Phaedrus: On Writing (274b–279c)

SOCRATES: But there is something yet to be said of propriety and impropriety of writing.

苏格拉底：不过，关于写作的得体与不得体，还有些话要说。

PHAEDRUS: Yes.

斐德若：是的。

SOCRATES: Do you know how you can speak or act about rhetoric in a manner which will be acceptable to God?

苏格拉底：你知道怎样谈论修辞、怎样从事修辞，才能讨神的喜欢吗？

PHAEDRUS: No, indeed. Do you?

斐德若：真不知道。你知道吗？

SOCRATES: I have heard a tradition of the ancients, whether true or not they only know; although if we had found the truth ourselves, do you think that we should care much about the opinions of men?

苏格拉底：我听过古人传下来的一个说法，是真是假，只有他们知道；不过，假如我们自己找到了真理，你想我们还会很在意世人的意见吗？

PHAEDRUS: Your question needs no answer; but I wish that you would tell me what you say that you have heard.

斐德若：这个问题不必回答；不过我希望你讲讲你听到的那个说法。

SOCRATES: At the Egyptian city of Naucratis, there was a famous old god, whose name was Theuth; the bird which is called the Ibis is sacred to him, and he was the inventor of many arts, such as arithmetic and calculation and geometry and astronomy and draughts and dice, but his great discovery was the use of letters. Now in those days the god Thamus was the king of the whole country of Egypt; and he dwelt in that great city of Upper Egypt which the Hellenes call Egyptian Thebes, and the god himself is called by them Ammon. To him came Theuth and showed his inventions, desiring that the other Egyptians might be allowed to have the benefit of them; he enumerated them, and Thamus enquired about their several uses, and praised some of them and censured others, as he approved or disapproved of them. It would take a long time to repeat all that Thamus said to Theuth in praise or blame of the various arts. But when they came to letters, This, said Theuth, will make the Egyptians wiser and give them better memories; it is a specific both for the memory and for the wit. Thamus replied: O most ingenious Theuth, the parent or inventor of an art is not always the best judge of the utility or inutility of his own inventions to the users of them. And in this instance, you who are the father of letters, from a paternal love of your own children have been led to attribute to them a quality which they cannot have; for this discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality.

苏格拉底：在埃及的瑙克拉提斯城，有一位古老而有名的神，名叫透特；那种叫作朱鹭的鸟是献给他的圣鸟。他发明了许多技艺，比如算术、计算、几何、天文、跳棋和骰子，而他最大的发现是文字的用法。那时埃及全境的国王是塔穆斯神，他住在上埃及的那座大城，希腊人称之为埃及的底比斯，而这位神本身，他们称为阿蒙。透特来到他面前，展示自己的种种发明，希望其余的埃及人也能享用它们的好处。他一样一样地列举，塔穆斯逐一询问它们的用处，按自己的赞同或不赞同，称赞其中一些，指责另一些。塔穆斯对透特关于各种技艺的褒贬，要全部复述，得说很久。可是说到文字的时候，透特说：“这个会让埃及人更聪明，给他们更好的记性；它是一剂既治记忆、又治才智的良药。”塔穆斯答道：“最精巧的透特啊，一种技艺的创造者或发明者，并不总是最能判断自己的发明对使用者有用还是无用的人。就拿眼前这件事来说，你是文字之父，出于对自己孩子的慈爱，便把一种它们不可能具有的性质加在它们身上；因为你的这项发现，会在学习者的灵魂中造成遗忘，他们将不再使用自己的记忆；他们会信赖外在的书写符号，而不是靠自己去记住。你所发现的这剂药，不是记忆的帮助，而是提醒的帮助；你给弟子们的不是真理，只是真理的表象；他们将听闻许多事情，却什么也没有学到；他们看上去无所不知，实际上大多一无所知；他们会成为讨厌的伙伴，有智慧的样子，却没有智慧的实质。”

PHAEDRUS: Yes, Socrates, you can easily invent tales of Egypt, or of any other country.

