《沉思录·卷六·宇宙即变化》第12条
If thou hadst a step-mother and a mother at the same time, thou wouldst be dutiful to thy step-mother, but still thou wouldst constantly return to thy mother. Let the court and philosophy now be to thee step-mother and mother: return to philosophy frequently and repose in her, through whom what thou meetest with in the court appears to thee tolerable, and thou appearest tolerable in the court.
注释摘要
这则札记用一个生活化的比喻把斯多葛式的处世态度讲得极其透彻。继母和生母的分量是不同的——奥勒留很清楚这一点。他要说的是：宫廷是继母，哲学是生母。一个人不能因生母在便对继母无礼，该尽的义务照样要尽；但也绝不能因为整天侍奉继母，就忘了生母是谁。这里的“哲学”不是书本上的学问，而是他从爱比克泰德一脉承接下来的那种内在操练，是对自己主宰能力（hegemonikon…