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