花間書齋
成功之門原來虛掩著
第三篇
論幸運與不幸對人們判斷行為是否得體的能力之作用；何以有時容易被認可，有時則不易
。
Chap. I
第一章
1．
That though our sympathy with sorrow is generally a more lively
sensation than our sympathy with joy, it commonly falls much more
short of the violence of what is naturally felt by the person
principally concerned
同給予快樂的同情相比，我們給予悲痛的同情一般來講是一種十分強烈的感情，但在當事人的自然感覺中卻依然不夠強烈.
2．
Our sympathy with sorrow, though not more real, has been more
taken notice of than our sympathy with joy. The word sympathy, in
its most proper and primitive signification, denotes our
fellow-feeling with the sufferings, not that with the enjoyments,
of others. A late ingenious and subtile philosopher thought it
necessary to prove, by arguments, that we had a real sympathy
with joy, and that congratulation was a principle of human
nature. Nobody, I believe, ever thought it necessary to prove
that compassion was such.
我們給予悲痛的同情，其真切程度雖然已經無以複加，但和給予快樂的同情相比，卻依然獲得更多的關注。同情這一字眼，按其最確切、最基本的含義來講，向我們傳達的是一種對痛苦，而不是對快樂等所給予的體諒之情。一位已故的睿智機敏的哲學家認為，有必要通過辯論來證實：我們對快樂懷有真切的同情心；祝賀是人性中的天性。竊以為，從來沒有任何人認為有必要證實憐憫之心就是這種情感。
3.
First of all, our sympathy with sorrow is, in some sense,
more universal than that with joy. Though sorrow is excessive, we
may still have some fellow-feeling with it. What we feel does
not, indeed, in this case, amount to that complete sympathy, to
that perfect harmony and correspondence of sentiments which
constitutes approbation. We do not weep, and exclaim, and lament,
with the sufferer. We are sensible, on the contrary, of his weak
ness and of the extravagance of his passion, and yet often feel a
very sensible concern upon his account. But if we do not entirely
enter into, and go along with, the joy of another, we have no
sort of regard or fellow-feeling for it. The man who skips and
dances about with that intemperate and senseless joy which we
cannot accompany him in, is the object of our contempt and
indignation.
首先，我們對悲痛給予的同情，從某種意義上講，要比對快樂給予的同情更加普遍。雖然悲痛有時會過分，但我們可能依然會給予某些同情。在這種情況下，我們的感情其實既不能完全等同於同情，也不能與這種備受讚譽的激情全然吻合。我們並不能與受苦受難者一起啜泣、驚呼和悲痛。相反，我們卻對他的懦弱、對他過激的情緒非常敏感，對他之所以如此的原因也更加關心。然而，對於另外一個人的快樂，如果我們不能動情，不能體諒他，我們就不能給予同情。一個人如果快活得毫無節製，快活得莫名其妙，快活得手舞足蹈，快活得我們無法理解，他就將淪為我們蔑視和怨恨的對象。
4
Pain besides, whether of mind or body, is a more pungent
sensation than pleasure, and our sympathy with pain, though it
falls greatly short of what is naturally felt by the sufferer, is
generally a more lively and distinct perception than our sympathy
with pleasure, though this last often approaches more nearly, as
I shall shew immediately, to the natural vivacity of the original
passion.
此外，無論是精神的，還是肉體的痛苦，都是一種比快樂更加強烈的感情。我們對痛苦給予的同情，雖然很缺乏當事者自然感覺到的東西，雖然給予歡樂的同情更加貼近天性中的自然歡樂之情，但與我們對快樂所給予的同情相比，它依然是一種更為強烈，更為清晰的觀念。
5.
Over and above all this, we often struggle to keep down our
sympathy with the sorrow of others. Whenever we are not under the
observation of the sufferer, we endeavour, for our own sake, to
suppress it as much as we can, and we are not always successful.
The opposition which we make to it, and the reluctance with which
we yield to it, necessarily oblige us to take more particular
notice of it. But we never have occasion to make this opposition
to our sympathy with joy. If there is any envy in the case, we
never feel the least propensity towards it; and if there is none,
we give way to it without any reluctance. On the contrary, as we
are always ashamed of our own envy, we often pretend, and
sometimes really wish to sympathize with the joy of others, when
by that disagreeable sentiment we are disqualified from doing so.
We are glad, we say on account of our neighbour's good fortune,
when in our hearts, perhaps, we are really sorry. We often feel a
sympathy with sorrow when we would wish to be rid of it; and we
often miss that with joy when we would be glad to have it. The
obvious observation, therefore, which it naturally falls in our
way to make, is, that our propensity to sympathize with sorrow
must be very strong, and our inclination to sympathize with joy
very weak.
除此之外，我們還經常極力減少對他人悲傷的同情心。當我們沒有處在受苦者的視野之內時，我們就盡量壓製這種同情，不過我們總是做不到這點。我們總是適得其反，勉為其難，這勢必會迫使我們對其注入更加特殊的關注。不過，對快樂給予的同情，我們從來也沒有出現過適得其反的情況。相反，我們總是為自己的嫉妒之心感到羞恥，當那種不快的情緒阻礙我們對他人的快樂給予同情時，我們經常假裝，有時實際上是希望自己能夠這樣做。比如說對待鄰居的好運，我們表現得很高興，但也許我們心裏的實際感受卻是酸溜溜的。我們希望解除悲痛的時候，就經常會感到自己對他人的悲痛表示同情；當獲得快樂也會使我們自己開心時，我們卻經常得不到那份快樂。我們以自己方式進行的觀察自然地表明，我們對悲痛給予同情的傾向十分強烈，而對快樂給予同情的傾向則十分微弱。
6.
Notwithstanding this prejudice, however, I will venture to
affirm, that, when there is no envy in the case, our propensity
to sympathize with joy is much stronger than our propensity to
sympathize with sorrow; and that our fellow-feeling for the
agreeable emotion approaches much more nearly to the vivacity of
what is naturally felt by the persons principally concerned, than
that which we conceive for the painful one.
然而，即使存在這種偏見，我依然敢斷言，在沒有嫉妒之心存在的情況下，我們對快樂給予同情的傾向，要比對悲傷給予同情的傾向強烈得多，我們對愉悅情感給予的同情，最接近當事人自然感覺到的快樂，與之相比，我們對痛苦給予的同情，在接近我們想象中當事人所感覺到的痛苦方麵，就顯得十分遜色了。
7.
We have some indulgence for that excessive grief which we
cannot entirely go along with. We know what a prodigious effort
is requisite before the sufferer can bring down his emotions. to
complete harmony and concord with those of the spectator. Though
he fails, therefore, we easily pardon him. But we have no such
indulgence for the intemperance of joy; because we are not
conscious that any such vast effort is requisite to bring it down
to what we can entirely enter into. The man who, under the
greatest calamities, can command his sorrow, seems worthy of the
highest admiration; but he who, in the fulness of prosperity, can
in the same manner master his joy, seems hardly to deserve any
praise. We are sensible that there is a much wider interval in
the one case than in the other, between what is naturally felt by
the person principally concerned, and what the spectator can
entirely go along with.
我們對於無法完全給予諒解的過度悲痛，有時候會有些許寬容之心。我們深知，受苦者要想為自己的情感降溫，使之與旁觀者的情感全然協調一致，這該需要多麽巨大的努力。因此，他雖然失敗，我們依然能夠原諒。然而我們對待過度的快樂卻沒有這種寬容之心；因為我們意識不到當事者為這種過度的快樂降溫，使之完全與我們所能體諒的快樂協調一致，這該需要多麽巨大的努力。遭遇大災大難卻能駕馭自己情感的人，看起是最值得讚譽的；然而春風得意者同樣能駕馭自己的歡娛之情，卻幾乎不值一讚。我們覺得，在當事者自然感覺到的情感與旁觀者完全能體諒的情感之間存在著一個很大差距，這種差距在一種情況之下就大，在另外一種情況之下就小。
8.
What can he added to the happiness of the man who is in
health, who is out of debt, and has a clear conscience? To one in
this situation, all accessions of fortune may properly be said to
be superfluous; and if he is much elevated upon account of them,
it must be the effect of the most frivolous levity. This
situation, however, may very well be called the natural and
ordinary state of mankind. Notwithstanding the present misery and
depravity of the world, so justly lamented, this really is the
state of the greater part of men. The greater part of men,
therefore, cannot find any great difficulty in elevating
themselves to all the joy which any accession to this situation
can well excite in their companion.
一個身體健康、無債可償、問心無愧的人，他的歡樂已經無以複加。在這種情況之下，為增加財富所做的一切都可能被視為多此一舉；如果他的狀況的確能因為所有這一切而百尺竿頭更進一步，那也隻是輕浮行動產生的效果使然。而這種情況也許可以被恰如其分地稱之為人類自然而普通的狀態。盡管這就是當今世界最令人悲哀的痛苦與墮落，但這的確就是很大一部分人的狀況。因此他們都能輕而易舉地提升自己的歡樂度，而其同伴一旦處於相同的狀況之下，也能達到這種歡樂度。
9.
But though little can be added to this state, much may be
taken from it. Though between this condition and the highest
pitch of human prosperity, the interval is but a trifle; between
it and the lowest depth of misery the distance is immense and
prodigious. Adversity, on this account, necessarily depresses the
mind of the sufferer much more below its natural state, than
prosperity can elevate him above it. The spectator therefore,
must find it much more difficult to sympathize entirely, and keep
perfect time, with his sorrow, than thoroughly to enter into his
joy, and must depart much further from his own natural and
ordinary temper of mind in the one case than in the other. It is
on this account, that though our sympathy with sorrow is often a
more pungent sensation than our sympathy with joy, it always
falls much more short of the violence of what is naturally felt
by the person principally concerned.
不過，他的歡樂雖然無可複加，但卻大可減少。在他的狀況與人類富足的巔峰之間雖然存在差距，但卻微乎其微；然而在他的狀況與人類悲慘的穀底之間的差距，但卻巨大無比。悲慘使人痛苦，幸運使人快樂。悲慘的現狀必然低於自然狀況，歡樂的現狀必然高於自然狀況，前兩者之間的差距，要遠遠超過後兩者之間的差距。因此，旁觀者不僅必定會發現自己對他的悲痛及時完全地給予同情，要比全然體諒他的快樂更加困難，也必定會時多時少地背離自己自然而普通的情緒。也正是這個原因，我們對悲痛給予的同情往往是一種比對快樂的同情更加敏銳的感覺，但卻總是缺乏當事人自然感覺到這種情感時的激情。
10.
It is agreeable to sympathize with, joy; and wherever envy
does not oppose it, our heart abandons itself with satisfaction
to the highest transports of that delightful sentiment. But it is
painful to go along with grief, and we always enter into it with
reluctance.(*) When we attend to the representation of a tragedy,
we struggle against that sympathetic sorrow which the
entertainment inspires as long as we can, and we give way to it
at last only when we can no longer avoid it: we even then
endeavour to cover our concern from the company. If we shed any
tears, we carefully conceal them, and are afraid, lest the
spectators, not entering into this excessive tenderness, should
regard it as effeminacy and weakness. The wretch whose
misfortunes call upon our compassion feels with what reluctance
we are likely to enter into his sorrow, and therefore proposes
his grief to us with fear and hesitation: he even smothers the
half of it, and is ashamed, upon account of this hard-heartedness
of mankind, to give vent to the fulness of his affliction. It is
otherwise with the man who riots in joy and success. Wherever
envy does not interest us against him, he expects our completest
sympathy. He does not fear, therefore, to announce himself with
shouts of exultation, in full confidence that we are heartily
disposed to go along with him.
