《沉思录·卷四·退隐于自己的心》第21条
If souls continue to exist, how does the air contain them from eternity?--But how does the earth contain the bodies of those who have been buried from time so remote? For as here the mutation of these bodies after a certain continuance, whatever it may be, and their dissolution, make room for other dead bodies, so the souls which are removed into the air after subsisting for some time are transmuted and diffused, and assume a fiery nature by being received into the seminal intelligence of the universe, and in this way make room for the fresh souls which come to dwell there. And this is the answer which a man might give on the hypothesis of souls continuing to exist. But we must not only think of the number of bodies which are thus buried, but also of the number of animals which are daily eaten by us and the other animals. For what a number is consumed, and thus in a manner buried in the bodies of those who feed on them! And nevertheless this earth receives them by reason of the changes [of these bodies] into blood, and the transformations into the aerial or the fiery element. What is the investigation into the truth in this matter? The division into that which is material and that which is the cause of form [the formal], (vii. 29.)
注释摘要
这一条面对的是一个直白到近乎冒昧的物理性质疑：如果灵魂不朽，那么古往今来无穷无尽的灵魂，如何能被空气容纳？奥勒留没有从宗教或神秘主义的角度回应，而是用了一套斯多葛派的自然哲学推理。他先给出一个类比：大地如何容纳了远古以来数不清的死者遗体？答案在于转化。尸体经过一定时间的存续后，发生分解和质变，腾出了空间，让后来的死者得以安葬。在这个类比的基础上，他把同样的…