EARLY CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY 2

While Augustine was dying, the Vandals were at the gates of Hippo; before long they were masters of much of Africa and Spain.

当奥古斯丁在垂死时，汪达尔人正在希波的城门外；不久他们就成为了非洲和西班牙大部分地区的主人。

In mid-century the Huns invaded Gaul and Italy and only the eloquence of Pope Leo prevented them from attacking Rome. 

在本世纪中期，匈奴人入侵了高卢和意大利，只有教皇利奥（Pope Leo）依靠雄辩才阻止了他们攻击罗马。

The Franks occupied Gaul, the Anglo-Saxons invaded Britain. 

法兰克人占领了高卢，盎格鲁-撒克逊人入侵了不列颠。

In 476 the Western Roman Empire came to an end, and its last Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was packed off into exile. 

在476年，西罗马帝国结束了，它的最后一位皇帝罗穆卢斯·奥古斯都（Romulus Augustulus）被流放。

Italy became a Gothic province, under Arian Christian kings. 

意大利成为了一个哥特人的省份，由亚流派喵咪徒国王统治。

The most vigorous of the Gothic kings of Italy was Theoderic, who ruled from 493 to 526.

意大利哥特国王中最有活力的是泰奥多里克（Theoderic），他从493年到526年统治。

One of his ministers was a Roman nobleman and senator, Manlius Severinus Boethius. 

他的一位大臣是罗马贵族和参议员曼利乌斯·塞维里努斯·波埃修斯（Manlius Severinus Boethius）。

Boethius had in youth written handbooks on music and mathematics, drawn from Greek sources, and he projected a complete translation of Plato and Aristotle. 

波埃修斯在年轻时写过音乐和数学方面的手册，借鉴了希腊文献，他计划将柏拉图和亚里士多德的著作完整地翻译出来。

This was never completed, but it was Boethius’ translations of Aristotle’s logical works that ensured their availability in the West during the early Middle Ages. 

这个计划从未完成，但正是波埃修斯对亚里士多德逻辑著作的翻译，确保了它们在中世纪早期的西方的可用性。

Boethius also gave canonical status to an introduction to logic by Plotinus’ pupil Porphyry, adding it as an appendix to the Aristotelian Organon. 

波埃修斯还给了普罗提诺（Plotinus）的学生波菲利（Porphyry）写的一本逻辑导论以正典的地位，将它作为亚里士多德《工具论》（Organon）的附录。

He made his own modest contribution to the subject, writing commentaries on several Aristotelian treatises, and linking his work with the Stoic development of propositional logic. 

他对这个主题做出了自己谦虚的贡献，写了几本亚里士多德著作的注释，并将他的工作与斯多葛派命题逻辑的发展联系起来。

Boethius’ logical works have been the subject of recent studies by scholars, and his theological treatises on the Trinity contain passages of philosophical interest; but throughout history he has been best known for a single work, The Consolation of Philosophy. This was written in 524 while he was under sentence of death, having been imprisoned by Theoderic on suspicion of having taken part in an anti-Arian conspiracy. The work has been widely read, first because of its considerable literary beauty; secondly, because it was the most subtle treatment to date of the problems of human freedom and divine foreknowledge. The book is not at all what one would expect from a devout Catholic facing martyrdom: while it dwells on the comfort offered by philosophy, there is no reference to the consolations of the Christian religion. 

波爱修斯的逻辑学著作是近来学者们研究的主题，他关于三位一体的神学论文中也有一些哲学趣味的段落；但是在历史上，他最为人所知的是一部单独的作品，《哲学的慰藉》（The Consolation of Philosophy）。这部作品是在524年他被判死刑时写的，他被泰奥多里克监禁，因为涉嫌参与了一场反亚流派的阴谋。这部作品广受欢迎，首先是因为它具有相当的文学美感；其次，是因为它是迄今为止对人类自由和神圣预知问题最微妙的处理。这本书并不是一个虔诚的天主教徒面对殉道所期待的那样：虽然它着重于哲学所提供的安慰，但却没有提到喵咪教信仰所带来的慰藉。

The Consolation is in five books; in each, passages of verse and prose alternate, and Boethius converses with the Lady Philosophy who appears to him in his prison. 

《哲学的慰藉》分为五卷；在每一卷中，诗歌和散文的段落交替出现，波埃修斯与出现在他监狱里的哲学女神进行对话。

In the first book he defends his innocence, while she reminds him of the sufferings of Socrates and encourages him to Socratic detachment from the world.

在第一卷中，他为自己的清白辩护，而她则提醒他苏格拉底的苦难，并鼓励他以苏格拉底式的超脱来对待世界。

The second book develops the Stoic theme, that matters within the province of fortune are insignificant by comparison with values within one’s self. 

