Who is Marc Aurel? I found one link making it seem that "Marc Aurel" was actually "Marcus Aurelius" and had a citation referencing Meditations. But google could not find that quote in any translation for Meditations. The "that's Marc Aurel for ya" makes it seem that he is a well known writer/thinker so maybe I am way off base thinking its Marcus Aurelius.
If therefore it be a thing external that causes thy grief, know, that it is not that properly that doth cause it, but thine own conceit and opinion concerning the thing: which thou mayest rid thyself of, when thou wilt. But if it be somewhat that is amiss in thine own disposition, that doth grieve thee, mayest thou not rectify thy moral tenets and opinions. But if it grieve thee, that thou doest not perform that which seemeth unto thee right and just, why doest not thou choose rather to perform it than to grieve? But somewhat that is stronger than thyself doth hinder thee. Let it not grieve thee then, if it be not thy fault that the thing is not performed. 'Yea but it is a thing of that nature, as that thy life is not worth the while, except it may be performed.' If it be so, upon condition that thou be kindly and lovingly disposed towards all men, thou mayest be gone. For even then, as much as at any time, art thou in a very good estate of performance, when thou doest die in charity with those, that are an obstacle unto thy performance.
Thank you for your translation -- the project of personal translations of great words is one of my favourites, despite the risks of misrepresenting. It is not enough to be accurate, one should seek also to be a poet.
Thank you for the education. Is dropping the ius/us (I forget the term high school latin was a long time ago) a common way of translating roman names to german?
> The "that's Marc Aurel for ya" makes it seem that he is a well known writer/thinker so maybe I am way off base thinking its Marcus Aurelius.
Why would you think that you're off base? From what I gather Marcus Aurelius is a well known* thinker/writer - just ordered a copy of Mediations for myself after reading this post and comments.
Because I never heard anyone refer to him as Marc Aurel in any of my philosophy classes and could not find any references to "marc aurel" on the internet. The familiarity of the statement made it seem like "marc aurel" was a household name. I also could not find the sentence in any copy of Meditations I found on the internet.
Fyi: you can grab a copy of Meditations from a number of classics sites on the internet:
I heard recently that there is a new translation which is rather good for the modern reader. (http://www.amazon.com/The-Emperors-Handbook-Translation-Medi...) I think I heard about it on the excellent "History of Philosophy: Without Any Gaps" podcast, but I'm not certain of that. It can seem silly to spend money when you can get the ideas for free, on the other hand, the style of translation can easily get in the way with ancient writers and old translations. I've quit reading a couple of dry translations of the Meditations when they would put me to sleep rather too fast during bed-time reading. I've got the new one on my Xmas wishlist and plan to buy it in the new year if someone doesn't get it for me.
So maybe check it out if you find the old versions slow going.
Ah, this is the exact copy I ordered, this is good to know. Personally, I prefer to spend a small sum to own a physical copy of the book - I'm a bit old fashioned in that way.
