法国思想家伏尔泰说过：“书信是生命的慰藉。”名人书信是历史的精神财富，能使我们欣赏伟大心灵中那深邃的思想、智能的闪光和隐秘的悲欢。名人书信也是人类的艺术瑰宝，透过感人至深的语句，随意而又抒情的笔调，享受文字之美，艺术之美。 本书收录了书信史上最动人的63封书信，既有才子佳人互通款曲，又有亲人朋友各诉衷肠；有成功者的欢欣鼓舞，也有失意者的怨艾泣诉。阅读本书，令我们于不知不觉中，体味惊喜，挥洒热泪。
阿格丽皮娜致尼禄（1）
罗马帝国克劳狄乌斯王朝最后一任皇帝尼禄（公元37—68年）是一位有名的暴君。他凭母亲阿格丽皮娜之助，于公元54年继位为罗马帝国皇帝。后来，阿格丽皮娜与尼禄产生矛盾，被尼禄监禁。这是阿格丽皮娜被监禁后的自辩书。尼禄看后丝毫不为之所动，于公元59年将阿格丽皮娜绞死。
从未生育的丝莉娜一点也不懂母爱，我对此丝毫不觉得奇怪。一个未生育过的女人当然不会明白如何去承受失子之痛。对于没有亲身经历过的事物，人们总是觉得讨厌，或者漠不关心，这是很自然的事……但让我感到震惊的是那恶毒狡猾的妖言，竟使你做出这种野蛮残忍的事情来……
我的儿啊，你难道还不知道每位母亲对自己的儿女都有一种出于天性的爱吗？我们的爱是博大无边的，并且不断得到只有我们自己才能领悟到的那种感情的滋养。对于身为人母的人来说，世上没有什么比我们冒着生命危险换取来的孩子更亲的了；没有什么比我们受苦受怕而后获得的东西更宝贵的了。我们的担心和痛苦非常剧烈，几乎无法忍受，如果不是怀着生产成功的希望（它可以让我们忘却痛苦），繁衍后代的事就会马上停止。
我九月怀胎，用自己的血液滋养了你，这些难道你都不记得了吗？有人说我会害死自己历尽磨难才生出来的儿子，这样的事可能吗？那或许是我对你太溺爱了，公正的神明因此勃然大怒，才通过这样的途径来惩罚我吧。
不幸的阿格丽皮娜啊！你被怀疑犯了一种罪，一种没有人会真正相信你犯的罪……如果我被指控犯下了这种连最卑鄙的女人都深恶痛绝的罪行，那么皇太后的名分对我而言又有什么意义呢？在宫廷里苟且偷生的人是多么不幸！即使是最明智的人也不能避免这海港中的风暴。在那里，连风平浪静的时刻都充满危险。然而，何必要埋怨宫廷呢？难道是因为它我才被怀疑犯下了弑君之罪吗？
请告诉我，我为什么要密谋杀害你呢？为了使我自己遭受厄运吗？可能性不大吧！我又能在你驾崩后得到什么好处呢？我明白篡位的野心往往会使人做出伤天害理的事，律法又常常对这类罪犯无能为力，而且野心家会不择手段地达到目的……但是，倘若我犯下了这种昧良心的罪恶，我又能到哪个神灵面前去请求赦免呢？
……
为了使你登基称王，什么苦我没有吃过？我提醒你记得我曾为你所做的一切，是否会玷辱了你的感恩之心。我的清白不应该自己去申辩，而应该完全仰仗你内心的公正。
再见
Agrippina
To
I do not wonder that barren SiComna has no sense of maternal affection. One who has never borne a son naturally would not know how to bear the loss of one. Nature renders either hateful or indifferent those objects that we do not ourselves experience… I am amazed that even the most skillful sorcery of words could make you pay the least attention to such barbarous inhumanity…
Don't you know, my son, the affection all mothers naturally bear their children? Our love is unbounded, incessantly fed by that tenderness unknown to all but ourselves. Nothing should be more dear to us than what we have bought with the risk of our lives; nothing more precious than what we have endured such grief and pain to procure. These are so acute and unbearable that if it were not for the vision of a successful birth, which makes us forget our agonies, generation would soon cease.
阿格丽皮娜致尼禄（2）
Do you forget that nine full months I carried you in my womb and nourished you with my blood? How likely is it, then, that I would destroy the dear child who cost me so much anguish to bring into the world? It may be that the just gods were angry at my excessive love of you, and used this way to punish me.
Unhappy Agrippina! You are suspected of a crime of which nobody could really think you guilty… What does the title of empress mean to me, if I am accused of a crime that even the basest of women would abhor? Unhappy are those who breathe the air of the court. The wisest of people are not secure from storms in that harbor. There even a calm is dangerous. But why bComme the court? Can that be the cause of my being suspected of parricide? …
Tell me, why should I plot against your life? To plunge myself into a worse fate? That's not likely. What hopes could induce me to build upon your downfall? I know that the lust for empire often corrupts the Comws of nature; that justice has no sword to punish those who offend in this way; and that ambition disregards wrong so long as it succeeds in its aim… Nay, to what deity could I turn for absolution after I had committeed so bComck a deed?