對快樂給予同情是令人愉快的；隻要嫉妒心不產生阻礙作用，我們的一顆心就會對令人愉悅的情感之轉移表示滿意。然而對悲傷加以體諒是痛苦的，我們往往是不得已而為之。我們觀賞一出悲劇時，總是竭盡全力抑製自己，以免劇情激發我們對悲情給予的同情，隻有我們不再能避免這一點時，才最終放棄這種做法；之後我們甚至會向同伴掩飾自己的關心。我們如果已經流淚，就會仔細地加以掩飾，以免旁觀者全然不能體諒這種超溫柔的情感，從而把這看成是嬌氣與脆弱。以自身不幸來激發我們同情的可憐人，由於感覺到我們對其不幸所給予的同情可能十分勉強，因此在向我們展示其遭遇時總是畏首畏尾，首鼠兩端；他甚至會對自己的悲傷半遮半掩，也正是因為人類這種冷漠無情，才使他在向人們傾訴自己悲情時頗感汗顏。而一個縱情歡樂、沉湎成功的人，他的情況則截然不同。當嫉妒之心無法驅使我們對他持有敵意時，他就會期待我們對他表示全然的體諒。於是他就會信心十足，欣喜若狂，乃至大呼小叫地自我宣布，我們將會真心實意地與他同喜共樂。
11.
Why should we be more ashamed to weep than to laugh before
company? We may often have as real occasion to do the one as to
do the other. but we always feel that the spectators are more
likely to go along with us in the agreeable, than in the painful
emotion. It is always miserable to complain, even when we are
oppressed by the most dreadful calamities. But the triumph of
victory is not always ungraceful. Prudence, indeed, would often
advise us to bear our prosperity with more moderation; because
prudence would teach us to avoid that envy which this very
triumph is, more than any thing, apt to excite.
為什麽我們在同伴麵前悲泣比歡笑感到更羞愧？無論是哪種做法，我們可能都有實實在在的原因，但我們經常覺得旁觀者似乎更能體諒我們的愉悅之情，而不是痛苦之情。即便為可怕的災難所迫而鳴冤叫屈也是悲慘的。為勝利而喜悅並非總是有失文雅。謹慎的確總會提醒我們要以節製態度對待成功；因為謹慎會教導我們避免這種喜悅比任何其它事物更易激發出來的嫉妒之心。
12.
How hearty are the acclamations of the mob, who never bear
any envy to their superiors, at a triumph or a public entry? And
how sedate and moderate is commonly their grief at an execution?
Our sorrow at a funeral generally amounts to no more than an
affected gravity. but our mirth at a christening or a marriage,
is always from the heart, and without any affectation. Upon
these, and all such joyous occasions, our satisfaction, though
not so durable, is often as lively as that of the persons
principally concerned. Whenever we cordially congratulate our
friends, which, however, to the disgrace of human nature, we do
but seldom, their joy literally becomes our joy. we are, for the
moment, as happy as they are: our heart swells and overflows with
real pleasure: joy and complacency sparkle from our eyes, and
animate every feature of our countenance, and every gesture of
our body.
在歡慶勝利或出席公眾典禮時，對自己上司從來沒有嫉妒之心的普通民眾的歡呼是多麽真誠啊！可是在執行死刑時，他們的悲傷卻是多麽地沉靜與平淡啊！在參加葬禮時我們的哀傷表現一般來講最多不過是矯揉造作的神情肅穆而已，但是我們在參加洗禮或婚禮時的歡笑總是出自真心，沒有絲毫虛情假意。我們對所有這些，對所有這類歡快的事情表示的滿意感，與當事人的感覺相比，雖然不如他們那樣持久，但卻經常和他們一樣強烈。每當我們為朋友表示衷心祝賀時，不過，一旦有悖於人性，我們雖然也這樣做，但卻很少去做，朋友的歡樂簡直就變成了我們的歡樂，我們會暫時和他們一樣興高采烈；我們就會心花怒放，滿心歡喜；我們的兩眼就會閃爍出歡欣愉悅與沾沾自喜之光，麵部的各種表情就會展現得淋漓盡致，身體各部位的特征就會利用得爐火純青。
13.
But, on the contrary, when we condole with our friends in
their afflictions, how little do we feel, in comparison of what
they feel? We sit down by them, we look at them, and while they
relate to us the circumstances of their misfortune, we listen to
them with gravity and attention. But while their narration is
every moment interrupted by those natural bursts of passion which
often seem almost to choak them in the midst of it; how far are
the languid emotions of our hearts from keeping time to the
transports of theirs? We may be sensible, at the same time, that
their passion is natural, and no greater than what we ourselves
might feel upon the like occasion. We may even inwardly reproach
ourselves with our own want of sensibility, and perhaps, on that
account, work ourselves up into an artificial sympathy, which,
however, when it is raised, is always the slightest and most
transitory imaginable; and generally, as soon as we have left the
room, vanishes, and is gone for ever. Nature, it seems, when she
loaded us with our own sorrows, thought that they were enough,
and therefore did not command us to take any further share in
those of others, than what was necessary to prompt us to relieve
them.
然而與此相反，當我們安慰苦惱難當的朋友時，與他們的感受相比，我們所能感受到的該是多麽地微乎其微？我們坐在他們身邊，我們看著他們，當他們向我們傾述所遭受的不幸時，我們神情凝重、專心致誌地聆聽著。然而，當他們的傾訴不時地被自然迸發的激情幹擾時，往往會顯得幾乎要在中途哽噎無語。我們心中這種慵懶怠惰之情，距離體諒他們的欣喜若狂該是多麽遙遠啊! 與此同時，我們可能會覺察到，他們的激情不過是油然而生，與我們自己在類似情況下可能感覺到的毫無二致。由於我們自己缺乏認識，甚至會在內心中感到自責，也正是因為如此，我們才可能會驅使自己人為地產生同情之心，不過當它生成的時候，卻又總是可以想見得到，它既微不足道，又如曇花一現；一般來講，當我們離開房間的那一時刻，它就會化為烏有，而且永世不歸。上蒼把我們自身的悲痛壓在我們肩上時，她似乎就會認為這些悲痛已經足夠多，因此不會驅使我們再去分享他人的悲情，隻會促使我們幫助他們去排解悲痛。
14.
It is on account of this dull sensibility to the afflictions
of others, that magnanimity amidst great distress appears always
so divinely graceful. His behaviour is genteel and agreeable who
can maintain his cheerfulness amidst a number of frivolous
disasters. But he appears to be more than mortal who can support
in the same manner the most dreadful calamities. We feel what an
immense effort is requisite to silence those violent emotions
which naturally agitate and distract those in his situation. We
are amazed to find that he can command himself so entirely. His
firmness, at the same time, perfectly coincides with our
insensibility. He makes no demand upon us for that more exquisite
degree of sensibility which we find, and which we are mortified
to find, that we do not possess. There is the most perfect
correspondence between his sentiments and ours, and on that
account the most perfect propriety in his behaviour. It is a
propriety too, which, from our experience of the usual weakness
of human nature, we could not reasonably have expected he should
be able to maintain. We wonder with surprise and astonishment at
that strength of mind which is capable of so noble and generous
an effort. The sentiment of complete sympathy and approbation,
mixed and animated with wonder and surprise, constitutes what is
properly called admiration, as has already been more than once
taken notice of Cato, surrounded on all sides by his enemies,
unable to resist them, disdaining to submit to them, and reduced,
by the proud maxims of that age, to the necessity of destroying
himself; yet never shrinking from his misfortunes, never
supplicating with the lamentable voice of wretchedness, those
miserable sympathetic tears which we are always so unwilling to
give; but on the contrary, arming himself with manly fortitude,
and the moment before he executes his fatal resolution, giving,
with his usual tranquillity, all necessary orders for the safety
of his friends; appears to Seneca, that great preacher of
insensibility, a spectacle which even the gods themselves might
behold with pleasure and admiration.
正是由於有這種對他人苦難的遲鈍感作比較，一個極度悲痛的人如果能展現高風亮節，才總是顯得高雅之至。有人麵臨大災大難卻能忍受，有人麵臨小災小難卻能保持快樂，這種人的表現頗為紳士，賞人心，悅人目，二者相比，後者要勝於前者。有些激情是自然形成的，而且會使處於他那種環境中的人發狂，我們感覺到要使這些激情歸於平靜，該需要多麽巨大的努力。我們驚奇地發現，他卻完全能駕馭自己。而與此同時，他的堅定與我們的遲鈍完全默契。他並不要求我們增加敏感度，而我們發現，或者說我們羞於發現，這種敏感度我們並不具備。他和我們之間的情感全然協調一致，正因為如此，他的行為才極其得體。據我們自己對通常人性弱點的體驗，我們並沒有理由期待他應該能夠保持這種得體性。那種能夠做出如此難能可貴努力的意誌力，著實令我們驚歎不已。那種與驚歎交織在一起的全然同情與認可的情感就構成了被稱之為讚美的情操，就如同已經不止一次引起關注的加圖那樣。他四麵受敵，不能自持，但依然拒絕向敵人投降，而且由於受到當時那個年代備受崇敬的行為準則所約束，竟然甘願自毀其身；然而他遭遇不幸卻從不退縮，從不以痛苦淒慘的聲音，決不以我們所不願流下的那種其情可憫的痛苦的淚水求饒；相反，他表現得果敢堅毅，在實行自己命運攸關的決定之前那一時刻，為了朋友的安全，一如既往地鎮定自若，發出一切必要的命令；在那位冷漠無情的偉大傳教士麵前，他大義凜然，即便眾神仙目睹之後也要欣然讚許。
15.
Whenever we meet, in common life, with any examples of such
heroic magnanimity, we are always extremely affected. We are more
apt to weep and shed tears for such as, in this manner, seem to
feel nothing for them. and in selves, than for those who give way
to all the weakness of sorrow: this particular case, the
sympathetic grief of the spectator appears to go beyond the
original passion in the person principally concerned. The friends
of Socrates all wept when he drank the last potion, while he
himself expressed the gayest and most cheerful tranquillity. Upon
all such occasions the spectator makes no effort, and has no
occasion to make any, in order to conquer his sympathetic sorrow.
He is under no fear that it will transport him to any thing that
is extravagant and improper; he is rather pleased with the
sensibility of his own heart, and gives way to it with
complacence and self-approbation. He gladly indulges, therefore,
the most melancholy views which can naturally occur to him,
concerning the calamity of his friend, for whom, perhaps, he
never felt so exquisitely before, the tender and tearful passion
of love. But it is quite otherwise with the person principally
concerned. He is obliged, as much as possible, to turn away his
eyes from whatever is either naturally terrible or disagreeable
in his situation. Too serious an attention to those
circumstances, he fears, might make so violent an impression upon
him, that he could no longer keep within the bounds of
moderation, or render himself the object of the complete sympathy
and approbation of the spectators. He fixes his thoughts,
therefore, upon those only which are agreeable, the applause and
admiration which he is about to deserve by the heroic magnanimity
of his behaviour. To feel that he is capable of so noble and
generous an effort, to feel that in this dreadful situation he
can still act as he would desire to act, animates and transports
him with joy, and enables him to support that triumphant gaiety
which seems to exult in the victory he thus gains over his
misfortunes.
