前言
马可·奥勒留是罗马皇帝，但他的私人笔记是用通用希腊语（Koine）写就的。《沉思录》这个中文标题译自英文 Meditations，但并非真正的标题——奥勒留本就没有特地给自己的笔记本起标题——而是某个译者把原文翻译成英语时加上的、带有他个人解读的标题。其实这个标题也不算完全无中生有，因为拜占庭时期整理和传抄奥勒留笔记的学者也给这些笔记起了个标题，叫做 Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν：
| τὰ | εἰς | ἑαυτόν |
| 3npl | into | 3refl.msg.acc |
一般应该和马可·奥勒留的名字（的属格）连在一起——这是罗列古典作家作品的时候的常用方法——这样这里的反身代词所指就很明显了。
换我来，我可能会把 τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν 译成“于己书”。但在默认用普通话读出来的语境里感觉不是很理想，因为和“与己书”同音了（发生了音系中和），后者似乎就变成了俗气些的给自己写信。汉语似乎不太好找到对应 εἰς（英文的话，to、into）的介词，如果读者有什么好点子，可以和我联系。
比如说《心里话》。
标题说“最后一节”，是因为在不同版本里这一段有的被记为第 42 节，有的（比如 Wikisource）是第 43 节。但从相对位置来说，都是最后一节。
标题用了“卷”。这对应的英文是 Book，拉丁文是 Liber，希腊文是 βιβλίον，其实是奥勒留的每个小笔记本。用“章”（Chapter，Caput）就不够合适了。之前用了“部”，后来才想起有“卷”这个最贴切的说法。
古希腊语原文
取自 Wikisource。可能因编码原因，原文该是 ὗ 的地方都变成了 Ƿ，我修正了回来。
Ὅταν τινὸς ἀναισχυντίᾳ προσκόπτῃς, εὐθὺς πυνθάνου σεαυτοῦ˙δύνανται οὖν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἀναίσχυντοι μὴ εἶναι; οὐ δύνανται˙μὴ οὖν ἀπαίτει τὸ ἀδύνατον˙ εἷς γὰρ καὶ οὗτός ἐστινἐκείνων τῶν ἀναισχύντων, οὓς ἀνάγκη ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ εἶναι. τὸ δαὐτὸ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ πανούργου καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀπίστου καὶ παντὸς τοῦὁτιοῦν ἁμαρτάνοντος ἔστω σοι πρόχειρον˙ ἅμα γὰρ τῷ ὑπομνησθῆναιὅτι τὸ γένος τῶν τοιούτων ἀδύνατόν ἐστι μὴ ὑπάρχειν, εὐμενέστερος ἔσῃ πρὸς τοὺς καθ ἕνα. εὔχρηστον δὲ κἀκεῖνο εὐθὺςἐννοεῖν, τίνα ἔδωκεν ἡ φύσις τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ἀρετὴν πρὸς τοῦτοτὸ ἁμάρτημα˙ ἔδωκε γὰρ ὡς ἀντιφάρμακον πρὸς μὲν τὸν ἀγνώμονατὴν πρᾳότητα, πρὸς δὲ ἄλλον ἄλλην τινὰ δύναμιν, ὅλως δὲ ἔξεστίσοι μεταδιδάσκειν τὸν πεπλανημένον˙ πᾶς δὲ ὁ ἁμαρτάνωνἀφαμαρτάνει τοῦ προκειμένου καὶ πεπλάνηται. τί δὲ καὶβέβλαψαι; εὑρήσεις γὰρ μηδένα τούτων, πρὸς οὓς παροξύνῃ, πεποιηκότα τι τοιοῦτον ἐξ οὗ ἡ διάνοιά σου χείρων ἔμελλεγενήσεσθαι˙ τὸ δὲ κακόν σου καὶ τὸ βλαβερὸν ἐνταῦθα πᾶσαντὴν ὑπόστασιν ἔχει. τί δαὶ κακὸν ἢ ξένον γέγονεν, εἰ ὁ ἀπαίδευτοςτὰ τοῦ ἀπαιδεύτου πράσσει; ὅρα μὴ σεαυτῷ μᾶλλον ἐγκαλεῖνὀφείλῃς, ὅτι οὐ προσεδόκησας τοῦτον τοῦτο ἁμαρτήσεσθαι˙ σὺγὰρ καὶ ἀφορμὰς ἐκ τοῦ λόγου εἶχες πρὸς τὸ ἐνθυμηθῆναι ὅτιεἰκός ἐστι τοῦτον τοῦτο ἁμαρτήσεσθαι, καὶ ὅμως ἐπιλαθόμενοςθαυμάζεις εἰ ἡμάρτηκεν. μάλιστα δέ, ὅταν ὡς ἀπίστῳ ἢ ἀχαρίστῳμέμφῃ, εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἐπιστρέφου˙ προδήλως γὰρ σὸν τὸ ἁμάρτημα, εἴτε περὶ τοῦ τοιαύτην τὴν διάθεσιν ἔχοντος ἐπίστευσας ὅτι τὴνπίστιν φυλάξει, εἴτε τὴν χάριν διδοὺς μὴ καταληκτικῶς ἔδωκαςμηδὲ ὥστε ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς σῆς πράξεως εὐθὺς ἀπειληφέναι πάντατὸν καρπόν. τί γὰρ πλέον θέλεις εὖ ποιήσας, ἄνθρωπε; οὐκ ἀρκεῖτοῦτο, ὅτι κατὰ φύσιν τὴν σήν τι ἔπραξας, ἀλλὰ τούτου μισθὸνζητεῖς; ὡσεὶ ὁ ὀφθαλμὸς ἀμοιβὴν ἀπῄτει, ὅτι βλέπει, ἢ οἱ πόδες, ὅτι βαδίζουσιν. ὥσπερ γὰρ ταῦτα πρὸς τόδε τι γέγονεν, ὅπερκατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν κατασκευὴν ἐνεργοῦντα ἀπέχει τὸ ἴδιον, οὕτωςκαὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος εὐεργετικὸς πεφυκώς, ὁπόταν τι εὐεργετικὸν ἢἄλλως εἰς τὰ μέσα συνεργητικὸν πράξῃ, πεποίηκε πρὸς ὃ κατεσκεύασται, καὶ ἔχει τὸ ἑαυτοῦ.
