论法的精神 （法与万事万物的关系）

1、卢塔克曾说：“法是一切人和神的主宰。”

“法”在中国古代作“灋”，大意为规则应像水一样公平如水，使不直者受到处罚。然而在孟德斯鸠看来，广义上的法是源于事物本质的必然关系，这种理解接近于中国的“道”。由此可知，万事万物皆有属于自己的法，动物、植物、人类、甚至上帝都是如此。

They who assert that a blind fatality produced the various effects we behold in this world talk very absurdly; for can anything be more unreasonable than to pretend that a blind fatality could be productive of intelligent beings?

有些人说，世间我们看到的万物都是由一个盲目的命运所创造的，这种说法荒谬绝伦。因为盲目的命运竟然创造“具有智能的创造物”，岂不是一件更为荒谬的事吗?

中国道家主张道是“惚兮恍兮，恍兮惚兮，窈兮冥兮”，认为道是不可名状、难以捉摸的。这种无目的的必然性，孟德斯鸠可能视为不恰当的。他说：无目的的必然性无法创造有才智的存在体。

There is, then, a prime reason; and laws are the relations subsisting between it and different beings, and the relations of these to one another.

God is related to the universe, as Creator and Preserver; the laws by which He created all things are those by which He preserves them. He acts according to these rules, because He knows them; He knows them, because He made them; and He made them, because they are in relation to His wisdom and power.

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孟德斯鸠阐述了上帝、宇宙、、规律三者之间的关系，上帝相当于中国的“道”，衍生万物并使之运行不息；规律像是上帝制定的法律，上帝依据这些法律创造并治理宇宙。
   

Since we observe that the world, though formed by the motion of matter, and void of understanding, subsists through so long a succession of ages, its motions must certainly be directed by invariable laws; and could we imagine another world, it must also have constant rules, or it would inevitably perish.

void of  缺乏    subsist：to exist; to be valid

老子说，道是“独立不改，周行而不殆”的。正因为道“独立不改”地运行着，才能成为天下万物的依托。这倒与孟德斯鸠的看法近似，他认为必然有恒定的规律存在于物质的运动之中。

Thus the creation, which seems an arbitrary act, supposes laws as invariable as those of the fatality of the Atheists. It would be absurd to say that the Creator might govern the world without those rules, since without them it could not subsist.

arbitrary act    [法] 武断行为，任意行为;

the Atheists  无神论者

fatality 宿命; 灾祸; 死亡（事故）; 致命性;

Particular intelligent beings may have laws of their own making, but they have some likewise which they never made.

velocity：速度    diversity：不同;差异

孟德斯鸠反复强调规律的恒定性及其重要性。即便是已拥有法则的存在物，也要受其约束。比如，两个运动的物体之间，必然遵循其重量和速度间的关系。

Before there were intelligent beings, they were possible; they had therefore possible relations, and consequently possible laws. Before laws were made, there were relations of possible justice. To say that there is nothing just or unjust but what is commanded or forbidden by positive laws, is the same as saying that before the describing of a circle all the radii were not equal.

radii：半径;

随后孟德斯鸠进一步说明“法”。“智能物存在物”存在的可能性先于“智能存在物”的存在，法则的存在又建立在“智能存在物”相互关联的基础上的。而这种法则在制定以前，也许就已经有是非对错的区别。

We must therefore acknowledge relations of justice antecedent to the positive law by which they are established: as, for instance, if human societies existed, it would be right to conform to their laws; if there were intelligent beings that had received a benefit of another being, they ought to show their gratitude; if one intelligent being had created another intelligent being, the latter ought to continue in its original state of dependence; if one intelligent being injures another, it deserves a retaliation; and so on.

antecedent：在前的    positive law：实在法     retaliation： 报复，反击   

But the intelligent world is far from being so well governed as the physical. For though the former has also its laws, which of their own nature are invariable, it does not conform to them so exactly as the physical world. This is because, on the one hand, particular intelligent beings are of a finite nature, and consequently liable to error; and on the other, their nature requires them to be free agents. Hence they do not steadily conform to their primitive laws; and even those of their own instituting they frequently infringe.

finite nature： 有局限的自然物  free agent：有自主权的人     

Man, as a physical being, is like other bodies governed by invariable laws. As an intelligent being, he incessantly transgresses the laws established by God, and changes those of his own instituting. He is left to his private direction, though a limited being, and subject, like all finite intelligences, to ignorance and error: even his imperfect knowledge he loses; and as a sensible creature, he is hurried away by a thousand impetuous passions.

Such a being might every instant forget his Creator; God has therefore reminded him of his duty by the laws of religion. Such a being is liable every moment to forget himself; philosophy has provided against this by the laws of morality. Formed to live in society, he might forget his fellow-creatures; legislators have therefore by political and civil laws confined him to his duty.

incessantly ：不断地   transgress：违犯