The Four Best Translations of Marcus Aurelius

Which Version of the Meditations Should You Read First?

If thou would’st master care and pain,
Unfold this book and read and read again
Its blessed leaves, whereby thou soon shalt see
The past, the present, and the days to be
With opened eyes; and all delight, all grief,
Shall be like smoke, as empty and as brief.

This epigram is found at the end of a Vatican manuscript of the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. It ca…