Nay13, even under the worst of circumstances, when a whole mob of fellow-combatants5 has been put to flight, how often ere now has a handful6 of such men, by virtue14 of their bodily health7 and courage, caught the victorious15 enemy roaming blindly in some intricacy of ground, renewed the fight, and routed him. Since so it must ever be; to those whose souls and bodies are in happy case success is near at hand.8
It was through knowledge that they owed success against their foes16 to such a training, that our own forefathers17 paid so careful a heed18 to the young.9 Though they had but a scant19 supply of fruits, it was an immemorial custom “not to hinder10 the hunter from hunting any of earth’s offspring”; and in addition, “not to hunt by night11 within many furlongs of the city,” in order that the adepts20 in that art might not rob the young lads of their game. They saw plainly that among the many pleasures to which youth is prone21, this one alone is productive of the greatest blessings23. In other words, it tends to make them sound of soul and upright, being trained in the real world of actual things12 [and, as was said before, our ancestors could not but perceive they owed their success in war to such instrumentality13]; and the chase alone deprives them of none of the other fair and noble pursuits that they may choose to cultivate, as do those other evil pleasures, which ought never to be learned. Of such stuff are good soldiers and good generals made.14 Naturally, those from whose souls and bodies the sweat of toil has washed all base and wanton thoughts, who have implanted in them a passion for manly24 virtue — these, I say, are the true nobles.15 Not theirs will it be to allow their city or its sacred soil to suffer wrong.
Some people tell us it is not right to indulge a taste for hunting, lest it lead to neglect of home concerns, not knowing that those who are benefactors25 of their country and their friends are in proportion all the more devoted26 to domestic duties. If lovers of the chase pre-eminently fit themselves to be useful to the fatherland, that is as much as to say they will not squander27 their private means; since with the state itself the domestic fortunes of each are saved or lost. The real fact is, these men are saviours28, not of their own fortunes only, but of the private fortunes of the rest, of yours and mine. Yet there are not a few irrational29 people amongst these cavillers who, out of jealousy30, would rather perish, thanks to their own baseness, than owe their lives to the virtue of their neighbours. So true is it that the mass of pleasures are but evil,16 to which men succumb31, and thereby are incited32 to adopt the worse cause in speech and course in action.17 And with what result? — from vain and empty arguments they contract emnities, and reap the fruit of evil deeds, diseases, losses, death — to the undoing33 of themselves, their children, and their friends.18 Having their senses dulled to things evil, while more than commonly alive to pleasures, how shall these be turned to good account for the salvation34 of the state? Yet from these evils every one will easily hold aloof35, if once enamoured of those joys whose brief I hold, since a chivalrous36 education teaches obedience37 to laws, and renders justice familiar to tongue and ear.19
In the one camp are those who, subjecting themselves ever to new toil and fresh instruction, have, at the cost of lessons and exercises painful to themselves, obtained to their several states salvation; and in the other are those who for the very irksomeness of the process choose not to be taught, but rather to pass away their days in pleasures unseasonable — nature’s abjects these.20 Not theirs is it to obey either laws or good instruction;21 nay, how should they, who never toil, discover what a good man ought to be? — in other words, wisdom and justice are alike beyond their power. Subject to indiscipline, they have many a fault to find with him who is well educated.
