Marcus Aurelius · a new plain-English translation from the original language
From the gods: fine grandparents, worthy parents, a devoted sister, capable teachers, a good household, kinsmen, and friends — nearly all of them; and that toward none of them did I fall into any offense, although I had a disposition of such a kind that, given the chance, I might well have done something of the sort; but it was the gods' kindness that no combination of circumstances arose that was going to expose me. And that I was not raised too long with my grandfather's mistress, and that I kept my youth intact, and that I did not become a man before my time, but even put it off a while longer. That I was placed under a ruler and father who was going to strip me of all vanity and bring me to recognize that a life within a palace can be lived without needing bodyguards, or conspicuous robes, or torches and statues of that kind and similar show — but that one can draw oneself in nearly to the level of a private citizen, and not for that reason be more base or more slack toward what needs to be done, in ruler's fashion, for the common good. That I got such a brother — one able through his character to rouse me to care for myself, while at the same time gladdening me with honor and affection. That my children were not born deficient in nature nor deformed in body.
That I did not advance further in rhetoric and poetry and the other pursuits, in which I might perhaps have been caught and held, had I felt myself progressing smoothly in them. That I was quick to set my foster-parents in the rank they seemed to me to want, and did not put it off on the hope that, since they were still young, I would do it later. That I came to know Apollonius, Rusticus, Maximus. That I formed a vivid and repeated picture of what the life according to nature is, of what sort it is — so that, as far as depends on the gods and the gifts, aid, and inspirations that come from them, nothing any longer keeps me from already living according to nature, though I still fall short of it through my own fault, through not holding fast to the gods' reminders — one might almost call them lessons. That my body has held out so long in such a life. That I never laid a hand on Benedicta or Theodotus, and even later, when I fell into erotic passions, was cured of it. That though I was often harsh with Rusticus, I never did anything further that I would have come to regret. That my mother, though fated to die young, still lived with me through her last years. That as often as I wished to help someone poor, or in need of something else, I never once had to hear that I had no money to do it from — and that I myself never fell into a like need, such that I had to take from someone else.
That my wife is what she is — so compliant, so affectionate, so unassuming. That I had good foster-parents in abundance for my children. That through dreams remedies were given me — among other things, one against spitting blood and against dizziness — and this at Caieta, as an oracle answered. That when I came to desire philosophy, I did not fall in with some sophist, nor sit down to writing treatises, or working out syllogisms, or busying myself with matters of the sky. For all of this needs the gods' help, and fortune. Written among the Quadi, on the Granua.