ONE MIGHT have supposed that the historians, who ascribe the actions of the masses to the will of one man, would have found it impossible to explain the retreat of the French on their theory, considering that they did everything possible during this period of the campaign to bring about their own ruin, and that not a single movement of that rabble of men, from their turning into the Kaluga road up to the flight of the commander from his army, showed the slightest trace of design.
有人可能会认为历史学家把群众的行动归因于一个人的意愿，他们可能会发现在解释法国人撤退的理论上有困难，特别是考虑到在这次战役期间他们竭尽所能地自取灭亡，从他们转进卡卢加路直到指挥官逃离军队期间，群体的每一个行动都没有一丝设计的痕迹。

But no! Mountains of volumes have been written by historians upon this campaign, and in all of them we find accounts of Napoleon’s masterly arrangements and deeply considered plans; —
但事实并非如此！历史学家们已经写了大量的著作，都在描述拿破仑的高明安排和深思熟虑的计划； —

of the strategy with which the soldiers were led, and the military genius showed by the marshals.
描述了士兵们如何被领导，以及元帅们所展示的军事天才。

The retreat from Maley Yaroslavets, when nothing hindered Napoleon from passing through a country abundantly furnished with supplies, and the parallel road was open to him, along which Kutuzov afterwards pursued him—this wholly unnecessary return by a road through devastated country is explained to us as due to various sagacious considerations. —
关于从马列雅罗斯拉韦茨撤退的事情，纵然拿破仑没有任何阻碍能够通过一个充足供应的国家，而与之平行的道路也向他敞开，库图佐夫后来沿着这条道路追击他——然而这次完全无必要的向通过毁坏的国家的道路滞后撤退，在这些蔬菜里我们被解释成是出于各种深思熟虑的考虑。 —

Similar reasons are given us for Napoleon’s retreat from Smolensk to Orsha. Then we have a description of his heroism at Krasnoe, when he is reported to have prepared to give battle, and to take the command, and coming forward with a birch stick in his hand, to have said:
类似的原因也被用来解释拿破仑从斯摩棱斯克撤退到奥尔沙。然后我们对他在克拉斯诺耶的英勇事迹有了描述，据报道他准备发起战斗，担任指挥，并神奇地用一根白桦木棍走了出来，说道：

“Long enough I have been an emperor, it is time now to be a general!”
“我作为皇帝已经足够长时间了，现在是成为一名将军的时候了！”

Yet in spite of this, he runs away immediately afterwards, abandoning the divided army in the rear to the hazards of destiny.
尽管如此，他随后立刻逃跑，将分散的军队置于后方的命运之中。

Then we have descriptions of the greatness of some of the marshals, especially of Ney—a greatness of soul that culminated in his taking a circuitous route by the forests across the Dnieper, and fleeing without his flags, his artillery, and nine-tenths of his men into Orsha.
然后我们对一些元帅的伟大进行了描述，尤其是对内伊的伟大——这种伟大的灵魂在穿过涅普尔的森林中选择绕道而行，并带着他的旗帜、火炮和九分之九的士兵逃到奥尔沙。

And lastly, the final departure of the great Emperor from his heroic army is represented by the historians as something great—a stroke of genius.
最后，伟大皇帝与他英勇的军队的最终离别在历史学家眼中被描绘为伟大的一招，一个天才的举动。

Even that final act of running away—which in homely language would be described as the lowest depth of baseness, such as every child is taught to feel ashamed of—even that act finds justification in the language of the historians.
甚至那最后的逃跑行为，从常用的语言角度来看，似乎是最卑鄙可耻的，任何一个孩子都会被教育感到羞愧，然而在历史学家们的描述中，这个行为依然可以找到合理的解释。

When it is impossible to stretch the elastic thread of historical argument further, when an action is plainly opposed to what all humanity is agreed in calling right and justice, the historians take refuge in the conception of greatness. —
当历史论证的弹性线再也无法被拉伸时，当一个行为明显违背所有人类公认的正义和公平时，历史学家们会寻求伟大的概念来作为避难所。 —

Greatness would appear to exclude all possibility of applying standards of right and wrong. —
伟大似乎排除了运用对错标准的可能性。 —

For the great man—nothing is wrong. There is no atrocity which could be made a ground for blaming a great man.
对于伟大的人来说，没有什么是错的。没有残暴行为可以成为指责伟大人物的理由。

“C’est grand!” cry the historians; and at that word good and bad have ceased to be, and there are only “grand” and not “grand. —
“这真伟大！”历史学家大喊着，于是好与坏不复存在，只有“伟大”和非“伟大”。 —

” “Grand” is equivalent to good, and not “grand” to bad. —
被他们称为英雄的特殊存在，被他们认为是伟大的特点。 —

To be grand is to their notions the characteristic of certain exceptional creatures, called by them heroes. —
拥抱着温暖的皮毛披风，拼命赶回家远离那些不仅是他的同志，更是（在他的信念中）由他一手带来的人们的拥护。拿破仑觉得这真伟大。 —

And Napoleon, wrapping himself in his warm fur cloak and hurrying home away from men, who were not only his comrades, but (in his belief) brought there by his doing, feels que c’est grand; —
他的灵魂得到了满足。 —

and his soul is content.
“从崇高到荒谬只有一步而已”，他说（他在自己身上看到了伟大的东西）。

“Du sublime au ridicule il n’y a qu’un pas,” he says (he sees something grand in himself). —
整个世界已经持续了五十年的重复： —

And the whole world has gone on for fifty years repeating: —
崇高！伟大！拿破仑大帝。 —

Sublime! Grand! Napoleon the Great.
“从崇高到荒谬只有一步而已。”

“Du sublime au ridicule il n’y a qu’un pas.”
没有任何人会想到，承认一个无法用对错标准来衡量的伟大，只是接受自己的渺小和微不足道。

And it never enters any one’s head that to admit a greatness, immeasurable by the rule of right and wrong, is but to accept one’s own nothingness and immeasurable littleness.
请注意，这里的“伟大”不是真正的伟大，只是人们的想象。

For us, with the rule of right and wrong given us by Christ, there is nothing for which we have no standard. —
对于我们来说，基督赋予了我们关于是非的规则，没有任何事情是没有我们的标准的。 —

And there is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.
在没有简朴、善良和真理的地方，就没有伟大。