在日常生活中，每當我們遇到行為高尚的英雄榜樣時，我們總是備受感動。與那些充分暴露自己悲哀弱點的人相比，我們更會為這種雖行為高尚而他們自己卻不以為然的人啜泣不已甚至潸然淚下；在這種特殊情況下，旁觀者因同情心而激發的悲傷似乎比當事者的原始激情更甚一籌。蘇格拉底將最後一劑毒藥一飲而下的時候，其朋友無不為之啜泣，然而他自己卻表現得無限歡欣，鎮靜至極。在所有這些情況之下，旁觀者不會，也沒有理由去極力抑製自己因同情之心而激發的悲傷。他無須擔心自己的所作所為會變得誇張與失體；他因自己內心中的激情感到樂不可支，並且心滿意足地浸淫在這種感受之中。因此，麵對朋友的災難，一種抑鬱難當的見解油然而生，他為自己沉湎於這種見解感到快慰，此時此刻，他對朋友的情感從來也沒有像現在這樣微妙，那是一種格外溫馨、催人淚下的大愛之情。然而當事者的情況則當別論。麵對自身所處的令人心生不快的可怕境地，他卻被迫極力熟視無睹。他怕對這種處境過分關注，會導致他人對自己產生一種過激的印象，即：他已不再受製於往日那種溫文爾雅的性情，也不再能使自己成為旁觀者同情和認可的對象。因此他已經將自己的思想僅僅定位於那些令人愉快的事情上，定位於因自己的高尚品質而即將獲得的讚揚和欽佩之上。感到他完全能夠做出如此難能可貴的努力，感到在這種可怕的環境中他依然能夠隨心所欲，就能夠使他因歡樂而激情迸發，就能夠使他維持那些似乎因戰勝苦難而生發的喜悅之情。
16．
On the contrary, he always appears, in some measure, mean and
despicable, who is sunk in sorrow and dejection upon account of
any calamity of his own. We cannot bring ourselves to feel for
him what he feels for himself, and what, perhaps, we should feel
for ourselves if in his situation: we, therefore, despise him;
unjustly, perhaps, if any sentiment could be regarded as unjust,
to which we are by nature irresistibly determined. The weakness
of sorrow never appears in any respect agreeable, except when it
arises from what we feel for others more than from what we feel
for ourselves. A son, upon the death of an indulgent and
respectable father, may give way to it without much blame. His
sorrow is chiefly founded upon a sort of sympathy with his
departed parent and we readily enter into this humane emotion.
But if he should indulge the same weakness upon account of any
misfortune which affected himself only, he would no longer meet
with any such indulgence. If he should be reduced to beggary and
ruin, if he should be exposed to the most dreadful dangers, if he
should even be led out to a public execution, and there shed one
single tear upon the scaffold, he would disgrace himself for ever
in the opinion of all the gallant and generous part of mankind.
Their compassion for him, however, would be very strong, and very
sincere; but as it would still fall short of this excessive
weakness, they would have no pardon for the man who could thus
expose himself in the eyes of the world. His behaviour would
affect them with shame rather than with sorrow; and the dishonour
which he had thus brought upon himself would appear to them the
most lamentable circumstance in his misfortune. How did it
disgrace the memory of the intrepid Duke of Biron, who had so
often braved death in the field, that he wept upon the scaffold,
when he beheld the state to which he was fallen, and remembered
the favour and the glory from which his own rashness had so
unfortunately thrown him!
相反，因自身遭遇而浸沉在悲痛與沮喪之中的人，總是在某種程度上顯得卑鄙猥瑣。我們無法使自己感受到他的自我感覺，也無法感受到如果我們也處於他那種處境時我們自己可能產生怎樣的自我感覺：因此我們便會蔑視他；如果將我們天生就會決心堅持的情感看成有失公正，這本身也許就有失公正。悲哀所顯示的弱點從來不會討人喜歡，除非我們這種悲哀是因他人，而不是因我們自己而生。一位生性寬容而又令人尊敬的父親去世之後，一個兒子可能就會悲哀不已，無甚怨言。他的悲哀主要是建立在他對已故父親的同情基礎之上，而我們對這種充滿人性的情感便會欣然加以體諒。有些不幸隻能對他自己產生影響，如果他竟然為這種不幸而濫情不能自拔，那他將不再會得到他人的容情。如果他萬一淪為乞丐、或遭遇滅頂之災，如果他萬一被拋入可怕至極的危難深淵之中，如果他萬一被當眾處以極刑，並淚灑斷頭台，哪怕僅僅一滴淚水而已，依照人類中那些紳士豪俠的看法，他將會遺臭萬年，永世不得翻身。他們給予他的憐憫之心既強烈，又真誠；不過在世人看來，因為這種憐憫之心依然缺乏對過度懦弱的寬容與諒解，所以他們對這個如此這般暴露自己的人並不會加以原諒。他的行為會對他們產生影響，不過原因卻是恥辱而不是悲傷；在他們看來，他為自己招致的惡名乃是他所遭不幸之中的至悲至痛。比隆三公爵在戰場上經常出生入死，但當他目睹自己為之捐軀的國家時，當他憶及由於自己的魯莽而不幸失去的愛戴與榮耀時，卻在斷頭台上潸然淚下，而他的懦弱使他那種勇猛無畏的英明蒙上怎樣的恥辱啊！
Chap. II
Of the origin of Ambition, and of the distinction of Ranks
第二章 論野心的起源，兼論及等級的區別
1.
It is because mankind are disposed to sympathize more
entirely with our joy than with our sorrow, that we make parade
of our riches, and conceal our poverty. Nothing is so mortifying
as to be obliged to expose our distress to the view of the
public, and to feel, that though our situation is open to the
eyes of all mankind, no mortal conceives for us the half of what
we suffer. Nay, it is chiefly from this regard to the sentiments
of mankind, that we pursue riches and avoid poverty. For to what
purpose is all the toil and bustle of this world? what is the end
of avarice and ambition, of the pursuit of wealth, of power, and
preheminence? Is it to supply the necessities of nature? The
wages of the meanest labourer can supply them. We see that they
afford him food and clothing, the comfort of a house, and of a
family. If we examined his oeconomy with rigour, we should find
that he spends a great part of them upon conveniencies, which may
be regarded as superfluities, and that, upon extraordinary
occasions, he can give something even to vanity and distinction.
What then is the cause of our aversion to his situation, and why
should those who have been educated in the higher ranks of life,
regard it as worse than death, to be reduced to live, even
without labour, upon the same simple fare with him, to dwell
under the same lowly roof, and to be clothed in the same humble
attire? Do they imagine that their stomach is better, or their
sleep sounder in a palace than in a cottage? The contrary has
been so often observed, and, indeed, is so very obvious, though
it had never been observed, that there is nobody ignorant of it.
From whence, then, arises that emulation which runs through all
the different ranks of men, and what are the advantages which we
propose by that great purpose of human life which we call
bettering our condition? To be observed, to be attended to, to be
taken notice of with sympathy, complacency, and approbation, are
all the advantages which we can propose to derive from it. It is
the vanity, not the ease, or the pleasure, which interests us.
But vanity is always founded upon the belief of our being the
object of attention and approbation. The rich man glories in his
riches, because he feels that they naturally draw upon him the
attention of the world, and that mankind are disposed to go along
with him in all those agreeable emotions with which the
advantages of his situation so readily inspire him. At the
thought of this, his heart seems to swell and dilate itself
within him, and he is fonder of his wealth, upon this account,
than for all the other advantages it procures him. The poor man,
on the contrary, is ashamed of his poverty. He feels that it
either places him out of the sight of mankind, or, that if they
take any notice of him, they have, however, scarce any
fellow-feeling with the misery and distress which he suffers.
Heis mortified upon both accounts. for though to be overlooked, and
to be disapproved of, are things entirely different, yet as
obscurity covers us from the daylight of honour and approbation,
to feel that we are taken no notice of, necessarily damps the
most agreeable hope, and disappoints the most ardent desire, of
human nature. The poor man goes out and comes in unheeded, and
when in the midst of a crowd is in the same obscurity as if shut
up in his own hovel. Those humble cares and painful attentions
which occupy those in his situation, afford no amusement to the
dissipated and the gay. They turn away their eyes from him, or if
the extremity of his distress forces them to look at him, it is
only to spurn so disagreeable an object from among them. The
fortunate and the proud wonder at the insolence of human
wretchedness, that it should dare to present itself before them,
and with the loathsome aspect of its misery presume to disturb
the serenity of their happiness. The man of rank and distinction,
on the contrary, is observed by all the world. Every body is
eager to look at him, and to conceive, at least by sympathy, that
joy and exultation with which his circumstances naturally inspire
him. His actions are the objects of the public care. Scarce a
word, scarce a gesture, can fall from him that is altogether
neglected.In a great assembly he is the person upon whom all
direct their eyes; it is upon him that their passions seem all to
wait with expectation, in order to receive that movement and
direction which he shall impress upon them; and if his behaviour
is not altogether absurd, he has, every moment, an opportunity of
interesting mankind, and of rendering himself the object of the
observation and fellow-feeling of every body about him. It is
this, which, notwithstanding the restraint it imposes,
notwithstanding the loss of liberty with which it is attended,
renders greatness the object of envy, and compensates, in the
opinion of all those mortifications which must mankind, all that
toil, all that anxiety, be undergone in the pursuit of it; and
what is of yet more consequence, all that leisure, all that ease,
all that careless security, which are forfeited for ever by the
acquisition.
藏貧露富，這是因為人類對於歡樂和悲傷都能給予全身心地同情，但相比之下，前者則多於後者。被迫在眾人麵前暴露我們的貧窮，被迫感受到雖然我們的情況向所有人的眼球開放，但卻沒有人能夠想象得到我們所遭受貧困，哪怕連一半都想象不到，而這實在令人羞愧難當。不僅如此，我們追富避貧，主因就是非常關注人的情感。世人東奔西跑，日夜操勞，究竟為了什麽呢？貪婪和野心，追求財富，爭權奪利，追求地位，所有這些的終極目標是什麽呢？難道隻是為提供人們的日常所需嗎？一個最無能的的勞動者靠薪水也能提供生活所需。我們看到這些薪水不僅能他自己衣食不愁，居有其屋，而且還能養活全家。如果我們仔細地觀察他的經濟狀況，我們就會發現他把自己薪水的大部分都花在生活便利品上，這也許可以被認為是奢侈，還會發現在非常特殊的情況下，他還能把一些東西用於滿足虛榮心和榮譽方麵。那麽是什麽原因導致我們對他的狀況嗤之以鼻？為何那些過著高檔生活，受過教育的人會把和他一樣地生活，甚至無需勞動，和他吃同樣簡單的夥食，住同樣低矮的房屋，穿同樣寒酸的衣服看作比死不如？他們是否想象自己的胃口會更好，他們住在宮殿裏會比住在草屋裏睡得更香？人們往往會看到相反的情況，的確是顯而易見，雖然從來也沒有被人這樣說起過，但卻沒有人會對此加以否認。各種不同階層的人們中間普遍存在的攀比競爭從何而來？改善我們狀況常被視為人生最偉大目標，而這又會給我們帶來那些好處呢？被人以同情憐憫之心，以心滿意足之情，以認可承認之態度加以談論，加以照顧，加以注意，這就是我們能從上述目標獲得的好處。令我們感興趣的既不是安逸，也不是快樂，而是虛榮心。不過虛榮心往往從自信能成為他人注意與認可的目標中得以發現。富人因為自己的財富感到驕傲，因為他既感到財富自然可以使他受到世界的關注，又感到人們會以愉快的心情體諒他，而正是由於這種愉快的心情，他才會因為得益於自己的優越環境而倍受鼓舞。一想到這裏，他的心似乎要在體內膨脹擴張，正是因為如此，他對自己財富本身要比對財富給他帶來的好處愛得更甚。相反，窮人則因為貧窮而感到羞恥。他感覺貧窮會導致別人的藐視，而且，即便人們注意到他，他們對他所遭受的痛苦與貧困也會缺乏同情心。他對這兩種情況都感到十分不爽，因為，雖然被人藐視與得不到認可完全是兩回事，然而，被人冷落畢竟會像烏雲一樣籠罩我們，從而得不到榮譽與認可之陽光的照射，因此，被人冷落的感覺，一定會使最令人愉快的夢想破滅，會使人性中最強烈的欲望變失望。貧窮者終日遊走於無人矚目的窘境之中，即便置身於人群之中，依然猶如深鎖陋室一般無二。令人倍感卑賤的關心以及頗為痛苦的注意，製約著那些與他處境相同的人，不會使放蕩不羈、尋歡作樂者感到任何樂趣。他們對他不屑一顧，即便他的極度貧窮也會迫使他們把目光集中在他身上，那也隻是把他看成一個與他們格格不入的、令人厭惡的可憐蟲。運氣頗佳、春風得意者對於可悲人物的表現頗感驚訝，即：這些人居然也能傲慢一把，而且竟然會在他們麵前表現出來，更有甚至，居然膽敢以其令人生厭的痛苦攪擾他們悠然自得地享受快樂。與此相反，聲名顯赫、地位崇高者自然倍受世人矚目。每個人都渴望一睹他的風采，並且至少能以體諒之心，去設想那種能使他在自己處境中自然受到激勵的愉悅心情。他的一舉一動都是公眾關注的目標。他的每一句話，每一個手勢，幾乎無不倍受關注。在一場大型集會中，他是最吸引人們眼球的人；他們似乎是在激情滿懷、期盼甚殷地等待，以便獲得他的青睞；如果他的行為並非全然荒唐無稽，他每時每刻都能有機會吸引他人，進而將自己變成倍受眾人關注與同情的目標。雖然這會將許多限製強加給他，會令他失去倍受珍視的自由，但卻使他成為眾人欽羨的目標，在那些人看來，這足能補償他為追求這一目標而對人類不可或缺的種種欲望所做出的節製，所付出的艱辛，以及所經受的焦慮；而最終結果呢，所有那種悠閑，所有那種舒適，所有那種無憂無慮的安全感，皆因上述所得而將永遠喪失殆盡。
2.
