《道德情操论·卷三·论评判自己情感与行为的基础·三·论良心的影响与权威》第26节
{137} Concerning the subject of self-command, I shall only observe further, that our admiration for the man who, under the heaviest and most unexpected misfortunes, continues to behave with fortitude and firmness, always supposes that his sensibility to those misfortunes is very great, and such as it requires a very great effort to conquer or command. The man who was altogether insensible to bodily pain, could deserve no applause from enduring the torture with the most perfect patience and equanimity. The man who had been created without the natural fear of death, could claim no merit from preserving his coolness and presence of mind in the midst of the most dreadful dangers. It is one of the extravagancies of Seneca, that the Stoical wise man was, in this respect, superior even to a god; that the security of the god was altogether the benefit of nature, which had exempted him from suffering; but that the security of the wise man was his own benefit, and derived altogether from himself and from his own exertions. The sensibility of some men, however, to some of the objects which immediately affect themselves, is sometimes so strong as to render all self-command impossible. No sense of honour can control the fears of the man who is weak enough to faint, or to fall into convulsions, upon the approach of danger. Whether such weakness of nerves, as it has been called, may not, by gradual exercise and proper discipline, admit of some cure, may, perhaps, be doubtful. It seems certain that it ought never to be trusted or employed.
注释摘要
斯密在这一节收束处提出了一个关于自制的关键洞见：我们对那个在重大不幸中仍能保持坚定的人心怀敬佩，恰恰是因为我们假定他内心的感受力极其敏锐，而为了控制或克服这种感受，他必须付出巨大的努力。如果一个人天生对肉体痛苦毫无感觉，那么他在刑架上展现出的平静就谈不上值得赞扬。如果一个人生来就不惧怕死亡，那么他在危急关头的沉着也就没有功劳可言。敬佩的前提是困难，困难的根…