"Sentimentality is multiform.
"It presents itself, at times, under the aspect of an obscure appeal to sensuality and brings with it a passing desire of the heart and of the senses, which produces an artificial appreciation3 of the emotion felt.
"In this first case sentimentality is an unconscious manifestation4 of egotism, because, outside of that which provokes this outward manifestation, everything is alienated6 and becomes indistinct.
"The incidents of existence lose their true proportion, since everything becomes relative to the object because of our preoccupation.
"The impulse reigns7 supreme8 there when sentimentality establishes itself, and the desire of judgment9, if it makes itself apparent, is quickly shunned10, to the profit of illusory reasons, in which pure reason does not intervene.
"This sentimentality amalgamating11 the springs of egotism bereaves12 the soul's longing13 of all its greatness.
"The anxiety to attribute all our impressions to emotion is only a way of intensifying14 it for our personal satisfaction, at the expense of a sentiment far deeper and more serious, which never blossoms under the shadow of egotism and of frivolous15 sentimentality.
"Never will common sense have the chance to manifest itself in those who permit such ephemeral and enfeebling impressions to implant16 themselves in their souls.
"However they must be pitied because their artificial emotion often results in a sorrow which is not lessened17 by repetition, but whose manifestation is none the less prejudicial to the peace of their being.
"All those who do not harmonize common sense and the emotions of the heart become passive to the investiture of a sentimentality which does not wait to know if the object be worthy18 of them before it exists in consciousness.
"From this state of mind arise disillusions19 and their recurrence21 entails22 a defect in the conception.
"Men who are often deceived in allowing themselves to feel a sorrow which is only based on the longings23 of sentimentality become pessimists24 quickly and deny the existence of deep and enduring affection judged from its superior expression.
"This superior expression of sentiment is freed from all personality and such judgment which differentiates25 it from other sentiments.
"If we wished to appeal to common sense we should acknowledge, too often, that in the search for expansion we have only recognized the opportunity to satisfy the inclination26 which urges us to seek for pleasure.
"Sentiment reasons, and is capable of devotion. Sentimentality excludes reflective thought and ignores generosity27.
"We are capable of sacrificing ourselves for sentiment.
"Sentimentality exacts the sacrifice of others.
"Therefore, profiting by the principles already developed, he who cultivates common sense will never fail to reason in the following manner:
"Opening the symbolic28 fan, he will encounter, after perfection, the memory which will suggest to him the recollections of personal and strange experiences and he will record this fact: abegation is rarely encountered.
"The inclination of our thoughts will suggest to us the difficulties there are in searching for it.
"Deduction29 will acquaint us with the temerity30 of this exaction31, and precaution will attract our thoughts to the possibility of suffering which could proceed from disillusion20.
"Following this, reasoning and judgment will intervene in order to hasten the conclusion formulated33 by common sense.
"It follows then that, abnegation being so rare, common sense indicates to me that it would be imprudent for me to allow my happiness to rest upon the existence of a thing so exceptional.
"For this reason this sentimental1 defect will find common sense armed against this eventuality.
"There is another form or sentimentality not less common.
"It is that which extends itself to all the circumstances of life and transforms true pity into a false sensibility, the exaggeration of which deteriorates34 the true value of things.
"Those who give publicity35 to this form of sentiment are agitated36 (or imagine themselves to be agitated) as profoundly on the most futile37 of pretexts39 as for the most important cause.
"They do not think to ask themselves if their ardor40 is merited; also every such experience, taking out of them something of their inner selves, leaves them enfeebled and stranded41.
"Every excursion into the domain42 of sentimentality is particularly dangerous, for tourists always fail to carry with them the necessary coinage which one calls common sense."
After having put ourselves on guard against the surprizes of mental exaggeration, Yoritomo warns us of a kind of high respectable sentimentality which we possess, that is none the less censurable43 because under an exterior44 of the purest tenderness it conceals45 a profound egotism.