斐德若：是啊，苏格拉底，你随口就能编出埃及的故事，或者任何别的国家的故事。

SOCRATES: There was a tradition in the temple of Dodona that oaks first gave prophetic utterances. The men of old, unlike in their simplicity to young philosophy, deemed that if they heard the truth even from 'oak or rock,' it was enough for them; whereas you seem to consider not whether a thing is or is not true, but who the speaker is and from what country the tale comes.

苏格拉底：多多那的神庙里有个传说，说橡树最早发出了预言。古时候的人不像年轻的哲学那样，他们很单纯，认为只要听到的是真理，哪怕出自“橡树或岩石”，也就够了；而你似乎不考虑一件事是真还是不真，却要考虑说话的人是谁、故事来自哪个国家。

PHAEDRUS: I acknowledge the justice of your rebuke; and I think that the Theban is right in his view about letters.

斐德若：我承认你责备得对；我也认为那位底比斯人对文字的看法是对的。

SOCRATES: He would be a very simple person, and quite a stranger to the oracles of Thamus or Ammon, who should leave in writing or receive in writing any art under the idea that the written word would be intelligible or certain; or who deemed that writing was at all better than knowledge and recollection of the same matters?

苏格拉底：那么，一个人若是把某种技艺留在文字里，或者从文字里接受某种技艺，以为写下来的话会清楚明白、确定可靠；或者以为写作比对同样事情的知识与回忆更好，那他岂不是非常天真，对塔穆斯或阿蒙的神谕全然陌生吗？

PHAEDRUS: That is most true.

斐德若：再对不过了。

PHAEDRUS: That again is most true.

斐德若：这话也再对不过了。

SOCRATES: Is there not another kind of word or speech far better than this, and having far greater power—a son of the same family, but lawfully begotten?

苏格拉底：难道没有另一种言辞，比这好得多，也有力得多，是同一家族的儿子，却是合法所生？

PHAEDRUS: Whom do you mean, and what is his origin?

斐德若：你说的是谁？他从哪里来？

SOCRATES: I mean an intelligent word graven in the soul of the learner, which can defend itself, and knows when to speak and when to be silent.

苏格拉底：我说的是一种有理智的言辞，刻写在学习者的灵魂里，它能为自己辩护，知道什么时候说话、什么时候沉默。

PHAEDRUS: You mean the living word of knowledge which has a soul, and of which the written word is properly no more than an image?

斐德若：你是说那种活的、有灵魂的知识之言，而写下来的言辞，严格说来不过是它的影像？

SOCRATES: Yes, of course that is what I mean. And now may I be allowed to ask you a question: Would a husbandman, who is a man of sense, take the seeds, which he values and which he wishes to bear fruit, and in sober seriousness plant them during the heat of summer, in some garden of Adonis, that he may rejoice when he sees them in eight days appearing in beauty? at least he would do so, if at all, only for the sake of amusement and pastime. But when he is in earnest he sows in fitting soil, and practises husbandry, and is satisfied if in eight months the seeds which he has sown arrive at perfection?

苏格拉底：当然，我正是这个意思。现在让我问你一个问题：一个明白事理的农夫，会不会拿他珍视、盼着结果的种子，一本正经地在盛夏时节种进某个阿多尼斯花园里，好在八天之内看到它们长得美丽而高兴？就算他会这样做，也只是为了消遣和游戏。可是当他认真的时候，他会播种在合适的土壤里，按农事的规矩耕作，如果所播的种子八个月后长成熟了，他就满意了，不是吗？

PHAEDRUS: Yes, Socrates, that will be his way when he is in earnest; he will do the other, as you say, only in play.

斐德若：是的，苏格拉底，他认真的时候就是这样做；另一种做法，正如你说的，只是游戏。

SOCRATES: And can we suppose that he who knows the just and good and honourable has less understanding, than the husbandman, about his own seeds?

苏格拉底：那么，我们能不能设想，一个懂得什么是正义、善与高贵的人，对自己的种子，还不如农夫懂得多呢？

PHAEDRUS: Certainly not.

