Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers
vi MARCUS ANTONINUS structure, and thought gain ease and freedom, almost with each successive book. The first four books abound in awkward and difficult Greek ; in the last four stumbling - blocks are few. Yet throughout the style is essentially the same. Its ' physiognomy ' is unmistakable ; it wins insensibly upon the reader, and becomes part of a familiar personality ; the deliberateness, the restraint, the struggle between natural sentiment and Stoic ' apathy,' are rich in suggestion and appeal ; the words, as was said truly of St. Paul's, * have hands and feet.' The very sense of effort produces a certain uncommonness of phrase, such as gives interest and even distinction to an intelligent foreigner using a tongue and idiom not wholly familiar. Marcus hits off phrases and combina- tions, which, if not quite felicitous, strike the mind and stick ; he never becomes rhetorical like Seneca, or prolix like Epictetus, or glib like Lucian ; and a certain choiceness of expression lends impressiveness and charm. Throughout, of sentiment too, it may be said that the poetry is in advance of the poetry of actual phrase. And thus upon the whole the Thoughts may bered among the books, be num- in which a translator
may gain PREFACE vii as much or more than he is forced to lose in the process of reproduction. One cannot, without pedantry, reproduce details of mannerism, yet their general effect may remain recognisable. Harmless anacolutha changes of person, tense, or syntax I have purposely retained, as proper to a private diary of thoughts. In reproduction of vocabulary, I have been as strict as my command of English allowed, and have been, perhaps, over - scrupulous in careful concord- ancing of words. Yet this is of no small im- portance : to the student, as correlating passages of kindred thought or phrase, to the general reader, as preserving a real and often telling trait of mind and manner. Though strict consistency is un- attainable in the change from one language to another, at least the most characteristic repetitions are retained. Stoic terminology in this matter presents some special difficulties ; it reached Marcus in a late scholastic phase, and English does not always possess or admit a scholastic counterpart ; of this the theory of Pneuma and pneumatic currents may serve as an example. Sometimes the scholastic term has passed through and gradually outgrown scholastic precision and
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may gain<br />
PREFACE vii<br />
as much or more than he is forced <strong>to</strong><br />
lose in the process <strong>of</strong> reproduction. One cannot,<br />
without pedantry, reproduce details <strong>of</strong> mannerism,<br />
yet their general effect may remain recognisable.<br />
Harmless anacolutha changes <strong>of</strong> person, tense,<br />
or syntax I have purposely retained, as proper<br />
<strong>to</strong> a private diary <strong>of</strong> thoughts. In reproduction<br />
<strong>of</strong> vocabulary, I have been as strict as my<br />
command <strong>of</strong> English allowed, and have been,<br />
perhaps, over - scrupulous in careful concord-<br />
ancing<br />
<strong>of</strong> words. Yet this is <strong>of</strong> no small im-<br />
portance : <strong>to</strong> the student, as correlating passages<br />
<strong>of</strong> kindred thought or phrase, <strong>to</strong> the general reader,<br />
as preserving a real and <strong>of</strong>ten telling trait <strong>of</strong> mind<br />
and manner. Though strict consistency<br />
is un-<br />
attainable in the change from one language <strong>to</strong><br />
another, at least the most characteristic repetitions<br />
are retained. S<strong>to</strong>ic terminology<br />
in this matter<br />
presents some special difficulties ; it reached<br />
<strong>Marcus</strong> in a late scholastic phase, and English<br />
does not always possess or admit a scholastic<br />
counterpart ; <strong>of</strong> this the theory <strong>of</strong> Pneuma and<br />
pneumatic currents may serve as an example.<br />
Sometimes the scholastic term has passed through<br />
and gradually outgrown scholastic precision and
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