Meditations: Which Translation to Buy (and Which to Skip)
Buy the Gregory Hays translation (Modern Library, 2002). That’s the answer. If you want to know why — and which free translation is actually fine, and which famous one will make you give up on Marcus Aurelius entirely — keep going.
The problem with Meditations translations
Marcus Aurelius wrote in compressed, private Greek. He was writing notes to himself, not a book, so the original is terse to the point of rudeness. A translator has two options: keep the telegram style and trust you, or pad it into Victorian sentences. Most older translations chose padding.
That’s why people bounce off this book. They’re not bouncing off Marcus. They’re bouncing off a translator who died before the lightbulb.
The short version
| Translation | Year | Style | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gregory Hays | 2002 | Spare, modern, punchy | Buy this one |
| Robin Hard | 2011 | Accurate, slightly formal | Strong second |
| Martin Hammond | 2006 | Scholarly, careful | Good, drier |
| George Long | 1862 | Victorian, public domain | Free and survivable |
| Meric Casaubon | 1634 | Jacobean English | Skip unless you enjoy pain |
Why Hays wins
Hays translates Marcus the way Marcus wrote: short. Book 2 opens, in Hays, with “When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly.” You can hear a person thinking.
George Long renders the same passage at nearly twice the length, with “busy-bodies” in it. Long isn’t wrong — he’s just writing for readers who also owned a horse.
The criticism of Hays is that he’s loose, and it’s fair. He trims, he modernizes, occasionally he paraphrases. If you’re writing a dissertation, use Hammond or Hard. If you want the book to actually change your Tuesday, use Hays.
The free option
Long’s 1862 translation is public domain, which means it’s everywhere — Project Gutenberg, and built into reading apps that ship classics. It’s denser than Hays but completely readable once you accept the rhythm; thousands of people got their Stoicism from Long and turned out fine.
My honest advice: start with Long for free tonight. If Book 1 (the thank-you list — everyone finds it slow) doesn’t kill you and you make it to Book 2, you’ll know whether you want this book in your life. Then buy the Hays and read it properly. You’ll end up reading Meditations more than once anyway; it’s that kind of book.
The one to avoid
Casaubon (1634) appears in a lot of “beautiful hardcover classics” editions because it’s free and old publishers love free. It reads like a legal deposition delivered through a wall. If your only contact with Marcus Aurelius was a gift-shop Casaubon, you’ve been mugged, not introduced.
Check the translator’s name before you buy any pretty edition. The cover is the least important part of this particular book — Marcus would be the first to say so.