The 12 books

The Meditations were written by the emperor for himself, in Greek, in the last years of his life (he died in 180 CE). The twelve books are not ordered by theme; they are the notes of a diary. Open one and read a few sections.

The text is George Long's English translation of 1862, in the public domain, and its old-fashioned English ("thou", "thy") is unchanged. The notes beside it are our own wording. Marcus Aurelius wrote these for himself; they are a diary, not a book of rules.