《沉思录·卷四·退隐于自己的心》第48条
Think continually how many physicians are dead after often contracting their eyebrows over the sick; and how many astrologers after predicting with great pretensions the deaths of others; and how many philosophers after endless discourses on death or immortality; how many heroes after killing thousands; and how many tyrants who have used their power over men's lives with terrible insolence, as if they were immortal; and how many cities are entirely dead, so to speak, Helice and Pompeii and Herculaneum, and others innumerable. Add to the reckoning all whom thou hast known, one after another. One man after burying another has been laid out dead, and another buries him; and all this in a short time. To conclude, always observe how ephemeral and worthless human things are, and what was yesterday a little mucus, to-morrow will be a mummy or ashes. Pass then through this little space of time conformably to nature, and end thy journey in content, as an olive falls off when it is ripe, blessing nature who produced it, and thanking the tree on which it grew.
注释摘要
奥勒留在这一段里层层堆叠，用的是一种斯多葛派最典型的内心操练：通过反复观看死亡降临在所有人头上，来松动我们对生命长度、名声和权力的执念。他先列出那些在世人看来最能掌控命运的人——紧锁眉头诊治病患的医师、预言旁人之死的星相家、高谈阔论死亡与不朽的哲学家、杀人如麻的英雄、以神的姿态行使生杀大权的暴君——然后一句话拆掉根基：他们都死了。这个罗列并非随意，它是按照…