The Golden Age黃金時代

阿爾弗雷德·喬治·加德納　張蝶/譯

I see that Dean Inge1 has been lamenting that he did not live a couple of generations ago. He seems to think that the world was a much more desirable place then， that it has been going to the dogs2 ever since， and that the only comfortable thought that we can cultivate in this degenerate time is that we shall soon be out of it. Assuming for the moment that the world was a happier place fifty or sixty years ago， I doubt whether it follows that the Dean would have been happier in it than he is in our world today. The measure of personal happiness is fortunately not dependent on external circumstances. It is affected by them， of course. Most of us are more agreeable people when we have dined than when we are hungry， when we have slept well than when we have not slept at all， when our horse or our party has won than when it has lost， when things go right than when things go wrong. No philosophy is an anodyne for the toothache， and the east wind3 plays havoc with the feelings of the best of us. In these and a thousand other ways we are the sport of circumstance， but in this respect we are no better and no worse off than our forebears fifty years ago or five hundred years ago， or than our descendants will be fifty or five hundred years hence.

我看英奇教長一直在哀嘆自己沒能生活在兩代人之前。他似乎認為，那時的世界更加令人向往，而自那以后，世界就一直在走下坡路，在如今這個墮落的時代，我們唯一能聊以自慰的念頭就是自己很快就會擺脫這個時代。暫且假設五六十年前的世界更能令人幸福，英奇教長生活在那里是否一定會比在當今世界更幸福呢？對此我存疑。好在衡量個人的幸福并不依靠外部環境。當然，個人的幸福會受到環境的影響。我們大多數人在吃飽飯后要比餓肚子時更隨和，在睡個好覺后要比徹夜未眠時更愉悅，在自己押寶的賽馬或支持的黨派獲勝時要比他們失敗時更快活，在事情進展順利時要比出錯時更舒心。沒有什么哲學能止得了牙痛，即使是我們當中的杰出人才，他們的情感也要遭受東風的摧殘。就以上幾個以及其他無數個方面而言，我們其實是環境的玩物，而就這一點而言，相較于50年或500年前的祖先，以及50年或500年后的子孫，我們并不比他們更強，也沒有更慘。

But our essential happiness or unhappiness is independent of these things. It is a quality of character. It may have a physical basis. Our happiness， said the French lady to Boswell， depends upon the circulation of the blood. It may equally depend on our nervous constitution or the functioning of our organs. I cannot doubt that the Carlyles4 would have been happier people if they had had better digestions. They lived in that period which is held up to us as the time when it was good to be alive， but it is doubtful whether two more miserable people than they were are to be found on earth today， and Carlyle himself damned his own time even more bitterly than the Dean damns this. He would have damned any time in which he had the misfortune to live， for life would always have been a sorrowful affair to him. It was his habit of mind. And the world for each of us is what the mind makes it.

但從本質上來說，我們幸福與否其實與這些事情無關。幸福是一種個人品質，可能與身體素質相關。法國夫人對博斯韋爾說，我們的幸福取決于自身的血液循環。同樣還可能取決于我們的神經結構或器官運作。我毫不懷疑，如果卡萊爾夫婦的消化系統能更健康點，他們就會更幸福。如今看來，在他們生活的那個時代，活著就是一件幸事，這不禁令人懷疑當今世界是否還能找到兩個比他們更悲慘的人。比起英奇教長咒罵當今時代，卡萊爾對自己所處時代的咒罵更為激烈。無論在哪個時代活得不幸，他都會咒罵時代，因為生活于他而言永遠是一件悲哀的事情。這便是卡萊爾的思維習慣。對我們每個人而言，世界均由我們的思維方式決定。

In short， whether life is a comedy or a tragedy or just a humdrum affair that cannot be called either， does not depend upon the time in which we happen to live， for it is always all these things. It depends upon our point of view. I fancy Little Tich5 would have found the world as amusing as a country fair if he had lived in the Rome of Caligula， and I am sure that Carlyle would have found it as sad as a funeral if he had lived in the Garden of Eden. There is no question of merit or virtue in the matter. If there is， it is not the meritorious or the virtuous who are usually the most happy. It is they who take life lightly and indifferently who get the most fun out of it. I doubt whether there was ever a more odious monster on earth than Sulla6， whose savageries and debaucheries made him not so much a man as a satyr. Yet， except for the hideous disease from which he died， there can hardly ever have been a more fortunate man or one who found the world， in a gross sense， a more amusing place. Even when his corpse was burned with the accustomed solemnities， the wind blew and the rain fell in perfect time and sequence， “so that，” as Plutarch says， “his good fortune was firm even to the last， and did as it were officiate at his funeral.” Dean Swift cursed the day he was born， though he lived in the relatively comfortable time of Queen Anne7， and being the man he was， he would have cursed the day he was born no matter what period of history he had lived in. He carried an unhappy world in the terrific gloom of his own mind.

