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Books that explain Enchiridion and Meditations

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I started reading Enchiridion and Meditations but I'm struggling to understand and interpret what they want to say, are there any books that go and address those books chapiters

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How to Be Free, which is A.A. Long's version of Enchiridion, has an excellent introduction which can be read in an hour or two and explains Enchiridion and background on Epictetus.

The Inner Citadel (Hadot) is a great, in-depth explanation of Meditations. There is also a significant amount of information on Epictetus' philosophy since his work is essentially what Marcus based his exercises in Meditations on. There's a sprinkling of Seneca included, also. The Inner Citadel will drastically improve your understanding of Meditations, if you read it.

How to Think Like a Roman Emperor (Robertson) is anther excellent companion to Meditations and an easier read than Inner Citadel.

John Sellars' book Lessons in Stoicism is a really good introduction. Very accessible and only around 100 pages.

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Robin Waterfield's Epictetus The Complete Works is a fantastic resource, filled with information and insight. The introduction alone is worth the price.

u/E-L-Wisty avatar

Whilst there are lots of overviews including those already mentioned, there are not that many line-by-line type commentaries which sound like the kind of thing you are actually looking for.

Meditations:

A. S. L. Farquharson's 1944 translation and commentary is freely available on Wikisource.

If you can actually get hold of a copy and it's not too expensive - Christopher Gill (2013) "Marcus Aurelius: Meditations, Books 1-6 (Clarendon Later Ancient Philosophers)", Oxford

Enchiridion:

William O. Stephens, Scott Aikin (2023) "Epictetus' 'Enchiridion': A New Translation and Guide to Stoic Ethics", Bloomsbury Academic

There is actually an ancient commentary on the Enchiridion by the Neo-Platonist Simplicius of Cilicia - the 2 volume book edition is quite pricey.

u/Pure_Discipline_6782 avatar

Read Admiral Stockdale's Essay : The Master of My Fate--Admiral Stockdale was the ranking Prisoner of War in the Hanoi Prison in Vietnam; His Philosophy Professor gave him a copy of Epictetus's Enchiridion prior to leaving for Vietnam : "Fresh in my mind when I ejected from that burning aircraft was the thought that the Enlighted Student of Epictetus keeps separate categories in his mind for A those thing that are up to him, and B those things that are not: those things that are up to me include my desires, my aims, my aversions, my judgements, my opinions, my attitude about what is going on, and my own good and my own evil " all in Category B are beyond the reach of my free will subjecting me to fear and Anxiety if I covet them " Admiral James B. Stockdale "Master of My Fate "

Admiral Stockdale led up to 500 Prisoners during the Vietnam War,

and survived 71/2 years of brutal torture and captivity.

He said he committed many of those Passages from Epictetus's Enchiridion to Memory prior to departing for War

For meditations inner citadel and/or robbin waterfielda annotaded version of meditations