The female ape always gives birth to twins, one of which she loves and the other she hates. When she carries her young, she holds the one she loves in her arms, but the one she hates must cling to her back. When the ape is pursued by a hunter, she tires from running while carrying her two children; when she is in danger of being caught, she drops the child she loves in order to escape, but the one she hates continues to cling to her back and is saved. 一般属性 雌猿总是会生双胞胎,她爱其中一个,却讨厌另一个。她将自己溺爱的那只抱在怀里,但是她讨厌的那只小猿背在背上。当猿猴被猎人追赶时,她带着两个孩子不能快速奔跑;当她有被抓住的危险时,为了逃命她抛弃自己所爱的孩子,但她讨厌的那个孩子继续紧抓着她的身体,从而得以保存。
There are five types of apes. The first is called cericopithicus and has a tail. The second, with rough hair, is called sphinx, and is docile, not wild. The third is cynocephalus, with a head like a dog and a long tail. The fourth, the satyrus, is lively and has a pleasant face. The fifth, called callitrix, has a long beard on its pointed face, and has a wide tail.
猿有五种类型。第一个叫cericopithicus,有尾巴。第二种头发粗糙,被称为sphinx狮身人面,温顺而不是狂野。第三个叫做cynocephalus,脑袋小而畸形,头部像狗,尾巴很长。第四种叫做Satyrus,生动活泼,脸色宜人。第五种叫做Callitrix,尖头上留着长胡须,尾巴很宽。 Apes are happy at the new moon but grow sad as it wanes. At the equinox they urinate seven times. Apes are said to be ugly, dirty beasts with flat and wrinkled noses; their rear parts are particularly horrible.
The ape is usually equated with the devil. It is said, that just as apes have a head but no tail, Satan began as an angel in heaven, but “he lost his tail, because he will perish totally at the end”. In Philippe de Thaon’s Bestiaire it is said that the devil mocks evil-doers and will carry them in front of him to hell, while the good remain behind his back with God. 寓意/道德 猿通常被等同于恶魔。据说,就像猿猴有头却没有尾巴一样,撒但开始是天堂里的天使,但“他失去了尾巴,因为他会在最后完全灭亡”。在菲利普·德·泰翁的《 Bestiaire》(《奇兽志》)中,据说魔鬼嘲笑邪恶的人,并将他们怀抱着带到地狱,而善良的却与上帝同在。
Sources (chronological order) Aesop’s Fables [6th century BCE] ( Temple 307): Apes give birth two two children. One the mother loves and cares for, the other she despises and neglects. However, the one the mother loves she holds in so tight an embrace that it suffocates, while the neglected child survives.
Pliny the Elder [1st century CE] (Natural History, Book 8, 80): Apes are cunning animals. It is said that they put on as shoes the nooses set out to snare them, imitating the hunters. According to Mucianus the tailed species of apes can detect at a glance false nuts made of wax, can play at draughts, and are depressed at the waning of the moon but are delighted with the new moon. Apes are affectionate toward their young; they sometimes accidentally kill their babies by hugging them. The ape called cynocephalis is fierce, but the one called satyris is gentle. Apes cannot live anywhere but in Ethiopia, their native country.
Isidore of Seville [7th century CE] (Etymologies, Book 12, 2:30-31): Apes (simiae) take their name from a Greek word meaning “with pushed in noses”, because of their ugly noses. Others say that that the name is from the perceived similarity to humans, but this, says Isidore, is false. Apes rejoice during the new moon but are sad when it is in other phases. They love their children and carry them in front of themselves; if a child is neglected it clings to its mother. There are five species of ape: ceropitheci have tails; sphynxes have shaggy hair and prominent breasts, and are gentle; cynocephali have a dog-like face; satyrs have a pleasant face but are restless; callitriches are unlike the others in almost all of their features.
