每天读一点英文 那些激励我前行的身影 28 申辩-苏格拉底
苏格拉底：申辩
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，我无非由于某种智慧而得此不虞之誉。何种智慧?也许只不过人的智慧。或者我真有这种智慧。方才我所提的那些人也许有过人的智慧。我不知道如何让形容他们的智慧，因我对那种智慧一窍不通。说我有那种智慧的人说谎，是对我伪作飞扬谤讪之语。
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，那使我对你们显得说大话，也不要高声阻挠我;我说的不是自己的话，是引证你们认为有分量的言语。我如果真有智慧，什么智慧、何种智慧，有帯勒弗伊的神为证。你们认识海勒丰罢，他是我的总角之交，也是你们多数党的同志，和你们同被放逐、同回来得。
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.
你们了解他是何如人，对事何等激进热诚。又一次他竟敢去帯勒弗伊求谶;诸位不要截断我的话;他问神，有人智过于我否?辟提亚的谶答曰：“无也。”如今海勒丰已故，他的令弟在此，能对你们作证。
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.
你们想，我为什么提起这话，因为要告诉你们，对我的谤讪何从而起。我听了神的话，胸中怀此疑团：“神的话究竟个何所指，他出了何谜?我自信毫无智慧，他说我最有智慧，究竟何所云?按其本性，神决不会说谎。”
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."
神的话何所云，好久我的疑团不能解。后来用很大力气去探讨他的真意。我访了一位以智慧著称的人，想在彼处反驳神谶，覆谶语曰：“此人智过于我，你却说我最智慧。”
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.
我见了此人，——不必举其姓名，他是一个政治人物，——我对他的印象如此;和他交谈以后，觉得此人对他人，对许多人，尤其是对自己，显得有智慧，可是不然。于是我设法向他指出，他自以为智，其实不智。结果，我被他恨，被在场的许多人恨。
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.
我离开后，自己盘算着：“我是智过此人，我与他3一无所知，可是他以不知为知，我以不知为不知。我想，就在这细节上，我确实比他聪明：我不以所不知为知。”再访比他更以智慧著称的人，也发现了同样情况。于是除他以外，我又结怨于许多人。
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，我一一去访，明知会结怨，满腔苦恼、恐惧，可是必须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.
为了探求神谶的真意，我必须出发去访以智慧的著称的人。指犬为誓，雅典人啊，我必须对你们说实话;却是，我所得得经验如此;我秉神谕出访时，发现名最高的人几乎最缺乏智慧，其他名较低的人却较近于有学识。
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.
我要对你们叙述我在出访中所做的苦工，以证明谶语之不可反驳。访政客们以后，访了各体——咏史、颂神以及其他——的诗人，想在现场证明我比他们不学无术。
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.
以其精心结构的作品质问他们其中的意义，本想同时能得到一些指教。诸位，我感觉难为情对你们说实话，可又不得不说。几乎所有在场的人讲他们的诗都比他们本人讲得好。因此我发现，诗人作诗不是出于智慧，其作品成于天机之灵感，如神诬和预言家之流常作讥讽语而不自知其所云，我想诗人所感受亦复如此。
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.
同时我发现，诗人们因其会作诗，其他方面便自以为智在人人之上，成了出类拔萃人物，其实不然。我离开他们，我超过他们，正如我超过政客们。
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.
最后去访手工艺人。自知对这方面一无所知，也相信会发现他们这方面的知识很丰富。
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.
却是我没有被欺，这方面我所不知的他们尽知，在这方面，他们智过于我。可是，雅典人啊，好艺人竟和诗人犯同样错误，因有一技之长，个个自以为一切都通，在其他绝大事业并居上智。这种错见反而掩盖了他们固有的智慧。因此，关于神的谶语，扪心自问：保持自我的操守，不似彼辈之智，亦不似彼辈之愚呢?或是效他们之亦智亦愚?最终我自答并答谶语;：还是保持故我好。
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.
由于这样的考察，雅典人啊，许多深仇劲敌指向我，对我散布了许多诬蔑宣传，于是我冒了智者的不虞之誉。在场的人见我揭穿了他人的愚昧，便以为他人所不知我知之;其实，诸君啊，唯有神真有智慧。神的谶语是说，人的智慧渺小，不算什么;并不是说苏格拉底最有智慧，不过藉我的名字，以我为例，提醒世人，仿佛是说：“世人啊，你们之中，惟有苏格拉到底这样的人最有智慧，因他自知其智实在不算什么。”
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，到处察访我所认为有智慧的，不论邦人或异邦人;每见以人不智，便为神添个佐证，指出此人不智。为了这宗事业，我不暇顾及国事、家事;因为神服务，我竟至于一贫如洗。
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