古希腊生活
古希腊人的生活
HOW THE GREEKS LIVED
古希腊人是如何生活的
BUT how, you will ask, did the ancient Greeks have time to look after their families and their business if they were forever running to the market-place to discuss affairs of state? In this chapter I shall tell you.
也许你会问，古希腊人如果一听到召唤就赶去集市讨论国家大事，那他们怎会有时间来照顾家庭打理生意呢？在这一章，我会给你们解释这个问题。 In all matters of government, the Greek democracy recognised only one class of citizens--the freemen. Every Greek city was composed of a small number of free born citizens, a large number of slaves and a sprinkling of foreigners.
在所有政府事务中，希腊的民主政治只承认自由民这个阶层的公民。每一个希腊城市都是由少数自由民、绝大多数奴隶和为数不多的外国人组成的。 At rare intervals (usually during a war, when men were needed for the army) the Greeks showed themselves willing to confer the rights of citizenship upon the “barbarians” as they called the foreigners. But this was an exception. Citizenship was a matter of birth. You were an Athenian because your father and your grandfather had been Athenians before you. But however great your merits as a trader or a soldier, if you were born of non-Athenian parents, you remained a “foreigner” until the end of time.
只在少数时候（通常是战争期间，需要征召兵员时），希腊人才愿意给予他们所谓的“野蛮人”即外国人以公民权，但这种情形只是例外。公民的身份是一个出身问题。你是一个雅典人，那是因为你的父亲和祖父在你之前就是雅典人。然而，无论你是一个多么出色的士兵或商人，只要你的父母不是雅典人，那你永远是一名“外国人”。
The Greek city, therefore, whenever it was not ruled by a king or a tyrant, was run by and for the freemen, and this would not have been possible without a large army of slaves who outnumbered the free citizens at the rate of six or five to one and who performed those tasks to which we modern people must devote most of our
time and energy if we wish to provide for our families and pay the rent of our apartments.
因此，希腊城市，不管统治者是国王还是暴君，管理者总是自由民，并为其利益服务。这种体制，如果没有由奴隶组成的庞大军队，也是不可以实现的。军队中奴隶的数量远远超过了自由民，大概是五比一或者六比一。他们养家糊口等种种繁重的劳动就由奴隶来承担。
The slaves did all the cooking and baking and candlestick making of the entire city. They were the tailors and the carpenters and the jewelers and the school-teachers and the bookkeepers and they tended the store and looked after the factory while the master went to the public meeting to discuss questions of war and peace or visited the theatre to see the latest play of AEschylus or hear a discussion of the revolutionary ideas of Euripides, who had dared to express certain doubts upon the omnipotence of the great god Zeus.
奴隶们把整个城市的烹饪、烤面包、制作蜡烛等工作全部包揽下来。他们中有裁缝、木匠、珠宝商、小学教师和记账员。他们负责管理工厂和商店。因为主人们要么参加公共会议，讨论战争或和平问题；要么前往剧院，观赏埃斯库罗斯的最新演出；要么去听有关欧里庇得斯的革命性观念的激烈讨论。因为这位剧作家竟敢对伟大的、万能的神——宙斯的威严表示质疑。
Indeed, ancient Athens resembled a modem club. All the freeborn citizens were hereditary members and all the slaves were hereditary servants, and waited upon the needs of their masters, and it was very pleasant to be a member of the organisation.
事实上，古代的雅典就像是一个现代俱乐部。所有的自由民都是世袭的会员，而所有的奴隶也都是世袭的仆人，随时得听候主人的使唤。当然，能成为这个组织的会员也是件很快乐的事情。
But when we talk about slaves.we do not mean the sort of people about whom you have read in the pages of “Uncle Tom's Cabin.” It is true that the position of those slaves who tilled the fields was a very unpleasant one, but the average freeman who had come down in the world and who had been obliged to hire himself out as a farm hand led just as miserable a life. In the cities, furthermore, many of the
slaves were more prosperous than the poorer classes of the freemen. For the Greeks, who loved moderation in all things, did not like to treat their slaves after the fashion which afterward was so common in Rome, where a slave had as few rights as an engine in a modern factory and could be thrown to the wild animals upon the smallest pretext.
不过，我们提到的“奴隶”，并不是你在《汤姆叔叔的小屋》里读到过的那种人。当然，每天替人耕田种地的日子确实很悲惨，但是那些家道中落的自由民们也好不到哪里去。他们在富人的农庄作帮工，他们的生活其实跟奴隶一样悲惨。在城市里，许多奴隶甚至比下层自由民还富有。对“万事追求适度”的古希腊人来说，他们宁愿以温和的方式对待奴隶。在古罗马，奴隶就像是现代工厂里的机器，没有丝毫的权利，还常常因微小的过失，就会被扔给野兽。
The Greeks accepted slavery as a necessary institution, without which no city could possibly become the home of a truly civilised people.
古希腊人视奴隶制为一种必要的制度。他们认为，如果没有奴隶，任何城市都无法成为一个真正的、文明的家园。
The slaves also took care of those tasks which nowadays are performed by the business men and the professional men. As for those household duties which take up so much of the time of your mother and which worry your father when he comes home from his office, the Greeks, who understood the value of leisure, had reduced such duties to the smallest possible minimum by living amidst surroundings of extreme simplicity.