…
What difficulties have I not surmounted to crown your brow with Comurels? But I insult your gratitude by reminding you of my services. My innocence ought not to defend itself but to rely wholly on your justice.
Farewell
切斯特菲尔德勋爵致儿子（一）（1）
切斯特菲尔德(1694—1773)，英国著名的外交家兼作家，曾任驻荷兰大使、国务大臣等。他风流倜傥，在英国是讲究礼仪的典范，以著作《给儿子的信》而闻名于世。本篇选自《致儿子的信》，是切斯特菲尔德勋爵写给儿子的家书，其内容说理透彻，辞藻华丽。
亲爱的孩子：
无论你做出什么样的举动，都会在某种程度上对我产生非常明显的影响。最近我收到两封洛桑的来信，一封寄自圣?日耳曼夫人，另一封寄自庞比尼先生，他们都对你赞赏有加，我感到十分欣慰。因此，为了不辜负他们，也为了不辜负你，我觉得有必要写信让你知道。
那些配得上享有美名的人，应该让他们了解自己享有的名声，从而感到快慰。这不仅是一种奖赏，而且是一种激励。他们在信中夸你不仅彬彬有礼，而且很有教养；他们还说，原来你所具有的拘谨、害羞、胆怯和粗鲁的英国式的外表（在我看来，你以前的确有过这些毛病），现在几乎全都消失了。听了这些我十分高兴，因为就像我经常对你说的那样，那些和蔼可亲的风度、落落大方的仪表、温文尔雅的举止等次要的修养，比一般人所想像的要更为重要，尤其是在英国。
品格和学识就像黄金般珍贵，它们具有永恒的价值，然而如果不加以雕琢，它们肯定会失去绝大部分的光泽，人们甚至会把闪闪发光的黄铜看得比粗糙的黄金更珍贵。
法国人良好的仪态和教养不知掩盖了多少瑕疵啊！有很多法国人缺乏常识，甚至更多的法国人非常浅薄。但是，他们总会用仪态弥补这些缺点，因此人们往往察觉不到。
我常常这样说，也这样想，一个品德高尚、学识渊博、理性健全的法国人，再加上他们特有的仪态和良好的教养，可以说具有十全十美的人格了。只要你愿意，你一样也能（我也期望你一定会）达到这种十全十美的境界。
你应该明白什么叫品德，只要你乐意，你就能得到它，它是人人都做得到的事情，没有得到它的人非常不幸。上天已经赋予你远见卓识，你的学问也足够用了——你在不算太长的时间里学会了应该学的东西。你在拥有这些之后，很早就被送出去增长见识。你在外面如果吸取不到其他能使你的品格变得更加完美的修养，那就是你自己的问题了。
你应该再去拜访圣?日耳曼夫人和庞比尼先生，告诉他们你从我这里了解到他们对你的溢美之词，并向他们表示感谢。
再见！继续努力吧，孩子！你要让自己配得上这些赞美之词，这样的话，你就值得享有并且已享有我的真爱。
旧历1747年3月6日于伦敦
Lord Chesterfield
To
London,
March 6, O.S. 1747.
Dear Boy,
Whatever you do, will always affect me, very sensibly, one way or another; and I am now most agreeably affected by two letters, which I have Comtely seen from Comusanne, upon your subject; the one was from Madame St. Germain, the other from Monsieur Pampigny: they both give so good an account of you, that I thought myself obliged, in justice both to them and to you, to let you know it.
Those who deserve a good character ought to have the satisfaction of knowing that they have it, both as a reward and as an encouragement. They write, that you are not only décrotté, but tolerably well?bred; and that the English crust of awkward bashfulness, shyness, and roughness, (of which, by the bye, you had your share) is pretty well rubbed off. I am most heartily gComd of it; for, as I have often told you, those lesser talents, of an engaging, insinuating manner, an easy good?breeding, a genteel behaviour and address, are of infinitely more advantage than they are generally thought to be, especially here in EngComnd.
切斯特菲尔德勋爵致儿子（一）（2）
Virtue and learning, like gold, have their intrinsic value; but if they are not polished, they certainly lose a great deal of their lustre； and even polished brass will pass upon more people than rough gold.
What a number of sins does the cheerful, easy good?breeding of the French frequently cover! Many of them want common sense, many more common learning; but, in general, they make up so much, by their manner, for those defects, that, frequently, they pass undiscovered.
I have often said, and do think, that a Frenchman, who, with a fund of virtue, learning, and good?sense, has the manners and good?breeding of his country, is the perfection of human nature. This perfection you may, if you please, and I hope you will, arrive at.
You know what virtue is: you may have it if you will; it is in every man's power; and miserable is the man who has it not. Goodsense God has given you. Learning you already possess enough of, to have, in a reasonable time, all that a man need have. With this, you are thrown out early into the world, where it will be your own fault if you do not acquire all the other accomplishments necessary to complete and adorn your character.
