A new translation of the philosophical journey that has inspired luminaries from Matthew Arnold
to Bill Clinton in a beautiful hardcover gift edition with a cover designed by Coralie
Bickford-Smith World-changing ideas meet eye-catching design: the best titles of the
extraordinarily successful Great Ideas series are now packaged in Coralie Bickford-Smith's
distinctive award-winning covers. Whether on a well-curated shelf or in your back pocket
these timeless works of philosophical political and psychological thought are absolute
must-haves for book collectors as well as design enthusiasts. Written in Greek by an
intellectual Roman emperor without any intention of publication the Meditations of Marcus
Aurelius offer a wide range of fascinating spiritual reflections and exercises developed as the
leader struggled to understand himself and make sense of the universe. Spanning from doubt and
despair to conviction and exaltation they cover such diverse topics as the question of virtue
human rationality the nature of the gods and the values of leadership. But while the
Meditations were composed to provide personal consolation in developing his beliefs Marcus
also created one of the greatest of all works of philosophy: a series of wise and practical
aphorisms that have been consulted and admired by statesmen thinkers and ordinary readers for
almost two thousand years. To provide a full understanding of Aurelius's seminal work this
edition includes explanatory notes a general index an index of quotations an index of names
and an introduction by Diskin Clay putting the work in its biographical historical and
literary context a chronology of Marcus Aurelius's life and career. For more than seventy
years Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking
world. With more than 1 700 titles Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best
works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide
authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and
contemporary authors as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
