It transcends1 the power of human intellect, however deeply it may have drunk of the Pegasean fount, to develop fully2 the title of the present chapter. Though one should speak with the tongue of men and angels, though he should become a Mercury or Tully, though he should grow sweet with the milky3 eloquence4 of Livy, yet he will plead the stammering5 of Moses, or with Jeremiah will confess that he is but a boy and cannot speak, or will imitate Echo rebounding6 from the mountains. For we know that the love of books is the same thing as the love of wisdom, as was proved in the second chapter. Now this love is called by the Greek word philosophy, the whole virtue7 of which no created intelligence can comprehend; for she is believed to be the mother of all good things: Wisdom vii. She as a heavenly dew extinguishes the heats of fleshly vices8, the intense activity of the mental forces relaxing the vigour10 of the animal forces, and slothfulness being wholly put to flight, which being gone all the bows of Cupid are unstrung.
Hence Plato says in the Phaedo: The philosopher is manifest in this, that he dissevers the soul from communion with the body. Love, says Jerome, the knowledge of the scriptures12, and thou wilt13 not love the vices of the flesh. The godlike Xenocrates showed this by the firmness of his reason, who was declared by the famous hetaera Phryne to be a statue and not a man, when all her blandishments could not shake his resolve, as Valerius Maximus relates at length. Our own Origen showed this also, who chose rather to be unsexed by the mutilation of himself, than to be made effeminate by the omnipotence14 of woman — though it was a hasty remedy, repugnant alike to nature and to virtue, whose place it is not to make men insensible to passion, but to slay15 with the dagger16 of reason the passions that spring from instinct.
Again, all who are smitten17 with the love of books think cheaply of the world and wealth; as Jerome says to Vigilantius: The same man cannot love both gold and books. And thus it has been said in verse:
No iron-stained hand is fit to handle books,
Nor he whose heart on gold so gladly looks:
The same men love not books and money both,
And books thy herd18, O Epicurus, loathe19;
Misers20 and bookmen make poor company,
Nor dwell in peace beneath the same roof-tree.
No man, therefore, can serve both books and Mammon.
The hideousness21 of vice9 is greatly reprobated in books, so that he who loves to commune with books is led to detest22 all manner of vice. The demon23, who derives24 his name from knowledge, is most effectually defeated by the knowledge of books, and through books his multitudinous deceits and the endless labyrinths25 of his guile26 are laid bare to those who read, lest he be transformed into an angel of light and circumvent27 the innocent by his wiles28. The reverence29 of God is revealed to us by books, the virtues30 by which He is worshipped are more expressly manifested, and the rewards are described that are promised by the truth, which deceives not, neither is deceived. The truest likeness31 of the beatitude to come is the contemplation of the sacred writings, in which we behold32 in turn the Creator and the creature, and draw from streams of perpetual gladness. Faith is established by the power of books; hope is strengthened by their solace33, insomuch that by patience and the consolation34 of scripture11 we are in good hope. Charity is not puffed35 up, but is edified36 by the knowledge of true learning, and, indeed, it is clearer than light that the Church is established upon the sacred writings.
Books delight us, when prosperity smiles upon us; they comfort us inseparably when stormy fortune frowns on us. They lend validity to human compacts, and no serious judgments37 are propounded38 without their help. Arts and sciences, all the advantages of which no mind can enumerate39, consist in books. How highly must we estimate the wondrous40 power of books, since through them we survey the utmost bounds of the world and time, and contemplate41 the things that are as well as those that are not, as it were in the mirror of eternity42. In books we climb mountains and scan the deepest gulfs of the abyss; in books we behold the finny tribes that may not exist outside their native waters, distinguish the properties of streams and springs and of various lands; from books we dig out gems43 and metals and the materials of every kind of mineral, and learn the virtues of herbs and trees and plants, and survey at will the whole progeny44 of Neptune45, Ceres, and Pluto46.
But if we please to visit the heavenly inhabitants, Taurus, Caucasus, and Olympus are at hand, from which we pass beyond the realms of Juno and mark out the territories of the seven planets by lines and circles. And finally we traverse the loftiest firmament47 of all, adorned48 with signs, degrees, and figures in the utmost variety. There we inspect the antarctic pole, which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard; we admire the luminous49 Milky Way and the Zodiac, marvellously and delightfully50 pictured with celestial51 animals. Thence by books we pass on to separate substances, that the intellect may greet kindred intelligences, and with the mind’s eye may discern the First Cause of all things and the Unmoved Mover of infinite virtue, and may immerse itself in love without end. See how with the aid of books we attain52 the reward of our beatitude, while we are yet sojourners below.
Why need we say more? Certes, just as we have learnt on the authority of Seneca, leisure without letters is death and the sepulture of the living, so contrariwise we conclude that occupation with letters or books is the life of man.
Again, by means of books we communicate to friends as well as foes53 what we cannot safely entrust54 to messengers; since the book is generally allowed access to the chambers55 of princes, from which the voice of its author would be rigidly56 excluded, as Tertullian observes at the beginning of his Apologeticus. When shut up in prison and in bonds, and utterly57 deprived of bodily liberty, we use books as ambassadors to our friends, and entrust them with the conduct of our cause, and send them where to go ourselves would incur58 the penalty of death. By the aid of books we remember things that are past, and even prophesy59 as to the future; and things present, which shift and flow, we perpetuate60 by committing them to writing.
