Montaigne's Essay "On Liars" 論說謊的人---(法) 蒙田 (翻譯來自 散文欣賞 沉英編， 這本書大多有翻譯者，但偏偏這篇沒有)
Michel Eyquem, Sieur de Montaigne(1533-1592) 米修。蒙田(1533-1592)
There is no man so unsuited for the task of speaking about memory as I am, for I find
scarcely a trace of it in myself, and I do not believe there is another man in the world
so hideously lacking in it. All my other faculties are poor and ordinary, but in this I
think I am most rare and singular and deserve to gain name and fame thereby.
再沒有人比我更不宜於(適合)誇說(誇耀)自己的記憶的了。 因為我幾乎找不到它的一點痕跡，我不信世界上還有像我的記性這麼壞的。 我的其他稟賦都平平常常，唯獨在這一點上，我認為我是非凡而少有的，值得因此享受一種聲譽。
Besides the natural inconvenience that I suffer on this account-for assuredly,
considering how necessary it is, Plato was right in calling memory a great and
powerful goddess-in my country, when they want to say that a man has no sense, they
say that he has no memory; and when I complain of the shortcomings of my own,
people correct me and refuse to believe me, as if I were accusing myself of being a
fool. They can see no difference between memory and intellect.
記性欠佳除了感受天然的不便利之外，有時還要忍受冤枉。 在我的家鄉，要說一個人無意識(不合理)時，總愛說他沒有記性； 每逢我對人訴說我這弱點，他們便要嘲笑我，無論如何也不肯相信，彷彿我在控告自己是瘋子似的，因為在他們心目中，記憶和智慧絕對是一件事。
This makes me look much worse off. But they wrong me, for experience shows that,
on the contrary, excellent memories are often coupled with feeble judgments. They
also wrong me in this, that the same words which indicate my infirmity, signify
ingratitude as well-and I am nothing if I am not a good friend. They blame my
affections instead of my memory and turn an involuntary defect into a wilful one. "He
has forgotten this request or that promise," they say. "He doesn't remember his friends.
He did not remember to do this, to say that, or to keep quiet about the other, for my
sake." Certainly I am prone enough to forgetfulness, but as for neglecting, out of
indifference, a service which a friend has asked of me, that I do not do. Let them be
content with my misfortune and not turn it into a kind of ill will, a kind quite foreign
to my character.
這使我吃虧不少，可是他們實在是不對的，因為經驗證明，極好的記憶力往往配上極壞的判斷力。 還有， 我雖然做甚麼都不行，卻極夠朋友，他們苛責我這弱點，未免有點不夠交情。 他竟因我的記性而懷疑到我的感情，把天然的遺憾視為良心的欠缺。 他們常說：「他把別人的委託和自己的許諾都忘了，他完全不想到朋友，他完全不顧到我，不想想應該說什麼，或是隱瞞什麼。」 我很健忘，這是毫無疑義的。 但因不關心而忽略朋友之託，卻不是我的本性。 願大家體諒我的不幸，別誤認為惡意，尤其是這一種與我的天性絕對相反的惡意。
But I find some consolation, first because I have derived from this evil my principal
argument against a worse evil, which might have taken root in me: the evil of
ambition. For lack of memory is an intolerable defect in anyone who takes on the
burden of the world's affairs.
我倒也有我的慰藉。 第一， 這一個毛病矯正了另一個易犯而更壞的毛病，就是野心； 因為對於一個想包攬世事(世界大事)的人，缺乏記憶是最難堪的弱點。
Then, as several similar examples of nature's workings show, she has generously
strengthened other faculties in me in proportion as this one has grown weaker. I might
easily have let my intelligence and judgment follow languidly in other men's footsteps,
as all the world does, without exerting their own power, if other people's ideas and
opinions had ever been present with me by favor of my memory.
自然界進化的現象中，有許多例子告訴我們： 大自然往往加強我們別的天賦以補救某種稟賦的不足。 如果不是這樣，我的理智與判斷力將不能盡量發揮它們的才能，很容易像大多數人那樣，心理時時刻刻記著別人的創見和意旨，被引導著懶懶散散地去追別人的足跡。
Again, my speech is consequently briefer, for the storehouse of the memory is
generally better stocked with material than that of the invention. If my memory had
been good, I should have deafened all my friends with my chatter, since any subject
that calls out such powers as I have of argument and development warms and extends
my eloquence. This would have been lamentable, as I have learned in the case of some
of my intimate friends. In proportion as their memory gives them a complete and firsthand view of their subject, so they push their narrative back into the past and burden it
with useless details. If the story is a good one, they smother its virtues; if it is not, you
curse their fortunate powers of memory or their unfortunate lack of judgment. Once
one is well on the road, it is difficult to close a discourse and break it off. There is no
better way of proving a horse's strength than by pulling him up short and sharp.
