The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius is one of the most read works of practical philosophy ever written. It was composed in Greek sometime in the second century CE, never intended for publication, and has survived largely intact for nearly two thousand years. At this point, it exists in dozens of English translations, which is wonderful in principle and mildly bewildering in practice.
If you search for the best translation of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, you will find strong opinions. Some readers swear by a crisp modern rendering; others feel that older, more formal language better captures the gravity of the original. Neither camp is wrong. The right translation depends on what you want from the book, and this guide will help you work that out.
Before we look at individual versions, a brief word on what the Meditations actually is. Marcus Aurelius (121 to 180 CE) was Roman Emperor for nearly two decades. The notes he left behind were a private Stoic practice: reminders to himself to act with reason, accept what he could not change, and focus on virtue rather than reputation or comfort. They were not polished essays. They are, in places, repetitive, compressed, and deliberately blunt. A good translation preserves that texture rather than smoothing it away. For more background on the man and his philosophy, see our piece on who Marcus Aurelius was.
What Makes a Good Translation of the Meditations?
Greek philosophical prose from the second century CE does not map cleanly onto modern English. A translator must make choices at every turn: how literal to be, how to handle key Stoic terms, and how much to prioritise readability over precision. These choices shape the book you end up holding.
A few things worth paying attention to when comparing translations:
- Key Stoic vocabulary. Words like hegemonikon (the ruling faculty of the mind), logos (reason or the rational principle of the universe), and phantasia (impression or appearance) are central to the philosophy. Some translators render these into plain English; others keep them or explain them. Neither approach is inherently superior, but you should know which you are getting.
- Tone. The Meditations is not a warm book. Marcus writes to himself with a kind of stern affection, occasionally frustrated, occasionally tender. A translation that softens this into self-help prose misrepresents it.
- Introductory material. A good introduction contextualises Stoic philosophy and Marcus’s historical situation. If you are new to Stoicism, this matters considerably.
- Notes and commentary. Scholarly footnotes are invaluable for understanding obscure references, but they can also interrupt the flow for casual readers.
The Best Translations of Meditations
Gregory Hays (Modern Library, 2002): Best for Most Readers
The Hays translation is, for most people starting out, the best translation of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius available today. It reads with a directness and economy that suits the source material well. Hays strips away Victorian circumlocution and renders Marcus in prose that feels contemporary without feeling casual. The sentences are clean. The ideas land clearly.
What Hays does particularly well is maintain the abruptness of Marcus’s style. Many of the entries in the original are fragmentary, terse, almost note-like. Hays does not pad them out or over-explain. The introduction is also excellent, covering Marcus’s life, the Stoic tradition, and the nature of the text with admirable concision.
Where some readers find fault with Hays is in the handling of technical Stoic terminology. He tends to translate philosophical terms into plain English equivalents, which aids readability but can lose precision. If you later read more Stoic philosophy, you may occasionally find that Hays has made a conceptual choice that another translator would dispute. For a first reading, however, this is rarely a problem.
Best for: First-time readers, those who want a fluid reading experience, anyone who finds older prose a barrier.
Robin Hard (Oxford World’s Classics, 2011): Best for Philosophical Depth
Robin Hard’s translation, published in the Oxford World’s Classics series, is the one to reach for if you want to engage seriously with the Stoic philosophy underpinning the text. Hard is both a classicist and a philosopher, and his version strikes a careful balance between readability and precision. He retains more of the technical vocabulary than Hays does, and his endnotes are genuinely illuminating, pointing you towards Stoic sources and explaining how specific passages relate to the broader tradition.
The prose is slightly more formal than Hays, which some readers find adds appropriate weight. Others find it marginally harder going. Neither complaint is unreasonable. The accompanying introduction by Christopher Gill is among the best short introductions to Stoic thought available in any format.
Best for: Readers who want philosophical context, those already familiar with Stoicism, anyone planning to read further in the Stoic canon.
