每天讀一點(diǎn)英文 那些激勵我前行的身影 28 申辯-蘇格拉底
蘇格拉底：申辯
Men of Athens, this reputation of mine has come of a certain sort of wisdom which I possess. If you ask me what kind of wisdom, I reply, such wisdom as is attainable by man, for to that extent I am inclined to believe that I am wise; whereas the persons of whom I was speaking have a superhuman wisdom, which I may fail to describe, because I have it not myself; and he who says that I have, speaks falsely, and is taking away my character.
雅典人啊，我無非由于某種智慧而得此不虞之譽(yù)。何種智慧?也許只不過人的智慧?；蛘呶艺嬗羞@種智慧。方才我所提的那些人也許有過人的智慧。我不知道如何讓形容他們的智慧，因我對那種智慧一竅不通。說我有那種智慧的人說謊，是對我偽作飛揚(yáng)謗訕之語。
And here, O men of Athens, I must beg you not to interrupt me, even if I seem to say something extravagant. For the word which I will speak is not mine. I will refer you to a witness who is worthy of credit, and will tell you about my wisdom - whether I have any, and of what sort - and that witness shall be the god of Delphi. You must have known Chaerephon; he was early a friend of mine, and also a friend of yours, for he shared in the exile of the people, and returned with you.
雅典人啊，那使我對你們顯得說大話，也不要高聲阻撓我;我說的不是自己的話，是引證你們認(rèn)為有分量的言語。我如果真有智慧，什么智慧、何種智慧，有帯勒弗伊的神為證。你們認(rèn)識海勒豐罷，他是我的總角之交，也是你們多數(shù)黨的同志，和你們同被放逐、同回來得。
Well, Chaerephon, as you know, was very impetuous in all his doings, and he went to Delphi and boldly asked the oracle to tell him whether - as I was saying, I must beg you not to interrupt - he asked the oracle to tell him whether there was anyone wiser than I was, and the Pythian prophetess answered that there was no man wiser. Chaerephon is dead himself, but his brother, who is in court, will confirm the truth of this story.
你們了解他是何如人，對事何等激進(jìn)熱誠。又一次他竟敢去帯勒弗伊求讖;諸位不要截?cái)辔业脑?他問神，有人智過于我否?辟提亞的讖答曰：“無也。”如今海勒豐已故，他的令弟在此，能對你們作證。
Why do I mention this? Because I am going to explain to you why I have such an evil name. When I heard the answer, I said to myself, What can the god mean? and what is the interpretation of this riddle? for I know that I have no wisdom, small or great. What can he mean when he says that I am the wisest of men? And yet he is a god and cannot lie; that would be against his nature.
你們想，我為什么提起這話，因?yàn)橐嬖V你們，對我的謗訕何從而起。我聽了神的話，胸中懷此疑團(tuán)：“神的話究竟個何所指，他出了何謎?我自信毫無智慧，他說我最有智慧，究竟何所云?按其本性，神決不會說謊。”
After a long consideration, I at last thought of a method of trying the question. I reflected that if I could only find a man wiser than myself, then I might go to the god with a refutation in my hand. I should say to him, "Here is a man who is wiser than I am; but you said that I was the wisest."
神的話何所云，好久我的疑團(tuán)不能解。后來用很大力氣去探討他的真意。我訪了一位以智慧著稱的人，想在彼處反駁神讖，覆讖語曰：“此人智過于我，你卻說我最智慧。”
Accordingly I went to one who had the reputation of wisdom, and observed to him - his name I need not mention; he was a politician whom I selected for examination - and the result was as follows: When I began to talk with him, I could not help thinking that he was not really wise, although he was thought wise by many, and wiser still by himself; and I went and tried to explain to him that he thought himself wise, but was not really wise; and the consequence was that he hated me, and his enmity was shared by several who were present and heard me.
我見了此人，——不必舉其姓名，他是一個政治人物，——我對他的印象如此;和他交談以后，覺得此人對他人，對許多人，尤其是對自己，顯得有智慧，可是不然。于是我設(shè)法向他指出，他自以為智，其實(shí)不智。結(jié)果，我被他恨，被在場的許多人恨。
So I left him, saying to myself, as I went away: Well, although I do not suppose that either of us knows anything really beautiful and good, I am better off than he is - for he knows nothing, and thinks that he knows. I neither know nor think that I know. In this latter particular, then, I seem to have slightly the advantage of him. Then I went to another, who had still higher philosophical pretensions, and my conclusion was exactly the same. I made another enemy of him, and of many others besides him.
我離開后，自己盤算著：“我是智過此人，我與他3一無所知，可是他以不知為知，我以不知為不知。我想，就在這細(xì)節(jié)上，我確實(shí)比他聰明：我不以所不知為知。”再訪比他更以智慧著稱的人，也發(fā)現(xiàn)了同樣情況。于是除他以外，我又結(jié)怨于許多人。
After this I went to one man after another, being not unconscious of the enmity which I provoked, and I lamented and feared this: but necessity was laid upon me - the word of God, I thought, ought to be considered first.
此后，我一一去訪，明知會結(jié)怨，滿腔苦惱、恐懼，可是必須把神的差事放在首要地位。
And I said to myself, Go I must to all who appear to know, and find out the meaning of the oracle. And I swear to you, Athenians, by the dog I swear! - for I must tell you the truth - the result of my mission was just this: I found that the men most in repute were all but the most foolish; and that some inferior men were really wiser and better.