英文翻译（Robin Waterfield 2021）
以下的脚注是译本的注释。
Whenever a person’s lack of shame offends you, you should immediately ask yourself: “So is it possible for there to be no shameless people in the world?” It isn’t, and you should therefore stop demanding the impossible.1 He’s just one of those shameless people who must necessarily exist in the world. You should keep the same thought readily available also for when you’re faced with devious and untrustworthy people, and people who are flawed in any way. As soon as you remind yourself that it’s impossible for such people not to exist, you’ll be kinder toward each and every one of them. It’s also helpful immediately to consider what virtue nature has granted us human beings to deal with any given offense—gentleness, for instance, to counter discourteous people,2 and other ways to counter others. Generally speaking, you can get someone who’s gone astray to amend his ways—and, whatever his wrong, a wrongdoer is missing his mark and has gone astray.3 Besides, have you been harmed in any way? You’ll find that none of the people who make you lose your temper has done anything that might affect your mind for the worse; and outside of the mind there’s nothing that is truly detrimental or harmful for you. Moreover, what is unusual or surprising about an uneducated man doing uneducated things? It’s worth considering whether you ought rather to blame yourself for failing to foresee that he would transgress in this way. After all, you even had the resources, in the form of your ability to think rationally, to appreciate that he was likely to commit that fault, yet you forgot it and are now surprised that he did exactly that.
But, above all, when you find fault with someone for lack of fidelity or gratitude, turn and look at yourself, because the fault was plainly yours. In the first instance, your mistake was to have trusted a man with such a character not to let you down; in the second, you failed to do the favor for its own sake, on the assumption that you would immediately reap your full reward just from the action itself. If you’ve done someone good, what more do you want? Aren’t you satisfied with having acted in conformity with your nature? Do you want remuneration as well? It’s as if the eyes sought compensation for seeing or the feet for walking. Just as eyes and feet were made for a particular purpose, which fulfills them because the performance of that function is what they were designed to do, so, because human beings were made to do others good, when a man does something that benefits someone else, he’s doing what he was made for, and is fulfilled.
