3.Diogenes and Alexander(1528)

Passage Three

Gilbert Highet (1906-1978) was born in Glasgow, Scotland, educated in Glasgow and at Oxford, and became a naturalized American citizen in 1951. He was known for his scholarly and critical writings.

吉尔伯特·海耶特(1906-1978)出生于苏格兰格拉斯哥，在格拉斯哥和牛津大学接受教育，1951年加入美国国籍。他以学术和批评著作而闻名。

Diogenes and Alexander

Gilbert Highet

【1】Lying on the bare earth, shoeless, bearded, half-naked, he looked like a beggar or a lunatic. He was one, but not the other. He had opened his eyes with the sun at dawn, scratched, done his business like a dog at the roadside, washed at the public fountain, begged a piece of breakfast bread and a few olives, eaten them squatting on the ground, and washed them down with a few handfuls of water scooped from the spring. (Long ago he had owned a rough wooden cup, but he threw it away when he saw a boy drinking out of his hollowed hands.) Having no work to go to and no family to provide for, he was free.

【2】As the market place filled up with shoppers and merchants and slaves and foreigners, he had strolled through it for an hour or two. Everybody knew him, or knew of him. They would throw sharp questions at him and get sharper answers. Sometimes they threw bits of food, and got scant thanks; sometimes a mischievous pebble, and got a shower of stones and abuse. They were not quite sure whether he was mad or not. He knew they were mad, each in a different way; they amused him. Now he was back at his home.

【3】It was not a house, not even a squatter's hut. He thought everybody lived far too elaborately, expensively, anxiously. What good is a house? No one needs privacy; natural acts are not shameful, we all do the same things, and need not hide them. No one needs beds and chairs and such furniture: the animals live healthy lives and sleep on the ground.

【4】All we require, since nature did not dress us properly, is one garment to keep us warm, and some shelter from rain and wind. So he had one blanket—to dress him in the daytime and cover him at night—and he slept in a cask. His name was Diogenes. He was the founder of the creed called Cynicism (doggishness), he spent much of his life in the rich, lazy, corrupt Greek city of Corinth, mocking and satirizing its people, and occasionally converting one of them.

【5】His home was not a barrel made of wood; too expensive. It was a storage jar made of earthenware, no doubt discarded because a break had made it useless. He was not the first to inhabit such a thing. But he was the first who ever did so by choice, out of principle.

【6】Diogenes was not a lunatic. He was a philosopher who wrote plays and poems and essays expounding his doctrine; he talked to those who cared to listen; he had pupils who admired him. But he taught chiefly by example. All should live naturally, he said, for what is natural is normal and cannot possibly be evil or shameful. Live without conventions, which are artificial and false; escape complexities and extravagances: only so can you live a free life.

【7】The rich man believes he possesses his big house with its many rooms and its elaborate furniture, his expensive clothes, his horses and servants and his bank accounts. He does not. He depends on them, he worries about them, he spends most of his life's energy looking after them, the thought of losing them makes him sick with anxiety. They possess him. He is their slave. In order to procure a quantity of false, perishable goods he has sold the only true, lasting good, his own independence.

【8】There have been many men who grew tired of human society with its complications, and went away to live simply, on a small farm, in a quiet village, or in a hermit's cave. Not so Diogenes. He was a missionary. His life's aim was clear to him: it was "to restamp the currency": to take the clean metal of human life, to erase the old false conventional markings, and to imprint it with its true values.

【9】The other great philosophers of the fourth century BC, such as Plato and Aristotle, taught mainly their own private pupils. But for Diogenes, laboratory and specimens and lecture halls and pupils were all to be found in a crowd of ordinary people. Therefore, he chose to live in Athens or Corinth, where travelers from all over the Mediterranean world constantly came and went. And, by design, he publicly behaved in such ways as to show people what real life was.

【10】He thought most people were only half-alive, most men only half-men. At bright noonday he walked through the market place carrying a lighted lamp and inspecting the face of everyone he met. They asked him why. Diogenes answered, "I'm trying to find a man."

