Of Books　論書

Of Books

論　書

Michel de Montaigne

蒙田

作者簡介

蒙田（Michel de Montaigne，1533—1592），文藝復興時期最有影響力的法國作家之一，歐洲近代散文的創(chuàng)始人，代表作為晚年所著的《蒙田隨筆》（Essays）。

在《蒙田隨筆》中，蒙田幾乎無所不談，日常生活、傳統(tǒng)習俗、人生哲理等均有涉及，他還旁征博引了許多古希臘、古羅馬作家的論述。各章篇幅長短不一，文章結構隨意自然，文字平易通暢，語言生動睿智。該書與《培根人生論》（Bacon's Essays）和《帕斯卡爾思想錄》（Pascal's Pensées）一起，被譽為歐洲近代哲理散文三大經(jīng)典。

本文選自1575年出版的《蒙田隨筆》中關于閱讀的篇目。除了感受散文之美，讀者還可領略蒙田本人評價甚高的小說、詩歌、史論，以及“閱讀時遇到困難，從不死鉆牛角尖”的風采。

I seek, in the reading of books, only to please myself by an honest diversion; or, if I study, it's for no other science than what treats of the knowledge of myself, and instructs me how to die and how to live well.

我讀書只求以誠實的方式取悅自己?；蛘哒f，如果我是在研究的話，我只研究涉及自身的知識，它會指導我如何充實地生活，如何從容地死去。

I do not bite my nails about the difficulties I meet with in my reading; after a charge or two, I give them over. Should I insist upon them, I should both lose myself and time; for I have an impatient understanding, that must be satisfied at first: what I do not discern at once is by persistence rendered more obscure. I do nothing without gaiety; continuation and a too obstinate endeavour, darkens, stupefies, and tires my judgment. My sight is confounded and dissipated with poring; I must withdraw it, and refer my discovery to new attempts.

閱讀遇到困難時，我從不死鉆牛角尖;反復思量仍無結果，我便將它們放棄。若要打破沙鍋問到底，只會既耗時又費力;因為我缺乏耐心，希望初次閱讀就能理解;如果不能立刻領悟，堅持下去只會更加糊涂。我做事需要愉快的心情，太過努力、孜孜以求，會影響我的判斷力，讓我變得糊涂、麻木、疲憊不堪?？嘧x會讓我的視力變得模糊、渙散;我必須稍事休息，再去尋找新發(fā)現(xiàn)。

If one book does not please me, I take another; and I never meddle with any, but at such times as I am weary of doing nothing. I care not much for new ones, because the old seem fuller and stronger; neither do I converse much with Greek authors, because my judgment cannot do its work with imperfect intelligence of the material.

如果一本書不能取悅我，我便取出另一本;只有當我對什么事都提不起精神時，才胡亂翻書。我不在乎新書，因為舊書似乎更充實、更強大;我也不與希臘作家對話，因為我對希臘文一知半解，無法作出良好的判斷。

Amongst books that are simply pleasant, of the moderns, Boccaccio's Decameron, Rabelais, and the Basia of Johannes Secundus (if those may be ranged under the title) are worth reading for amusement. As to the Amadis, and such kind of stuff, they had not the credit of arresting even my childhood. And I will, moreover, say, whether boldly or rashly, that this old, heavy soul of mine is now no longer tickled with Ariosto, no, nor with the worthy Ovid; his facility and inventions, with which I was formerly so ravished, are now of no more relish, and I can hardly have the patience to read them.

在單純有趣的書里，薄伽丘的《十日談》、拉伯雷的作品、約翰尼斯·塞昆德斯的《巴西亞》(如果它們可以歸為一類的話)都值得現(xiàn)代人讀來取樂。至于《阿瑪?shù)纤埂泛皖愃谱髌?，從小到大，它們從來沒有吸引過我。此外，我要不揣冒昧地說，阿里奧斯托如今已打動不了我這老朽沉重的靈魂，就連可敬的奧維德也無能為力;奧維德的技巧和創(chuàng)意過去曾令我陶醉不已，如今卻讓我提不起胃口。我?guī)缀鯖]有耐心再讀他們的著作。

But, to pursue the business of this essay, I have always thought that, in poesy, Virgil, Lucretius, Catullus, and Horace by many degrees excel the rest; and signally, Virgil in his Georgics, which I look upon as the most accomplished piece in poetry; and in comparison of which a man may easily discern that there are some places in his Aeneids, to which the author would have given a little more of the file, had he had leisure; and the fifth book of his Aeneids seems to me the most perfect. I also love Lucan, and willingly read him, not so much for his style, as for his own worth, and the truth and solidity of his opinions and judgments. As for good Terence, the refined elegance and grace of the Latin tongue, I find him admirable in his vivid representation of our manners and the movements of the soul; our actions throw me at every turn upon him; and I cannot read him so often that I do not still discover some new grace and beauty. Such as lived near Virgil's time complained that some should compare Lucretius to him. I am of opinion that the comparison is, in truth, very unequal: a belief that, nevertheless, I have much ado to assure myself in, when I come upon some excellent passage in Lucretius. But if they were so angry at this comparison, what would they say to the brutish and barbarous stupidity of those who, nowadays, compare him with Ariosto? Would not Ariosto himself say?