中文翻译（我，根据英译）
当你被某人的无耻所冒犯，马上自问：世上有可能一个无耻的人也没有吗？不可能的，所以不要强求，那人也只是世上必然存在的无耻者之一。当你面对不坦诚、不可信的人，或者在任何方面上有瑕疵的人时，应当时刻准备作同样的思考。一旦接受了世界上不可能完全没有这样的人，你就会对他们更加和善了。同时，想想自然赋予了我们人类怎样的美德用于应对冒犯——比如说，用温柔应对粗鲁的人，以及其他方法应对其他的人——也是有帮助的。一般来说，总是有办法带误入歧途的人重回正道的——而且不管他做错了什么，他的动机也是因为觉得那是正确的事。另一方面，你真的有被伤害到吗？其实任何使你生气的人都没有使你的心灵往坏的方向变质；而在心灵之外，没有任何东西能够有损于你或者真正伤害到你。况且，没教养的人做没教养的事有什么奇怪的吗？倒是该想想你该不该怪自己没能预见到他会如此越界。毕竟你是有条件、有能力理性思考的，你本来能预计到他会这般犯错，但你抛在脑后，现在又惊讶于他的确犯错了。
最重要的还是，当你指责他人不忠诚或者不感恩时，要转而审视下自己，因为显然错在你自己身上。首先，你错在轻信有着这般性质的人不会让你失望；其次，你根本就没能纯粹地信任他，因为你预期你这样做了就能立时收获完整的回报。你为某人做了好事，你还想怎样？你遵循自己的本性行动了，你不该满意了么？难不成你还想要报酬？这就好像你用来看世界的眼睛、用来走路的双脚向你索取回报一样。正如眼睛和双脚是为特定的目的而生——这目的使它们圆满，因为它们就是设计成执行这些任务的模样的——人生来就是为了与人为善的。人做什么事使别人受益，就是完成他与生俱来的任务，就是圆满的。
中文翻译（某国产大语言模型 4.0，译自古希腊语）
从许多次结果中综合出了最通顺、表意最准确的。大体上大语言模型的理解是让人满意的，但有时确实会有逻辑上的理解错误或者幻觉，真不能不加思索完全相信它给你的东西。
但作为助手是极好的。加以人工筛选和修改，产出的文本可以非常棒。
当你遇到某人的无耻行为时，立刻反问自己：世界上能否没有无耻的人呢？显然不能。那么就不要强求不可能的事情。因为那个无耻的人也只是世界上必然存在的无耻者之一。同样的道理也适用于狡猾的人、不信守承诺的人和任何犯错误的人。你应该时刻牢记，这类人的存在是不可避免的，这样你就会对他们更加宽容。同时，也要立刻思考，自然赋予人类哪些美德来对抗这些错误。自然确实提供了对抗之道，例如，对于无知的人，我们展现温和；对于其他类型的人，我们则运用其他力量。总的来说，自然教导我们去引导那些迷失的人。每一个犯错的人，都会纠正自己的错误，也会迷途知返。那么，他们到底伤害了什么呢？你会发现，那些激怒你的人中，没有人会做出什么能让你思想变糟糕的事情；你所遭受的不幸和伤害，全都源于你自身的看法。如果一个没有教养的人做出了没有教养的行为，那又有什么邪恶或者奇怪的呢？你要反思，是否更应该责怪自己没有预见到这个人会犯错。你从理性出发本来应该能找到足够的理由预料到他们可能会犯错，然而你却忘记了，以至于他们犯错时你感到惊讶。尤其是当你在谴责某人忘恩负义或不信守诺言时，你应该反省自己。很显然，错误在你自身，要么是你相信了这样一个本性的人能够信守承诺，要么你在给予恩惠时并没有真心实意地给予，甚至期待从你的行为中立即收获全部的善果。人啊，你做了好事，还想得到什么呢？你按照自己的本性做事，这难道还不够吗？为何还要寻求回报呢？这岂不是像眼睛因其能看见而要求回报，或者脚因其能行走而索求奖赏一样荒谬吗？就像这些东西是为了某种目的而存在，按照它们自身的构造发挥作用，与其本性相符，人也一样，天生就是乐于助人的，每当他做出一些有益的事情，或者对他人有所帮助的时候，他就是按照自己的本性行事，并实现了自我价值。
拉丁语翻译（某国产大语言模型 4.0，译自古希腊语）
Cum aliquando occurreris impudentiae cuiusdam, statim interrogare te ipsum: potestne in mundo non esse impudentium? Non potest. Ergo, non postula quod impossibile est. Est enim et hic unum ex istis impudentibus, quos mundo necessario esse. Hoc idem et de fraudulento et de incredulo et de cuiuslibet peccantis teneas promptum; nam simul cum memento genus istius existentiae impossibile est non esse, benignior eris ad singulos. Utile est etiam statim cogitare, quid natura hominum virtus praebuit ad hoc peccatum. Praebuit enim quasi antidotum: ad ignorantis lenitas, ad alium aliquam aliam potestatem; omnino licet tibi errantem docere. Omni peccator a peccati sui se liberat et errat. Quid etiam nocuit? Neminem invenies, ad quem irasceris, qui tale fecit, unde tua mens peiora fiat. Tuum malum et nocivum hic omnem substantiam tenet. Quid novi vel alienum factum est, si rudis rudis agit? Cave ne magis tibi debeatas imputationes, quod non sperasti hoc peccatum committere. Tu enim etiam ex sermone habebas occasiones ad meminisse quod verisimile est hoc peccatum committere, et tamen obliviscens miraris si peccavit. Maxime cum quasi incredulo aut ingrato quereris, ad te ipsum revertere. Palam enim tuum peccatum, sive de talis habitu credidisti quod fidem conservaret, sive gratiam dantem non definitive dedisti, nec tam ut ex tua actione fructum omne statim acceperis. Quid enim plus vis faciens bene, homo? Non satis est quod secundum natura tua aliquid fecisti, sed mercedem istius quaeris? Sicut oculus mercedem postulat, quod videt, aut pedes, quod ambulant. Sicut haec ad hoc aliquid facta sunt, quod secundum propriam institutionem agentes proprium abest, sic et homo naturaliter benevolentus, quandoque benevolentiam vel alias in media cooperantem agit, fecit ad quod paratus est, et suum habet.
