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the essays of montaigne, v3-第6部分

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     than be wise; and chaptious。〃Hor。; Ep。; ii。 2; 126。'

But 'tis folly to think of doing anything that way。  They go; they come;
they gallop and dance; and not a word of death。  All this is very fine;
but withal; when it comes either to themselves; their wives; their
children; or friends; surprising them at unawares and unprepared; then;
what torment; what outcries; what madness and despair!  Did you ever see
anything so subdued; so changed; and so confounded?  A man must;
therefore; make more early provision for it; and this brutish negligence;
could it possibly lodge in the brain of any man of sense (which I think
utterly impossible); sells us its merchandise too dear。  Were it an enemy
that could be avoided; I would then advise to borrow arms even of
cowardice itself; but seeing it is not; and that it will catch you as
well flying and playing the poltroon; as standing to't like an honest
man:

                   〃Nempe et fugacem persequitur virum;
                    Nec parcit imbellis juventae
                    Poplitibus timidoque tergo。〃

     '〃He pursues the flying poltroon; nor spares the hamstrings of the
     unwarlike youth who turns his back〃Hor。; Ep。; iii。 2; 14。'

And seeing that no temper of arms is of proof to secure us:

              〃Ille licet ferro cautus; se condat et aere;
               Mors tamen inclusum protrahet inde caput〃

     '〃Let him hide beneath iron or brass in his fear; death will pull
     his head out of his armour。〃Propertious iii。 18'

let us learn bravely to stand our ground; and fight him。  And to begin
to deprive him of the greatest advantage he has over us; let us take a
way quite contrary to the common course。  Let us disarm him of his
novelty and strangeness; let us converse and be familiar with him; and
have nothing so frequent in our thoughts as death。  Upon all occasions
represent him to our imagination in his every shape; at the stumbling of
a horse; at the falling of a tile; at the least prick with a pin; let us
presently consider; and say to ourselves; 〃Well; and what if it had been
death itself?〃  and; thereupon; let us encourage and fortify ourselves。
Let us evermore; amidst our jollity and feasting; set the remembrance of
our frail condition before our eyes; never suffering ourselves to be so
far transported with our delights; but that we have some intervals of
reflecting upon; and considering how many several ways this jollity of
ours tends to death; and with how many dangers it threatens it。  The
Egyptians were wont to do after this manner; who in the height of their
feasting and mirth; caused a dried skeleton of a man to be brought into
the room to serve for a memento to their guests:

              〃Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremum
               Grata superveniet; quae non sperabitur; hora。〃

     '〃Think each day when past is thy last; the next day; as unexpected;
     will be the more welcome。〃〃…Hor。; Ep。; i。  4; 13。'

Where death waits for us is uncertain; let us look for him everywhere。
The premeditation of death is the premeditation of liberty; he who has
learned to die has unlearned to serve。  There is nothing evil in life for
him who rightly comprehends that the privation of life is no evil: to
know; how to die delivers us from all subjection and constraint。  Paulus
Emilius answered him whom the miserable King of Macedon; his prisoner;
sent to entreat him that he would not lead him in his triumph; 〃Let him
make that request to himself。〃 ' Plutarch; Life of Paulus Aemilius;
c。 17; Cicero; Tusc。; v。 40。'

In truth; in all things; if nature do not help a little; it is very hard
for art and industry to perform anything to purpose。  I am in my own
nature not melancholic; but meditative; and there is nothing I have more
continually entertained myself withal than imaginations of death; even in
the most wanton time of my age:

               〃Jucundum quum aetas florida ver ageret。〃

          '〃When my florid age rejoiced in pleasant spring。〃
          Catullus; lxviii。'

In the company of ladies; and at games; some have perhaps thought me
possessed with some jealousy; or the uncertainty of some hope; whilst I
was entertaining myself with the remembrance of some one; surprised; a
few days before; with a burning fever of which he died; returning from an
entertainment like this; with his head full of idle fancies of love and
jollity; as mine was then; and that; for aught I knew; the same…destiny
was attending me。