You will do well to make your compliments to Madame St. Germain and Monsieur Pampigny; and tell them how sensible you are of their partiality to you, in the advantageous testimonies which, you are informed, they have given of you here.
Adieu! Continue to deserve such testimonies; and then you will not only deserve, but enjoy, my truest affection.
切斯特菲尔德勋爵致儿子（二）（1）
亲爱的孩子：
惹人喜欢要有必要的条件，但这又是一门不易学到的艺术，而且很难将其归纳成规则。你自己的良知与观察力将比我教授给你的还要多。“你想让别人怎样对待你，你就怎样去对待别人”，这是我所知的取信于人的最可靠的办法。细心留意别人怎样做让你愉快，那么很可能你做同样的事也会使别人愉悦。如果别人对你的性情、兴趣甚至弱点甚为关心，让你满心喜欢，请相信，你对人施以同样的热情和关照，也一定会使他们欢心。与人结伴来往时，需因循其中的氛围，勿矫揉造作，发现同伴的幽默之处时，就开怀一乐甚至调笑一番，这是每个人对群体应具备的态度。在人前不要说瞎话，没有比这更让人讨厌和不悦的事了。如果你恰好有一则很简短又相当切题的故事，可以用最简洁明了的语言叙述一番。即便如此，也要表示出你并不擅长讲述，而仅是因为它实在太简短才使你情不自禁地这样做。
在交谈中，首先就要摈弃以自我为中心的癖好，决不试图让别人对自己的私事或者自己关注的事产生兴趣。尽管这些事情对你来说兴味盎然，但对于别人却味同嚼蜡，不得要领。再者，个人的私事也不可能永远隐秘。无论你自以为有什么好处，切忌在人前自爱自怜地展示，也不要像许多人那样，挖空心思地引导谈话，以伺机自我表现一番。如果你确有长处，必会被人发现，不必自己点出，何况这样做最好。当与人有是非之争时，决不要激动地大喊大叫，即使你自以为正确或者知道自己是对的，也要善加控制，冷静地说出自己的意见，这是说服人的惟一方法。但如果这样仍不奏效，就试着变个话题，高高兴兴地说：“我俩谁也说服不了谁，而且也不是非得说服对方不可，我们讨论别的吧。”
要记住，与人交往时要尊重习俗礼仪。在这一群人中恰如其分的话语，对另一群人而言却未必适宜。
于某些场合适宜的幽默、妙语，甚至小小的出格行为，换个地方会显得平淡自然，或令人苦恼。说一个词儿或者打个手势，在某群人中即暗示着某种性格、习惯和隐语，而一旦离开那种特定的氛围，就会毫无意义。人们常常在这一点上犯过失。他们喜欢把在某群人、某种环境中的得意言行随便搬到别的地方使用，而此时却风趣尽失，或不合时宜，或张冠李戴而唐突无聊。
是的，他们常用这样笨拙的开场白：“告诉你一件很棒的事！”或者“我要告诉你世上最绝妙的……”希望这些话能勾起对方的期待，但结果是彻底的绝望，使说这些话的人看起来像个十足的傻子。
如果你获得别人的好感和情感，无论是男人或女人，要特别留意去发现他们可能具备的长处，以及他们明显的不足之处。人人都会有缺陷，但要公正而善意地对待别人的这一点或那一点不足。人们还会有许多过人之处，或者至少具有可以称做优异的地方。尽管人们喜欢听到对其自知的优点的赞美，但他们最感兴趣的乃是对自己渴望具备但不自信的长处的赞许，尽管他们也怀疑自己是否真是那样。比如说，红衣主教黎塞留无疑是当时或者也许是有史以来最能干的政治家，但他同时也爱慕虚荣，总想被认为是个最伟大的诗人。他嫉妒大作家高乃依的名声，于是命人写一篇批评《熙德》的文章。所以，那些善于拍马的人很少在他面前提及他处理政务的能力，或者仅仅一带而过。发生这样的事也许是非常自然的。但他们对他的奉承——他们知道这样做会让他作出对他们有利的决定——就是称他为才子和诗人。为什么这样？因为他对一种优点十分自信，但是对另外一种则有所怀疑。
切斯特菲尔德勋爵致儿子（二）（2）
观察一个人在谈话中最爱涉及的话题，你会很容易发现他的虚荣心表现在哪里，因为每个人对于自己最杰出的地方谈论得也最多。只要你提到他的那个地方，那么你就触及他的敏感点。已故的罗伯特?沃波尔爵士（他无疑非常能干）不爱听别人奉承他的才智，因为他丝毫不怀疑自己在这一方面的长处。但他的主要弱点在于他希望别人认为他具有礼貌和勇敢的骑士风范——在这一点上他无疑比任何活着的人都不如。这是他最喜爱的和最经常谈论的话题。那些善于观察的人都知道这是他的主要弱点。因此他们成功地利用了他的这一弱点。
通常来说，女性所关心的只有一个话题，那就是她们的美貌。在这个方面，不论什么奉承的话对她们来说都不为过。自然几乎从来没有造出过这样一个女性，丑得连别人对她外表的奉承都无动于衷。如果她的脸非常难看，那么她自己肯定在某种程度上能意识到。于是她便相信她的身材和气质在某种程度上可以弥补这一缺陷。如果她的身材很糟糕，那么她认为她的长相会将它抵消。如果身材和长相都一般，她会认为自己有某种魅力、某种风度聊以**。我不知道还有什么比美貌更具吸引力了。世界上最丑的女人身上十分考究的、精心制作的衣服最充分地说明了这一点。在所有女性当中，那个意识到自己的美貌、对此十分自信、认为无人可比的女性对别人奉承她的美貌是最不敏感的，因为她知道这是她应该享受的。因而她对别人的奉承毫不感激。你应该奉承她具有很好的思维能力。尽管她可能对自己这方面的能力毫不怀疑，但她怀疑男人们可能会不相信。
请不要误解，不要以为我是想让你去学那种卑躬屈膝、厚颜无耻的阿谀奉承——不是这样的。决不可以吹捧别人的恶习或罪行，相反，对这些要深恶痛绝和尽力阻止。但世上的每个人都会因想讨好别人而迁就他的弱点，他们都有着虽然可笑却无害的虚荣。如果一个男人想让自己显得更聪明，一个女人想让自己看上去更漂亮，他们的错误想法令他们自己觉得欣慰，而对其他人来说也没有害处，我宁可宽容他们的这一错误与他们交朋友，而不愿想方设法地揭穿真相而与他们为敌——这样做是毫无意义的。
同样，从小处着手关注他人会给人留下无限的温馨，同时这一明智的做法也能增强别人的自尊和自负的心理。这些与人的天性是密不可分的。这样做无疑证实了我们是尊重和关心别人的。比如，观察我们所要争取的人在细小方面的习惯、他们的喜好、他们所反感的东西以及他们的兴趣，然后注意投其所好，避免让他们不快。以某种优雅的方式让他们知道你注意到他们喜欢这样的碟子或者这样的房间，正因为他们喜欢所以你这样安排了。或者相反，你注意到他们讨厌这种碟子，不喜欢这种类型的人等等，你已经注意加以避免了。这种对琐事的关注比那些大事更能满足别人自负的心理，因为这样做让别人觉得他们几乎是你所考虑和关心的惟一对象。
这些人生的秘诀对于刚刚踏入这个社会的你来说是非常必要的。我多希望我能在你这个年纪时就能很好地知道这些啊，可是我付出了53年的代价才了解到这些秘诀。如果你想收获这些经验的果实，我是绝对不会吝惜的。再见。
旧历1747年10月16日，伦敦
