培根經典散文隨筆
弗朗西斯·培根是英國文藝復興時期最重要的散文家、哲學家。他不但在文學、哲學上多有建樹，在自然科學領域裏，也取得了重大成就。他的第一部重要著作《隨筆》最初發表於1597年，以後又逐年增補。該書文筆言簡意賅、智睿奪目，它包含許多洞察秋毫的經驗之談，其中不僅論及政治而且還探討許多人生哲理。下面本站小編爲大家帶來培根經典散文隨筆，希望大家喜歡!
培根經典散文隨筆：論真理
What is truth; said jesting Pilate; and would not stay for an answer. Certainly there be, that delight in giddiness; and count it a bondage, to fix a belief, affecting free-will in thinking, as well as in acting. And though the sects of philosophers of that kind be gone, yet there remain certain discoursing wits, which are of the same veins, though there be not so much blood in them, as was in those of the ancients.
善戲謔的彼拉多曾說：“真理是什麼呢?”說了之後並且不肯等候回答。世上盡有一般人喜歡把意見變來變去，並且認爲固定了一種信仰即等於上了一套枷鎖;在思想上和在行爲上他們都一樣地要求意志底自由。並且雖然這一流的各派哲學家已成過去，然而仍有些心志遊移的說者和他們同聲同氣，——雖然這般人比起古人來血氣薄弱一點。
But it is not only the difficulty, and labour, which men take in finding out of truth; nor again, mat when it is found, it imposeth upon men s thoughts; that doth bring lies in favour: but a natural, though corrupt love, of the lie itself. One of the later school of me Grecians, examineth the matter, and is at a stand, to think what should be in it, mat men should love lies; where neither they make for pleasure, as with poets; nor for advantage, as with me merchant; but for the lie's sake. But I cannot tell: this same truth, is a naked, and open day light, mat doth not show, the masques, and mummeries, and triumphs of the world, half so stately, and daintily, as candlelights. Truth may perhaps come to the price of a pearl, that showeth best by day: but it will not rise, to me price of a diaMond, or carbuncle, that showeth best in varied lights. A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure. Doth any man doubt, mat if there were taken out of men s minds, vain opinions, nattering hopes, false valuations, imaginations as one would, and the like; but it would leave the minds, of a number of men, poor shrunken things; full of melancholy, and indisposition, and unpleasing to themselves? One of the fathers, in great severity, called poesy, vinum daenwnwn; because it filleth the imagination, and yet it is, but with me shadow of a lie. But it is not me lie, that passeth through the mind, but me lie mat sinketh in, and settleth in it, that doth me hurt, such as we spake of before. But howsoever these things arc thus, in men's depraved judgements, and affections, yet truth, which only doth judge itself, teacheth, that the inquiry of truth, which is the love-making, or wooing of it; the knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it; and the belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it; is the sovereign good of human nature.
但是使人們好僞說的原因，不僅是人們找尋真理時的艱難困苦，亦不是找尋着了真理之後真理所加於人們底思想的約束，而是一種天生的，雖然是惡劣的，對於僞說本身的愛好。希臘晚期哲學學派中有人曾研究過這個問題，他不懂得僞說之中有什麼東西竟會使人們爲僞說底本身而愛它，因爲僞說既不能如詩人之所爲，引人入勝;亦不能如商人之所爲，導人得利。我亦不懂得這是什麼緣故：可是“真理”這件東西可說是一種無隱無飾的白晝之光，世間的那些歌劇、扮演、慶典在這種光之下所顯露的，遠不如燈燭之光所顯露的莊嚴美麗。真理在世人眼中其價值也許等於一顆珍珠，在日光之下看起來最好;但是它決夠不上那在各種不同的光線下顯得最美的鑽石和紅玉底價值。攙上一點僞說的道理總是給人添樂趣的。要是從人們底心中取去了虛妄的自是，自諛的希望，錯誤的評價，武斷的想象，就會使許多人底心變成一種可憐的、縮小的東西，充滿憂鬱和疾病，自己看起來也討厭。對於這一點會有人懷疑麼?早期的耶教著作家中有一位曾經很嚴厲地把詩叫做“魔鬼底酒”，因爲詩能佔據人底想象，然而詩不過是僞說底影子罷了。害人的不是那從心中經過的僞說，而是那沉入心中，盤據心中的僞說，如前所言者是也。然而這些事情，無論其在人們墮落的判斷力及好尚中是如何，真理(它是隻受本身底評判的)卻教給我們說研究真理(就是向它求愛求婚)，認識真理(就是與之同處)，和相信真理(就是享受它)乃是人性中最高的美德。
The first creature of God, in the works of the days, was the light of the sense;the last, was the light of reason; and his Sabbath work, ever since, is the illumination of his spirit First he breathed light, upon the face, of the matter or chaos; then he breathed light, into the face of man; and still he breatheth and inspireth light, into the face of his chosen. The poet, that beautified the sect, that was otherwise inferior to the rest, saith yet excellently well: 'It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tossed upon the sea: a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battle, and the adventures thereof, below: but no pleasure is comparable, to the standing, upon the vantage ground of truth:' (a hill not to be commanded, and where the air is always clear and serene;) 'and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in the vale below:' so always, that this prospect, be with pity, and not with swelling, or pride. Certainly, it is heaven upon earth, to have a man's mind move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth. To pass from theological, and philosophical truth, to the truth of civil business; it will be acknowledged, even by those mat practise it not, that clear and round dealing is the honour of man's nature;and that mixture of falsehood, is like allay in coin of gold and silver, which may make the metal work the better, but it embaseth it For these winding and crooked courses, are the goings of the serpent; which goeth basely upon the belly, and not upon the feet There is no vice, that doth so cover a man with shame, as to be found false, and perfidious. And therefore Mountaigny saith prettily, when he enquired the reason, why the word of the lie should be such a disgrace, and such an odious charge? saith he, 'If it be well weighed, to lay that a man lieth, is as much to say, as mat he is brave towards God, and a coward towards men.' For a lie faces God, and shrinks from man. Surely the wickedness of falsehoods, and breach of faith, cannot possibly be so highly expressed, as in mat it shall be the last peal, to call the judgements of God upon the generations of men, it being foretold, that when Christ cometh. He shall not find faith upon the earth.