It concerns paternal46 love from which reasoning and common sense are excluded.
"Nothing" said he, "seems more noble than the love of parents for their children, and no sentiment is more august when it is comprehended in all its grandeur47.
"But how many people are apt to distinguish it from an egotistical sentimentality.
"I have seen some mothers oppose the departure of their sons, preferring to oblige them to lead an obscure existence near to them, rather than impose upon themselves the sorrow of a separation.
"These women do not fail to condemn48 the action of others, who, filled with a sublime49 abnegation, allow their children to depart, hiding from them the tears which they shed, because they have the conviction of seeing them depart for the fortune and the happiness which they feel themselves unable to offer them.
"Which of these are worthy of admiration50? Those who condemn their children to a life of mediocrity in order to obey an egotistical sentimentality, or those who, with despair in their hearts, renounce51 the joy of their presence, and think only of their own grief in order to build upon it the happiness of their dear ones.
"The common sense of this latter class inspiring in them this magnificent sentiment, and forcing them to set aside a sentimentality which is, in reality, only the caricature of sentiment, has permitted them to escape that special kind of egotism, which could be defined thus: The translation of a desire for personal contentment.
"Ought we then to blame others so strongly?
"It is necessary, above all, to teach them to reason about the ardor of their emotions, and only to follow them when they find that they are cleansed52 from all aspiration53 which is not a pledge of devotion."
Now the Shogun speaks to us with that subtlety54 of analysis which is characteristic and refers to a kind of sentimentality the most frequent and the least excusable.
"There are," he tells us, "a number of people who, without knowing that they offend common sense in a most indefensible manner, invoke55 sentimentality in order to dispense56 with exercising the most vulgar pity, to the profit of their neighbor.
"A prince," he continues, "possest a large? tract32 of land which he had put under grain.
"For the harvest, a large number of peasants and laborers57 were employed and each one lived on the products of his labor58.
"But a prolonged drought threatened the crop; so the prince's overseer dismissed most of the laborers, who failed to find employment in the parched59 country.
"Soon hunger threatened the inmates60 of the miserable61 dwellings62, and sickness, its inseparable companion, did not fail to follow.
"Facing the conditions the prince left, and had it not been for two or three wealthy and charitable people the laborers would have starved to death.
"This pitiful condition was soon changed, abundance replaced famine, and the master returned to live in his domain.
"But amazement63 followed when he addrest his people as follows: Here I am, back among you, and I hope to remain here a long time; if I left you, it was because I have so great an affection for all my servants and because even the bare thought of seeing them suffer caused me unbearable64 sorrow.
"I am not among those who are sufficiently65 hard-hearted to be able to take care of sick and suffering people and to be a witness of their martyrdom. My pity is too keen to permit of my beholding66 this spectacle; this is why I had to leave to others, less sensitive, the burden of care which my too tender heart was unable to lavish67 on you."
And that which is more terrible is that this man believed what he said.
He did not understand the monstrous68 rent which he made in the robe of common sense, by declaring that he had committed the vilest69 act of cruelty due to excessive sensitiveness since it represented a murderous act of omission70.
Examples of this form of sentimentality are more numerous than we think.
There exist people who cover their dogs with caresses71, gorging72 them with dainties, and will take good care not to succor73 the needy74.
Others faint away at sight of an accident and never think of giving aid to the wounded.
One may observe that for people exercising sentimentality at the expense of common sense, the greatest catastrophe75 in intensity76, if it be far away from us, diminishes, while the merest incident, a little out of the ordinary, affects them in a most immoderate manner if it be produced in the circle of their acquaintances.
It is needless to add that, if it touches them directly, it becomes an unparalleled calamity77; it seems that the rest of the world must be troubled by it.
This propensity78 toward pitying oneself unreasonably79 about little things which relate to one directly and this exaggerated development of a sterile80 sentimentality are almost always artificial, and the instinct of self-preservation very often aids in their extermination81.
