本书简介:
《沉思录》是古罗马皇帝奥勒留写给自己的书,内容大部分是他在鞍马劳顿中写成的。作品来自奥勒留对身羁宫廷的自己和自己所处混乱世界的感受,追求一种冷静而达观的生活。这部著作是斯多葛学派的一个里程碑,亦是温总理放在枕边,读了不下百遍的书。
本书原文由古希腊文而作,英文版选择比较权威的George Long的版本,中文版选择何怀宏的版本作参考。笔记中的英文释义摘自《牛津高阶英汉双解词典》

 作者简介:
马可•奥勒留(Marcus Aurelius,公元121—180年),著名的“帝王哲学家”,古罗马帝国皇帝,在希腊文学和拉丁文学、修辞、哲学、法律、绘画方面受过很好的教育,晚期斯多葛学派代表人物之一。奥勒留也许是西方历史上唯一的一位哲学家皇帝。他是一个比他的帝国更加完美的人,他的勤奋工作最终并没有能够挽救古罗马,但是他的《沉思录》却成为西方历史上的伟大名著。

卷七07

7.25 Where any work can be done conformably to the reason which is common to gods and men, there we have nothing to fear: for where we are able to get profit by means of the activity which is successful and proceeds according to our constitution, there no harm is to be suspected.

7.26 Everywhere and at all times it is in thy power piously to acquiesce in thy present condition, and to behave justly to those who are about thee, and to exert thy skill upon thy present thoughts, that nothing shall steal into them without being well examined.

 Notes: 
acquiesce
 [intransitive] ~ (in/to something) (formalto accept something without arguing, even if you do not really agree with it

7.27 Do not look around thee to discover other men's ruling principles, but look straight to this, to what nature leads thee, both the universal nature through the things which happen to thee, and thy own nature through the acts which must be done by thee. But every being ought to do that which is according to its constitution; and all other things have been constituted for the sake of rational beings, just as among irrational things the inferior for the sake of the superior, but the rational for the sake of one another.

7.28 The prime principle then in man's constitution is the social. And the second is not to yield to the persuasions of the body, for it is the peculiar office of the rational and intelligent motion to circumscribe itself, and never to be overpowered either by the motion of the senses or of the appetites, for both are animal; but the intelligent motion claims superiority and does not permit itself to be overpowered by the others. And with good reason, for it is formed by nature to use all of them. The third thing in the rational constitution is freedom from error and from deception. Let then the ruling principle holding fast to these things go straight on, and it has what is its own.

 先尝试自己翻译一下吧,参考译文见下:

中文翻译:
7.25 在任何工作都能按照符合于神和人的理性做出的地方,也没有任何东西值得我们害怕,因为我们能够通过按我们的结构成功并继续进行的活动而使自己得益,而在这种地方,无疑不会有任何伤害。

7.26 在任何场合的时候,这些都是在你的力量范围之内的:虔诚地默认你现在的条件;公正地对待你周围的人;努力地完善你现在的思想技艺,未经好好考察不让任何东西潜入思想之中。

7.27 你不要环顾四周以发现别人的指导原则,而要直接注意那引导你的本性,注意那通过对你发生的事而表现的宇宙的本性和通过必须由你做的行为而表现的你的本性。而每一在都应当做合乎它的结构的事情,所有别的事物都是为了理性存在物而被构成的,在无理性的事物中低等事物是为了高等事物而存在的,但理性动物是彼此为了对方而存在的。

7.28 那么在人的结构中首要的原则就是友爱的原则。其次是不要屈服于身体的引诱。因为身体只是有理性者和理智活动确定自己范围的特殊场所;不要被感官或嗜欲的运动压倒,因为这两者都是动物的,而理智活动却要取得一种至高无上性,不允许自己被其他运动所凌驾。保持健全的理性,因为它天生是为了运用所有事物而形成的。在理性结构中的第三件事是:摆脱错误和欺骗。那么紧紧把握这些原则的支配能力正直地行进,它就能得到属它所有的。

回顾:《沉思录》读书笔记系列>>