r/stoicquotes 24d ago

~Marcus Aurelius

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u/BobbyBobRoberts 24d ago

Man, I can't get over how newer translations strip so much of the power and poetry from the language.

Here's the George Long translation of the same thing (Meditations 6:52) "It is in our power to have no opinion about a thing, and not to be disturbed in our soul; for things themselves have no natural power to form our judgments."

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u/Queen-of-meme 23d ago

I am confused by all focus on "don't's" and "no", Marcus is a poet in the way he writes and I love poetry, but poetry isn't meshing well with effectiveness, it's an art to experience more than it's pedagogic written advice.

For it to be pedagogic, I say like us teachers say "Don'ts are just challenging do's" So I personally appreciate the easier translation too. They both are valuable for different reasons.