Epictetus 選譯

Don't just say you have read books.

Show that through them you have learned to think better,

to be a more discriminating and reflective person.

Books are the training weights of the mind.

They are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake

to suppose that one has made progress

simply by having internalized their contents.

 

不要說你讀了書。

向我們展示通過讀書你學會了更好地思考，成為了一個更明辨和自省的人。

書籍就像是腦力訓練的啞鈴。

它們很有用，但是一個人隻不過消化了書的內容就認為自己取得了進步，這是一個嚴重的錯誤。

 

How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself

and in no instance bypass the discriminations of reason?

You have been given the principles that you ought to endorse,

and you have endorsed them.

What kind of teacher, then, are you still waiting for

in order to refer your self-improvement to him?

You are no longer a boy, but a full-grown man.

If you are careless and lazy now and keep putting things off and

always deferring the day after which you will attend to yourself,

you will not notice that you are making no progress,

but you will live and die as someone quite ordinary.

 

你還要等多久才要求自己成為那個最好的自己，

無論如何都不偏離理性的判斷？

你已經知道了你應該崇尚的原則，

你也已經擁抱了它們。

那麽，你還在等什麽樣的老師來引導你的自我提高呢？

你已經不是個孩子，而是一個成人。

如果你馬虎懶惰，總是拖拉，推遲開始改善自我的那一天，

你不會注意到你沒有取得進步，

但是你會活得和死得非常平庸。

 

I laugh at those who think they can damage me.

They do not know who I am, they do not know what I think,

they cannot even touch the things which are really mine and with which I live.

 

我嘲笑那些認為能夠傷害我的人們。

他們不知道我是誰，不知道我在想什麽。

他們根本觸摸不到真正屬於我的東西。

 

Most of what passes for legitimate entertainment is inferior or foolish and

only caters to or exploits people's weaknesses.

Avoid being one of the mob who indulges in such pastimes.

Your life is too short and you have important things to do.

 

大多數所謂娛樂不是低級就是愚蠢。它們不過是迎合或利用人們的弱點。

避免參與這些娛樂活動。

人生短暫，你有更重要的事去做。

 

Remember that you ought to behave in life as you would at a banquet.

As something is being passed around it comes to you;

stretch out your hand, take a portion of it politely.

It passes on; do not detain it.

Or it has not come to you yet; do not project your desire to meet it,

but wait until it comes in front of you.

So act toward children, so toward a wife, so toward office, so toward wealth.

 

記住你在生活中的行為應像你在一個宴會上。

當一盤食物轉到你跟前時，

伸出手，禮貌地拿走一部分。

不要留下食物，讓它傳下去。

食物沒到你麵前時，不要總是想著它，要耐心等待。（不來也沒什麽--7grizzly）

對孩子，妻子，官職，財富都一樣對待。

 

[7grizzly]

Updated on Oct 30, 2021.

[7grizzly]

Updated on Mon, Jan 18, 2021.

[7grizzly]

From The American Heritage Dictionary, 4th Ed:

Epictetus A.D. 55?-135? Phrygian-born philosopher who popularized the Stoic ethical doctrine of limiting one's desires, believing that one should act in life as a banquet by taking a polite portion of all that is offered.

[7grizzly]

回複 '暖冬cool夏' 的評論 : Thanks 暖冬 for reading and your thought-provoking comment.
I think what he tried to deliver is the message that humans are capable of defiance and, to quote Taleb, saying "F You!" to Fate (a deity even more powerful than Zeus).

Happy Holidays!

[暖冬cool夏]

Very familiar with the last paragraph, which basically means "Be patient":)). Be patient with your children, your wife, wealth and in your career. True or not, it works in some occasions, but not alNo Sometimes,命中沒有莫強求:)
Merry Christmas!