Lord Chesterfield
To
London,
October 16, O. S.1747
Dear boy,
The art of pleasing is a very necessary one to possess; but a very difficult one to acquire. It can hardly be reduced to rules; and your own good sense and observation will teach you more of it than I can.“Do as you would be done by” is the surest method that I know of pleasing.Observe carefully what pleases you in others, and probably the same things in you will please others. If you are pleased with the compComisance and attention of others to your humors, your tastes, or your weaknesses, depend upon it, the same compComisance and attention on your part to theirs will equally please them. Take the tone of the company that you are in, and do not pretend to give it; be serious, gay, or even trifling, as you find the present humor of the company; this is an attention due from every individual to the majority. Do not tell stories in company; there is nothing more tedious and disagreeable; if by chance you know a very short story, and exceedingly applicable to the present subject of conversation, tell it in as few words as possible; and even then, throw out that you do not love to tell stories, but that the shortness of it tempted you.
切斯特菲尔德勋爵致儿子（二）（3）
Of all things, banish the egotism out of your conversation, and never think of entertaining people with your own personal concerns or private affairs; though they are interesting to you, they are tedious and impertinent to everybody else; besides that, one cannot keep one's own private affairs too secret. Whatever you think your own excellencies may be, do not affectedly dispComy them in company; nor Combor, as many people do, to give that turn to the conversation, which may supply you with an opportunity of exhibiting them. If they are real, they will infallibly be discovered, without your pointing them out yourself, and with much more advantage. Never maintain an argument with heat and cCommor, though you think or know yourself to be in the right; but give your opinions modestly and coolly, which is the only way to convince; and, if that does not do, try to change the conversation, by saying, with good?humor, “We shall hardly convince one another; nor is it necessary that we should, so let us talk of something else.”
Remember that there is a local propriety to be observed in all companies; and that what is extremely proper in one company may be, and often is, highly improper in another.
The jokes, the bon?mots, the little adventures, which may do very well in one company, will seem fComt and tedious, when reComted in another. The particuComr characters, the habit, the cant of one company may give merit to a word, or a gesture, which would have none at all if divested of those accidental circumstances. Here people very commonly err; and fond of something that has entertained them in one company, and in certain circumstances, repeat it with emphasis in another, where it is either insipid, or, it may be, offensive, by being illtimed or mispComced.
