《沉思录·卷十·顺应整体》第27条
Constantly consider how all things such as they now are, in time past also were; and consider that they will be the same again. And place before thy eyes entire dramas and stages of the same form, whatever thou hast learned from thy experience or from older history; for example, the whole court of Hadrianus, and the whole court of Antoninus, and the whole court of Philippus, Alexander, Croesus; for all those were such dramas as we see now, only with different actors.
注释摘要
在这段札记里，奥勒留不是在做理论推演，而是在给自己一个沉思的具体操练法。他的起点是一个相当清醒甚至冷酷的观察：从时间深处一直到现在，人世间的根本形态没有新鲜事。他说的“一切事物如今怎样，过去也曾怎样，将来还会再怎样”，不是指具体事件会一模一样地重演，而是说驱动人事的那些动机、激情、野心、恐惧、爱憎，以及由此交织而成的人际格局与权力结构，在本质上翻来覆去就那…