lotus-lian詩欲 哲域+彩+

(244.-246.)

SOCRATES:Well then, my handsome lad, you must realize that the previous speech was the work of Phaedrus, son of Pythocles, a man of Mrrhinus, whereas this which you are about to hear comes from Stesichorus, son of Euphemus, a native of Himera. This is how it must go. 'False is the tale' which says that because the lover is mad and the non-lover sane the non-lover should be given the preference when one might have a lover. If it were true without qualification that madness, provided it comes as the gift of heaven, is the channel by which we receive the greatest blessings. Take the prophetess at Delphi and the priestess, at Dodona, for example, and consider all the benefits which individuals and states in Greece have received from them when they were in astate of frenzy, though their usefulness in their sober senses amounts to little or nothing. And if we were to include the Sibyl and others who by the use of inspired divination have set many inquirers on the right track about  the future, we should be telling at tedious length what everyone knows. But this at least is worth pointing out, that the men of old who gave things their names saw no disgrace or reproach in madness; otherwise they would not have connected with it the name of the noblest of all arts, the art of discerning the future, and called it the manic art. The fact that they did so shows that they looked upon madness as a fine thing, when it comes upon a man by divine dispensation, but their successors have bungled matters by the introduction of a T and produced the world mantic. Similarl, augury and the other methods by which men in their right minds inquire into the future, and through which they acquire insight and information by the exercise of purely human thought, were orginally called oionoistic, but later generations by lengthening the O to make it sound impressive have brought it into connection with birds (oi-onoi), and called oionistic. So, according to the evidence provided by our ancestors, madness is a noble thing than sober sense, in proportion as the name of the mantic art and the act it signifie are more perfect and held in higher esteem than the name and the act of augury; madness comes from God, whereas sober sense is merely human.

那麼,我的俊秀少年,你一定要瞭解先前那篇所訟唸的是個密努人,斐特力斯的兒子斐德若的話,現在你將聽見的卻是一個希墨人,攸費穆的兒子瑟提斯科的話,那是如此說的:"前篇故事都是錯的",若說由於一個愛人是迷狂而沒有愛的人是神智清醒的,因而愛人者應該選擇接受那沒有愛的人.若由上天所賦的迷狂就毫無資格,但那(迷狂)是我們所受最美與最隆重的祝福.就好比德爾福的女預言家和多多那的女祭司們來說吧.仔細回溯人們由她們那兒得來的福澤與希臘的地位,(她們)的這些貢獻都是由於那短暫的迷狂所來,而她們在清醒時無法如此甚至毫無貢獻.以及那些西比爾仙女們的指引與受神與靈啟發而能卜測並預知未來的正確路徑的人們,他們使我們免於錯誤的這些事蹟也不需多加述說了.但至少有件事是值得引證的,那就是過去的人們並不將迷狂視之蒙羞與恥辱,否則便不會將所有藝術上最高貴或對未來敏銳洞察的法則稱而為"絢迷藝術"(迷狂術).實而是由於他們將迷狂視而為美好的,是一個人被授予的稟賦,而後世人拙於這些美的力,而加上了一個"T",使它成為了"預言"這個字,就如那些由人的心靈與使用方法及匯測的徵兆,並對未來所作的預測.有鑑於我們的先人,將這原指借助人的"心神"而得知"理"與"事物"而命名為的"占術",後人則為了發音的悅耳而又加上一個"長音O"而成了"鳥占術",迷狂實而是更高貴於神智清醒的感觀,這絢迷藝術猶如相稱於它的名,是更完美與更值得更高評價,它的心靈預測與如此名諱而為的行動是先人可明鑑的,迷狂是由神的稟賦得的,而理智清醒則是平易於人的能力.

In the next place, when ancient sins have given rise to severe maladies and troubles, which have afflicted the members of certain families, madness has appeared among them and by breaking forth into prophecy has brought relief by the appropriate means: by recourse, that is to say, to prayer and worship. It has discovered in rites of purification and initiation a way to make the sufferer well and to keep him well thereafter, and has provided for the man whose madness and possession were of the right type a way of escape from the evils that beset him.

另一方面,當先人造許多罪孽與禍事,而映照在他們子孫身上使他們受苦折磨時,其中有種迷狂能預出適於破除的方法並減去折磨:依憑著虔誠與祈禱者的精神力.當這樣的儀式開始並與那些受苦者一同滌淨苦楚時,他們能夠從此找到這些不停侵襲他們的災痛,當他們一同沉浸於迷狂中,便找出那怯除的方法,使那些不幸從此遠離.

