Meditations

Now available in an accessible, new translation, "The Emperor's Handbook" is an important piece of ancient literature that remains more relevant than ever today.

Author: Marcus Aurelius
Publisher: Scribner Book Company
Published: 11/14/2023
Pages: 160
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.30lbs
Size: 8.10h x 5.40w x 0.50d
ISBN: 9781668050804

About the Author
Marcus Aurelius ruled the Roman Empire from 161 to 180 AD. Born to an upper-class Roman family in 121, Aurelius was adopted by his uncle, the emperor Antoninus Pius, in 138. Aurelius studied Greek and Latin literature, philosophy, and law, and was especially influenced by the Stoic thinker Epictetus. After Pius's death, Aurelius succeeded the throne alongside his adoptive brother, Lucius Verus. His reign was marked by plague, numerous military conflicts, and the deaths of friends and family--including Lucius Verus in 169. Despite these struggles, the Empire flourished under Marcus's rule as the last emperor of the Pax Romana, an era from 27 to 180 of relative peace and prosperity for the Roman Empire. Aurelius wrote his Meditations as spiritual exercises never intended for publication, and died at fifty-eight while on campaign against the Germanic tribes.

David Hicks spent decades heading independent schools in the United States while speaking and writing in defense of classical learning in the modern academy. In 1982 his book Norms & Nobility, a treatise on education, won the American Library Association's Outstanding Book Award for education. He was President of Darlington School in Rome, Georgia, and he and his family make their permanent home at West of the Moon, a ranch in Montana's Madison Valley. David and Scot Hicks are brothers.

Scot Hicks headed schools in Greece, France, and the United States and for over twenty years taught Latin and Greek in Europe and America. His translation of Sophocles's Antigone was performed at schools and at the Aspen Institute in Colorado. His other translations from Greek include Plutarch's Parallel Lives, and translations of Latin, Italian, French and English poetry have appeared in reviews in France, where he lives with his family in Brittany. Scot and David Hicks are brothers.