When we consider the condition of the great, in those
delusive colours in which the imagination is apt to paint it. it
seems to be almost the abstract idea of a perfect and happy
state. It is the very state which, in all our waking dreams and
idle reveries, we had sketched out to ourselves as the final
object of all our desires. We feel, therefore, a peculiar
sympathy with the satisfaction of those who are in it. We favour
all their inclinations, and forward all their wishes. What pity,
we think, that any thing should spoil and corrupt so agreeable a
situation! We could even wish them immortal; and it seems hard to
us, that death should at last put an end to such perfect
enjoyment. It is cruel, we think, in Nature to compel them from
their exalted stations to that humble, but hospitable home, which
she has provided for all her children. Great King, live for ever!
is the compliment, which, after the manner of eastern adulation,
we should readily make them, if experience did not teach us its
absurdity. Every calamity that befals them, every injury that is
done them, excites in the breast of the spectator ten times more
compassion and resentment than he would have felt, had the same
things happened to other men. It is the misfortunes of Kings only
which afford the proper subjects for tragedy. They resemble, in
this respect, the misfortunes of lovers. Those two situations are
the chief which interest us upon the theatre; because, in spite
of all that reason and experience can tell us to the contrary,
the prejudices of the imagination attach to these two states a
happiness superior to any other. To disturb, or to put an end to
such perfect enjoyment, seems to be the most atrocious of all
injuries. The traitor who conspires against the life of his
monarch, is thought a greater monster than any other murderer.
All the innocent blood that was shed in the civil wars, provoked
less indignation than the death of Charles I. A stranger to human
nature, who saw the indifference of men about the misery of their
inferiors, and the regret and indignation which they feel for the
misfortunes and sufferings of those above them, would be apt to
imagine, that pain must be more agonizing, and the convulsions of
death more terrible to persons of higher rank, than to those of
meaner stations.
當我們以一種想象力易於采取的迷人色彩去考慮大人物時，這種想象簡直就是對完美而愉快的狀況所描繪出的抽象概念。被我們在夢幻中描繪成自己所有欲望終極目標的，正是這種狀況。我們因此會感到一種獨特的同情心，完全能夠體諒置身這種狀況之人的滿足感。我們與他們誌趣相投，並能促使他們的願望得以實現。損害或葬送如此令人愉快的狀況，在我們看來實在可惜！我們甚至還會祝願他們萬壽無疆；對於死亡最終竟然能夠終結如此完美的幸福，在我們看來簡直難以置信。神祗將他們從顯赫的高位驅離，繼而屈身於神祗為其聖子提供的那種寒酸然而溫馨的家園，這在我們看來實在殘酷。吾王萬歲，萬萬歲！這純屬照搬東方諂媚之風的恭維之詞，如果親身體驗沒能使我們領教其中的荒誕，我們使用起來本該樂此不疲。他們所遭遇的災難，所蒙受的傷害，都會在廣大旁觀者中激發出十倍於他們自己看到別人遭遇同樣災難時所體驗到的同情與怨恨。正是國王們遭受的不幸，才為悲劇提供了適當的題材。他們在這方麵類似於情人所遭不幸。二者都是在劇場裏吸引我們的主要之點；因為，雖然理智與經驗都會使我們產生相反的想法，但不無偏見的想象卻總為這兩種情況添加無人能比的幸福結局。幹擾或者扼殺如此完美的享受堪稱諸般傷害之最。君主的奪命叛徒被視為比任何凶犯都恐怖的魔王。無辜者血灑內戰，不如查理一世之死更能激發義憤。對人性陌生的人，當他看到人們對地位低下者的痛苦麻木不仁，對地位高貴者的不幸與悲痛卻遺憾與義憤的時候就會認為，以身居高位者與人輕位卑者相比，痛苦對後者比對前者更加難以忍受，麵對死亡引起的痙攣，後者比前者更加厲害。
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3.
Upon this disposition of mankind, to go along with all the
passions of the rich and the powerful, is founded the distinction
of ranks, and the order of society. Our obsequiousness to our
superiors more frequently arises from our admiration for the
advantages of their situation, than from any private expectations
of benefit from their good-will. Their benefits can extend but to
a few. but their fortunes interest almost every body. We are
eager to assist them in completing a system of happiness that
approaches so near to perfection; and we desire to serve them for
their own sake, without any other recompense but the vanity or
the honour of obliging them. Neither is our deference to their
inclinations founded chiefly, or altogether, upon a regard to the
utility of such submission, and to the order of society, which is
best supported by it. Even when the order of society seems to
require that we should oppose them, we can hardly bring ourselves
to do it. That kings are the servants of the people, to be
obeyed, resisted, deposed, or punished, as the public conveniency
may require, is the doctrine of reason and philosophy; but it is
not the doctrine of Nature. Nature would teach us to submit to
them for their own sake, to tremble and bow down before their
exalted station, to regard their smile as a reward sufficient to
compensate any services, and to dread their displeasure, though
no other evil were to follow from it, as the severest of all
mortifications. To treat them in any respect as men, to reason
and dispute with them upon ordinary occasions, requires such
resolution, that there are few men whose magnanimity can support
them in it, unless they are likewise assisted by familiarity and
acquaintance. The strongest motives, the most furious passions,
fear, hatred, and resentment, are scarce sufficient to balance
this natural disposition to respect them: and their conduct must,
either justly or unjustly, have excited the highest degree of all
those passions, before the bulk of the people can be brought to
oppose them with violence, or to desire to see them either
punished or deposed. Even when the people have been brought this
length, they are apt to relent every moment, and easily relapse
into their habitual state of deference to those whom they have
been accustomed to look upon as their natural superiors. They
cannot stand the mortification of their monarch.Compassion soon
takes the place of resentment, they forget all past provocations,
their old principles of loyalty revive, and they run to
re-establish the ruined authority of their old masters, with the
same violence with which they had opposed it. The death of
Charles I brought about the Restoration of the royal family.
Compassion for James II when he was seized by the populace in
making his escape on ship-board, had almost prevented the
Revolution, and made it go on more heavily than before.
與富人和強者的激情產生共鳴這一秉性，正是社會等級與秩序建立的基礎。誰比我們優越我們就奉承誰，這往往是因為我們羨慕其優越的境遇，而不因為我們期盼能從其善意中獲得多少恩澤。他們的恩澤隻能惠及少數人，然而他們的運氣卻幾乎能吸引每一個人。我們迫切地幫助他們建立一個趨於完美的幸福天地；我們隻想為他們自己的利益服務，隻想使他們對虛榮心或名譽的欲望得以滿足，除此別無所求。他們主要，或完全考慮的問題有兩個，一是對這種順從的利用，二是社會秩序，而這上述兩點都不表示我們在與他們這種意願之間存在任何差距。即使社會秩序似乎需要我們反對他們，我們也幾乎無法付諸行動。國王應當是公仆，是否應當受到尊崇，反對，廢除或懲罰，要完全取決於民眾的意願，這是真理和哲學的原理；並非神的旨意。神祗會教導我們為他們的利益而服從他們，在他們至高無上的王位前瑟縮發抖鞠躬致敬，將他們的笑臉看作一種足以補償一切服務的回報，麵對他們的不悅要誠惶誠恐，雖然這種不悅之後不會有任何惡果接踵而至，但依然認為令國王不悅，乃天下奇恥大辱。把他們視為普通人那樣去尊敬，在普通的場合也與他們講理爭辯，這需要決心，因為除非相知相識者，否則僅憑包容就能支持鼓勵這種做法的人鳳毛麟角。最強烈的動機，最激烈的情感、恐懼、仇恨乃至怨怒，都不足以抗衡對他們自然而然的尊敬之情：在民眾被喚起以暴力反抗他們，或想親自目睹看他們遭到懲罰或廢黜之前，他們的行為，公正也好，不公正也罷，無論如何都早已最大限度地激發出那些情感。即使人們已經被喚起，他們依然每時每刻都會心慈手軟，極易故態複萌，重新依附於他們，因為他們早已慣於將他們視為自己天然的至高無上者而頂禮膜拜。憐憫很快就會取代怨恨，他們將過去所有的義憤拋之腦後，陳舊的忠君信條死灰複燃，他們以當初反對他們的那種狂熱，到處奔走呼號，以重新確立舊主人已被毀掉的權威。查理一世的死使皇室東山再起。詹姆二世登上逃亡船被民眾抓到時的惻隱之心，幾乎阻止了那場大革命，而且在隨後的進展中也比以往倍加艱難。
5.
Do the great seem insensible of the easy price at which they
may acquire the public admiration; or do they seem to imagine
that to them, as to other men, it must be the purchase either of
sweat or of blood? By what important accomplishments is the young
nobleman instructed to support the dignity of his rank, and to
render himself worthy of that superiority over his
fellow-citizens, to which the virtue of his ancestors had raised
them? Is it by knowledge, by industry, by patience, by
self-denial, or by virtue of any kind? As all his words, as all
his motions are attended to, he learns an habitual regard to
every circumstance of ordinary behaviour, and studies to perform
all those small duties with the most exact propriety. As he is
conscious how much he is observed, and how much mankind are
disposed to favour all his inclinations, he acts, upon the most
indifferent occasions, with that freedom and elevation which the
thought of this naturally inspires. His air, his manner, his
deportment, all mark that elegant and graceful sense of his own
superiority, which those who are born to inferior stations can
hardly ever arrive at. These are the arts by which he proposes to
make mankind more easily submit to his authority, and to govern
their inclinations according to his own pleasure: and in this he
is seldom disappointed. These arts, supported by rank and
preheminence, are, upon ordinary occasions, sufficient to govern
the world. Lewis XIV during the greater part of his reign, was
regarded, not only in France, but over all Europe, as the most
perfect model of a great prince. But what were the talents and
virtues by which he acquired this great reputation? Was it by the
scrupulous and inflexible justice of all his undertakings, by the
immense dangers and difficulties with which they were attended,
or by the unwearied and unrelenting application with which he
pursued them? Was it by his extensive knowledge, by his exquisite
judgment, or by his heroic valour? It was by none of these
qualities. But he was, first of all, the most powerful prince in
Europe, and consequently held the highest rank among kings; and
then, says his historian, 'he surpassed all his courtiers in the
gracefulness of his shape, and the majestic beauty of his
features.The sound of his voice, noble and affecting, gained
those hearts which his presence intimidated. He had a step and a
deportment which could suit only him and his rank, and which
would have been ridiculous in any other person. The embarrassment
which he occasioned to those who spoke to him, flattered that
secret satisfaction with which he felt his own superiority. The
old officer, who was confounded and faultered in asking him a
favour, and not being able to conclude his discourse, said to
him: Sir, your majesty, I hope, will believe that I do not
tremble thus before your enemies: had no difficulty to obtain
what he demanded.' These frivolous accomplishments, supported by
his rank, and, no doubt too, by a degree of other talents and
virtues, which seems, however, not to have been much above
mediocrity, established this prince in the esteem of his own age,
and have drawn, even from posterity, a good deal of respect for
his memory. Compared with these, in his own times, and in his own
presence, no other virtue, it seems, appeared to have any merit.
