Of Books
论 书
Michel de Montaigne
蒙田
作者简介
蒙田（Michel de Montaigne，1533—1592），文艺复兴时期最有影响力的法国作家之一，欧洲近代散文的创始人，代表作为晚年所著的《蒙田随笔》（Essays）。
在《蒙田随笔》中，蒙田几乎无所不谈，日常生活、传统习俗、人生哲理等均有涉及，他还旁征博引了许多古希腊、古罗马作家的论述。各章篇幅长短不一，文章结构随意自然，文字平易通畅，语言生动睿智。该书与《培根人生论》（Bacon's Essays）和《帕斯卡尔思想录》（Pascal's Pensées）一起，被誉为欧洲近代哲理散文三大经典。
本文选自1575年出版的《蒙田随笔》中关于阅读的篇目。除了感受散文之美，读者还可领略蒙田本人评价甚高的小说、诗歌、史论，以及“阅读时遇到困难，从不死钻牛角尖”的风采。
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.
我读书只求以诚实的方式取悦自己。或者说，如果我是在研究的话，我只研究涉及自身的知识，它会指导我如何充实地生活，如何从容地死去。
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.
阅读遇到困难时，我从不死钻牛角尖;反复思量仍无结果，我便将它们放弃。若要打破沙锅问到底，只会既耗时又费力;因为我缺乏耐心，希望初次阅读就能理解;如果不能立刻领悟，坚持下去只会更加糊涂。我做事需要愉快的心情，太过努力、孜孜以求，会影响我的判断力，让我变得糊涂、麻木、疲惫不堪。苦读会让我的视力变得模糊、涣散;我必须稍事休息，再去寻找新发现。
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.
如果一本书不能取悦我，我便取出另一本;只有当我对什么事都提不起精神时，才胡乱翻书。我不在乎新书，因为旧书似乎更充实、更强大;我也不与希腊作家对话，因为我对希腊文一知半解，无法作出良好的判断。
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.
在单纯有趣的书里，薄伽丘的《十日谈》、拉伯雷的作品、约翰尼斯·塞昆德斯的《巴西亚》(如果它们可以归为一类的话)都值得现代人读来取乐。至于《阿玛迪斯》和类似作品，从小到大，它们从来没有吸引过我。此外，我要不揣冒昧地说，阿里奥斯托如今已打动不了我这老朽沉重的灵魂，就连可敬的奥维德也无能为力;奥维德的技巧和创意过去曾令我陶醉不已，如今却让我提不起胃口。我几乎没有耐心再读他们的著作。
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?
但为了将这篇文章写下去，我一直认为，维吉尔、卢克莱修、卡图卢斯和贺拉斯的诗歌可谓出类拔萃，其中，又以维吉尔的《农事诗》最为突出——我认为这部作品已臻化境。相比之下，他的《埃涅阿斯记》则很容易挑出瑕疵。倘若作者有空加以润色，这部书的质量还能有所提升。在我看来，《埃涅阿斯记》的第五卷最为完美。我也喜爱卢坎，愿意读他的作品。让我着迷的不是他的写作风格，而是作者的个人价值和真知灼见。至于亲爱的泰伦提乌斯1，他那精炼典雅的拉丁语，以及对人物风貌和精神活动的生动描绘，都让我钦佩不已。在生活的每个转折点上，我都会请求他的指点;他的作品常读常新，我总能从中发现新的雅致和优美之处。与维吉尔同时代的读者抱怨说，人们应该将他与卢克莱修相提并论。我自己认为，这种比较实际上有失公允。然而，读到卢克莱修的某些精彩段落时，我会质疑自己原本的判断。但如果他们看不惯这种比较，那么看到今天人们将他和阿里奥斯托相比，面对这种野蛮而愚蠢的做法，他们又会说些什么?阿里奥斯托自己不会这么说吗?
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.
有些人无需煽情，也无需激怒读者，就能充分表达情感;他们不必硬生生逗人发笑，因为信手拈来尽是笑料。其他人则需要外援;他们智慧不足，只好求助于肢体语言;他们要骑上马背，因为无法靠自己的双腿站立。就像在我们的舞会上，那些庸俗的舞女无从展示贵族的尊贵气质，不得不翻跟头、耍花样，靠奇怪而危险的动作引人注目。淑女们则很少采用这些花样。有各种向舞伴施礼、变换位置、迅速摇摆身体的舞步，也有较为平稳沉静的舞步，即以自然的步调展现普通的优雅和端庄。同样，我见过优秀的滑稽演员，哪怕穿着日常服饰、脸上不施油彩，也能充分展示滑稽艺术的魅力;而火候不够的学徒们，则不得不涂脂抹粉、穿上奇装异服、扮出种种怪相，才能惹人发笑。我的这个观点，通过比较《埃涅阿斯记》和《疯狂的罗兰》就能很好地诠释。在《埃涅阿斯记》中，作者尽情伸展双翅，勇敢高傲地飞翔，总是追随自己的论点。而在《疯狂的罗兰》中，作者拍打着翅膀，从一个故事跳到另一个故事，就像从一个枝头跳到另一个枝头，不相信自己的翅膀能够胜任长途飞行，只好四处歇息，生怕因不得喘息和乏力而掉落天际。
These, then, as to this sort of subjects, are the authors that best please me.
就这个主题而言，这些正是最能取悦我的作家。
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.
至于我阅读的其他作品，比取悦自己更具教益。从这些书里，我学会了如何将自身观点与所处情景相结合。在这一点上，普鲁塔克2(因为他的作品被成了法文)和塞内加对我有所帮助。他们两人的文字都举重若轻，与我的幽默感相通。他们采用的文体都简短零散，省去了我读长篇大论的麻烦——我也读不动长篇大论。普鲁塔克的短篇和塞内加的书信，是两人最优秀、最有教益的作品。这些作品没有先后顺序和相关联系，任选一篇读来都会让我乐而忘返。
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我缺乏耐心，希望初次阅读就能理解；如果不能立刻领悟，坚持下去只会更加糊涂。
Michel de Montaigne 蒙田
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1．泰伦提乌斯（Publius Terentius Afer，约前190—前159），古罗马喜剧作家，名字在英语中常作Terence。他的喜剧触及各种现实问题，特别是家庭关系和爱情婚姻问题。
2．普鲁塔克（Plutarch，46—125），古罗马作家，著有《希腊罗马名人传》，对后世的传记文学影响极大。他擅长刻画人物形象，注重心理描写，喜欢夹叙夹议和利用史料引申观点，风格独树一帜。
