18Novemberноября · 18-е ноября
Добро нельзя измерять ни нуждой получающего, ни жертвою дающего, а только тем общением в боге, которое устанавливается между дающим и получающим.
Good can be measured neither by the need of the one who receives nor by the sacrifice of the one who gives, but only by the communion in God that is established between the giver and the receiver.
1. Жизнь не всегда благо. Благо только хорошая жизнь.
1. Life is not always a good. Only a good life is a good.
From Epistulae morales · close to the original .
Original · LatinQuae, ut scis, non semper retinenda est; non enim vivere bonum est, sed bene vivere.
Source text: thelatinlibrary.comIn English · Richard Mott Gummere, 1920For mere living is not a good, but living well.
Source text: en.wikisource.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Epistulae morales, Ep. 70.4.
Faithful to the maxim; in Seneca it justifies not clinging to life (the letter is on suicide), a context Tolstoy drops.
2. Природа устроила так, что обиды помнятся больше, чем добрые поступки. Добро забывается, а обиды упорно держатся в памяти.
2. Nature has so arranged things that injuries are remembered more than kindnesses. Good is forgotten, but injuries cling stubbornly to the memory.
From De beneficiis · shortened by Tolstoy .
Original · Latin… nam cum ita natura conparatum sit, ut altius iniuriae quam merita descendant et illa cito defluant, has tenax memoria custodiat, quid expectat, qui offendit, dum obligat?
Source text: thelatinlibrary.comIn English · Aubrey Stewart, 1887… human nature is so constituted that insults sink deeper than kindnesses; the remembrance of the latter soon passes away, while that of the former is treasured in the memory …
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. De beneficiis, I.1.8.
The causal clause only, made a free-standing maxim and said twice; Seneca's point (so a benefactor must not give insultingly) is dropped.
3. Это не добродетель, а только обманчивый слепок и подобие ее, когда мы приведены к исполнению долга ожиданием награды.
3. It is not virtue, but only a deceptive cast and likeness of it, when we are brought to do our duty by the expectation of reward.
Probably from De legibus · reworded by Tolstoy .
Not in Leo Tolstoy as EditorThe thought is Cicero’s, but not this wording, which probably comes from an anthology not found.
Original · LatinErgo item iustitia nihil expetit praemii, nihil pretii: per se igitur expetitur eademque omnium uirtutum causa atque sententia est.
Atque etiam si emolumentis, non <sua> sponte uirtus expetitur, una erit uirtus quae malitia rectissime dicetur.
Source text: thelatinlibrary.comDetails
A likely source, not certain. De legibus, I.48-49 (probable).
Same thought (virtue sought for reward is not virtue) but not the same wording: Tolstoy's 'deceptive cast and likeness of virtue' has no counterpart here. Probably taken from an anthology rendering that could not be located.
Searched: Latin Library De legibus I, De finibus II, De officiis I and III, De amicitia for simulacrum/imitatio/species virtutis and praemium; Ramage's Beautiful Thoughts from Latin Authors (1864, archive.org beautifulthought00rama) for reward/praemium; Southgate's Many Thoughts for 'semblance/imitation of virtue'.
4. Не клевещи, чтобы клевета и бесчестие не обратились на тебя самого, ибо всякий злой дух нападает спереди, клевета же всегда сзади.
Не поддавайся гневу, потому что человек, поддавшийся гневу, забывает свои обязанности и упускает свои добрые дела.
Берегись сладострастия, потому что его плодами будут хворь и раскаяние.
Не держи зависти в сердце, чтобы не отравить своего существования.
Не впадай в грех из стыда.
Будь прилежен и молчалив, живи своим трудом и откладывай из своего заработка для неимущих. Этот обычай будет самым достойным делом в твоей деятельности.
Не воруй чужого добра и не упускай своей собственной работы, ибо кто не кормится собственной работой, а заставляет других прокармливать себя, тот людоед.
С человеком лукавым не затягивайся в спор и лучше оставь его совсем в покое.
С человеком жадным не вступай в союз и не доверяйся его руководству.
Не вступай в объяснения с глупцом, от злодея не бери денег и с клеветником не имей дела.
4. Do not slander, lest slander and dishonor turn upon you yourself; for every evil spirit attacks from in front, but slander always from behind.
Do not give way to anger, for a man who gives way to anger forgets his duties and lets his good deeds slip.
Beware of lust, for its fruits will be sickness and remorse.
Keep no envy in your heart, lest you poison your existence.
Do not fall into sin out of shame.
Be diligent and silent, live by your own labor, and set aside from your earnings for the needy. This custom will be the worthiest deed in all your doings.
Do not steal another’s goods and do not neglect your own work; for whoever does not feed himself by his own work, but makes others feed him, is a cannibal.
Do not get drawn into a dispute with a crafty man; better leave him wholly in peace.
Do not enter into alliance with a greedy man, and do not trust yourself to his guidance.
Do not enter into explanations with a fool, take no money from a villain, and have no dealings with a slanderer.
Eastern wisdom [Mainog-i Khirad].
From Dina-i Mainog-i Khirad · shortened by Tolstoy .
In English · E. W. West (SBE 24), 1885Commit no slander; (9) so that infamy and wickedness may not happen unto thee.
Indulge in no wrathfulness; (17) for a man, when he indulges in wrath, becomes then forgetful of his duty and good works, …
Commit no lustfulness; (24) so that harm and regret may not reach thee from thine own actions.
