卷七06
7.21 But, my good friend, reflect whether that which is noble and good is not something different from saving and being saved; for as to a man living such or such a time, at least one who is really a man, consider if this is not a thing to be dismissed from the thoughts: and there must be no love of life: but as to these matters a man must intrust them to the deity and believe what the women say, that no man can escape his destiny, the next inquiry being how he may best live the time that he has to live.
7.22 Look round at the courses of the stars, as if thou wert going along with them; and constantly consider the changes of the elements into one another; for such thoughts purge away the filth of the terrene life.
7.23 This is a fine saying of Plato: That he who is discoursing about men should look also at earthly things as if he viewed them from some higher place; should look at them in their assemblies, armies, agricultural labours, marriages, treaties, births, deaths, noise of the courts of justice, desert places, various nations of barbarians, feasts, lamentations, markets, a mixture of all things and an orderly combination of contraries.
7.24 Consider the past; such great changes of political supremacies. Thou mayest foresee also the things which will be. For they will certainly be of like form, and it is not possible that they should deviate from the order of the things which take place now: accordingly to have contemplated human life for forty years is the same as to have contemplated it for ten thousand years. For what more wilt thou see?
先尝试自己翻译一下吧,参考译文见下:
中文翻译: 7.21 我的好朋友,且想想那高贵的和善的事情是不是某种与拯救和得救不同的事情;因为对一个生活这么长或那么长一段时间的人、至少是一个真正的人来说,考虑一下,是否这不是一件脱离这种思想的事情:那儿一定不存在对生命的任何爱恋,但关于这些事情,一个人必须把它们托付给神,并相信命运女神所说的,没有谁能逃脱自己的命运,接着要探究的是:他如何才能最好地度过他必须度过的这一段时间。
7.22 环视星球的运动,仿佛你是和它们一起运行,不断地考虑元素的嬗递变化,因为这种思想将濯去尘世生命的污秽。
7.23 这是柏拉图的一个很好的说法:谈论人们的人,也应当以仿佛是从某个更高的地方俯视的方式来观察世事,应当从人们的聚集、军事、农业劳动、婚姻、谈判、生死、法庭的吵闹、不毛之地、各种野蛮民族、饮宴、哀恸、市场、各种事情的混合和各个国家的有秩序的联合来看待他们。
7.24 想想过去,政治霸权的如此巨变。你也可以预见将要发生的事情。因为它们肯定是形式相似的,它们不可能偏离现在发生的事物的秩序轨道,因此思考四十年的人类生活就跟思考一万年的人类生活一样。因为你怎么能看到更多的东西呢? |