Marco Aurelius Anthony (AD 121-180), a famous Stoic philosopher and emperor of the Roman Empire, was born in Rome, and his father’s family used to be Spaniards, but had already settled in Rome for many years and acquired nobility from Emperor Vespasian (reigned 69-79).Marco Aurelius lost his father at an early age, was brought up by his mother and grandfather, and received the best education at that time in Greek and Latin literature, rhetoric, philosophy, law and even painting, He was acquainted and intimate with Stoic philosophy (such as the writings of Epictetus) from his teachers and practiced it in his life.

When he was still a child, Marcus Aurelius won the favor of Emperor Hedrian (reigned 117-138) with his frankness and sincerity.At that time, the throne of Rome was often succeeded not by blood, but by chosen successors.After the death of the original successor Liuxius, Emperor Hedrian chose Marco Aurelius' uncle Anthony Pius as his successor, on the condition that Pius also adopt Marco Aurelius and The original successor's son, Commodus (later named Villes), was the successor.When Emperor Hederian died in 138, Marcus Aurelius received the title of Caesar—a title usually given to the emperor's assistant and successor, and assisted his uncle in governing the country, while his uncle ( also adoptive father) died in 161, immediately became the emperor of the ancient Roman Empire.According to Hedrian's wishes, he shared the imperial power with Veles, but the latter actually played no important role.

Marcus Aurelius has been in power for nearly twenty years. This is a period of constant wars and frequent disasters. Floods, earthquakes, plagues, and wars with the Parthians in the east. The advance of the river basin and the internal rebellion caused the population of Rome to drop sharply, the poverty deepened, and the economy declined day by day. Even if Marcus Aurelius worked day and night with his firm spirit and wisdom, he could not stop the progress of the ancient Roman Empire. decline.For most of his reign, especially the last decade, he was rarely in Rome, but spent time in camps on the frontiers of the empire or in the provinces.This book written for myself, this twelve-volume dialogue between myself and myself, was mostly written in this kind of pommel horse fatigue.Marcus Aurelius married Faustina, daughter of Antony Pius and had 11 children.He is said to have shown magnanimity during the rebellion of a well-known general, Cassius, his lieutenant in Syria.But he had a strict attitude towards Christians, and once issued an imperial edict against Christians.On March 17, 180 AD, Marco Aurelius died in Wendobona (Vienna) due to illness.

Stoic philosophy is mainly a kind of ethics. Its purpose is to establish a rational basis for ethics. It integrates cosmology and ethics, and believes that the universe is a beautiful, orderly, and perfect whole. , evolved from the original sacred fire, and tends to a purpose.Man is a part of the cosmic system, a small spark of the divine fire, and he himself can be said to be a microcosm, whose nature is identical with the nature of all things, so he should act in harmony with the purpose of the universe , trying to realize one's own purpose in the divine purpose, in order to achieve the greatest perfection.For this he must clear his soul, and let reason rule him, as it rules the world.

Therefore, the requirements of the Stoics are: live according to nature, or in other words, live according to nature (nature has two meanings of "nature" and "nature"), and the so-called nature and nature actually refer to a kind of Universal Reason, or Logos (similar in some respects to the Chinese "Tao"), or a universal law (from which the concept of natural law derives).Nature—nature—reason—law, not to mention that they have a completely equivalent meaning, they are at least interlinked, and often can be used interchangeably.And the natural nature of man as a rational being is a rationality that shares this universal rationality, a rationality that can recognize this universal rationality.Anthony often talks about a person's external and internal gods in his novels, and that the external god (or Zeus) distributes a part of himself to the human rational soul (that is, the internal god), and people rely on the inner god, or It is said that by relying on the part controlled by oneself, one can know the god outside the body and comprehend the will of God.That's what he meant.One more thing we need to pay attention to is: the rationality mentioned here is not mainly the understanding of natural things, but the practice of moral virtue, so rationality and virtue are connected again.

In short, in the eyes of the Stoic philosophers, the universe is an orderly universe, and the world is a harmonious world.As it is said in: "All things are interconnected, this bond is sacred, and there is hardly a thing that is not connected to any other thing. Because things are cooperative, they combine to form the same universe (order ). For there is one universe of all things, one God pervading all things, one substance, one law, one reason common to all intelligent beings, one truth; If the animal is perfect, then it is of the same origin and shares the same reason." In this world, the lower exists for the higher, the inanimate exists for the animate, and the inanimate exists for the animate. The existence of life exists for rational existence.Then, why and how do rational beings, or rational animals (humans) exist?Rational animals exist for each other. Therefore, the first principle in the human structure is the principle of friendship. Everyone must be friendly to his own kind, realize that they come from the same source, and tend to the same goal. socially beneficial behavior.

This brings us to another fundamental nature of human beings besides rationality—sociality.Man is a rational animal, but also a political animal (here using Aristotle's argument), a social animal.According to the author of this book, there are three relations between man and other things: one to the objects which surround him; one to the divine cause from which all things arise; The connection of people who live together.Correspondingly, human beings have triple responsibilities and obligations, and they must properly handle the three relationships with their own body and external objects, with God or universal reason, and with their neighbors.Man's attitude towards universal rationality has already been said before, that is, respect, obedience and piety.The Stoics have always had a low evaluation of their own bodies and external objects, basically believing that they have no permanent value as a combination and decomposition of elements.The body is just a skin we have to endure for a while, and the important thing is not to let it get in the way of the soul, not to let its desires or pains disturb the soul.As for our relationship with our neighbors, people's social life and communication, the Stoics gave concentrated attention. In fact, human virtue is mainly reflected in this level.