Richard de Fournival (Bestiaire d’Amour 19, 3): The hunter knows that the ape likes to imitate what people do, so he makes a show of putting on and taking off his boots when he knows the ape is watching. He then hides, leaving a boot behind. The ape puts on the boot, and the hunter catches the ape before it can take off the boot and escape.
理查德·德·弗尼瓦尔(Richard de Fournival)(Bestiaire d’Amour)19,3):猎人知道猿喜欢模仿人们的行为,因此当他知道猿正在注视时,他会穿上和脱下靴子。然后他躲起来,留下靴子。猿猴穿上靴子,猎人就在猿猴脱下靴子逃脱以前将它们抓住。
Illustration
Most illustrations show the mother ape with two children, one held in front and the other clinging to her back. The story of the ape trying on boots is also sometimes illustrated. Apes are often used in marginal illustrations in manuscripts, where they are shown imitating some human behavior; common scenes show the ape as a knight riding a horse, or examining a flask of urine in mockery of a medieval physician. 插图 大多数插图都显示母猿有两个孩子,一个抱在前面,另一个背在她的背上。有时还会说明猿类尝试穿靴子的故事。猿经常用在画在手稿的边缘插图中,显示它们正模仿人类的行为。常见的场景把猿是画成骑马的骑士,或者正检查一瓶尿液来嘲弄中世纪医师。
这首诗的重点在于周朝的“天命”思想。周成王如此勤勉的原因在于畏惧天命,所以开篇就直接说“敬之”,这里的“之”是指“天”或者“上帝”。上天并不隐晦,一直在向我们显示其存在,而天命不会更改,所谓天“显”而天命“不易”。但是,James Legge翻译为“容易”,说天命不容易保存 (its appointment is not EASILY preserved)。其实这两种解释是相通的。天命不更改,问题是人容易走歧路,所以不容易保持上天对你的眷顾和青睐,上天奖善惩恶,随时可能会收回对你的任命而把权柄转移到他人手中。
KING KHĂANG SHOWS HIS SENSE OF WHAT WAS REQUIRED OF HIM TO PRESERVE THE FAVOUR OF HEAVEN, A CONSTANT JUDGE; INTIMATES :HIS GOOD PURPOSES; AND ASKS THE HELP OF HIS MINISTERS TO BE ENABLED TO PERFORM THEM.
Let me be reverent! Let me be reverent! (The way of) Heaven is evident, And its appointmentis not easily preserved1. Let me :not say that it is high aloft above me. It ascends and descends about our doings; It daily inspects us wherever we are.
I am a little child, Without intelligence to be reverently (attentive to my duties); But by daily progress and monthly advance, I will learn to hold fast the gleams (of knowledge), till I arrive at bright intelligence. Assist me to bear the burden (of my position), And show me how to display a virtuous conduct.
1. The meaning is this: ‘The way of Heaven is very clear, to bless the good, namely, and punish the bad. But its favour is thus dependent on men themselves, and hard to preserve.’
The ANTALOPS is an animal of incomparable celecity, so much so that no hunter can ever get it.
It has long horns shaped like a saw, with the result that it can even cut down very big trees and fell them to the ground.
When it is thirsty, it goes to the great River Euphrates, and drinks.
Now there is in those parts a shrub called Herecine, which has subtile, long twigs. Coming therefore to the shrub, it begins to play with the Herccine with its horns, and, while it plays, it entangles the horns in the twigs. When it cannot get free after a long Struggle, it cries With a loud bellow. But the hunter, hearing its voice, comes and kills it.
The antelope’s two horns represent the biblical Old and New Testaments, with which people can cut themselves free of vice. People are also warned not to play in the “thickets of worldliness” where pleasure kills body and soul.
Long, Long ago Gong Gong contended with Zhuan Xu for mastery of the world. Enraged by his defeat, he butted against the Buzhou Mountain, breaking the supporting Celestial Pillar, and causing the Earth to tilt downward toward the southeast.