[Meditations].

£550 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

The George Long translation of this important work of Stoic philosophy by the last of Rome's Five Good Emperors. Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) composed his Meditations between 170 and 180 AD as a private work, intended for his own moral guidance and self-improvement. The first definite mention of the text was made by Arethas of Caesarea in the 10th century, who sent a copy of the Emperors' '[writings] to himself' to Demetrius, Archbishop of Heracleia sometime before 907 AD. Although now lost, this edition is considered the likely source of the two extant manuscripts on which the present-day text is almost entirely based. The work survives to offer us a unique insight into the mind of a Roman emperor and 'philosopher king'. Large 8vo (23.5 x 17.5 cm); title printed in red and black, photographic frontispiece, slightly spotted, ofsetting to endpapers; publisher's vellum backed cloth boards, lettered in gilt to upper cover and spine, top-edge gilt, others uncut, top-edge bump, corners a little rubbed and frayed, a little soiled and stained, very good; [4], 202, [2]pp.

• Binding: Hardcover

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