14　古希臘城市

古希臘城市其實(shí)是一些國家

現(xiàn)代人都愛聽到“大”這個(gè)字。我們?yōu)閾碛械氖聦?shí)而倍感自豪，比如屬于世界“最大的”國家、擁有“最強(qiáng)大的”海軍和盛產(chǎn)“最大的”橘子和土豆。我們喜歡生活在擁有“百萬”人口的大都市，希望死后安葬在“全國最大的墓地”。

如果古希臘的市民能聽到我們的談話，他們一定理解不了我們。因?yàn)椤爸杏怪馈笔撬麄兊娜松砟睢H僅“大”，不可能打動(dòng)他們。追求中庸，不是在某些場合的空話，它影響到古希臘人的一生。它是他們文學(xué)的一部分，促使他們建造小巧精致的廟宇。它體現(xiàn)在男人的衣服，以及婦女的戒指和手鐲上。它還跟著人群來到劇院，如果哪位劇作家膽敢褻瀆這條志趣高尚的鐵律，必定會(huì)被趕下臺(tái)去。

甚至在政治家和最受歡迎的運(yùn)動(dòng)員身上，古希臘人也堅(jiān)守著這一品質(zhì)。如果一名強(qiáng)壯的賽跑者來到斯巴達(dá)，吹噓他單腳站立的時(shí)間比每個(gè)古希臘人都長，那么人們肯定會(huì)把他趕走。因?yàn)樗祰u的雕蟲小技，隨便一只呆鵝就能勝過他。

你會(huì)說：“那很好。追求適度和完美無疑是一種美德。但為什么古希臘人是

“That is all very well,” you will say, “and no doubt it is a great virtue to care so much for moderation and perfection, but why should the Greeks have been the only people to develop this quality in olden times?” For an answer I shall point to the way in which the Greeks lived.

The people of Egypt or Mesopotamia had been the “subjects” of a mysterious Supreme Ruler who lived miles and miles away in a dark palace and who was rarely seen by the masses of the population. The Greeks on the other hand, were “free citizens” of a hundred independent little “cities” the largest of which counted fewer inhabitants than a large modern village. When a peasant who lived in Ur said that he was a Babylonian he meant that he was one of millions of other people who paid tribute to the king who at that particular moment happened to be master of western Asia. But when a Greek said proudly that he was an Athenian or a Theban he spoke of a small town, which was both his home and his country and which recognised no master but the will of the people in the market-place.

To the Greek, his fatherland was the place where he was born; where he had spent his earliest years playing hide and seek amidst the forbidden rocks of the Acropolis; where he had grown into manhood with a thousand other boys and girls, whose nicknames were as familiar to him as those of your own schoolmates. His Fatherland was the holy soil where his father and mother lay buried. It was the small house within the high city-walls where his wife and children lived in safety. It was a complete world which covered no more than four or five acres of rocky land.Don’t you see how these surroundings must have influenced a man in everything he did and said and thought? The people of Babylon and Assyria and Egypt had been part of a vast mob. They had been lost in the multitude. The Greek on the other hand had never lost touch with his immediate surroundings.He

古代唯一具有這種品質(zhì)的人呢？”要回答這個(gè)問題，我必須先介紹古希臘人的生活方式。

埃及人和美索不達(dá)米亞人都是同一位神秘的最高統(tǒng)治者的“臣民”。這位統(tǒng)治者居住在千里之外的一座陰暗的宮殿里，人們幾乎見不到他的龍顏。然而，古希臘由上百個(gè)獨(dú)立的小“城鎮(zhèn)”組成，古希臘人是“自由的市民”。其中最大“城鎮(zhèn)”的人口比現(xiàn)在的大村莊還少。如果一位居住在吾珥的農(nóng)民說他是巴比倫人，那么他的意思是，他是給國王交稅的千百萬個(gè)國民中的一個(gè)，而那位國王當(dāng)時(shí)正統(tǒng)治著西亞；可是，如果一個(gè)古希臘人自豪地說他是雅典人或底比斯人，那么他說的是一個(gè)小鎮(zhèn)，那里既是他的家鄉(xiāng)又是他的國家。那里不承認(rèn)統(tǒng)治者，只遵從市場上人們的意愿。

