While Augustine was dying,?the Vandals?were at the gates of Hippo; before long they were masters of much of Africa and Spain.

當(dāng)奧古斯丁在垂死時(shí)，汪達(dá)爾人正在希波的城門外；不久他們就成為了非洲和西班牙大部分地區(qū)的主人。

In mid-century the Huns invaded Gaul and Italy and only the eloquence of Pope Leo prevented them from attacking Rome.?

在本世紀(jì)中期，匈奴人入侵了高盧和意大利，只有教皇利奧（Pope Leo）依靠雄辯才阻止了他們攻擊羅馬。

The Franks occupied Gaul, the Anglo-Saxons invaded Britain.?

法蘭克人占領(lǐng)了高盧，盎格魯-撒克遜人入侵了不列顛。

In 476 the Western Roman Empire came to an end, and its last Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was packed off into exile.?

在476年，西羅馬帝國(guó)結(jié)束了，它的最后一位皇帝羅穆盧斯·奧古斯都（Romulus Augustulus）被流放。

Italy became a Gothic province, under?Arian Christian?kings.?

意大利成為了一個(gè)哥特人的省份，由亞流派喵咪徒國(guó)王統(tǒng)治。

The most vigorous of the Gothic kings of Italy was Theoderic, who ruled from 493 to 526.

意大利哥特國(guó)王中最有活力的是泰奧多里克（Theoderic），他從493年到526年統(tǒng)治。

One of his ministers was a Roman nobleman and senator,?Manlius Severinus Boethius.?

他的一位大臣是羅馬貴族和參議員曼利烏斯·塞維里努斯·波埃修斯（Manlius Severinus Boethius）。

Boethius had in youth written handbooks on music and mathematics, drawn from Greek sources, and he projected a complete translation of Plato and Aristotle.?

波埃修斯在年輕時(shí)寫過(guò)音樂(lè)和數(shù)學(xué)方面的手冊(cè)，借鑒了希臘文獻(xiàn)，他計(jì)劃將柏拉圖和亞里士多德的著作完整地翻譯出來(lái)。

This was never completed, but it was Boethius’ translations of Aristotle’s logical works that ensured their availability in the West during the early Middle Ages.?

這個(gè)計(jì)劃從未完成，但正是波埃修斯對(duì)亞里士多德邏輯著作的翻譯，確保了它們?cè)谥惺兰o(jì)早期的西方的可用性。

Boethius also gave canonical status to an introduction to logic by Plotinus’ pupil Porphyry, adding it as an appendix to the Aristotelian Organon.?

波埃修斯還給了普羅提諾（Plotinus）的學(xué)生波菲利（Porphyry）寫的一本邏輯導(dǎo)論以正典的地位，將它作為亞里士多德《工具論》（Organon）的附錄。

He made his own modest contribution to the subject, writing commentaries on several Aristotelian treatises, and linking his work with the Stoic development of propositional logic.?

他對(duì)這個(gè)主題做出了自己謙虛的貢獻(xiàn)，寫了幾本亞里士多德著作的注釋，并將他的工作與斯多葛派命題邏輯的發(fā)展聯(lián)系起來(lái)。

Boethius’ logical works have been the subject of recent studies by scholars, and his theological treatises on the?Trinity contain passages of philosophical interest;?but throughout history he has been best known for a single work,?The?Consolation of Philosophy. This was written in 524 while he was under sentence?of death, having been imprisoned by Theoderic on suspicion of having taken part?in an anti-Arian conspiracy. The work has been widely read, first because of its?considerable literary beauty; secondly, because it was the most subtle treatment?to date of the problems of human freedom and divine foreknowledge. The book?is not at all what one would expect from a devout Catholic facing martyrdom:?while it dwells on the comfort offered by philosophy, there is no reference to the?consolations of the Christian religion.?

波愛(ài)修斯的邏輯學(xué)著作是近來(lái)學(xué)者們研究的主題，他關(guān)于三位一體的神學(xué)論文中也有一些哲學(xué)趣味的段落；但是在歷史上，他最為人所知的是一部單獨(dú)的作品，《哲學(xué)的慰藉》（The Consolation of Philosophy）。這部作品是在524年他被判死刑時(shí)寫的，他被泰奧多里克監(jiān)禁，因?yàn)樯嫦訁⑴c了一場(chǎng)反亞流派的陰謀。這部作品廣受歡迎，首先是因?yàn)樗哂邢喈?dāng)?shù)奈膶W(xué)美感；其次，是因?yàn)樗瞧駷橹箤?duì)人類自由和神圣預(yù)知問(wèn)題最微妙的處理。這本書并不是一個(gè)虔誠(chéng)的天主教徒面對(duì)殉道所期待的那樣：雖然它著重于哲學(xué)所提供的安慰，但卻沒(méi)有提到喵咪教信仰所帶來(lái)的慰藉。

The Consolation is in five books; in each, passages of verse and prose alternate, and Boethius converses with the Lady Philosophy who appears to him in his prison.?

