Epictetus 选译

Don't just say you have read books.

Show that through them you have learned to think better,

to be a more discriminating and reflective person.

Books are the training weights of the mind.

They are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake

to suppose that one has made progress

simply by having internalized their contents.

 

不要说你读了书。

向我们展示通过读书你学会了更好地思考，成为了一个更明辨和自省的人。

书籍就像是脑力训练的哑铃。

它们很有用，但是一个人只不过消化了书的内容就认为自己取得了进步，这是一个严重的错误。

 

How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself

and in no instance bypass the discriminations of reason?

You have been given the principles that you ought to endorse,

and you have endorsed them.

What kind of teacher, then, are you still waiting for

in order to refer your self-improvement to him?

You are no longer a boy, but a full-grown man.

If you are careless and lazy now and keep putting things off and

always deferring the day after which you will attend to yourself,

you will not notice that you are making no progress,

but you will live and die as someone quite ordinary.

 

你还要等多久才要求自己成为那个最好的自己，

无论如何都不偏离理性的判断？

你已经知道了你应该崇尚的原则，

你也已经拥抱了它们。

那么，你还在等什么样的老师来引导你的自我提高呢？

你已经不是个孩子，而是一个成人。

如果你马虎懒惰，总是拖拉，推迟开始改善自我的那一天，

你不会注意到你没有取得进步，

但是你会活得和死得非常平庸。

 

I laugh at those who think they can damage me.

They do not know who I am, they do not know what I think,

they cannot even touch the things which are really mine and with which I live.

 

我嘲笑那些认为能够伤害我的人们。

他们不知道我是谁，不知道我在想什么。

他们根本触摸不到真正属于我的东西。

 

Most of what passes for legitimate entertainment is inferior or foolish and

only caters to or exploits people's weaknesses.

Avoid being one of the mob who indulges in such pastimes.

Your life is too short and you have important things to do.

 

大多数所谓娱乐不是低级就是愚蠢。它们不过是迎合或利用人们的弱点。

避免参与这些娱乐活动。

人生短暂，你有更重要的事去做。

 

Remember that you ought to behave in life as you would at a banquet.

As something is being passed around it comes to you;

stretch out your hand, take a portion of it politely.

It passes on; do not detain it.

Or it has not come to you yet; do not project your desire to meet it,

but wait until it comes in front of you.

So act toward children, so toward a wife, so toward office, so toward wealth.

 

记住你在生活中的行为应像你在一个宴会上。

当一盘食物转到你跟前时，

伸出手，礼貌地拿走一部分。

不要留下食物，让它传下去。

食物没到你面前时，不要总是想着它，要耐心等待。（不来也没什么--7grizzly）

对孩子，妻子，官职，财富都一样对待。

 

[7grizzly]

Updated on Oct 30, 2021.

[7grizzly]

Updated on Mon, Jan 18, 2021.

[7grizzly]

From The American Heritage Dictionary, 4th Ed:

Epictetus A.D. 55?-135? Phrygian-born philosopher who popularized the Stoic ethical doctrine of limiting one's desires, believing that one should act in life as a banquet by taking a polite portion of all that is offered.

[7grizzly]

回复 '暖冬cool夏' 的评论 : Thanks 暖冬 for reading and your thought-provoking comment.
I think what he tried to deliver is the message that humans are capable of defiance and, to quote Taleb, saying "F You!" to Fate (a deity even more powerful than Zeus).

Happy Holidays!

[暖冬cool夏]

Very familiar with the last paragraph, which basically means "Be patient":)). Be patient with your children, your wife, wealth and in your career. True or not, it works in some occasions, but not alNo Sometimes,命中没有莫强求:)
Merry Christmas!