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Page 1 of 3

  • Introduction

  • Edited by John Sellars, Royal Holloway, University of London
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Companion to Marcus Aurelius' <i>Meditations</i>
    Published online:
    02 July 2025
    Print publication:
    17 July 2025, pp 1-8

  • Summary

    The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius is consistently one of the best-selling philosophy books among the general public. Over the years, it has also attracted a number of famous admirers, from the Prussian king Frederick the Great to US president Bill Clinton.1 It continues to attract large numbers of new readers, drawn to its reflections on life and death. Despite this, it is not the sort of text read much by professional philosophers or even, until recently, taken especially seriously by specialists in ancient philosophy. It is a highly personal, easily accessible, yet deceptively simple work.

    On the face of it, what we find are a series of notebook jottings, reminders that Marcus has written to himself, comments on events that have happened to him, reflections on his own mortality, and a few quotations from things that he has been reading. There is little in the way of structure and a good deal of repetition.

  • Chapter 10 - The Early Modern Reception of the Meditations

  • Edited by John Sellars, Royal Holloway, University of London
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Companion to Marcus Aurelius' <i>Meditations</i>
    Published online:
    02 July 2025
    Print publication:
    17 July 2025, pp 197-213

  • Summary

    This chapter examines the reception of the Meditations in early modern Europe, focusing primary on the period from the first publication of the Meditations in 1559 to the end of the eighteenth century. In particular it discusses the way in which the text was read as either a generic source of ancient moral maxims or a serious work of Stoic philosophy. Key figures in the early modern debate include Isaac Casaubon, his son Meric, Thomas Gataker, the Cambridge Platonists Henry More and Ralph Cudworth, Anthony Ashley Cooper, the third Earl of Shaftesbury, Francis Hutcheson, and on the Continent Joannes Franciscus Buddeus and Johann Jakob Brucker.

The Cambridge Companion to Marcus Aurelius' Meditations
  • Edited by John Sellars
  • Published online:
    02 July 2025
    Print publication:
    17 July 2025
  • The Meditations of the second-century Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius is consistently one of the best-selling philosophy books among the general public. Over the years it has also attracted famous admirers, from the Prussian king Frederick the Great to US President Bill Clinton. It continues to attract large numbers of new readers, drawn to its reflections on life and death. Despite this, it is not the sort of text read much by professional philosophers or even, until recently, taken especially seriously by specialists in ancient philosophy. It is a highly personal, easily accessible, yet deceptively simple work. This volume, written by leading experts and aimed at non-specialists, examines the central philosophical ideas in the work and assesses the extent to which Marcus is committed to the philosophy of Stoicism. It also considers how we ought to read this unique work and explores its influence from its first printed publication to today.

  • EPICTETUS, DISSERTATIONES 1.18.10

  • John Sellars
  • Journal:
    The Classical Quarterly / Volume 66 / Issue 1 / May 2016
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    04 April 2016, pp. 410-413
    Print publication:
    May 2016

  • In the late nineteenth century J.L.G. Mowat published a short note in the Journal of Philology pointing out that in the Bodleian's MS of the Dissertationes of Epictetus there is an ink smudge (on fol. 25r) where all the other MSS have lacunae in several lines, leading to the conclusion that the Bodleian MS is the archetype for all other surviving copies.

Stoicism
  • John Sellars
  • Published by:
    Acumen Publishing
    Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    30 April 2006
  • Stoicism was one of the most influential schools of philosophy in antiquity and its influence has persisted to the present day. Originating in Athens around 300 BCE, Stoicism flourished for some five hundred years and has remained a constant presence throughout the history of Western philosophy. As one of the most popular philosophies of the Roman world, its doctrines appealed to people from all strata of ancient society - from the slave Epictetus to the emperor Marcus Aurelius. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to this great philosophical school. As well as outlining the central philosophical ideas of Stoicism, it aims to introduce readers to the different ancient authors and sources that they will encounter when exploring Stoicism. The book begins by introducing the ancient Stoics and their works. It then considers how the Stoics themselves conceived philosophy and how they formulated their own philosophical system. The core chapters examine Stoic philosophical doctrines in depth, taking each division of Stoic theory in turn: logic, physics, and ethics. The final chapter provides a fascinating account of the Stoic legacy from later antiquity to the present. The book includes a glossary, chronology and guide to further reading, which, together with its accessible yet authoritative approach, make it an ideal introduction for students and general readers.

Page 1 of 3