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Excerpt：米歇爾‧德‧蒙田的《論友誼》
2021/08/10 05:29
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Excerpt：米歇爾‧德‧蒙田的《論友誼》
這個譯本從蒙田的《隨筆集》選譯了7篇，譯筆流暢，似乎比起最常見的商務出版社合譯本或是馬振騁的譯本，毫不遜色，或許大家可以試讀看看以下摘要的這一篇。
https://www.books.com.tw/products/0010870067
書名：論友誼
作者：米歇爾‧德‧蒙田
譯者：高黎平、M. A. Screech
出版社：商務印書館
出版日：2020/6
作者簡介
米歇爾‧德‧蒙田（Michel de Montaigne）
法國文藝復興時期哲學家。1533 年生於鄰近法國波爾多的佩里戈爾。家族從事貿易。他早年寄宿於農村家庭，由拉丁語老師教導，他後來並以此為母語。少年時的蒙田在吉耶訥學院學習希臘文、法文、修辭術，後來在圖盧茲大學修讀法律。1557 年起，蒙田在波爾多最高法院任職，後於1565 年結婚。1569 年，他把由西班牙神父兼醫生撰寫的《自然神學》由拉丁文譯成法文。1571 年起，他退居蒙田堡潛心寫作，期間撰寫《隨筆集》。首兩卷在1580 年出版，三卷於1588 年出版。《論友誼》收錄於卷一第28 章。而卷二的〈為塞朋德辯護〉一文，反映蒙田的懷疑主義思想，也是《隨筆集》中最長的一篇。他令散文成為一種文學體裁，並影響多位西方作家，包括培根、笛卡兒、盧梭、愛默生、尼采、阿西莫夫等。
【Excerpt】
〈依靠我們自己的能力來判斷是非那簡直是瘋了〉
That it is madness to judge the true and the false from our own capacities
1. 我們把輕易相信任何事歸因於頭腦簡單，把輕易被人說服歸因於無知，這或許不無道理，因為我想曾經有人教過我，信任就像戳在我們靈魂上的印記：靈魂越柔軟越少抵抗，就越容易將任何事印上：「正如放在天平的砝碼必然要把天平壓低一樣，思想必然要屈服於確鑿的證據。」靈魂越空虛越不會給它提供平衡物，那麼在最初深信的壓力下，其天平就越容易變得搖擺不定。
1. It is not perhaps without good reason that we attribute to simple-mindedness a readiness to believe anything and to ignorance the readiness to be convinced, for I think I was once taught that a belief is like an impression stamped on our soul: the softer and less resisting the soul, the easier it is to print anything on it: ‘Ut necesse est lancem in libra ponderibus impositis deprimi, sic animum perspicuis cedere.’ [‘For just as a weight placed on a balance must weigh it down, so the mind must yield to clear evidence.’ ] The more empty a soul is and the less furnished with counterweights, the more easily its balance will be swayed under the force of its first convictions. That is why children, the common people, women and the sick are more readily led by the nose.
3. 我從前常做這樣的事。如果我聽人講鬼走路，預言、妖術、魔術以及我沒法相信的某種傳說——
3. I used to do that once: if I heard tell of ghosts walking or of prophecies, enchantments, sorcery, or some other tale which I could not get my teeth into -
夢、不可思議的恐怖、奇跡、巫婆、
塞薩利死者或符咒的夜間拜訪
Somnia, terrors magics, miracula, sagas,
Nocturnos lemures portentaque Thessala
[Dreams, magic terrors, miracles, witches, nocturnal visits from
the dead or spells from Thessaly.]