【11】To a gentleman whose servant was putting on his shoes for him, Diogenes said, "You won't be really happy until he wipes your nose for you: that will come after you lose the use of your hands."

【12】Once there was a war scare so serious that it stirred even the lazy, profit-happy Corinthians. They began to drill, clean their weapons, and rebuild their neglected fortifications. Diogenes took his old cask and began to roll it up and down. "When you are all so busy," he said, "I feel I ought to do something!" And so he lived—like a dog, some said, because he cared nothing for the conventions of society, and because he showed his teeth and barked at those he disliked.

【13】Now he was lying in the sunlight, contented and happy, happier (he himself used to boast) than the Shah of Persia. Although he knew he was going to have an important visitor, he would not move.

【14】The little square began to fill with people—page boys, soldiers, secretaries, officers, diplomats—they all gradually formed a circle around Diogenes. He looked them over, as a sober man looks at a crowd of tottering drunks, and shook his head. He knew who they were. They were the servants of Alexander, the conqueror of Greece, the Macedonian king, who was visiting his new realm.

【15】Only twenty, Alexander was far older and wiser than his years. Like all Macedonians, he loved drinking, but he could usually handle it, and toward women, he was nobly restrained and chivalrous. Like all Macedonians, he loved fighting; he was a magnificent commander, but he was not merely a military automaton. He could think. At thirteen, he had become a pupil of the greatest mind in Greece, Aristotle, who gave him the best of Greek culture.

【16】He taught Alexander poetry: the young prince slept with the Iliad under his pillow and longed to emulate Achilles, who brought the mighty power of Asia to ruin. He taught him philosophy, in particular the shapes and uses of political power, and he taught him the principles of scientific research: during his invasion of Persia, Alexander took with him a large corps of scientists, and shipped hundreds of zoological specimens back to Greece for study. Indeed, it was from Aristotle that Alexander learned to seek out everything strange which might be instructive.

【17】Now Alexander was in Corinth to take command of the League of Greek States, which his father Philip had created. He was welcomed and honored and flattered. He was the man of the hour, of the century, he was unanimously appointed commander-in-chief of a new expedition against old, rich, corrupt Asia. Nearly everyone crowded to Corinth in order to congratulate him, to seek employment with him, even simply to see him. Only Diogenes, although he lived in Corinth, did not visit the new monarch. With that generosity which Aristotle had taught him, Alexander determined to call upon Diogenes.

【18】With his handsome face, his fiery glance, his strong body, his purple and gold cloak, and his air of destiny, he moved through the parting crowd toward the Dog's kennel. When a king approaches, all rise in respect. Diogenes merely sat up on one elbow. When a monarch enters a place, all greet him with a bow or an acclamation. Diogenes said nothing.

【19】There was a silence. Alexander spoke first, with a kindly greeting. Looking at the poor broken cask, the single ragged garment, and the rough figure lying on the ground, he said, "Is there anything I can do for you, Diogenes?"

"Yes," said the Dog. "Stand to one side. You're blocking the sunlight."

【20】There was an amazed silence. Slowly, Alexander turned away. A titter broke out from the elegant Greeks. The Macedonian officers, after deciding that Diogenes was not worth the trouble of kicking, were starting to guffaw and nudge one another. Alexander was still silent. To those nearest him he said quietly, "If I were not Alexander, I should be Diogenes."

【21】They took it as a paradox. But Alexander meant it. He understood Cynicism as the others could not. He was what Diogenes called himself, a "citizen of the world." Like Diogenes, he admired the heroic figure of Hercules, who labored to help mankind while all others toiled and sweated only for themselves. He knew that of all men then alive in the world only Alexander the conqueror and Diogenes the beggar were free.