Martin Hammond (Penguin Classics, 2006): A Reliable Middle Ground
The Hammond translation sits comfortably between Hays and Hard. It reads clearly, neither aggressively modern nor stiffly academic. Hammond is a respected classicist and his rendering is trustworthy. The Penguin Classics edition includes a solid introduction and is widely available and affordable.
It is perhaps less distinctive than either Hays or Hard, which is itself a kind of virtue. If you want a dependable, unpretentious version of the text without any strong editorial personality imposed on it, Hammond is an excellent choice.
Best for: Readers who want a no-fuss, reliable edition; those who already own other Penguin Classics and want consistency.
George Long (1862): The Classic Victorian Translation
The Long translation is the one you will find freely available on Project Gutenberg and in countless inexpensive print editions. It was a serious scholarly work for its time and remains readable. If you have encountered lines from the Meditations quoted online, there is a reasonable chance they came from Long.
The limitation is the prose style itself. Long writes in the manner of Victorian scholarship: formal, sometimes stately, occasionally archaic. This creates distance from the ideas. Marcus’s private urgency, the sense of a man genuinely struggling with his own shortcomings, is harder to feel through Long’s register.
That said, for a reader who is comfortable with older prose, or who simply wants a free and complete text, Long is far from useless. It is best treated as a starting point rather than a definitive version.
Best for: Budget readers, those who enjoy classical prose styles, anyone wanting a free digital edition.
A. S. L. Farquharson (Oxford, 1944): The Scholar’s Choice
Farquharson’s translation is the one serious Classics scholars tend to cite. It is highly literal, accompanied by extensive commentary, and not particularly enjoyable as a read. For academic purposes it is invaluable. For personal use, it is unlikely to be the version you return to most often.
Mentioning it here for completeness, and because if you ever want to check a specific passage against the Greek, Farquharson is the edition most likely to give you clarity about what the original actually says.
Best for: Advanced students of Classics or philosophy, comparative analysis.
A Note on the Newer Translations
Several newer translations have appeared in recent years, some packaged with extensive commentary aimed at a popular audience. These can be useful, particularly if the additional material helps you connect the philosophy to daily life. However, the core translations discussed above remain the most widely respected, and none of the newer versions has yet supplanted Hays or Hard as a standard recommendation.
It is also worth being cautious about editions that present themselves as “updated” or “modern” versions of older translations. Sometimes these are simply minor revisions of Long with contemporary packaging. Check who actually did the translation before purchasing.
Which Translation Should You Choose?
To summarise the recommendations simply:
- Start here: Gregory Hays (Modern Library). Clear, direct, excellent introduction, ideal for a first reading.
- For philosophical depth: Robin Hard (Oxford World’s Classics). More precise, better annotated, great for readers already engaged with Stoicism.
- Reliable alternative: Martin Hammond (Penguin Classics). Solid and unpretentious.
- Free option: George Long (Project Gutenberg). Dated but complete and freely available.
- Scholarly reference: A. S. L. Farquharson. For serious academic use.
If you are new to Marcus Aurelius and Stoicism more broadly, start with Hays and read it as it was intended: not as a systematic treatise, but as a series of reminders and recalibrations, written by someone trying to live well under considerable pressure. Once the ideas have taken hold, Hard’s edition offers a productive second pass.
Getting More from the Meditations
Whichever translation you choose, the Meditations rewards slow reading. Marcus did not write it to be consumed quickly. A page or two read with genuine attention will serve you better than a chapter skimmed before bed.
If you want to explore the ideas further after your first reading, our article on the power of Stoic reflection in the Meditations goes deeper into what Marcus was actually trying to do with these private notes. For the philosophical tradition behind the text, our Stoicism reading guide will point you towards Epictetus, Seneca, and the broader canon. And if you are wondering whether this two-thousand-year-old journal has anything useful to say about worry and anxiety, the answer is yes, as we discuss in our piece on how the Stoics dealt with worry.
The translation matters. But less than the decision to pick up the book and begin.
