弗朗西斯·培根/Francis Bacon
An ant is a wise creature for itself,but it is a shrewd thing in an orchard or garden.And certainly men that are great lovers of themselves waste the public.Divide with reason between self love and society;and be so true to thyself,as thou be not false to others;specially to thy king and country.It is a poor centre of a man's actions,himself.The referring of all to a man's self is more tolerable in a sovereign princ e;because themselves are not only themselves,but their good and evil i s at the peril of the public fortune.But it is a desperate evil in a se rvant to a prince,or a citizen in a republic.For whatsoever affairs pa ss such a man's hands,he crooketh them to his own ends;which must nee ds to be often eccentric to the ends of his master or state.Therefore l et princes,or states,choose such servants as have not this mark;excep t they mean their service should be made but the accessory.That which m aketh the effect more pernicious is that all proportion is lost.It were disproportion enough for the servant's good to be preferred before the master's;but yet it is a greater extreme,when a little good of the se rvant shall carry things against a great good of the master's.And yet that is the case of bad officers,treasurers,ambassadors,generals,and other false and corrupt servants;which set a bias upon their bowl,of t heir own petty ends and envies,to the overthrow of their master's grea t and important affairs.And for the most part,the good such servants r eceive is after the model of their own fortune;but the hurt they sell f or that good is after the model of their master's fortune.And certainl y it is the nature of extreme self-lovers,as they will set an house on fire,and it were but to roast their eggs;and yet these men many times hold credit with their masters,because their study is but to please the m and profit themselves;and for either respect they will abandon the go od of their affairs.
Wisdom for a man's self is,in many branches thereof,a depraved th ing.It is the wisdom of rats,that will be sure to leave a house somewh at before it fall.It is the wisdom of the fox,that thrusts out the bad ger,who digged and made room for him.It is the wisdom of crocodiles,t hat shed tears when they would devour.But that which is specially to be noted is,that those which (as Cicero says of Pompey) are sui amantes,s ine rivali,are many times unfortunate.And whereas they have all their time sacrificed to themselves,they become in the end themselves sacrifi ces to the inconstancy of fortune;whose wings they thought by their sel f-wisdom to have pinioned.
螞蟻對其自身來說是一種聰明靈巧的小動物，但在果園菜圃裏卻是害蟲。可見一個愛自己過甚的人確有可能會損害公眾。用理智將自愛與愛人區分開吧！忠實於己，不要欺負別人，尤其不要欺君叛國。人類行為卑劣的中心，就是自我。凡事從自我出發，君主這樣做倒是可以容忍，因為君主是一己之主，且他們的禍福關係著公眾的福祉。但臣仆之於君主，人民之於國家也是這樣的話，就罪過至極了，因為任何事一經此種人之手，他都要為一己之私服務，經常背離君主、國家的目標行事。所以君主、國家從來都不會挑選有這種弊病的奴仆，除非他們認為所需要的服務無關緊要。更糟的是，當比例失調時，奴仆利益優先於主人，就已經有失體統了，而如果奴仆的微薄私利牽製影響了主人的利益，就更是無法無天了。然而，卑劣的軍官、會計、使者和將軍等貪官汙吏之事，使球偏離軌道，他們為了自己的微利，出於妒忌，將主人的宏偉業績毀於一旦。多數情況下，這種人所獲的好處無濟於他們的幸運，可為了那微利所做的出賣行為帶來的災害卻與主人的洪福差不多。自私者會為了烤熟雞蛋而放火燒屋，這當然是他們的本性使然。然而，這些家夥往往能取信於主人，因為他們所擅長的就是溜須拍馬、謀求私利，不論是為了討好主人，還是為了謀取私利，他們都會把正義之事的利益拋棄。
自私者的聰明，在許多方麵都犯下罪惡。確保在房屋轟塌前逃生，那是老鼠的機智；把小動物從它們挖好了的棲身之處驅逐出來，鳩占鵲巢，那是狐狸的狡猾；邊吞食邊落淚，那是鱷魚的陰險。尤其要指出的是，“有己為人”（西塞羅告訴龐培語），往往倒黴。即使耗盡畢生的精力為自己牟利，最終還是要被無常的命運收拾掉，而他們還自忖，“以自私者的明智，足以能束縛住生命的翅膀”呢。