當上帝創造宇宙的那幾日中，他所創造的頭一件東西就是感官底光明;他所創造的末一件東西就是理智底光明;從那以後直到如今在他工作完畢而休息的期間內，他底作爲全是以他底聖靈昭示世人。最初他在物或渾沌底面上吹吐光明;然後他由人底面目中吹入光明;到如今他還在往他的選民面目之中吐射光明。有一派哲學在別的方面都不如他派，可是有一位詩人爲這派哲學增光不少。這位詩人曾說：“站在岸上看船舶在海上簸盪是一件樂事;站在一座堡壘底窗前看下面的戰爭和它底種種經過最一件樂事;但是沒有一件樂事能與站在真理底高峯(一座高出一切的山陵，在那裏的空氣永遠是澄清而寧靜的)目睹下面谷中的錯誤、漂泊、迷霧和風雨相比擬的”;只要看的人對這種光景永存惻隱而不要自滿，那末以上的話可算是說得好極了。當然，一個人底心若能以仁愛爲動機，以天意爲歸宿，並且以真理爲地軸而動轉，那這人的生活可真是地上的天堂了
從教義中的真理和哲學中的真理再說到世事上的真理。即使那些行爲並不坦白正直的人也會承認坦白正直地待人是人性底光榮，而真假相混則有如金銀幣中雜以合金一樣，也許可以使那金銀用起來方便一點，但是把它們底品質卻弄賤了。因爲這些曲曲折折的行爲可說是蛇走路的方法，蛇是不用腳而是很卑賤地用肚子走路的。沒有一件惡德能和被人發現是虛僞欺詐一般使人蒙羞的。所以蒙泰涅在他研究爲什麼說人說謊算是這樣的一種羞辱，一種可恨之極的罪責的時候，說得極好。他說：“仔細考慮起來，要是說某人說謊就等於說他對上帝很大膽，對世人很怯懦”。因爲謊言是直對着上帝而躲避着世人的。曾經有個預言，說基督重臨的時候，他將在地上找不到信實;所以謊言可說是請上帝來裁判人類全體的最後的鐘聲。對於虛假和背信底罪惡再不能比這個說法揭露得更高明瞭。
培根經典散文隨筆：論死亡
Men fear death, as children fear to go in the dark: and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other. Certainly, the contemplation of death, as the wages of sin, and passage to another world, is holy and religious; but the fear of it, as a tribute due unto nature, is weak. Yet in religious meditations, there is sometimes mixture of vanity, and of superstition.
成人之怕死猶如兒童之怕入暗處;兒童底天然的恐懼因故事而增加，成人對於死的恐懼亦復如此。當然，靜觀死亡，以之爲罪孽底工資，通往另一世界的去路者，是虔誠而且合乎宗教的;但是恐懼死亡，以之爲我們對自然應納的貢獻，則是愚弱的。然而在宗教的沉思中有時亦雜有虛妄和迷信
You shall read, in some of the friars' books of mortifications, that a man should think with himself, what the pain is, if he have but his finger's end pressed, or tortured; and thereby imagine, what the pains of death are, when the whole body is corrupted and dissolved; when many times, death passeth with less pain, then the torture of a limb: for the most vital parts are not the quickest of sense. And by him, that spoke only as a philosopher and natural man, it was well said; pompa mortis magis terret, quam mars ipsa. Groans and convulsions, and a discoloured face, and friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like, show death terrible. It is worthy the observing, that there is no passion in the mind of man so weak, but it mates, and masters, the fear of death: and therefore death is no such terrible enemy, when a man hath so many attendants about him that can win the combat of him. Revenge triumphs over death; love slights it; honour aspireth to it; grief flieth to it; fear preoccupieth it; nay we read, after Otho the Emperor had slain himself, pity (which is the tenderest of affections) provoked many to die, out of mere compassion to their sovereign, and as the truest sort of followers. Nay, Seneca adds niceness and satiety; cogita quarn diu. eadem feceris; mori velle, non tantun fortis, out miser, sed etiam fastidiosus potest.