第二卷发展了斯多葛主义的主题，即在命运的范围内的事物与一个人自身的价值相比是微不足道的。

Boethius has received many good things from fortune, and he must accept the evil also which she sends. 

波埃修斯从命运那里得到了许多好东西，他也必须接受她所送来的恶。

The message that happiness is not to be found in wealth, power, or fame is then reinforced with material from Plato and Aristotle: true happiness is to be found only in God. 

然后用柏拉图和亚里士多德的材料来加强这样一个信息：幸福不是在财富、权力或名声中寻找，而是只能在神那里找到。

Indeed, to become happy is to acquire divinity: every happy man is God, though there is only one God by nature. 

确实，要想变得幸福就是要获得神性：每一个幸福的人都是神，尽管只有一个天然的神。

The fourth book tackles the problem of evil, in the form of the question ‘Why do the wicked prosper?’; arguments familiar from Plato are presented to show that their prosperity is only apparent. 

第四卷以“为什么恶人会成功？”这个问题的形式来处理邪恶的问题；用柏拉图熟悉的论证来说明他们的成功只是表面的。

Throughout the first four books Lady Philosophy has had much to say about Lady Luck. 

在前四卷中，哲学女神对命运女神有很多话要说。

But the fifth book, which is philosophically far the most interesting, addresses the question: in a world governed by divine providence, can there be any such thing as luck or chance? 

但是第五卷，从哲学上来说是最有趣的，提出了这样一个问题：在一个由神圣的护理掌权的世界里，是否存在运气或偶然？

Boethius is able to distinguish between random chance and human choice, but he accepts that free human choice, even if not random, is difficult to reconcile with the existence of a God who foresees everything that is to happen. 

波埃修斯能够区分随机的偶然和人类的选择，但他承认，自由的人类选择，即使不是随机的，也很难与一个预见一切将要发生的事情的神的存在相协调。

‘If God foresees all and cannot in any way be mistaken, then that must necessarily happen which in his providence he foresees will be.’ 

“如果神预见了一切，并且不可能有任何错误，那么他在他的护理中预见将要发生的事情必然会发生。”

Boethius’ problem is not the same as Augustine’s: he is talking not about predestination (God’s willing humans to act virtuously and be saved) but simply about foreknowledge (God’s knowing what humans will do or not do). 

波埃修斯的问题与奥古斯丁的不同：他所谈论的不是预定（神愿意人类行善并得救），而只是预知（神知道人类会做什么或不做什么）。

It seems that if we say that humans are free to act in any way other than that in which God sees they will act, then they have the power to put God in the wrong. 

看起来，如果我们说人类有自由以任何其他方式行动，而不是神看到他们将要行动的方式，那么他们就有能力使神错了。

For ‘if human deeds can be turned aside into a different way from that foreseen, then there will no longer be firm foreknowledge of the future, but rather uncertain opinion’. 

因为“如果人类的行为可以被转向与预见的不同的方式，那么对未来就不再有坚定的预知，而只是不确定的意见”。

Boethius accepts that a genuinely free action cannot be certainly foreseen, even by God; and he takes refuge in the notion of divine timelessness, saying that God’s seeing is not really a fore seeing. 

波埃修斯接受了一个真正自由的行为不能被肯定地预见，即使是由神；他依靠神圣永恒的概念来避难，说神的看见并不真正是一个预见。

The same future event, when it is related to divine knowledge, is necessary, but when it is considered in its own nature it seems to be quite free and independent. . . . God beholds as present those future events which happen because of free will. 

同样的未来事件，当它与神圣的知识相关时，是必然的，但当它按照它自身的本性来考虑时，似乎是相当自由和独立的……神把那些因为自由意志而发生的未来事件视为现在。

There are two kinds of necessity, Boethius explains. There is plain or straightforward necessity, illustrated by the proposition: Necessarily, all men are mortal. 

波埃修斯解释说，有两种必然性。有一种是简单或直接的必然性，用这个命题来说明： 必然地，所有人都是会死的。

and there is conditional necessity, illustrated by the proposition: Necessarily, if you know that I am walking, I am walking. 

还有一种是条件必然性，用这个命题来说明：必然地，如果你知道我在走路，我就在走路。

The future events which God sees as present are not straightforwardly necessary, but only conditionally necessary. 

神把未来事件看作现在事件，并不是直接必然的，而只是条件必然的。

Problems remain with Boethius’ treatment of the dilemma he posed with unparalleled clarity. 

