雙語·《伊索寓言》 善與惡

THE GOODS AND THE ILLS

There was a time in the youth of the world when Goods and Ills entered equally into the concerns of men, so that the Goods did not prevail to make them altogether blessed, nor the Ills to make them wholly miserable. But owing to the foolishness of mankind the Ills multiplied greatly in number and increased in strength, until it seemed as though they would deprive the Goods of all share in human affairs, and banish them from the earth. The latter, therefore, betook themselves to heaven and complained to Jupiter of the treatment they had received, at the same time praying him to grant them protection from the Ills, and to advise them concerning the manner of their intercourse with men. Jupiter granted their request for protection, and decreed that for the future they should not go among men openly in a body, and so be liable to attack from the hostile Ills, but singly and unobserved, and at infrequent and unexpected intervals. Hence it is that the earth is full of Ills, for they come and go as they please and are never far away; while Goods, alas! come one by one only, and have to travel all the way from heaven, so that they are very seldom seen.

善與惡

從前，世界初形成之時，善與惡在人們的心中是平等的，行善并不會受到稱贊，作惡也不會帶來不幸。但是由于人類的愚蠢，惡開始不斷增加，惡的力量不斷強(qiáng)大，似乎要占取善在人們中間的份額了，要將善驅(qū)逐出人間了。因此，善便去了天庭，向朱庇特控訴他們受到的不公正對待，同時祈求他來保護(hù)人類，使他們遠(yuǎn)離惡，還就他們善與人類的關(guān)系征詢他的建議。朱庇特答應(yīng)了他們要求庇護(hù)的請求，下令將來善不能公開進(jìn)入人間，因為那樣容易受到充滿惡意的惡的攻擊，善應(yīng)該悄悄地、一點點地，以一種不頻繁的、人們意料之外的方式回到人間。因此，人間充滿了惡，他們可以任意來去，但卻永遠(yuǎn)都不會走遠(yuǎn)，而善呢，卻只能一個一個地單獨出現(xiàn)，需要想盡辦法從天庭一路下來，所以人間善行很少見。