Of Beauty
By Francis Bacon
Virtue is like a rich stone.best plain set;and surely viryue is best,in a body thay 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 person 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 viryue.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.In beauty,that of favor,is more than that of color;and that of decent and gracious motion,mor than that of favor.
That is the best part of the life.There is no excellent beauty,that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.A man cannot tell whether Apelles,or Albert Durer,were the more trifler;whereof the one,would make a personage by geometrical proportions;the other,by taking the best parts out of divers faces,to make one excellent.Such personage,I think,would please nobody,but the painter that made them.
Not but I think a painter may make a better face than ever was;but he most do it by a kind of felicity(as a musician that 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;and yet altogether do well.
If it be true that the principal part of beauty is in decent motion,certainly it is no marvel.though persons in years seem many timed more amiable;pulchrorum autumnus pulcher;for no youth can be comely but by pardon,ang considering the youth,as to make up the comeliness.
Beauty is as summer fruits,which are easy to corrupt,and cannot last;and for the most part it makes a dissolute youth,and an age a little out of countenance;but yet ceitainly again,if it light well,it maketh virtue shine,and vices blush.
论美
弗兰西斯•培根
美德好比宝石，它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者是令人肃然起敬的。
外表美丽的人，未必也具有内在的美。因为造物主似乎是吝啬的，他给了此就不在给予彼。所以许多容颜俊秀的人往往过于追求外在美丽而忽略了内心的美。但这也并非绝对，因为奥古斯都•凯撒、菲斯帕斯、法兰西的菲力普王、英格兰的爱德华四世、雅典的阿尔西巴底斯、波斯的伊斯梅尔等既是大丈夫，又是美男子。美不在颜色艳丽而在面目端正，又不尽在面目端正而在举止文雅合度。
最高的美是画家所无法表现的，因为它是难于直观的。没有哪种美能极致到不存在比例上的瑕疵。曾经有两位画家——阿皮雷斯和艾伯特•丢勒滑稽的认为，按照几何比例，或者通过摄取不同人身上最美的特点，可以用画合成一张最完美的人像。其实象这样画出来的美人，恐怕只表现了画家本人的某种偏爱。
画家不能通过这样画出更好看的脸，（正如为曲子营造气氛的音乐家），创造它的常常是构思，而不是公式。有许多的脸，就他们的部分看并不优美，但作为整体却非常动人。
虽然美之菁华无疑在于优雅的举止，但有些老人更显得很可爱，这印证了一句拉丁谚语：“暮秋之色更美。”而尽管有的年轻人具有美貌，却由于缺乏完美的修养而不配得到最好的赞美。
美犹如盛夏的水果，是容易腐烂而难保持的。世界上有许多美人，他们有过放荡的青春，却迎受着悔愧的晚年。因此，应该把美的形貌与美的德性结合起来。这样，美才会发出夺目的光辉。 |
