《沉思录·卷九·不义与虚妄》第21条
Termination of activity, cessation from movement and opinion, and in a sense their death, is no evil. Turn thy thoughts now to the consideration of thy life, thy life as a child, as a youth, thy manhood, thy old age, for in these also every change was a death. Is this anything to fear? Turn thy thoughts now to thy life under thy grandfather, then to thy life under thy mother, then to thy life under thy father; and as thou findest many other differences and changes and terminations, ask thyself, Is this anything to fear? In like manner, then, neither are the termination and cessation and change of thy whole life a thing to be afraid of. [Illustration: THE FORUM]
注释摘要
这段话在做一个很冷静的推理：凡是变化，都包含了一种终止。活动停止了，运动和意见停止了，在某种意义上就是一种死亡。奥勒留说这并不是恶。然后他让你回头看自己的人生：童年结束了，这是一种死亡；青年结束了，这也是一种死亡；进入成年、进入老年，每一个阶段都不复存在。他问你，这些变化可怕吗？你曾经害怕过从童年变为青年吗？恐怕没有。那么，如果你的整个生命终止，从生到死的…