论美, 培根 （美文欣赏)

Of Beauty — 论美 （美文欣赏）

Francis Bacon 培根

注： 用现代英语重写+中文翻译+解释 （培根的英文原文附在最后面）

Virtue is like a precious gemstone — it looks best when simply set.

美德就像一颗珍贵的宝石，至善于朴素之中。

（意指：真正的德行不需装饰；朴实能显其真光。）

And indeed, virtue appears at its best in a body that is attractive — not necessarily with delicate or perfect features, but with dignity and presence rather than mere prettiness.

确实，美德若寄于一个仪态端庄、容貌秀雅的身体之中，尤能相得益彰。但这种“美”并非细腻柔弱的容貌，而是尊严和端正气度。

（培根强调“风度之美”胜于“相貌之美”。）

It is also often observed that very beautiful people are not usually very virtuous — as if Nature, in creating such beauty, worked carefully not to make mistakes, but without striving for greatness.

人们常发现，那些天生丽质之人，往往并不具备高尚的德行；似乎大自然在造就他们时，只是谨慎地不出差错，却未曾用心追求卓越。

Hence, beautiful people often turn out polished and well-mannered, but not of strong spirit — they care more about appearance and behavior than true virtue.

因此，美貌者往往举止得体、修养优雅，却缺乏坚强的精神，他们更在意外表与礼仪，而非真正的道德修养。

Yet this is not always the case; for Augustus Caesar, Titus Vespasian, Philip the Fair of France, Edward IV of England, Alcibiades of Athens, and Ismael the Sophy of Persia — all were great and high-spirited men, and also the most beautiful of their times.

但此规律并非绝对。譬如：罗马的奥古斯都·凯撒与提图斯·韦斯帕西安、法兰西的腓力美王、英格兰的爱德华四世、雅典的阿尔西比亚德斯、波斯的伊斯梅尔·萨菲，他们皆为雄才大略之士，同时又是当代最俊美的人。

（这些历史人物是“美貌与雄心并存”的例外。）

In beauty, the beauty of expression and features (favor) is more important than that of color; and graceful movement and manner are even more important than expression.

论美，不在肤色，而在神采；而论神采，又不及举止的优雅。

（真正的美在于“神韵”与“仪态”，非肤浅的容颜。）

The finest part of beauty is that which cannot be captured by a painting, nor even by one’s first glance in real life.

最动人的美，既无法被画笔描摹，亦难以在初见时尽览。

（此指内在气质与灵动的神情。）

There is no perfect beauty without some strangeness in the proportion.

凡真正动人的美，必带有几分不寻常的比例。

（意为：完美中若无“奇”，则少生气韵；小小的不对称反添魅力。）

It is hard to decide whether Apelles or Albrecht Dürer was the greater fool: Apelles tried to make ideal beauty through geometric proportions; Dürer tried to combine the best features from many faces into one “perfect” face.

若论愚笨，究竟是希腊画师阿佩列斯，还是德国画家丢勒更甚？前者试以几何比例求理想之美；后者则取众人最美之处拼成一张“完美”的脸。

（培根讽刺以“规则”或“拼接”方式造美的荒谬。）

Such faces, I think, would please no one but the painters who made them.

这种“完美”的脸，恐怕只有画家本人会喜欢。

Not that a painter cannot make a face more beautiful than any that exists — but he must do it by a kind of inspiration or happy accident, as a musician composes a beautiful melody, not by rigid rule.

并非画家不能画出超越现实的美貌，但那须凭灵感与天机，如同音乐家妙手生出一支美妙的曲调，而非依赖生硬的公式与法则。

You may see faces that, if examined feature by feature, have nothing especially good — yet taken as a whole, are beautiful.

你常见到这样的面容：若逐一审视其五官，毫无出色之处，但合而观之，却和谐美丽。

（美是“整体的和谐”，非局部的完美。）

If it is true that the main part of beauty lies in graceful movement, then it is no wonder that older people often appear more charming.

若美的精髓在于仪态之优雅，那年长之人更显可亲也不足为奇。

For, as the Latin proverb says, “Pulchrorum autumnus pulcher” — the autumn of the beautiful is itself beautiful.

正如拉丁谚语所言：“美者之秋，亦美矣。”

（意即：成熟的美，如秋之熟果，带着从容与温润之光。）

No youth can be truly comely except by indulgence — that is, we forgive their immaturity and consider their youth itself part of their charm.

年轻人的美多半需要“宽容”地欣赏，因其未脱稚气，我们以青春本身为其魅力的一部分。

Beauty is like summer fruit — easily spoiled and short-lived.

美貌如夏果，易腐而不久。

Usually, it leads to a reckless youth and, in old age, leaves the person a bit embarrassed or “out of countenance.”

它常使人少年轻佻，而至暮年则略感失色与羞怯。

Yet, certainly again, if beauty happens to accompany virtue, it makes virtues shine brighter and vices blush.

然而，若美貌能与美德相伴，则德行更光辉，罪恶更羞愧。

（培根在此总结：美若与善结合，能使人性更高贵。）

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总 结

培根认为：真正的美不在外表，而在神态、气度与德性。美中若无一丝“奇异”，则无生气。美貌短暂，若与德行结合，方能恒久而高贵。美与德的关系，正如形式与灵魂——外在之光可照亮内在之善。

summary

Would you like me to next make a short commentary (about one paragraph) summarizing how Bacon’s view of beauty reflects his Renaissance humanism and how it connects to modern values?

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/56463/56463-h/56463-h.htm#Page_237

OF BEAUTY (original texts)

Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set; and surely virtue is best in a body that is comely, though not of delicate features, and that hath rather dignity of presence than beauty of aspect; neither is it always most seen, that very beautiful persons are otherwise of great virtue; as if nature were rather busy not to err, than in labor to produce excellency; and therefore they prove accomplished, but not of great spirit, and study rather behavior than virtue. But this holds not always; for Augustus C?sar, Titus Vespasianus, Philip le Bel of France, Edward the Fourth of England, Alcibiades of Athens, Ismael the Sophy of Persia, were all high and great spirits, and yet the most beautiful men of their times. In beauty, that of favor is more than that of color; and that of decent and gracious motion, more than that of favor.That is the best part of beauty, which a picture cannot express; no, nor the first sight of the life. There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. A man cannot tell whether Apelles, or Albert Durer, were the more trifler; whereof the one would make a personage by geometrical proportions; the other, by taking the best parts out of divers faces to make one excellent. Such personages, I think, would please nobody but the painter that made them: not but I think a painter may make a better face than ever was; but he must do it by a kind of felicity (as a musician that maketh an excellent air in music), and not by rule. A man shall see faces, that, if you examine them part by part, you shall find never a good, and yet altogether do well. If it be true that the principal part of beauty is in decent motion, certainly it is no marvel, though persons in years seem many times more amiable; “Pulchrorum autumnus pulcher;”for no youth can be comely but by pardon, and considering the youth as to make up the comeliness. Beauty is as summer fruits, which are easy to corrupt, and cannot last; and, for the most part, it makes a dissolute youth, and an age a little out of countenance; but yet certainly again, if it light well, it maketh virtues shine, and vices blush.