波埃修斯对他以无与伦比的清晰度提出的两难问题的处理仍然存在问题。

Surely, matters really are as God sees them; so if God sees tomorrow’s sea battle as present, then it really is present already. 

当然，事情真的就像神看到的那样；所以如果神把明天的海战看作现在，那么它已经真正存在了。

However, Boethius’ theory was to remain the classic solution of the problem for centuries to come. 

然而，波埃修斯的理论将在未来几个世纪里仍然是这个问题的经典解决方案。

Boethius has been called ‘Last of the Romans, first of the scholastics’. 

波埃修斯被称为“罗马人的最后一位，经院哲学家的第一位”。

Certainly, in his work he links classical philosophy with the technical philosophy of the medieval schools, more even than Augustine does. 

毫无疑问，在他的作品中，他把古典哲学与中世纪学校的技术哲学联系起来，甚至比奥古斯丁还要多。

But he was not the last Christian philosopher of antiquity: that distinction belongs to a scholar of the Eastern Empire, John the Grammarian, or John Philoponus. 

但他并不是古代最后一位喵咪教哲学家：那个区别属于东罗马帝国的一位学者，语法家约翰，或者约翰·菲洛波努斯（John Philoponus）。

Philoponus flourished in the reign of Justinian, who became Emperor in the East in 527, three years after the execution of Boethius. 

菲洛波努斯在贾斯提尼安（Justinian）的统治下蓬勃发展，贾斯提尼安于527年成为东方皇帝，就在波埃修斯被处决三年后。

Justinian was the Emperor who closed the schools of Athens and who is famous for having presided over the codification of Roman Law. 

贾斯提尼安是关闭了雅典学校的皇帝，也是以主持罗马法典的编纂而闻名的皇帝。

His generals also conquered, for a while, substantial portions of the former Western Empire. 

他的将军们也曾一度征服了前西罗马帝国的大部分领土。

Philoponus, as a Christian based in Alexandria, was unperturbed by the closure of the pagan schools in Athens, and could look with satisfaction on the downfall of their foremost scholar, the Aristotelian commentator Simplicius. 

菲洛波努斯作为一个基于亚历山大的喵咪徒，对雅典异教徒学校的关闭并不感到不安，他可以满意地看着他们最杰出的学者，亚里士多德注释家辛普利修斯（Simplicius）的衰落。

For it was as a radical critic of Aristotle that Philoponus made his name, and Simplicius was his most distinguished contemporary adversary. 

因为正是作为亚里士多德的一个激进批评家，菲洛波努斯才成名，而辛普利修斯是他最杰出的同时代对手。

First, Philoponus attacked Aristotle’s doctrine that the world had always existed. 

首先，菲洛波努斯攻击了亚里士多德关于世界永远存在的教义。

Some pagan philosophers were willing to accept that God was the creator of the world, in the sense that the world’s existence had, from all eternity, been causally dependent on God.

一些异教哲学家愿意接受神是世界的创造者，意思是世界的存在从永恒开始就依赖于神的因果关系。

Others were prepared to accept that the world had had a beginning, in the sense that the orderly cosmos we know had, at a particular time, been brought out of chaos. 

另一些人则准备接受世界曾经有过一个开始，意思是我们所知道的有序宇宙在某个特定的时间被从混沌中创造出来。

But all the pagan philosophers of the time accepted the eternity of matter, and this, Christians believed, was incompatible with the Genesis account of the creation of heaven and earth out of nothing. 

但是当时所有的异教哲学家都接受了物质的永恒性，而这一点，喵咪徒们相信，与《创世纪》中关于从无中创造天地的记载是不相容的。

More to the point, Philoponus insisted in his book On the Eternity of the World, it was inconsistent with Aristotle’s own view that nothing could traverse through more than a finite number of temporal periods. 

更重要的是，菲洛波努斯在他的《论世界的永恒》一书中坚持认为，这与亚里士多德自己的观点不一致，亚里士多德认为没有什么能够穿越超过有限数量的时间段。

For if the world had no beginning then it must have endured through an infinite number of years, and worse still, through 365 times an infinite number of days. 

因为如果世界没有开始，那么它必须经历了无限数量的年份，更糟糕的是，经历了365倍无限数量的日子。

Secondly, Philoponus attacked Aristotle’s dynamics. 

其次，菲洛波努斯攻击了亚里士多德的动力学。

Aristotle’s theory of natural and violent motion encountered a difficulty in explaining the movement of projectiles. 

亚里士多德关于自然和暴力运动的理论在解释投射物的运动时遇到了困难。

If I throw a stone, what makes it move upward and onward when it leaves my hand? 

