1pmackey
Who's your favorite stoic? I'll start with Epictetus. He gives stoicism a human face, rather than "iron man"....
2beelzebubba
Seneca for me. His Letters from a Stoic got me through the rough time of when my father was dying. I have never tired of his sage advice and wisdom.
3pmackey
Yes, Seneca is very good. His Letters is one of the four Stoic works I read every couple of years: Meditations, Discourses and Selected Writings, Letters from a Stoic and The Consolation of Philosophy. Each of these has helped me through difficult times and kept me focused on what's important.
Letters from a Stoic put a very human face on Stoicism, which I thought much more real-to-life than some of Marcus Aurelius' ideas. How can you not mourn when you lose a loved one?
You have my condolences for your father. My father died last October. I'm grateful he isn't suffering any more, but oh how I miss him.
Letters from a Stoic put a very human face on Stoicism, which I thought much more real-to-life than some of Marcus Aurelius' ideas. How can you not mourn when you lose a loved one?
You have my condolences for your father. My father died last October. I'm grateful he isn't suffering any more, but oh how I miss him.
4beelzebubba
I happen to be reading Meditations right now. But I'm not really enjoying it. Maybe it's the translation, I don't know.
5pmackey
Which version are you reading and where are you now in the book?
My first encounter with Meditations was in my twenties with a book club version. It made extensive use of thees and thous which was very off-putting. I collect the modern line of Everymans' Library, so a few years ago I bought and read their version of Meditations which I enjoyed.
I've just finished Penguin's Great Ideas version which I bought because it was more portable for commuting. I found it to be the best version by far (so far). The translation is much more up to date. I found the translations to be important as well with Epictetus. My first copy of Epictetus was from the 1940s -- again using thees and thous. I couldn't read it. Then I found Penguin's copy and found it to be one of the best books I've ever read.
Penguin may have a trend going... I have Penguin versions of Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius and give them all five stars for books that impact how I think.
My first encounter with Meditations was in my twenties with a book club version. It made extensive use of thees and thous which was very off-putting. I collect the modern line of Everymans' Library, so a few years ago I bought and read their version of Meditations which I enjoyed.
I've just finished Penguin's Great Ideas version which I bought because it was more portable for commuting. I found it to be the best version by far (so far). The translation is much more up to date. I found the translations to be important as well with Epictetus. My first copy of Epictetus was from the 1940s -- again using thees and thous. I couldn't read it. Then I found Penguin's copy and found it to be one of the best books I've ever read.
Penguin may have a trend going... I have Penguin versions of Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius and give them all five stars for books that impact how I think.
6beelzebubba
It's the George Long translation. And it's full of thees and thous; probably the first one you read. Yeah, I'm not liking it at all. I'm going to try the Penguin edition you mentioned. Funny how a translation can either make it or break it.
