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History of My Calamities & Works 3 part 9/9

Latin original · 3 verses · some words can be tapped for a gloss · long chapter, split into parts; this part covers 3:320–3:322 (322 verses in all)

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ℹ️ This corpus has no morphological tagging. Glosses are matched by word form against a dictionary — a match does not prove it is the same word (an inflected form can coincide with another word’s lemma). Verify against the original and a specialist lexicon where precision matters.

ℹ️ The Chinese and English alongside are this site's own translation, made directly from the original text on this page (not the CUV or the WEB, which follow the Masoretic Text and a different textual tradition).

3:320

Cum vero ad eventus rerum, hoc est ad ea, quae a propositionibus dicuntur et per eas evenire proponuntur, boni vocabulum applicamus, ut videlicet hoc esse vel non esse bonum dicamus, tale est, ac si diceretur ad aliquam Dei optimam dispositionem complendam illud necessarium esse, etsi nos omnino illa lateat dispositio. Non enim aliquem etiam bene facere bonum est, si hoc eum facere alicui divinae ordinationi non competit, sed potius obsistit, quia nec bene fieri potest, quod rationabilem, cur fiat, causam non habet. Tunc autem rationabilem non habet causam, cur fiat, si quid a Deo dispositum praepediri necesse esset, si illud contingeret.

But when we apply the word 'good' to the outcomes of things—that is, to those things which are stated by propositions and which are set forth as coming to pass through them, so that we say, namely, that this is or is not good—it is as if it were said that that thing is necessary for the fulfilling of some most excellent disposition of God, even though that disposition lies entirely hidden from us. For it is not good even for someone to do well, if his doing this does not accord with some divine ordination, but rather resists it; for what does not have a reasonable cause why it should come to pass cannot even come to pass well. And it does not then have a reasonable cause why it should come to pass, if something disposed by God would necessarily be hindered, were that to occur.

但是當我們把「善」這個詞應用於事物的結果，也就是應用於那些由命題所陳述、並被提出將藉這些命題而發生的事物時——即我們說某事為善或不為善——這就好比是在說：那件事對於成就上帝某種至美的安排乃是必要的，儘管那安排對我們完全隱藏。因為即便有人行善，若他這樣行並不符合某種神聖的安排，反倒抵觸它，那也不是善的；因為凡沒有合理緣由使其發生的事，根本就不能美好地發生。而當某件本由上帝所安排的事，倘若那情況臨到便必然會被妨礙，那麼此事就沒有合理的緣由使其發生。

3:321

Saepe itaque decepti dicimus, quia bonum est nos hoc vel illud facere, quod faciendum esse ab omnibus censetur. Sed cum a divina dissentiat ordinatione, per errorem mentimur, sed mendacii rei non sumus ita opinantes, ut dicimus. Qui etiam saepe per errorem multa nobis minime profutura in oratione petimus, quae divina dispositione commodissime nobis a Deo denegantur, qui melius quam nos ipse, quid nobis sit necessarium, agnoscit. Unde praecipuum est illud Veritatis documentum, quo cum oratione semper Deo dicendum est:

And so, being often deceived, we say that it is good for us to do this or that, which is judged by everyone as something that ought to be done. But when it dissents from the divine ordination, we speak falsely through error; yet we are not guilty of a lie, since we hold the opinion just as we state it. Likewise, through error we often ask in prayer for many things that will profit us not at all, which by divine disposition are most fittingly denied us by God, who knows better than we ourselves what is necessary for us. Whence that supreme teaching of Truth, by which together with prayer it must always be said to God:

因此我們常因受欺而說，我們做這事或那事是善的，而那事乃是眾人所判定當行的。但當它與神聖的安排相違背時，我們便因錯誤而說了不實的話；然而我們並不因此而犯撒謊之罪，因為我們所持的意見正如我們所說的那樣。同樣地，我們也常因錯誤而在禱告中祈求許多對我們毫無益處的事；這些事按著神聖的安排，極其合宜地被上帝拒絕，因為祂比我們自己更清楚什麼對我們是必要的。由此可見真理那至高的教訓，就是在禱告時當常向上帝說：

3:322

"Fiat voluntas tua." Haec, nisi fallor, in praesentiarum satis est me dixisse ad ostendendum videlicet, qualiter nomen boni est intelligendum, quando pro re bona simpliciter sumitur, vel quando etiam rerum eventibus, vel quae a propositionibus dicuntur, applicatur. Quod quia ex inquisitione summi boni pendebat, si quid superest, quod de ipso ulterius quaeri censeas, licet te subinferre vel ad reliqua festinare . . .

"Thy will be done." Unless I am mistaken, for the present it is enough that I have said this, to show, namely, how the name 'good' is to be understood—when it is taken simply for a good thing, or when it is also applied to the outcomes of things, or to those things which are stated by propositions. And since this depended upon the inquiry into the highest good, if anything remains which you may judge ought to be further inquired concerning it, you are free to interpose it, or to hasten on to the rest . . .

「願祢的旨意成就。」若我沒有弄錯，就目前而言，我所說的這些已經足夠，以說明「善」這個名稱應當如何理解——無論是單純地指一件善的事物，或是把它應用於事物的結果，又或應用於那些由命題所陳述的事物。既然這乃是繫於對至高之善的探究，倘若還有什麼你認為應當就此進一步探問的，你儘可加以提出，或趕緊進到其餘的部分……

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