在某種苦行僧底自戒書中你可以看到一種言辭，說是一個人應當自己思量，假如他有一指底末端被壓或被刑，其痛苦是如何;由此再想那使人全身腐敗潰滅的死亡其痛苦更當如何。實則有多次死亡底經過比一肢之受刑其痛苦尚輕：因爲人體最生死攸關的器官並不是最敏於感受的器官也。那位僅以人間哲學家及世人之一的資格說話的古人說得很好：“與死亡俱來的一切，比死亡更駭人”。呻吟與痙攣，變色的面目，朋友哭泣，墨絰及葬儀，諸如此類都顯得死底可怕。值得注意者，是人心內的各種感情，無論多麼薄弱，沒有一種是不能克服對死亡的恐怖的;既然一個人身旁有這樣多的侍從，都能打敗死亡，可見死亡不算是那樣可怕的敵人了。復仇之心勝過死亡;愛戀之心蔑視之;榮譽之心希冀之;憂傷之心奔赴之;恐怖之心先期之;不特如此，我們在書中還讀到奧陶大帝自殺之後哀憐之心(感情中之最柔者)使得許多人也死了，他們之死是爲了對他們底君上的同情並且要做最忠心的臣子的原故。此外塞奈喀還加上了苛求和厭倦兩事。他說：“試想你做同樣的事已有多久!不止勇者和貧困者想死，即厭倦無聊者亦想死亡”
A man would die, though he were neither valiant, nor miserable, only upon a weariness to do the same thing, so oft over and over. It is no less worthy to observe, how little alteration, in good spirits, die approaches of death make; for they appear to be the same men, till the last instant Augustus Caesar died in a compliment; Livia, coniugii nostri memor, vive et vale. Tiberius in dissimulation; as Tacitus saith of him; mm Tiberium vires, et corpus, non dissimulatio, deserebant. Vespasian in a jest; sitting upon the stool, ut puto deus fio. Galba with a sentence;feri', si ex re sit populi Romani, holding forth his neck. Septimius Severus in dispatch; adeste,si quid mihi restat agendum. And the like. Certainly, the Stoics bestowed too much cost upon death, and by their great preparations, made it appear more fearful. Better saith he, qui finem vitae extremism inter munera ponat naturae. It is as natural to die, as to be born; and to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the other. He that dies in an earnest pursuit, is like one that is wounded in hot blood; who, for the time, scarce feels the hurt;and therefore, a mind fixed, and bent upon somewhat that is good, doth avert me dolours of death: but above all, believe it, the sweetest canticle is, minc difmittis; when a man hath obtained worthy ends, and expectations.
一個人雖然既不勇敢，也不困窮，然而爲了倦於屢次作同一的事，也會尋死的。同樣值得注意者，是死底來臨在豪傑之士底心上所引起的改變是如何地小，因爲這些人好象到了最後的一剎那仍然是依然故我似的。奧古斯塔斯大帝死時還在讚頌他底皇后：“永別了，裏維亞，請你終身不要忘記我們婚後生活底時光”。泰比瑞亞斯至死仍然作僞，如史家泰西塔斯所謂：“泰比瑞亞斯底體力日漸衰退，但他底作僞如故”。外斯帕顯死時還說笑話;他坐在一個凳子上說：“我想我正在變神哪”。加爾巴臨死作壯語說：“砍罷!假如這是有益於羅馬人民的”。一邊說着一邊伸頸就死。塞普諦米猶斯·塞外拉斯死得爽快。他說：“假如還有什麼我應該做的事，快點來吧”。諸如此類。那些畫廊派的哲學家把死底價值擡得太高了，並且因爲他們對於死準備過甚，遂使死在人看起來更爲可怕。“他把生命底終結算做自然底恩惠之一”。說這句話的那人比較說得對的多了。死與生同其自然;也許在一個嬰兒方面生與死是一般痛苦的。在某種熱烈的行爲中死了的人有如在血液正熱的時候受傷的人一樣，當時是不覺得痛楚的;所以一個堅定的，一心向善的心智是能免死底痛苦的。但是，尤要者，請你相信，最甜美的歌就是在一個人已經達到了某種有價值的目的和希望後所唱的“如今請你讓你底僕人離去”。
Death hath this also; that it openeth the gate to good fame, and extinguisheth envy. - exstinctus amabitur idem.
死還有這一點;就是它打開名譽之門，熄滅妒忌之心。“生時受人妒羨的人死後將受人愛”。培根散文隨筆集中英對照，通過閱讀文學名著學語言，是掌握英語的絕佳方法。既可
接觸原汁原味的英語，又能享受文學之美，一舉兩得，何樂不爲?
