《沉思录·卷九·不义与虚妄》第3条
Do not despise death, but be well content with it, since this too is one of those things which nature wills. For such as it is to be young and to grow old, and to increase and to reach maturity, and to have teeth and beard and gray hairs, and to beget and to be pregnant and to bring forth, and all the other natural operations which the seasons of thy life bring, such also is dissolution. This, then, is consistent with the character of a reflecting man--to be neither careless nor impatient nor contemptuous with respect to death, but to wait for it as one of the operations of nature. As thou now waitest for the time when the child shall come out of thy wife's womb, so be ready for the time when thy soul shall fall out of this envelope. But if thou requirest also a vulgar kind of comfort which shall reach thy heart, thou wilt be made best reconciled to death by observing the objects from which thou art going to be removed, and the morals of those with whom thy soul will no longer be mingled. For it is no way right to be offended with men, but it is thy duty to care for them and to bear with them gently; and yet to remember that thy departure will not be from men who have the same principles as thyself. For this is the only thing, if there be any, which could draw us the contrary way and attach us to life,--to be permitted to live with those who have the same principles as ourselves. But now thou seest how great is the trouble arising from the discordance of those who live together, so that thou mayst say, Come quick, O death, lest perchance I, too, should forget myself.
注释摘要
奥勒留在这一段里把死亡重新放进了一个宏大的自然类比之中。他的推理路径是这样的：你并不会憎恶或鄙视长出牙齿这件事，不会不耐烦地等待胡须变白，也不会对孕育和分娩产生轻蔑——因为你知道，这些都是生命在不同季节里必然呈现出来的运作方式。对于斯多葛派而言，自然作为一个有秩序、有理性的整体，它赋予每个存在物一套属己的运作规律，而人的理性恰好就在于能辨认出这些规律并自愿…