Bear no improper envy; (26) so that thy life may not become tasteless.
Thou shouldst be (yehevunes) diligent and moderate, (43) and eat of thine own regular industry, (44) and provide the share of the sacred beings and the good; …
"He who eats anything, not from his own regular industry, but from another, is such-like as one who holds a human head in his hand, and eats human brains."
… man carry on no conflict, (55) and do not molest him in any way whatever. 56. With a greedy man thou shouldst not be a partner, (57) and do not trust him with the leadership.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Dina-i Mainog-i Khirad (Spirit of Wisdom), tr. E. W. West, Pahlavi Texts III (SBE 24), ch. II, 8-9, 16-17, 23-27, 42-49, 54-61.
The Zoroastrian sage's counsels of ch. II, taken in order and condensed. Tolstoy turns the hell image for slander into 'every evil spirit attacks from the front, slander from behind', 'the share of the sacred beings and the good' into 'for the needy', and the eater of human brains into a 'людоед' (cannibal); the cultic counsels (girdle, boots, urine, chatter) are left out.
5. Когда спрашивают, что же такое, собственно, чистая нравственность, которою, как пробным камнем, мы должны испытать нравственное содержание каждого поступка, то я должен сознаться, что только философы могли сделать решение этого вопроса сомнительным, ибо для здравого человеческого смысла этот вопрос давно уже решен, правда, не с помощью отвлеченных общих рассуждений, а посредством различия совершаемых добрых и злых поступков, которые мы различаем так же несомненно, как правую и левую руку.
5. When it is asked what, properly speaking, pure morality is, by which, as by a touchstone, we must test the moral content of every action, I must confess that only philosophers could have made the answer to this question doubtful; for to plain human sense this question has long been settled — not, it is true, by abstract general reasoning, but by the difference between the good and the evil deeds we do, which we tell apart as surely as the right hand from the left.
Kant.
From Kritik der praktischen Vernunft · close to the original .
Original · GermanWenn man fragt: was denn eigentlich die reine Sittlichkeit ist, an der, als dem Probemetall, man jeder Handlung moralischen Gehalt prüfen müsse, so muß ich gestehen, daß nur Philosophen die Entscheidung dieser Frage zweifelhaft machen können ; denn in der gemeinen Menschenvernunft ist sie, zwar nicht durch abgezogene allgemeine Formeln, aber doch durch den gewöhnlichen Gebrauch, gleichsam als der Unterschied zwischen der rechten und linken Hand, längst entschieden.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Kritik der praktischen Vernunft (1788), Methodenlehre, via Richter, Kant-Aussprüche, Kant-Aussprüche no. 121.
A close translation of the whole of Richter no. 121; "common usage" becomes "the distinction of good and evil deeds that are done", a small interpretive addition.
6. Твори добро друзьям своим, чтобы они еще более любили тебя; твори его своим врагам, чтобы они сделались когда-нибудь твоими друзьями.
Когда ты говоришь о враге твоем, помни, что может прийти день, когда он станет твоим другом.
6. Do good to your friends, that they may love you still more; do it to your enemies, that they may some day become your friends.
When you speak of your enemy, remember that a day may come when he will become your friend.
From Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, i. 91 · joined by Tolstoy from several places .
In English · R. D. Hicks, 1925Further, that we should render a service to a friend to bind him closer to us, and to an enemy in order to make a friend of him.
Source text: en.wikisource.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, i. 91 (Cleobulus), D.L. i. 91.
«Клеовуд» = Cleobulus of Lindus, one of the Seven Sages. The first sentence is his saying (D.L. i. 91). The second ('remember your enemy may one day become your friend') is not in D.L.'s Cleobulus; it is the saying attributed to Bias ('love as if you would one day hate') turned around — source not traced. The Greek original was not consulted.
Translation note. Tolstoy’s «Клеовуд» is taken as Cleobulus, one of the Seven Sages.
7. Все люди более или менее приближаются к одному из двух противоположных пределов: один — жизнь только для себя, другой — только для бога.
7. All people come more or less near to one of two opposite limits: one is life for oneself alone, the other is life for God alone.
8. Приставлять одно доброе дело к другому так, чтобы между ними не было промежутка, — вот что я называю счастливой жизнью.
8. To join one good deed to another so that there is no gap between them — this is what I call a happy life.
From Meditations · shortened by Tolstoy .
Original · Ancient Greek… τί λοιπὸν ἢ ἀπολαύειν τοῦ ζῆν συνάπτοντα ἄλλο ἐπ’ ἄλλῳ ἀγαθόν, ὥστε μηδὲ τὸ βραχύτατον διάστημα ἀπολείπειν;
Source text: raw.githubusercontent.comIn English · George Long, 1862What remains, except to enjoy life by joining one good thing to another so as not to leave even the smallest intervals between?
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Meditations, XII.29.
Only the closing question of XII.29, recast as a statement ('this is what I call a happy life'); 'good thing' is narrowed to 'good deed'. The preceding rule (examine everything, do justice and speak the truth) is dropped.
Добро истинное совершается нами только тогда, когда мы не замечаем его, а выходим из себя, чтобы жить в другом.
True good is done by us only when we do not notice it, but go out of ourselves to live in another.
Tolstoy TodayТолстой сегодня · tolstoytoday.org/november/18