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第12章

historical lectures and essays(查尔斯金斯利历史讲座)-第12章


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everlasting   life;   that   man;   I   say;   developed   himself;   unassisted;   out   of   a 

state of primaeval brutishness; simply by calculations of pleasure and pain; 

by observing what actions would pay in the long run and what would not; 

and so   learnt to   conquer his   selfishness by  a  more  refined and   extended 

selfishness; and exchanged his brutality for worldliness; and then; in a few 

instances; his worldliness for next…worldliness。            I hope I need not say that 

I do not believe this theory。        If I did; I could not be a Christian; I think; 

nor a philosopher either。       At least; if I thought that human civilisation had 

sprung from such a dunghill as that; I should; in honour to my race; say 

nothing about it; here or elsewhere。 

     Why   talk   of   the   shame   of   our   ancestors?    I   want   to   talk   of   their 

honour and glory。        I want to talk; if I talk at all; about great times; about 

noble epochs; noble movements; noble deeds; and noble folk; about times 

in which the human raceit may be through many mistakes; alas! and sin; 

and sorrow; and blood…shedstruggled up one step higher on those great 

stairs which; as we hope; lead upward towards the far…off city of God; the 



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perfect polity; the perfect civilisation; the perfect religion; which is eternal 

in the heavens。 

     Of great men; then; and noble deeds I want to speak。                    I am bound to 

do so first; in courtesy to my hearers。              For in choosing such a subject I 

took   for   granted   a   nobleness   and   greatness   of   mind   in   them   which   can 

appreciate and enjoy the contemplation of that which is lofty and heroic; 

and   that   which   is   useful   indeed;   though   not   to   the   purses   merely   or   the 

mouths of men; but to their intellects and spirits; that highest philosophy 

which; though she can (as has been sneeringly said of her) bake no bread; 

sheand she alone; can at least do thismake men worthy to eat the bread 

which God has given them。 

     I am bound to speak on such subjects; because I have never yet met; or 

read of; the human pany who did not require; now and then at least; 

being reminded of such times and such personagesof whatsoever things 

are   just;  pure;  true; lovely;  and   of   good   report; if   there be   any  manhood 

and any praise to think; as St。 Paul bids us all; of such things; that we may 

keep up in our minds as much as possible a lofty standard; a pure ideal; 

instead   of   sinking   to   the   mere   selfish   standard   which   judges   all   things; 

even those of the world to e; by profit and by loss; and into that sordid 

frame     of   mind    in   which    a   man    grows     to  believe    that   the   world    is 

constructed of bricks and timber; and kept going by the price of stocks。 

     We   are   all   tempted;   and   the   easier   and   more   prosperous   we   are;   the 

more we are tempted; to fall into that sordid and shallow frame of mind。 

Sordid even when its projects are most daring; its outward luxuries most 

refined; and shallow; even when most acute; when priding itself most on 

its   knowledge   of   human   nature;   and   of   the   secret   springs   which;   so   it 

dreams;   move   the   actions   and   make   the   history   of   nations   and   of   men。 

All    are    tempted     that   way;    even     the   noblest…hearted。        ADHAESIT 

PAVIMENTO   VENTER;   says   the   old   psalmist。   I   am   growing   like   the 

snake; crawling in the dust; and eating the dust in which I crawl。                     I try to 

lift   up   my   eyes   to   the   heavens;   to   the   true;   the   beautiful;   the   good;   the 

eternal nobleness which was before all time; and shall be still when time 



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has passed away。        But to lift up myself is what I cannot do。              Who will 

help me?      Who will quicken me? as our old English tongue has it。                  Who 

will   give   me   life?   The   true;   pure;   lofty   human   life   which   I   did   NOT 

inherit   from   the   primaeval   ape;   which   the   ape…nature   in   me   is   for   ever 

trying to stifle; and make me that which I know too well I could so easily 

beea       cunninger     and   more     dainty…featured     brute?     Death     itself; 

which seems at times so fair; is fair because even it may raise me up and 

deliver me from the burden of this animal and mortal body: 

       'Tis life; not death for which I pant; 'Tis life; whereof my nerves are 

scant; More life; and fuller; that I want。 

       Man?     I am a man not by reason of my bones and muscles; nerves 

and brain; which I have in mon with apes and dogs and horses。                      I am 

a manthou art a man or womannot because we have a fleshGod forbid! 

but because there is a spirit in us; a divine spark and ray; which nature did 

not give; and which nature cannot take away。               And therefore; while I live 

on earth; I will live to the spirit; not to the flesh; that I may be; indeed; a 

man; and this same gross flesh; this animal ape…nature in me; shall be the 

very element in me which I will renounce; defy; despise; at least; if I am 

minded to be; not a merely higher savage; but a truly higher civilised man。 

Civilisation with me shall mean; not more wealth; more finery; more self… 

indulgenceeven more aesthetic and artistic luxury; but more virtue; more 

knowledge; more self…control; even though I earn scanty bread by heavy 

toil; and when I pare the Caesar of Rome or the great king; whether of 

Egypt; Babylon; or Persia; with the hermit of the Thebaid; starving in his 

frock   of   camel's   hair;   with   his   soul   fixed   on   the   ineffable   glories   of   the 

unseen; and striving; however wildly and fantastically; to bee an angel 

and not an ape; I will say the hermit; and not the Caesar; is the civilised 

man。 

     There are plenty of histories of civilisation and theories of civilisation 

abroad   in   the   world   just   now;   and   which   profess   to   show   you   how   the 

primeval savage has; or at least may have; bee the civilised man。                    For 

my   part;   with   all   due   and   careful   consideration;   I   confess   I   attach   very 



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little value to any of them:            and for this simple reason that we have no 

facts。    The facts are lost。 

     Of   course;   if   you   assume   a   proposition   as   certainly   true;   it   is   easy 

enough       to  prove     that   proposition     to   be   true;   at  least   to  your    own 

satisfaction。      If you assert with the old proverb; that you may make a silk 

purse out of a sow's ear; you will be stupider than I dare suppose anyone 

here to be; if you cannot invent for yourselves all the intermediate stages 

of     the   transformation;       however       startling。    And;     indeed;     if  modern 

philosophers had stuck more closely to this old proverb; and its defining 

verb 〃make;〃 and tried to show how some person or personslet them be 

who   they   maymen;   angels;   or   godsmade   the   sow's   ear   into   the   silk 

purse;   and   the   savage   into   the   sagethey   might   have   pleaded   that   they 

were     still  trying    to  keep    their   feet   upon    the   firm   ground     of   actual 

experience。       But while their theory is; that the sow's ear grew into a silk 

purse   of   itself;   and   yet   unconsciously   and   without   any   intention   of   so 

bettering itself in life; why; I think that those who have studied the history 

which lies behind them; and the poor human nature which is struggling; 

and sinning; and sorrowing; and failing around them; and which seems on 

the greater part of this planet going downwards and not upwards; and by 

no means bettering itself; save in the increase of opera…houses; liquor…bars; 

and gambling…tables; and that which pertaineth thereto; then we; I think; 

may be excused if we say with the old Stoics'Greek text'I withhold my 

judgment。        I   know     nothing     about    the   matter    yet;   and    you;   oh    my 

imaginative though learned friends; know I suspect very little either。 

        Eldest of things; Divine Equality: 

        so sang poor Shelley; and with a certain truth。                For if; as I believe; 

the   human   race   sprang   from   a   single   pair;   there   must   have   been   among 

their   individual   descendants   an   equality   far   greater   than   a

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