《道德情操论·卷一·论行为的合宜性·二之二·论起于想象的情感》第3节
Hence it is, that, in some modern tragedies and romances, this passion appears so wonderfully interesting. It is not so much the love of Castalio and Monimia which attaches us in the orphan, as the distress which that love occasions. The author who should introduce two lovers, in a scene of perfect security, expressing their mutual fondness for one another, would excite laughter, and not sympathy. If a scene of this kind is ever admitted into a tragedy, it is always, in some measure, improper, and is endured, not from any sympathy with the passion that is expressed in it, but from concern for the dangers and difficulties with which the audience foresee that its gratification is likely to be attended. The reserve which the laws of society impose upon the fair sex, with regard to this weakness, renders it more peculiarly distressful in them, and, upon that very account, more deeply interesting. We are charmed with the love of Phædra, as it is expressed in the French tragedy of that name, notwithstanding all the extravagance and guilt which attend it. That very extravagance and guilt may be said, in some measure, to recommend it to us. Her fear, her shame, her remorse, her horror, her despair, become thereby more natural and interesting. All the {32} secondary passions, if I may be allowed to call them so, which arise from the situation of love, become necessarily more furious and violent; and it is with these secondary passions only that we can properly be said to sympathize.
注释摘要
这一段继续推进斯密的核心论证：我们同情的并非某种激情本身，而是这种激情所激发出来的处境和次生情感。他借悲剧与传奇来说明，为什么爱情作为一种起于想象的激情，在舞台上能够扣人心弦，却并非因为观众真的进入了恋人之间的相互爱慕。 他先点出一个关键区分。在奥特威的悲剧《孤儿》里，真正抓住观众的不是卡斯塔里奥与莫妮米亚的爱情，而是这份爱情所造成的痛苦与危难。斯密并非在…