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大人物看起来骄矜自大，那是由于顾忌流露出平民百姓的人之常情。当雅各的儿子们看见自己哀哀求告的那位尊贵的埃及官员转身离去时，他们并不知道背后的隐情。“约瑟爱弟之情发动，就急忙寻找可哭之地，进入自己的屋里，哭了一场。他洗了脸出来，勉强隐忍。”[5] 约瑟并不想成为伟人，他想做一个普通人。而情动于中却要勉强隐忍是多么艰难。
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我们童年时期丧失的那些技艺，青春期失去的勇敢无畏、雄心壮志和浪漫钟情都到哪里去了？我们觉得自己与各种各样的人都休戚相关的同情心到哪里去了？早期我们对与己无关的事的好奇心都到哪里去了？我们这样问道，正如圣保罗问加拉太人：“你们向来跑得好。有谁拦阻你们？”
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答案对我们倒不是完全不利。我们没能充分发挥全部天性，是因为条件不允许。沃尔特·惠特曼也许为“自发的我”而欢天喜地。可是这样自发的你是赚不上钱的。一个随心所欲的扳道工会给广大的旅客带来生命威胁。我们更喜欢性情平和的人。
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随着人类文明的发展和工作专业化程度的提高，任何人在任何公认的职业里都不可能自由充分发挥自己全部的天赋才能。那么，怎么发挥我们身上其他的自我呢？回答只能是：必须在日常工作的范围之外为它们提供发挥的空间。由于工作对人们心无旁骛的要求越来越高，对关注的范围限制得越来越多，因此也更需要人们切实捍卫合法的闲暇时间。
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古希伯来圣贤宣称：“智慧产生于闲暇之时。”这并非说智者肯定出身于我们所谓的有闲阶层，而是说，假如某人只有一点可以自由支配的时间，那么，他就必须利用这点时间让隐藏的自我焕发新的生机。假如安息日不能休息一整天，他必须学会捍卫“小安息日”的时间，哪怕只是十分钟。在这段时间里，他什么工作都不要做。仅仅承认与保护工作及挣钱的自我是不够的，为了我们其他的自我，世界还应变得安全。《独立宣言》上不是说，人人都有追求幸福的不可剥夺的权利吗？
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要认识到人对自己的不满足，需要依靠想象力。由于缺乏想象力造成的不幸，我们曾有一个可怕的例子。普鲁士军国主义者煞费苦心地收集事实，但却鄙视人类的天性。他们的情商低得令人难以置信。他们视人如物。他们对待事实的态度极为严肃，却完全忽视人的情感。他们的特务遍布全世界，特务把看到的一切情报全都上报，可是却不考虑那些看不到的情报。于是，就在他们科学地处理一目了然的事实和武力的时候，人类灵魂中所有隐藏的力量都在与他们为敌。军国主义者启用那些缺乏同情心的高级专业人士来提高效率。在树立了一个标准以后，所有的多样性必然被压制。全世界反对的正是这种压制多样性的力量。为了反对制造枯燥乏味的单一性，我们必须继续斗争。倘若我们屈从我们自造的其他暴君的话，废黜那位德国皇帝也无济于事。
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（张白桦 译）
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[1]霍尔姆斯（Hom1es）应是与兰姆同时期的作家，此处为音译，不确。
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[2]典出莎士比亚作品《错误的喜剧》（Comedy of Errors），指荒唐可笑的事件。下文的大小德洛米奥是剧中的一对孪生兄弟。
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[3]亨利·斯坦利（1841—1904），威尔士裔美国记者、探险家，多次赴非洲探险，在以非洲营救苏格兰传教士、探险家利文斯通博士而闻名。
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[4]莎士比亚剧作《无事生非》中的警吏。本段所涉典故在剧中第四幕第二场。此处引用朱生豪译文。
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[5]此句典出《创世记》第43章30—31节。
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36 THE PHILOSOPHER
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By W. Somerset Maugham
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THE PHILOSOPHER, by W. Somerset Maugham, from his On a Chinese Screen , pp. 147-158.
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The Philosopher is undoubtedly Ku Hung-ming，辜鸿铭（汤生） （1847-1928）, who was then living in Peking. Maugham would have us believe that the interview took place in some such city as Chengtu, Szechwan. Ku had worked under Chang Chi-tung （张之洞）, one of the Empress Dowager’s greatest viceroys （line 18, p. 152）. This essay has already been translated into Chinese. See 人间世，二十三年九月二十日，第二十期，三十二至三十七页，辜鸿铭访问记，黄嘉音译 （惟黄先生未翻译篇后的两首诗）． 在该期内亦有人证明 Somerset’s Philosopher 是辜先生．
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It was surprising to find so vast a city in a spot that seemed to me so remote. From its battlemented gate towards sunset you could see the snowy mountains of Tibet. It was so populous that you could walk at ease only on the walls and it took a rapid walker three hours to complete their circuit. There was no railway within a thousand miles and the river on which it stood was so shallow that only junks of light burden could safely navigate it. Five days in a sampan were needed to reach the Upper Yangtze. For an uneasy moment you asked yourself whether trains and steamships were as necessary to the conduct of life as we who use them every day consider;for here, a million persons throve, married, begat their kind, and died; here a million persons were busily occupied with commerce, art, and thought.
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And here lived a philosopher of repute the desire to see whom had been to me one of the incentives of a somewhat arduous journey. He was the greatest authority in China on the Confucian learning. He was said to speak English and German with facility. He had been for many years secretary to one of the Empress Dowager’s greatest viceroys, but he lived now in retirement. On certain days in the week, however, all through the year he opened his doors to such as sought after knowledge, and discoursed on the teaching of Confucius. He had a body of disciples, but it was small, since the students for the most part preferred to his modest dwelling and his severe exhortations the sumptuous buildings of the foreign university and the useful science of the barbarians; with him this was mentioned only to be scornfully dismissed. From all I heard of him I concluded that he was a man of character.
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When I announced my wish to meet this distinguished person my host immediately offered to arrange it; but the days passed and nothing happened. I made inquiries and my host shrugged his shoulders.
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“I sent him a chit and told him to come along,” he said. “I don’t know why he hasn’t turned up. He’s cross-grained old fellow.”
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