Generally speaking, Stoic philosophers value the whole and value duty.They believe that human beings cannot exist apart from society and from the whole.To detach yourself from other people, or to do something antisocial, is like detaching yourself from a hand or a foot of your body.If this happens, work on reuniting yourself with the whole.As a part of the universe and as a part of the society, man must readily accept everything from the whole, be satisfied and not complain, because if everything must exist for the benefit of the whole, it will not be for the individual. harmful.What is harmless to the colony does not harm the bees; what does not harm the state does not harm the citizens.The author of "We have to be prepared to meet all kinds of bad people every day, but because they are my kind, I still have to be kind to them."Do not repay evil with evil, but be patient and tolerant. Man is born to endure everything. This is the duty of man.It is as impossible to keep a wicked man from doing evil, as it is impossible to keep a fig tree from bearing fruit.It is enough for us to fulfill our duties, and not to worry about other things at all, but to be noble, loving, and sincere.

It seems that the Stoics valued individual virtue and personal liberation more than the moral transformation of society. This may be because they felt that they lived in an age of individual powerlessness and in a chaotic world. superior.Therefore, they pay special attention to distinguishing two kinds of things: one is within our power; the other is not within our power.Many things, such as personal disappointment, pain, disease, death, social ugliness, etc., are often not within my power, but since everything that happens to me is in accordance with universal reason, I must embrace them with open arms.I can also do things within my power, which is to live according to my nature and be an upright, noble, and moral person. No power can stop me, and no one can force me to do bad things.There is indeed much touching in the Stoics' emphasis on virtue.For example, Anthony said: Virtue does not require rewards, and does not want others to know, not only to make the behavior noble, but also to make the motive pure, and to discard all useless and trivial thoughts.Focus yourself on the thought that whenever you are asked what you are thinking, you can immediately and candidly say it while you are thinking.Moreover, you should not only think about goodness and honest things, but also put them into action. Action is the purpose of your existence. Don't talk about the qualities that a noble person should have at all, but become such a person.

In short, the life pursued by the Stoic philosophers is a life free from passion and desire, calm and philosophical. They regard everything that happens to them as evil, and think that pain and anxiety only come from the heart. opinion, which can be removed by the mind.They are indifferent and self-sufficient. On the one hand, they insist on their own labor, and regard these jobs as their own duties;The strength of Stoic philosophy can be seen in the two prominent representatives of its contributions: the slave-born Epictetus, and the philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius Antony, author of .Their social status is very different, but their spirit and lifestyle are quite the same.However, on the other hand, as the "philosopher king" dreamed by Plato, Antony's political achievements and the state of the country he governed are far from the ideal state.Therefore, on the one hand, we see the great strength of the spirit of Stoic philosophy, how it annihilates the differences in social environment and creates the same pure and virtuous personal life; Its effect on the outside world and its impact on society is almost zero, because it does contain some quiet and inactive elements in its essence.

In addition, we have also seen that the moral principles of the Stoics were not very clear.Interpret nature as reason, and rationality as virtue; morality lies in living according to nature, and what follows nature is morality.Although there is a certain advantage of emphasizing rationality, universality and universality, it also has the weakness of formal circular argumentation.In Stoic philosophy there is a moving exaltation of moral personality, but also a demoralizing abandonment of struggle and further transcendence.It may never be a way of retreat, but for vigorous and enterprising people, especially young people full of vitality, it may still be too early to take this way.It is not like Christianity, it does not make too many promises to the other shore, but emphasizes self-sufficiency in virtue of this shore, but it also paves the way for the prevalence of Christianity in terms of emotion and mood.We can probably say that Stoic philosophy can provide a solution for a person in a chaotic world, facing a moral low point and feeling personally powerless, for a person who suffers setbacks and disappointments in personal life (which will never be avoided) Those who do not turn to God for help, offer the best consolation, but beware that this consolation becomes narcotic.Finally, we have also noticed that although Stoic philosophy cannot have a direct impact on the transformation and improvement of social systems like some theories (such as social contract theory), the broad-minded world contained in it Doctrine, the doctrine of natural law, natural human rights, and equality of all beings, has gone through a long period of time and still exerts influence on modern social and political theories and practices. A professor in the United States and the author of "Lifetime Reading Plan" Feldman believes that there is an incredible charm, saying that it is sweet, melancholy and noble.We may agree with him, and say that its nobility may come from the seriousness, solemnity, purity of the author's thoughts, and the nobility of the subject; and its sweetness can only be due to the peace and tranquility of the author's mind.These characteristics are often combined. For example, when we talk about the last paragraph, that is, the paragraph when we withdraw from the stage of life, we feel melancholy, because this is the fate of man, and there is no escape from it. .Even if you feel that your play is not over yet, and new actors have replaced you as the protagonist, the melancholy here is like the mood of those old actors in Chaplin's "Stage Life": bitter but not without relief, Depressed and a little relieved; on the other hand, we feel dignified, because we can exit with dignity and dignity, because we have completed our mission and made room for newcomers. We must also remember that we are writing for ourselves, not for publication, and here we are talking to ourselves, and it is not "I..." but "You..." that often appear between the lines, often with dashes Separate opinions.Since it is a dialogue between myself and myself, and I am convincing myself, I naturally don't need to pay too much attention to rhetoric, explanation and structure, but focus on the deepening and advancement of a kind of thought.Sometimes I think of other places before I finish talking, and I often see "but" as a turning point.We need to keep these in mind as we read, or we may be disappointed that it is not a beautiful system.As long as we let our minds settle down, we can read a lot from these plain sentences.This is not a fashionable book, but a long-lasting book. You may not read it immediately after buying it, but you will definitely need to read it when you buy it.Someone wrote it nearly two thousand years ago, and someone will read it two thousand years from now.