Knowledge, industry, valour, and beneficence, trembled, were
abashed, and lost all dignity before them.
大人物似乎意識到他們是以低廉的代價博得公眾的讚美？或者似乎想到他們也和別人一樣，需要以血汗去贏得？年輕的貴族憑借何德何能竟被委以維護本階層尊嚴的重任，以及使自己有資格享有優於同胞的特權？憑借知識？憑借勤奮？憑借耐心？憑借克己？以及所有美德？他很注意自己的一言一行，所以不僅養成了一種注意日常行為每一細節的習慣，也學會了該如何極其得體地履行所有那些小責小任。因為他知道自己是多麽地備受關注，直到人們是多麽地讚同他的意願，因此他的一舉一動都帶有這種意識所自然激發的翩翩風度和高雅氣質。他的神態，他的風度，他的舉止，全都標誌著自身那種高雅的優越感，而所有這些幾乎都是天生卑微者所不可企及的。這些可能就是他能夠使人更輕易地歸順他的權威，隨心所欲地掌控自己意願的手腕：而在這一方麵，他很少會使自己失望。這些以等級和權勢為基礎的手腕，在一般情況下，足以掌控世界。路易十四在位大部分時期，不僅在歐洲，而且在全世界都被認為是聖君的最完美典範。然而他憑借何德何能才享有如此盛譽？憑借的是他在宏圖大業中秉持的審慎堅定的公正原則？還是宏圖大業所經曆的巨大危險和困難？還是他在追求事業中所具備的堅持不懈，百折不撓的毅力？抑或是廣博的學識？或是精準的判斷？或是英雄氣概？不過全然不是所有這些高貴的品質。首先，他是歐洲最強勢的君主，因而能獨霸王中之王的寶座；然後才像研究他的曆史學家所說：“他儀表堂堂，氣質優雅，使所有朝臣相形見絀。他的聲音華貴煽情，征服了所有那些在他麵前誠惶誠恐的心。他的一投足一舉指，都隻適於他自己以及與他檔次相同者，如若生搬硬套於其他任何人，那將會荒誕無稽。與他說話者都會被置於尷尬的境地，他因之自認不可一世，為之自感竊喜不已。有一位年邁的軍官在麵前懇求恩賜是心慌意亂，語無倫次，最後實在說不下去，就說：陛下，我希望您相信我在您的死敵麵前決不會發抖的，於是他便不費吹灰之力就得到了他所要求的。”這些微不足道的雕蟲小技所賴以存在的不僅有他的等級，無疑也有某些其它方麵似乎並不十分出眾的才能和美德，然而正是這些才造就了這位一代天驕，使他不僅在他自己那個時代備受尊崇，即便後人憶及他時依然崇敬有加。就他自己那個時代以及他的表現而言，與這些雕蟲小技相比，其它美德似乎並沒有發揮任何作用。相形之下，知識、勤奮、勇氣、仁慈、謙卑，統統顯得蒼白無力，全然失去應有的尊嚴。
6.
But it is not by accomplishments of this kind, that the man
of inferior rank must hope to distinguish himself. Politeness is
so much the virtue of the great, that it will do little honour to
any body but themselves. The coxcomb, who imitates their manner,
and affects to be eminent by the superior propriety of his
ordinary behaviour, is rewarded with a double share of contempt
for his folly and presumption.Why should the man, whom nobody
thinks it worth while to look at, be very anxious about the
manner in which he holds up his head, or disposes of his arms
while he walks through a room? He is occupied surely with a very
superfluous attention, and with an attention too that marks a
sense of his own importance, which no other mortal can go along
with. The most perfect modesty and plainness, joined to as much
negligence as is consistent with the respect due to the company,
ought to be the chief characteristics of the behaviour of a
private man. If ever he hopes to distinguish himself, it must be
by more important virtues. He must acquire dependants to balance
the dependants of the great, and he has no other fund to pay them
from, but the labour of his body, and the activity of his mind.
He must cultivate these therefore: he must acquire superior
knowledge in his profession, and superior industry in the
exercise of it. He must be patient in labour, resolute in danger,
and firm in distress. These talents he must bring into public
view, by the difficulty, importance, and, at the same time, good
judgment of his undertakings, and by the severe and unrelenting
application with which he pursues them. Probity and prudence,
generosity and frankness, must characterize his behaviour upon
all ordinary occasions; and he must, at the same time, be forward
to engage in all those situations, in which it requires the
greatest talents and virtues to act with propriety, but in which
the greatest applause is to be acquired by those who can acquit
themselves with honour. With what impatience does the man of
spirit and ambition, who is depressed by his situation, look
round for some great opportunity to distinguish himself? No
circumstances, which can afford this, appear to him undesirable.
He even looks forward with satisfaction to the prospect of
foreign war, or civil dissension; and, with secret transport and
delight, sees through all the confusion and bloodshed which
attend them, the probability of those wished-for occasions
presenting themselves, in which he may draw upon himself the
attention and admiration of mankind. The man of rank and
distinction, on the contrary, whose whole glory consists in the
propriety of his ordinary behaviour, who is contented with the
humble renown which this can afford him, and has no talents to
acquire any other, is unwilling to embarrass himself with what
can be attended either with difficulty or distress. To figure at
a ball is his great triumph, and to succeed in an intrigue of
gallantry, his highest exploit. He has an aversion to all public
confusions, not from the love of mankind, for the great never
look upon their inferiors as their fellow-creatures; nor yet from
want of courage, for in that he is seldom defective; but from a
consciousness that he possesses none of the virtues which are
required in such situations, and that the public attention will
certainly be drawn away from him by others. He may be willing to
expose himself to some little danger, and to make a campaign when
it happens to be the fashion. But he shudders with horror at the
thought of any situation which demands the continual and long
exertion of patience, industry, fortitude, and application of
thought. These virtues are hardly ever to be met with in men who
are born to those high stations. In all governments accordingly,
even in monarchies, the highest offices are generally possessed,
and the whole detail of the administration conducted, by men who
were educated in the middle and inferior ranks of life, who have
been carried forward by their own industry and abilities, though
loaded with the jealousy, and opposed by the resentment, of all
those who were born their superiors, and to whom the great, after
having regarded them first with contempt, and afterwards with
envy, are at last contented to truckle with the same abject
meanness with which they desire that the rest of mankind should
behave to themselves.
然而地位卑微者要想鹹魚翻身絕然不能指望這些雕蟲小技。彬彬有禮是大人物最重要的美德，而這除了給他們自己之外，不會給其他任何人帶來榮譽。那些紈絝子弟的表現乏善可陳，但卻能恰如其分地西施效顰，假作超凡脫俗，但最終卻因自己的愚昧無知和傲岸無羈遭到世人的鄙視。為什麽一個被認為不屑一顧的人，穿堂過室的時候卻為自己昂首揮臂的風度大傷腦筋？他一定是太注重別人的注意，而且認為別人的注意就表明自己重要，然而他這些想法根本得不到任何人的苟同。謙虛質樸，不拘小節，尊重他人，所有這些盡善盡美的品質才應該是一個平民百姓行為的主要特征。如果他希望自己出類拔萃，一些更加重要的美德是不可或缺的。他必須有自己的扈從，以抗衡那位偉人的扈從，但他除了勞其筋骨，苦其心誌之外，沒有其它任何資本用以酬勞自己的扈從。因此他必須培養如下這些品質：他不僅必須具備足夠的專業知識，也必須在運用這些知識方麵表現出超人的勤勉。他必須做到勞苦時堅忍不拔，危險時信心百倍，痛苦時矢誌不移。他不僅必須通過自己在事業中所克服的困難，所表現的重要性，以及所做的正確判斷，而且還應該通過追求事業所表現的專心致誌，來使公眾看到這些才能。正直、謙虛、慷慨、坦率，在普通情況之下，必然會使他的行為個性化；與此同時，他必定會樂於從事這樣一些情況，即：必須才華橫溢，行為才能得體，隻有德高望重才能大受歡迎。一個身處困境然而雄心勃勃的人，憑借怎樣的耐心在尋求出人頭地的良機？能提供這種機會的任何環境對他來講都是求之不得的。他甚至心滿意足地巴望內憂外患；暗自狂喜地關注應運而生的一切天下大亂與流血事件、關注自己所渴望的那種能被世人關注與青睞的機會是否有出現的可能。相反，有頭有臉的人物，他的全部榮耀都集中體現在自己日常極為得體的行為中，他滿足於由此換取的絕無僅有的謙卑之譽，他缺乏賴以支撐更多奢望的才能，他不願使自己陷入艱難困苦的尷尬境地。在一場舞會上出盡風頭，就是他巨大的勝利，在一樁勾心鬥角的風流韻事中旗開得勝，就是他最輝煌的成就。他厭惡一切民眾騷亂，這並非出於對人類的愛，因為大人物從來不把比自己差的人視為同類；也非因為缺乏勇氣，因為在煽風點火引發騷亂方麵，他罕有無能失利時候；而是因為他意識到自己並不具備應對這種情況應有的美德，而且公眾的眼球也必將從他身上被吸引到別人身上。他也許會願意麵對一些小的危險，並在恰好是時髦的時候有所作為。然而當他想到那些需要持續奮鬥、堅韌不拔、勤奮果敢以及專心致誌的情況是，便會因驚恐萬狀而戰栗。那些出身高貴的人幾乎從來不知上述美德為何物。因此，在所有政府，乃至君主國中，最高權位的掌控者，整個行政機構各個細部的運作者，都是那些隻具備中下等教育的人，他們憑借自己的勤奮和能力不斷進取，大人物對他們先是鄙視，後是嫉妒，可最終卻以卑鄙的心態對他們心悅誠服，而所有這些，都是他們希望別人對他們所采取的態度。
7.
It is the loss of this easy empire over the affections of
mankind which renders the fall from greatness so insupportable.
When the family of the king of Macedon was led in triumph by
Paulus Aemilius, their misfortunes, it is said, made them divide
with their conqueror the attention of the Roman people. The sight
of the royal children, whose tender age rendered them insensible
of their situation, struck the spectators, amidst the public
rejoicings and prosperity, with the tenderest sorrow and
compassion. The king appeared next in the procession; and seemed
like one confounded and astonished, and bereft of all sentiment,
by the greatness of his calamities. His friends and ministers
followed after him. As they moved along, they often cast their
eyes upon their fallen sovereign, and always burst into tears at
the sight; their whole behaviour demonstrating that they thought
not of their own misfortunes, but were occupied entirely by the
superior greatness of his. The generous Romans, on the contrary,
beheld him with disdain and indignation, and regarded as unworthy
of all compassion the man who could be so mean-spirited as to
bear to live under such calamities. Yet what did those calamities
amount to? According to the greater part of historians, he was to
spend the remainder of his days, under the protection of a
powerful and humane people, in a state which in itself should
seem worthy of envy, a state of plenty, ease, leisure, and
security, from which it was impossible for him even by his own
folly to fall. But he was no longer to be surrounded by that
admiring mob of fools, flatterers, and dependants, who had
formerly been accustomed to attend upon all his motions. He was
no longer to be gazed upon by multitudes, nor to have it in his
power to render himself the object of their respect, their
gratitude, their love, their admiration. The passions of nations
were no longer to mould themselves upon his inclinations. This
was that insupportable calamity which bereaved the king of all
sentiment; which made his friends forget their own misfortunes;
and which the Roman magnanimity could scarce conceive how any man
could be so mean-spirited as to bear to survive.