斐德若：当然不能。

SOCRATES: Then he will not seriously incline to 'write' his thoughts 'in water' with pen and ink, sowing words which can neither speak for themselves nor teach the truth adequately to others?

苏格拉底：那么，他就不会认真地拿笔和墨把他的思想“写在水上”，播下那些既不能为自己说话、又不能把真理充分教给别人的文字了？

PHAEDRUS: No, that is not likely.

斐德若：不会，这不大可能。

PHAEDRUS: A pastime, Socrates, as noble as the other is ignoble, the pastime of a man who can be amused by serious talk, and can discourse merrily about justice and the like.

斐德若：苏格拉底，这种消遣有多高贵，另一种就有多卑下；这是一个能从严肃谈话中得到乐趣、能愉快地谈论正义之类事情的人的消遣。

SOCRATES: True, Phaedrus. But nobler far is the serious pursuit of the dialectician, who, finding a congenial soul, by the help of science sows and plants therein words which are able to help themselves and him who planted them, and are not unfruitful, but have in them a seed which others brought up in different soils render immortal, making the possessors of it happy to the utmost extent of human happiness.

苏格拉底：是的，斐德若。但辩证家的严肃追求要高贵得多：他找到一个相契的灵魂，借助知识，在其中播种、栽植那些言辞，它们能帮助自己，也能帮助栽种它们的人；它们不是不结果的，而是含着种子，在别样土壤里成长起来的人会让这种子永存，也让拥有它的人得到人所能有的最大幸福。

PHAEDRUS: Far nobler, certainly.

斐德若：确实高贵得多。

SOCRATES: And now, Phaedrus, having agreed upon the premises we may decide about the conclusion.

苏格拉底：现在，斐德若，前提我们已经同意了，可以对结论作出判断了。

PHAEDRUS: About what conclusion?

斐德若：什么结论？

SOCRATES: About Lysias, whom we censured, and his art of writing, and his discourses, and the rhetorical skill or want of skill which was shown in them—these are the questions which we sought to determine, and they brought us to this point. And I think that we are now pretty well informed about the nature of art and its opposite.

苏格拉底：关于吕西阿斯，我们批评过他，批评过他的写作技艺、他的演说，以及其中显出的修辞功夫或缺乏修辞功夫，这些正是我们要确定的问题，是它们把我们带到了这一步。我想，对于技艺是什么、它的反面是什么，我们现在已经了解得相当清楚了。

PHAEDRUS: Yes, I think with you; but I wish that you would repeat what was said.

斐德若：是的，我也这样想；不过我希望你把说过的话再重复一遍。

SOCRATES: Until a man knows the truth of the several particulars of which he is writing or speaking, and is able to define them as they are, and having defined them again to divide them until they can be no longer divided, and until in like manner he is able to discern the nature of the soul, and discover the different modes of discourse which are adapted to different natures, and to arrange and dispose them in such a way that the simple form of speech may be addressed to the simpler nature, and the complex and composite to the more complex nature—until he has accomplished all this, he will be unable to handle arguments according to rules of art, as far as their nature allows them to be subjected to art, either for the purpose of teaching or persuading;—such is the view which is implied in the whole preceding argument.

苏格拉底：一个人在写作或言说时，若不知道所谈每一件具体事物的真相，不能按它们本来的样子给它们下定义，下了定义之后又不能把它们一再划分，直到不可再分为止；若他同样不能洞察灵魂的本性，找出适合不同天性的不同言说方式，并加以安排配置，使简单的言辞对简单的天性说，复杂的、组合的言辞对更复杂的天性说；在他做到这一切之前，他就不能按照技艺的规则来处理论证（就论证的本性所允许服从技艺的程度而言），无论是为了教导，还是为了说服：这就是前面整个论证所蕴含的看法。

PHAEDRUS: Yes, that was our view, certainly.

