《道德情操论·卷三·论评判自己情感与行为的基础·二·论对赞扬的爱与对值得赞扬的爱》第21节
To compare, in this manner, the futile mortifications of a monastery, to the ennobling hardships and hazards of war; to suppose that one day, or one hour, employed in the former should, in the eye of the great Judge of the world, have more merit than a whole life spent honourably in the latter, is surely contrary to all our moral sentiments: to all the principles by which nature has taught us to regulate our contempt or admiration. It is this spirit, however, which, while it has reserved the celestial regions for monks and friars, or for those whose conduct and conversation resembled those of monks and friars, has condemned to the infernal all the heroes, all the statesmen and lawgivers, all the poets {118} and philosophers of former ages; all those who have invented, improved, or excelled in the arts, which contribute to the subsistence, to the conveniency, or to the ornament of human life; all the great protectors, instructors, and benefactors of mankind; all those to whom our natural sense of praise-worthiness forces us to ascribe the highest merit and most exalted virtue. Can we wonder that so strange an application of this most respectable doctrine should sometimes have exposed it to contempt and derision; with those at least who had themselves, perhaps, no great taste or turn for the devout and contemplative virtues? [Footnote 3: Vous y grillez sage et docte Platon, Divin Homere, eloquent Ciceron, etc. See Voltaire.]
注释摘要
这一节的末端，斯密把笔锋转向了一个极具争议的宗教伦理问题。他刚刚完成了全章的论证核心——区别对赞扬的爱与对值得赞扬的爱，并指出人内心那个更高的法庭终究会回应值得赞扬而非单纯的赞扬。但在这个关节点上，他追问了一个更尖锐的问题：如果说自然是人的道德感的导师，那么某些流行的宗教教义却似乎在把自然的道德感整个颠倒过来。 他对比了两类生活：修道院里对身体的无谓折磨，…