忏悔录 Confessions | Book Ⅳ Chapter13 《论美与适宜》

BookⅣ Chapter13

《论美与适宜》

But I saw not yet, where on this weighty matter turned in Thy wisdom, O Thou Omnipotent, who only doest wonders; and my mind ranged through corporeal forms; and "fair," I defined and distinguished what is so in itself, and "fit," whose beauty is in correspondence to some other thing: and this I supported by corporeal examples. And I turned to the nature of the mind, but the false notion which I had of spiritual things, let me not see the truth. Yet the force of truth did of itself flash into mine eyes, and I turned away my panting soul from incorporeal substance to lineaments, and colours, and bulky magnitudes. And not being able to see these in the mind, I thought I could not see my mind. And where as in virtue I loved peace, and in viciousness I abhorred discord; in the first I observed a unity, but in the other, a sort of division. And in that unity I conceived the rational soul, and the nature of truth and of the chief good to consist; but in this division I miserably imagined there to be some unknown substance of irrational life, and the nature of the chief evil, which should not only be a substance, but real life also, and yet not derived from Thee, O my God, of whom are all things.

还没有看出这个大问题的关键在于你的妙化之中，惟有你全能上帝才能创造出千奇万妙。我的思想巡视了物质的形相，给美与适宜下了这样的定义：美是事物本身使人喜爱，而适宜是此一事物对另一事物的和谐，我从物质世界中举出例子来证明我的区分。我进而研究精神的性质，由于我对精神抱着错误的成见，不可能看出精神的真面目。真理的光芒冲击我的眼睛，可是我使我跃跃欲试的思想从无形的事物转向线条、颜色、大小；既然在思想中看不到这种种，我便认为我不能看见我的精神。另一面，在德行中我爱内心的和平，在罪恶中我憎恨内心的混乱，我注意到前者具有纯一性而后者存在分裂，因此我以为理性、真理和至善的本体即在乎纯一性。同时糊涂的我认为至恶的本体存在于无灵之物的分裂中，恶不仅是实体，而且具有生命，但并不来自你万有之源。

And yet that first I called a Monad, as it had been a soul without sex; but the latter a Duad; anger, in deeds of violence, and in flagitiousness, lust; not knowing whereof I spake. For I had not known or learned that neither was evil a substance, nor our soul that chief and unchangeable good.

前者、我名之为“莫那特斯”，作为一种无性别的精神体；后者我名之为“第亚特斯”，如罪恶中的愤怒，放浪中的情欲等，我真不知道在说什么。原因是我当时并不懂得，也没有人告诉我，恶并非实体，我们的理智也不是不变的至善。

For as deeds of violence arise, if that emotion of the soul be corrupted, whence vehement action springs, stirring itself insolently and unrulily; and lusts, when that affection of the soul is ungoverned, where by carnal pleasures are drunk in, so do errors and false opinions defile the conversation, if the reasonable soul itself be corrupted; as it was then in me, who knew not that it must be enlightened by another light, that it may be partaker of truth, seeing itself is not that nature of truth. For Thou shalt light my candle, O Lord my God, Thou shalt enlighten my darkness: and of Thy fulness have we all received, for Thou art the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world; for in Thee there is no variableness, neither shadow of change.

犹如愤怒来自内心的冲动，内心动作失常，毫无忌惮地倒行逆施，便犯罪作恶；情欲起源于内心的情感，情感如毫无节制，便陷于邪僻；同样如果理性败坏，则诐辞邪说沾污我们的生命。当时我的理性即是如此。我并不知道我的理性应受另一种光明的照耀，然后能享受真理，因为理性并非真理的本体。“主啊，是你燃点我的心灯；我的上帝啊，你照明我的黑暗”；[22]“你的满盈沾匄了我们”。[23]因为“你是真光，照耀着进入这世界的每一人”，[24]“在你身上，没有变化，永无晦蚀”。[25]

But I pressed towards Thee, and was thrust from Thee, that I might taste of death: for thou resistest the proud. But what prouder, than for me with a strange madness to maintain myself to be that by nature which Thou art? For where as I was subject to change (so much being manifest to me, my very desire to become wise, being the wish, of worse to become better), yet chose I rather to imagine Thee subject to change, and myself not to be that which Thou art. Therefore I was repelled by Thee, and Thou resistedst my vain stiffneckedness, and I imagined corporeal forms, and, myself flesh, I accused flesh; and, a wind that passeth away, I returned not to Thee, but I passed on and on to things which have no being, neither in Thee, nor in me, nor in the body. Neither were they created for me by Thy truth, but by my vanity devised out of things corporeal. And I was wont to ask Thy faithful little ones, my fellow-citizens (from whom, unknown to myself, I stood exiled), I was wont, prating and foolishly, to ask them, "Why then doth the soul err which God created?" But I would not be asked, "Why then doth God err?" And I maintained that Thy unchangeable substance did err upon constraint, rather than confess that my changeable substance had gone astray voluntarily, and now, in punishment, lay in error.

我企图接近你，而你拒绝我，要我尝着死亡的滋味，因为你拒绝骄傲的人。我疯狂至极，竟敢称我的本体即是你的本体，再有什么比这种论调更骄傲呢？我明知自己是变化无常的，我羡慕明智，希望上进，但我宁愿想像你也是变易不定，不愿承认我不同于你。为此，你拒绝我，你拒绝我的顽强狂悖。我想像一些物质的形象，我身为血肉，却责怪血肉；我如一去不返的风，我尚未归向你，我踽踽而行，投奔至既非你又非我、也不属于物质世界的幻象，这些幻象并非你真理为我创造的，而是我的浮夸凝滞于物质而虚构的。我责问你的弱小的信徒们——他们本是我的同胞，我不自知的流亡在外，和他们隔离——我纠缠不清地责问他们：“为何上帝所造的灵魂会有错误？”但我不愿别人反问我：“为何上帝会有错误？”我宁愿坚持你的不变的本体必然错误，却不愿承认我的变易不定的本性自愿走入歧途，担受错误的惩罚。

I was then some six or seven and twenty years old when I wrote those volumes; revolving within me corporeal fictions, buzzing in the ears of my heart, which I turned, O sweet truth, to thy inward melody, meditating on the "fair and fit," and longing to stand and hearken to Thee, and to rejoice greatly at the Bridegroom's voice, but could not; for by the voices of mine own errors, I was hurried abroad, and through the weight of my own pride, I was sinking into the lowest pit. For Thou didst not make me to hear joy and gladness, nor did the bones exult which were not yet humbled.

我写这本书的时候，大概是二十六七岁，当时满脑子是物质的幻象。这些幻象在我心灵耳边噪聒着。但甜蜜的真理啊，在我探究美与适宜时，我也侧看我心灵之耳聆听你内在的乐曲，我愿“肃立着静听你”，“希望听到新郎的声音而喜乐”，[26]但我做不到，因为我的错误叫喊着把我拖到身外，我的骄傲重重压在我身上把我推入深渊。你“不使我听到欢乐愉快的声音，我的骸骨不能欢跃”，因为尚未“压碎”。[27]