——我常常為受如此愚蠢行為欺騙的人感到悲哀。現在我發現，我過去至少也一樣令人同情。這並不是說經歷隨後向我展現了任何超越我原本相信的事 (在我看來也不是因為缺乏甚麼好奇心)，但是，理智已經教會我們，無論你怎樣指責甚麼東西是絕對錯的和絕不可能的，那麼你就是宣稱了解新領域、上帝的意志和作為我們母親的大自然力量；理智還教會我們，世上沒有甚麼比依賴我們的能力和潛力去給事情下結論更愚蠢的事了。
-I used to feel sorry for the wretched folk who were taken in by such madness. Now I find that I was at least as much to be pitied as they were. It is not that experience has subsequently shown me anything going beyond my original beliefs (nor is it from any lack of curiosity on my part), but reason has taught me that. if you condemn in this way anything whatever as definitely false and quite impossible, you are claiming to know the frontiers and bounds of the will of God and the power of Nature our Mother. it taught me also that there is nothing in the whole world madder than bringing matters down to the measure of our own capacities and potentialities.
4. 如果我們不把這些法則運用到超越我們理解的事情上，那麼在生活中，不知有多少怪異或令人驚訝的事！如果考慮到我們不得不穿過一團迷霧，只是為了弄明白我們已掌握的東西，我們肯定會發現，不是知識而是習慣令事物不再怪異；
4. How many of the things which constantly come into our purview must be deemed monstrous or miraculous if we apply such terms to anything which outstrips our reason! If we consider that we have to grope through a fog even to understand the very things we hold in our hands, then we will certainly find that it is not knowledge but habit which takes away their strangeness;
因為生活已使人滿足並令人感到厭倦，
現在已沒有人再注視天堂閃光的神殿；
Jam nemo, fessus satiate vivendi,
Suspicere in coeli dignatur lucida temple;
[Already now, tired and satiated with life, nobody bothers to gaze up at the shining temples of the heavens:]
如果這樣的東西新近呈現在我們面前，那麼它們似乎與其他東西一樣令人難以置信；
such things, if they were newly presented to us, would seem as unbelievable as any others;
假使現在第一次將它們
突然間呈現給凡人的話：
沒甚麼稱得上更為非凡；
國人不敢相信這些東西。
si nunc primum mortalibus adsint
Ex improvise, ceu sint objecta repente,
Nil magis his rebus poterat mirabile dici,
Aut minus ante quod auderent fore credere gentes.
[supposing that now, for the first time, they were suddenly shown to mortal men: nothing could be called more miraculous; such things the nations would not have dared to believe.]
從未真正見過河的人第一次遇到一條河，會誤認為是海洋，因為我們認為，我們所知的最大的東西，是自然中同類物之中最大的。
He who had never actually seen a river, the first time he did so took it for the ocean, since we think that the biggest things that we know represent the limits of what Nature can produce in that species.
河流並不都是那麼大，
可對沒見過更大河流的人而言它是巨大的；
最大的樹最大的人也由此而來；
各類我們所知的最大是我們自認為的最大。
Scilicet et fluvius, qui non est maximus, eii est
Qui non ante aliquem majorem vidit, et ingens
Arbor homoque videtur, et omnia de genere omni
Maxima quae vidit quisque, haec ingentia fingit.
[Just as a river may not be all that big, but seems huge to a man who has never seen a bigger one, so, too, for the biggest tree or biggest man: and the biggest thing of any kind which we know is considered huge by us.]
「當我們習慣於看某事時，我們就會習以為常、見慣不怪；我們從不會查找與此相同之事的種種原因。」使我們查找任何事物原因的，不在於其規模，而在於其新奇。
‘Consuetudine oculorum assuescunt animi, neue admirantur neque requirent rationes earum rerum quas semper vident.’
[When we grow used to seeing anything it accustoms our minds to it and we cease to be astonished by it; we never seek the causes of things like that.] What makes us seek the cause of anything is not size but novelity.
