胡适留学日记卷七四九、毛莱子爵

卷七四九、毛莱子爵

　　（十二月六日）

　　韦莲司女士以英人毛莱（John Morley）之《姑息论》（On Compromise1874）相假，读之不忍释手，至晨二时半始毕。手抄数节（参看本卷第二六则）：

　　It is essential to theself-respectof every one with the least love of truth, that he should be free to express his opinions on every occasion where silence would be taken for an assent which he does not really give. Still more unquestionably, he should be free from any obligation to foreswear himself either directly, as by false professions, or by implication, as when he attends services, public or private, which are to him the symbol of superstition and were spiritual phantasmagoria. The vindication of this simple right of living one's life honestly can hardly demand any heroic virtue. A little of thestraight forwardnesswhich men are accustomed to call manly is the only quality that is needed.

　　—Morley:On Compromise. p. 141.

　　There is no advantage nor honest delight in influence if it is only to be exerted in the sphere of secondary objects, and at the cost of the objects which ought to be foremost in the eyes of serious people. In truth the men who have done most for the world have taken very little heed of influence. They have sought light, and left their influence to fare as it may list.

　　—ibid. pp. 150—151.

　　And what is this smile of the world, to win which we are bidden to sacrifice our moral manhood; this frown of the world, whose terrors are more awful than the withering up of truth and the slow going out of light within the souls of us? Consider the triviality of life and conversation and purpose in the bulk of those whose approval is held out for our prize and the mark of our calling. Let us measure the empire over them of prejudice unadulterated by a single element of rationality, and let us weigh the huge burden of custom, unrelieved by a single leavening particle of fresh thought. Then how pitiful a thing seems the approval or disapproval of these creatures of the conventions of the hour, as one figures the merciless vastness of the universe of matter sweeping us headlong thru viewless space; as one hears the wail of misery that is for ever ascending to the deaf gods; as one counts the little tale of the years that separate us from eternal silence. In the light of these things a man should surely dare to live his life with little heed of the common speech upon him or his life, only caring that his days may be full of reality, and his conversation of truthspeaking and wholeness.

　　—ibid. pp. 151—152.

　　"After US, the deluge", is not any worse than "After us, the millennium." Those who make no sacrifice to avert the deluge, and those who make none to hasten the millennium, are on the same moral level.

　　A principle, if it be sound, represents one of the larger expediencies. To abandon that for the sake of some seeming expediency of the hour, is to sacrifice the greater good for the less… Nothing is so sure to impoverish an epoch, to deprive conduct of nobleness, and character of elevation.

　　—ibid. p. 203.

　　〔中译〕

　　在沉默就会被认为默许的场合下，一个人应当有表达自己观点的自由，这对每一个起码的热爱真理的人的自尊而言，是至关重要的。同样，更毫无疑问的是，他应当有不发伪誓的自由，无论是直接地发伪誓，还是间接含蓄地发伪誓，就像他公开地或私下地参加宗教仪式那样，而这些仪式对他来说是一种迷信的象征，也曾是一种精神的幻觉。一个人诚实正直生活的简单权利无需用英雄美德来为其辩护，而仅只需用一点人们习惯称之为男子汉气概的坦率这种品质，就足以解释了。

　　——毛莱：《姑息论》第141页

　　影响力如果仅仅作用于次要的对象上则毫无益处和真正的乐趣。而且它还付出了失去主要对象的代价，这些对象在严肃的人们看来是至关重要的。事实上，为社会贡献最大的人是极少去注意其影响力的。他们寻找光明，却毫不留意他们的影响力。

　　——毛莱：《姑息论》第150—151页

　　那么世界赞许的是什么？为了赢得它，我们不得不牺牲我们的勇气。世界批评的是什么？它的可怕远胜过真理的破灭和灵魂之光的慢慢熄灭。我们平日琐碎的生活、言谈和动机，不过是为了博得人们的赞扬和注意。让我们来衡量这个不带半点理性的偏见世界，让我们来称量陈腐的思想习俗带给我们的巨大重负，去想像那从看不见的空间向我们横扫过来的宇宙物质，想想它那冷酷无情的浩瀚，听听那苦难的悲号；耳聋的众神对之永远是充耳不闻，屈指数数那将我们与永恒的沉寂分开的短暂岁月，那么对于习俗的屈从又是多么的微不足道！以此观之，一个人的确应该敢于不顾公众对他的褒贬而生活。他只在意他的生活是否充满真实，他是否完全说真话。

　　——毛莱：《姑息论》第151—152页

　　“我死之后，哪管洪水滔天”不比“我死之后，再来盛世千年”更糟。那些没有做出牺牲去力挽狂澜的人与没有尽力去促进千年盛世的人是处在同一道德水平上的。

　　一个原则，即使是正确的，也代表着一种更大的私利打算。为了眼前某种看来也是私利的缘故而放弃这个原则，就等于是舍大善而取小善……没有什么东西可以使时代枯竭，可以剥夺高尚行为和崇高德性。

　　——毛莱：《姑息论》第203页

　　毛莱今为子爵，乃英国文章泰斗。其人亦理想家，生平持世界和平主义。此次战事之起，英政府主战，毛莱居内阁不能止之，遂与工党阁员John Burn同时引退，盖能不以禄位而牺牲其主义者也。

虚阁网(Xuges.com)