I have seen a great many commanders encourage their soldiers with this fatal necessity; for if our time be limited to a certain hour, neither the enemies' shot nor our own boldness, nor our flight and cowardice, can either shorten or prolong our lives. This is easily said, but see who will be so easily persuaded; and if it be so that a strong and lively faith draws along with it actions of the same kind, certainly this faith we so much brag of, is very light in this age of ours, unless the contempt it has of works makes it disdain their company. So it is, that to this very purpose the Sire de Joinville, as credible a witness as any other whatever, tells us of the Bedouins, a nation amongst the
Saracens, with whom the king St. Louis had to do in the Holy Land, that they, in their religion, so firmly believed the number of every man's days to be from all etenity prefixed and set down by an inevitable decree, that they went naked to the wars, excepting a Turkish sword, and their bodies only covered with a white linen cloth: and for the greatest curse they could invent when they were angry, this was always in their mouths: "Accursed be thou, as he that arms himself for fear of death." This is a testimony of faith very much beyond ours. And of this sort is that also that two friars of Florence gave in our fathers' days. Being engaged in some controversy of learning, they agreed to go both of them into the fire in the sight of all the people, each for the verification of his argument, and all things were already prepared, and the thing just upon the point of execution, when it was interrupted by an unexpected accident.
我曾见过许多军队的指挥官用这种命中注定的必然性来鼓励他们的战士。因为如果我们的死期被限定在某一时刻,那么，无论是敌人的枪林弹雨、我们在战场上的英勇杀敌,还是惊慌而逃,都不能缩短或延长我们的生命。这说起来容易,但看一看有谁会如此轻易地被说服呢?即使某种坚定的信仰可以引导我们,但这种我们常挂在嘴边的信仰,在现在这个时代已经变得无足轻重了;我们丝毫不会因它而付诸于实际行动。像其他人一样,儒安维尔先生P也是一个值得信任的见证人,他在对我们讲述贝都因人的事情时,也谈到过宗教信仰问题。贝都因人是一个与撒拉森人混居的民族,法国国王圣路易曾在圣地与他们有过来往。儒安维尔说,贝都因人都相信,每个人的寿命都是由不可抗拒的天命决定的,因此,他们同异族交战时身上只披一块白麻布,手中只拿一把土耳其式的利剑。当他们对同族人发脾气时,说出的最严重的诅咒总是这句话:“你和全副武装的怕死鬼一样该死!”这表明贝都因人的信仰是与行动紧密结合的,这一点与我们大相径庭。与此类似的一个事例发生在我们祖先的时代里的两个佛罗伦萨的修士身上。这两个修士在某个学术问题上产生了分歧,他们商定要在所有人的见证下跳人火中,以示对各自观点的坚定态度。在一切都已经准备就绪之后,两人正要跳人火中之时，突然发生了一件意外,才使此事不了了之。
A young Turkish lord, having performed a notable exploit in his own person in the sight of both armies, that of Amurath and that of Huniades, ready to join battle, being asked by Amurath, what in such tender and inexperienced years (for it was his first sally into arms) had inspired him with so brave a courage, replied, that his chief tutor for valour was a hare. "For being," said he, "one day a hunting, I found a hare sitting, and though I had a brace of excellent greyhounds with me, yet I thought it would be best for sureness to make use of my bow; for she sat very fair. I then fell to letting fly my arrows, and shot forty that I had in my quiver, not only without hurting, but without starting her from her form. At last I slipped my dogs after her, but to no more purpose than I had shot: by which I understood that she had been secured by her destiny; and, that neither darts nor swords can wound without the permission of fate, which we can neither hasten nor defer." This story may serve, by the way, to let us see how flexible our reason is to all sorts of images.
在阿姆拉同匈雅提的一场战争中，一位土耳其贵族青年因英勇杀敌、战力显赫,引起了阿姆拉的注意。阿姆拉问这位青年,在他这样青涩稚嫩、毫无经验的年纪(这是他初次参加战斗),是什么赋予他如此非凡的勇敢。他回答说,教会他勇敢的最重要的老师是一只野兔。他说:“在一次打猎的时候，我在一个兔窟里发现了一只野兔,尽管我有两只上等猎犬帮忙,但为了万无一失，我决定使用弓箭,但那只野兔却沉着冷静地坐在那里,一副无所畏惧的架势，似乎在谋划着什么诡计。于是我开始向它射箭,然而,当我把箭囊里的四十多支箭都用光后,还是没有射中它,甚至都没能惊动它。最后,我只好放出了猎犬去抓它,但依旧毫无结果。至此我才明白,那只野兔是受到了命运之神的眷顾;那么这样看来,只要并非命中注定的,枪或剑便都无法伤害我们,也不可能将我们的死期提前或推后。”这个故事也顺便让我们明白了这样一个道理:在各种形象的比喻面前,我们的理性显得多么苍白无力。
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