论法的精神英文版(怎样激励对平等和简朴的热爱)
at 4年前 ca 论法的精神经典语录 pv 996 by 名著
In what Manner the Love of Equality and Frugality is inspired.
The love of equality and of a frugal economy is greatly excited by equality and frugality themselves, in societies where both these virtues are established by law.
In monarchies and despotic governments, nobody aims at equality; this does
not so much as enter their thoughts; they all aspire to superiority. People of
the very lowest condition desire to emerge from their obscurity, only to lord it
over their fellow-subjects.
It is the same with respect to frugality. To love it, we must practise and
enjoy it. It is not those who are enervated by pleasure that are fond of a
frugal life; were this natural and common, Alcibiades would never have been the
admiration of the universe.【阿尔西比亚德斯（是雅典杰出的政治家、演说家和将军。他是其母系贵族家庭的最后一名著名成员，这个家族在伯罗奔尼撒战争之后衰败。他在战争的后半段扮演重要角色，担任战略顾问、军事指挥官和政治家。】
Neither is it those who envy or admire the luxury of
the great; people that have present to their view none but rich men, or men
miserable like themselves, detest their wretched condition, without loving or
knowing the real term or point of misery.【那些羡慕或赞赏别人的奢华的人，也不会喜爱俭朴；那些眼中只盯着富人或只看到和自己一样的穷人的人们，不但憎恶自己的贫穷，而且不爱俭朴，或者不了解贫穷的原因所在。】
A true maxim it is, therefore, that in order to love equality and frugality in a republic, these virtues must have been previously established by law.