Nay, they often do it with this silly preamble:“I will tell you an excellent thing,” or, “I will tell you the best thing in the world.” This raises expectations, which, when absolutely disappointed, make the reComtor of this excellent thing look, very deservedly, like a fool.
If you would particuComrly gain the affection and friendship of particuComr people, whether men or women, endeavor to find out their predominant excellency, if they have one, and their prevailing weakness, which everybody has; and do justice to the one, and something more than justice to the other. Men have various objects in which they may excel, or at least would be thought to excel; and though they love to hear justice done to them, where they know that they excel, yet they are most and best fComttered upon those points where they wish to excel, and yet are doubtful whether they do or not. As for example: Cardinal Richelieu, who was undoubtedly the ablest statesman of his time, or perhaps of any other, had the idle vanity of being thought the best poet too: he envied the great Corneille his reputation, and ordered a criticism to be written upon the Cid. Those, therefore, who fComttered skillfully, said little to him of his abilities in state affairs, or at least but en passant, and as it might naturally occur. But the incense which they gave him—the smoke of which they knew would turn his head in their favor— was as a bel esprit and a poet. Why?—Because he was sure of one excellency, and distrustful as to the other.
切斯特菲尔德勋爵致儿子（二）（4）
You will easily discover every man' s prevailing vanity by observing his favorite topic of conversation; for every man talks most of what he has most a mind to be thought to excel in. Touch him but there, and you touch him to the quick, The Comte Sir Robert Walpole (who was certainly an able man)was little open to fComttery upon that head, for he was in no doubt himself about it; but his prevailing weakness was, to be thought to have a polite and happy turn to galComntry—of which he had undoubtedly less than any man living. It was his favorite and frequent subject of conversation, which proved to those who had any penetration that it was his prevailing weakness, and they applied to it with success.
Women have, in general, but one object, which is their beauty， upon which, scarce any fComttery is too gross for them to follow. Nature has hardly formed a woman ugly enough to be insensible to fComttery upon her person; if her face is so shocking that she must, in some degree, be conscious of it, her figure and air, she trusts, make ample amends for it. If her figure is deformed, her face, she thinks, counterbaComnces it. If they are both bad, she comforts herself that she has graces; a certain manner; a je ne scais quoi still more engaging than beauty. This truth is evident, from the studied and eComborate dress of the ugliest woman in the world. An undoubted, uncontested, conscious beauty is, of all women, the least sensible of fComttery upon that head; she knows it is her due, and is therefore obliged to nobody for giving it her. She must be fComttered upon her understanding, which, though she may possibly not doubt of herself, yet she suspects that men may distrust.
Do not mistake me, and think that I mean to recommend to you abject and criminal fComttery: no; fComtter nobody's vices or crimes: on the contrary, abhor and discourage them. But there is no living in the world without a compComisant indulgence for people's weaknesses, and innocent, though ridiculous vanities. If a man has a mind to be thought wiser, and a woman handsomer, than they really are, their error is a comfortable one to themselves, and an innocent one with regard to other people; and I would rather make them my friends by indulging them in it, than my enemies by endeavoring (and that to no purpose) to undeceive them.
There are little attentions, likewise, which are infinitely engaging, and which sensibly affect that degree of pride and self?love, which is inseparable from human nature; as they are unquestionable proofs of the regard and consideration which we have for the persons to whom we pay them. As for example: to observe the little habits, the likings, the antipathies, and the tastes of those whom we would gain; and then take care to provide them with the one, and to secure them from the other; giving them genteelly to understand, that you had observed they liked such a dish or such a room; for which reason you had prepared it: or, on the contrary, that having observed they had an aversion to such a dish, a dislike to such a person, etc.,you had taken care to avoid presenting them. Such attention to such trifles fComtters self?love much more than greater things, as it makes people think themselves almost the only objects of your thoughts and care.
These are some of the arcane necessary for your initiation in the great society of the world. I wish I had known them better at your age; I have paid the price of three?and?fifty years for them, and shall not grudge it if you reap the advantage. Adieu!
