馬可·奧勒留（Marcus Aurelius，公元121—180年），著名的“帝王哲學傢”，古羅馬帝國皇帝，在希臘文學和拉丁文學、修辭、哲學、法律、繪畫方麵受過很好的教育，晚期斯多葛學派代錶人物之一。奧勒留也許是西方曆史上唯一的一位哲學傢皇帝。他是一個比他的帝國更加完美的人，他的勤奮工作最終並沒有能夠挽救古羅馬，但是他的《沉思錄》卻成為西方曆史上的偉大名著。

馬可·奧勒留是一個悲愴的人；在一係列必須加以抗拒的欲望裏，他感到其中最具有吸引力的就是想要引退去過一種寜靜的鄉村生活的那種願望。但是實現這種願望的機會始終沒有來臨。

《沉思錄》是馬可·奧勒留寫給他自己如何好好活著的手冊，他統治著我們曾經見過的最強盛的帝國，卻依然能用如此謙遜和優美的筆調寫齣這些平實而又發人深省的話語。他提倡純潔的生活，經常提醒自己要按照最好的方式去生活。所有這些文字他不曾想到會齣版，所以從書中你可以看到馬可·奧勒留正在擯棄所有物質和世俗的睏難，去關注他自身純粹的心智，思考什麼對他而言纔是真正最重要的東西。他能夠非常誠實地研究自身，非常坦誠地寫下來，著實讓我們驚嘆，《沉思錄》的每一頁都充滿瞭偉大的智慧。

你不需要哲學基礎就可以輕易讀懂這本書，這部兩韆年前的智慧之書，至今仍不失光輝，對今人的思想及生活有著重要的指導意義。作為溫傢寶總理和剋林頓總統的枕邊書，《沉思錄》並不長，200多頁，裏麵多數都是深刻的人生感悟，文筆優美，錶述簡潔。這就意味著這本書非常容易讀，隨手翻翻就可以發現很多靈感。馬可·奧勒留的寫作並不針對某個民族、某個階級、或是某種性彆，而是直指內心，直指我們的精神和靈魂。讀這本書，你會在高雅思想和純淨心靈中得到慰藉，每個人都會有需要讀它的時候。

Book Description

The World Literature series reproduces the greatest books the world over with only the highest production standards. History, philosophy, psychology, political theory, fiction, and ancient texts are now accessible to everyone at an extremely affordable price.

The "Meditations" of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius are a readable exposition of the system of metaphysics known as stoicism. Stoics maintained that by putting aside great passions, unjust thoughts and indulgence, man could acquire virtue and live at one with nature.

Amazon.com

One measure, perhaps, of a book's worth, is its intergenerational pliancy: do new readers acquire it and interpret it afresh down through the ages? The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, translated and introduced by Gregory Hays, by that standard, is very worthwhile, indeed. Hays suggests that its most recent incarnation--as a self-help book--is not only valid, but may be close to the author's intent. The book, which Hays calls, fondly, a "haphazard set of notes," is indicative of the role of philosophy among the ancients in that it is "expected to provide a 'design for living.'" And it does, both aphoristically ("Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what's left and live it properly.") and rhetorically ("What is it in ourselves that we should prize?"). Whether these, and other entries ("Enough of this wretched, whining monkey life.") sound life-changing or like entries in a teenager's diary is up to the individual reader, as it should be. Hays's introduction, which sketches the life of Marcus Aurelius (emperor of Rome A.D. 161-180) as well as the basic tenets of stoicism, is accessible and jaunty.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　--H. O'Billovich

Synopsis:

Few ancient works have been as influential as the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, philosopher and emperor of Rome (A.D. 161–180). A series of spiritual exercises filled with wisdom, practical guidance, and profound understanding of human behavior, it remains one of the greatest works of spiritual and ethical reflection ever written. Marcus’s insights and advice—on everything from living in the world to coping with adversity and interacting with others—have made the Meditations required reading for statesmen and philosophers alike, while generations of ordinary readers have responded to the straightforward intimacy of his style. For anyone who struggles to reconcile the demands of leadership with a concern for personal integrity and spiritual well-being, the Meditations remains as relevant now as it was two thousand years ago.

In Gregory Hays’s new translation—the first in thirty-five years—Marcus’s thoughts speak with a new immediacy. In fresh and unencumbered English, Hays vividly conveys the spareness and compression of the original Greek text. Never before have Marcus’s insights been so directly and powerfully presented.

With an Introduction that outlines Marcus’s life and career, the essentials of Stoic doctrine, the style and construction of the Meditations, and the work’s ongoing influence, this edition makes it possible to fully rediscover the thoughts of one of the most enlightened and intelligent leaders of any era.

About Author

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was born to an upper-class Roman family in A.D. 121 and was later adopted by the future emperor Antoninus Pius, whom he succeeded in 161. His reign was marked by a successful campaign against Parthia, but was overshadowed in later years by plague, an abortive revolt in the eastern provinces, and the deaths of friends and family, including his co-emperor Lucius Verus. A student of philosophy from his earliest youth, he was especially influenced by the first-century Stoic thinker Epictetus. His later reputation rests on his Meditations, written during his later years and never meant for formal publication. He died in 180, while campaigning against the barbarian tribes on Rome’s northern frontier.

Gregory Hays is assistant professor of classics at the University of Virginia. He has published articles and reviews on various ancient writers and is currently completing a translation and critical study of the mythographer Fulgentius.

Book Dimension :

length: (cm)19.8 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)12.6

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沉思錄