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。

卷四：任何行为都不要无目的的做出08
 小编语：关于人死后，肉体和灵魂的归宿……

4.18 Everything which is in any way beautiful is beautiful in itself, and terminates in itself, not having praise as part of itself. Neither worse then nor better is a thing made by being praised. I affirm this also of the things which are called beautiful by the vulgar, for example, material things and works of art. That which is really beautiful has no need of anything; not more than law, not more than truth, not more than benevolence or modesty. Which of these things is beautiful because it is praised, or spoiled by being blamed? Is such a thing as an emerald made worse than it was, if it is not praised? Or gold, ivory, purple, a lyre, a little knife, a flower, a shrub? 

 Notes：
emerald [n]a bright green precious stone 

4.19 If souls continue to exist, how does the air contain them from eternity?- But how does the earth contain the bodies of those who have been buried from time so remote? For as here the mutation of these bodies after a certain continuance, whatever it may be, and their dissolution make room for other dead bodies; so the souls which are removed into the air after subsisting for some time are transmuted and diffused, and assume a fiery nature by being received into the seminal intelligence of the universe, and in this way make room for the fresh souls which come to dwell there. And this is the answer which a man might give on the hypothesis of souls continuing to exist. But we must not only think of the number of bodies which are thus buried, but also of the number of animals which are daily eaten by us and the other animals. For what a number is consumed, and thus in a manner buried in the bodies of those who feed on them! And nevertheless this earth receives them by reason of the changes of these bodies into blood, and the transformations into the aerial or the fiery element. What is the investigation into the truth in this matter? The division into that which is material and that which is the cause of form, the formal.

 Notes：
diffuse [adj] 1. spread over a wide area
                  2. not clear or easy to understand; using a lot of words
hypothesis [n] 
                  1. an idea or explanation of something that is based on a few known facts but that has not yet been proved to be true or correct 
                  2. guesses and ideas that are not based on certain knowledge.

 看了笔记注释之后，先尝试自己翻译一下吧，参考译文见下：

中文翻译：
4.18 在各方面都美的一切事物本身就是美的，其美是归于自身的，而不把赞扬作为它的一部分。因此被赞扬就不使一个事物变好或变坏。我坚信这也适用于被平民称为美的事物，例如，物质的东西或艺术的作品。那真正美的东西除了法则、真理、仁爱或节制之外，不需要任何别的东西。而这些事物哪一个的美是因为它被赞扬才美，或者谴责会使它变丑呢？像祖母绿或者黄金、象牙、紫袍、七弦琴、短剑、鲜花和树丛这样的东西，难道没受到赞扬就会使它们变坏吗？

4.19 如果灵魂继续存在，大气怎么无穷地容纳它们呢？－然而大地又怎样容纳那些古往今来被埋葬的人的尸体呢？在此正像这些尸体在保持一段时间之后变化一样，不论它们变成什么样子，它们的分解都为别的尸体腾出了空间，那移入空气中的灵魂也是如此，在继续生存一段时间之后变被改变和分解了，通过融入宇宙的一种再生的智慧而获得一种如火焰一样的性质，以这种方式为到达那里的具肉的灵魂腾出地方。这就是一个人对灵魂继续存在的这种假设可能给出的回答。但是我们不仅必须考虑如此被埋葬的尸体的数目，而且要考虑每天被我们吃掉的动物以及别的肉食动物的数目。因为，被消费的是多大一个数目啊，这样，它们就以某种方式被埋葬在那些以它们为食的人的身体中！不过大地依然通过把身体化为血，化为如空气或火焰一般的元素而接受它们。在这件事上怎样探究才能接触到真理呢？通过划分质料和形式因。

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