對(duì)古希臘人來說，祖國就是他出生的地方；祖國是他度過少年時(shí)代的地方，他曾在衛(wèi)城的巖石之間玩捉迷藏的游戲；祖國是他和千萬個(gè)男孩、女孩一起成長的地方，他熟悉玩伴的外號(hào)，就像熟悉同學(xué)的姓名。祖國是一塊神圣的土地，埋葬了他的父母；祖國是高墻里的一間小屋，妻兒很安全地在那里生活；祖國是一塊占地不足四五英畝的石地，卻也是一片樂土。你沒有注意到這樣的環(huán)境必定會(huì)影響一個(gè)人的為人處事、言談舉止和思維方式？巴比倫人、亞述人和埃及人都是廣大群眾中的一分子。他們都消失在茫茫人海之中。可是古希臘人從來沒有失去與周圍環(huán)境的聯(lián)系。他始終是一個(gè)小鎮(zhèn)的成員，小鎮(zhèn)里的每個(gè)人都彼此熟悉。他感到，那些聰明的鄰居都在關(guān)注著他。無論他做什么，不管是寫劇本、雕刻大理石像，還是作曲，他都會(huì)記住，自己的成績要由家鄉(xiāng)懂行的自由市民來評(píng)判。這種心理迫使他精益

never ceased to be part of a little town where everybody knew every one else. He felt that his intelligent neighbours were watching him. Whatever he did, whether he wrote plays or made statues out of marble or composed songs, he remembered that his efforts were going to be judged by all the free-born citizens of his home-town who knew about such things. This knowledge forced him to strive after perfection, and perfection, as he had been taught from childhood, was not possible without moderation.

In this hard school, the Greeks learned to excel in many things. They created new forms of government and new forms of literature and new ideals in art which we have never been able to surpass. They performed these miracles in little villages that covered less ground than four or five modern city blocks.

And look, what finally happened!

In the fourth century before our era, Alexander of Macedonia conquered the world. As soon as he had done with fighting, Alexander decided that he must bestow the benefits of the true Greek genius upon all mankind. He took it away from the little cities and the little villages and tried to make it blossom and bear fruit amidst the vast royal residences of his newly acquired Empire. But the Greeks, removed from the familiar sight of their own temples, removed from the well-known sounds and smells of their own crooked streets, at once lost the cheerful joy and the marvellous sense of moderation which had inspired the work of their hands and brains while they laboured for the glory of their old city-states. They became cheap artisans, content with second-rate work. The day the little city-states of old Hellas lost their independence and were forced to become part of a big nation, the old Greek spirit died. And it has been dead ever since.

求精，而他從小就受到大人的教導(dǎo)，要懂得中庸之道，否則不可能成功。

在這所嚴(yán)格的學(xué)校里，古希臘人變得擅長做許多事。他們創(chuàng)造的新政府形式、新文學(xué)形式和新藝術(shù)思想，連我們都超越不了。在面積不足四五個(gè)現(xiàn)代城市街區(qū)大的地方，他們創(chuàng)造出了這么多奇跡。

看吧，最后會(huì)發(fā)生什么！

公元前4世紀(jì)，馬其頓的亞歷山大征服了世界。一結(jié)束戰(zhàn)爭，亞歷山大就決定，要把古希臘天才的成果撒播給全人類。他把這些成果從每個(gè)城鎮(zhèn)鄉(xiāng)村收集過來，并竭力讓它們?cè)谛碌蹏蹅サ幕蕦m里開花結(jié)果。但是古希臘人一旦看不見自己的廟宇，感受不到自己迂回街道的聲音和味道，就失去了快樂和中庸的感覺。要知道，他們?yōu)楣爬铣前畹臉s譽(yù)而工作時(shí)，正是這些快樂和中庸的感覺激勵(lì)著他們的體力和腦力勞動(dòng)。如今，他們變成了廉價(jià)的工匠，只滿足于二流作品。一旦古希臘的小城邦喪失了主權(quán)，就只能成為大國的一部分，古希臘的精神也就滅亡了，而且一去不復(fù)返。