The third type of possession and madness is possession by the Muses. When this seizes upon a gentle and virgin soul it rouse it to inspired expression in lyric and other sorts of poetry, and glorifies countless deeds of the heroes of old for the instruction of posterity. But if a man comes to the door of poetry untouched by the madness of the Muses, believing that technique alone will make him a good poet, he and his sane compositions never reach perfection, but are utterly eclipsed by the performances of the inspired madman.

第三種迷狂的屬性是屬於謬思女神(詩神)的.它所引附著的是溫柔而純潔的靈魂,並激起它,與喚醒它,使這種絢迷顯於適於歌唱的詩歌與其他類似的詩歌,讚美英雄的事績與古老時候要永傳說述的箴言訓誨.倘若一個人並未得予這些謬思女神所賦予的迷狂,任由他到詩歌的門前造訪也毫無意義.即便他獨具成為詩人的自信也沒用的.他與那神智清醒的創作永遠達不到最美的,一但遇上被授予這樣絢迷藝術的作品就將被完全遮蔽.

These are but some examples of the noble effect of heaven-sent madness. Intrinsically there is nothing in it to frighten us, and we must not allow ourselves to be alarmed and upset by those who say that the friendship of a man in his sober sense is preferable to that of one whose minds is disturbed. They will prove their case only if they can demonstrate in addition that love alike. It is for us to prove the opposite, and to show that this type of madness is the greatest benefit that heaven can confer on us. Our argument will carry conviction with the wise, through not with the merely clever. First of all we must form a true notion of the nature of soul, divine and human, by observing it in both its passive and its active aspects. And the first step in our demonstration is this.

這僅是一些由上天分授的迷狂所造就的高貴特質的例子,而這並不是要嚇阻我們的,我們也不要讓自己憂慮或被某個相信神智清醒更優於迷狂的友人打亂,他還必須藉由兩個相愛的人來證明才行.而我們所要做的證明正好是相反的,並且顯現這些迷狂的特性是最好也是上天要我們領受的,最有價值的.我們的論證將引出這智慧的信念,而不僅是巧於辯駁的,首先我們必須構思出一個靈魂真正的本質為何,神授的靈魂與人的靈魂概念為何.透過觀察這兩者彼此間所具的被動消極與主動積極的樣貌,我們首先就要證明這樣概念.

All soul is immortal; for what is always in motion is immortal. But that which owes its motion to something else, even though it is itself the cause of motion in another thing, may cease to be in motion and therefore cease to live. Only what moves itself never ceases to be in motion, since it could not so cease without being false to its own nature; it is the source and prime origin of movement in all other things that move. Now a prome origin cannot come into being; all that comes into being must derive its existence from a prime origin, but the prime origin itself from nothing; for if a prime origin were derived from anything, it would no longer be a prime origin.

所有的靈魂都是不朽的,凡是能動者都是不朽的.但是當能動是由於被另一者所引動的,那麼當不停地動時也不停地活著.本身若不再持續地動時便不復存了.只有那自主而動的不脫離本質而永恆能動,並永動不息.那能動也才是所有表象源頭與引動的起始.也是所有能動的創生.創生是無法被創造出來的,所有能動的”物”本身都是由一個創生所造,而創生上還存有一個創生的初始,這樣的初始卻不源於其他事物,由於它不源於其他事物,因而是唯一創生的初始

Moreover, since it dose not come into being, it must also be indestructible; for since all things must be derived form a prime origin, if the prime origin is destroyed, it will not come into being again out of anything, nor any other thing out of it. So we see that the prime origin of motion is what moves itself, and this can neither be destroyed nor come into being: otherwise te whole universe and the whole creation would collapse and come to a stop, and there would be nothing by which it could again be set in motion and come into existence. Now, since it has been proved that what moves itself is immortal, a man need feel no hesitaion in identifying it with the essence and definition of soul. For all body which has its source of motion outside itself is soulless; but a body which moves itself from within is endowed with soul, since self-motion is of the very nature of soul. If then it is established that what moves itself is identical with soul, it inevitably follows that soul is uncreated and immortal.

更進一步地說,既然創生的初始不被其他事物所造,那麼也是不可破壞的.若所有物是由那創生的初始所產生,初始的型一但被破壞,那麼沒有任何物能夠再生.由此我們能得見創生的初始只由自身而能動,且無法讓任何物所破壞:否則所有宇宙間與所有創造物都將一同毀滅無存,並且不再有任何能夠一再創生與顯現的事物.現在我們既然證明了那能動的本身是不朽的,一個人也須毫不猶豫地辨識出那靈魂中精粹與不朽的意義.所有的物體間,那動的觸發是在它之外就是"無靈魂的",但一個體是由天生地靈魂自身所動的,即自而能動者,是本質純而天生的靈魂.那麼此事物自身就是辨知靈魂而構築它的行動的,這也就是不被所造也永不垂朽的靈魂所闡發的意義