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Before Gregory Hays, the standard English translations of Marcus Aurelius often mirrored the Victorian era in which they were written. They were formal, elevated, and slightly stiff. They referred to the Emperor as "thou" and framed his thoughts in complex, Latinate sentences. While accurate, they created a distance between the reader and the writer. They felt "classical."
Hays’ translation, published by Modern Library (2002), strips away the "thees" and "thous." He replaces them with blunt, modern prose. For example:
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View obstacles as opportunities for growth ("The impediment to action advances action").
In 1995, Gregory Hays published his translation of The Meditations, which has since become a widely acclaimed and accessible version of the text. Hays, a classicist and professor at Columbia University, brings his expertise in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy to the translation. His rendition is notable for its clarity, accuracy, and sensitivity to the nuances of Aurelius's original text.
Hays categorizes Marcus's recurring thoughts into several core disciplines that define the "design for living" the Emperor sought to maintain. They referred to the Emperor as "thou" and
The extensive introduction by Hays provides a masterful overview of Stoic philosophy and Marcus’s life, making the text accessible to beginners. Core Stoic Themes in Meditations
Hays’ translation captures this grit. He dispenses with the archaic "thee" and "thou." He breaks long, winding paragraphs into punchy, digestible aphorisms.
by Modern Library (Random House) and is not legally available as a free PDF. For a legal free alternative, the George Long translation is available via the MIT Classics Archive Key Themes in the Hays Translation Unlike a formal treatise, Meditations For example: To help you get started with
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The Meditations is a collection of personal reflections, prayers, and musings by Marcus Aurelius. Written in Greek, this text consists of 12 books of fragmented thoughts, each a window into the mind of a leader struggling to maintain his composure in the face of adversity. The Meditations is not a systematic treatise on Stoic philosophy but rather a series of aphorisms, anecdotes, and observations on the human condition.
was Marcus Aurelius's private journal for self-improvement. The Hays version highlights three core Stoic "disciplines": Daily Stoic The Best Translation of Marcus Aurelius's Meditations
: Suffering, in Marcus’s view, is often a product of our judgment rather than the events themselves. Core Stoic Themes in the Hays Translation