"Among my old disciples," pursues the Shogun, "I had a friend whose son was afflicted82 by this kind of sentimentality, the sight of blood made him faint and he was incapable83 of aiding any one whomsoever; that which he called his good heart, and which was only a form of egotistical sentimentality, prevented him from looking at the suffering of others.
"One day, a terrible earthquake destroyed his palace; he escaped, making his way through the ruins and roughly pushing aside the wounded who told about it afterward84.
"I saw him some days after; instead of reproaching him severely85 for his conduct, I endeavored to make him see how false was his conception of pity, since, not only had he not fainted at the sight of those who, half-dead, were groaning86, but he had found in the egotistical sentiment of self-preservation the strength to struggle against those who clung to him, beseeching87 him for help.
"I demonstrated to him the evident contradiction of his instinctive88 cruelty to the sentimentality that it pleased him to make public.
"I made an appeal to common sense, in order to prove to him the attitude which he had, until then, assumed, and I had the joy of seeing myself understood.
"My arguments appealed to his mentality2, and always afterward, when he had the opportunity to bring puerile89 sentimentality and common sense face to face, he forced himself to appeal to that quality, which in revealing to him the artifice90 of the sentiment which animated91 him, cured him of false sensibility, which he had displayed up to that time."
Sentimentality is in reality only a conception of egotism, under the different forms which it adopts.
Yoritomo proves it to us again, in speaking of the weakness of certain teachers, who, under the pretext38 of avoiding trouble, allow their children to follow their defective92 inclinations93.
"It is by an instinctive hatred94 of effort that parents forbid themselves to make their children cry when reprimanding them," said he.
"If the parents wish to be sincere to themselves, they will perceive that the sorrow in seeing their children's tears flow, plays a very small part in their preconceived idea of indulgence.
"It is in order to economize95 their own nervous energy or to avoid cleverly the trouble of continued teaching, that they hesitate to provoke these imaginary miseries96, the manifestation of which is caused by the great weakness of the teachers.
"Common sense, nevertheless, ought to make them understand that it is preferable to allow the little ones to shed a few tears, which are quickly dried, rather than to tolerate a deplorable propensity for these habits which, later in life, will cause them real anxiety."
And the philosopher concludes:
"A very little reasoning could suffice to convince one of the dangers of sentimentality, if the persons who devote themselves entirely97 to it consented to reflect, by frankly98 agreeing to the true cause which produces it.
"They would discover in this false pity the desire not to disturb their own tranquility.
"They would also perceive that, in order to spare themselves a few unpleasant moments in the present they are preparing for themselves great sorrow for the future.
"In parental99 affection, as in friendship or in the emotions of love, sentimentality is none other than an exaggerated amplification100 of the ego5.
"If it be true that all our acts, even those most worthy of approbation101, can react in our personality, at least it is necessary that we should be logical and that, in order to create for ourselves a partial happiness or to avoid a temporary annoyance102, we should not prepare for ourselves an existence, outlined by deception103 and fruitless regrets.
"Sentimentality and its derivatives104, puerile pity and false sensitiveness, can create illusion for those who do not practise the art of reasoning, but the friends of common sense do not hesitate to condemn them for it.
"In spite of the glitter in which it parades itself, sentimentality will never be anything but the dross105 of true sentiment."