《哲學(xué)的慰藉》分為五卷；在每一卷中，詩(shī)歌和散文的段落交替出現(xiàn)，波埃修斯與出現(xiàn)在他監(jiān)獄里的哲學(xué)女神進(jìn)行對(duì)話。

In the first book he defends his innocence, while she reminds him of the sufferings of Socrates and encourages him to Socratic detachment from the world.

在第一卷中，他為自己的清白辯護(hù)，而她則提醒他蘇格拉底的苦難，并鼓勵(lì)他以蘇格拉底式的超脫來(lái)對(duì)待世界。

The second book develops the Stoic theme, that matters within the province of fortune are insignificant by comparison with values within one’s self.?

第二卷發(fā)展了斯多葛主義的主題，即在命運(yùn)的范圍內(nèi)的事物與一個(gè)人自身的價(jià)值相比是微不足道的。

Boethius has received many good things from fortune, and he must accept the evil also which she sends.?

波埃修斯從命運(yùn)那里得到了許多好東西，他也必須接受她所送來(lái)的惡。

The message that happiness is not to be found in wealth, power, or fame is then reinforced with material from Plato and Aristotle: true happiness is to be found only in God.?

然后用柏拉圖和亞里士多德的材料來(lái)加強(qiáng)這樣一個(gè)信息：幸福不是在財(cái)富、權(quán)力或名聲中尋找，而是只能在神那里找到。

Indeed, to become happy is to acquire divinity: every happy man is God, though there is only one God by nature.?

確實(shí)，要想變得幸福就是要獲得神性：每一個(gè)幸福的人都是神，盡管只有一個(gè)天然的神。

The fourth book tackles the problem of evil, in the form of the question ‘Why do the wicked prosper?’; arguments familiar from Plato are presented to show that their prosperity is only apparent.?

第四卷以“為什么惡人會(huì)成功？”這個(gè)問(wèn)題的形式來(lái)處理邪惡的問(wèn)題；用柏拉圖熟悉的論證來(lái)說(shuō)明他們的成功只是表面的。

Throughout the first four books Lady Philosophy has had much to say about Lady Luck.?

在前四卷中，哲學(xué)女神對(duì)命運(yùn)女神有很多話要說(shuō)。

But the fifth book, which is philosophically far the most interesting, addresses the question: in a world governed by divine providence, can there be any such thing as luck or chance??

但是第五卷，從哲學(xué)上來(lái)說(shuō)是最有趣的，提出了這樣一個(gè)問(wèn)題：在一個(gè)由神圣的護(hù)理掌權(quán)的世界里，是否存在運(yùn)氣或偶然？

Boethius is able to distinguish between random chance and human choice, but he accepts that free human choice, even if not random, is difficult to reconcile with the existence of a God who foresees everything that is to happen.?

波埃修斯能夠區(qū)分隨機(jī)的偶然和人類的選擇，但他承認(rèn)，自由的人類選擇，即使不是隨機(jī)的，也很難與一個(gè)預(yù)見(jiàn)一切將要發(fā)生的事情的神的存在相協(xié)調(diào)。

‘If God foresees all and cannot in any way be mistaken, then that must necessarily happen which in his providence he foresees will be.’?

“如果神預(yù)見(jiàn)了一切，并且不可能有任何錯(cuò)誤，那么他在他的護(hù)理中預(yù)見(jiàn)將要發(fā)生的事情必然會(huì)發(fā)生。”

Boethius’ problem is not the same as Augustine’s: he is talking not about predestination (God’s willing humans to act virtuously and be saved) but simply about foreknowledge (God’s knowing what humans will do or not do).?

波埃修斯的問(wèn)題與奧古斯丁的不同：他所談?wù)摰牟皇穷A(yù)定（神愿意人類行善并得救），而只是預(yù)知（神知道人類會(huì)做什么或不做什么）。

It seems that if we say that humans are free to act in any way other than that in which God sees they will act, then they have the power to put God in the wrong.?

看起來(lái)，如果我們說(shuō)人類有自由以任何其他方式行動(dòng)，而不是神看到他們將要行動(dòng)的方式，那么他們就有能力使神錯(cuò)了。

For ‘if human deeds can be turned aside into a different way from that foreseen, then there will no longer be firm foreknowledge of the future, but rather uncertain opinion’.?