正是因為對情感失控，人們才對失去高位感到難以忍受。當保盧斯。埃米利烏斯以勝利者姿態將馬其頓國王一家帶走時，據說他們就以自己的不幸把羅馬人的注意力從征服者身上吸引到了自己身上。皇家的兒童因年幼無知而不知自己的處境，旁觀者在一片歡樂氣氛中看到他們的時候，都被他們淡淡的哀傷和柔情所感動。在行列中隨後出現的就是國王，看上去驚恐萬狀，巨大的災難使他變得麻木不仁。親朋大臣緊隨其後。他們在行進中經常把自己的目光投向那位威風掃地的國王，一看到他就潸然淚下；其行為表明他們所想的並非自己如何不幸，而是國王的災難有多大。相反，高貴的羅馬人則態度鄙夷，怒火中燒，覺得國王根本不值得憐憫，因為他在大難當頭之際居然低賤到忍辱求生。然而這些災難是什麽呢？根據大多數曆史學家的記載，他在一個慈悲為懷的偉大民族保護之下度過餘生，其處境本身簡直令人羨慕，那是一種富足、舒適、安全的環境，即便他愚蠢之至，也不可能在這種環境中沉淪下去。隻是再也沒有從前那班阿諛奉承的笨伯以及圍著他團團轉的附庸人簇擁在身旁。他再也不是萬眾矚目的焦點，再也不會因自己的權勢而成為他們崇敬、感激、愛戴和欽佩的目標。民族的激情再也不按照他的意願而塑造自己。這就是使那位國王情感枯竭、無法忍受的災難，也正是這種災難，不僅使他的友人忘記各自的不幸，也使品質高尚的羅馬人幾乎無法想像竟然有人卑鄙到屈辱求生。
8.
'Love,' says my Lord Rochfaucault, 'is commonly succeeded by
ambition; but ambition is hardly ever succeeded by love.' That
passion, when once it has got entire possession of the breast,
will admit neither a rival nor a successor. To those who have
been accustomed to the possession, or even to the hope of public
admiration, all other pleasures sicken and decay. Of all the
discarded statesmen who for their own ease have studied to get
the better of ambition, and to despise those honours which they
could no longer arrive at, how few have been able to succeed? The
greater part have spent their time in the most listless and
insipid indolence, chagrined at the thoughts of their own
insignificancy, incapable of being interested i n the occupations
of private life, without enjoyment, except when they talked of
their former greatness, and without satisfaction, except when
they were employed in some vain project to recover it. Are you in
earnest resolved never to barter your liberty for the lordly
servitude of a court, but to live free, fearless, and
independent? There seems to be one way to continue in that
virtuous resolution; and perhaps but one. Never enter the place
from whence so few have been able to return; never come within
the circle of ambition; nor ever bring yourself into comparison
with those masters of the earth who have already engrossed the
attention of half mankind before you.
“愛心通常會被野心取代，野心卻幾乎從未被愛心取代過，”羅斯福哥公爵如是說。一旦被這種激情占據頭腦，他們就無法容納對手和繼任者。對那些慣於贏得，甚至希望贏得公眾溢美之詞者來說，除此之外的任何其它樂事統統味同嚼蠟。一些遭到唾棄的政客，為求得自我寬慰，也曾潛心鑽研該如何戰勝野心，試圖不再在乎那些一去不複返的榮耀，然而成功者何其少矣！大多是無精打采，怠惰慵懶，得過且過，虛度時光。此時此刻，身卑言微，從私人私事中無從獲得樂趣，除了對往昔那些偉大之處津津樂道之外，簡直無聊至極，除了忙於那些旨在恢複昔日天堂的徒勞無益的計劃之外，無法達到心滿意足。一想到所有這些，他們就會懊惱至極。你是否已經決心不以自由換取耀武揚威的廷臣之職，而是自由自在、毫無懼色、獨立自主地生活？如果你想繼續實現自己的決心，似乎有一條，而且是絕無僅有的一條路可走。切莫進入隻有少數人才有退身之步的地方；切莫躋身野心家充斥的領域；切勿與那些早已在你之前就已為半數世人所矚目的世界主宰者一比高下。
在人們的想像當中，能博得他人同情心，引起他人關注的位置問題至關重要。於是，將市政高官妻子們分成三六九等的席位，便成為大多人一生追求的目標，而且也因此而成為一切騷亂動蕩，一切巧取豪奪與紛爭不公的根源，從而使這個世界充滿貪婪和野心。據說理智的人確實不把地位位看在眼裏，也就是說，他們不願坐在首席的位置，對於因一些細瑣小事被當眾指責並不放在心上，因為他們覺得即使一些微乎其微的好事也能抵消其影響。然而誰也不會輕視地位的高低以及是否能夠做到出類拔萃，除非他大幅超越或低於人性的普通標準；除非他並非像自己因行為得體而贏得他人認可時自認為的那樣聰明和富有哲理性，雖然他對此既不在乎，也不認可，但卻並不重要；或者是因為他早已習慣於微卑庸碌，懶散淡漠，以致忘掉對誌向及優越地位的追求。
9.
Of such mighty importance does it appear to be, in the
imaginations of men, to stand in that situation which sets them
most in the view of general sympathy and attention. And thus,
place, that great object which divides the wives of aldermen, is
the end of half the labours of human life; and is the cause of
all the tumult and bustle, all the rapine and injustice, which
avarice and ambition have introduced into this world. People of
sense, it is said, indeed despise place; that is, they despise
sitting at the head of the table, and are indifferent who it is
that is pointed out to the company by that frivolous
circumstance, which the smallest advantage is capable of
overbalancing. But rank, distinction pre-eminence, no man
despises, unless he is either raised very much above, or sunk
very much below, the ordinary standard of human nature; unless he
is either so confirmed in wisdom and real philosophy, as to be
satisfied that, while the propriety of his conduct renders him
the just object of approbation, it is of little consequence
though he be neither attended to, nor approved of; or so
habituated to the idea of his own meanness, so sunk in slothful
and sottish indifference, as entirely to have forgot the desire,
and almost the very wish, for superiority.
在人們的想像當中，能博得他人同情心，引起他人關注的位置問題至關重要。於是，將市政高官妻子們分成三六九等的席位，便成為大多人一生追求的目標，而且也因此而成為一切騷亂動蕩，一切巧取豪奪與紛爭不公的根源，從而使這個世界充滿貪婪和野心。據說理智的人確實不把地位看在眼裏，也就是說，他們不願坐在首席的位置，對於因一些細瑣小事被當眾指責並不放在心上，因為他們覺得即使一些微乎其微的好事也能抵消其影響。然而誰也不會輕視地位的高低以及是否能夠做到出類拔萃，除非他大幅超越或低於人性的普通標準；除非他並非像自己因行為得體而贏得他人認可時自認為的那樣聰明和富有哲理性，雖然他對此既不在乎，也不認可，但卻並不重要；或者是因為他早已習慣於微卑庸碌，懶散淡漠，以致忘掉對誌向及優越地位的追求。
10.
As to become the natural object of the joyous congratulations
and sympathetic attentions of mankind is, in this manner, the
circumstance which gives to prosperity all its dazzling
splendour; so nothing darkens so much the gloom of adversity as
to feel that our misfortunes are the objects, not of the
fellow-feeling, but of the contempt and aversion of our brethren.
It is upon this account that the most dreadful calamities are not
always those which it is most difficult to support. It is often
more mortifying to appear in public under small disasters, than
under great misfortunes. The first excite no sympathy; but the
second, though they may excite none that approaches to the
anguish of the sufferer, call forth, however, a very lively
compassion. The sentiments of the spectators are, in this last
case, less wide of those of the sufferer, and their imperfect
fellow-feeling lends him some assistance in supporting his
misery. Before a gay assembly, a gentleman would be more
mortified to appear covered with filth and rags than with blood
and wounds. This last situation would interest their pity; the
other would provoke their laughter. The judge who orders a
criminal to be set in the pillory, dishonours him more than if he
had condemned him to the scaffold. The great prince, who, some
years ago, caned a general officer at the head of his army,
disgraced him irrecoverably. The punishment would have been much
less had he shot him through the body. By the laws of honour, to
strike with a cane dishonours, to strike with a sword does not,
for an obvious reason. Those slighter punishments, when inflicted
on a gentleman, to whom dishonour is the greatest of all evils,
come to be regarded among a humane and generous people, as the
most dreadful of any. With regard to persons of that rank,
therefore, they are universally laid aside, and the law, while it
takes their life upon many occasions, respects their honour upon
almost all. To scourge a person of quality, or to set him in the
pillory, upon account of any crime whatever, is a brutality of
which no European government, except that of Russia, is capable.
成為他人興高采烈祝賀或者同情關注的目標，從這種意義上看，才使得成功變得光芒四射，耀眼奪目；而如果感到我們的不幸變成自己同事鄙視和厭惡的目標，則是最令人沮喪鬱悶的。正是因為如此，最可怕的災難並非總是最難以忍受。如果在公眾麵前你顯得隻是蒙受小災小難，而不是大禍臨頭，其實這樣更沒有麵子。前者不能激發同情心，而後者，雖然可能不會使他人的感受近似於受害者遭受的痛苦，但卻會激發一種強烈的同情心。在最後一種情況下，旁觀者的情感比受苦者的要遜色，不過即使他們的同情並不完美，也畢竟能為受苦者忍受痛苦提供幫助。在歡樂的集會前，一位君子如果穿裝打扮邋邋遢遢，這要比滿身鮮血和傷痕更丟麵子。這最後一種情況將會引發同情心；而另外一種則會招致嘲笑。一位法官下令給一名犯人戴上枷鎖，比判處他去上斷頭台要丟臉得多。聖君幾年前當著自己軍隊的麵鞭笞一位普通軍官，這使他蒙受了永遠也無法消除的恥辱。如果他開槍將他穿個透心涼，那懲罰就小得多。根據榮辱觀念，遭杖策可恥，被劍刺卻不然，其理由顯而易見。那些最輕微的懲罰被施加到一位視恥辱為最大不幸的君子身上時，就會被那些頗具人情味的紳士們認為是最可怕的。那個等級的人通常都受不到重視，但是法律卻不然，在許多情況下按照法律而結束他們生命時，依然要求人們尊重他們的名譽。無論因為什麽罪過原因，鞭打一位品質高尚的人，或者將他推上斷頭台，除俄羅斯政府，是沒有任何一個歐洲國家政府會這樣做。
11.
A brave man is not rendered contemptible by being brought to
the scaffold; he is, by being set in the pillory. His behaviour
in the one situation may gain him universal esteem and
admiration. No behaviour in the other can render him agreeable.
The sympathy of the spectators supports him in the one case, and
saves him from that shame, that consciousness that his misery is
felt by himself only, which is of all sentiments the most
unsupportable. There is no sympathy in the other; or, if there is
any, it is not with his pain, which is a trifle, but with his
consciousness of the want of sympathy with which this pain is
attended. It is with his shame, not with his sorrow. Those who
pity him, blush and hang down their heads for him. He droops in
the same manner, and feels himself irrecoverably degraded by the
punishment, though not by the crime. The man, on the contrary,
who dies with resolution, as he is naturally regarded with the
erect aspect of esteem and approbation, so he wears himself the
same undaunted countenance; and, if the crime does not deprive
him of the respect of others, the punishment never will. He has
no suspicion that his situation is the object of contempt or
derision to any body, and he can, with propriety, assume the air,
not only of perfect serenity, but of triumph and exultation.
