《沉思录·卷六·宇宙即变化》第13条
When we have meat before us and such eatables, we receive the impression that this is the dead body of a fish, and this the dead body of a bird or of a pig; and again, that this Falernian is only a little grape-juice, and this purple robe some sheep's wool dyed with the blood of a shell-fish: such then are these impressions, and they reach the things themselves and penetrate them, and so we see what kind of things they are. Just in the same way ought we to act all through life, and where there are things which appear most worthy of our approbation, we ought to lay them bare and look at their worthlessness and strip them of all the words by which they are exalted. For outward show is a wonderful perverter of the reason, and when thou art most sure that thou art employed about things worth thy pains, it is then that it cheats thee most. Consider then what Crates says of Xenocrates himself.
注释摘要
奥勒留在这里进行一种精神训练：面对食物和贵重物品时，有意地还原它们最朴素、最物质的本来面目。一块肉不是佳肴，而是死去的动物尸体；法勒纳佳酿不过是发酵的葡萄汁；紫袍不过是羊毛浸染了某种贝类的血液。他刻意用最不加修饰的词汇去称呼这些东西，因为通常的赞誉之词——“美味”“名酒”“华服”——会攀附在这些事物之上，扭曲我们的认识，让我们以为它们本身具有很高的价值。而…