14 古希腊城市
古希腊城市其实是一些国家
现代人都爱听到“大”这个字。我们为拥有的事实而倍感自豪，比如属于世界“最大的”国家、拥有“最强大的”海军和盛产“最大的”橘子和土豆。我们喜欢生活在拥有“百万”人口的大都市，希望死后安葬在“全国最大的墓地”。
如果古希腊的市民能听到我们的谈话，他们一定理解不了我们。因为“中庸之道”是他们的人生理念。仅仅“大”，不可能打动他们。追求中庸，不是在某些场合的空话，它影响到古希腊人的一生。它是他们文学的一部分，促使他们建造小巧精致的庙宇。它体现在男人的衣服，以及妇女的戒指和手镯上。它还跟着人群来到剧院，如果哪位剧作家胆敢亵渎这条志趣高尚的铁律，必定会被赶下台去。
甚至在政治家和最受欢迎的运动员身上，古希腊人也坚守着这一品质。如果一名强壮的赛跑者来到斯巴达，吹嘘他单脚站立的时间比每个古希腊人都长，那么人们肯定会把他赶走。因为他吹嘘的雕虫小技，随便一只呆鹅就能胜过他。
你会说：“那很好。追求适度和完美无疑是一种美德。但为什么古希腊人是
“That is all very well,” you will say, “and no doubt it is a great virtue to care so much for moderation and perfection, but why should the Greeks have been the only people to develop this quality in olden times?” For an answer I shall point to the way in which the Greeks lived.
The people of Egypt or Mesopotamia had been the “subjects” of a mysterious Supreme Ruler who lived miles and miles away in a dark palace and who was rarely seen by the masses of the population. The Greeks on the other hand, were “free citizens” of a hundred independent little “cities” the largest of which counted fewer inhabitants than a large modern village. When a peasant who lived in Ur said that he was a Babylonian he meant that he was one of millions of other people who paid tribute to the king who at that particular moment happened to be master of western Asia. But when a Greek said proudly that he was an Athenian or a Theban he spoke of a small town, which was both his home and his country and which recognised no master but the will of the people in the market-place.
To the Greek, his fatherland was the place where he was born; where he had spent his earliest years playing hide and seek amidst the forbidden rocks of the Acropolis; where he had grown into manhood with a thousand other boys and girls, whose nicknames were as familiar to him as those of your own schoolmates. His Fatherland was the holy soil where his father and mother lay buried. It was the small house within the high city-walls where his wife and children lived in safety. It was a complete world which covered no more than four or five acres of rocky land.Don’t you see how these surroundings must have influenced a man in everything he did and said and thought? The people of Babylon and Assyria and Egypt had been part of a vast mob. They had been lost in the multitude. The Greek on the other hand had never lost touch with his immediate surroundings.He
古代唯一具有这种品质的人呢？”要回答这个问题，我必须先介绍古希腊人的生活方式。
埃及人和美索不达米亚人都是同一位神秘的最高统治者的“臣民”。这位统治者居住在千里之外的一座阴暗的宫殿里，人们几乎见不到他的龙颜。然而，古希腊由上百个独立的小“城镇”组成，古希腊人是“自由的市民”。其中最大“城镇”的人口比现在的大村庄还少。如果一位居住在吾珥的农民说他是巴比伦人，那么他的意思是，他是给国王交税的千百万个国民中的一个，而那位国王当时正统治着西亚；可是，如果一个古希腊人自豪地说他是雅典人或底比斯人，那么他说的是一个小镇，那里既是他的家乡又是他的国家。那里不承认统治者，只遵从市场上人们的意愿。
对古希腊人来说，祖国就是他出生的地方；祖国是他度过少年时代的地方，他曾在卫城的岩石之间玩捉迷藏的游戏；祖国是他和千万个男孩、女孩一起成长的地方，他熟悉玩伴的外号，就像熟悉同学的姓名。祖国是一块神圣的土地，埋葬了他的父母；祖国是高墙里的一间小屋，妻儿很安全地在那里生活；祖国是一块占地不足四五英亩的石地，却也是一片乐土。你没有注意到这样的环境必定会影响一个人的为人处事、言谈举止和思维方式？巴比伦人、亚述人和埃及人都是广大群众中的一分子。他们都消失在茫茫人海之中。可是古希腊人从来没有失去与周围环境的联系。他始终是一个小镇的成员，小镇里的每个人都彼此熟悉。他感到，那些聪明的邻居都在关注着他。无论他做什么，不管是写剧本、雕刻大理石像，还是作曲，他都会记住，自己的成绩要由家乡懂行的自由市民来评判。这种心理迫使他精益
never ceased to be part of a little town where everybody knew every one else. He felt that his intelligent neighbours were watching him. Whatever he did, whether he wrote plays or made statues out of marble or composed songs, he remembered that his efforts were going to be judged by all the free-born citizens of his home-town who knew about such things. This knowledge forced him to strive after perfection, and perfection, as he had been taught from childhood, was not possible without moderation.
In this hard school, the Greeks learned to excel in many things. They created new forms of government and new forms of literature and new ideals in art which we have never been able to surpass. They performed these miracles in little villages that covered less ground than four or five modern city blocks.
And look, what finally happened!
In the fourth century before our era, Alexander of Macedonia conquered the world. As soon as he had done with fighting, Alexander decided that he must bestow the benefits of the true Greek genius upon all mankind. He took it away from the little cities and the little villages and tried to make it blossom and bear fruit amidst the vast royal residences of his newly acquired Empire. But the Greeks, removed from the familiar sight of their own temples, removed from the well-known sounds and smells of their own crooked streets, at once lost the cheerful joy and the marvellous sense of moderation which had inspired the work of their hands and brains while they laboured for the glory of their old city-states. They became cheap artisans, content with second-rate work. The day the little city-states of old Hellas lost their independence and were forced to become part of a big nation, the old Greek spirit died. And it has been dead ever since.
众神居住的奥林匹斯山
求精，而他从小就受到大人的教导，要懂得中庸之道，否则不可能成功。
在这所严格的学校里，古希腊人变得擅长做许多事。他们创造的新政府形式、新文学形式和新艺术思想，连我们都超越不了。在面积不足四五个现代城市街区大的地方，他们创造出了这么多奇迹。
看吧，最后会发生什么！
公元前4世纪，马其顿的亚历山大征服了世界。一结束战争，亚历山大就决定，要把古希腊天才的成果撒播给全人类。他把这些成果从每个城镇乡村收集过来，并竭力让它们在新帝国雄伟的皇宫里开花结果。但是古希腊人一旦看不见自己的庙宇，感受不到自己迂回街道的声音和味道，就失去了快乐和中庸的感觉。要知道，他们为古老城邦的荣誉而工作时，正是这些快乐和中庸的感觉激励着他们的体力和脑力劳动。如今，他们变成了廉价的工匠，只满足于二流作品。一旦古希腊的小城邦丧失了主权，就只能成为大国的一部分，古希腊的精神也就灭亡了，而且一去不复返。