№.3 - The Homeric gods were the gods of a conquering aristocracy, not the useful fertility gods of those who actually tilled the soil. As Gilbert Murray says: "The gods of most nations claim to have created the world. The Olympians make no such claim. The most they ever did was to conquer it. And when they have conquered their kingdoms, what do they do? Do they attend to the government? Do they promote agriculture? Do they practise trades and industries? Not a bit of it. Why should they do any honest work? They find it easier to live on the revenues and blast with thunderbolts the people who do not pay. They are conquering chieftains, royal buccaneers. They fight, and feast, and play, and make music; they drink deep, and roar with laughter at the lame smith who waits on them. They are never afraid, except of their own king. They never tell lies, except in love and war."

【译文】荷马的神祇们乃是征服者的贵族阶级的神祇，而不是那些实际在耕种土地的人们的有用的丰产之神。正如吉尔伯特•穆莱所说的：“大多数民族的神都自命曾经创造过世界，奥林匹克的神并不自命如此。他们所做的，主要是征服世界。……当他们已经征服了王国之后，它们又干什么呢？他们关心政治吗？他们促进农业吗？他们从事商业和工业吗？一点都不。他们为什么要从事任何老实的工作呢？依靠租税并对不纳税的人大发雷霆，在他们看来倒是更为舒适的生活。他们都是些嗜好征服的首领，是些海盗之王。他们既打仗，又宴饮，又游玩，又作乐；他们开怀痛饮，并大声嘲笑那伺候着他们的瘸铁匠。他们只知怕自己的王，从来不知惧怕别的。除了在爱和战争中而外，他们从来不说谎。”

【小编评注】希腊的悲剧精神乃是源自希腊人的混合宗教，即远古西亚宗教的内核注入荷马宗教的形式之中，生命得到了最高的表现形式。

【短语笔记】till the soil - 松土，耕地

【举一反三】表达耕种的短语有很多，例如：cultivate land - 开垦贫瘠土地；plough the field/land - 耕地

【例】

(1)All this to rise with the roosters and till the soil. （这都是为了饲养公鸡，种田耕地。）

(2)Land being the cultivated manicured place that provides, whatever, the harvest, things like that while wilderness was some place that was barren, it does not produce fruit. （被开垦培育过的土地为人们提供丰收的果实，有些荒野地却是贫瘠的，不会产生果实。）

(3)After the seventh year, i.e. the sabbatical year, farmers can plough field again. （第七年过后，也就是安息年，农民可以继续耕地。）

№.4 - The civilized man is distinguished from the savage mainly by prudence, or, to use a slightly wider term, forethought. He is willing to endure present pains for the sake of future pleasures, even if the future pleasures are rather distant.

【译文】文明人之所以与野蛮人不同，主要的是在于审慎，或者用一个稍微更广义的名词，即深谋远虑。他为了将来的快乐，哪怕这种将来的快乐是相当遥远的，而愿意忍受目前的痛苦。

【小编评注】文明是内涵伦理、道德的价值理想，现代性的内在野蛮性不是一种外在之物，而是内在于现代人的心灵之中。因此，我们现代人更加需要懂得审慎、畏惧和有敬仰之心。

【短语笔记】for the sake of - 为了；为了 ... 的利益

【举一反三】近义短语： for the purpose of - 为了 ... 目的；为了 ... 而做某事

【例】

(1)We kept silent for the sake of maintaining peaceful relations with Russia.（为了维持和俄罗斯的和平关系，我们一直在保持沉默。 ）

(2)For the purpose of being more handsome on his wedding day, he had woolen wedding clothes made to order. （为了婚礼那天显得帅气些，他特意定做了一身呢料礼服。 ）

№.5 - Civilization checks impulse not only through forethought, which is a self-administered check, but also through law, custom, and religion. This check it inherits from barbarism, but it makes it less instinctive and more systematic.

【译文】文明之抑制冲动不仅是通过一种自我抑制的深谋远虑，而且还通过法律、习惯与宗教。这种抑制力是它从野蛮时代继承来的，但是它使这种抑制力具有更少的本能性与更多的组织性。

【小编评注】造成文明洗心革面的惟一重要的变化，是影响到思想、观念和信仰的变化。自我约束，在道德范畴内，是非常美好的一种品德。

【短语笔记】forethought - 深谋远虑；先见；考虑将来

【例】The Industrial Revolution has unfolded, for the most part, without design or forethought.（ 工业革命开展已久，但多半时候并未经过缜密思考，也没有前瞻的视野。）