簡而言之，生活是喜劇還是悲劇，抑或只是稱不上悲喜的乏味之事，并不取決于我們碰巧生活的時代，因為生活總是那個樣子。生活取決于我們的看法。我想，小提克即使生活在卡利古拉時代的羅馬，也會覺得世界像鄉村集市一樣有趣。我也確信，卡萊爾即便生活在伊甸園，也會覺得世界像葬禮一樣令人悲傷。在幸福這件事上，沒有功績或美德可言。即使有，那些功勛卓著或品德高尚的人通常也不是最快樂的。反而是那些對生活漫不經心的人會從中獲得最大的樂趣。我懷疑世上是否曾有比蘇拉更可憎的惡魔，就他的殘暴與放蕩而言，與其說他是真男人，倒不如說是個好色之徒。然而，除了他死于可怕的疾病之外，這世上幾乎再也沒有比他更幸運的人了，再也沒有誰比他更認定這世界大體上是個非常有意思的地方。甚至就在按慣例莊嚴地焚燒他的遺體時，風雨都來得恰到好處。正如普魯塔爾克所說：“他的好運直到人生最后一刻都非常有力，就像一手安排了他的喪禮。”盡管生活在安妮女王統治下相對祥和的時代，斯威夫特教長仍咒罵自己出生的那一天。對他那樣的人而言，無論生活在哪個歷史時期，都會咒罵自己出生的那一天。他內心可怕的陰霾之下自帶一個不幸的世界。

Indeed， if we want to play with the idea of how we might have been happy， it is not the thought of living in other times that will satisfy us， but the thought of living other mens lives. If I had the privilege of antedating my birth， I would not bother about the period， but would choose very carefully my personality. Among the ancients I should select to be Herodotus8， whose immortal work is saturated with the sunshine of as delighted a spirit as ever walked the earth. And among the moderns I would choose with equal confidence to live the life of Macaulay9. It is true that he wept very copiously. I have amused myself sometimes in reading his “Life，” by collating the occasions on which he was in tears. He could have said with Michelet， “Le don que Saint Louis demande et nobtient pas， je leus ‘Le don des larmes.” Novels and poetry were bedewed with his tears. He wept whenever he was reminded of the sister he had lost， when he visited his old home in Bloomsbury， when he said “Hail！” and when he said “Farewell！” when friends fell away， and when foes， like Peel， passed into silence. But， in spite of his overcharged affection， what a rich， full， joyous life it was！ What zest， what kindliness， what noble feeling， what fine living！ I put Macaulay lower in the scale of literature than I once did， but in the scale of humanity there is none higher.

事實上，如果我們設想一下自己怎樣才能幸福，那么能讓我們感到滿意的想法不是生活在其他時代，而是過上他人的生活。如果我能擁有提前出生的特權，我不會糾結生在哪個時代，而會仔細挑選自己的品格。在古人中，我會選擇成為希羅多德，他不朽的著作總是充滿陽光，洋溢著頑強生存的樂觀精神。在現代人中，我同樣滿懷信心地選擇過上麥考利的生活。的確，他總是淚流滿面。有時我讀他的《人生》，整理他淚眼婆娑的情景，以此自娛。他本可以和米舍萊說：“我得到了‘眼淚的禮物，這是圣路易想要卻沒有得到的禮物。”小說和詩歌因他的淚水而潤濕。每當他想起自己失去的妹妹、訪問自己位于布盧姆斯伯里的故居，每當他歡呼“萬歲！”、遭朋友疏遠以“再見！”作別，每當他看見像皮爾這樣的對手被人忘卻，他都會淚流滿面。盡管他的情感過于熱烈，但他的生活是多么豐富、充實和歡樂啊！這是多么熱情、善良、高尚的情感，多么美好的生活！就文學而言，我把麥考利置于較以往更低的地位，但就人性而言，沒有人比他的地位更高。

There never was a golden age in which happiness was the universal portion， nor one in which it was denied to those who had the gift within. It is a personal affair， not an affair of time， place or condition， and if we are sad， it is idle to lament that we were not born in days when we could have been merry. Sancho Panza10 is happy in any age， and Don Quixote is always sorrowful.

從來沒有幸福隨處可見的黃金時代，也沒有天賦異稟之人得不到幸福的黃金時代。幸福是個人的事情，與時間、地點以及環境無關。如果我們感到悲傷，哀嘆自己沒有出生在本可以快樂的時代是毫無意義的。桑丘·潘沙在任何時代都感到幸福，而堂吉訶德總是感到悲傷。

（譯者單位：揚州大學）