5. 我們應更深入了解自己的無知和弱點，以更尊敬的態度評價大自然的無窮力量。有多少不可能的事被值得我們信賴的人證實：如果我們無法確信，那麼我們至少應該保持懷疑。判定它們不可能，無異於輕率地自以為是，自吹自擂我們知道極限在哪裡。如果我們明白不可能與不尋常之間的差異，或者違背大自然進化的規則與違背人類共識之間的差異，那麼就會遵守奇洛在《沒有其麼東西可超越》中所確定的規則：不要輕率地相信，不要輕率地不相信。
5. We ought to judge the infinite power of Nature with more reverence and a greater recognition of our own ignorance and weakness. How many improbable things there are which have been testified to by people worthy of our trust: if we cannot be convinced we should at least remain in suspense. To condemn them as impossible is to be rashly presumptuous, boasting that we know the limits of the possible. If we understood the difference between what is impossible and what is unusual. or between what is against the order of the course of Nature and what is against the common opinion of mankind, then the way to observe that rule laid down by Chilo, Nothing to excess, would be, Not to believe too rashly: not to disbelieve too easily.
10. 除了必然相隨的荒謬鹵莽之外，在我們蔑視自己所不能理解的種種事物時所產生的嚴重後果裡，還存在著一種危險。因為只要你自以為是地設置了真理和謬誤的界定，接著發現有必要相信一些比你所拒絕相信的更為古怪的東西，你就得被迫放棄這些界定。
10. Apart from the absurd rashness which it entails, there is a dangerous boldness of great consequence in despising whatever we cannot understand. For as soon as you have established the frontiers of truth and error with that fine brain of yours and then discover that you must of necessity believe some things even stranger than the ones which you reject, you are already forced to abandon these frontiers.
14. 為何我們無法記住在自己判斷中感覺到的所有矛盾呢？有多少東西昨天對我們來說是信條，而今天在我們看來卻成了無稽之談呢？
14. Why cannot we remember all the contradictions which we feel within our own judgement, and how many things which were articles of belief for us yesterday are fables for us today?
15. 虛榮心和好奇心是我們靈魂的孿生災難。好奇心使我們甚麼都想探聽；而虛榮心又使我們對尚未解決或尚未確定的事妄下結論。
15. Vainglory and curiosity are the twin scourges of our souls. The former makes us stick our noses into everything: the latter forbids us to leave anything unresolved or undecided.
這個譯本從蒙田的《隨筆集》選譯了7篇，譯筆流暢，似乎比起最常見的商務出版社合譯本或是馬振騁的譯本，毫不遜色，或許大家可以試讀看看以下摘要的這一篇。
https://www.books.com.tw/products/0010870067
書名：論友誼
作者：米歇爾‧德‧蒙田
譯者：高黎平、M. A. Screech
出版社：商務印書館
出版日：2020/6
作者簡介
米歇爾‧德‧蒙田（Michel de Montaigne）
法國文藝復興時期哲學家。1533 年生於鄰近法國波爾多的佩里戈爾。家族從事貿易。他早年寄宿於農村家庭，由拉丁語老師教導，他後來並以此為母語。少年時的蒙田在吉耶訥學院學習希臘文、法文、修辭術，後來在圖盧茲大學修讀法律。1557 年起，蒙田在波爾多最高法院任職，後於1565 年結婚。1569 年，他把由西班牙神父兼醫生撰寫的《自然神學》由拉丁文譯成法文。1571 年起，他退居蒙田堡潛心寫作，期間撰寫《隨筆集》。首兩卷在1580 年出版，三卷於1588 年出版。《論友誼》收錄於卷一第28 章。而卷二的〈為塞朋德辯護〉一文，反映蒙田的懷疑主義思想，也是《隨筆集》中最長的一篇。他令散文成為一種文學體裁，並影響多位西方作家，包括培根、笛卡兒、盧梭、愛默生、尼采、阿西莫夫等。
【Excerpt】
〈依靠我們自己的能力來判斷是非那簡直是瘋了〉
That it is madness to judge the true and the false from our own capacities
1. 我們把輕易相信任何事歸因於頭腦簡單，把輕易被人說服歸因於無知，這或許不無道理，因為我想曾經有人教過我，信任就像戳在我們靈魂上的印記：靈魂越柔軟越少抵抗，就越容易將任何事印上：「正如放在天平的砝碼必然要把天平壓低一樣，思想必然要屈服於確鑿的證據。」靈魂越空虛越不會給它提供平衡物，那麼在最初深信的壓力下，其天平就越容易變得搖擺不定。
1. It is not perhaps without good reason that we attribute to simple-mindedness a readiness to believe anything and to ignorance the readiness to be convinced, for I think I was once taught that a belief is like an impression stamped on our soul: the softer and less resisting the soul, the easier it is to print anything on it: ‘Ut necesse est lancem in libra ponderibus impositis deprimi, sic animum perspicuis cedere.’ [‘For just as a weight placed on a balance must weigh it down, so the mind must yield to clear evidence.’ ] The more empty a soul is and the less furnished with counterweights, the more easily its balance will be swayed under the force of its first convictions. That is why children, the common people, women and the sick are more readily led by the nose.