如果我扔一块石头，当它离开我的手时，是什么使它向上和向前运动？

Its natural motion is downwards, and my hand is no longer in contact with it to impart its violent motion upwards. 

它的自然运动是向下的，而我的手已经不再与它接触，无法给它传递向上的暴力运动。

Aristotle’s answer had been that the stone was pushed on, at any given point, by the air immediately behind it. 

亚里士多德的回答是，石头在任何给定的点上都被其后面的空气推动着。

The lameness of this account was exposed by Philoponus, who proposed instead that the thrower impressed upon the projectile an internal force, or impetus. 

这个说法的缺陷被菲洛波努斯揭露了，他提出了另一种说法，即投掷者给投射物印上了一种内在的力量，或者说冲力。

The notion of natural motion in Aristotle is tied to the notion of natural place, the natural motion of an element being motion towards its natural place.

亚里士多德关于自然运动的概念与自然位置的概念相联系，一个元素的自然运动就是向着它的自然位置运动。

Philoponus thought that the concept of natural place was appropriate only if we thought of the universe as a whole as something similar to an animal with a head and limbs and other bodily parts. 

菲洛波努斯认为，自然位置的概念只有在我们把整个宇宙看作是类似于有头、四肢和其他身体部位的动物时才合适。

This, in turn, was conceivable only if we regarded the universe as having been designed by a Creator. 

反过来，这只有在我们认为宇宙是由一个创造者设计出来的时候才可以想象得到。

In his work The Manufacture of the Universe Philoponus applied his impetus theory widely throughout the cosmos. 

在他的《论宇宙的制造》一书中，菲洛波努斯广泛地将他的冲力理论应用于整个宇宙。

The heavenly bodies, for instance, rotate in their orbits not because they have souls, but because God gave them the appropriate impetus when he created them. 

例如，天体在轨道上旋转不是因为它们有灵魂，而是因为神在创造它们时给了它们适当的冲力。

The theory of impetus did away with the mixture of physics and psychology in Aristotle’s astronomy. 

冲力理论消除了亚里士多德天文学中物理学和心理学的混合。

It made possible a unified theory of dynamics which was a great improvement on Aristotle’s, and it was not surpassed until the introduction of the theory of inertia in the age of Galileo and Newton. 

它使得一个统一的动力学理论成为可能，这是对亚里士多德理论的一个巨大改进，并且直到伽利略和牛顿时代惯性理论的引入才被超越。

Philoponus rejected Aristotle’s thesis that the heavenly bodies were made out of a non-terrestrial element, the imperishable quintessence. 

菲洛波努斯否定了亚里士多德关于天体是由一种非地球元素，不朽的精华所构成的论点。

This rejection was necessary if the impetus theory was to be extended to the heavens as well as to the earth. 

如果冲力理论要被扩展到天空和地球，这种否定是必要的。

But it was also congenial to Christian piety to demolish the notion that the world of the sun and moon and stars was something supernatural, standing in a relation to God different from that of the earth on which his human creatures lived. 

但是，对于喵咪教的虔诚来说，也是很合意的，要摧毁这样一个观念，即太阳、月亮和星星的世界是某种超自然的东西，与神的关系不同于他的人类造物生活的地球。

Philoponus was indeed a theologian as well as a philosopher, and wrote, in later life, a number of treatises on Christian doctrine. 

菲洛波努斯确实是一位神学家和哲学家，他在晚年写了许多关于喵咪教教义的论文。

Unfortunately, his treatment of the Trinity laid him open to charges of tritheism (the belief that there are three Gods) and his treatment of the Incarnation explicitly defended the monophysite heresy (the denial that Christ had two natures). 

不幸的是，他对三位一体的处理使他受到了三位一体主义（认为有三个神）的指控，他对道成肉身的处理明确地捍卫了一性论异端（否认救世主有两个本性）。

When summoned to Constantinople by Justinian to defend his views on the Incarnation, Philoponus failed to appear; and when after his death his teaching on the Trinity was examined by the ecclesiastical authorities it was condemned as heretical. 

当被贾斯提尼安召到君士坦丁堡为他关于道成肉身的观点辩护时，菲洛波努斯没有出现；当他死后，他关于三位一体的教导被教会当局审查时，被判定为异端。

Consequently, his influence on Christian thinking was minimal. 

因此，他对喵咪教思想的影响是微乎其微的。

But his influence was felt outside the bounds of the old Roman Empire; and it was there, in the centuries between Justinian and William the Conqueror, that the most significant philosophers are to be found. 

但是他的影响在旧罗马帝国的范围之外也被感受到了；而且正是在那里，在贾斯提尼安和征服者威廉之间的几个世纪里，最有意义的哲学家才能被发现。