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1
sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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mentality
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| n.心理，思想，脑力 | |
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appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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manifestation
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| n.表现形式；表明；现象 | |
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ego
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| n.自我，自己，自尊 | |
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alienated
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| adj.感到孤独的，不合群的v.使疏远( alienate的过去式和过去分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等） | |
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reigns
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| n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 )；君主统治时期；任期；当政期 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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shunned
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| v.避开，回避，避免( shun的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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amalgamating
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| v.（使）（金属）汞齐化( amalgamate的现在分词 )；（使）合并；联合；结合 | |
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12
bereaves
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| v.使失去（希望、生命等）( bereave的第三人称单数 )；（尤指死亡）使丧失（亲人、朋友等）；使孤寂；抢走（财物） | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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intensifying
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的现在分词 )；增辉 | |
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frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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implant
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| vt.注入，植入，灌输 | |
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lessened
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| 减少的，减弱的 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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disillusions
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| 使不再抱幻想，使理想破灭( disillusion的第三人称单数 ) | |
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disillusion
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| vt.使不再抱幻想，使理想破灭 | |
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recurrence
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| n.复发，反复，重现 | |
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entails
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| 使…成为必要( entail的第三人称单数 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需 | |
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longings
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| 渴望，盼望( longing的名词复数 ) | |
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pessimists
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| n.悲观主义者( pessimist的名词复数 ) | |
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differentiates
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| 区分，区别，辨别( differentiate的第三人称单数 )； 区别对待； 表明…间的差别，构成…间差别的特征 | |
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inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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symbolic
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| adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的 | |
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deduction
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| n.减除，扣除，减除额；推论，推理，演绎 | |
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temerity
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| n.鲁莽，冒失 | |
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exaction
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| n.强求，强征；杂税 | |
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tract
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| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
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formulated
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| v.构想出( formulate的过去式和过去分词 )；规划；确切地阐述；用公式表示 | |
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34
deteriorates
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| 恶化，变坏( deteriorate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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publicity
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| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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pretexts
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| n.借口，托辞( pretext的名词复数 ) | |
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ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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stranded
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| a.搁浅的，进退两难的 | |
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domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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censurable
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| adj.可非难的，该责备的 | |
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exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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conceals
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的第三人称单数 ) | |
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paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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condemn
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| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
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sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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50
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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51
renounce
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| v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系 | |
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52
cleansed
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| 弄干净，清洗( cleanse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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aspiration
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| n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出 | |
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subtlety
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| n.微妙，敏锐，精巧；微妙之处，细微的区别 | |
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invoke
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| v.求助于(神、法律)；恳求，乞求 | |
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dispense
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| vt.分配，分发；配(药)，发(药)；实施 | |
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laborers
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| n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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parched
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| adj.焦干的；极渴的；v.（使）焦干 | |
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inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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unbearable
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| adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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beholding
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| v.看，注视( behold的现在分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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lavish
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| adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍 | |
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monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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vilest
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| adj.卑鄙的( vile的最高级 )；可耻的；极坏的；非常讨厌的 | |
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omission
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| n.省略，删节；遗漏或省略的事物，冗长 | |
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caresses
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| 爱抚，抚摸( caress的名词复数 ) | |
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gorging
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| v.（用食物把自己）塞饱，填饱( gorge的现在分词 )；作呕 | |
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succor
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| n.援助，帮助；v.给予帮助 | |
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needy
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| adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的 | |
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catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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propensity
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| n.倾向；习性 | |
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unreasonably
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| adv. 不合理地 | |
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sterile
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| adj.不毛的，不孕的，无菌的，枯燥的，贫瘠的 | |
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extermination
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| n.消灭，根绝 | |
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afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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84
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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86
groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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beseeching
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| adj.恳求似的v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的现在分词 ) | |
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instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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puerile
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| adj.幼稚的，儿童的 | |
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artifice
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| n.妙计，高明的手段；狡诈，诡计 | |
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animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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defective
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| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
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inclinations
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| 倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡 | |
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hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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economize
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| v.节约，节省 | |
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miseries
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| n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 )；痛苦的事；穷困；常发牢骚的人 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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99
parental
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| adj.父母的；父的；母的 | |
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100
amplification
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| n.扩大，发挥 | |
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101
approbation
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| n.称赞；认可 | |
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102
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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deception
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| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
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derivatives
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| n.衍生性金融商品；派生物，引出物( derivative的名词复数 )；导数 | |
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dross
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| n.渣滓；无用之物 | |
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