庙宇奴隶们也从事像今天由商人和专业人员从事的工作。至于那些占据了你妈妈的大部分时间，并让你爸爸下班回来就头疼的家务劳动，闲逸的希腊人会尽可能把它减少到最低限度。
To begin with, their homes were very plain. Even the rich nobles spent their lives in a sort of adobe barn, which lacked all the comforts which a modern workman expects as his natural right. A Greek home consisted of four walls and a roof. There was a door which led into the street but there were no windows. The kitchen, the living rooms and the sleeping quarters were built around an open courtyard in which there was a small fountain, or a statue and a few plants to make it look bright. Within
this courtyard the family lived when it did not rain or when it was not too cold. In one corner of the yard the cook (who was a slave) prepared the meal and in another corner, the teacher (who was also a slave) taught the children the alpha beta gamma and the tables of multiplication and in still another corner the lady of the house, who rarely left her domain (since it was not considered good form for a married woman to be seen on the street too often) was repairing her husband's coat with her seamstresses (who were slaves,) and in the little office, right off the door, the master was inspecting the accounts which the overseer of his farm (who was a slave) had just brought to him.
首先，古希腊人的家朴素简单，甚至连富有的贵族也会躲在谷仓中消磨他们的时间，那时还缺乏一个现代工人所拥有的基本条件。希腊人的屋子由四面墙和一个屋顶组成，有一扇门通往大街，但没有窗户。厨房、起居室、卧室围着一个庭院而建，庭院里有一座喷泉或是一座雕塑，有的人家还养着一些花木，以便让庭院充满生气。不下雨或者天气不太冷的时候，一家人就生活在庭院里。在院子的一角，有厨师（也是奴隶）在准备饭菜；在院子的另一角，有家庭教师（也是奴隶）在教孩子们背诵希腊字母和乘法表；还有一个角落，屋子的女主人和裁缝（也是奴隶）在缝补男主人的外套。这些女主人很少出门，因为在古希腊，一个已婚妇女经常出现在大街上，会被认为有失检点。在门边的一间小办公室里，男主人正在查看农庄监工（也是奴隶）刚送过来的账目。
When dinner was ready the family came together but the meal was a very simple one and did not take much time. The Greeks seem to have regarded eating as an unavoidable evil and not a pastime, which kills many dreary hours and eventually kills many dreary people. They lived on bread and on wine, with a little meat and some green vegetables. They drank water only when nothing else was available because they did not think it very healthy. They loved to call on each other for dinner, but our idea of a festive meal, where everybody is supposed to eat much more than is good for him, would have disgusted them. They came together at the table for the purpose of a good talk and a good glass of wine and water, but as they were moderate people they despised those who drank too much.
晚饭准备好之后，全家人便围坐在一起就餐。饭菜很简单，花不了多少时间就吃好了。古希腊人似乎把饮食当成一件无法避免的罪恶，而不是一种消遣，他们认为，娱乐消遣虽然可以打发无聊的时间，但最后使人一辈子碌碌无为。他们主要吃面包，喝葡萄酒，有时添加一点儿肉类和一些绿色蔬菜。他们除非在没有东西吃的时候才喝水，因为他们认为喝水不利于健康。他们喜欢请朋友一起进餐，但是他们并不是来大吃特吃的，而是聚在桌边一边畅谈，一边畅饮。他们很有分寸，那些贪杯的人会被看不起。
The same simplicity which prevailed in the dining room also dominated their choice of clothes. They liked to be clean and well groomed, to have their hair and beards neatly cut, to feel their bodies strong with the exercise and the swimming of the gymnasium, but they never followed the Asiatic fashion which prescribed loud colours and strange patterns. They wore a long white coat and they managed to look as smart as a modern Italian officer in his long blue cape.
流行于餐桌上的这种简单情调同样影响着他们对衣物的选择。他们热爱干净，修饰得很整洁，头发和胡子梳理得漂漂亮亮。他们常常游泳、跑步，以使自己身体更加强壮。他们从不追赶亚洲的流行式样，穿那些色彩艳丽、图案古怪的服装。他们穿白色的长外套，穿上蓝色长披风，仪表非凡，他们精明得像现在的意大利官员。
They loved to see their wives wear ornaments but they thought it very vulgar to display their wealth (or their wives) in public and whenever the women left their home they were as inconspicuous as possible.
当然，他们也喜欢自己的妻子佩戴珠宝首饰，穿得漂亮。同时他们认为在公众场合炫耀财富是相当庸俗的，所以妇女们外出时，也尽量不惹人注目。
In short, the story of Greek life is a story not only of moderation but also of simplicity. “Things,” chairs and tables and books and houses and carriages, are apt to take up a great deal of their owner's time. In the end they invariably make him their slave and his hours are spent looking after their wants, keeping them polished and brushed and painted. The Greeks, before everything else, wanted to be “free,” both in mind and in body. That they might maintain their liberty, and be truly free in spirit, they reduced their daily needs to the lowest possible point.
总之，古希腊的生活不仅节制，而且简朴。椅子、桌子、书、房子、马车等东西，都会占用主人的很多时间。最终，它们会把主人变成它们的奴隶。因为人们要花很多的时间去照顾它们，擦拭、打磨、抛光。古希腊人最想要的是“自由”，是身体和精神上的双重解放，所以他们将自己的日常需求减少到最低程度。