Hey.
i was wondering if anyone could help me with a latin translation. If have been searching the web for hours for the latin translation of marcus aurelius’ quote:
“Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it.”
i know the meditations was written in greek, but i would like it in latin.
I know this isn’t exactly the thing this forum is ment for, but i hope you can help.
/Skurk
hi, it actually looks like the end of an epigram by martial (Book 10.XLVII, lines 12-13), although i don’t know if marcus aurelius said something similar:
http://books.google.com/books?id=RWue1EMlrB0C&pg=756#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Yes, this is an interesting little mystery… The version you’ve quoted definitely comes from Martial; specifically, from the 1920 Loeb translation by Walter Ker. (http://tinyurl.com/ygu9ksd) However, a Google search also reveals that the same quote is all over the internet, and usually attributed to Marcus Aurelius (probably 9 times out of 10, though a few people do mention Martial). Without spending some time in the library, I’m not sure how to confirm whether or not Marcus Aurelius also said it.
Anyway, since you wanted it in Latin, Martial is already in Latin, and nicely versified – so perhaps that solves the (immediate) problem for you:
Quod sis, esse velis, nihilque malis;
Summum nec metuas diem, nec optes.
If there is in fact a (different) Marcus Aurelius version in Greek, we could also translate that for you. I would want to see it in Greek first, so we can make it as accurate as possible.
EDIT: PS: In case you’re not familiar with Latin verse, this is how the Martial poem scans:
(- = long syllable, u = short)
- - - u u - u - -
You have these meditations by Marcus Aurelius // Has habes meditationes apud Antoninum Imperatorem:
We know the Internet has a lot of false information alongside the good. You nicely give the exact English language source for the translated Martial, Damoetas, following cb’s spot-on observation, so the misattribution is clear. To know whether Marcus Aurelius (121-180 CE) repeated Martial’s (c. 40-103 CE) thought identially, or something similar to it, requires looking in one place only,—in the Meditations, which is available online. I think there’s no other extant writing by him. It’s not there.
Benè scitur in interrete reperi unâ cum bonis multa falsa. Accuratè verus anglicorum verborum fons apud Ker Martialis interpretem à te Damoetâ iam datus est, secundum observationem de cb perspicace; quâre clarum est perperàm verba pristina Marco Aurelio Antonino dari. An Antonius idem verbatim vel similem scripsisset, id facilè sciatur quià non exstat ullum ab eo scriptum (nisi fallor) separatim ille liber Meditationum qui ex interrete quaeratur. Non invenitur illîc tale epigramma.
hi damoetas, your scansion above is missing two syllables. the verses are phalaecean hendecasyllables (see link 1 below). both verses show martial’s characteristic initial spondee (see link 2 below) and his preference for a word-end after the 6th position, i.e. after VELIS in line 12 and after METVAS in line 13 (see link 3 below.) cheers, chad 
link 1: http://books.google.fr/books?id=Cps3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA34#v=onepage&q=&f=false
link 2: http://books.google.fr/books?id=TNJWid8DWz8C&pg=PA228#v=onepage&q=&f=false
link 3: http://books.google.fr/books?id=Cps3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA44#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Oh yes, I see that now - thanks!