the meditations of the emperor marcus aurelius antoninus

248 Pages·2008·0.93 MB·English

the meditations of the emperor
marcus aurelius antoninus
natural law and
enlightenment classics
KnudHaakonssen
GeneralEditor
FrancisHutcheson

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natural law and
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enlightenment classics
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i The Meditations i
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i of the Emperor i
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Marcus Aurelius
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Antoninus
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TranslatedbyFrancisHutchesonandJamesMoor
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EditedandwithanIntroductionbyJamesMoore
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andMichaelSilverthorne
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i TheCollectedWorksandCorrespondence i
i of FrancisHutcheson i
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liberty fund
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ThisbookispublishedbyLibertyFund,Inc.,afoundationestablished
toencouragestudyof theidealof asocietyof freeandresponsibleindividuals.
Thecuneiforminscriptionthatservesasourlogoandasthedesignmotif for
ourendpapersistheearliest-knownwrittenappearanceof theword
“freedom”(amagi),or“liberty.”Itistakenfromaclaydocumentwritten
about2300b.c.intheSumeriancity-stateof Lagash.
Introduction,annotations,index(cid:1)2008byLibertyFund,Inc.
Allrightsreserved
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Frontispiece:Detailof aportraitof FrancisHutchesonbyAllanRamsay
(ca.1740–45),oiloncanvas.ReproducedcourtesyoftheHunterianArt
Gallery,UniversityofGlasgow.
Libraryof CongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
MarcusAurelius,EmperorofRome,121–180.
[Meditations.English]
ThemeditationsoftheEmperorMarcusAureliusAntoninus/
translatedbyFrancisHutchesonandJamesMoor;
editedandwithanintroductionbyJamesMooreandMichaelSilverthorne.
p.cm.—(Naturallawandenlightenmentclassics)
(ThecollectedworksandcorrespondenceofFrancisHutcheson)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-0-86597-510-1(hardcover:alk.paper) isbn978-0-86597-511-8(pbk.:alk.paper)
1. Ethics—Earlyworksto1800. 2. Conductoflife—Earlyworksto1800.
I. Moore,James,1934– II. Silverthorne,Michael. III. Title.
b580.h88m37132008
188—dc22 2007037857
liberty fund, inc.
8335AllisonPointeTrail,Suite300
Indianapolis,Indiana46250-1684
contents
Introduction ix
ANoteontheText xxxi
Acknowledgments xxxiii
the meditations of the emperor
marcus aurelius antoninus 1
Endnotes 165
Bibliography 193
Index 203

introduction
OnMay31,1742,FrancisHutchesoninGlasgowsenttoThomasDrennan
inBelfastsomecopiesof TheMeditationsof theEmperorMarcusAurelius
Antoninus.NewlytranslatedfromtheGreek: WithNotes,andanAccountof
hisLife(Glasgow:PrintedbyRobertFoulisandsoldbyhimattheCollege:
1742).1
The letter that accompanied the dispatch of the books contained the
followingintriguingaccount:
ThebearerMr.Haytakesoversomecopiesof anewtranslationof An-
toninus,thegreaterhalf of whichandmore,wasmyamusementlastsum-
mer,forthesakeof asingularworthysouloneFoulis;2butIdon’tletmy
nameappearinit,norindeedhaveItoldittoanyherebuttheMancon-
cerned.Ihopethatyou’lllikeit;therestwasdonebyaveryingeniousLad
oneMoore.3PraytryyourcriticalfacultyinfindingwhatpartsIdid&
whathedid.Ididnottranslatebooksinasuite,butIoneortwo,&he
oneortwo.Ihopeif youlikeitthatitmaysellprettywellwithyouabout
BelfastIamsureitisdoingapublickgoodtodiffusetheSentiments&
if youknewFoulisyouwouldthinkhedeservedallincouragement.4
1.TheMeditationswerereprintedinGlasgowbyRobertandAndrewFoulisin1749
(2nded.),1752(3rded.),and1764(4thed.).Another“4thed.”wasprintedinDublin
forRobertMainin1752.
2.RobertFoulis(1707–76)wasappointedprintertotheUniversityof Glasgowin
1743.InpartnershipwithhisbrotherAndrew,hewasresponsibleforthepublicationof
manyattractiveandaccurateeditionsof classicaltexts.
3.JamesMoor(1712–79)wasappointeduniversitylibrarianoftheUniversityofGlas-
gowin1742andprofessorof Greekin1746.Heeditedmanyof theclassicaltextspub-
lishedbyRobertandAndrewFoulis.RobertFoulismarriedMoor’ssisterElizabethin
September1742.MoorandtheFoulisbrotherswitnessedHutcheson’swillonJune30,
1746.
4.Letterof FrancisHutchesontotheReverendMr.ThomasDrennaninBelfast,
Glasgow,May31,1742.MS:GlasgowUniversityLibrary,MSGen1018no.11.
ix
x introduction
Hutcheson’sletterraisesanumberof questions:(1)WhichbooksofThe
Meditations containHutcheson’stranslationsandnotesandwhichbooks
shouldbeattributedtoMoor?(2)WhatconsiderationspromptedHutch-
esontoundertakethistranslationandedition,apartfromhisannounced
desire tobeof assistancetoRobertFoulisandtheFoulispress?(3)What
mightbethesignificanceof Hutcheson’snotestothetext?Dotheymake
upacoherentsetof ideasconcerninghumannature,morals,politics,and
religion?Andwhatmaybetherelevanceof thesenotesforourunderstand-
ing of his other writings? (4) Why was Hutcheson determined that his
nameshouldnotappearinthevolumeandthatnooneinGlasgowandits
environs apart from Foulis should know the identity of the persons re-
sponsiblefor thetranslationandthenotes?(5)And,finally,whatwasthe
significanceof Hutcheson’sadaptationof TheMeditationsfortheEnlight-
enmentinScotland?
1. Hutchesonand Moor:
The Divisionof Responsibility
Thereisaprimafacieproblemconcerningtherespectivecontributionsof
HutchesonandMoortoTheMeditations.Therearethreepiecesofexternal
evidence,andtheydonotagree.ThefirstisHutcheson’slettertoDrennan,
with his claimthathe had done“the greaterhalf ... andmore”;aclaim
complicatedbythecircumstancethatHutchesonoriginallywrote“thefirst
half andmore”andthenstruckthrough“first”andsubstituted“greater.”
Clearly Hutcheson was reluctant to be specific and preferred to make a
gameof itwithDrennan.Thesecondbitof evidenceisfoundinTheFoulis
Catalogueof Books (Glasgow,1777),whereitisreportedthatthefirsttwo
bookswerebyJamesMoorandtheremainderbyHutcheson.5Thisrecord
of the matter has been accepted by many later scholars.6 Ithasthemerit
of consistency with Hutcheson’s claim that he had done “one or two
books,” and Moor, “one or two”; and itleavesHutchesonwithresponsi-
5.Duncan,NoticesandDocuments,49.
6.Scott,FrancisHutcheson,144;Hutcheson,OnHumanNature,176.