3. 我從前常做這樣的事。如果我聽人講鬼走路，預言、妖術、魔術以及我沒法相信的某種傳說——
3. I used to do that once: if I heard tell of ghosts walking or of prophecies, enchantments, sorcery, or some other tale which I could not get my teeth into -
夢、不可思議的恐怖、奇跡、巫婆、
塞薩利死者或符咒的夜間拜訪
Somnia, terrors magics, miracula, sagas,
Nocturnos lemures portentaque Thessala
[Dreams, magic terrors, miracles, witches, nocturnal visits from
the dead or spells from Thessaly.]
——我常常為受如此愚蠢行為欺騙的人感到悲哀。現在我發現，我過去至少也一樣令人同情。這並不是說經歷隨後向我展現了任何超越我原本相信的事 (在我看來也不是因為缺乏甚麼好奇心)，但是，理智已經教會我們，無論你怎樣指責甚麼東西是絕對錯的和絕不可能的，那麼你就是宣稱了解新領域、上帝的意志和作為我們母親的大自然力量；理智還教會我們，世上沒有甚麼比依賴我們的能力和潛力去給事情下結論更愚蠢的事了。
-I used to feel sorry for the wretched folk who were taken in by such madness. Now I find that I was at least as much to be pitied as they were. It is not that experience has subsequently shown me anything going beyond my original beliefs (nor is it from any lack of curiosity on my part), but reason has taught me that. if you condemn in this way anything whatever as definitely false and quite impossible, you are claiming to know the frontiers and bounds of the will of God and the power of Nature our Mother. it taught me also that there is nothing in the whole world madder than bringing matters down to the measure of our own capacities and potentialities.
4. 如果我們不把這些法則運用到超越我們理解的事情上，那麼在生活中，不知有多少怪異或令人驚訝的事！如果考慮到我們不得不穿過一團迷霧，只是為了弄明白我們已掌握的東西，我們肯定會發現，不是知識而是習慣令事物不再怪異；
4. How many of the things which constantly come into our purview must be deemed monstrous or miraculous if we apply such terms to anything which outstrips our reason! If we consider that we have to grope through a fog even to understand the very things we hold in our hands, then we will certainly find that it is not knowledge but habit which takes away their strangeness;
因為生活已使人滿足並令人感到厭倦，
現在已沒有人再注視天堂閃光的神殿；
Jam nemo, fessus satiate vivendi,
Suspicere in coeli dignatur lucida temple;
[Already now, tired and satiated with life, nobody bothers to gaze up at the shining temples of the heavens:]
如果這樣的東西新近呈現在我們面前，那麼它們似乎與其他東西一樣令人難以置信；
such things, if they were newly presented to us, would seem as unbelievable as any others;
假使現在第一次將它們
突然間呈現給凡人的話：
沒甚麼稱得上更為非凡；
國人不敢相信這些東西。
si nunc primum mortalibus adsint
Ex improvise, ceu sint objecta repente,
Nil magis his rebus poterat mirabile dici,
Aut minus ante quod auderent fore credere gentes.
