This article is timely as I’m systematically translating Meditations from the Original Koine Greek (from Perseus Digital Library, Teubner 1908). I would very much appreciate your opinion because of the quality of your articles (versus the quantity of some authors). I don't know Greek, and I’m using a translator, but I always believed in getting as close as possible to the source. Here is an example:
Book 4 Section 3
People seek retreats for themselves, some in their homes, others in the countryside, others on ships; but you have no need of these. Instead, you can withdraw into yourself at any hour. For nowhere does one find such quiet or such freedom from cares as in one’s own soul, especially when one contemplates things within it that, upon looking at them, immediately bring complete ease. I mean the things of order and harmony.
Book 2 Section 1
Say to yourself in the morning: Today I will encounter the meddlesome, the ungrateful, the insolent, the deceitful, the envious, the unsociable. All these traits arise in them from ignorance of what is good and what is bad. But I, having understood the nature of the good—that it is noble—and of the bad—that it is shameful—and the nature of the wrongdoer himself—that he is akin to me, not by blood or seed, but by mind and a share of the divine—cannot be harmed by any of them, for no one can impose anything shameful on me. Nor will I be angry with my kin or hate them. For we are made for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of upper and lower teeth. To act against one another, therefore, is contrary to nature; and to be angry is to act against one another.
Hi Jon, that is a very extensive project! May I ask what inspired you to do the translation? Since I don't know Greek myself, I'm really not the best person to ask about this. My own strategy is to read several different translations and triangulate between them. I think if you read at least three different versions, you should be able to understand the original meaning very well. Translation is an art and different translators make different choices to convey the essence of the original. Good luck with your project!
Everyone has opinions and impressions, so I’m trying to get as close to Marcus Aurelius as possible, knowing things can get distorted the more they are repeated, like in the campfire game Telephone or Chinese Whispers, when kids sit in a circle. One person starts by whispering a short phrase or sentence to the person next to them, each person whispers what they heard to the next person, trying to repeat it exactly. The whisper continues around the circle until it reaches the original or last person in the chain. The final person says the phrase out loud, and everyone compares it to the original to see how it changed, often leading to funny or surprising results.
This article is timely as I’m systematically translating Meditations from the Original Koine Greek (from Perseus Digital Library, Teubner 1908). I would very much appreciate your opinion because of the quality of your articles (versus the quantity of some authors). I don't know Greek, and I’m using a translator, but I always believed in getting as close as possible to the source. Here is an example:
Book 4 Section 3
People seek retreats for themselves, some in their homes, others in the countryside, others on ships; but you have no need of these. Instead, you can withdraw into yourself at any hour. For nowhere does one find such quiet or such freedom from cares as in one’s own soul, especially when one contemplates things within it that, upon looking at them, immediately bring complete ease. I mean the things of order and harmony.
Book 2 Section 1
Say to yourself in the morning: Today I will encounter the meddlesome, the ungrateful, the insolent, the deceitful, the envious, the unsociable. All these traits arise in them from ignorance of what is good and what is bad. But I, having understood the nature of the good—that it is noble—and of the bad—that it is shameful—and the nature of the wrongdoer himself—that he is akin to me, not by blood or seed, but by mind and a share of the divine—cannot be harmed by any of them, for no one can impose anything shameful on me. Nor will I be angry with my kin or hate them. For we are made for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of upper and lower teeth. To act against one another, therefore, is contrary to nature; and to be angry is to act against one another.
Hi Jon, that is a very extensive project! May I ask what inspired you to do the translation? Since I don't know Greek myself, I'm really not the best person to ask about this. My own strategy is to read several different translations and triangulate between them. I think if you read at least three different versions, you should be able to understand the original meaning very well. Translation is an art and different translators make different choices to convey the essence of the original. Good luck with your project!
Everyone has opinions and impressions, so I’m trying to get as close to Marcus Aurelius as possible, knowing things can get distorted the more they are repeated, like in the campfire game Telephone or Chinese Whispers, when kids sit in a circle. One person starts by whispering a short phrase or sentence to the person next to them, each person whispers what they heard to the next person, trying to repeat it exactly. The whisper continues around the circle until it reaches the original or last person in the chain. The final person says the phrase out loud, and everyone compares it to the original to see how it changed, often leading to funny or surprising results.
Thanks for the reccomendations.