斐德若：是的，那确实是我们的看法。

SOCRATES: Secondly, as to the censure which was passed on the speaking or writing of discourses, and how they might be rightly or wrongly censured—did not our previous argument show—?

苏格拉底：其次，关于对演说的言说或写作所提出的批评，以及这批评怎样才算正当、怎样才算不正当，我们前面的论证不是已经表明了吗？

PHAEDRUS: Show what?

斐德若：表明了什么？

SOCRATES: That whether Lysias or any other writer that ever was or will be, whether private man or statesman, proposes laws and so becomes the author of a political treatise, fancying that there is any great certainty and clearness in his performance, the fact of his so writing is only a disgrace to him, whatever men may say. For not to know the nature of justice and injustice, and good and evil, and not to be able to distinguish the dream from the reality, cannot in truth be otherwise than disgraceful to him, even though he have the applause of the whole world.

苏格拉底：表明了无论是吕西阿斯，还是过去或将来的任何作者，无论是平民还是政治家，只要他提出法律，从而成为一部政治论著的作者，又自以为自己的作品有多么大的确定与明晰，那么他这样写作，就只是他的耻辱，不论世人怎样说。因为不懂得正义与不义、善与恶的本性，不能分辨梦境与现实，即使赢得全世界的喝彩，实际上也只能是耻辱。

PHAEDRUS: Certainly.

斐德若：当然。

SOCRATES: But he who thinks that in the written word there is necessarily much which is not serious, and that neither poetry nor prose, spoken or written, is of any great value, if, like the compositions of the rhapsodes, they are only recited in order to be believed, and not with any view to criticism or instruction; and who thinks that even the best of writings are but a reminiscence of what we know, and that only in principles of justice and goodness and nobility taught and communicated orally for the sake of instruction and graven in the soul, which is the true way of writing, is there clearness and perfection and seriousness, and that such principles are a man's own and his legitimate offspring;—being, in the first place, the word which he finds in his own bosom; secondly, the brethren and descendants and relations of his idea which have been duly implanted by him in the souls of others;—and who cares for them and no others—this is the right sort of man; and you and I, Phaedrus, would pray that we may become like him.

苏格拉底：而另一种人，他认为写下来的言辞中必然有许多不严肃的东西；认为无论诗还是散文，无论说出来的还是写下来的，如果像吟诵者的作品那样，只是为了让人相信而吟诵，而不是为了审察或教导，就都没有多大价值；他认为即使最好的作品，也不过是我们已知之事的提醒；认为只有在那些为了教导而口头传授、刻写在灵魂中的关于正义、善与高贵的原则里（这才是真正的书写），才有明晰、完善与严肃；认为这样的原则才是一个人自己的、合法的子嗣：首先是他在自己胸中找到的那句话，其次是这句话的兄弟、后裔与亲属，也就是他在别人灵魂中妥善种下的那些思想；他只珍爱这些，别的都不珍爱：这才是正确的那种人；斐德若，你我都会祈求自己变成他那样。

PHAEDRUS: That is most assuredly my desire and prayer.

斐德若：这确实是我的愿望和祈求。

SOCRATES: And now the play is played out; and of rhetoric enough. Go and tell Lysias that to the fountain and school of the Nymphs we went down, and were bidden by them to convey a message to him and to other composers of speeches—to Homer and other writers of poems, whether set to music or not; and to Solon and others who have composed writings in the form of political discourses which they would term laws—to all of them we are to say that if their compositions are based on knowledge of the truth, and they can defend or prove them, when they are put to the test, by spoken arguments, which leave their writings poor in comparison of them, then they are to be called, not only poets, orators, legislators, but are worthy of a higher name, befitting the serious pursuit of their life.

