培根《論美》Of Beauty

Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set; and surely（ ad.formal certainly 必定，無疑） virtue is best, in a body that is comely（a.〔女性〕標(biāo)致的，秀麗的） , though not of delicate features; and that hath（has的異寫）rather dignity of presence, than beauty of aspect. Neither is it almost seen, that very beautiful persons are otherwise of great virtue; as if nature were rather busy, not to err（n. old use to make a mistake 犯錯誤;人非圣賢，孰能無過；If you say that to err is human, you mean that it is natural for human beings to make mistakes.）, than in labor to produce excellency.

德行猶如寶石，樸素最美：其于人也，則有德者但須形體悅目，不必面貌俊秀，與其貌美，不若氣度恢宏。人不盡知：絕色無大德也；一如自然勞碌終日，但求無過，而無力制成上品。

And therefore they prove accomplished, but not of great spirit; and study rather behavior, than virtue. But this holds not always: for Augustus Caesar（n. 凱撒（羅馬皇帝））, Titus Vespasianus（提圖斯·弗拉維烏斯·維斯帕西亞努斯，羅馬帝國弗拉維王朝的第二任皇帝）, Philip le Belle of France, Edward the Fourth of England, Alcibiades of Athens, Ismael the Sophy of Persia, were all high and great spirits; and yet the most beautiful men of their times.

因而美男子有才而無壯志，重行而不重德。但亦不盡然。羅馬大帝奧古斯都與泰特斯，法王腓力四世，英王愛德華四世，古雅典之亞西拜提斯，波斯之伊斯邁帝，皆有宏圖壯志而又為當(dāng)時最美之人也。

In beauty, that of favor, is more than that of color; and that of decent and gracious motion, more than that of favor. That is the best part of beauty, which a picture cannot express; no, nor the first sight of the life. There is no excellent beauty, that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. A man cannot tell whether Apelles（n. 阿佩利斯（公元前4世紀(jì)希臘宮廷畫師））, or Albert Durer, were the more trifler（瑣事；無價值的東西）; whereof（<old use> of what or of which 關(guān)于那個） the one, would make a personage（n.名人，要人） by geometrical（a.幾何的，幾何學(xué)的） proportions; the other, by taking the best parts out of divers faces, to make one excellent. Such personages, I think, would please nobody, but the painter that made them.

美不在顏色艷麗而在面目端正，又不盡在面目端正而在舉止文雅合度。美之極致，非圖畫所能表，乍見能所識。舉凡最美之人，其部位比例，必有異于常人之處。阿爾貝與杜勒皆畫家也，其畫人像也，一則按照幾何學(xué)之比例，一則集眾臉型之長于一身。二者誰更不智，實難斷言，竊以為此等畫像除畫家本人外，恐無人喜愛也。

Not but I think a painter may make a better face than ever was; but he must do it by a kind of felicity（n.；恰當(dāng)[巧妙]的措辭[細(xì)節(jié)]；幸福；恰當(dāng)，巧妙，貼切） (as a musician that maketh an excellent air in music), and not by rule. A man shall see faces, that if you examine them part by part, you shall find never a good; and yet altogether do well.

恐無人喜愛也。余不否認(rèn)畫像之美可以超越人寰，但此美必為神筆，而非可依規(guī)矩得之者，樂師之譜成明曲亦莫不皆然。人面如逐部細(xì)察，往往一無是處，觀其整體則光彩奪目。

If it be true that the principal part of beauty is in decent motion, certainly it is no marvel（n.不可思議的事(或人);奇跡；）, though persons in years seem many times more amiable（a.和藹可親的，友善的，親切的）; pulchrorum autumnus pulcher; for no youth can be comely but by pardon, and considering the youth, as to make up the comeliness（n. 漂亮的,好看的；comely a. <literary old-fashioned>〔女性〕標(biāo)致的，秀麗）. Beauty is as summer fruits, which are easy to corrupt, and cannot last; and for the most part it makes a dissolute（a.〔生活〕放蕩的，放縱的） youth, and an age a little out of countenance（n.面容；面部表情）; but yet certainly again, if it light well, it maketh virtue shine,and vices blush（v.感到羞愧；尷尬）.

美之要素既在于舉止，則年長美過年少亦無足怪。古人云：“萬美之中秋為最。”年少而著美名，率由寬假，蓋鑒其年事之少，而補其形體之不足也。美者猶如夏日蔬果，易腐難存；要之，年少而美者常無形，年長而美者不免面有慚色。雖然，但須托體得人，則德行因美爾益彰，惡行見美而愈愧。