Table Of Content

CLARENDON LATER ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS Series editors: Jonathan Barnes, Université de Paris IV–Sorbonne and A. A. Long, University of California, Berkeley MARCUS AURELIUS MEDITATIONS BOOKS 1–6 PUBLISHED IN THE SERIES Alcinous: The Handbook of Platonism John Dillon Epictetus: Discourses, Book I Robert Dobbin Galen: On the Therapeutic Method, Books I and II R. J. Hankinson Marcus Aurelius: Meditations, Books 1–6 Christopher Gill Porphyry: Introduction Jonathan Barnes Seneca: Selected Philosophical Letters Brad Inwood Sextus Empiricus: Against the Ethicists Richard Bett Sextus Empiricus: Against the Grammarians David Blank MARCUS AURELIUS MEDITATIONS BOOKS 1–6 Translated with an Introduction and Commentary by CHRISTOPHER GILL 3 1 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © Christopher Gill 2013 The moral rights of the author have been asserted First Edition published 2013 Impression: 1 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other form and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available ISBN978–0–19–969483–9 Typeset by Refi neCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk As printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, cr0 4yy For my colleagues and students at Aberystwyth and Exeter This page intentionally left blank PREFACE This book provides a new translation and commentary on the fi rst half of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, together with a full introduction on the Meditations as a whole. Apart from Hadot’s commentary on Book 1, this is, I believe, the fi rst commentary on an extended part of the Meditations since Farquharson’s two- volume study of 1944. As in other volumes in the series, discussion of part of a text offers a bridge towards understanding the entire work. The main focus in the introduction and commentary is on the philosophical content, especially the question how and how far the Meditations relates to Stoic theory in general. The volume is also designed to bring out the distinctive style and mode of refl ection in the work and what seems to be its principal function, to help Marcus to take forward a life- long project of ethical self- improvement. This project has a special interest in the modern context, in the light of current concern with personal development and pathways to happiness. This volume joins earlier books in the series on Seneca and Epictetus in presenting versions of what we can describe as ‘practical ethics’ in the Roman imperial period. The appearance of these three volumes marks a greater willingness on the part of scholars to take such writings seriously as philosophy and to explore their characteristic idiom and line of thought. This book, like others in the series, builds on recent intensive academic work on Hellenistic and Roman philosophy, including studies of the Meditations. From my own standpoint, the book continues my examination of ethics and psychology, including the therapy of emotions, in Hellenistic and Roman thought, especially Stoicism. The focus here is on a single— intriguing and suggestive—text. In future work, I plan to refl ect in broader terms on the signifi cance of Stoicism for modern thought about ethics and the interface of ethics with psychology and the study of nature, as well as on the possible uses of Stoic practical ethics for modern purposes. The completion of this book was made possible by a semester’s research study leave provided by the University of Exeter, along with a nine- month Fellowship funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council; this support has been invaluable and is much appreciated. I would like to thank, very strongly, the general editors, Jonathan Barnes and Tony Long, for agreeing to include this work in the series, and for their acute and detailed comments on all parts of the volume. I am grateful also viii preface to Marcel van Ackeren for his perceptive observations on the introduction and for the stimulus offered in various ways by his own recent work on the Meditations. Of course, all the remaining errors of fact and judgement in this book are my responsibility. I would also like to thank Peter Momtchiloff for his support and all the staff of Oxford University Press involved in the preparation of the book for their characteristically careful and helpful work. I am very grateful to Petra Bielecki for her help towards compiling the Index Locorum. The book also builds on my previous work on the Meditations, including providing the introduction and notes for a complete new translation by Robin Hard, prepared originally for Wordsworth Classics and subse- quently revised for Oxford World’s Classics. Collaboration with Robin on these and related volumes has always been both congenial and instructive. I have also gained from helpful comments by other scholars on several papers on Marcus. These were given at a 2004 conference on Greek and Roman philosophy (100BC–200AD) at the Institute of Classical Studies in London University; a 2006 colloquium on Platonism and Stoicism at Gargnano organized by the University of Milan; a 2007 conference on Meditations at Cambridge University; and a 2009 conference on Marcus Aurelius (the fi rst ever, as far as we know) at the University of Cologne. Three of these papers are cited in the Bibliography as Gill 2007a and 2007b and 2012b. During a career in university teaching spanning more than forty years (mostly at Aberystwyth and Exeter), I have been fortunate in being able to teach regularly Hellenistic and Roman philosophy, including the Meditations. I have benefi ted greatly from the responses and insights of my students, and also, more broadly, from those of my colleagues, in discus- sions and seminar- papers, especially at Exeter. In a more intangible, but more important, way, I have also benefi ted from the companionship and support of colleagues and sometimes students who have become good friends. This volume is dedicated to them with great warmth. CONTENTS Abbreviations and Conventions xi INTRODUCTION xiii Overview xiii The Meditations—Main Features xv Is There a Core Project? xxi Marcus’ Ethical Outlook xxxiv Confronting Death and Transience xlix Ethics and Other Branches of Philosophy: Psychology lii Ethics and Other Branches of Philosophy: the Universe lxiii INTRODUCTION TO BOOK 1 lxxv Note on the Text and Translation lxxxv TRANSLATION 1 Book 1 3 Book 2 9 Book 3 14 Book 4 20 Book 5 30 Book 6 40 COMMENTARY 51 Book 1 53 Book 2 86 Book 3 104 Book 4 119 Book 5 145 Book 6 168