苏格拉底(Socrates)

名人档案

苏格拉底（Socrates, 469 B.C.—399 B.C.），古希腊哲学家，西方哲学的奠基者之一。他因追求真理与智慧并喜欢与人辩论而终被雅典法庭以“腐蚀青年”和“不敬神明”罪判处死刑。其生平思想多见于其学生柏拉图（Plato, 427 B.C.—347 B.C.）的记载。

简介与鉴赏

本篇演讲是苏格拉底在被判死刑后，面向法庭所作“申辩”的最后一部分，主要表达了对死亡的理解、对自身命运的接受以及对孩子教育的期许。

演讲雄辩有力，连续的反问、排比增加了说服力，表明了苏格拉底为追求真理、智慧和美德不惜赴死的情操。

苏格拉底的死亡与耶稣的死亡是以古希腊文明和犹太—基督教文明为两大源头的西方文明中的基石性事件，分别从理性和信仰两方面体现了人性的高贵。

英文正文

Let us refl ect ^[1] in another way, and we shall see that there is great reason to hope that death is a good; for one of two things,either death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness ^[2] , or, as men say, there is a change and migration ^[3] of the soul from this world to another. Now if you suppose that there is no consciousness, but a sleep like the sleep of him who is undisturbed ^[4] even by dreams, death will be an unspeakable gain. For if a person were to select the night in which his sleep was undisturbed even by dreams, and were to compare with this the other days and nights of his life, and then were to tell us how many days and nights he had passed in the course of his life better and more pleasantly than this one, I think that any man, I will not say a private ^[5] man, but the greatest king will not fi nd many such days or nights, when compared to the others. Now ifdeath be of such a nature, I say that to die is gain; for eternity isthen only a single night .

But if death is the journey to another place, and there, as men say, all the dead abide ^[6] , what good, O my friends and judges, can be greater than this? If indeed when the pilgrim ^[7] arrives in the world below, he is delivered ^[8] from the professors of justice in this world, and fi nds the true judges who are said to give judgement there…that pilgrimage will be worth taking.What would not a man give if he might converse ^[9] with Orpheus and Musaeus and Hesiod and Homer? Nay, if this be true,let me die again and again!… Above all, I shall then be able to continue my search into true and false knowledge; as in this world, so also in the next; and I shall fi nd out who is wise, and who pretends to be wise, and is not. What would not a man give,O judges, to be able to examine the leader of the great Trojan expedition ^[10] Odysseus or Sisyphus , or numberless other, men and women too! What infinite ^[11] would there be in conversing with them and asking them questions! In another world they do not put a man to death for asking questions: assuredly ^[12] not. For besides being happier than we are, they will also be immortal ^[13] ,if what is said is true.

Wherefore ^{8 [14]} , O judges, be of good cheer about death, and know of a certainty, that no evil can happen to a good man, eitherin life or after death . He and his are not neglected ^[15] by the gods;nor has my own approaching end happened by mere ^[16] chance.But I see clearly that the time had arrived when it was better for me to die and be released ^[17] from trouble; wherefore the oracle ^[18] gave no sign. For which reason, also, I am not angry with my condemners, or with my accusers; they have done me no harm,although they did not mean to do me any good; and for this I may gently blame them.

Still I have a favor to ask of them. When my sons are grownup, I would ask you, O my friends, to punish them; and I wouldhave you trouble them, as I have troubled you, if they seem tocare about riches, or anything, more than about virtue; or if theypretend to be something when they are really nothing, —then reprovethem, as I have reproved you, for not caring about that for whichthey ought to care, and thinking that they are something whenthey are really nothing. And if you do this, both I and my sons will have received justice at your hands.

The hour of departure ^[19] has arrived, and we go our separate ways, I to die, and you to live. Which of these two is better only God knows.

单词/词组

[1] refl ect ⁴ : v. 深思，认为，反映

[2] unconsciousness ⁴ : n. 无意识

[3] migration ⁶ : n. 移居，迁徙

[4] undisturbed ⁴ : adj. 未被打扰的，镇静的

[5] private ⁴ : adj. 平民的，私密的

[6] abide ⁶ : v. 居住，忍受

[7] pilgrim ⁶ : n. 朝圣者

[8] deliver ⁴ : v. 托付，递送

[9] converse ⁴ : v. 交谈

[10] expedition ⁶ : n. 远征

[11] infi nit ⁴ : n. 无穷

[12] assuredly ⁴ : adv.毫无疑问地

[13] immortal ⁶ : adj. 永生的，不朽的

[14] wherefore ⁸ : adv. & conj. 因此

[15] neglect ⁴ : v. 忽略，忽视

[16] mere ⁴ : adj. 微不足道的

[17] release ⁴ : v. 免除，释放

[18] oracle ⁸ : n. 神谕

[19] departure ⁴ : n. 离开，出发

中文译文

我们换种方式思考，便很有理由相信死亡是一件好事；无非是两种可能：死亡或是一种虚无和无意识状态，或如人们所说，是灵魂从此世到彼世的变化和迁移。你们想象一下，没有知觉，却如酣眠无梦之人那样沉睡，那么死亡真是一种难以言表的获益。如果一个人挑选一个酣眠无梦的夜晚，将之与其他的日日夜夜相比较，然后告诉我们有多少日夜会比这一夜更好更舒心。我相信任何人，且不说平常百姓，即便是最显赫的帝王，都会发现这样的日子为数不多。 既然死亡本质如此，那我说逝世便是收获——因为永恒不过是一夜沉睡罢了。

如果死亡是前往他处的旅行，人们相传那里居住着所有的亡灵，朋友们和法官先生们，还有比这更美好的事情吗？如果朝圣者真能抵达阴间，他将摆脱尘世的判决，而去面对传言中给予裁决的真正法官……这趟朝圣确实值得。如果能与俄耳甫斯、缪萨尤斯、赫西奥德、荷马有幸交谈，那么有什么不可舍弃呢？如若真是如此，我愿意一次次赴死！……更重要的是，我将仍能像此世一般，在另一个世界里继续探究知识的真伪；我将分辨谁拥有真正的智慧，谁只是假装聪明。法官们啊，若能去研究远征特洛伊的领袖们或者奥德修斯、西西弗斯以及其他各色男女，还有什么不可舍弃呢？与他们交谈，向他们请教，将会多么快乐！在那个世界里，不会有人因发问而被处死：绝对不会。如果传说属实，那里的人们除了比我们快乐，还享永生。

因此，法官们啊，为死亡欢呼吧！要知道， 无论生前死后，善良的人都不会遭遇恶报。 他和家人不会被诸神遗忘；我即将到来的结局也绝非偶然。我很清楚，死亡解脱的时刻已经到来，因为神谕没有给出任何显示。也正因如此，我并不怨恨控诉和审判我的人；他们并没有伤害到我，虽说他们对我也没有任何良善的居心——这一点我对他们却有些许不满。

但我要拜托他们帮一个忙。 朋友们，我的几个儿子长大后，请帮我严厉管教他们。如果他们把财富或其他事物看得比美德还重，请阻挠他们，就像我阻挠你们那样。如果他们自命不凡，那么请指责他们，就像我指责你们一样；因为他们忽视了本应看重的事物，本来一无是处，却自命不凡。 你们倘能这样做，便是给了我和我的儿子们公正。

离别的时刻到了，我们各自上路吧——我去赴死，你们去活。哪个更好，只有神知道。 vysCo7kyZARJrCIvFZPxR4OAy3CVoXem1YCiqn4dEm4Td+R+WyevBEf1aRjf6weU