因?yàn)椤叭绻祟惖男袨榭梢员晦D(zhuǎn)向與預(yù)見(jiàn)的不同的方式，那么對(duì)未來(lái)就不再有堅(jiān)定的預(yù)知，而只是不確定的意見(jiàn)”。

Boethius accepts that a genuinely free action cannot be certainly foreseen, even by God; and he takes refuge in the notion of divine timelessness, saying that God’s seeing is not really a fore seeing.?

波埃修斯接受了一個(gè)真正自由的行為不能被肯定地預(yù)見(jiàn)，即使是由神；他依靠神圣永恒的概念來(lái)避難，說(shuō)神的看見(jiàn)并不真正是一個(gè)預(yù)見(jiàn)。

The same future event, when it is related to divine knowledge, is necessary, but when it is considered in its own nature it seems to be quite free and independent. . . . God beholds as present those future events which happen because of free will.?

同樣的未來(lái)事件，當(dāng)它與神圣的知識(shí)相關(guān)時(shí)，是必然的，但當(dāng)它按照它自身的本性來(lái)考慮時(shí)，似乎是相當(dāng)自由和獨(dú)立的……神把那些因?yàn)樽杂梢庵径l(fā)生的未來(lái)事件視為現(xiàn)在。

There are two kinds of necessity, Boethius explains. There is plain or straightforward necessity, illustrated by the proposition: Necessarily, all men are mortal.?

波埃修斯解釋說(shuō)，有兩種必然性。有一種是簡(jiǎn)單或直接的必然性，用這個(gè)命題來(lái)說(shuō)明： 必然地，所有人都是會(huì)死的。

and there is conditional necessity, illustrated by the proposition: Necessarily, if you know that I am walking, I am walking.?

還有一種是條件必然性，用這個(gè)命題來(lái)說(shuō)明：必然地，如果你知道我在走路，我就在走路。

The future events which God sees as present are not straightforwardly necessary, but only conditionally necessary.?

神把未來(lái)事件看作現(xiàn)在事件，并不是直接必然的，而只是條件必然的。

Problems remain with Boethius’ treatment of the dilemma he posed with unparalleled clarity.?

波埃修斯對(duì)他以無(wú)與倫比的清晰度提出的兩難問(wèn)題的處理仍然存在問(wèn)題。

Surely, matters really are as God sees them; so if God sees tomorrow’s sea battle as present, then it really is present already.?

當(dāng)然，事情真的就像神看到的那樣；所以如果神把明天的海戰(zhàn)看作現(xiàn)在，那么它已經(jīng)真正存在了。

However, Boethius’ theory was to remain the classic solution of the problem for centuries to come.?

然而，波埃修斯的理論將在未來(lái)幾個(gè)世紀(jì)里仍然是這個(gè)問(wèn)題的經(jīng)典解決方案。

Boethius has been called ‘Last of the Romans, first of the scholastics’.?

波埃修斯被稱為“羅馬人的最后一位，經(jīng)院哲學(xué)家的第一位”。

Certainly, in his work he links classical philosophy with the technical philosophy of the medieval schools, more even than Augustine does.?

毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，在他的作品中，他把古典哲學(xué)與中世紀(jì)學(xué)校的技術(shù)哲學(xué)聯(lián)系起來(lái)，甚至比奧古斯丁還要多。

But he was not the last Christian philosopher of antiquity: that distinction belongs to a scholar of the Eastern Empire, John the Grammarian, or John Philoponus.?

但他并不是古代最后一位喵咪教哲學(xué)家：那個(gè)區(qū)別屬于東羅馬帝國(guó)的一位學(xué)者，語(yǔ)法家約翰，或者約翰·菲洛波努斯（John Philoponus）。

Philoponus flourished in the reign of Justinian, who became Emperor in the East in 527, three years after the execution of Boethius.?

菲洛波努斯在賈斯提尼安（Justinian）的統(tǒng)治下蓬勃發(fā)展，賈斯提尼安于527年成為東方皇帝，就在波埃修斯被處決三年后。

Justinian was the Emperor who closed the schools of Athens and who is famous for having presided over the codification of Roman Law.?

賈斯提尼安是關(guān)閉了雅典學(xué)校的皇帝，也是以主持羅馬法典的編纂而聞名的皇帝。

His generals also conquered, for a while, substantial portions of the former Western Empire.?

他的將軍們也曾一度征服了前西羅馬帝國(guó)的大部分領(lǐng)土。

Philoponus, as a Christian based in Alexandria, was unperturbed by the closure of the pagan schools in Athens, and could look with satisfaction on the downfall of their foremost scholar, the Aristotelian commentator Simplicius.?

