評論
打印
Of Beauty
論美
Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set;
德行猶如寶石，樸素最美：
and surely virtue is best in a body that is comely,though not of delicate features;
其于人也，則有德者但須形體悅目，不必面貌俊秀，
and that hath rather dignity of presence, than beauty of aspect.
與其貌美，不若氣度恢宏。
Neither is it almost seen,that very beautiful persons are otherwise of great virtues;
人不盡知：絕色無大德也；
as if nature were rather busy,not to err, than in labor to produce excellency.
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;
因而美男子有才而無壯志，
and study rather behavior, than virtue.
重行而不重德。
But this holds not always:
但亦不盡然。
for Augustus Caesar,Titus Vespasianus, Philip le Belle of France,Edward the Fourth of England, Alcibiades of Athens,Ismael the Sophy of Persia,were all high and great spirits;
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時最美之人也。
and yet the most beautiful men of their times.
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。
In beauty, that of favor, is more than that of color;
美不在顏色艷麗而在面目端正，
and that of decent and gracious motion,more than that of favor.
又不盡在面目端正而在舉止文雅合度。
That is the best part of beauty,which a picture cannot express;
美之極致，非圖畫所能表，
no, nor the first sight of the life.
乍見能所識。
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.
舉凡最美之人，其部位比例，必有異于常人之處。
A man cannot tell whether Apelles, or Albert Durer,were the more trifler;
阿爾貝與杜勒皆畫家也，
where of the one,would make a personage by geometrical proportions;
其畫人像也，一則按照幾何學之比例，
the other; by taking the best parts out of divers faces,to make one excellent.
一則集眾臉型之長于一身。
Such personages, I think, would please nobody,but the painter that made them.
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;
余不否認畫像之美可以超越人寰，
but he must do it by a kind of felicity and not by rule.
但此美必為神筆，而非可依規矩得之者，樂師之譜成明曲亦莫不皆然。
A man shall see faces, that if you examine them part by part,you shall find never a good;
人面如逐部細察，往往一無是處，
and yet altogether do well.
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,though persons in years seem many times more amiable;
美之要素既在于舉止，則年長美過年少亦無足怪。
pulchrorum autumnus pulcher;
古人云：萬美之中秋為最。
for no youth can be comely but by pardon,and considering the youth,as to make up the comeliness.
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。
Beauty is as summer fruits,which are easy to corrupt, and cannot last;
美者猶如夏日蔬果，易腐難存；
and for the most part it makes a dissolute youth,and an age a little out of countenance;
要之，年少而美者常無形，年長而美者不免面有慚色。
but yet certainly again, if it light well,it makes virtue shine, and vices blush.
雖然，但須托體得人，則德行因美爾益彰，惡行見美而愈愧。
