Meditations
tr. George Long (1862) · 483 passages · 12 books
Marcus Aurelius's private notes to himself, written in Greek late in his life — reminders on how to meet difficult people, pain, loss and death with reason and good will.
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20 works · 2,575 passages · sources and licences
Marcus Aurelius
121–180 CE
Roman emperor from 161 to 180. His private notebook, written largely on military campaign and never meant for publication, survives as the Meditations.
483 passages
Seneca
c. 4 BCE – 65 CE
Lucius Annaeus Seneca: Roman statesman, dramatist and adviser to the emperor Nero. His essays and letters are the most practical body of Stoic writing to survive.
594 passages
Dialogues · 12 works
On Anger
tr. Aubrey Stewart (1889) · 106 passages · 3 books
Seneca's three books to his brother Novatus on anger: what it is, why it is never useful even against wrongdoing, and how to prevent, restrain and cure it in ourselves and in others.
On the Shortness of Life
tr. Aubrey Stewart (1889) · 22 passages
Addressed to Paulinus. Seneca argues that life is long enough if we know how to use it, and that most people waste it on busyness, ambition and the demands of others instead of living for themselves and for philosophy.
On Peace of Mind
tr. Aubrey Stewart (1889) · 20 passages
A dialogue with Serenus, who opens (chapter 1) by describing his own restlessness and indecision; Seneca replies with advice on reaching tranquillity of mind through steady purpose, the right choice of work and friends, moderation in wealth, and acceptance of fortune.
On a Happy Life
tr. Aubrey Stewart (1889) · 30 passages
Addressed to Gallio, Seneca's elder brother. Seneca argues that the happy life consists in virtue and living in agreement with nature, not in pleasure, and answers the charge that philosophers do not live as they preach.
On Providence
tr. Aubrey Stewart (1889) · 11 passages
Addressed to Lucilius. Seneca answers the question of why misfortunes befall good men if the world is governed by providence, arguing that hardship is the training God gives to the good.
On the Firmness of the Wise Person
tr. Aubrey Stewart (1889) · 21 passages
Addressed to Serenus. Seneca argues that the wise man can receive neither injury nor insult, because nothing that fortune or other people can do touches what truly belongs to him.
On Leisure
tr. Aubrey Stewart (1889) · 9 passages
A fragmentary dialogue addressed to Serenus (its opening is lost) arguing that a Stoic may rightly withdraw from public life and serve mankind through study and contemplation.
To Marcia, on Consolation
tr. Aubrey Stewart (1889) · 30 passages
A letter of consolation to Marcia, daughter of the historian Cremutius Cordus, still grieving three years after the death of her son Metilius; Seneca urges her to set a limit to her grief.
To Helvia, on Consolation
tr. Aubrey Stewart (1889) · 20 passages
Written by Seneca from exile to console his mother Helvia for his banishment; he argues that exile is no real evil and points her to the comforts of study and of her family.
To Polybius, on Consolation
tr. Aubrey Stewart (1889) · 20 passages
Written from exile to Polybius, a powerful freedman of the emperor Claudius, on the death of his brother; the opening of the work is lost.
On Clemency
tr. Aubrey Stewart (1889) · 38 passages · 2 books
Addressed to the young emperor Nero. Seneca praises mercy as the virtue that best becomes a ruler and distinguishes clemency from pity; the second book breaks off unfinished.
On Benefits
tr. Aubrey Stewart (1887) · 267 passages · 7 books
Seven books addressed to Aebutius Liberalis on giving, receiving and returning benefits: how to give well, how to receive with gratitude, and why ingratitude is so common.
Epictetus
c. 50 – c. 135 CE
Born a slave, freed, and later exiled from Rome, he taught philosophy at Nicopolis. His student Arrian recorded his lectures as the Discourses and summarised them in the Enchiridion (Handbook).
582 passages
Discourses
tr. George Long (1877) · 390 passages · 95 chapters
Epictetus's informal lectures, written down by his student Arrian — blunt, funny, practical talks on what is and is not in our power, on judgements, freedom, and how to face hardship and other people.
Enchiridion
tr. George Long (1877) · 53 passages
The “Manual”: Epictetus's teaching condensed by Arrian into fifty-three short chapters — the clearest statement of what is in our power, and how to live by that distinction.
Fragments
tr. George Long (1877) · 139 passages
Short sayings of Epictetus preserved by later anthologists, chiefly Stobaeus — terse lines on fortune, wealth, self-command and freedom.
Diogenes Laërtius
fl. 3rd century CE
Biographer of the Greek philosophers. Book VII of his Lives is our main source for the founders of Stoicism, whose own writings are lost. He reports what they said; he was not a Stoic himself.
Reported speech. Diogenes Laërtius was not a Stoic: he reports what Zeno, Chrysippus and the other early Stoics said and taught. We cite these passages to him, naming the Stoic he is reporting on.
204 passages
Lives of the Stoics (Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book VII)
tr. R. D. Hicks (1925) · 204 passages · 7 parts
Reported speech
Diogenes Laërtius's lives of Zeno and his successors — Ariston, Herillus, Dionysius, Cleanthes, Sphaerus and Chrysippus — with his summary of Stoic logic, physics and ethics: anecdotes, sayings and doctrines of the early Stoa, compiled centuries later from earlier sources.
Cicero (on the Stoics)
106–43 BCE
Roman statesman and orator. Not a Stoic himself, he was the main channel through which Stoic ethics reached Latin readers. Quoted here for what he reports and argues about Stoic teaching.
On the Stoics. Cicero was not a Stoic himself; he sets out and debates their ideas, which is why we label him “Cicero (on the Stoics)”.
617 passages
Tusculan Disputations
tr. C. D. Yonge (1853) · 246 passages · 5 books
Five conversations Cicero sets at his villa at Tusculum: on not fearing death, bearing pain, grief, the other disturbances of the mind, and whether virtue alone is enough for a happy life. Cicero (“M.”) answers an unnamed listener (“A.”), whose opinions he examines. Cicero was an Academic, not a Stoic, but Books III–V are a main Latin source for the Stoic account of the emotions and of virtue as enough for happiness.
On Duties (De Officiis)
tr. Walter Miller (1913) · 371 passages · 3 books
Cicero's last philosophical work, written to his son in 44 B.C. and drawing on the Stoic Panaetius: what is morally right, what is expedient, and why the two can never truly conflict.
St. George Stock (modern guide)
1850–1922
Oxford classicist whose short introduction Stoicism (1908) summarises the school's doctrines. Not a primary source: a modern guide.
A modern guide to Stoicism, not an ancient source.
95 passages
A Guide to Stoicism
1908 · 95 passages · 7 parts
A short modern sketch of Stoic teaching, first published in 1908 as Stoicism: the place of philosophy in ancient life, then the school's logic, its ethics and its physics, drawn from the ancient sources and ending with the Stoic ideas of a common humanity and world citizenship. A modern guide, not a primary text.
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These translations are licence-checked and registered, but not in the library yet. We add a text only once every passage has been parsed and checked against its source, so until then none of their words appear in answers.
Seneca, Moral Letters to Lucilius, tr. Richard M. Gummere (Loeb Classical Library, 1917–1925)
Will be shown in short excerpts: this translation is public domain in the US but its UK copyright status is uncertain.