Read the Stoics
The major surviving works of Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus and Musonius Rufus in full, free to read. Every passage is numbered, so you can link to it, quote it or find it in any edition.
Marcus Aurelius 121–180 CEAbout Marcus
Meditations
c. 170–180 CE
Private notes a Roman emperor wrote to himself on duty, mortality and keeping his mind clear.
12 books · 487 passages · Translated by George Long
Seneca c. 4 BCE–65 CEAbout Seneca
Letters to Lucilius
c. 65 CE
124 letters of practical advice to a friend: on time, friendship, fear, wealth and how to live.
124 letters · 2,140 passages · Translated by Richard Mott Gummere
- On the Shortness of LifeSeneca
On the Shortness of Life
Seneca
Life is not short, Seneca argues; we make it short by wasting it.
20 chapters
- On Tranquillity of MindSeneca
On Tranquillity of Mind
Seneca
His friend Serenus describes a restless, unsettled mind, and Seneca prescribes the cure.
17 chapters
- On the Happy LifeSeneca
On the Happy Life
Seneca
What a happy life consists of, and a reply to the charge that philosophers don’t live as they preach.
28 chapters
- On AngerSeneca
On Anger
Seneca
A study in three books of what anger is, why it is never useful, and how to prevent and calm it.
3 books · 100 chapters
- On ProvidenceSeneca
On Providence
Seneca
Why do bad things happen to good people? Seneca argues that hardship is how the good are trained.
6 chapters
- On the Firmness of the Wise ManSeneca
On the Firmness of the Wise Man
Seneca
Why the wise person can be neither injured nor insulted, whatever others do to them.
19 chapters
- On LeisureSeneca
On Leisure
Seneca
An incomplete dialogue on stepping back from public life to study and reflect.
8 chapters
- On ClemencySeneca
On Clemency
Seneca
Addressed to the young emperor Nero: why mercy is the mark of a good ruler.
2 books · 33 chapters
- Consolation to MarciaSeneca
Consolation to Marcia
Seneca
A letter of consolation to a mother still grieving for her son three years after his death.
26 chapters
- Consolation to HelviaSeneca
- Consolation to PolybiusSeneca
Consolation to Polybius
Seneca
A consolation, partly lost, to an official of the emperor Claudius on the death of his brother.
18 chapters
Epictetus c. 50–135 CEAbout Epictetus
Discourses
c. 108 CE
Lectures by the former slave turned teacher, recorded by his student Arrian: blunt, practical lessons on freedom, judgment and what is up to us.
4 books · 95 chapters · Translated by W. A. Oldfather
- EnchiridionEpictetus
Enchiridion
Epictetus
A short handbook of Epictetus’s core teachings, compiled by Arrian. The clearest one-sitting introduction to Stoic practice.
53 chapters
Musonius Rufus 1st century CEAbout Musonius
Lectures and Fragments
The teacher of Epictetus, known as “the Roman Socrates”: short lectures and sayings on training, hardship, marriage and exile.
53 chapters · Translated by Cora E. Lutz