【讀書筆記】《沉思錄》卷四：任何行為都不要無目的的做出08
?
?本書簡介：
《沉思錄》是古羅馬皇帝奧勒留寫給自己的書，內(nèi)容大部分是他在鞍馬勞頓中寫成的。作品來自奧勒留對身羈宮廷的自己和自己所處混亂世界的感受，追求一種冷靜而達觀的生活。這部著作是斯多葛學派的一個里程碑，亦是溫總理放在枕邊，讀了不下百遍的書。
本書原文由古希臘文而作，英文版選擇比較權(quán)威的George Long的版本，中文版選擇何懷宏的版本作參考。筆記中的英文釋義摘自《牛津高階英漢雙解詞典》
?作者簡介：
馬可?奧勒留（Marcus Aurelius，公元121—180年），著名的“帝王哲學家”，古羅馬帝國皇帝，在希臘文學和拉丁文學、修辭、哲學、法律、繪畫方面受過很好的教育，晚期斯多葛學派代表人物之一。奧勒留也許是西方歷史上唯一的一位哲學家皇帝。他是一個比他的帝國更加完美的人，他的勤奮工作最終并沒有能夠挽救古羅馬，但是他的《沉思錄》卻成為西方歷史上的偉大名著。
卷四：任何行為都不要無目的的做出08
?小編語：關(guān)于人死后，肉體和靈魂的歸宿……
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.
?看了筆記注釋之后，先嘗試自己翻譯一下吧，參考譯文見下：
中文翻譯：
4.18?在各方面都美的一切事物本身就是美的，其美是歸于自身的，而不把贊揚作為它的一部分。因此被贊揚就不使一個事物變好或變壞。我堅信這也適用于被平民稱為美的事物，例如，物質(zhì)的東西或藝術(shù)的作品。那真正美的東西除了法則、真理、仁愛或節(jié)制之外，不需要任何別的東西。而這些事物哪一個的美是因為它被贊揚才美，或者譴責會使它變丑呢？像祖母綠或者黃金、象牙、紫袍、七弦琴、短劍、鮮花和樹叢這樣的東西，難道沒受到贊揚就會使它們變壞嗎？
4.19 如果靈魂繼續(xù)存在，大氣怎么無窮地容納它們呢？－然而大地又怎樣容納那些古往今來被埋葬的人的尸體呢？在此正像這些尸體在保持一段時間之后變化一樣，不論它們變成什么樣子，它們的分解都為別的尸體騰出了空間，那移入空氣中的靈魂也是如此，在繼續(xù)生存一段時間之后變被改變和分解了，通過融入宇宙的一種再生的智慧而獲得一種如火焰一樣的性質(zhì)，以這種方式為到達那里的具肉的靈魂騰出地方。這就是一個人對靈魂繼續(xù)存在的這種假設(shè)可能給出的回答。但是我們不僅必須考慮如此被埋葬的尸體的數(shù)目，而且要考慮每天被我們吃掉的動物以及別的肉食動物的數(shù)目。因為，被消費的是多大一個數(shù)目啊，這樣，它們就以某種方式被埋葬在那些以它們?yōu)槭车娜说纳眢w中！不過大地依然通過把身體化為血，化為如空氣或火焰一般的元素而接受它們。在這件事上怎樣探究才能接觸到真理呢？通過劃分質(zhì)料和形式因。