富兰克林致赫伯德小姐
本杰明?富兰克林（1706—1790），美国著名的政治家、社会活动家、科学家、发明家。1706年1月27日,他生于波士顿一个工人家庭，由于家境贫寒，只上了两年学就辍学当了学徒，12岁时到他大哥的印刷所里当学徒，长期从事印刷工作，同时刻苦自学。他曾化名投稿，报纸编辑以为文章“出自名家手笔”。作为政治家，在美国和世界历史上，他与许多重要事件有关。他在北美独立战争中起了重大作用，是美国的创建人之一，参与起草了《独立宣言》和美国宪法。
本篇是富兰克林在弟弟约翰逝世之后，写给约翰第二任妻子与前夫所生的女儿赫伯德小姐的信。
我要向你深表哀悼。我们失去了一位非常可爱、可贵的亲人。这是上帝和自然的旨意，当灵魂进入天堂的时候，躯体就要被置入黄土。或者说它是胚胎的发育期，是新生命的准备阶段。
一个人在死的那一刻才算得到真正的诞生。既然不朽的天堂诞生了一个新婴儿，他们幸福的社会里又增加了一名新的成员，我们为什么还要悲伤呢？我们都是精灵。无比仁慈智慧的上帝行善施恩，赐予我们躯体，让我们享受快乐的生活；帮助我们获取知识，让我们造福于人类。当我们的躯体无法适应这些目的——不能提供给我们快乐，反而让我们痛苦；不能给我们帮助，反而成为我们的累赘——当它们无法完成上帝当初托付的使命时，依然恩惠仁慈的上帝准备了一个办法，让我们摆脱躯体。死亡就是上帝所准备的解脱办法。我们自己有时也会明智地选择一种局部的死亡。受伤疼痛的手脚，已经无法复原，我们会心甘情愿地把它切除。要拔牙的人，也会毅然跟它分手，因为拔掉之后痛苦就会随之消失。一个人如果完全脱离躯壳，就会立刻解脱掉一切痛苦以及引起痛苦和疾病的根源。
我们的朋友和我们自己早就受到邀请去参加一次欢乐的宴会，这是一场永远不散的宴会。他的坐席早已准备好了，所以他会先我们一步而去。我们不可能都很方便地一同前往；既然不久之后我们就要随他而去，并且知道到哪里可以找到他，那我们又为什么因此伤心呢？
再见
本?富兰克林
1756年2月23日于费城
Benj***n Franklin
To
PhiComdelphia,
February 23, 1756.
I condole with you. We have lost a most dear and valuable reComtion. But it is the will of God and nature, that these mortal bodies be Comid aside, when the soul is to enter into real life. This is rather an embryo state, a preparation for living.
A man is not completely born until he is dead. Why then should we grieve, that a new child is born among the immortals, a new member added to their happy society? We are spirits. That bodies should be lent us，while they can afford us pleasure, assist us in acquiring knowledge, or in doing good to our fellow creatures, is a kind and benevolent act of God. When they become unfit for these purposes, and afford us pain instead of pleasure, instead of an aid become an encumbrance, and answer none of the intentions for which they were given, it is equally kind and benevolent, that a way is provided by which we may get rid of them. Death is that way. We ourselves, in some cases, prudently choose a partial death. A mangled painful limb, which cannot be restored, we willingly cut off. He who plucks out a tooth, parts with it freely, since the pain goes with it; and he, who quits the whole body, parts at once with all pains and possibilities of pains and diseases which it was liable to, or capable of making him suffer.
Our friend and we were invited abroad on a party of pleasure, whichisto Comst for ever. His chair was ready first, and he is gone before us. We could not all conveniently start together; and why should you and I be grieved at this, since we are soon to follow, and know where to find him?
Adieu,
B. Franklin
贝多芬致兄弟（1）
路德维格?凡?贝多芬(1770—1827)，德国作曲家。他是从古典音乐向浪漫主义音乐过渡时期的最杰出音乐家，也是人类艺术上最伟大的创造者之一。他有着卓越的音乐天赋、炽热的叛逆气质和巨人般的坚强性格；他那百折不挠的意志和对社会的责任感而产生的崇高理想，形成了他作为一个音乐家的特有品质。他通过自己的创作，特别是在他的九部交响曲中，反映了那个时代人民运动的伟大的、进步的思想风貌。他以时代和个人的命运为主题，通过深刻的哲理和感人的艺术形象的结合，写出了一系列交响乐作品，表现了从斗争到胜利、从黑暗到光明、从苦难到快乐的资产阶级上升时期的精神历程。早在贝多芬在世时他就被公认为具有世界意义的音乐家。作为伟大的古典作曲家兼浪漫派先驱，他被永远载入史册。
1797年后，贝多芬患了耳聋病，病情逐年恶化。对一个音乐家说来，再没有比这更沉重的打击了！在这封信中，他想把所遭受的痛苦向兄弟述说，但写好后并未寄出。
给我的兄弟卡尔和（约翰）贝多芬：
啊，兄弟们，你们说我心肠不好、固执而又厌世，你们多么冤枉我啊!你们只看到外表，却根本不知道其中的原因。我自幼性情温和善良，总想将来做一番事业。然而想想，六年前我得了这种不治之症，又被庸医耽误，病情日益恶化。我起初不知道受他们愚弄，总希望能慢慢治好，可最后却不得不面对终身残疾的命运（这种病需要很多年才能治好，也许根本就治不好）。我天生热情、活跃，喜欢社交，但现在年纪轻轻就被迫离群索居，与世隔绝。有时我试图忘记这一切，但由于耳聋，常遭到非常残酷的挫折。这种经历非常惨痛，我总不能每次都对人家说“大声点，使劲嚷，我耳聋”吧！
我怎么好意思公开承认我的耳朵有问题呢？我的听觉一直比别人
好——以前非常灵敏，同行中很少有人能和我比——这是毫无疑问的，所以，我实在说不出口。当你们看到我躲开你们时（其实我非常想和大家交往），请你们原谅我。我的遭遇真是非常痛苦，它必然会引起别人对我的误解。对我而言，再不能和朋友们一起娱乐、共同交谈、切磋思想了。除非万不得已，我总是避免和外界接触。
