本书简介：
《沉思录》是古罗马皇帝奥勒留写给自己的书，内容大部分是他在鞍马劳顿中写成的。作品来自奥勒留对身羁宫廷的自己和自己所处混乱世界的感受，追求一种冷静而达观的生活。这部著作是斯多葛学派的一个里程碑，亦是温总理放在枕边，读了不下百遍的书。
本书原文由古希腊文而作，英文版选择比较权威的George Long的版本，中文版选择何怀宏的版本作参考。笔记中的英文释义摘自《牛津高阶英汉双解词典》

 作者简介：
马可•奥勒留（Marcus Aurelius，公元121—180年），著名的“帝王哲学家”，古罗马帝国皇帝，在希腊文学和拉丁文学、修辞、哲学、法律、绘画方面受过很好的教育，晚期斯多葛学派代表人物之一。奥勒留也许是西方历史上唯一的一位哲学家皇帝。他是一个比他的帝国更加完美的人，他的勤奋工作最终并没有能够挽救古罗马，但是他的《沉思录》却成为西方历史上的伟大名著。

卷五03

5.5 Things are in such a kind of envelopment that they have seemed to philosophers, not a few nor those common philosophers, altogether unintelligible; nay even to the Stoics themselves they seem difficult to understand. And all our assent is changeable; for where is the man who never changes? Carry thy thoughts then to the objects themselves, and consider how short-lived they are and worthless, and that they may be in the possession of a filthy wretch or a whore or a robber. Then turn to the morals of those who live with thee, and it is hardly possible to endure even the most agreeable of them, to say nothing of a man being hardly able to endure himself. In such darkness then and dirt and in so constant a flux both of substance and of time, and of motion and of things moved, what there is worth being highly prized or even an object of serious pursuit, I cannot imagine. But on the contrary it is a man's duty to comfort himself, and to wait for the natural dissolution and not to be vexed at the delay, but to rest in these principles only: the one, that nothing will happen to me which is not conformable to the nature of the universe; and the other, that it is in my power never to act contrary to my god and daemon: for there is no man who will compel me to this.

 Notes：
filthy [adj] 1. very dirty and unpleasant
                2. very rude and offensive and usually connected with sex.
                3. (informal) showing anger
                4. cold and wet
flux [n] 1. continuous movement and change
            2. a flow; an act of flowing
vex [v] to annoy or worry somebody

5.6 About what am I now employing my own soul? On every occasion I must ask myself this question, and inquire, what have I now in this part of me which they call the ruling principle? And whose soul have I now? That of a child, or of a young man, or of a feeble woman, or of a tyrant, or of a domestic animal, or of a wild beast?

 Notes：
tyrant [n] a person who has complete power in a country and uses it in a cruel and unfair way

 先尝试自己翻译一下吧，参考译文见下：

中文翻译：
5.5 事物是在如此一种包围之中，以致在哲学家们（不是少数的也不是那些普通的哲学家）看来是完全不可解的，甚至对斯多亚派哲学家本身来说也是难于理解的。所有我们的同意都在变动不居之中，从不改变的人哪儿有呢？那么把你的思想带到对象本身，考虑它们的存在是多么短促而无价值吧，它们可能是为一个卑鄙的可怜虫，或一个娼妓、一个强盗所占有。然后再想想那些和你生活在一起的人们的道德水平，即使容忍他们中最令人愉悦的人也是几乎不可能的，更不必说容忍一个几乎不能容忍自己的人了。那么在如此的黑暗和肮脏中，在如此不断流动的实体和时间、运动和被推动的物体的急流中，有什么值得高度赞扬甚或值得认真追求的对象呢？我想像不出有这样的对象。反之，顺应自身，等待自然的分解，为为延缓而烦恼，却是一个人的义务，但仅仅使你在这些中得到安宁吧：一是对我发生的一切事情都是符合宇宙的本性的；二是决不违反我身外和身内的神而行动是在我的力量范围之内，因为没有人将迫使我违反。

5.6 我现在要把我自己的灵魂用于什么事情上呢？在任何场合我都必须问自己这个问题，我在我的这一被称为支配原则的部分中拥有什么呢？我现在拥有谁的灵魂呢？是一个孩子的灵魂？抑或一个年青人、一个软弱的妇人、一个暴君、一个家畜、一个野兽的灵魂？

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