但為了將這篇文章寫下去，我一直認為，維吉爾、盧克萊修、卡圖盧斯和賀拉斯的詩歌可謂出類拔萃，其中，又以維吉爾的《農(nóng)事詩》最為突出——我認為這部作品已臻化境。相比之下，他的《埃涅阿斯記》則很容易挑出瑕疵。倘若作者有空加以潤色，這部書的質量還能有所提升。在我看來，《埃涅阿斯記》的第五卷最為完美。我也喜愛盧坎，愿意讀他的作品。讓我著迷的不是他的寫作風格，而是作者的個人價值和真知灼見。至于親愛的泰倫提烏斯1，他那精煉典雅的拉丁語，以及對人物風貌和精神活動的生動描繪，都讓我欽佩不已。在生活的每個轉折點上，我都會請求他的指點;他的作品常讀常新，我總能從中發(fā)現(xiàn)新的雅致和優(yōu)美之處。與維吉爾同時代的讀者抱怨說，人們應該將他與盧克萊修相提并論。我自己認為，這種比較實際上有失公允。然而，讀到盧克萊修的某些精彩段落時，我會質疑自己原本的判斷。但如果他們看不慣這種比較，那么看到今天人們將他和阿里奧斯托相比，面對這種野蠻而愚蠢的做法，他們又會說些什么?阿里奧斯托自己不會這么說嗎?

The first, without being moved, or without getting angry, make themselves sufficiently felt; they have matter enough of laughter throughout, they need not tickle themselves; the others have need of foreign assistance; as they have the less wit they must have the more body; they mount on horseback, because they are not able to stand on their own legs. As in our balls, those mean fellows who teach to dance, not being able to represent the presence and dignity of our noblesse, are fain to put themselves forward with dangerous jumping, and other strange motions and tumblers tricks; and the ladies are less put to it in dance; where there are various coupees, changes, and quick motions of body, than in some other of a more sedate kind, where they are only to move a natural pace, and to represent their ordinary grace and presence. And so I have seen good drolls, when in their own everyday clothes, and with the same face they always wear, give us all the pleasure of their art, when their apprentices, not yet arrived at such a pitch of perfection, are fain to meal their faces, put themselves into ridiculous disguises, and make a hundred grotesque faces to give us whereat to laugh. This conception of mine is nowhere more demonstrable than in comparing the Aeneid with Orlando Furioso; of which we see the first, by dint of wing, flying in a brave and lofty place, and always following his point; the latter, fluttering and hopping from tale to tale, as from branch to branch, not daring to trust his wings but in very short flights, and perching at every turn, lest his breath and strength should fail.

有些人無需煽情，也無需激怒讀者，就能充分表達情感;他們不必硬生生逗人發(fā)笑，因為信手拈來盡是笑料。其他人則需要外援;他們智慧不足，只好求助于肢體語言;他們要騎上馬背，因為無法靠自己的雙腿站立。就像在我們的舞會上，那些庸俗的舞女無從展示貴族的尊貴氣質，不得不翻跟頭、?；?，靠奇怪而危險的動作引人注目。淑女們則很少采用這些花樣。有各種向舞伴施禮、變換位置、迅速搖擺身體的舞步，也有較為平穩(wěn)沉靜的舞步，即以自然的步調展現(xiàn)普通的優(yōu)雅和端莊。同樣，我見過優(yōu)秀的滑稽演員，哪怕穿著日常服飾、臉上不施油彩，也能充分展示滑稽藝術的魅力;而火候不夠的學徒們，則不得不涂脂抹粉、穿上奇裝異服、扮出種種怪相，才能惹人發(fā)笑。我的這個觀點，通過比較《埃涅阿斯記》和《瘋狂的羅蘭》就能很好地詮釋。在《埃涅阿斯記》中，作者盡情伸展雙翅，勇敢高傲地飛翔，總是追隨自己的論點。而在《瘋狂的羅蘭》中，作者拍打著翅膀，從一個故事跳到另一個故事，就像從一個枝頭跳到另一個枝頭，不相信自己的翅膀能夠勝任長途飛行，只好四處歇息，生怕因不得喘息和乏力而掉落天際。

These, then, as to this sort of subjects, are the authors that best please me.

就這個主題而言，這些正是最能取悅我的作家。

As to what concerns my other reading, that mixes a little more profit with the pleasure, and whence I learn how to marshal my opinions and conditions, the books that serve me to this purpose are Plutarch, since he has been translated into French, and Seneca. Both of these have this notable convenience suited to my humour, that the knowledge I there seek is discoursed in loose pieces, that do not require from me any trouble of reading long, of which I am incapable. Such are the minor works of the first and the epistles of the latter, which are the best and most profiting of all their writings. It is no great attempt to take one of them in hand, and I give over at pleasure; for they have no sequence or dependence upon one another.

至于我閱讀的其他作品，比取悅自己更具教益。從這些書里，我學會了如何將自身觀點與所處情景相結合。在這一點上，普魯塔克2(因為他的作品被成了法文)和塞內加對我有所幫助。他們兩人的文字都舉重若輕，與我的幽默感相通。他們采用的文體都簡短零散，省去了我讀長篇大論的麻煩——我也讀不動長篇大論。普魯塔克的短篇和塞內加的書信，是兩人最優(yōu)秀、最有教益的作品。這些作品沒有先后順序和相關聯(lián)系，任選一篇讀來都會讓我樂而忘返。

* * *

我缺乏耐心，希望初次閱讀就能理解；如果不能立刻領悟，堅持下去只會更加糊涂。

Michel de Montaigne 蒙田

* * *

————————————————————

1．泰倫提烏斯（Publius Terentius Afer，約前190—前159），古羅馬喜劇作家，名字在英語中常作Terence。他的喜劇觸及各種現(xiàn)實問題，特別是家庭關系和愛情婚姻問題。

2．普魯塔克（Plutarch，46—125），古羅馬作家，著有《希臘羅馬名人傳》，對后世的傳記文學影響極大。他擅長刻畫人物形象，注重心理描寫，喜歡夾敘夾議和利用史料引申觀點，風格獨樹一幟。