Updated · each edition is described in its publisher’s own words, checked against the listing
5 in-print translations and 2 audiobooks, compared by who made them, when, and what each one is actually trying to do — Marcus Aurelius.
Start with Gregory Hays (2002, Modern Library) for a first read; choose Robin Hard (2011, Oxford World's Classics) to stay closest to the original. The longer answer. No single edition of Meditations is best for everyone, because the editions are optimised for different things: for a first read, the editions described as the most readable are Gregory Hays, Martin Hammond; to stay closest to the original, Robin Hard; on audio the choice is mostly which translation is being read and whether it is one narrator or a full cast.
Every claim below is the publisher’s or translator’s own description, shown next to it, so you can judge rather than take our word. And you can read the whole thing free on this site first.
Scriptorium Press publishes a complete new plain-English translation of Meditations, free, with a complete free audiobook. No account, no paywall — 12 works in this volume.
Start reading free → Free audiobook → Whole book on one page →Older translations, out of copyright, hosted free by Internet Archive, Project Gutenberg, Wikisource. Not our work and not affiliate links — they are here because they are genuinely useful.
| Translator | Year | What it is | |
|---|---|---|---|
| George Long | 1862 | the standard Victorian translation, transcribed in full | Wikisource → |
| George Long | 1889 | scanned original of the same translation | Internet Archive → |
| Meric Casaubon | 1634 | the first English Meditations, in its original seventeenth-century prose | Project Gutenberg → |
Sorted as the research file records them. The note on each row is that edition’s own published description.
| Translator | Year | Publisher | What it is | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gregory Hays | 2002 | Modern Library | the most widely recommended modern translation: plain, direct, and prefaced by a much-praised introduction | Find it |
| Robin Hard | 2011 | Oxford World's Classics | more literal and closely annotated; adds the surviving letters between Marcus and his tutor Fronto | Find it |
| Martin Hammond | 2006 | Penguin Classics | readable modern prose with full explanatory notes | Find it |
| Robin Waterfield | 2021 | Basic Books | The Annotated Edition: a running commentary alongside the text, the fullest apparatus in print | Find it |
| Maxwell Staniforth | 1964 | Penguin Classics | the long-serving older Penguin translation, still widely circulated secondhand | Find it |
Those are affiliate links. They cost you nothing extra and pay a small commission to the people who publish these editions, and to us.
The thing that most changes an audiobook of Meditations is which translation is being read — a scholarly text and a colloquial one are different listening experiences before the narrator says a word.
| Narrator | Translation read | Publisher | Year | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roger Davis | Gregory Hays | Random House Audio | the Hays translation on audio; the introduction is read by Ryan Holiday | Listen | |
| Duncan Steen | George Long, revised by Duncan Steen | Naxos AudioBooks | the public-domain Long translation, lightly modernised for the recording | Listen |
Affiliate links, including the Audible ones. They cost you nothing extra. Our own audiobook of Meditations stays free either way.
The editions described as the most readable are Gregory Hays (2002), Martin Hammond (2006). Their published descriptions emphasise pace and plain modern idiom rather than strict line-by-line fidelity, which is what makes them easier on a first pass.
The editions noted for fidelity to the source are Robin Hard (2011) - described as literal, close to the received text, or annotated line by line.
The most frequently recommended are Gregory Hays (2002). "Most recommended" is not the same as "best for you": a scholarly standard and an easy first read are different books, and the table on this page shows which is which.
There are 2 commercial recordings. They differ mainly in which translation is being read and whether it is a single narrator or a full cast: Roger Davis reads Gregory Hays; Duncan Steen reads George Long, revised by Duncan Steen. A complete free audiobook of our own translation is also on this site.
Yes. Scriptorium Press publishes a complete new plain-English translation of Meditations free to read, with a complete free audiobook, no account and no paywall - 12 works in this volume.