《沉思录·卷五·天未亮就起身》第15条
None of these things ought to be called a man's, which do not belong to a man, as man. They are not required of a man, nor does man's nature promise them, nor are they the means of man's nature attaining its end. Neither then does the end of man lie in these things, nor yet that which aids to the accomplishment of this end, and that which aids toward this end is that which is good. Besides, if any of these things did belong to man, it would not be right for a man to despise them and to set himself against them; nor would a man be worthy of praise who snowed that he did not want these things, nor would he who stinted himself in any of them be good, if indeed these things were good. But now the more of these things a man deprives himself of, or of other things like them, or even when he is deprived of any of them, the more patiently he endures the loss, just in the same degree he is a better man.
注释摘要
这段话在做一项非常冷峻的排除法，把不属于人的东西从“善”的名单里划掉。奥勒留的推理步骤很紧密：凡是不因我们是人而属于我们的东西，就不是人的本性所要求的东西，不是人的本性所许诺给我们的东西，也不是人的本性用以抵达其目的的手段。如果目的不在那里，那通往目的的手段——也就是“善”——也必然不在那里。所以这类东西根本不是善。 这里他动用了斯多葛派关于目的（telo…