THE LIFE and History of Aesop is involved, like that of Homer, the most famous of Greek poets, in much obscurity. —-
像荷马一样，伊索的生活和历史也有很多不明处。 —-

Sardis, the capital of Lydia; Samos, a Greek island; —-
萨尔迪斯，是里底亚的首都；萨莫斯，是一个希腊岛屿； —-

Mesembria, an ancient colony in Thrace; —-
米森布里亚，是色雷斯的一座古代殖民地； —-

and Cotiaeum, the chief city of a province of Phrygia, contend for the distinction of being the birthplace of Aesop. Although the honor thus claimed cannot be definitely assigned to any one of these places, yet there are a few incidents now generally accepted by scholars as established facts, relating to the birth, life, and death of Aesop. He is, by an almost universal consent, allowed to have been born about the year 620 B.C., and to have been by birth a slave. —-
科提埃姆，是弗里吉亚省的主要城市，争夺着成为伊索的出生地的荣誉。虽然这个荣誉不能明确地归属于这些地方中的任何一个，但是有一些事件现在被学者普遍接受为确立的关于伊索的出生、生活和死亡的事实。几乎普遍认为他出生于公元前620年左右，并且出生时是个奴隶。 —-

He was owned by two masters in succession, both inhabitants of Samos, Xanthus and Jadmon, the latter of whom gave him his liberty as a reward for his learning and wit. —-
他先后为两个主人所拥有，两者都是萨莫斯的居民，先是赞托斯，然后是雅德蒙，后者赐予他自由作为对他学问和智慧的奖励。 —-

One of the privileges of a freedman in the ancient republics of Greece, was the permission to take an active interest in public affairs; —-
在古希腊的共和国中，被释放的人享有一项特权，那就是可以积极参与公共事务。 —-

and Aesop, like the philosophers Phaedo, Menippus, and Epictetus, in later times, raised himself from the indignity of a servile condition to a position of high renown. —-
而伊索，就像哲学家费多、慕尼普斯和爱比克提托斯一样，后来也从卑微的地位上升到了崇高的声望地位。 —-

In his desire alike to instruct and to be instructed, he travelled through many countries, and among others came to Sardis, the capital of the famous king of Lydia, the great patron, in that day, of learning and of learned men. —-
在他既希望教导别人又希望被教导的愿望下，他在许多国家旅行，其中包括来到莱底亚国王的首都萨尔迪斯，那时是学问和学者们的伟大保护者。 —-

He met at the court of Croesus with Solon, Thales, and other sages, and is related so to have pleased his royal master, by the part he took in the conversations held with these philosophers, that he applied to him an expression which has since passed into a proverb, “The Phrygian has spoken better than all.”
他在克罗伊索斯的宫廷遇见了索伦、塞利诺斯和其他贤士，并据说他在与这些哲学家的对话中表现出色，以至于克罗伊索斯称赞他，说：“那个弗里吉亚人说得比所有人都好。”这个表达后来成为一句谚语。

On the invitation of Croesus he fixed his residence at Sardis, and was employed by that monarch in various difficult and delicate affairs of State. In his discharge of these commissions he visited the different petty republics of Greece. —-
应克罗伊索斯的邀请，他定居在萨尔迪斯，并被这位君主委以各种困难而微妙的国务。在履行这些任务时，他参观了希腊的不同小共和国。 —-

At one time he is found in Corinth, and at another in Athens, endeavouring, by the narration of some of his wise fables, to reconcile the inhabitants of those cities to the administration of their respective rulers Periander and Pisistratus. —-
有一次他被发现在科林斯，另一次又在雅典，通过讲一些智慧寓言的方式，他试图使这些城市的居民接受他们各自统治者佩里安德和皮西斯特拉图斯的管理。 —-

One of these ambassadorial missions, undertaken at the command of Croesus, was the occasion of his death. —-
其中一次大使任务是根据克罗伊索斯的命令执行的，而这次任务也导致了他的死亡。 —-

Having been sent to Delphi with a large sum of gold for distribution among the citizens, he was so provoked at their covetousness that he refused to divide the money, and sent it back to his master. —-
他被派去德尔斐给市民分发一大笔金钱，但对他们的贪婪感到非常愤怒，因此拒绝将金钱分开，并将其退还给主人。 —-