因為記憶不好，我的話總是比較簡短。 記憶的貨倉(倉庫)比創見的貨倉(倉庫)容易充塞物品，如果我的記憶對我優待，我將會喋喋不休地震破朋友們的耳鼓，因為無論談起什麼都會引動我發揮這小小才幹，激發我的雄辯。 多麼可哀呵！ 我竟親眼見過幾個朋友，就是這個樣子。 因為記憶把題材原原本本地供給他們，使他們把故事往後追溯得那麼遠，去附上了如許(許多)無謂(的)枝節。 假使這故事本來很好， 這樣一來，好處全被窒死(窒息，沒了)； 假如本來就不好呢，那你就不知應該詛咒他們幸而還有的記憶力， 還是應該同情他們不幸缺乏的判斷力了。 一走上高談闊論的大路之後，要停止及截短是很難的事。 再沒有什麼比那驟然站住更能顯出馬的力量的。
Even
among men who keep to the point, I find some who would like to break off but cannot.
While they are searching for a place at which to stop, they go maundering and trailing
on like a man who is losing strength. Particularly dangerous are old men who retain
the memory of past events but do not remember how often they have repeated them. I
have known some very amusing tales to become most tiresome when told by some
gentlemen whose whole audience has been sated with them a hundred times.
就是在那些說話切題的人當中，我也認識好些雖想而不能在他們的路程中驟然停止。 他們一面在腦子裡搜尋註腳點，一面口中仍喃喃不已，就像一個要昏倒的人還曳著腳步一樣。 老頭子尤其可怕，他們對於過去記憶猶在，卻不記得現在已重述(重復)了多少遍。 我知道有好些很風趣的故事在某(公爵)爵士口中變成了討厭，他的朋友沒有一個不被這故事灌注過一百次。
I find some consolation, also, in the reflection that I have, in the words of a certain
ancient author, a short memory for the injuries I have received. Like Darius, I should
need a prompter. Wishing not to forget the insult he had suffered from the Athenians,
the Persian king made one of his pages come and repeat three times in his ear, each
time he sat down to table: "Sire, remember the Athenians"; and it consoles me too that
the places I revisit and the books I reread always smile upon me with the freshness of
novelty.
第二， 我缺乏記憶所給我的安慰是， 正如一位古人所說， 容易忘記別人的侮辱。 我需要當頭棒喝，和達里烏(古代波斯王大流士)一般，為(了)要不忘記他從雅典人那裏所受的恥辱，教一個僕人每當他吃飯的時候，向他耳邊連喊三聲：「主人呵， 別忘了雅典人！」 除此之外，還有一點好處是： 我重見(遊)的地方和重讀的書籍永遠帶著新鮮的姿態向我微笑。
Not without reason is it said that no one who is not conscious of having a sound
memory should set up to be a liar. I know quite well that grammarians make a
distinction between telling an untruth and lying. They say that to tell an untruth is to
say something that is false, but that we suppose to be true, and that the meaning of the
Latin mentiri, from which our French word for lying derives, is to go against one's
conscience, and that consequently it applies only to those who say the opposite of
what they know; and it is of them I am speaking.
記憶不強的人切勿(千萬別)學人撒謊，這話實在說的有理。 我知道那些文字學家把 「說假」 和撒謊分開： 「說假」 是說一件假的而自以為是真的； 至于 「撒謊」 (這個來自拉丁語的法國詞彙)這個拉丁字(也就是法文所由來)的定義(，它的定義)， 卻是瞞住良心說話，因此只用於那些言與心違的人，也正是我現在所論及的。
Now liars either invent the whole thing, or they disguise and alter an actual fact. If
they disguise and alter, it is hard for them not to get mixed up when they refer to the
same story again and again because, the real facts having been the first to lodge in the
memory and impress themselves upon it by way of consciousness and knowledge,
they will hardly fail to spring into the mind and dislodge the false version, which
cannot have as firm or assured a foothold. The circumstances, as they were first
learned, will always rush back into the thoughts, driving out the memory of the false
or modified details that have been added.
這種人有時是虛構整個事件(一整個事情)，連枝帶葉，有時是改變或修飾那原是(原來有)真實基礎的事物。 那些(被)改變或修飾的(事物)， 如果要常常覆述，就很難不露馬腳，因為真實是先進入他們記憶中的， 已(已經)由概念與認識的媒介印在(腦袋裡)上面，自然而然會顯露給我們想像，驅逐著那立足沒有那麼穩固的虛偽(假象)， 把添上去的假冒而模糊的枝節(給)消滅。
If liars make a complete invention, they apparently have much less reason to be afraid
of tripping up, in as much as there is no contrary impression to clash with their fiction.
But even this, being an empty thing that offers no hold, readily escapes from the
memory unless it is a very reliable one. I have often had amusing proof of this, at the
expense of those who profess to suit their speech only to the advantage of the business
in hand and to please the great men to whom they are speaking. The circumstances to
which it is their wish to subordinate their faith and their conscience being subject to
various changes, their language has also to change from time to time; and so they call
the same thing gray one moment and yellow the next, say one thing to one man, and
another to another. Then, if these listeners happen to bring all this contrary information
together as a common booty what becomes of all their fine art? Besides, they trip up so
often when they are off their guard. For what memory could be strong enough to retain
all the different shapes they have invented for the same subject? I have seen many in
my time who have desired a reputation for this subtle kind of discretion, not seeing
that the reputation and the end in view are incompatible.