[supposing that now, for the first time, they were suddenly shown to mortal men: nothing could be called more miraculous; such things the nations would not have dared to believe.]
從未真正見過河的人第一次遇到一條河，會誤認為是海洋，因為我們認為，我們所知的最大的東西，是自然中同類物之中最大的。
He who had never actually seen a river, the first time he did so took it for the ocean, since we think that the biggest things that we know represent the limits of what Nature can produce in that species.
河流並不都是那麼大，
可對沒見過更大河流的人而言它是巨大的；
最大的樹最大的人也由此而來；
各類我們所知的最大是我們自認為的最大。
Scilicet et fluvius, qui non est maximus, eii est
Qui non ante aliquem majorem vidit, et ingens
Arbor homoque videtur, et omnia de genere omni
Maxima quae vidit quisque, haec ingentia fingit.
[Just as a river may not be all that big, but seems huge to a man who has never seen a bigger one, so, too, for the biggest tree or biggest man: and the biggest thing of any kind which we know is considered huge by us.]
「當我們習慣於看某事時，我們就會習以為常、見慣不怪；我們從不會查找與此相同之事的種種原因。」使我們查找任何事物原因的，不在於其規模，而在於其新奇。
‘Consuetudine oculorum assuescunt animi, neue admirantur neque requirent rationes earum rerum quas semper vident.’
[When we grow used to seeing anything it accustoms our minds to it and we cease to be astonished by it; we never seek the causes of things like that.] What makes us seek the cause of anything is not size but novelity.
5. 我們應更深入了解自己的無知和弱點，以更尊敬的態度評價大自然的無窮力量。有多少不可能的事被值得我們信賴的人證實：如果我們無法確信，那麼我們至少應該保持懷疑。判定它們不可能，無異於輕率地自以為是，自吹自擂我們知道極限在哪裡。如果我們明白不可能與不尋常之間的差異，或者違背大自然進化的規則與違背人類共識之間的差異，那麼就會遵守奇洛在《沒有其麼東西可超越》中所確定的規則：不要輕率地相信，不要輕率地不相信。
5. We ought to judge the infinite power of Nature with more reverence and a greater recognition of our own ignorance and weakness. How many improbable things there are which have been testified to by people worthy of our trust: if we cannot be convinced we should at least remain in suspense. To condemn them as impossible is to be rashly presumptuous, boasting that we know the limits of the possible. If we understood the difference between what is impossible and what is unusual. or between what is against the order of the course of Nature and what is against the common opinion of mankind, then the way to observe that rule laid down by Chilo, Nothing to excess, would be, Not to believe too rashly: not to disbelieve too easily.
10. 除了必然相隨的荒謬鹵莽之外，在我們蔑視自己所不能理解的種種事物時所產生的嚴重後果裡，還存在著一種危險。因為只要你自以為是地設置了真理和謬誤的界定，接著發現有必要相信一些比你所拒絕相信的更為古怪的東西，你就得被迫放棄這些界定。
10. Apart from the absurd rashness which it entails, there is a dangerous boldness of great consequence in despising whatever we cannot understand. For as soon as you have established the frontiers of truth and error with that fine brain of yours and then discover that you must of necessity believe some things even stranger than the ones which you reject, you are already forced to abandon these frontiers.
14. 為何我們無法記住在自己判斷中感覺到的所有矛盾呢？有多少東西昨天對我們來說是信條，而今天在我們看來卻成了無稽之談呢？
14. Why cannot we remember all the contradictions which we feel within our own judgement, and how many things which were articles of belief for us yesterday are fables for us today?
15. 虛榮心和好奇心是我們靈魂的孿生災難。好奇心使我們甚麼都想探聽；而虛榮心又使我們對尚未解決或尚未確定的事妄下結論。
15. Vainglory and curiosity are the twin scourges of our souls. The former makes us stick our noses into everything: the latter forbids us to leave anything unresolved or undecided.
自訂分類：Selected & Extracts
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