of beauty(论 美）

e文

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 7 q# j; b; Q( `' F3 gseen, that very beautiful persons are otherwise of great virtue; as if 9 E1 w$ v+ k$ l( Z( B# Wnature 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 7 K' m4 w, \3 d7 yhigh and great spirits; and yet the most beautiful men of their times. $ h3 w& e' c/ y% a$ M! L1 o 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 ' N2 z# |0 Q9 H6 \the proportion. A man cannot tell whether Apelles, or Albert Durer, were 0 Q6 X4 X8 S/ O w+ wthe more trifler; whereof the one, would make a personage by geometrical 8 x5 T: o/ `8 M7 @2 s1 Rproportions; the other, by taking the best parts out of divers faces, to make one excellent. Such personages, I think, would please nobody, but 0 D% I, C0 F7 S5 u1 Q% ` |the painter that made them. Not but I think a painter may make a better ! A' `8 ~& k7 d0 Kface than ever was; but he must do it by a kind of felicity (as a musician / W9 O2 r4 `9 d( T) nthat 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; 8 ]/ w: a; e/ H! @( n7 tand yet altogether do well. If it be true that the principal part of beauty 9 ~ u r- V4 C) N# }& Jis in decent motion, certainly it is no marvel, though persons in years 7 d# z. Z' I+ t, K; ]* W- |seem many times more amiable; pulchrorum autumnus pulcher; for no youth # I0 H) V6 E- i3 e0 fcan be comely but by pardon, and considering the youth, as to make up the w! k0 y3 v# T1 ^) K0 n% Acomeliness. Beauty is as summer fruits,) which are easy to corrupt, and ^3 D7 Z2 c2 o+ t- ^7 zcannot 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, % ]+ l( f: ^- u& t' H" _# c, _it maketh virtue shine,and vices blush.

美德好比宝石，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的人是令人肃然起敬的。 3 a8 ^' B0 Y9 R% R& s 美貌的人并不都有其他方面的才能。许多容貌俊秀的人却一无所有，他们过于追求外形的美而放弃了内在的美。

仔细分析起来，形体之美要胜于颜色之美，而优雅行为之美又胜于形体之美。最高的美是画家所无法表现的。因为它是难以直观的。这是一种奇妙的美，曾经有两位画家――阿皮雷斯和丢勒滑稽地认为，可以按照几何比例，或者通过摄取不同人身上最美的特点，加以合成的方法，画出最完美的人像。

其实像这样画出来的美人，恐怕只有画家才喜欢。

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有些老人显得很可爱，因为他们的作风优雅而美。“美人的迟暮也是美的。”而尽管有的年轻人具有美貌，却由于缺乏优美的修养而不配得到赞美。

美有如盛夏的水果，而容易腐烂而难保持的,世上有许多美人,他们有过放荡青春，却迎受着愧悔的晚年。

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因此，把美的形貌与美的德行结合起来吧。只有这样，美会放射出真正的光辉。