of beauty(论 美）

e文

VIRTUE is like a rich stone, best plain set; and surely virtue is best, ) W% Q/ r- i8 T1 {# f# yin 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. ! U) D0 F @- }8 M9 _ In beauty, that of favor, is more than that of color; and that of decent . C) k7 y) U" j: `/ ^( ^! [& `and gracious motion, more than that of favor. That is the best part of ) z* Y, G: T, I, cbeauty, which a picture cannot express; no, nor the first sight of the life. There is no excellent beauty, that hath not some strangeness in 8 l+ q# n. p! h. sthe proportion. A man cannot tell whether Apelles, or Albert Durer, were ! q) f, ]/ z+ } ythe more trifler; whereof the one, would make a personage by geometrical " P* g& U! N+ k% `/ i I7 ?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 + ?/ s" [9 O- y5 _ R! c. ?face than ever was; but he must do it by a kind of felicity (as a musician - M1 d' [' |# r6 P1 {that maketh an excellent air in music), and not by rule. A man shall see 6 S6 r. d" V' k5 T5 [7 C, ?$ Lfaces, 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 7 Q1 i" h& J t9 Eis 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 4 f6 k6 W6 A H/ r" Bcomeliness. Beauty is as summer fruits,) which are easy to corrupt, and 5 h# j' i( I1 f5 O+ O, ncannot 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, # a% |, T- T5 Y5 F: Oit maketh virtue shine,and vices blush. ) H1 Z7 g) E, a6 c. O" U

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。 0 P3 M; K- b* k, m 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。

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其实像这样画出来的美人，恐怕只有画家才喜欢。

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。