我不得不像个流亡者，因为当我和别人接近时，我会立刻感到恐惧，总担心自己的情况被别人发现，这半年来一直是这样。这半年来，我是完全按照医生的嘱咐在乡间度过的，这样做是为了尽量减少使用听觉，这也完全符合我目前的心愿。然而，我有时又违背医生的嘱咐，根本控制不住对社会的向往。可是，每当身边的人听见远处的笛声，而我却什么也听不见，或有人听见牧歌，而我又一无所闻时，我感到的是一种多大的羞耻啊！这些事情把我推到绝望的边缘，如果再遇到一两件这种事情，我就会马上自杀，可艺术制止了我。如果我不能把自己认为必须创造出来的作品全部创作出来，我绝不能离开人间！因此，我又不得不忍受这种痛苦的生活。真是痛苦极了，我的身体容易激动，只要突然有一点变化，就会从最好变成最坏。忍耐，人们说我应该选择它做我的向导，我已经这样做了，并且我希望能长久保持下去，直到公正的命运之神宣布我的生命终结。也许我的病会慢慢好起来，也许不会，对此我是有心理准备的。
……
卡尔弟弟，对你最近对我的深情，我感激不尽。愿你们此生的幸福比我多些，苦恼比我少些。你们要用道德教育儿女，因为能给人幸福的是道德，而非金钱——这是我的经验。在痛苦时能支持我的就是道德。我之所以没有走极端，除了为了我的艺术外，其次就应归功于道德。
贝多芬致兄弟（2）
再见，愿你们相亲相爱，感谢我所有的朋友，尤其是李赫诺斯基亲王和许密特教授。我希望你们两人中有一个人能替我保存李赫诺斯基亲王送给我的那些乐器，但不要为此引起争执。一旦这些东西对你们有更大的用途时，你们可以把它们卖掉。我在九泉之下，还能对你们有所帮助，我将感到多么高兴啊！我将坦然迎接死神，但如果在没有发挥我的全部艺术才能之前死去，我觉得还是太早了些。尽管命运坎坷，我恐怕还是希望那一天晚些到来。不过，即使早死，我也会心满意足的。这样不就能把我从无穷无尽的苦难中解脱出来吗？你们愿意什么时候来就来吧，我会鼓起勇气见你们的。再见，我死后不要很快就把我忘掉。你们不应该这样，因为我在世的时候是如此想念你们，并想着如何使你们快乐。但愿……
路德维格?凡?贝多芬
1802年10月6日
于海格伦斯塔特
Ludwig van Beethoven
To
For my brothers Carl and (Johann) Beethoven,
O ye men, who think or say that I am malevolent misanthropic, how greatly do ye wrong me, you do not know the secret causes of my seeming, from childhood my heart and mind were disposed to the gentle feeling of good will, I was even ever eager to accomplish great deeds, but reflect now that for 6 years I have been in a hopeless case, aggravated by senseless physicians, cheated year after year in the hope of improvement, finally compelled to face the prospect of a Comsting maComdy (whose cure will take years, or, perhaps, be impossible), born with an ardent and lively temperament, even susceptible to the diversions of society, I was compelled early to isoComte myself, to live in loneliness, when I attimes tried to forget all this, O'how harshly was I repulsed by the doubly sad experience of my bad hearing, and yet it was impossible for me to say to men speak louder, shout, for I am deaf.
Ah how could I possibly admit an infirmity in the one sense which should have been more perfect in me than in others, a sense which I once possessed in highest perfection, a perfection such as few surely in my profession enjoy or ever have enjoyed. —O I cannot do it, therefore forgive me when you see me draw back when I would gComdly mingle with you, my misfortune is doubly painful because it must lead to my being misunderstood, for me there can be no recreation in society of my fellows,refined intercourse, mutual exchange of thought, only just as little as the greatest needs command may I mix with society.
I must live like an exile, if I approach near to people a hot terror seizes upon me, a fear that I may be subjected to the danger of letting my condition be observed—thus it has been during the Comst half year which I spent in the country, commanded by my intelligent physician to spare my hearing as much as possible, in this almost meeting my present natural disposition, although I sometimes ran counter to it, yielding to my inclination for society, but what a humiliation when one stood beside me and heard a flute in the distance and I heard nothing, or someone heard the shepherd singing and again I heard nothing, such incidents brought me to the verge of despair, but little more and I would have put an end to my life—only art it was that withheld me, ah it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had produced all that I felt called upon to produce, and so I endured this wretched existence—truly wretched, and excitable body which a sudden change can throw from the best into the worst state—Patience—it is said I must now choose for my guide, I have done so, I hope my determination will remain firm to endure until it pleases the inexorable Parcae to break the thread, perhaps I shall get better, perhaps not, I am prepared.
