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Lucius Annaeus Seneca

魯齊烏斯.安奈烏斯.塞內(nèi)加

作者簡介

魯齊烏斯.安奈烏斯.塞內(nèi)加（Lucius Annaeus Seneca，約前4—65），古羅馬政治家、哲學家、悲劇作家、雄辯家、新斯多葛主義代表，主張無條件屈從神意和不可避免的命運。他曾任羅馬帝國會計官和元老院元老以及古羅馬暴君尼祿（Nero）的家庭教師和顧問。

塞內(nèi)加在仕途上幾經(jīng)大起大落，一生漫游各地，勤于思考，能從平常小事中挖掘出深邃的思想。他著作頗豐，著有11部戲劇、14部問答體作品、一部書信集，其思想對后世產(chǎn)生了不可磨滅的影響。

本文選自塞內(nèi)加的代表作《道德書簡》（Letters from a Stoic: Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium）。該書是世人公認的必讀書，書中信件多以作者本人或他人經(jīng)歷開頭，然后從哲理的角度進行嚴肅的反思和深入的分析。本篇是塞內(nèi)加寫給友人的“書評”，這位哲人讀到佳作后的欣喜之情躍然紙上。

The book you promised me has come. I was intending to read it at my convenience and I opened it on arrival without meaning to do any more than just get an idea of its contents. The next thing I knew the book itself had charmed me into a deeper reading of it there and then. How lucid its style is you may gather from the fact that I found the work light reading, although a first glance might well convey the impression that the writer was someone like Livy or Epicurus, its bulk being rather unlike you or me! It was so enjoyable, though, that I found myself held and drawn on until I ended up having read it right through to the end without a break. All the time the sunshine was inviting me out, hunger prompting me to eat, the weather threatening to break, but I gulped it all down in one sitting.

It was a joy, not just a pleasure, to read it. There was so much talent and spirit about it—I’d have said “forcefulness”, too, if it had been written on a quieter plane now and then and periodically raised on to a higher one; as it was there was no such forcefulness, but instead there was a sustained evenness of style. The writing was pure and virile—and yet not lacking in that occasional entertaining touch, that bit of light relief at the appropriate moment. The quality of nobility, of sublimity, you have; I want you to keep it, and to carry on just the way you’re doing.

你答應給我的書，我已收到。我本打算閑下來再讀，拿到書時只想翻開了解一下內(nèi)容。不料這本書把我迷住了，讓我當時就沉浸其中。第一眼看去，我覺得作者是李維[1]或伊壁鳩魯[2]這樣的人，但我發(fā)現(xiàn)這本書讀來相當輕松，可見它的文風多么清晰曉暢。這樣的巨著真不像是你我能夠?qū)懗龅?！但它十分有趣。我一口氣從頭讀到尾，才發(fā)現(xiàn)自己被它深深吸引了。陽光邀我外出，饑餓催我就餐，天氣逼我休息，我卻一口氣就吞下了整本書。

讀這本書不是一般地快樂，而是非常快樂。書里有如此多的才氣和靈氣——如果此書能在平緩的基調(diào)上時不時有些高潮，我還會用“有力”來形容它；但它的文風始終平緩，缺乏這種“有力”。這本書行文純樸而有男子氣概，時不時還帶點趣味性，能讓人適時得到些許放松。希望你能保持這種高貴、高尚的品質(zhì)，再接再厲。

It was a joy, not just a pleasure, to read it. There was so much talent and spirit about it—I’d have said “forcefulness”, too, if it had been written on a quieter plane now and then and periodically raised on to a higher one; as it was there was no such forcefulness, but instead there was a sustained evenness of style. The writing was pure and virile—and yet not lacking in that occasional entertaining touch, that bit of light relief at the appropriate moment. The quality of nobility, of sublimity, you have; I want you to keep it, and to carry on just the way you’re doing.

Your subject, also, contributed to the result—which is a reason why you should always select a fertile one, one that will engage the mind’s attention and stimulate it. But I’ll write and say more about the book when I’ve gone over it again. At the moment my judgment isn’t really a sufficiently settled one—it’s as if I’d heard it all rather than read it. You must let me go into it thoroughly, too. You needn’t be apprehensive; you’ll hear nothing but the truth. How fortunate you are in possessing nothing capable of inducing anyone to tell you a lie over a distance as great as the one that separates us—except that even in these circumstances when all reason for it is removed, we still find habit a reason for telling lies!

讀這本書不是一般地快樂，而是非?？鞓?。書里有如此多的才氣和靈氣——如果此書能在平緩的基調(diào)上時不時有些高潮，我還會用“有力”來形容它；但它的文風始終平緩，缺乏這種“有力”。這本書行文純樸而有男子氣概，時不時還帶點趣味性，能讓人適時得到些許放松。希望你能保持這種高貴、高尚的品質(zhì)，再接再厲。

本書有如此成果，你選擇的主題也有所貢獻——這就是為什么你應該總是選擇可供挖掘的主題，選擇能讓你精神集中、激發(fā)靈感的主題。不過我重讀此書之后，還會寫信多談些體會。此刻，我的判斷還不成熟，更像道聽途說，而非讀后感。你還得讓我通篇細讀一下。你不必擔心，我不會對你說謊。你多幸運??！即使距離像你我這般遙遠，你身上也沒有任何東西導致別人對你說謊，除非那個人是毫無理由地習慣性說謊！

陽光邀我外出，饑餓催我就餐，天氣逼我休息，我卻一口氣就吞下了整本書。

Lucius Annaeus Seneca 魯齊烏斯?安奈烏斯?塞內(nèi)加

[1] 蒂托.李維（Titus Livius，前59—17），古羅馬著名歷史學家，寫過多部哲學和詩歌作品。

[2] 伊壁鳩魯（Epicurus，前341—270），古希臘著名哲學家，快樂主義倫理學的代表人物，于公元前307年建立了自己的學派。