忏悔录 Confessions | BookⅢ Chapter3 一群吵客

BookⅢ Chapter3

一群吵客

And Thy faithful mercy hovered over me afar. Upon how grievous iniquities consumed I myself, pursuing a sacrilegious curiosity, that having forsaken Thee, it might bring me to the treacherous abyss, and the beguiling service of devils, to whom I sacrificed my evil actions, and in all these things Thou didst scourge me! I dared even, while Thy solemnities were celebrated within the walls of Thy Church, to desire, and to compass a business deserving death for its fruits, for which Thou scourgedst me with grievous punishments, though nothing to my fault, O Thou my exceeding mercy, my God, my refuge from those terrible destroyers, among whom I wandered with a stiff neck, withdrawing further from Thee, loving mine own ways, and not Thine; loving a vagrant liberty.

你的慈爱始终遥遥覆庇着我。我沉湎于怎样的罪恶之中！我背弃了你，听凭亵圣的好奇心引导我走向极度的不忠不信，成为魔鬼的狡狯仆从，用我的罪行歆享魔鬼，而你便用这一切来鞭打我！我竟敢在举行敬事你的典礼时，在圣殿之内，觊觎追营死亡的果实，你重重惩责我，但和我的罪过相比可算什么？唉，我的上帝、我的无边的慈爱，你复庇我不受灾眚的侵袭，而我在危险之中还意气洋洋，到处游荡，远离了你，从我所好的行径而不趋向你的道路，我只知流连于转瞬即逝的自由。

Those studies also, which were accounted commendable, had a view to excelling in the courts of litigation; the more bepraised, the craftier. Such is men's blindness, glorying even in their blindness. And now I was chief in the rhetoric school, whereat I joyed proudly, and I swelled with arrogancy, though (Lord, Thou knowest) far quieter and altogether removed from the subvertings of those "Subverters" (for this ill-omened and devilish name was the very badge of gallantry) among whom I lived, with a shameless shame that I was not even as they. With them I lived, and was sometimes delighted with their friendship, whose doings I ever did abhor, their "subvertings," wherewith they wantonly persecuted the modesty of strangers, which they disturbed by a gratuitous jeering, feeding thereon their malicious birth. Nothing can be liker the very actions of devils than these. What then could they be more truly called than "Subverters"，themselves subverted and altogether perverted first, the deceiving spirits secretly deriding and seducing them, wherein themselves delight to jeer at and deceive others.

当时所推崇的学问，不过是通向聚讼的市场，我希望在此中显露头角，而在这个场所越会信口雌黄，越能获得称誉。人们的盲目到达这样程度，竟会夸耀自己的谬见，我在雄辩术学校中名列优等，因此沾沾自喜，充满着虚荣的气概；但是，主，你知道我还是比较循规蹈矩的，绝不参预那些“捣乱鬼”——这个下流的、魔鬼的称号在当时是非常时髦的——的恶作剧；我生活在这些人中间，在无耻之中还带着三分羞恶之心，因为我不和他们同流合污；我和他们在一起，有时也欢喜和他们结交，虽则我始终厌恶他们的行动、他们的恶作剧：欺侮胆怯的新学生，毫无理由地戏弄他们，取笑作乐。没有再比这种行动更相像魔鬼的行动了！称为“捣乱鬼”，真是再恰当没有了。他们自身先已暗受欺人的恶魔捣乱、诱惑、嘲笑，先已陷入他们作弄别人的陷阱！

↓ 往期内容链接 ↓

BookⅠ

【有声】忏悔录 Confessions |颂扬BookⅠChapter（1）

【有声】忏悔录 Confessions | 呼吁 BookⅠChapter（2)

【有声】忏悔录 Confessions | 呼吁 BookⅠChapter（3）

【有声】忏悔录 Confessions | 讴歌 BookⅠChapter（4）

【有声】忏悔录 Confessions | 洁净心灵 BookⅠChapter (5)

【有声】
忏悔录 Confessions | 孩童获宠 BookⅠChapter（6）

【有声】
忏悔录 Confessions | 孩子的天真 BookⅠ Chapter（7）

【有声】忏悔录 Confessions | 牙牙学语 BookⅠ Chapter（8）

【有声】
忏悔录 Confessions | 威胁挨打 BookⅠChapter（9）

【有声】
忏悔录 Confessions | 学生的苦楚
BookⅠ
Chapter（10）