Now does not nature produce enough vegetables for thee to satisfy thyself? And if thou art not content with vegetables, canst thou not by a mixture of them make infinite compounds as Platina wrote, and other writers on food?
明智者不可蛊惑
有个人,对我许下诸多承诺,却践实甚少。一厢情愿的他,因为收获不了相应的报酬,便决定报复我,使我名誉扫地,众叛亲离。所幸,我的朋友个个理智明理,不会被他蒙蔽心智。他恼羞成怒,竟然威胁要向我的恩人告发我。现在,我有言在先,以免这位伪造罪恶者,实现他煽动造乱的野心。当他发现计划落空,必会失望透顶,垂头丧气。
There is one who having promised me much less than his due, and being disappointed of his presumptuous desire, has tried to deprive me of all my friends; and finding them wise and not pliable to his will, he has threatened me that he would bring accusations against me and alienate my benefactors from me: hence I have informed Your Lordship of this, so that this man, who wishes to sow the usual scandals, may not find a soil fit for sowing the thoughts and deeds of his evil nature; and that when he tries to make Your Lordship the tool of his infamous and malicious nature he may be disappointed of his desire。
高尚者与美德不离不弃
我指出他人的错误,因此引来众怒。因为,人们对待自己的恶行,总是视而不见。他们怨恨的,是指出这种恶行的人。忠言进不了他们的耳朵。凡是谴责他们的人,无论是父亲,或者好友,他都会怨恨在心。若你与一位高尚之人相遇,美德使他对你不离不弃。你应该真心地尊敬他,切勿使他因由担心你的反叛,而远离你,独自归隐在僻静无人的所在。这种人难求,他们是徘徊在世间的神仙,你应该为其塑像,表示你真诚的崇敬。
And in this case I know that I shall make not a few enemies, since no one will believe what I say of him; because there are but few whom his vices have disgusted, indeed they only disgusted those men whose natures are contrary to such vices; and many hate their fathers and break off friendship with those who reprove their vices, and they will have no examples brought up against them, nor tolerate any advice.
And if you meet with any one who is good and virtuous drive him not away from you, do him honour, so that he may not have to flee from you and hide in hermitages, or caverns and other solitary spots, in order to escape from your treachery; and if there be such an one do him honour, because these are your gods upon earth, they deserve statues from you and images …
嫉妒伤害美德
嫉妒,以卑劣手段伤害他人情感。它以诽谤为爪牙,对美德施以胁迫。
在美德降临之初,嫉妒便刀剑相向。美德若想摆脱嫉妒的伤害,只有死亡。
Envy offends with false infamy, that is to say, by detraction which frightens virtue.
As soon as virtue is born it begets envy which attacks it; and sooner will there exist a body without a shadow than virtue unaccompanied by envy.
嫉妒与无信即邪思
邪思,一如嫉妒,一如背信弃义
Evil-thinking is either Envy or Ingratitude.
声誉如天使美好
世间美好之物,都是上帝所爱,因此美誉必飘然入空,位列仙班。恶名,为上帝所不喜,必沉入地狱。美誉就如同一只鸟,赞语是它的羽毛,覆盖着它,带它飞舞。
Fame alone rises towards heaven, because God looks with favour on virtuous things; infamy must be represented upside down, because its works are contrary to God and move towards hell. Fame should be depicted covered with tongues instead of with feathers and in the form of a bird.
光明之下无伪装
在黑暗里熊熊燃烧的烈火,如同黄金一般闪烁光辉,将暗藏在黑暗之中的虚伪与谎言驱逐出去,寻回光芒万丈的真理。
Fire destroys falsehood,--that is to say, sophistry,--and rehabilitates truth, scattering the darkness.
Fire must be represented as the consumer of all sophistry and therevealer of truth, because it is light and scatters darkness whichconceals all essences.
Fire destroys all sophistry,--that is to say, deceit,--and preservestruth alone, which is gold.
Truth cannot be concealed in the end,dissimulation is of no avail. Dissimulation is frustrated before so great a judge. Falsehood puts on a mask.
邪恶总是避着阳光
当我们注视着太阳,时间久了,总会灼眼。蝙蝠就像眼睛,越是光亮,越是躲躲藏藏。在蝙蝠那儿,我们只能见邪恶,无处觅美德。
The more light there is the blinder this creature(bat) becomes; as those who gaze most at the sun become most dazzled.—For Vice, that cannot remain where Virtue appears.
温柔是爱人亦爱己
友好而谨慎的大象,当它们遇到迷路者,且知道他以往踏过的印迹,便会自告奋勇,带他返回。同时,为了防止遭人欺骗,它们会集结众象,排成警觉的队伍,共同出发。
大象喜爱悠闲地漫步河边,可惜太过肥重,无法浸浴河中。它们向来如此温顺安详,可是,可怕的猪嚎声让它们不知所措,四散逃离。因为性情温柔善良,大象彼此之间团结互助。当一头象落入陷阱,会有许多象拾来树枝和石头,扔入陷阱,使里头的象得以缓缓爬出。此外,它们从不欺弱。当它们行走时,遇到羊群挡路,会扬起长鼻,小心翼翼地拨动小羊,以防踏伤。至于战斗,除非他人出手在前,否则大象从不会主动挑起战端。和平如它们,总不愿伤害自己与他人。
They are merciful, and know the dangers, and if one finds a man alone and lost, he kindly puts him back in the road he has missed, if he finds the footprints of the man before the man himself. It dreads betrayal, so it stops and blows, pointing it out to the other elephants who form in a troop and go warily.
These beasts always go in troops, and the oldest goes in front and the second in age remains the last, and thus they enclose the troop. Out of shame they pair only at night and secretly, nor do they then rejoin the herd but first bathe in the river. The females do not fight as with other animals; and it is so merciful that it is most unwilling by nature ever to hurt those weaker than itself. And if it meets in the middle of its way a flock of sheep
粗鄙的灵魂不过食器
粗鄙者,即使生了纤纤玉指也无法掌控复杂器具,遑论知识分子所运用的精密仪器。一只足以容下食物的麻袋,便是他们仅需之物。因为,他们不过是盛装食物的皮囊。除了躯壳与声音,我找不到他们相似于人类的地方。也许,在另外的意义上,他们比禽兽还略逊一筹。
I do not consider that men of coarse and boorish habits and of slender parts deserve so fine an instrument nor such a complicated mechanism as men of contemplation and high culture. They merely need a sack in which their food may be held and whence it may issue, since verily they cannot be considered otherwise than as vehicles for food, for they seem to me to have nothing in common with the human race save the shape and the voice; as far as the rest is concerned they are lower than the beasts.
可怜人死于阿谀者之手
在可怜之人四周,围着一群阿谀奉承之人。他们是劫匪,骗子,以及将手刃可怜人的杀手。
A wretched person will be flattered, and these flatterers are always the deceivers, robbers and murderers of the wretched person.