菲洛波努斯作為一個(gè)基于亞歷山大的喵咪徒，對(duì)雅典異教徒學(xué)校的關(guān)閉并不感到不安，他可以滿意地看著他們最杰出的學(xué)者，亞里士多德注釋家辛普利修斯（Simplicius）的衰落。

For it was as a radical critic of Aristotle that Philoponus made his name, and Simplicius was his most distinguished contemporary adversary.?

因?yàn)檎亲鳛閬喞锸慷嗟碌囊粋€(gè)激進(jìn)批評(píng)家，菲洛波努斯才成名，而辛普利修斯是他最杰出的同時(shí)代對(duì)手。

First, Philoponus attacked Aristotle’s doctrine that the world had always existed.?

首先，菲洛波努斯攻擊了亞里士多德關(guān)于世界永遠(yuǎn)存在的教義。

Some pagan philosophers were willing to accept that God was the creator of the world, in the sense that the world’s existence had, from all eternity, been causally dependent on God.

一些異教哲學(xué)家愿意接受神是世界的創(chuàng)造者，意思是世界的存在從永恒開始就依賴于神的因果關(guān)系。

Others were prepared to accept that the world had had a beginning, in the sense that the orderly cosmos we know had, at a particular time, been brought out of chaos.?

另一些人則準(zhǔn)備接受世界曾經(jīng)有過(guò)一個(gè)開始，意思是我們所知道的有序宇宙在某個(gè)特定的時(shí)間被從混沌中創(chuàng)造出來(lái)。

But all the pagan philosophers of the time accepted the eternity of matter, and this, Christians believed, was incompatible with the Genesis account of the creation of heaven and earth out of nothing.?

但是當(dāng)時(shí)所有的異教哲學(xué)家都接受了物質(zhì)的永恒性，而這一點(diǎn)，喵咪徒們相信，與《創(chuàng)世紀(jì)》中關(guān)于從無(wú)中創(chuàng)造天地的記載是不相容的。

More to the point, Philoponus insisted in his book On the Eternity of the World, it was inconsistent with Aristotle’s own view that nothing could traverse through more than a finite number of temporal periods.?

更重要的是，菲洛波努斯在他的《論世界的永恒》一書中堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為，這與亞里士多德自己的觀點(diǎn)不一致，亞里士多德認(rèn)為沒(méi)有什么能夠穿越超過(guò)有限數(shù)量的時(shí)間段。

For if the world had no beginning then it must have endured through an infinite number of years, and worse still, through 365 times an infinite number of days.?

因?yàn)槿绻澜鐩](méi)有開始，那么它必須經(jīng)歷了無(wú)限數(shù)量的年份，更糟糕的是，經(jīng)歷了365倍無(wú)限數(shù)量的日子。

Secondly, Philoponus attacked Aristotle’s dynamics.?

其次，菲洛波努斯攻擊了亞里士多德的動(dòng)力學(xué)。

Aristotle’s theory of natural and violent motion encountered a difficulty in explaining the movement of projectiles.?

亞里士多德關(guān)于自然和暴力運(yùn)動(dòng)的理論在解釋投射物的運(yùn)動(dòng)時(shí)遇到了困難。

If I throw a stone, what makes it move upward and onward when it leaves my hand??

如果我扔一塊石頭，當(dāng)它離開我的手時(shí)，是什么使它向上和向前運(yùn)動(dòng)？

Its natural motion is downwards, and my hand is no longer in contact with it to impart its violent motion upwards.?

它的自然運(yùn)動(dòng)是向下的，而我的手已經(jīng)不再與它接觸，無(wú)法給它傳遞向上的暴力運(yùn)動(dòng)。

Aristotle’s answer had been that the stone was pushed on, at any given point, by the air immediately behind it.?

亞里士多德的回答是，石頭在任何給定的點(diǎn)上都被其后面的空氣推動(dòng)著。

The lameness of this account was exposed by Philoponus, who proposed instead that the thrower impressed upon the projectile an internal force, or impetus.?

這個(gè)說(shuō)法的缺陷被菲洛波努斯揭露了，他提出了另一種說(shuō)法，即投擲者給投射物印上了一種內(nèi)在的力量，或者說(shuō)沖力。

The notion of natural motion in Aristotle is tied to the notion of natural place, the natural motion of an element being motion towards its natural place.

亞里士多德關(guān)于自然運(yùn)動(dòng)的概念與自然位置的概念相聯(lián)系，一個(gè)元素的自然運(yùn)動(dòng)就是向著它的自然位置運(yùn)動(dòng)。

Philoponus thought that the concept of natural place was appropriate only if we thought of the universe as a whole as something similar to an animal with a head and limbs and other bodily parts.?

