№.3 - The Homeric gods were the gods of a conquering aristocracy, not the useful fertility gods of those who actually tilled the soil. As Gilbert Murray says: "The gods of most nations claim to have created the world. The Olympians make no such claim. The most they ever did was to conquer it. And when they have conquered their kingdoms, what do they do? Do they attend to the government? Do they promote agriculture? Do they practise trades and industries? Not a bit of it. Why should they do any honest work? They find it easier to live on the revenues and blast with thunderbolts the people who do not pay. They are conquering chieftains, royal buccaneers. They fight, and feast, and play, and make music; they drink deep, and roar with laughter at the lame smith who waits on them. They are never afraid, except of their own king. They never tell lies, except in love and war."

【譯文】荷馬的神祇們乃是征服者的貴族階級的神祇，而不是那些實際在耕種土地的人們的有用的豐產之神。正如吉爾伯特•穆萊所說的：“大多數民族的神都自命曾經創造過世界，奧林匹克的神并不自命如此。他們所做的，主要是征服世界。……當他們已經征服了王國之后，它們又干什么呢？他們關心政治嗎？他們促進農業嗎？他們從事商業和工業嗎？一點都不。他們為什么要從事任何老實的工作呢？依靠租稅并對不納稅的人大發雷霆，在他們看來倒是更為舒適的生活。他們都是些嗜好征服的首領，是些海盜之王。他們既打仗，又宴飲，又游玩，又作樂；他們開懷痛飲，并大聲嘲笑那伺候著他們的瘸鐵匠。他們只知怕自己的王，從來不知懼怕別的。除了在愛和戰爭中而外，他們從來不說謊。”

【小編評注】希臘的悲劇精神乃是源自希臘人的混合宗教，即遠古西亞宗教的內核注入荷馬宗教的形式之中，生命得到了最高的表現形式。

【短語筆記】till the soil - 松土，耕地

【舉一反三】表達耕種的短語有很多，例如：cultivate land - 開墾貧瘠土地；plough the field/land - 耕地

【例】

(1)All this to rise with the roosters and till the soil. （這都是為了飼養公雞，種田耕地。）

(2)Land being the cultivated manicured place that provides, whatever, the harvest, things like that while wilderness was some place that was barren, it does not produce fruit. （被開墾培育過的土地為人們提供豐收的果實，有些荒野地卻是貧瘠的，不會產生果實。）

(3)After the seventh year, i.e. the sabbatical year, farmers can plough field again. （第七年過后，也就是安息年，農民可以繼續耕地。）

№.4 - The civilized man is distinguished from the savage mainly by prudence, or, to use a slightly wider term, forethought. He is willing to endure present pains for the sake of future pleasures, even if the future pleasures are rather distant.

【譯文】文明人之所以與野蠻人不同，主要的是在于審慎，或者用一個稍微更廣義的名詞，即深謀遠慮。他為了將來的快樂，哪怕這種將來的快樂是相當遙遠的，而愿意忍受目前的痛苦。

【小編評注】文明是內涵倫理、道德的價值理想，現代性的內在野蠻性不是一種外在之物，而是內在于現代人的心靈之中。因此，我們現代人更加需要懂得審慎、畏懼和有敬仰之心。

【短語筆記】for the sake of - 為了；為了 ... 的利益

【舉一反三】近義短語： for the purpose of - 為了 ... 目的；為了 ... 而做某事

【例】

(1)We kept silent for the sake of maintaining peaceful relations with Russia.（為了維持和俄羅斯的和平關系，我們一直在保持沉默。 ）

(2)For the purpose of being more handsome on his wedding day, he had woolen wedding clothes made to order. （為了婚禮那天顯得帥氣些，他特意定做了一身呢料禮服。 ）

№.5 - Civilization checks impulse not only through forethought, which is a self-administered check, but also through law, custom, and religion. This check it inherits from barbarism, but it makes it less instinctive and more systematic.

【譯文】文明之抑制沖動不僅是通過一種自我抑制的深謀遠慮，而且還通過法律、習慣與宗教。這種抑制力是它從野蠻時代繼承來的，但是它使這種抑制力具有更少的本能性與更多的組織性。

【小編評注】造成文明洗心革面的惟一重要的變化，是影響到思想、觀念和信仰的變化。自我約束，在道德范疇內，是非常美好的一種品德。

【短語筆記】forethought - 深謀遠慮；先見；考慮將來

【例】The Industrial Revolution has unfolded, for the most part, without design or forethought.（ 工業革命開展已久，但多半時候并未經過縝密思考，也沒有前瞻的視野。）