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美德好比宝石，它在朴素背景的衬托下反而更华丽；同样，一个打扮并不华贵却端庄严肃而有美德者是令人肃然起敬的。

Of beauty

Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set; and surely virtue is best, in a body that is comely, though not of delicate features; and that hath rather dignity of presence, than beauty of aspect.

Neither is it almost seen, that very beautiful persons are otherwise of great virtue; as if nature were rather busy, not to err, than in labor to produce excellency.And therefore they prove accomplished, but not of great spirit; and study rather behavior, than virtue.

But this holds not always:for Augustus Caesar, Titus Vespasianus, Philip le Belle of France, Edward the Fourth of England, Alcibiades of Athens, Ismael the Sophy of Persia, were all high and great spirits; and yet the most beautiful men of their times.

In beauty, that of favor, is more than that of color; and that of decent and gracious motion, more than that of favor.

That is the best part of beauty, which a picture cannot express; no, nor the first sight of the life.

There is no excellent beauty, that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.

A man cannot tell whether Apelles, or Albert Durer, were the more trifler;whereof the one, would make a personage by geometrical proportions; the other, by taking the best parts out of divers faces, to make one excellent. Such personages, I think, would please nobody, but the painter that made them.

Not but I think a painter may make a better face than ever was; but he must do it by a kind of felicity (as a musician that maketh an excellent air in music), and not by rule.

A man shall see faces, that if you examine them part by part, you shall find never a good; and yet altogether do well.If it be true that the principal part of beauty is in decent motion, certainly it is no marvel, though persons in years seem many times more amiable; pulchrorum autumnus pulcher; for no youth can be comely but by pardon, and considering the youth, as to make up the comeliness.Beauty is as summer fruits, which are easy to corrupt, and cannot last; and for the most part it makes a dissolute youth, and an age a little out of countenance; but yet certainly again, if it light well, it maketh virtue shine, and vices blush.

参考译文

论美

弗兰西斯.培根

美德好比宝石，它在朴素背景的衬托下反而更华丽；同样，一个打扮并不华贵却端庄严肃而有美德者是令人肃然起敬的。

外表美丽的人，未必也具有内在的美。因为造物主似乎是吝啬的，他给了此就不再予彼。

所以许多容颜俊秀的人却不足为训，他们过于追求外形美丽而忽略了内心的美。

但是这也不全对：

因为奥古斯都、菲斯帕斯、菲力普王、爱德华四世、阿尔西巴底斯、伊斯梅尔等都既是大丈夫，又是美男子。

就形貌而言，自然之美要胜于粉饰之美，而优雅行为之美又胜于单纯仪容之美。

最高的美是画家所无法表现的，因为它是难于直观的，这是一种奇妙的美。

虽然没有完美，但是有一些奇妙的可取点。

曾经有两位画家--阿皮雷斯和艾伯特丢勒滑稽地认为，可以按照几何比例，或者通过摄取不同人身上最美的特点，用画合成一张最完美的人像.

其实像这样画出来的美人，恐怕只表现了画家本人的某种偏爱。

美是很难制订规范的(正如同音乐一样)，创造它的常常是机遇，而不是公式。

有许多的脸型，就它的部分看并不优美，但作为整体却非常动人。

有些老人显得很可爱，因为他们的作风优雅而美。

有一句拉丁谚语说过：“暮秋之色更美。”而尽管有的年轻人具有美貌，却由于缺乏完美的修养而不配得到最好的赞美。美犹如盛夏的水果，是容易腐烂而难保持的。世上有许多美人，他们有过放荡的青春，却迎受着愧悔的晚年。 因此，应该把美的形貌与美的德行结合起来。这样，美才会放射出夺目的光辉。

词汇释义

1.comely adj. 清秀的, 美丽的，合适的

His wife is a comely young woman.
他的妻子是一个美丽的少妇。

2.trifler n. 不务正业的人; 吊儿郎当的人

3.personage n. 名流，要人 n. （历史、小说、戏剧中的）人物、角色

She is stately in personage.
她仪容端庄。

4.felicity [fi'lisiti] n. 快乐, 幸福, 幸运

Have felicity to do sth.
乐于做某事, 以做某事为乐

5.dissolute adj. 放荡的, 风流的, 肆意挥霍的

a dissolute character in Shakespeare's plays.
莎士比亚戏剧中的放纵人物。

6.countenance n. 面容, 面部表情, 支持

His countenance fell.
他愁眉不展。

7.vice [vais] n. 恶习,缺陷,不道德行为,老虎钳

Drunkenness is his sole vice.
酗酒是他唯一的恶习。