I also consulted other translations for specific passages. There’s an old but still very helpful commentary on the Greek text by A.S.L. I used several modern editions of the Greek text, of which the most recent is by the German scholar Joachim Dalfen. But you’re right that with the Meditations I wasn’t working directly from original manuscripts. What source did you derive your translation from? I assume the Vatican didn’t allow you to peek at their copy.Īctually the Vatican is quite generous about allowing scholarly access (they’ve been very helpful with my current project). He’s writing memorandum for himself, not handing down wisdom-with-a-capital-W. I wanted to reflect the fact that this is a text compiled for his own use, not with any expectation of other readers. I was deliberately trying to move away from the rather stodgy feel of some earlier translations, which I think make Marcus sound too much like a sage. I think different translations reflect different aspects of the original, like looking at a sculpture from various angles (you can’t see all sides at the same time). Did you set out to do that on purpose or is this how Aurelius intended it? Your translation of Meditations is more accessible than other earlier translations. With my reading list and books over the years, I’ve moved quite a few copies, so for those of you that have read it–and if you’ve touched any of the other versions, you know how special it is–here are some words from the translator.

A couple weeks back I dropped Greg an email about asking him a few questions.

As I’ve said before, if you’re going to read it, you absolutely have to go with the Gregory Hays translation. I think I might have written about Meditations by Marcus Aurelius on this site a few times so I can probably skip most of the introduction.

Marcus aurelius gregory hays