Stoicism Collection: Meditations, On the Shortness of Life, and Enchiridion

by Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epicetus

This Stoicism audiobook collection contains three of the most influential Stoic pieces. Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus helped to shape Stoicism with their writings of "Meditations", "On the Shortness of Life", and "Enchiridion".

In his personal writings of "Meditations", Marcus Aurelius records private notes to himself as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. "On the Shortness of Life" by Seneca is a moral essay in which Seneca brings up many Stoic principles on the nature of time, namely that people waste much of it in meaningless pursuits. According to the essay, nature gives people enough time to do what is important, and the individual must allot it properly. In general, time is best used by living in the present moment in pursuit of the intentional, purposeful life. Finally, "Enchiridion" by Epictetus is a short manual of Stoic ethical advice and an excellent summary of Stoic principles. The narration of this Stoicism collection is great for anyone interested in Stoicism and is narrated brilliantly by Johnathan Waters.

Audible Audio

Published May 1, 2018

About the author

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (often referred to as "the wise") was Emperor of the Roman Empire from 161 to his death in 180. He was the last of the "Five Good Emperors", and is also considered one of the more important Stoic philosophers. His two decades as emperor were marked by near continual warfare. He was faced with a series of invasions from German tribes, and by conflicts with the Parthian Empire in the east. His reign also had to deal with an internal revolt in the east, led by Avidius Cassius.

Marcus Aurelius' work Meditations, written in Greek while on campaign between 170 and 180, is still revered as a literary monument to a government of service and duty and has been praised for its "exquisite accent and its infinite tenderness."

Reviews

[Kristjan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recognizing that these are reconstructed classics, there really isn’t much to critique outside of organization/structure and delivery … with the primary compliant being the rather useless chapter designations. Next would be production quality … for which there are occasions of skips, repeats and other errors that should have been caught with a good editorial process. The work opens with an Introduction (Chapter 2) to the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (Chapter 3-14) and a comparison of Stoicism and Christianity … (specifically Meditations vs Imitation of Christ) … using Ye Fancy Olde English Thees and Thous (which comes across as an irritating affectation) although is probably a factor of the translation used (Project Gutenberg 17th century). Still, it was a good summary of the basics of Stoic Philosophy. Each book barely has any topical organization, being more a collection of personal musings (think personal diary). Next up is the essay on the Shortness of Life by Seneca … with each chapter representing a very short paragraph (why can’t these all be in one chapter). The most interesting to me was the “Handbook” … a collection of maxims and precepts in 52/3 chapters spread across 4 sections.

Chapter 01-15: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (12 Books about 25 mins ea)

Chapter 16-37: On the Shortness of Life by Seneca (20 Chapters)

Chapter 38-90: Enchiridion [Handbook] by Epictetus (53 Chapters)
* Chapters 39/1–59/21. What is up to us and not, and how to deal with external things.
1–2. What is up to us and not, and the consequences of choosing either.
3–14. How to deal with external things (reining the reader in from them).
15–21. How to use external things correctly and without disturbance.
* Chapters 60/22–66/28. Advice for intermediate students.
22–25. The problems faced by intermediate students.
26–28. Miscellania: the common conceptions, badness, and shame.
* Chapter 67/29 Discourse on Training
* Chapters 68/30–85/47. Technical advice for the discovery of appropriate actions (kathēkonta).
30–33. Appropriate actions towards (a) other people, (b) God, (c) divination, (d) one's own self.
34–47. Miscellaneous precepts on justice (right actions).
* Chapters 86/48–90/52. Conclusions on the practice of precepts.
48. Final advice and his division of types of people.
49–52. The practice of precepts.

I was given this free advance listener copy (ALC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#StoicismCollection #AudibookFree

[Derek Ferguson · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little too heavy for bedtime listening. No fault of the authors.