd caution against a hasty purchases of it. I found it to be excessively dry and tedious. None of the original emotional content that make the meditations so moving is present. In the meditation you can clearly see - here is a dying man asking hard questions about life. In contrast the citadel book debates the various possible translations of specific words etc. Nothing wrong with it...just tread cautiously. I will definitely look into the other suggested translation though.
- ryanholiday 14y agoHey there, to the people recommending good books to "introduce you to stoicism" I would say: Um, the originals are probably the easiest and most straight forward philosophy ever written. Just read those.