為了探求神讖的真意，我必須出發(fā)去訪以智慧的著稱的人。指犬為誓，雅典人啊，我必須對你們說實(shí)話;卻是，我所得得經(jīng)驗(yàn)如此;我秉神諭出訪時，發(fā)現(xiàn)名最高的人幾乎最缺乏智慧，其他名較低的人卻較近于有學(xué)識。
I will tell you the tale of my wanderings and of the "Herculean" labors, as I may call them, which I endured only to find at last the oracle irrefutable. When I left the politicians, I went to the poets; tragic, dithyrambic, and all sorts.
我要對你們敘述我在出訪中所做的苦工，以證明讖語之不可反駁。訪政客們以后，訪了各體——詠史、頌神以及其他——的詩人，想在現(xiàn)場證明我比他們不學(xué)無術(shù)。
And there, I said to myself, you will be detected; now you will find out that you are more ignorant than they are. Accordingly, I took them some of the most elaborate passages in their own writings, and asked what was the meaning of them - thinking that they would teach me something. Will you believe me? I am almost ashamed to speak of this, but still I must say that there is hardly a person present who would not have talked better about their poetry than they did themselves.
以其精心結(jié)構(gòu)的作品質(zhì)問他們其中的意義，本想同時能得到一些指教。諸位，我感覺難為情對你們說實(shí)話，可又不得不說。幾乎所有在場的人講他們的詩都比他們本人講得好。因此我發(fā)現(xiàn)，詩人作詩不是出于智慧，其作品成于天機(jī)之靈感，如神誣和預(yù)言家之流常作譏諷語而不自知其所云，我想詩人所感受亦復(fù)如此。
That showed me in an instant that not by wisdom do poets write poetry, but by a sort of genius and inspiration; they are like diviners or soothsayers who also say many fine things, but do not understand the meaning of them. And the poets appeared to me to be much in the same case; and I further observed that upon the strength of their poetry they believed themselves to be the wisest of men in other things in which they were not wise. So I departed, conceiving myself to be superior to them for the same reason that I was superior to the politicians.
同時我發(fā)現(xiàn)，詩人們因其會作詩，其他方面便自以為智在人人之上，成了出類拔萃人物，其實(shí)不然。我離開他們，我超過他們，正如我超過政客們。
At last I went to the artisans, for I was conscious that I knew nothing at all, as I may say, and I was sure that they knew many fine things; and in this I was not mistaken, for they did know many things of which I was ignorant, and in this they certainly were wiser than I was.
最后去訪手工藝人。自知對這方面一無所知，也相信會發(fā)現(xiàn)他們這方面的知識很豐富。
But I observed that even the good artisans fell into the same error as the poets; because they were good workmen they thought that they also knew all sorts of high matters, and this defect in them overshadowed their wisdom - therefore I asked myself on behalf of the oracle, whether I would like to be as I was, neither having their knowledge nor their ignorance, or like them in both; and I made answer to myself and the oracle that I was better off as I was.
卻是我沒有被欺，這方面我所不知的他們盡知，在這方面，他們智過于我。可是，雅典人啊，好藝人竟和詩人犯同樣錯誤，因有一技之長，個個自以為一切都通，在其他絕大事業(yè)并居上智。這種錯見反而掩蓋了他們固有的智慧。因此，關(guān)于神的讖語，捫心自問：保持自我的操守，不似彼輩之智，亦不似彼輩之愚呢?或是效他們之亦智亦愚?最終我自答并答讖語;：還是保持故我好。
This investigation has led to my having many enemies of the worst and most dangerous kind, and has given occasion also to many calumnies, and I am called wise, for my hearers always imagine that I myself possess the wisdom which I find wanting in others: but the truth is, O men of Athens, that God only is wise; and in this oracle he means to say that the wisdom of men is little or nothing; he is not speaking of Socrates, he is only using my name as an illustration, as if he said, He, O men, is the wisest, who, like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing.
由于這樣的考察，雅典人啊，許多深仇勁敵指向我，對我散布了許多誣蔑宣傳，于是我冒了智者的不虞之譽(yù)。在場的人見我揭穿了他人的愚昧，便以為他人所不知我知之;其實(shí)，諸君啊，唯有神真有智慧。神的讖語是說，人的智慧渺小，不算什么;并不是說蘇格拉底最有智慧，不過藉我的名字，以我為例，提醒世人，仿佛是說：“世人啊，你們之中，惟有蘇格拉到底這樣的人最有智慧，因他自知其智實(shí)在不算什么。”
And so I go my way, obedient to the god, and make inquisition into the wisdom of anyone, whether citizen or stranger, who appears to be wise; and if he is not wise, then in vindication of the oracle I show him that he is not wise; and this occupation quite absorbs me, and I have no time to give either to any public matter of interest or to any concern of my own, but I am in utter poverty by reason of my devotion to the god.
甚至如今，我仍然遵循神的旨意，到處察訪我所認(rèn)為有智慧的，不論邦人或異邦人;每見以人不智，便為神添個佐證，指出此人不智。為了這宗事業(yè)，我不暇顧及國事、家事;因?yàn)樯穹?wù)，我竟至于一貧如洗。
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