《沉思录·卷五·天未亮就起身》第5条
Thou sayest, Men cannot admire the sharpness of thy wits.--Be it so: but there are many other things of which thou canst not say, I am not formed from them by nature. Show those qualities then which are altogether in thy power, sincerity, gravity, endurance of labor, aversion to pleasure, contentment with thy portion and with few things, benevolence, frankness, no love of superfluity, freedom from trifling, magnanimity. Dost thou not see how many qualities thou art immediately able to exhibit, in which there is no excuse of natural incapacity and unfitness, and yet thou still remainest voluntarily below the mark? or art thou compelled through being defectively furnished by nature to murmur, and to be stingy, and to flatter, and to find fault with thy poor body, and to try to please men, and to make great display, and to be so restless in thy mind? No, by the gods; but thou mightest have been delivered from these things long ago. Only if in truth thou canst be charged with being rather slow and dull of comprehension, thou must exert thyself about this also, not neglecting it nor yet taking pleasure in thy dullness.
注释摘要
这段文字始于一种假想的反驳。有人可能会说，我没有那种令人惊叹的机敏，别人不会因此佩服我。奥勒留的答复异常干脆：就算是这样吧。他没花一丝力气去否认这个假设，因为斯多葛派从不认为天生的智性锐利是一种道德上的善。那属于外在的、与生俱来的装备，不在一个人的主宰能力之内。接下来他迅速转向了真正要紧的东西：有那么多别的品质，你没法说自然没给你这些能力，因为那全在你意志…