苏格拉底：现在这场游戏演完了，修辞也谈够了。去告诉吕西阿斯，我们下到了宁芙们的泉水和学堂，她们吩咐我们带一个口信给他，给其他的演说作者，给荷马和其他写诗的人，无论配乐与否，也给梭伦和其他以政治言论的形式写出被他们称为法律之作的人：对所有这些人，我们要说，如果他们的作品建立在对真理的认识之上，在受到检验时，他们能用口头的论证为之辩护、加以证明，而口头的论证让他们的文字相形见绌，那么他们就不仅该被称为诗人、演说家、立法者，还配得上一个更高的名字，与他们一生的严肃追求相称。

PHAEDRUS: What name would you assign to them?

斐德若：你会给他们什么名字？

SOCRATES: Wise, I may not call them; for that is a great name which belongs to God alone,—lovers of wisdom or philosophers is their modest and befitting title.

苏格拉底：“智者”我不能这样称呼他们，那是一个只属于神的大名；“爱智者”或“哲学家”，才是他们谦逊而恰当的称号。

PHAEDRUS: Very suitable.

斐德若：非常合适。

SOCRATES: And he who cannot rise above his own compilations and compositions, which he has been long patching and piecing, adding some and taking away some, may be justly called poet or speech-maker or law-maker.

苏格拉底：而那种不能超越自己的编排与撰作的人，他长久地拼补拼凑，添一些，删一些，这样的人可以恰如其分地称为诗人、演说作者或立法者。

PHAEDRUS: Certainly.

斐德若：当然。

SOCRATES: Now go and tell this to your companion.

苏格拉底：现在去把这些话告诉你的同伴吧。

PHAEDRUS: But there is also a friend of yours who ought not to be forgotten.

斐德若：可是你也有一位朋友，不该忘了他。

SOCRATES: Who is he?

苏格拉底：他是谁？

PHAEDRUS: Isocrates the fair:—What message will you send to him, and how shall we describe him?

斐德若：俊美的伊索克拉底。你要给他带什么口信？我们该怎样形容他？

PHAEDRUS: What would you prophesy?

斐德若：你会预言什么？

SOCRATES: I think that he has a genius which soars above the orations of Lysias, and that his character is cast in a finer mould. My impression of him is that he will marvellously improve as he grows older, and that all former rhetoricians will be as children in comparison of him. And I believe that he will not be satisfied with rhetoric, but that there is in him a divine inspiration which will lead him to things higher still. For he has an element of philosophy in his nature. This is the message of the gods dwelling in this place, and which I will myself deliver to Isocrates, who is my delight; and do you give the other to Lysias, who is yours.

苏格拉底：我想，他的天资高于吕西阿斯的演说，他的品性也铸在更精致的模子里。我的印象是，随着年岁增长，他会有惊人的进步，以前所有的修辞家在他面前都会像孩子一样。我还相信，他不会满足于修辞，他身上有一种神圣的灵感，会引他走向更高的事物。因为他的天性中有哲学的成分。这就是住在此地的诸神的口信，我会亲自把它带给我所喜爱的伊索克拉底；你把另一个口信带给你所喜爱的吕西阿斯吧。

PHAEDRUS: I will; and now as the heat is abated let us depart.

斐德若：我会的。现在暑热已经消退，我们走吧。

SOCRATES: Should we not offer up a prayer first of all to the local deities?

苏格拉底：我们是不是该先向此地的神祇祈祷一下？

PHAEDRUS: By all means.

斐德若：当然。

SOCRATES: Beloved Pan, and all ye other gods who haunt this place, give me beauty in the inward soul; and may the outward and inward man be at one. May I reckon the wise to be the wealthy, and may I have such a quantity of gold as a temperate man and he only can bear and carry.—Anything more? The prayer, I think, is enough for me.

苏格拉底：亲爱的潘神，还有常在此地的众神啊，请赐给我内在灵魂的美；愿我外在的人与内在的人合而为一。愿我把智慧的人看作富有的人；愿我所有的金子，多到只有一个节制的人才担得起、搬得动。还要别的吗？这个祷告，我想对我来说已经够了。

PHAEDRUS: Ask the same for me, for friends should have all things in common.

斐德若：也替我求同样的东西吧，因为朋友之间一切共有。

SOCRATES: Let us go.

苏格拉底：我们走吧。