Through the instrumentality of such as these nothing can go well; whereas every blessing22 which mankind enjoys has been discovered by the efforts of the nobler sort. Nobler, I say, are those who choose to toil.22
And this has been proved conclusively38 by a notable example. If we look back to the men of old who sat at the feet of Cheiron — whose names I mentioned — we see that it was by dedicating the years of their youth to the chase23 that they learnt all their noble lore39; and therefrom they attained40 to great renown41, and are admired even to this day for their virtue — virtue who numbers all men as her lovers, as is very plain. Only because of the pains it costs to win her the greater number fall away; for the achievement of her is hid in obscurity; while the pains that cleave42 to her are manifest. Perchance, if only she were endowed with a visible bodily frame, men would less have neglected her, knowing that even as she is visible to them, so they also are not hid from her eyes. For is it not so that when a man moves in the presence of him whom he dearly loves,24 he rises to a height above himself, being incapable43 of aught base or foul44 in word or deed in sight of him?25 But fondly dreaming that the eye of virtue is closed to them, they are guilty of many a base thing and foul before her very face, who is hidden from their eyes. Yet she is present everywhere, being dowered with immortality45; and those who are perfect in goodness26 she honours, but the wicked she thrusts aside from honour. If only men could know that she regards them, how eagerly would they rush to the embrace of toilful training and tribulation,27 by which alone she is hardly taken; and so should they gain the mastery over her, and she should be laid captive at their feet.
点击收听单词发音
1 derive | |
v.取得;导出;引申;来自;源自;出自 | |
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2 thereby | |
adv.因此,从而 | |
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3 accrue | |
v.(利息等)增大,增多 | |
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4 defiance | |
n.挑战,挑衅,蔑视,违抗 | |
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5 infantry | |
n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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6 toil | |
vi.辛劳工作,艰难地行动;n.苦工,难事 | |
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7 guardians | |
监护人( guardian的名词复数 ); 保护者,维护者 | |
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8 rout | |
n.溃退,溃败;v.击溃,打垮 | |
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9 falter | |
vi.(嗓音)颤抖,结巴地说;犹豫;蹒跚 | |
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10 foe | |
n.敌人,仇敌 | |
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11 beset | |
v.镶嵌;困扰,包围 | |
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12 extricate | |
v.拯救,救出;解脱 | |
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13 nay | |
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
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14 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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15 victorious | |
adj.胜利的,得胜的 | |
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16 foes | |
敌人,仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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17 forefathers | |
n.祖先,先人;祖先,祖宗( forefather的名词复数 );列祖列宗;前人 | |
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18 heed | |
v.注意,留意;n.注意,留心 | |
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19 scant | |
adj.不充分的,不足的;v.减缩,限制,忽略 | |
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20 adepts | |
n.专家,能手( adept的名词复数 ) | |
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21 prone | |
adj.(to)易于…的,很可能…的;俯卧的 | |
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22 blessing | |
n.祈神赐福;祷告;祝福,祝愿 | |
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23 blessings | |
n.(上帝的)祝福( blessing的名词复数 );好事;福分;因祸得福 | |
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24 manly | |
adj.有男子气概的;adv.男子般地,果断地 | |
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25 benefactors | |
n.捐助者,施主( benefactor的名词复数 );恩人 | |
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26 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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27 squander | |
v.浪费,挥霍 | |
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28 saviours | |
n.救助者( saviour的名词复数 );救星;救世主;耶稣基督 | |
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29 irrational | |
adj.无理性的,失去理性的 | |
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30 jealousy | |
n.妒忌,嫉妒,猜忌 | |
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31 succumb | |
v.屈服,屈从;死 | |
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32 incited | |
刺激,激励,煽动( incite的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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33 undoing | |
n.毁灭的原因,祸根;破坏,毁灭 | |
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34 salvation | |
n.(尤指基督)救世,超度,拯救,解困 | |
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35 aloof | |
adj.远离的;冷淡的,漠不关心的 | |
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36 chivalrous | |
adj.武士精神的;对女人彬彬有礼的 | |
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37 obedience | |
n.服从,顺从 | |
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38 conclusively | |
adv.令人信服地,确凿地 | |
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39 lore | |
n.传说;学问,经验,知识 | |
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40 attained | |
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况) | |
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41 renown | |
n.声誉,名望 | |
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42 cleave | |
v.(clave;cleaved)粘着,粘住;坚持;依恋 | |
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43 incapable | |
adj.无能力的,不能做某事的 | |
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44 foul | |
adj.污秽的;邪恶的;v.弄脏;妨害;犯规;n.犯规 | |
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45 immortality | |
n.不死,不朽 | |
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