《沉思录·卷七·痛苦与忍受》第55条
Do not look around thee to discover other men's ruling principles, but look straight to this, to what nature leads thee, both the universal nature through the things which happen to thee, and thy own nature through the acts which must be done by thee. But every being ought to do that which is according to its constitution; and all other things have been constituted for the sake of rational beings, just as among irrational things the inferior for the sake of the superior, but the rational for the sake of one another. The prime principle then in man's constitution is the social. And the second is not to yield to the persuasions of the body,--for it is the peculiar office of the rational and intelligent motion to circumscribe itself, and never to be overpowered either by the motion of the senses or of the appetites, for both are animal: but the intelligent motion claims superiority, and does not permit itself to be overpowered by the others. And with good reason, for it is formed by nature to use all of them. The third thing in the rational constitution is freedom from error and from deception. Let then the ruling principle holding fast to these things go straight on, and it has what is its own.
注释摘要
这一条是整个沉思录里结构最清楚的自省之一，值得慢慢拆开来看。奥勒留在这里一上来就给自己下一道很具体的命令：不要到处张望，去琢磨别人内心的主宰原则在怎么运作。希腊文里的hegemonikon就是这里译作ruling principle的东西，在斯多葛的人类学里指的是灵魂的指挥中枢，它负责形成判断、给出同意、发起行动。它不是情绪，而是那个决定要不要被情绪牵着走…