勇敢的人被帶上斷頭台並不會使他變得為人所不恥，然而被戴上枷鎖卻會如此。他處於前一種情況時的行為可能會贏得普遍敬重與欽佩。處於後一種情況時，無論他的行為如何也不會使他變得令人愉快。旁觀者的同情在第一種情況中支持他，使他既免遭恥辱，又不會認為他那些情何以堪的痛苦隻有他自己才能感知。第二種情況並不存在同情心；即便存在，也並非因為他有微不足道的痛苦，而是因為他意識到需要借以撫慰痛苦的憐憫之心。這種憐憫之心因其蒙受的恥辱而生，並非因其忍受的悲痛而起。同情他的人為他感到羞愧之至，難以抬頭。他感到自己因遭到懲罰而徹底身敗名裂，雖然並非因為犯罪，但他同樣萎靡不振。相反，那個英勇捐軀的人，因為他自然會備受崇敬，所以神態自若，無所畏懼；而如果連罪行都無法剝奪別人對他的尊崇，更遑論懲罰了。他不懷疑自己的情況會遭到他人的鄙視與嘲笑，但他卻能恰到好處地表現出那種不僅泰然自若，而且充滿勝利喜悅的神情。
12.
'Great dangers,' says the Cardinal de Retz, 'have their
charms, because there is some glory to be got, even when we
miscarry. But moderate dangers have nothing but what is horrible,
because the loss of reputation always attends the want of
success.' His maxim has the same foundation with what we have
been just now observing with regard to punishments.
卡迪納爾。德。雷斯說：“巨大的危險自有迷人之處，因為即便失敗，依然雖敗猶榮。然而一般的危險則隻能令人驚恐萬狀，因為名裂與身敗總是相互依伴。”他的至理名言，和我們現在正討論的懲罰問題，都建立在相同的基礎之上。
13.
Human virtue is superior to pain, to poverty, to danger, and
to death; nor does it even require its utmost efforts do despise
them. But to have its misery exposed to insult and derision, to
be led in triumph, to be set up for the hand of scorn to point
at, is a situation in which its constancy is much more apt to
fail. Compared with the contempt of mankind, all other external
evils are easily supported.
人格超越痛苦、貧困、危險及死亡；對所有這些置若罔聞並不難。然而一個人的痛苦如果遭受淩辱與鄙視，被得勝者操控，置身於千夫所指的境地，其人格就難於始終如一地立於不敗之地。與人格受辱相比，其它所有外界傷害都易於忍受。
Chap. III
Of the corruption of our moral sentiments, which is occasioned by
this disposition to admire the rich and the great, and to despise
or neglect persons of poor and mean condition
第三章 論嫌貧愛富、仰慕大人物、鄙夷小人物的傾向導致的道德情操之腐敗
1.
This disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich
and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect
persons of poor and mean condition, though necessary both to
establish and to maintain the distinction of ranks and the order
of society, is, at the same time, the great and most universal
cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments. That wealth and
greatness are often regarded with the respect and admiration
which are due only to wisdom and virtue; and that the contempt,
of which vice and folly are the only proper objects, is often
most unjustly bestowed upon poverty and weakness, has been the
complaint of moralists in all ages.
對有錢有勢者仰慕，幾乎是崇拜的傾向，對貧窮和地位卑微者的鄙夷，至少是怠慢的傾向，雖然在建立和維護等級製度和社會秩序方麵來說是必要的，但與此同時卻也是導致我們道德情操腐敗的重要而極其普遍的原因。富有和顯赫經常受到隻有智慧與美德才能贏得的尊敬與欽佩；隻有以邪惡與愚蠢為適當對象的鄙視態度，經常極不公正地落在貧困與弱勢者頭上；這兩種傾向曆來備受道德家的詬病。
2.
We desire both to be respectable and to be respected. We
dread both to be contemptible and to be contemned. But, upon
coming into the world, we soon find that wisdom and virtue are by
no means the sole objects of respect; nor vice and folly, of
contempt. We frequently see the respectful attentions of the
world more strongly directed towards the rich and the great, than
towards the wise and the virtuous. We see frequently the vices
and follies of the powerful much less despised than the poverty
and weakness of the innocent. To deserve, to acquire, and to
enjoy the respect and admiration of mankind, are the great
objects of ambition and emulation. Two different roads are
presented to us, equally leading to the attainment of this so
much desired object; the one, by the study of wisdom and the
practice of virtue; the other, by the acquisition of wealth and
greatness. Two different characters are presented to our
emulation; the one, of proud ambition and ostentatious avidity.
the other, of humble modesty and equitable justice. Two different
models, two different pictures, are held out to us, according to
which we may fashion our own character and behaviour; the one
more gaudy and glittering in its colouring; the other more
correct and more exquisitely beautiful in its outline: the one
forcing itself upon the notice of every wandering eye; the other,
attracting the attention of scarce any body but the most studious
and careful observer. They are the wise and the virtuous chiefly,
a select, though, I am afraid, but a small party, who are the
real and steady admirers of wisdom and virtue. The great mob of
mankind are the admirers and worshippers, and, what may seem more
extraordinary, most frequently the disinterested admirers and
worshippers, of wealth and greatness.
我們渴望自己的表現令人尊重，並因而備受尊重。我們擔心自己的表現令人鄙視，並因而備受鄙視。然而，自從我們來到這個世界，我們經常發現智慧與美德絕然不是被尊崇的唯一對象；而邪惡與愚鈍亦非被蔑視的唯一對象。我們經常看到世人不無敬意的注意力，都徑直地集中到腰纏萬貫與地位顯赫者，而不是睿智超群與德高望重者。我們經常看到邪惡愚鈍的強者所遭受的鄙視，遠遠少於貧困無辜的弱者。值得、贏得、享受他人的尊敬與欽佩是人們雄心壯誌與你爭我奪的宏偉目標。有兩條路擺在我們麵前，同樣都可以實現自己渴望的目標；一條是研究德高望重者的才智與實踐；另一條是獲得萬貫財產與顯赫地位。你爭我奪體現兩種不同的品格：其一，野心勃勃，貪得無厭；其二，謙卑恭敬，公平公正。兩種不同的類型與兩種不同的圖景展現在我們麵前，我們據此與時俱進地規範自己的品格與行為；一種色彩絢麗多姿，華麗無比，另一種則更加精準無誤，美侖美奐；一種強行將自己置於眾人恍惚迷離的眼球之前；另一種則吸引除熱心細致的旁觀者之外幾乎任何人的注意力。他們德智雙馨，雖然在我看來他們恐怕隻是一個小小的群體，但他們確實是智慧與美德真正而穩定的仰慕者。而普羅大眾則隻是財富與顯貴的仰慕與崇拜者，而看起來最令人大跌眼鏡的驚人之處是，他們往往一碗水端平，都是不偏不倚的仰慕者與崇拜者。
3.
The respect which we feel for wisdom and virtue is, no doubt,
different from that which we conceive for wealth and greatness;
and it requires no very nice discernment to distinguish the
difference. But, notwithstanding this difference, those
sentiments bear a very considerable resemblance to one another.
In some particular features they are, no doubt, different, but,
in the general air of the countenance, they seem to be so very
nearly the same, that inattentive observers are very apt to
mistake the one for the other.
我們對智慧與美德所感覺的崇敬之情，無疑有別於對財富和顯貴所設懷有的同樣情感；將二者區別開來無需太強的辨別能力。然而，即便存在這種區別，那些情感之間依然存在相當可觀的形似之處。在某些特性方麵無疑存在區別，但在一般外部表現方麵，二者看來幾乎毫無二致，以致粗心的觀察者極易將二者混淆。
4．
In equal degrees of merit there is scarce any man who does
not respect more the rich and the great, than the poor and the
humble. With most men the presumption and vanity of the former
are much more admired, than the real and solid merit of the
latter. It is scarce agreeable to good morals, or even to good
language, perhaps, to say, that mere wealth and greatness,
abstracted from merit and virtue, deserve our respect. We must
acknowledge, however, that they almost constantly obtain it; and
that they may, therefore, be considered as, in some respects, the
natural objects of it. Those exalted stations may, no doubt, be
completely degraded by vice and folly. But the vice and folly
must be very great, before they can operate this complete
degradation. The profligacy of a man of fashion is looked upon
with much less contempt and aversion, than that of a man of
meaner condition. In the latter, a single transgression of the
rules of temperance and propriety, is commonly more resented,
than the constant and avowed contempt of them ever is in the
former.
若以等量價值觀來衡量，很少有人不對富人和顯貴懷有超過對貧窮和卑微者所懷的崇敬之情。在大多數人看來，前者的專橫與虛榮要比後者貨真價實的價值更值得尊崇。如若撇開賢德而論，比如說，隻有財富與顯貴才值得我們崇敬，這對美好的品德，乃至美好的語言來講，簡直就是褻瀆。然而我們必須承認，富人與顯貴從來都是備受尊崇的；因此在某些情況下，他們會被認為是理所當然的尊崇對象。毫無疑問，那些尊貴的高位全然被邪惡與愚鈍所貶損。但是，邪惡與愚鈍在導致這種徹底貶損之前，也必須很有實力。有頭有臉的人物行為不檢遭到的鄙夷要比地位微卑者要少。對行為規範，後者稍有出軌通常都會激起公憤，然而前者經常公然地冒犯，但卻很少遭到鄙視。
5．
In the middling and inferior stations of life, the road to
virtue and that to fortune, to such fortune, at least, as men in
such stations can reasonably expect to acquire, are, happily in
most cases, very nearly the same. In all the middling and
inferior professions, real and solid professional abilities,
joined to prudent, just, firm, and temperate conduct, can very
seldom fail of success. Abilities will even sometimes prevail
where the conduct is by no means correct. Either habitual
imprudence, however, or injustice, or weakness, or profligacy,
will always cloud, and sometimes depress altogether, the most
splendid professional abilities.Men in the inferior and middling
stations of life, besides, can never be great enough to be above
the law, which must generally overawe them into some sort of
respect for, at least, the more important rules of justice. The
success of such people, too, almost always depends upon the
favour and good opinion of their neighbours and equals; and
without a tolerably regular conduct these can very seldom be
obtained. The good old proverb, therefore, That honesty is the
best policy, holds, in such situations, almost always perfectly
true. In such situations, therefore, we may generally expect a
considerable degree of virtue; and, fortunately for the good
morals of society, these are the situations of by far the greater
part of mankind.