The Delphians, enraged at this treatment, accused him of impiety, and, in spite of his sacred character as ambassador, executed him as a public criminal. —-
德尔斐人对此非常愤怒，他们指责他不虔诚，并尽管他是圣洁的大使，却将他作为公共罪犯处决。 —-

This cruel death of Aesop was not unavenged. —-
这种残忍的刑罚并没有得到报应。 —-

The citizens of Delphi were visited with a series of calamities, until they made a public reparation of their crime; —-
德尔斐市民遭受了一系列的灾难，直到他们公开赔偿他们的罪行。 —-

and, “The blood of Aesop” became a well — known adage, bearing witness to the truth that deeds of wrong would not pass unpunished. —-
“伊索的血”成为一个众所周知的格言，证明了恶行不会无罪而返。 —-

Neither did the great fabulist lack posthumous honors; —-
这位伟大的寓言作家也没有缺少死后的荣誉; —-

for a statue was erected to his memory at Athens, the work of Lysippus, one of the most famous of Greek sculptors. —-
因为在雅典竖立了一尊纪念他的雕像，由著名的希腊雕塑家利西波斯创作。 —-

Phaedrus thus immortalizes the event:
费德鲁斯这样永载此事:

Aesopo ingentem statuam posuere Attici,
希腊人竖立了一尊巨大的雕像给了伊索，

Servumque collocarunt aeterna in basi:
并在永恒的基座上设立了一座奴隶:

Patere honoris scirent ut cuncti viam;
以示所有人都知道荣誉的路径;

Nec generi tribui sed virtuti gloriam.
不是为了血统而是为了美德的荣耀。

These few facts are all that can be relied on with any degree of certainty, in reference to the birth, life, and death of Aesop. They were first brought to light, after a patient search and diligent perusal of ancient authors, by a Frenchman, M. Claude Gaspard Bachet de Mezeriac, who declined the honor of being tutor to Louis XIII of France, from his desire to devote himself exclusively to literature. —-
这些事实是关于伊索的出生、生活和死亡的唯一可以确定的一些事实。这些事实是在对古代作家进行耐心搜寻和研读后首次见诸光明的，由法国人克洛德·加斯帕·巴舍·德·麦泽里亚克先生揭示出来。他拒绝了成为法国路易十三王的家庭教师的荣誉，因为他希望全身心地致力于文学。 —-

He published his Life of Aesop, Anno Domini 1632. —-
他于公元1632年出版了《伊索传》。 —-

The later investigations of a host of English and German scholars have added very little to the facts given by M. Mezeriac. —-
后来由一系列英国和德国学者进行的调查对M. Mezeriac提供的事实几乎没有增加多少。 —-

The substantial truth of his statements has been confirmed by later criticism and inquiry. —-
后来的批评和调查已经证实了他声明的实质性真相。 —-

It remains to state, that prior to this publication of M. Mezeriac, the life of Aesop was from the pen of Maximus Planudes, a monk of Constantinople, who was sent on an embassy to Venice by the Byzantine Emperor Andronicus the elder, and who wrote in the early part of the fourteenth century. —-
值得一提的是，在M. Mezeriac发表这篇文章之前，Aesop的生平是由君士坦丁堡的修道士Maximus Planudes撰写的，他曾被拜占庭帝国的安德洛尼卡斯前任皇帝派遣到威尼斯进行使节工作，并在14世纪初撰写了这篇文章。 —-

His life was prefixed to all the early editions of these fables, and was republished as late as 1727 by Archdeacon Croxall as the introduction to his edition of Aesop. This life by Planudes contains, however, so small an amount of truth, and is so full of absurd pictures of the grotesque deformity of Aesop, of wondrous apocryphal stories, of lying legends, and gross anachronisms, that it is now universally condemned as false, puerile, and unauthentic. —-
他的生平被编入所有早期版本的寓言集，并在1727年由牧师Croxall重新出版，作为他对Aesop寓言集的引言。然而，Planudes的生平所包含的真相微乎其微，充斥着关于Aesop奇形怪状的荒谬描绘，虚假的传说和明显的时代错误，因此现在被普遍认为是虚假、不成熟和不可信的。 —-

1 It is given up in the present day, by general consent, as unworthy of the slightest credit.
1 如今，凭借一致的共识，人们普遍认为这完全不值得信任一丝。

G.F.T.
G.F.T.