《沉思录·卷五·天未亮就起身》第28条
Art thou angry with him whose armpits stink? art thou angry with him whose mouth smells foul? What good will this anger do thee? He has such a mouth, he has such armpits: it is necessary that such an emanation must come from such things: but the man has reason, it will be said, and he is able, if he takes pains, to discover wherein he offends; I wish thee well of thy discovery. Well then, and thou hast reason: by thy rational faculty stir up his rational faculty; show him his error, admonish him. For if he listens, thou wilt cure him, and there is no need of anger. [+ Neither tragic actor nor whore. +]
注释摘要
他这里用的例子粗俗得几乎不像出自皇帝之手，但这正是奥勒留的典型风格：把最高远的道理拉到最底层的感官经验中来检验。腋下有味、口中有臭，这些事如果发生在别人身上，我们多半不会停下来问“这样合乎理性吗”，而是直接皱起眉头来厌恶。奥勒留要掐断的就是这个从感官印象到厌恶再到愤怒的连锁反应。 他的推理很简洁。身体的某种气味是从身体的某种状态中必然发出的，正如火必然冒出…