可喜的是，中低等階層的人，通向道德與財富之路，在大多數情況下幾乎相同，當然這些財富通常都是這一階層的人在合情合理的原則下所期望得到的。在所有中低等職業領域內，真才實學與謹慎、正直、堅毅和得體的表現相結合，很少有不成功的。有時甚至在行為及其不端的情況下，才能依然無往不勝。然而無論是慣常的寡廉鮮恥、不仁不義、怯懦軟弱、抑或放蕩無羈，卻總會使極其傑出的職業才能黯然失色，有時甚至會徹底毀掉。此外，處於中低階層的人無論多麽了不起，也永遠不能超越法規，而這些法規一般來講在某些情況下總會對他們形成威懾，迫使他們去尊重那些更重要的法規。這種人的成功幾乎總是取決於鄰居和地位相同者的美言；不采取任何常規行動，這些都很少能夠獲得成功。常言道：誠實為上策，這句美妙的古語在這種情況下幾乎總是極其正確。因此，同樣是在這種情況下，我們一般都會期待人們具備這種的美德；所幸的是，良好的社會道德，正是迄今為止大多數人所達到的境界。
6．
In the superior stations of life the case is unhappily not
always the same. In the courts of princes, in the drawing-rooms
of the great, where success and preferment depend, not upon the
esteem of intelligent and well-informed equals, but upon the
fanciful and foolish favour of ignorant, presumptuous, and proud
superiors; flattery and falsehood too often prevail over merit
and abilities. In such societies the abilities to please, are
more regarded than the abilities to serve. In quiet and peaceable
times, when the storm is at a distance, the prince, or great man,
wishes only to be amused, and is even apt to fancy that he has
scarce any occasion for the service of any body, or that those
who amuse him are sufficiently able to serve him. The external
graces, the frivolous accomplishments of that impertinent and
foolish thing called a man of fashion, are commonly more admired
than the solid and masculine virtues of a warrior, a statesman, a
philosopher, or a legislator. All the great and awful virtues,
all the virtues which can fit, either for the council, the
senate, or the field, are, by the insolent and insignificant
flatterers, who commonly figure the most in such corrupted
societies, held in the utmost contempt and derision. When the
duke of Sully was called upon by Lewis the Thirteenth, to give
his advice in some great emergency, he observed the favourites
and courtiers whispering to one another, and smiling at his
unfashionable appearance. 'Whenever your majesty's father,' said
the old warrior and statesman, 'did me the honour to consult me,
he ordered the buffoons of the court to retire into the
antechamber.'
令人遺憾的是，高層次人士的情況並非總是相同。在宮廷顯貴的客廳內，成功與擢升並非取決於對那些在學識方麵與自己旗鼓相當者的尊敬，而是取決於對那些孤陋寡聞、專橫跋扈、桀驁不馴的上司之怪誕愚蠢的恩賜；阿諛奉承與弄虛作假往往比特長與才能更吃香。在這樣的社會內，取悅於人的伎倆要比辦事才能更受關注。在寧靜祥和的環境中，在風暴尚遠的時期，君主或顯貴渴求的隻是享樂，極易陷入空想，認為自己鮮有服務他人的理由，而那些投其所好的人足能為他效勞。憑借做蠢事所顯示的表麵風度與淺薄成績，一個人便可以被譽為上等人，而所有這些，通常要比一位武士、一位政治家、一位哲學家、一位議員氣宇軒昂的美德更受尊崇。一切崇高美德，所有那些既適於議會、國會，又適於村野鄉間的美德，都被那些占據這個腐敗社會成員大多數的妄自尊大，然而極其猥瑣微卑的小人看作是最可鄙視與嘲笑的。蘇利公爵被路易十三召見為應對緊急狀況獻計獻策時，看到國王的心腹廷臣們交頭接耳、竊竊私語，嘲笑他不合時宜的外表。這位年邁的武士兼政治家便說：“老臣當年榮獲陛下父王寵召獻策時，都要命令庭上諸般小醜退入前庭。”
7．
It is from our disposition to admire, and consequently to
imitate, the rich and the great, that they are enabled to set, or
to lead what is called the fashion. Their dress is the
fashionable dress; the language of their conversation, the
fashionable style; their air and deportment, the fashionable
behaviour. Even their vices and follies are fashionable; and the
greater part of men are proud to imitate and resemble them in the
very qualities which dishonour and degrade them. Vain men often
give themselves airs of a fashionable profligacy, which, in their
hearts, they do not approve of, and of which, perhaps, they are
really not guilty. They desire to be praised for what they
themselves do not think praise-worthy, and are ashamed of
unfashionable virtues which they sometimes practise in secret,
and for which they have secretly some degree of real veneration.
There are hypocrites of wealth and greatness, as well as of
religion and virtue; and a vain man is as apt to pretend to be
what he is not, in the one way, as a cunning man is in the other.
He assumes the equipage and splendid way of living of his
superiors, without considering that whatever may be praise-worthy
in any of these, derives its whole merit and propriety from its
suitableness to that situation and fortune which both require and
can easily support the expence. Many a poor man places his glory
in being thought rich, without considering that the duties (if
one may call such follies by so very venerable a name) which that
reputation imposes upon him, must soon reduce him to beggary, and
render his situation still more unlike that of those whom he
admires and imitates, than it had been originally.
由於我們有仰慕和模仿富翁偉人的傾向，他們才得以樹立並引領所謂的時尚。他們的服裝成為時裝，他們的語言成為時髦語，他們的神態舉止成為時尚儀表。就連他們的劣跡蠢行都帶有時尚色彩；對於導致他們名譽受損、檔次遭貶的品質，大多人都以模仿和類似為榮。虛榮浮誇之徒動輒流露出放蕩恣肆的時髦神態，其實對於這些，他們在內心中並不讚同，但也許並不真的為此感到內疚。他們渴望因為自己並不認為值得讚賞的東西而得到讚許，他們為那些並非時尚但有時卻私下堅持的美德感到慚愧，為那些暗自有幾分真心敬意的美德感到內疚。世間既存在腰纏萬貫、聲名顯赫的偽君子，也存在篤信宗教、不無勇氣的偽君子；一個愚蠢自負之徒以某種方式掩飾原形，如同一個狡詐無賴之輩以另一種方式偽裝假相。他隻憑空猜想優於己者的服飾與生活方式，並不考慮這些人值得讚許的一切都來自與地位和財富狀況相稱的美德與儀態，而維護各自的地位與財富需要開支，但他們擔負得起。很多窮人都因為被認為是富人而感到榮耀，但不考慮那種榮耀賦予他們的義務（如果人們可以將如此崇高的稱謂賦予這種蠢行）必定會很快就使其淪為乞丐，並使其地位越發不如原來那樣接近自己所敬仰與模仿的人。
8．
To attain to this envied situation, the candidates for
fortune too frequently abandon the paths of virtue; for
unhappily, the road which leads to the one, and that which leads
to the other, lie sometimes in very opposite directions. But the
ambitious man flatters himself that, in the splendid situation to
which he advances, he will have so many means of commanding the
respect and admiration of mankind, and will be enabled to act
with such superior propriety and grace, that the lustre of his
future conduct will entirely cover, or efface, the foulness of
the steps by which he arrived at that elevation. In many
governments the candidates for the highest stations are above the
law; and, if they can attain the object of their ambition, they
have no fear of being called to account for the means by which
they acquired it. They often endeavour, therefore, not only by
fraud and falsehood, the ordinary and vulgar arts of intrigue and
cabal; but sometimes by the perpetration of the most enormous
crimes, by murder and assassination, by rebellion and civil war,
to supplant and destroy those who oppose or stand in the way of
their greatness. They more frequently miscarry than succeed; and
commonly gain nothing but the disgraceful punishment which is due
to their crimes. But, though they should be so lucky as to attain
that wished-for greatness, they are always most miserably
disappointed in the happiness which they expect to enjoy in it.
It is not ease or pleasure, but always honour, of one kind or
another, though frequently an honour very ill understood, that
the ambitious man really pursues. But the honour of his exalted
station appears, both in his own eyes and in those of other
people, polluted and defiled by the baseness of the means through
which he rose to it. Though by the profusion of every liberal
expence; though by excessive indulgence in every profligate
pleasure, the wretched, but usual, resource of ruined characters;
though by the hurry of public business, or by the prouder and
more dazzling tumult of war, he may endeavour to efface, both
from his own memory and from that of other people, the
remembrance of what he has done; that remembrance never fails to
pursue him. He invokes in vain the dark and dismal powers of
forgetfulness and oblivion. He remembers himself what he has
done, and that remembrance tells him that other people must
likewise remember it. Amidst all the gaudy pomp of the most
ostentatious greatness; amidst the venal and vile adulation of
the great and of the learned; amidst the more innocent, though
more foolish, acclamations of the common people; amidst all the
pride of conquest and the triumph of successful war, he is still
secretly pursued by the avenging furies of shame and remorse;
and, while glory seems to surround him on all sides, he himself,
in his own imagination, sees black and foul infamy fast pursuing
him, and every moment ready to overtake him from behind. Even the
great Caesar, though he had the magnanimity to dismiss his
guards, could not dismiss his suspicions. The remembrance of
Pharsalia still haunted and pursued him. When, at the request of
the senate, he had the generosity to pardon Marcellus, he told
that assembly, that he was not unaware of the designs which were
carrying on against his life; but that, as he had lived long
enough both for nature and for glory, he was contented to die,
and therefore despised all conspiracies. He had, perhaps, lived
long enough for nature. But the man who felt himself the object
of such deadly resentment, from those whose favour he wished to
gain, and whom he still wished to consider as his friends, had
certainly lived too long for real glory; or for all the happiness
which he could ever hope to enjoy in the love and esteem of his
equals.
要贏得這一令人豔羨的地位，追求財富者經常會放棄通往美德之路，因為很遺憾，通向財富之路，有時則與通向美德之路截然相反。不過野心勃勃的人不僅自認為在他能獲得進取的顯赫地位中，他將有很多方式可以幫助他博得人們的尊敬與欽佩，能夠使自己的行為極其得體儒雅，而且他將來光彩奪目的表現，將會完全掩蓋或忘卻當初為達到那一高峰所邁出每一步時的越軌表現。在許多政府中，高位的追求者都淩駕於法律之上；隻要能夠滿足自己的野心，他們不怕因自己采取的手段遭指責。於是他們經常使出渾身解數，不僅欺瞞詐騙，弄虛作假，陰謀詭計，結黨營私，有時還不惜違法犯罪，謀殺行刺，及至叛亂內戰，更有甚者，對反對者以及在他們通往輝煌之路上當道而立者更是無所不用其極，排斥打擊，置之死地而後快。他們往往失敗多於成功；由於自己的罪惡行徑，通常都是除身敗名裂，嚴遭懲罰之外一無所獲。不過也有例外，他們有時竟然幸運至極，如願以償，顯赫地位，唾手可得。但即便如此，他們也總是在沉湎於夢寐以求的歡樂時極端痛苦與失望。野心勃勃的人所真正追求的絕非安逸或快樂，而總是這種或那種的榮耀，雖然這種榮耀經常為人所誤解。然而高位為其贏得的榮耀，無論在他自己眼中，還是在他人眼中早已因為缺乏贏得高位所采取的手段而被褻瀆與玷汙。雖然他們試圖通過揮金如土、驕奢淫逸這些腐敗墮落分子慣用的卑鄙伎倆，通過繁忙的公務，通過天翻地覆、令人目眩的戰爭，把對自己過去所作所為的記憶從自己和他人的腦海中抹掉，但是這種記憶卻從來沒有停止對他的糾纏。他們徒勞無益地求助於能遺忘過去的邪惡而神秘的力量。他記得自己的所作所為，那種記憶告訴他別人也同樣記得。他在顯赫地位展現的虛浮奢華中，在對大人物和智者展現的阿諛諂媚中，在普通人越天真越愚蠢的歡呼喝彩中，在戰爭勝利後作為征服者與勝利者的驕傲中，他依然被羞辱悔恨、報仇雪恨、怒火中燒之類的複雜情感詭秘地糾纏著；就在榮耀似乎已將他全麵包圍的時候，他自己卻通過他本人的想象，看到幽暗醜陋的魔影對他窮追不舍，而且時時刻刻都準備超越他。即便是凱撒大帝，雖然寬宏大量，能夠解除衛隊，但卻依然無法解除疑慮。對法賽利亞的記憶仍舊縈繞在他的腦際。當他在元老院的請求之下大度地赦免了馬爾塞盧斯的時候，他告訴元老院，他對正在實施的針對他的奪命陰謀並非不知；然而，他已為神祗與榮耀足享天年，因此即便死亡也會心滿意足，從而蔑視一切陰謀詭計。他也許為神祗早已足壽。然而，他感到自己早已成為希望給予他恩惠的人仇恨的目標，成為他依然希望當成朋友的人仇恨的目標，對於他來說，為了贏得真正的榮耀，或許還為了能從與他地位相當者的愛與尊敬中獲得快樂，的確活得太久了。