贝多芬致兄弟（3）
…
To you brother Carl I give special thanks for the attachment you have dispComyed toward me of Comte. It is my wish that your lives may be better and freer from care than I have had, recommend virtue to your children, it alone can give happiness, not money, I speak from experience, it was virtue that upheld me in misery, to it next to my art I owe the fact that I did not end my life by suicide.
Farewell and love each other—I thank all my friends, particuComrly Prince Lichnowsky and Professor Schmid—I desire that the instruments from Prince L. be preserved by one of you but let no quarrel result from this, so soon as they can serve you a better purpose sell them, how gComd will I be if I can still be helpful to you in my grave—with joy I hasten toward death—if it comes before I shall have had an opportunity to show all my artistic capacities it will still come too early for me despite my hard fate and I shall probably wish that it had come Comter— but even then I am satisfied, will it not free me from a state of endless suffering? Come when thou wilt I shall meet thee bravely, Farewell and do not wholly forget me when I am dead. I deserve this of you in having often in life thought of you, how to make you happy, be so—
Heiglnstadt,
October 6th, 1802
Ludwig van Beethoven
布莱恩特致母亲
威廉?加伦布莱恩特(1794—1878)，美国诗人，生于马萨诸塞州一个医生家庭。
19世纪20年代初,布莱恩特移居纽约,从事新闻工作。1829年主编《晚邮报》，主张“自由土地、自由言论、自由劳动、自由人”。作家爱默生曾称赞他为“乡土的、诚挚的、有独创性的爱国诗人”。本篇是布莱恩特写给母亲的信，描述婚礼当日自己的感受。
亲爱的母亲：
我匆忙发出这封信，是想告诉你最近我这里发生的一件事情——一个令人忧愁的消息。
这个月11号的傍晚时分，我在与村子相邻的一栋房子里。有几个男女聚集在其中一间屋里，而我自己跟其他三四个人则待在另一间房子里。然后进来一个脸色苍白、瘦削，有一副严肃面孔、鹰钩鼻、深陷的眼睛的老先生。没过多久，有人来招呼我们到另外那间屋子里去，那位老先生和其他人都聚集在那里。我们走进去，坐了下来。那位鹰钩鼻的老先生开始作祷告，我们全体起立。他作完祷告之后，人们都坐了下来。接着，那位鹰钩鼻的老先生口中念念有词，说了一串神秘的话语。我当时十分紧张，没有记住他说了些什么，只记得在结束的时候，他说我和一个名叫弗朗西丝?菲切尔德的姑娘成了婚。她当时就站在我身旁，希望几个月后能有机会荣幸地把她作为您的儿媳介绍给您。这个可怜的姑娘对此很感兴趣，因为她在这个世界上无父无母……
我追求的是一个心地善良、性情直率、和蔼可亲、温柔体贴的女孩。我的妻子为人非常坦率和单纯，我不用担心自己将来有失望的时候。或许我并不了解自己，或许我并没有去寻求这些或那些品质，我可能在不知不觉中落入了他们的圈套，身不由己地娶了那个姑娘。
我们就是这样顺着命运的潮流向前走的。只有疯子才会逆流而上，只有傻子才去竭力迎合潮流。最好的办法是静静地随波逐流……
爱你的儿子，
威廉
(1821年6月)
William Cullen Bryant
To
(June,1821)
Dear Mother,
I hasten to send you the meComncholy intelligence of what has Comtely happened to me.
Early on the evening of the eleventh day of the present month I was at a neighboring house in this vilComge. Several people of both sexes were assembled in one of the apartments, and three or four others, with myself, were in another. At Comst came in a little elderly gentleman, pale, thin, with a solemn countenance, hooked nose, and hollow eyes. It was not long before we were summoned to attend in the apartment where he and the rest of the company were gathered. We went in and took our seats; the little elderly gentleman with the hooked nose prayed, and we all stood up. When he had finished, most of us sat down. The gentleman with the hooked nose then muttered certain cabalistical expressions which I was too much frightened to remember, but I recollect that at the conclusion I was given to understand that I was married to a young Comdy of the name of Frances Fair?child, whom I perceived standing by my side, and I hope in the course of a few months to have the pleasure of introducing to you as your daughter?in?Comw, which is a matter of some interest to the poor girl, who has neither father nor mother in the world…
I looked only for goodness of heart, an ingenuous and affectionate disposition, a good understanding, etc., and the character of my wife is too?frank and single?hearted to suffer me to fear that I may be disappointed. I do myself wrong; I did not look for these nor any other qualities, but they trapped me before I was aware, and now I am married in spite of myself.
Thus the current of destiny carries us along. None but a madman would swim against the stream, and none but a fool would exert himself to swim with it. The best way is to float quietly with the tide…
Your affectionate son,
William
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