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the essays of montaigne, v5-第8章

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Great; who sweated in the shade and shivered in the sun?  I have seen
those who have run from the smell of a mellow apple with greater
precipitation than from a harquebuss…shot; others afraid of a mouse;
others vomit at the sight of cream; others ready to swoon at the making
of a feather bed; Germanicus could neither endure the sight nor the
crowing of a cock。  I will not deny; but that there may; peradventure;
be some occult cause and natural aversion in these cases; but; in my
opinion; a man might conquer it; if he took it in time。  Precept has in
this wrought so effectually upon me; though not without some pains on my
part; I confess; that beer excepted; my appetite accommodates itself
indifferently to all sorts of diet。  Young bodies are supple; one should;
therefore; in that age bend and ply them to all fashions and customs: and
provided a man can contain the appetite and the will within their due
limits; let a young man; in God's name; be rendered fit for all nations
and all companies; even to debauchery and excess; if need be; that is;
where he shall do it out of complacency to the customs of the place。
Let him be able to do everything; but love to do nothing but what is
good。  The philosophers themselves do not justify Callisthenes for
forfeiting the favour of his master Alexander the Great; by refusing to
pledge him a cup of wine。  Let him laugh; play; wench with his prince:
nay; I would have him; even in his debauches; too hard for the rest of
the company; and to excel his companions in ability and vigour; and that
he may not give over doing it; either through defect of power or
knowledge how to do it; but for want of will。

     〃Multum interest; utrum peccare ali quis nolit; an nesciat。〃

     '〃There is a vast difference betwixt forbearing to sin; and not
     knowing how to sin。〃Seneca; Ep。; 90'

I thought I passed a compliment upon a lord; as free from those excesses
as any man in France; by asking him before a great deal of very good
company; how many times in his life he had been drunk in Germany; in the
time of his being there about his Majesty's affairs; which he also took
as it was intended; and made answer; 〃Three times〃; and withal told us
the whole story of his debauches。  I know some who; for want of this
faculty; have found a great inconvenience in negotiating with that
nation。  I have often with great admiration reflected upon the wonderful
constitution of Alcibiades; who so easily could transform himself to so
various fashions without any prejudice to his health; one while outdoing
the Persian pomp and luxury; and another; the Lacedaemonian austerity and
frugality; as reformed in Sparta; as voluptuous in Ionia:

          〃Omnis Aristippum decuit color; et status; et res。〃

     '〃Every complexion of life; and station; and circumstance became
     Aristippus。〃Horace; Ep。; xvii。 23。'

I would have my pupil to be such an one;

                    〃Quem duplici panno patentia velat;
               Mirabor; vitae via si conversa decebit;
               Personamque feret non inconcinnus utramque。〃

     '〃I should admire him who with patience bearing a patched garment;
     bears well a changed fortune; acting both parts equally well。〃
     Horace Ep。; xvii。 25。'

These are my lessons; and he who puts them in practice shall reap more
advantage than he who has had them read to him only; and so only knows
them。  If you see him; you hear him; if you hear him; you see him。  God
forbid; says one in Plato; that to philosophise were only to read a great
many books; and to learn the arts。

          〃Hanc amplissimam omnium artium bene vivendi disciplinam;
          vita magis quam literis; persequuti sunt。〃

     '〃They have proceeded to this discipline of living well; which of
     all arts is the greatest; by their lives; rather than by their
     reading。〃Cicero; Tusc。 Quaes。; iv。 3。'

Leo; prince of the Phliasians; asking Heraclides Ponticus 'It was not
Heraclides of Pontus who made this answer; but Pythagoras。'of what art
or science he made profession: 〃I know;〃 said he; 〃neither art nor
science; but I am a philosopher。〃  One reproaching Diogenes that; being
ignorant; he should pretend to philosophy; 〃I therefore;〃 answered he;
〃pretend to it with so much the more reason。〃  Hegesias entreated that he
would read a certain book to him: 〃You are pleasant;〃 said he; 〃you
choose those figs that are true and natural; and not those that are
painted; why do you not also choose exercises which are naturally true;
rather than those written?〃