第三课

第欧根尼和亚历山大

吉尔伯特·海耶特

【1】他躺在光秃秃的地上，光着脚，满脸胡须，半裸着，看上去像个乞丐或疯子。他是其中一个，但不是另一个。他在黎明的阳光下睁开了眼睛，在路边像狗一样干活，在公共喷泉边洗澡，讨了一块早餐面包和几颗橄榄，蹲在地上吃，然后从泉水里舀了几勺水把它们冲下去。(很久以前，他有一个粗糙的木杯子，但当他看到一个男孩用他空空的双手喝水时，他把它扔掉了。)没有工作要做，没有家庭要供养，他是自由的。

【2】市场上挤满了购物者、商人、奴隶和外国人，他在里面闲逛了一两个小时。每个人都认识他，或者听说过他。他们会向他抛出尖锐的问题，然后得到更尖锐的回答。有时他们扔一些食物，却很少得到感谢;有时调皮地扔一颗小石子，就遭到一阵石头和谩骂。他们不太确定他是不是疯了。他知道他们都疯了，只是方式各不相同;他们逗他开心。现在他回到了自己的家。

【3】那不是房子，甚至不是小屋。他认为每个人的生活都过于精致、昂贵和焦虑。房子有什么用?没有人需要隐私;自然的行为并不可耻，我们都做同样的事情，不需要隐藏它们。没有人需要床和椅子之类的家具:动物们过着健康的生活，睡在地上。

【4】既然大自然没有给我们适当的打扮，我们所需要的只是一件保暖的衣服和一个挡风遮雨的地方。所以他只有一条毯子，白天穿在身上，晚上盖在身上，他睡在一个桶里。他的名字叫第欧根尼。他是犬儒主义(犬儒主义)信条的创始人，他一生的大部分时间都生活在富裕、懒惰、腐败的希腊城市科林斯，嘲笑和讽刺那里的人们，偶尔会让其中一个人皈依。

【5】他的家不是一个木桶;太贵了。这是一个用陶器做的储物罐，毫无疑问，它因为破裂而被丢弃了。他不是第一个住在这种地方的人。但他是第一个出于原则选择这样做的人。

【6】第欧根尼不是疯子。他是一位哲学家，写剧本、诗歌和散文来阐述他的学说;他对那些愿意倾听的人说话;他有仰慕他的学生。但他主要是以身作则。他说，所有人都应该自然地生活，因为自然的东西是正常的，不可能是邪恶或可耻的。不要墨守成规，那是虚假的;远离复杂和奢侈:只有这样，你才能过上自由的生活。

【7】这个富人认为他拥有他的大房子，有许多房间和精致的家具，他的昂贵的衣服，他的马和仆人，以及他的银行账户。他不这样想。他依赖他们，他担心他们，他花了一生的大部分精力来照顾他们，失去他们的想法使他焦虑不安。他们占有了他。他是他们的奴隶。为了获得一些虚假的、易腐烂的商品，他出卖了唯一真实的、持久的商品，他自己的独立性。

【8】有许多人厌倦了纷繁复杂的人类社会，于是离开家，过着简朴的生活，住在一个小农场里，住在一个安静的村庄里，或者住在一个隐士的山洞里。但第欧根尼不是这样。他是个传教士。他的人生目标对他来说很明确:那就是“重印货币”:取走人类生命中干净的金属，抹去旧的虚假的传统标记，给它打上真正的价值印记。

【9】公元前4世纪的其他伟大哲学家，如柏拉图和亚里士多德，主要是教他们自己的学生。但对第欧根尼来说，实验室、标本、演讲厅和学生都是在一群普通人中找到的。因此，他选择住在雅典或科林斯，来自地中海世界各地的旅行者不断地来来往往。而且，他故意在公众面前表现得像这样，向人们展示什么是真实的生活。

【10】他认为大多数人都是半死不活的，大多数人都是半死不活的。在晴朗的中午，他提着一盏亮着的灯走过市场，观察他遇到的每个人的脸。他们问他为什么。第欧根尼回答说:“我在找一个男人。”

【11】一位绅士的仆人正在帮他穿鞋，第欧根尼对他说:“只有他帮你擦鼻子，你才会真正快乐，因为那是在你失去双手之后才会发生的。”