The felicitous61 studiousness and the studious felicity of the all-powerful eunuch, of whom we are told in the Acts, who had been so mightily62 kindled63 by the love of the prophetic writings that he ceased not from his reading by reason of his journey, had banished64 all thought of the populous65 palace of Queen Candace, and had forgotten even the treasures of which he was the keeper, and had neglected alike his journey and the chariot in which he rode. Love of his book alone had wholly engrossed66 this domicile of chastity, under whose guidance he soon deserved to enter the gate of faith. O gracious love of books, which by the grace of baptism transformed the child of Gehenna and nursling of Tartarus into a Son of the Kingdom!
Let the feeble pen now cease from the tenor67 of an infinite task, lest it seem foolishly to undertake what in the beginning it confessed to be impossible to any.
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1 transcends | |
超出或超越(经验、信念、描写能力等)的范围( transcend的第三人称单数 ); 优于或胜过… | |
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2 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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3 milky | |
adj.牛奶的,多奶的;乳白色的 | |
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4 eloquence | |
n.雄辩;口才,修辞 | |
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5 stammering | |
v.结巴地说出( stammer的现在分词 ) | |
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6 rebounding | |
蹦跳运动 | |
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7 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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8 vices | |
缺陷( vice的名词复数 ); 恶习; 不道德行为; 台钳 | |
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9 vice | |
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的 | |
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10 vigour | |
(=vigor)n.智力,体力,精力 | |
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11 scripture | |
n.经文,圣书,手稿;Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》,《圣经》中的一段 | |
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12 scriptures | |
经文,圣典( scripture的名词复数 ); 经典 | |
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13 wilt | |
v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎;(指人)疲倦,衰弱 | |
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14 omnipotence | |
n.全能,万能,无限威力 | |
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15 slay | |
v.杀死,宰杀,杀戮 | |
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16 dagger | |
n.匕首,短剑,剑号 | |
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17 smitten | |
猛打,重击,打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
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18 herd | |
n.兽群,牧群;vt.使集中,把…赶在一起 | |
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19 loathe | |
v.厌恶,嫌恶 | |
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20 misers | |
守财奴,吝啬鬼( miser的名词复数 ) | |
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21 hideousness | |
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22 detest | |
vt.痛恨,憎恶 | |
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23 demon | |
n.魔鬼,恶魔 | |
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24 derives | |
v.得到( derive的第三人称单数 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取 | |
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25 labyrinths | |
迷宫( labyrinth的名词复数 ); (文字,建筑)错综复杂的 | |
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26 guile | |
n.诈术 | |
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27 circumvent | |
vt.环绕,包围;对…用计取胜,智胜 | |
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28 wiles | |
n.(旨在欺骗或吸引人的)诡计,花招;欺骗,欺诈( wile的名词复数 ) | |
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29 reverence | |
n.敬畏,尊敬,尊严;Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称;v.尊敬,敬畏,崇敬 | |
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30 virtues | |
美德( virtue的名词复数 ); 德行; 优点; 长处 | |
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31 likeness | |
n.相像,相似(之处) | |
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32 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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33 solace | |
n.安慰;v.使快乐;vt.安慰(物),缓和 | |
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34 consolation | |
n.安慰,慰问 | |
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35 puffed | |
adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 );喷着汽(或烟)移动;吹嘘;吹捧 | |
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36 edified | |
v.开导,启发( edify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37 judgments | |
判断( judgment的名词复数 ); 鉴定; 评价; 审判 | |
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38 propounded | |
v.提出(问题、计划等)供考虑[讨论],提议( propound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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39 enumerate | |
v.列举,计算,枚举,数 | |
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40 wondrous | |
adj.令人惊奇的,奇妙的;adv.惊人地;异乎寻常地;令人惊叹地 | |
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41 contemplate | |
vt.盘算,计议;周密考虑;注视,凝视 | |
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42 eternity | |
n.不朽,来世;永恒,无穷 | |
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43 gems | |
growth; economy; management; and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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44 progeny | |
n.后代,子孙;结果 | |
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45 Neptune | |
n.海王星 | |
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46 Pluto | |
n.冥王星 | |
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47 firmament | |
n.苍穹;最高层 | |
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48 adorned | |
[计]被修饰的 | |
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49 luminous | |
adj.发光的,发亮的;光明的;明白易懂的;有启发的 | |
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50 delightfully | |
大喜,欣然 | |
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51 celestial | |
adj.天体的;天上的 | |
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52 attain | |
vt.达到,获得,完成 | |
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53 foes | |
敌人,仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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54 entrust | |
v.信赖,信托,交托 | |
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55 chambers | |
n.房间( chamber的名词复数 );(议会的)议院;卧室;会议厅 | |
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56 rigidly | |
adv.刻板地,僵化地 | |
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57 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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58 incur | |
vt.招致,蒙受,遭遇 | |
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59 prophesy | |
v.预言;预示 | |
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60 perpetuate | |
v.使永存,使永记不忘 | |
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61 felicitous | |
adj.恰当的,巧妙的;n.恰当,贴切 | |
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62 mightily | |
ad.强烈地;非常地 | |
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63 kindled | |
(使某物)燃烧,着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 ); 激起(感情等); 发亮,放光 | |
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64 banished | |
v.放逐,驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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65 populous | |
adj.人口稠密的,人口众多的 | |
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66 engrossed | |
adj.全神贯注的 | |
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67 tenor | |
n.男高音(歌手),次中音(乐器),要旨,大意 | |
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