The Emperor's Handbook: A New Translation of The Meditations

By Marcus Aurelius, C. Scot Hicks, David V. Hicks

Categories: Religion & Spirituality

The Emperor's Handbook (Scribner, 2002) is a modern English translation of the Meditations of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius by the brothers C. Scot Hicks and David V. Hicks. Written as private notes during military campaigns, the Meditations record Marcus's efforts to live by Stoic principles: to accept what lies beyond his control, do his duty without complaint, treat others with patience and face death calmly. The translators, both schoolmasters, render the text in plain contemporary language, with an introduction to Marcus's life and times.

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• Ryan Holiday: “With a passage like this, I've come to find it helpful to look at various translations... In the Hicks & Hicks translation, The Emperor's Handbook, it's, "Don't feel for misanthropes what they feel for mankind."”