6 in-print translations and 2 audiobooks, compared by who made them, when, and what each one is actually trying to do — Plutarch.
The short answer. There is no single best translation of The Moralia, because the editions are optimised for different things: for a first read, the editions described as the most readable are Donald Russell, Jeffrey Beneker; 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 The Moralia, free, with a complete free audiobook. No account, no paywall — 71 works in this volume.
Start reading free → Free audiobook → Whole book on one page →Older translations, out of copyright, hosted free by Internet Archive, LacusCurtius (Bill Thayer, U. Chicago), Online Library of Liberty, Project Gutenberg, Wikisource. Not our work and not affiliate links — they are here because they are genuinely useful.
| Translator | Year | What it is | |
|---|---|---|---|
| William Watson Goodwin (ed.), multiple hands, rev. Goodwin | 1878 (this reprint 1898) | Vol. 1 of 5; sibling volumes also on Gutenberg (e.g. #78000, #78851) | Project Gutenberg → |
| William Watson Goodwin (ed.), multiple hands | 1874-1878 | free PDF/HTML/EPUB set, with Emerson's introduction | Online Library of Liberty → |
| William Watson Goodwin (ed.), multiple hands | 1878 | scanned volume 1 of 5, with links to companion volumes | Internet Archive → |
| Arthur Richard Shilleto | 1888 | Bohn edition, plain text/epub/html | Project Gutenberg → |
| Frank Cole Babbitt, Harold Cherniss, F. H. Sandbach, Benedict Einarson, Phillip H. De Lacy, W. C. Helmbold, P. A. Clement, H. B. Hoffleit, Lionel Pearson, Edwin L. Minar Jr., Harold North Fowler (multiple hands) | 1927-2004 (public-domain volumes only) | index page linking to individual free Loeb volumes/works | Wikisource → |
| Frank Cole Babbitt (et al., Loeb translators) | 1927-1936 (public-domain Loeb vols.) | transcribed Loeb Babbitt text, hyperlinked, one of many Moralia essays hosted here | LacusCurtius (Bill Thayer, U. Chicago) → |
| Philemon Holland | 1603 (this reprint 1911, Everyman's Library, ed. Ernest Rhys) | earliest complete English Moralia translator (1603); this is the abridged 1911 reprint | Wikisource → |
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frank Cole Babbitt, W. C. Helmbold, Harold Cherniss, Phillip H. De Lacy, Benedict Einarson, F. H. Sandbach, and others | 1927 | Harvard University Press (Loeb Classical Library) | scholarly standard, facing-page Greek, multi-decade project (1927-2004) | Find it |
| Robin Waterfield | 1992 | Penguin Classics | prose, most widely read general-reader selection | Find it |
| Donald Russell | 1993 | Oxford World's Classics | prose, scholarly-but-readable, strong introduction/notes | Find it |
| Jeffrey Beneker | 2019 | Princeton University Press | prose, facing Greek, accessible modern 'Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers' series | Find it |
| Jeffrey Beneker | 2026 | Princeton University Press | prose, facing Greek, newest release in the same Princeton series | Find it |
| Frank Cole Babbitt and others | 1927-2004 | Loeb Classical Library | the only complete English Moralia, facing Greek | 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 The Moralia 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matthew Lloyd Davies | Richard Shilleto (Ukemi selection) | Ukemi Audiobooks (from W. F. Howes Ltd), distributed via Audible | 2019 | most substantial commercial Moralia audiobook; 26 essays incl. On Education of Children, On Abundance of Friends | Listen |
| Matthew Lloyd Davies | Richard Shilleto (Ukemi selection) | Ukemi Audiobooks (from W. F. Howes Ltd), distributed via Audible | 2020 | companion volume continuing the ethical-essay selection | Listen |
Affiliate links, including the Audible ones. They cost you nothing extra. Our own audiobook of The Moralia stays free either way.
The editions described as the most readable are Donald Russell (1993), Jeffrey Beneker (2019). 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 most frequently recommended are Frank Cole Babbitt, W. C. Helmbold, Harold Cherniss, Phillip H. De Lacy, Benedict Einarson, F. H. Sandbach, and others (1927). "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: Matthew Lloyd Davies reads Richard Shilleto (Ukemi selection); Matthew Lloyd Davies reads Richard Shilleto (Ukemi selection). A complete free audiobook of our own translation is also on this site.
Yes. Scriptorium Press publishes a complete new plain-English translation of The Moralia free to read, with a complete free audiobook, no account and no paywall - 71 works in this volume.