The lad will not so much get his lesson by heart as he will practise it:
he will repeat it in his actions。  We shall discover if there be prudence
in his exercises; if there be sincerity and justice in his deportment; if
there be grace and judgment in his speaking; if there be constancy in his
sickness; if there be modesty in his mirth; temperance in his pleasures;
order in his domestic economy; indifference in palate; whether what he
eats or drinks be flesh or fish; wine or water:

     〃Qui disciplinam suam non ostentationem scientiae; sed legem vitae
     putet: quique obtemperet ipse sibi; et decretis pareat。〃

     '〃Who considers his own discipline; not as a vain ostentation of
     science; but as a law and rule of life; and who obeys his own
     decrees; and the laws he has prescribed for himself。〃
     Cicero; Tusc。  Quaes。; ii。 4。'

The conduct of our lives is the true mirror of our doctrine。  Zeuxidamus;
to one who asked him; why the Lacedaemonians did not commit their
constitutions of chivalry to writing; and deliver them to their young men
to read; made answer; that it was because they would inure them to
action; and not amuse them with words。  With such a one; after fifteen or
sixteen years' study; compare one of our college Latinists; who has
thrown away so much time in nothing but learning to speak。  The world is
nothing but babble; and I hardly ever yet saw that man who did not rather
prate too much; than speak too little。  And yet half of our age is
embezzled this way: we are kept four or five years to learn words only;
and to tack them together into clauses; as many more to form them into a
long discourse; divided into four or five parts; and other five years; at
least; to learn succinctly to mix and interweave them after a subtle and
intricate manner let us leave all this to those who make a profession of
it。

Going one day to Orleans; I met in that plain on this side Clery; two
pedants who were travelling towards Bordeaux; about fifty paces distant
from one another; and; a good way further behind them; I discovered a
troop of horse; with a gentleman at the head of them; who was the late
Monsieur le Comte de la Rochefoucauld。  One of my people inquired of the
foremost of these masters of arts; who that gentleman was that came after
him; he; having not seen the train that followed after; and thinking his
companion was meant; pleasantly answered; 〃He is not a gentleman; he is a
grammarian; and I am a logician。〃  Now we who; quite contrary; do not
here pretend to breed a grammarian or a logician; but a gentleman; let us
leave them to abuse their leisure; our business lies elsewhere。  Let but
our pupil be well furnished with things; words will follow but too fast;
he will pull them after him if they do not voluntarily follow。  I have
observed some to make excuses; that they cannot express themselves; and
pretend to have their fancies full of a great many very fine things;
which yet; for want of eloquence; they cannot utter; 'tis a mere shift;
and nothing else。  Will you know what I think of it?  I think they are
nothing but shadows of some imperfect images and conceptions that they
know not what to make of within; nor consequently bring out; they do not
yet themselves understand what they would be at; and if you but observe
how they haggle and stammer upon the point of parturition; you will soon
conclude; that their labour is not to delivery; but about conception; and
that they are but licking their formless embryo。  For my part; I hold;
and Socrates commands it; that whoever has in his mind a sprightly and
clear imagination; he will express it well enough in one kind of tongue
or another; and; if he be dumb; by signs

               〃Verbaque praevisam rem non invita sequentur;〃

     '〃Once a thing is conceived in the mind; the words to express it
     soon present themselves。〃 (〃The words will not reluctantly follow the
     thing preconceived。〃)Horace; De Arte Poetica。 v。 311'

And as another as poetically says in his prose:

          〃Quum res animum occupavere; verbs ambiunt;〃

     '〃When things are once in the mind; the words offer themselves
     readily。〃  (〃When things have taken possession of the mind; the
     words trip。〃)Seneca; Controvers。; iii。  proem。'

and this other。

                    〃Ipsae res verbs rapiunt。〃

     '〃The things themselves force the words to express them。〃
     Cicero; De Finib。; iii。  5。'

He knows nothing of ablative; conjunctive; substantive; or grammar; no
more than his lackey; or a fishwife of the Petit Pont; and yet these will
give you a bellyful of talk; if you wil
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