Meditations — narrated by a designed AI voice
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Read the transcript
Unhappy am I because this has happened to me? Not so, but happy am I, though this has happened to me, because I continue free from pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearing the future. For such a thing as this might have happened to every man; but every man would not have continued free from pain on such an occasion. Why then is that rather a misfortune than this a good fortune? And dost thou in all cases call that a man's misfortune which is not a deviation from man's nature? And does a thing seem to thee to be a deviation from man's nature, when it is not contrary to the will of man's nature? Well, thou knowest the will of nature. Will then this which has happened prevent thee from being just, magnanimous, temperate, prudent, secure against inconsiderate opinions and falsehood; will it prevent thee from having modesty, freedom, and everything else, by the presence of which man's nature obtains all that is its own? Remember too on every occasion which leads thee to vexation to apply this principle; not that this is a misfortune, but that to bear it nobly is good fortune.
“Very little indeed is necessary for living a happy life.”
About this work
Meditations is the name later given to the twelve books of notes Marcus Aurelius wrote for himself in the 170s. They open with thanks to the people who formed him and then return again and again to a few hard lessons: do your duty, govern your own judgments, accept what you cannot change, and remember how short life is. This is George Long's translation, first published in 1862.
The entries are short, and they work well heard one at a time, the way they were written.
Who was Marcus Aurelius?
Marcus Aurelius (121–180) was Roman emperor from 161 until his death, the last of the rulers later called the Five Good Emperors. Adopted into the imperial family as a youth, he studied rhetoric and then Stoic philosophy, and he took the throne together with his adoptive brother Lucius Verus.
His reign was dominated by war with Parthia and with Germanic peoples on the Danube frontier, and by a devastating plague. In those years he kept a private notebook in Greek, addressed to himself, that has come down to us as the Meditations, one of the most widely read works of Stoic philosophy.
About the voice
This edition uses a designed AI voice: a new voice generated from a written description of Marcus Aurelius’s voice, not cloned from any recording of the author. It is not a recording of Marcus Aurelius reading this work.
Provenance: Designed AI voice — designed from a written description, not cloned from any recording of the author. We label every voice by how it was made for this edition — restored, designed, studio AI, or disputed.
Questions
Is this Marcus Aurelius’s recorded voice?
No. This edition uses a designed AI voice: a new voice generated from a written description of Marcus Aurelius’s voice, not cloned from any recording of the author. It is not a recording of Marcus Aurelius reading this work.
Is the Meditations in the public domain?
Yes. Marcus Aurelius wrote it in the 170s, and George Long's translation was published in 1862; it is in the public domain in the United States; availability varies by country.
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