拉丁语翻译（某大语言模型 3.5，译自古希腊语）
Si cuiuspiam verecundia offendis, statim te ipsius interroga: possuntne igitur in hoc mundo non esse impudentes? Non possunt; ne quaeso ignotum postulas. Unus enim et ille ex his impudentibus est, quos necesse est in hoc mundo esse. Eadem de causa etiam circa callidum et incredulum et omnino circa alium quemlibet errantem habeas hoc promptum: simul enim cum admonitus fueris neminem horum, in quem incideris, tale quid fecisse ex quo tibi inferior animus visus esset futurus, benignior eris singulis. Idemque statim considerare debes, cuius rei gratia quisque homini adhibuerit virtutem contrariam ad hanc culpam; dederat enim natura eam tamquam remedium adversus illud quidem ad inscios mansuetudinem, adversus vero alium aliam quandam animi vim; omnino autem licet et volentem errorem instruire; omnis autem errans peccat adversus propositum et erravit. Quid ergo aut nocuit aut alienum fecit, si imprudens imprudentis agit? Vide ne te ipsum magis incuses, quod isti istud peccatum non praevidisti; habebas enim ex sermone admonitiones ad cogitationem, ut iste istud peccaret; et tamen obliti miraris, si peccavit. Maxime vero, cum tamquam incredulo aut ingrato reprehenderis, respice in te ipsum; palam enim tuum est peccatum, sive de talis cuiusdam dispositione habentes credidisti servaturum fidem, sive gratiam tribuens non commode dedisti, ita ut ex ipso tuo facto statim omnem fructum receperit. Quid enim ultra bonum facere vis, homo? Num tibi sufficit, quod secundum naturam tuam aliquid operatus es, sed eius mercedem requiris? Ut oculus vicem petit, quod videt, aut pedes, quod ambulant. Quemadmodum enim haec ad id quod secundum propriam structuram operantur extra se habent, ita et homo naturaliter beneficus, cum aliquid beneficum aut alio modo ad communia adjumenta conferre contigerit, fecit ad id, ad quod comparatus est, et suum habet.
脚注
The existence of evil posed a problem for Stoics, who believed that the universe was guided by a good God. Mostly, Marcus is concerned to deny the existence of evil, either by arguing that it is all in the mind and you can change your mind, or by claiming that if we saw the big picture, we would see that what seems bad is actually good. Here he adds that it is (logically?) impossible for there not to be bad people.↩︎
Aristotle’s account of gentleness, which he calls the opposite of anger, is illuminating: The Art of Rhetoric 2.3.↩︎
On Socratic and Stoic principles, all wrongdoing is “missing the mark”—thinking that something is the right thing to do when it is not.↩︎