菲洛波努斯認(rèn)為，自然位置的概念只有在我們把整個(gè)宇宙看作是類似于有頭、四肢和其他身體部位的動(dòng)物時(shí)才合適。

This, in turn, was conceivable only if we regarded the universe as having been designed by a Creator.?

反過(guò)來(lái)，這只有在我們認(rèn)為宇宙是由一個(gè)創(chuàng)造者設(shè)計(jì)出來(lái)的時(shí)候才可以想象得到。

In his work The Manufacture of the Universe Philoponus applied his impetus theory widely throughout the cosmos.?

在他的《論宇宙的制造》一書中，菲洛波努斯廣泛地將他的沖力理論應(yīng)用于整個(gè)宇宙。

The heavenly bodies, for instance, rotate in their orbits not because they have souls, but because God gave them the appropriate impetus when he created them.?

例如，天體在軌道上旋轉(zhuǎn)不是因?yàn)樗鼈冇徐`魂，而是因?yàn)樯裨趧?chuàng)造它們時(shí)給了它們適當(dāng)?shù)臎_力。

The theory of impetus did away with the mixture of physics and psychology in Aristotle’s astronomy.?

沖力理論消除了亞里士多德天文學(xué)中物理學(xué)和心理學(xué)的混合。

It made possible a unified theory of dynamics which was a great improvement on Aristotle’s, and it was not surpassed until the introduction of the theory of inertia in the age of Galileo and Newton.?

它使得一個(gè)統(tǒng)一的動(dòng)力學(xué)理論成為可能，這是對(duì)亞里士多德理論的一個(gè)巨大改進(jìn)，并且直到伽利略和牛頓時(shí)代慣性理論的引入才被超越。

Philoponus rejected Aristotle’s thesis that the heavenly bodies were made out of a non-terrestrial element, the imperishable quintessence.?

菲洛波努斯否定了亞里士多德關(guān)于天體是由一種非地球元素，不朽的精華所構(gòu)成的論點(diǎn)。

This rejection was necessary if the impetus theory was to be extended to the heavens as well as to the earth.?

如果沖力理論要被擴(kuò)展到天空和地球，這種否定是必要的。

But it was also congenial to Christian piety to demolish the notion that the world of the sun and moon and stars was something supernatural, standing in a relation to God different from that of the earth on which his human creatures lived.?

但是，對(duì)于喵咪教的虔誠(chéng)來(lái)說(shuō)，也是很合意的，要摧毀這樣一個(gè)觀念，即太陽(yáng)、月亮和星星的世界是某種超自然的東西，與神的關(guān)系不同于他的人類造物生活的地球。

Philoponus was indeed a theologian as well as a philosopher, and wrote, in later life, a number of treatises on Christian doctrine.?

菲洛波努斯確實(shí)是一位神學(xué)家和哲學(xué)家，他在晚年寫了許多關(guān)于喵咪教教義的論文。

Unfortunately, his treatment of the Trinity laid him open to charges of tritheism (the belief that there are three Gods) and his treatment of the Incarnation explicitly defended the monophysite heresy (the denial that Christ had two natures).?

不幸的是，他對(duì)三位一體的處理使他受到了三位一體主義（認(rèn)為有三個(gè)神）的指控，他對(duì)道成肉身的處理明確地捍衛(wèi)了一性論異端（否認(rèn)救世主有兩個(gè)本性）。

When summoned to Constantinople by Justinian to defend his views on the Incarnation, Philoponus failed to appear; and when after his death his teaching on the Trinity was examined by the ecclesiastical authorities it was condemned as heretical.?

當(dāng)被賈斯提尼安召到君士坦丁堡為他關(guān)于道成肉身的觀點(diǎn)辯護(hù)時(shí)，菲洛波努斯沒(méi)有出現(xiàn)；當(dāng)他死后，他關(guān)于三位一體的教導(dǎo)被教會(huì)當(dāng)局審查時(shí)，被判定為異端。

Consequently, his influence on Christian thinking was minimal.?

因此，他對(duì)喵咪教思想的影響是微乎其微的。

But his influence was felt outside the bounds of the old Roman Empire; and it was there, in the centuries between Justinian and William the Conqueror, that the most significant philosophers are to be found.?

但是他的影響在舊羅馬帝國(guó)的范圍之外也被感受到了；而且正是在那里，在賈斯提尼安和征服者威廉之間的幾個(gè)世紀(jì)里，最有意義的哲學(xué)家才能被發(fā)現(xiàn)。