Primary source · Koine Greek
The Meditations (Ta eis heauton)
Emperor Marcus Aurelius · c. AD 170–180, on campaign
What this text is
The persecutor-philosopher's private notebooks — including the one aside where the Christians appear, dismissed for what he took as theatrical obstinacy before death.
Profile of Emperor Marcus Aurelius →
Interlinear passages
Word-for-word glosses of the original; the complete public-domain translation is linked below.
Book II.1 — the morning rule
ἝωθενAt dawnπρολέγεινsay beforehandἑαυτῷ·to yourselfσυνέσομαιI shall meetπεριέργῳ,the meddlingἀχαρίστῳ,the ungratefulὑβριστῇ,the insolentδολερῷ,the treacherousβασκάνῳthe envious
Book XI.3 — the aside on the Christians
μὴnotκατὰout ofψιλὴνmereπαράταξιν,obstinacyὡςasοἱtheΧριστιανοίChristians
Public-domain translations
George Long (1862)
Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial… What a soul that is which is ready to be separated from the body — but this readiness must come from a man's own judgment, not from mere obstinacy, as with the Christians.
Manuscript witnesses
Vatican, Vat. gr. 1950
14th c.One of two primary carriers of the Meditations.
Xylander editio princeps (Zurich)
1559Printed from a manuscript since lost.
Provenance
The Danube camps, c. AD 170–180 — the emperor's private notebooks
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus AntoninusA. S. L. Farquharson, 1944The standard critical edition with commentary.
- Marcus Aurelius (Loeb 58)C. R. Haines, 1916Greek text with facing English.