          〃Jam fuerit; nec post unquam revocare licebit。〃

     '〃Presently the present will have gone; never to be recalled。〃
     Lucretius; iii。  928。'

Yet did not this thought wrinkle my forehead any more than any other。
It is impossible but we must feel a sting in such imaginations as these;
at first; but with often turning and returning them in one's mind; they;
at last; become so familiar as to be no trouble at all: otherwise; I; for
my part; should be in a perpetual fright and frenzy; for never man was so
distrustful of his life; never man so uncertain as to its duration。
Neither health; which I have hitherto ever enjoyed very strong and
vigorous; and very seldom interrupted; does prolong; nor sickness
contract my hopes。  Every minute; methinks; I am escaping; and it
eternally runs in my mind; that what may be done to…morrow; may be done
to…day。  Hazards and dangers do; in truth; little or nothing hasten our
end; and if we consider how many thousands more remain and hang over our
heads; besides the accident that immediately threatens us; we shall find
that the sound and the sick; those that are abroad at sea; and those that
sit by the fire; those who are engaged in battle; and those who sit idle
at home; are the one as near it as the other。

     〃Nemo altero fragilior est; nemo in crastinum sui certior。〃

     '〃No man is more fragile than another: no man more certain than
     another of to…morrow。〃Seneca; Ep。; 91。'

For anything I have to do before I die; the longest leisure would appear
too short; were it but an hour's business I had to do。

A friend of mine the other day turning over my tablets; found therein a
memorandum of something I would have done after my decease; whereupon I
told him; as it was really true; that though I was no more than a
league's distance only from my own house; and merry and well; yet when
that thing came into my head; I made haste to write it down there;
because I was not certain to live till I came home。  As a man that am
eternally brooding over my own thoughts; and confine them to my own
particular concerns; I am at all hours as well prepared as I am ever like
to be; and death; whenever he shall come; can bring nothing along with
him I did not expect long before。  We should always; as near as we can;
be booted and spurred; and ready to go; and; above all things; take care;
at that time; to have no business with any one but one's self:

                   〃Quid brevi fortes jaculamur avo
                    Multa?〃

     '〃Why for so short a life tease ourselves with so many projects?〃
     Hor。; Od。; ii。  16; 17。'

for we shall there find work enough to do; without any need of addition。
One man complains; more than of death; that he is thereby prevented of a
glorious victory; another; that he must die before he has married his
daughter; or educated his children; a third seems only troubled that he
must lose the society of his wife; a fourth; the conversation of his son;
as the principal comfort and concern of his being。  For my part; I am;
thanks be to God; at this instant in such a condition; that I am ready to
dislodge; whenever it shall please Him; without regret for anything
whatsoever。  I disengage myself throughout from all worldly relations;
my leave is soon taken of all but myself。  Never did any one prepare to
bid adieu to the world more absolutely and unreservedly; and to shake
hands with all manner of interest in it; than I expect to do。  The
deadest deaths are the best:

                    〃‘Miser; O miser;' aiunt; 'omnia ademit
               Una dies infesta mihi tot praemia vitae。'〃

     '〃'Wretch that I am;' they cry; 'one fatal day has deprived me of
     all joys of life。'〃Lucretius; iii。  911。'


And the builder;

              〃Manuet;〃 says he; 〃opera interrupta; minaeque
               Murorum ingentes。〃

     '〃The works remain incomplete; the tall pinnacles of the walls
     unmade。〃AEneid; iv。  88。'

A man must design nothing that will require so much time to the
finishing; or; at least; with no such passionate desire to see it brought
to perfection。  We are born to action:

               〃Quum moriar; medium solvar et inter opus。〃

     '〃When I shall die; let it be doing that I had designed。〃
     Ovid; Amor。; ii。  10; 36。

I would always have a man to be doing; and; as much as in him lies; to
extend and spin out the offices of life; and then let death take me
planting my cabbages; indifferent to him; and still less of my gardens
not being finished。  I saw one die; who; at his last gasp; complained of
nothing so much as that destiny was about to cut the thread of a
chronicle he was then compiling; when he was 
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