至於那些完全虛構的， 沒有相反的印象搖動它們的虛偽， 似乎沒有那麼容易被人覷破， 但也不盡然， 因為無實質的虛體，如果插根未牢， 就易 (容易) 為(被)記憶(所) 忽略遺漏。 關於這點，我有很多有趣的經驗， 我發覺吃虧的總是那些顧及自己事業利益或觀察大人物的臉色而措詞的人， 因為他們想用以束縛他們的信義及良心的種種情景，時常變動，他們的話也不能不跟著轉移。 於是同一樁事， 他們今天說灰，明天說黃； 對這人說這樣， 對那人說那樣；
這些人如果偶然把他們所(得到)的矛盾消息像贓物似的合攏在一起(如果那些說謊者的聽眾聚在一起，把他們聽到的謊言像贓物一樣收集在一處)， 這巧妙的伎倆， 結果又將如何呢？ 並且稍不留神便自打嘴巴； 因為什麼樣的好記性能容得下他們對每件事所捏造的種種呢？
(即使說謊者沒有被別人揭穿，在他們不經意的時候，仍常常露出馬腳來。 這是因為沒有人的腦袋可以裝的下他們為某一件事物所發明的那麼多的形狀(這麼多的謊話)。 在我這一生當中，有許多人都希望自己有這樣 「聰明」的名聲，卻看不出說這名聲和他們所希望的結果是如此的相違。)
Lying is indeed an accursed vice. We are men, and we have relations with one another
only by speech. If we recognized the horror and gravity of an untruth, we should more
justifiably punish it with fire than any other crime.
說謊確實是可詛咒的惡習。 人之所以為人， 以及人與人所以能團結， 全仗語言。 如果我們認識說誑的危害與嚴重， 我們將會不惜用火來追趕它， 這卻(的確)比對任何罪過都應該。
I commonly find people taking the
most ill-advised pains to correct their children for their harmless faults and worrying
them about heedless acts which leave no trace and have no consequences. Lying-and
in a lesser degree obstinacy-are, in my opinion, the only faults whose birth and
progress we should consistently oppose. They grow with a child's growth, and once
the tongue has got the knack of lying, it is difficult to imagine how impossible it is to
correct it. Whence it happens that we find some otherwise excellent men subject 'to
this fault and enslaved by it. I have a decent lad as my tailor, whom I have never heard
to utter a single truth, even when it would have been to his advantage.
(尤其是，)我覺得人們往往白費功夫去無謂地懲罰小孩的無辜小過， 為(了)毫無印象和影響的無意識舉動去折磨他們。 在我看來， 只有撒謊， 其次還有剛愎， 應該極力殲滅它們的萌芽和滋長。 因為它們會隨著小孩而長大。 舌端(頭)一度(旦)向那方面(向)伸展之後， 說也奇怪，任你怎樣也不能把它拉回來的。 所以我們常見在其他方面非常(很)誠實的人，仍不免屈服受制於這個惡習。 我認識一個品行良好的成衣匠(裁縫)， 從未聽見他說過半句真話， 即使是於他有利的時候。
If, like the truth, falsehood had only one face, we should know better where we are,
for we should then take the opposite of what a liar said to be the truth. But the opposite
of a truth has a hundred thousand shapes and a limitless field.
倘若像真理一般， 虛妄只有一副面孔， 倒也好辦， 我們可以把慣於說誑的人所說的反面當真實， 但它的背後卻有千萬副面孔和無限制的田地。
The Pythagoreans regard good as certain and finite, and evil as boundless and
uncertain. There are a thousand ways of missing the bull's-eye, only one of hitting it. I
am by no means sure that I could induce myself to tell a brazen and deliberate lie even
to protect myself from the most obvious and extreme danger.
培達格里派的哲學家認為善是確定而有界限的， 惡是無限制無標準的。 千百條路引我們乖離， 只有一條引我們抵達目的。
An ancient father says
that we are better off in the company of a dog we know than in that of a man whose
language we do not understand. Therefore those of different nations do not regard one
another as men, and how much less friendly is false speech than silence!
一位古代的神父曾說： 我們和一隻相識的狗作伴也比和一個言語不通的人相處好。 (也因為這種想法，古代不同的國族之間往往不肯承認對方也是人。)「所以一個生人對於(另)一個生人， 不能算人。」 何況虛偽的語言比緘默更難交易呢？
下面這一句是英文翻譯的來源裡，網站附加的。 那看來是一個教書的網站。 我覺得這句話和這篇文章有無比貼砌的地方。 這是馬克吐溫說的。 意思是如果你都說實話， 你就不需要記得任何東西。
Another quote:
If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.
Mark Twain
(1835-1910, American humorist, writer)