I often repeat, that I very rarely repent, and that my conscience is satisfied with itself, not as the conscience of an angel, or that of a horse, but as the conscience of a man.
There is no vice that is absolutely a vice which does not offend, and that a sound judgment does not accuse; for there is in it so manifest a deformity and inconvenience, that peradventure they are in the right who say that it is chiefly begotten by stupidity and ignorance: so hard is it to imagine that a man can know without abhorring it. Malice sucks up the greatest part of its own venom, and poisons itself. Vice leaves repentance in the soul, like an ulcer in the flesh, which is always scratching and lacerating itself: for reason effaces all other grief and sorrows, but it begets that of repentance, which is so much the more grievous, by reason it springs within, as the cold and heat of fevers are more sharp than those that only strike upon the outward skin. i hold for vices (but every one according to its proportion), not only those which reason and nature condemn, but those also which the opinion of men, though false and erroneous, have made such, if
authorised by law and custom.
我常说自己很少后悔,而且我十分心安理得,当然比不上天使或一匹马，而是以人的良心为标准来衡量的。但凡罪恶,无不于人有害,也都会受到公正看法的指责。在罪恶之中有如此明显的丑陋和烦扰,所以那些认为愚蠢和无知乃罪恶根源的人的看法很可能是正确的一_很难想象有人会明知道是罪恶,却仍欣然接纳。恶意所分泌出的毒液大部分被其本身所吸收,并且它最终也被这些毒液所害。罪恶在心灵上留下的悔恨,就像肌肤上的溃疡一样,总是破口和绽裂。理智能使其他的忧伤和痛苦消于无形,但悔恨却无能为力,而悔恨则比其他烦恼更令人难以忍受,因为它是发自内心深处的,就像人在发烧时所感觉到的冷和热要比酷暑严寒对皮肤的刺激更令人痛苦。我所说的罪恶(这要根据每个人的善恶标准来衡量)不仅是指那些受到理性和天性谴责的罪恶,也包括由人们的判断所定义的罪恶;即使这些判断是错误的,但只要得到法律和习俗的认可,受其谴责的行为便是罪行。
There is likewise no virtue which does not rejoice a well-descended nature: there is a kind of, I know not what, congratulation in well-doing that gives us an inward satisfaction, and a generous boldness that accompanies a good conscience: a soul daringly vicious may, peradventure, arm itself with security, but it cannot supply itself with this complacency and satisfaction. It is no little sstisfaction to feel a man's self preserved from the contagion of so depraved an age, and to say to himself: "Whoever could penetrate into my soul would not there find me guilty either of the affliction or ruin of any one, or of revenge or envy, oг any offence against the public laws, or of innovation or disturbance, or failure of my word; and though the licence of the time permits and teaches every one so to do, yet have I not plundered anyone's goods, or taken his money, and have lived upon what is my own, in war as well as in peace; neither have I set arny man to work without paying him his hire." These testimonies of a good conscience please, and this natural rejoicing is very beneficial to us, and the only reward that we can never fail of.
同样,没有一种美德不令心地善良之人感到欣喜,行善积德之举也会给我们的内心带来一种难以形容的喜悦和满足感,令我们感到向心无愧、无比自豪。一个十恶不赦的人做起事来可能会肆无忌惮,但它永远也无法体会到这种满足和安心的感觉。如果一个人认为自己能不受堕落的世风腐化,能对自己说:“我从未使任何人痛不欲生或精神崩溃,即使有人能洞寨我的灵魂深处,也不会发现我有任何于心不安之处。我也从未产生过报复和嫉妒的想法，未曾触犯过法律,没有提出过异端邪说或引起骚乱,也从未言而无信。虽然当今放纵的世风引导甚至教唆人们为非作歹，但我却从未侵占任何人的家产，抢夺任何人的钱财,而是一向自食其力,无论是在战乱时期还是和平时期都是如此,从未做过不劳而获之事。”那该是怎样的一种满足感啊!这些心安理得的满足和淳朴自然的快乐对我们非常有益,也是一种永远都不会令我们失望的报偿。
But the saying that repentance immediately follows the sin seems not to have respect to sin in its high estate, which is lodged in us as in its own proper habitation. One may disown and retract the vices that surprise us, and to which we are hurried by passions; but those which by a long habit are rooted in a strong and vigorous will are not subject to contradiction. Repentance is no other but a recanting of the will and an opposition to our fancies, which lead us which way they please. It makes this person disown his former virtue and continency:
It is an exact life that maintains itself in due order in private. Every one may juggle his part, and represent an honest man upon the stage: but within, and in his own bosom, where all may do as they list, where all is concealed, to be regular, there's the point. The next degree is to be so in his house, and in his ordinary actions, for which we aгe accountable to none, and where there is no study nor artifice. And therefore Bias, setting forth the excellent state of a private family, says: "of which the master is the same within, by his own virtue and temper, that he is abroad, for fear of the laws and report of men." And it was a worthy saying of Julius Drusus, to the masons who offered him, for three thousand crowns, to put his house in such a posture that his neighbours should no longer have the same inspection into it as before; "I will give you," said he, "six thousand to make it so that everybody may see into every room." It is honourably recorded of Agesilaus, that he used in his journeys always to take up his lodgings in temples, to the end that the people and the gods themselves might pry into his most private actions. Such a one has been a miracle to the world, in whom neither his wife nor servant has ever seen anything so much as remarkable; few men have been admired by their own domestics.
有人说,悔恨与罪过如影随形,这个观点似乎与在我们心里落地生根的那种最严重的罪过无关。因惊慌失措或一时冲动而犯下的罪过也许可以改正或消除,但那些扎根在思想顽固者身上的、由长年的习惯形成的邪恶却无法轻易扭转。后悔的作用就是否定我们的意愿,反对我们的想法,令我们成为它的傀儡;它甚至能使一个人将自己过去的美德一笔抹杀。
一个人在私下里也能使生活保持有条不紊,那样的生活才堪称严谨。每个人在人生的舞台上都有自己的戏份,都可以扮演正人君子;但在私下里,在自己的内心深处,在可以为所欲为之处,在一切都不为人知的时候,依然能够做到安分守己，这才是道德的极致。仅次于此的,是在自己的家中和日常行为中也能做到这些,因为日常行为是无须向任何人解释的,在家中也完全不必谨言慎行。因此,比亚斯就曾这样描述过一个家庭日常生活的最佳状态:“在这样的家庭里，一家之主在家中依自己的德行和脾性之行事，与他在社会上慑于法律和舆论之行事并无二致。”朱利叶斯・德吕苏斯对工匠所讲的话也堪称至理名言。工匠提出,只要他付三千克朗,就可以将他的房子建造得让邻居再也无法像从前那样能看到屋内的情形;德吕苏斯却对工匠说:“我给你六千克朗,请将房子造得让所有人都能看到每个房间内的情形。”人们在记录阿格西劳斯2的事迹时,总是怀着崇敬的心情:在旅途中,他总是投宿于教堂之中，为的是使民众和诸神能够将自己的言行举止看得一清二楚。某人在世人眼中是个了不起的奇人,但他的妻子和仆人却看不出他有什么不平凡之处——很少有人能够受到自己最亲近之人的钦佩。
上一篇：没有了
下一篇：散文翻译示例——Of Moderation/论适度（蒙田随笔）
微信公众号搜索“译员”关注我们，每天为您推送翻译理论和技巧，外语学习及翻译招聘信息。