Lord Chesterfield to His Son About Letter Writing
切斯特菲尔德伯爵给他儿子的信——谈写信
Bath, Oct. 4, 1738
巴思，1738年10月4日
My Dear Child, –By my writing so often, and by the manner in which I write, you will easily see that I do not treat you as alittle child, but as a boy who loves to learn, and is ambitious of receiving instructions. I am even persuaded, that, in reading my letters,you are attentive, not only to the subject of which they treat, butlikewise to the orthography and to the style. It is of the greatestimportance to write letters well, as this is a talent which unavoidably occursevery day of one's life, as well in business as in pleasure; andinaccuracies in orthography or in style are never pardoned but in ladies. Whenyou are older, you will read the "Epistles" (that is to say Letters)of Cicero, which are the most perfect models of good writing. Apropos of Cicero, I must give you some account of him. He was an old Roman, wholived eighteen hundred years ago, a man of great genius, and the most celebrated orator that ever was. Will it not be necessary toexplain to you what an orator is ? I believe I must. An orator is a man who harangues in a public assembly, and who speaks with eloquence,that is to say,who reasons well, has a fine style and chooses his wordsproperly. Now never a man succeeded better than Cicero in all thosedifferent points; he used sometimes to speak to the whole people of Rome assembled, and by the force of his eloquence, persuaded them to whatever he pleased. At other times, he used to undertake causes,and plead for his clients in courts of judicature; and in thosecauses he generally had all the suffrages, that is to say, all theopinions, all the decisions. in his favour. While the Roman republic enjoyed its freedom, he did very signal services to his country, but afterit was enslaved by Julius Cacsar, the first Emperor of the Romans,Cicero became suspected by the tyrants, and was at last put to death byorder of Mark Antony, who hated him for the severity of his orations against him, at the time that he endeavored to obtain thesovereignty of Rome.
亲爱的孩子：我经常写信给你，而且写得很认真，从中你能清楚地看到，我没有把你当作孩童，而是视同一位热爱学习、渴望得到教诲的少年。我还相信：在读我的信时，你不仅会十分注意它们所探讨的问题，同时也会留意于正字法和文体。把信写好是极为重要的，因为这是日常生活中不可缺少的才能，无论是为了正事还是消遣；况且拼写的错误或文体不当除了夫人小姐外都是绝对不可原谅的。等你年长些，你将读到西塞罗的“书札”即书信），它们是优秀书简的典范。关于西塞罗，我得告诉你一些有关他的事。他生活在一千八百年前，是古罗马雄辩家，卓尔不群，前无古人。什么是雄辩家，有无必要向你解释？我认为解释一下是必要的。雄辩家是在公众集会上滔滔不绝、很有口才的演讲者，也就是说，他的演说不仅说理透彻，而且格调优美，措词恰当。在所有这些方面，至今还没有任何人胜过西塞罗。他常常对聚集的全体罗马公民讲演，用雄辩的说服力，使公民们信服他所讲述的一切东西。此外，他还常常承办案件，为他的当事人在法庭上辩护；而在那些案件中，他一般都赢得所有的赞成票，就是说，一切意见和决定都是倾向他的。当罗马还享受着自由的欢乐的时候，他对自己的祖国作出了极为显著的贡献，但在裘力斯·凯撒——罗马第一任皇帝——奴役下的罗马帝国里，西塞罗受到专制统治者的怀疑，最后在马克·安东尼力图攫取罗马君权之时，西塞罗发表演说严加抨击，安东尼怀恨在心，因此下令将他处死。
In case there should be any words in my Ietters which you do not perfectly understand, remember always to inquire theexplanation from your mamma, or else to seek for them in the dictionary. Adieu.
在我的一些书信中，如果有些词语你不很理解，切记从你妈妈那儿求得解释，或者查阅词典。再见。
by Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield
菲利普·多默·斯坦霍普·切斯特菲尔德
