Of Books
Amongst books that are simply pleasant, of the moderns, Boccaccio's Decameron, Rabelais, and the Basia of Johannes Secundus (if those may be ranged under the title) are worth reading for amusement. As to the Amadis, and such kind of stuff, they had not the credit of arresting even my childhood. And I will, moreover, say, whether boldly or rashly, that this old, heavy soul of mine is now no longer tickled with Ariosto, no, nor with the worthy Ovid; his facility and inventions, with which I was formerly so ravished, are now of no more relish, and I can hardly have the patience to read them. I speak my opinion freely of all things, even of those that, perhaps, exceed my capacity, and that I do not conceive to be, in any wise, under my jurisdiction. And, accordingly, the judgment I deliver, is to show the measure of my own sight, and not of the things I make so bold to criticise. When I find myself disgusted with Plato's Axiochus, as with & work, with due respect to such an author be it spoken, without force, my judgment does not believe itself: it is not so arrogant as to oppose the authority of so many other famous judgments of antiquity, which it considers as its tutors and masters, and with whom it is rather content to err; in such a case, it condemns itself either to stop at the outward bark, not being able to penetrate to the heart, or to consider it by sortie false light. It is content with only securing itself from trouble and disorder; as to its own weakness, it frankly acknowledges and confesses it. It thinks it gives a just interpretation to the appearances by its conceptions presented to it; but they are weak and imperfect. Most of the fables of AEsop have diverse senses and meanings, of which the mythologists chose some one that quadrates well to the fable; but, for the most part, it is but the first face that presents itself and is superficial only; there yet remain others more vivid, essential, and profound, into which they have not been able to penetrate; and just so it is with me.
论书籍
在供人消遣的近代书籍中，薄伽丘的《十日谈》、让・塞贡的《吻》,以及拉伯雷的作品(如果可以把这些书归人此类的话),却是耐人寻昧的。至于像《阿马迪斯》这一类无聊的作品,即使在年少的时候，我也未曾对它们产生过兴趣。此外,我还要不揣冒昧地说，我这颗老朽沉重的心，现在不但不会为亚里士多德而感到兴奋颤抖,就连可敬的奥维德也是一样,尽管奥维德的流畅笔法和奇思妙想曾令我沉迷不已,但如今我却很难再有耐心去读他的著作。我对任何事物一即使是那些或许超出我的理解,以及无论如何也不属于我的涉猎范围内的事物一一都会毫无顾忌地说出我自己的看法。我所做出的判断,都是表明我的个人见解如何,而并不是我如此大胆地批评事物本身如何。当我发现自己对柏拉图的《阿克西奥切斯》一书感到厌恶时,我会说,对于这样一位令人尊敬的作家来说,这是一部无足轻重的作品,当然我也不认为我的观点一定正确。既然先人们对此书推祟备至、奉若经典,我也不会傲慢自大到去与古代圣贤们的看法作对,非得犯下错误才会满意。在这种情况下,我只能责怪自己未能看清事物的本质,或者看问题的角度不正确。我只求能够做到没有思绪混乱、语无伦次就心满意足了，至于自己的弱点，我从来都是直言不讳的。对于某个观念所表露出的现象,我会尽力进行怡如其分的阐述,但这些现象通常都是肤浅而不完整的。《伊索寓言》中的大部分寓言都包含多层意义,有些神话学家会选择一种意义来对寓言进行阐释,但通常,这只是该寓言最肤浅的表面含义,更鲜明、更重大的深层含义并未表现出来,而这正是我所做的工作。
But, to pursue the business of this essay, I have always thought that, in poesy, Virgil, Lucretius, Catullus, and Horace by many degrees excel the rest; and signally, Virgil in his Georgics, which I look upon as the most accomplished piece in poetry; and in comparison of which a man may easily discern that there are some places in his AEneids, to which the author would have given a little more of the file, had he had leisure: and the fifth book of his AEneids seems to me the most perfect. I also love Lucan, and willingly read him, not so much for his style, as for his own worth, and the truth and solidity of his opinions and judgments. As for good Terence, the refined elegance and grace of the Latin tongue, I find him admirable in his vivid representation of our manners and the movements of the soul; our actions throw me at every turn upon him; and I cannot read him so often that I do not still discover some new grace and beauty. Such as lived near Virgil's time complained that some should compare Lucretius to him. I am of opinion that the comparison is, in truth, very unequal: a belief that, nevertheless, I have much ado to assure myself in, when I come upon some excellent passage in Lucretius. But if they were so angry at this comparison, what would they say to the brutish and barbarous stupidity of those who, nowadays, compare him with Ariosto? Would not Ariosto himself say?
O stupid and tasteless age.
---Catullus
还是沿着这篇文章的思路继续往下说吧。我一直认为,在诗歌方面,维吉尔、卢克莱修、卡图鲁斯和贺拉斯的造诣要远远高出侪辈,尤其是维吉尔的《乔琪克》,我认为是一部最优秀的诗作。如果把《乔琪克>和他的另一部作品《埃涅伊徳》进行比较,不难看出，《埃涅伊德》的某些部分还需要维吉尔去改进一下。在我看来,《埃涅伊德》的第五卷是这部史诗最完美的部分。我也非常喜欢卢坎,对他的作品很迷恋,但并不是因为他的文笔,而是因为他自身的价值,以及他观点和评论的中肯性。至于杰出的秦伦斯,他的拉丁语写得娟秀优美，我认为他最令人欣赏的地方就是对人物的举止和内心活动的描写,以至于我在日常生活中时常能想起他。他的作品令我百读不厌,而且每次都有新的感悟。稍后于维吉尔时代的人,对某些人将卢克莱修与维吉尔相提并论的做法颇有微词。实际上,我也觉得这种比较有欠妥当,但当我沉醉于卢克莱修的某些优美篇章时,却又情不自禁地对自己这样的想法产生怀疑。如果他们对这种比较非常气偾的话,那么对于现在有的人将维吉尔与亚里士多德进行不伦不类的比较的愚蠢做法,他们又该作何感想呢?而亚里士多德本人又有何见解呢?
哦，这个愚蠢而又毫无鉴赏力的时代。
——卡图鲁斯
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