《四季随笔》是吉辛的散文代表作。其中对隐士赖克罗夫特醉心于书籍、自然景色与回忆过去生活的描述，其实是吉辛的自述，作者以此来抒发自己的情感，因而本书是一部富有自传色彩的小品文集。

吉辛穷困的一生，对文学名著的爱好与追求，以及对大自然恬静生活的向往，在书中均有充分的反映。本书分为春、夏、秋、冬四个部分，文笔优美，行文流畅，是英国文学中小品文的珍品之一。

以下是由网友分享的《四季随笔》节选 - 秋 13的内容，让我们一起来感受吉辛的四季吧!

Many a time, when life went hard with me, I have betaken myself to the Stoics, and not all in vain. Marcus Aurelius25 has often been one of my bedside books; I have read him in the night watches, when I could not sleep for misery, and when assuredly I could have read nothing else. He did not remove my burden; his proofs of the vanity of earthly troubles availed me nothing; but there was a soothing harmony in his thought which partly lulled my mind, and the mere wish that I could find strength to emulate that high example (though I knew that I never should) was in itself a safeguard against the baser impulses of wretchedness. I read him still, but with no turbid emotion, thinking rather of the man than of the philosophy, and holding his image dear in my heart of hearts.

在生活艰难的许多时候，我会向斯多葛教派寻求慰藉，结果并非无益。马可·奥勒利乌斯的作品经常是我的枕边书，我曾在因为痛苦无法入眠而守着漫漫长夜时阅读他，那时别的书根本无法读进去。他并没有解除我的负担，他对尘世一切烦扰皆虚妄的证明，对我也没有任何帮助；但是他的思想中有一种令人宽心的和谐，让我的头脑得以休息，我希望获得力量努力赶上那些高尚的榜样（尽管我知道我永远不可能），这希望本身就让我能够抵御悲惨境遇下的卑下冲动。现在我依然读他的作品，但已没有那种混乱的感情了，我思考的不是书中的哲学，而是作者其人，他的形象在我的心中也非常亲切了。

Of course the intellectual assumption which makes his system untenable by the thinker of our time is: that we possess a knowledge of the absolute. Noble is the belief that by exercise of his reason a man may enter into communion with that Rational Essence which is the soul of the world; but precisely because of our inability to find within ourselves any such sure and certain guidance do we of today accept the barren doom of scepticism. Otherwise, the Stoic's sense of man's subordination in the universal scheme, and of the all-ruling destiny, brings him into touch with our own philosophical views, and his doctrine concerning the "sociable" nature of man, of the reciprocal obligations which exist between all who live, are entirely congenial to the better spirit of our day. His fatalism is not mere resignation; one has not only to accept one's lot, whatever it is, as inevitable, but to accept it with joy, with praises. Why are we here? For the same reason that has brought about the existence of a horse, or of a vine, to play the part allotted to us by Nature. As it is within our power to understand the order of things, so are we capable of guiding ourselves in accordance therewith; the will, powerless over circumstance, is free to determine the habits of the soul. The first duty is self-discipline; its correspondent first privilege is an inborn knowledge of the law of life.

当然，我们这个时代的思想家攻击他的思想体系站不住脚时，持有一种学术假设，即我们拥有关于“绝对”的知识。认为一个人靠自己理性的力量即可与世界之灵魂的“理性本质”交流，这真是崇高的信念；但恰恰因为我们无法在自身找到这么一种确定无疑的引导力量，所以今天的我们才接受了怀疑论的无益判决。另外，斯多葛派认为人们在宇宙体系中处于从属地位，认为命运有至高的统治地位，这和我们自己的哲学观点接轨，他们关于人们“社交”本性，以及一切活着的人对彼此负有责任的学说，与我们时代的优秀精神完全不谋而合。他的宿命论不仅仅是屈从；人们不仅要将自己的命运，无论好歹，视为必然的，而且要快乐和感恩地接受。我们为什么会来到世上？和一匹马或一株植物存在的原因是一样的，都是要扮演自然赋予我们的角色。因为我们有能力来理解自然规律，所以我们也能依据规律引导自身的行为；意志虽然对改变境遇无能为力，但却能自由决定灵魂的习惯。首要的责任是自律，与之相应的第一个特权则是对生活规律的先天认识。

But we are fronted by that persistent questioner who will accept no a priori assumption, however noble in its character and beneficent in its tendency. How do we know that the reason of the Stoic is at harmony with the world's law? I, perhaps, may see life from a very different point of view; to me reason may dictate, not self-subdual, but self-indulgence; I may find in the free exercise of all my passions an existence far more consonant with what seems to me the dictate of Nature. I am proud; Nature has made me so; let my pride assert itself to justification. I am strong; let me put forth my strength, it is the destiny of the feeble to fall before me. On the other hand, I am weak and I suffer; what avails a mere assertion that fate is just, to bring about my calm and glad acceptance of this down-trodden doom? Nay, for there is that within my soul which bids me revolt, and cry against the iniquity of some power I know not. Granting that I am compelled to acknowledge a scheme of things which constrains me to this or that, whether I will or no, how can I be sure that wisdom or moral duty lies in acquiescence? Thus the unceasing questioner; to whom, indeed, there is no reply. For our philosophy sees no longer a supreme sanction, and no longer hears a harmony of the universe.

