I've been trying to read Marcus Aureleus for a few years, but it feels like wading through a swamp and I generally give up after 10 pages. Any recommendations for an annotated version for today's readers?
Not sure if it's exactly what you're looking for, but I really enjoy 'The Daily Stoic' by Ryan Holiday [0].
There's a page for each day of the year (so ideally you would read a page per day). Each page has a short quote from Seneca, Marcus Aurelius and others, together with an interpretation of Ryan Holiday. For me, this wa an easy way to get started with the whole topic of Stoicism and some of Senecas and Aurelius ideas.
I read the Meditations in secondary school, high school, but it was the Penguin Classic edition I think. I am reading it for a fourth time, a new translation by Gregory Hays that is wonderful. I grew up poor, but went to a Jesuit high school, took Latin for two years, and I've found Stoicism appealing, because it tied in with my family's spartan lifestyle. We didn't have a phone until I was 12 or 13, and a TV until I was 8 or 10 I think. Minimal furniture, hanging clothes out the window, etc. I can see how it appeals to those say in Silicon Valley, as an alternative or contrast to their materialistic, high-tech world, a refuge. I am not discounting that it appeals to them or anyone for that matter, simply because it has a lot of truth or substance to it. I consider part of my life as stoic, and part of it along the lines of romanticism. I've considered learning Koine Greek to read it, and others, in their original language.
As a side note, my second reading was provoked by the movie "Silence of the Lambs", where Hannibal Lecter coaches Clarice to, "“First principles, Clarice. Simplicity. Read Marcus Aurelius." ;)
>As a side note, my second reading was provoked by the movie "Silence of the Lambs", where Hannibal Lecter coaches Clarice to, "“First principles, Clarice. Simplicity. Read Marcus Aurelius
Remembered saying something that a man craves for what he sees.
Reading literature and philosophy is both an acquired taste and skill. If you're not used to that sort of thing it may just be that you need to work your way up to it. It's a very different kind of reading from pop-anything (-fiction, -history, et c.)
Or you may read plenty of that sort of thing but just bounced off Aurelius. Still happens. I'd recommend Staniforth's translation as the best balance between easy-reading and fidelity to the text, if you want to try again. Probably don't need annotations—it's very straightforward by the standards of philosophy. If you'd like an overview of Stoicism to accompany a reading of Aurelius, and you plan to read more philosophy, it's hard to beat Russell's A History of Western Philosophy for a single volume treatment of the field's classics; people complain about its having a lot of opinion in it as if Russell were trying to trick them, but it's pretty explicit when he's describing something and when he's opining so I've never understood what the fuss is.
MA studied the doctrines of Stoic philosopher Epictetus. His surviving works are his discourses and the Handbook, which is an executive summary of his teachings. You may read it entirely in no time and understand the context.
Having a newer translation helps with this. One of the ideas he pushes is plain speech. I felt silly reading about that in a translation with lots of "thous" and "shalls".
It is not what you asked, but maybe try to read with a pen & paper. Take notes, it will help with the swamp feeling. I personally find this trick does not really work with a text editor.
And use a highlighter or just write on the book to refer back to bits when writing notes. If it's just a standard paperback I'm sure most won't have reservations for writing on their books.