【12】曾经有一场严重的战争恐慌，甚至连那些懒惰、贪图利益的哥林多人都被吓坏了。他们开始操练，清理武器，重建被忽视的防御工事。戴奥奇尼斯拿起他的旧木桶，开始上下滚动。“你们都这么忙，”他说，“我觉得我应该做点什么!”就这样，他活得像条狗，有人说，因为他对社会习俗毫不在意，因为他对他不喜欢的人龇牙咧嘴，狂吠。

【13】现在他躺在阳光下，心满意足，快乐，比波斯国王还快乐(他自己也曾自夸过)。虽然他知道有一位重要的客人要来，但他就是不动。

【14】小广场上开始挤满了人，男仆、士兵、秘书、军官、外交官，他们逐渐在第欧根尼周围围成一个圈。他把他们打量了一番，就像一个清醒的人打量一群摇摇晃晃的醉汉一样，然后摇了摇头。他知道他们是谁。他们是亚历山大的仆人，希腊的征服者，马其顿国王，他正在访问他的新王国。

【15】亚历山大只有二十岁，却比他的年龄成熟得多，也聪明得多。像所有的马其顿人一样，他爱喝酒，但他通常能驾驭它，对女人，他是高贵的克制和骑士精神。像所有马其顿人一样，他热爱战斗;他是一个伟大的指挥官，但他不仅仅是一个军事机器。他可以思考。13岁时，他成为希腊最伟大的思想家亚里士多德的学生，亚里士多德给了他最好的希腊文化。

【16】他教亚历山大诗歌:这位年轻的王子把《伊利亚特》放在枕头下睡觉，渴望效仿阿喀琉斯，阿喀琉斯毁灭了强大的亚洲。他教他哲学，特别是政治权力的形态和使用，他教他科学研究的原则:在入侵波斯期间，亚历山大带了一大群科学家，并把数百个动物标本运回希腊进行研究。事实上，亚历山大正是从亚里士多德那里学会了寻找一切可能有教育意义的奇怪事物。

【17】亚历山大正在科林斯指挥他的父亲腓力创立的希腊国家联盟。他受到了欢迎、尊敬和奉承。他是那个时代、那个世纪的风云人物，他被一致任命为新远征队的总司令，对抗古老、富裕、腐败的亚洲。几乎每个人都挤到科林斯来祝贺他，找他的工作，甚至只是为了见他一面。只有第欧根尼虽然住在科林斯，却没有拜访这位新君主。亚历山大带着亚里士多德教给他的那种慷慨，决定去拜访提奥奇尼斯。

【18】他英俊的脸庞，炽热的目光，强壮的身体，紫色和金色的斗篷，以及一种命定的神气，穿过散去的人群，向狗窝走去。国王走近时，大家都起立恭敬。第欧根尼只是用一只胳膊肘撑着坐了起来。当君主进入一个地方，所有人都以鞠躬或鼓掌欢迎他。第欧根尼什么也没说。

【19】一阵沉默。亚历山大先开口，亲切地打招呼。他看着那只破桶，那件破衣服，和躺在地上的那个粗犷的人，说:“我能为你做点什么吗，第欧根尼?”

“是的，”狗说。“站到一边去。你挡住了阳光。”

【20】一阵惊奇的沉默。亚历山大慢慢地转过身去。优雅的希腊人发出一阵窃笑。马其顿军官们认为第欧根尼不值一脚，于是开始狂笑，互相推搡。亚历山大仍然沉默着。他平静地对那些离他最近的人说:“如果我不是亚历山大，我就会是第欧根尼。”

【21】他们认为这是自相矛盾的。但亚历山大是认真的。他理解犬儒主义，而其他人不理解。他就是第欧根尼自称的“世界公民”。像第欧根尼一样，他崇拜英雄人物赫拉克勒斯，当其他人都为自己辛苦流汗时，赫拉克勒斯却努力帮助人类。他知道，在当时的世界上，只有征服者亚历山大和乞丐第欧根尼是自由的。