但是我们面对的是一个穷追不舍的质问者，他不接受任何“演绎的”假定，不管它的品质多么高尚，倾向多么有益。我们怎么知道斯多葛派的理性与世界的规律合拍呢？也许，我看待生命是从一个完全不同的角度；对我来说，理性需要的可能不是自制，而是自我放纵；我在所有激情的自由释放中找到了一种活法，这在我看来更加符合大自然的要求。我是骄傲的，天性使我如此，就让我的骄傲明明白白而有根有据。我是孔武有力的，就让我使出全部力量，虚弱的人命该倒在我的脚下。而反过来说，我是软弱的，遭受重重磨难；那么仅仅宣称命运是公平的，能帮助我平静愉快地接受这种受践踏的运命吗？不，因为我的灵魂中有某种东西让我奋起反抗，让我大声怒斥某种未知力量的不公平。假使不管我愿不愿意，我被迫接受一个限定自身的事物格局，我又怎能肯定我的默许是一种智慧或道德责任呢？所以就有了那位无休无止的质问者，对他的问题，确实没有答案。因为我们的哲学再也看不到至高的认可，再也听不到宇宙的和谐之声。

He that is unjust is also impious. For the Nature of the Universe, having made all reasonable creatures one for another, to the end that they should do one another good; more or less, according to the several persons and occasions; but in no wise hurt one another; it is manifest that he that doth transgress against her will, is guilty of impiety towards the most ancient and venerable of all the Deities. How gladly would I believe this! That injustice is impiety, and indeed the supreme impiety, I will hold with my last breath; but it were the merest affectation of a noble sentiment if I supported my faith by such a reasoning. I see no single piece of strong testimony that justice is the law of the universe; I see suggestions incalculable tending to prove that it is not. Rather must I apprehend that man, in some inconceivable way, may at his best moments represent a Principle darkly at strife with that which prevails throughout the world as known to us. If the just man be in truth a worshipper of the most ancient of Deities, he must needs suppose, either that the object of his worship belongs to a fallen dynasty, or—what from of old has been his refuge—that the sacred fire which burns within him is an "evidence of things not seen." What if I am incapable of either supposition? There remains the dignity of a hopeless cause— "sed victa Catoni." 26 But how can there sound the hymn of praise?

“不公平之人亦不虔诚。因为宇宙制造出所有合理的生物，目的是为了让它们互相造福，因各人和场合而稍有差异，但是绝不应该伤害彼此；很明显，违背了宇宙这一意愿的人，也就是对最古老神圣的神明犯了不虔诚的罪过。”我是多么愿意相信这话啊！不公平即不虔诚，事实上是极端的不虔诚，这一点我至死都要主张；但如果我只是用这样一个推理来支持我的信仰，那它不过是一种高尚情感的最纯粹的伪装罢了。我没有看到过一条强有力的证据，可以证明公平是宇宙的法则；我倒是看到难以计数的迹象倾向来证明事实并非如此。我宁愿这样想，人们在自己最好的时刻，以一种不可思议的方式，可能表现着一种原则，这原则在黑暗中与我们知道的统治世界的力量作斗争。如果主持正义的人真的是最古老神明的崇拜者，那他要么将自己崇拜的对象视为属于一个灭亡的朝代，或者认为在他体内燃烧的圣火是“无法看到的事物的证据”，因为从古到今这就是他的避难所。如果这两种设想我都无法作出呢？那还剩下一种坚持无望的事业而虽败犹荣的尊严——“但是失败的方面使加图高兴”。不过那里怎么还能回响着赞颂的歌声呢？

That is best for everyone, which the common Nature of all doth send unto everyone, and then is it best, when she doth send it. The optimism of Necessity, and perhaps, the highest wisdom man can attain unto. "Remember that unto reasonable creatures only is it granted that they may willingly and freely submit." No one could be more sensible than I of the persuasiveness of this high theme. The words sing to me, and life is illumined with soft glory, like that of the autumn sunset yonder. "Consider how man's life is but for a very moment of time, and so depart meek and contented: even as if a ripe olive falling should praise the ground that bare her, and give thanks to the tree that begat her." So would I fain think, when the moment comes. It is the mood of strenuous endeavour, but also the mood of rest. Better than the calm of achieved indifference (if that, indeed, is possible to man); better than the ecstasy which contemns the travail of earth in contemplation of bliss to come. But, by no effort attainable. An influence of the unknown powers; a peace that falleth upon the soul like dew at evening.

“大自然送给每个人的东西，对于每个人来说是最好的，而最好的事情是大自然确实把东西送给了每个人”。这种对必然性的乐观，也许是人们所能获得的最高智慧吧。“记住了，上天只赋予理性的生物这种能力，让他们可以自愿自由地屈服。”没有人比我更能明白这一高尚主旨的说服力。这些词汇向我歌唱，生命被温柔的光辉照亮了，犹如远处秋天的落日。“想想吧，人的生命不过短短一瞬，所以请温顺满足地逝世吧：就像成熟的橄榄坠落枝头时，要歌颂孕育它的大地，还要感谢养育它的树。”在生命终结之时，我愿意抱着这样的想法。这是奋发努力的情境，也是安息的情境。它比修成的淡漠所生的平静（如果人真的可能获得的话）要好，也比冥想未来之幸福而蔑视人间之劳苦而激发的狂喜要好，但这不是靠努力可以得到的。它是一种未知力量的影响，一种降落人类灵魂上的安宁，就像露水降临于夜晚。