ONLY THE EXPRESSION of the will of the Deity, not depending on time, can relate to a whole series of events that have to take place during several years or centuries; —
只有神的意志的表达，不受时间的限制，能够涉及到需要在几年或几个世纪内发生的一系列事件； —

and only the Deity, acting by His will alone, not affected by any cause, can determine the direction of the movement of humanity. —
只有神，凭借祂自己的意志，不受任何原因的影响，才能确定人类的前进方向； —

Man acts in time, and himself takes part in the event.
人类行动发生在时间中，自己参与了事件；

Restoring the first condition that was omitted, the condition of time, we perceive that no single command can be carried out apart from preceding commands that have made the execution of the last command possible.
恢复被遗漏的第一个条件，时间的条件，我们发现没有一个单独的命令可以独立执行，它们都依赖于之前的命令，这些命令使得最后的命令的执行成为可能；

Never is a single command given quite independently and arbitrarily, nor does it cover a whole series of events. —
从未有一个命令是完全独立和任意的，也从未涵盖整个一系列事件； —

Every command is the sequel to some other; —
每一个命令都是前一个命令的续篇； —

and it never relates to a whole course of events, but only to one moment in those events.
它从来不涉及整个事件过程，只涉及在这些事件中的某个时刻；

When we say, for instance, that Napoleon commanded the army to go to fight, we sum up in one single expression a series of consecutive commands, depending one upon another. —
比如说，当我们说拿破仑命令军队去作战时，我们用一个表达包括了一系列连续的命令，彼此相依； —

Napoleon could not command a campaign against Russia, and never did command it. —
拿破仑不能指挥对俄罗斯的战役，从未指挥过； —

He commanded one day certain papers to be written to Vienna, to Berlin, and to Petersburg; —
他有一天命令写信给维也纳、柏林和圣彼得堡； —

next day certain decrees and instructions to the army, the fleet, and the commissariat, and so on and so on—millions of separate commands, making up a whole series of commands, corresponding to a series of events leading the French soldiers to Russia.
第二天给军队、舰队和后勤部门发布法令和指示，如此类推——数以百万计的单独命令，组成了一系列指令，对应着一系列事件，将法国士兵引向俄罗斯；

Napoleon was giving commands all through his reign for an expedition to England. —
拿破仑在他的统治期间一直发布命令准备远征英国； —

On no one of his undertakings did he waste so much time and so much effort, and yet not once during his reign was an attempt made to carry out his design. —
在他的计划中，他浪费了大量的时间和精力，然而在他统治期间从未试图执行他的计划； —

Yet he made an expedition against Russia, with which, according to his repeatedly expressed conviction, it was to his advantage to be in alliance; —
然而，他对抗俄罗斯进行了一次远征，根据他反复表达的信念来说，与俄罗斯结盟对他有利； —

and this is due to the fact that his commands in the first case did not, and in the second did, correspond with the course of events.
这是因为在第一种情况下，他的命令没有，而在第二种情况下有与事件的进展相符合的命令。

In order that a command should certainly be carried out, it is necessary that the man should give a command that can be carried out. —
为了确保命令能够被执行，就必须要求人们发出能够被执行的命令。 —

To know what can and what cannot be carried out is impossible, not only in the case of Napoleon’s campaign against Russia, in which millions took part, but even in the case of the simplest event, since millions of obstacles may always arise to prevent its being carried out. —
无论是拿破仑对俄罗斯的战役，还是最简单的事件，都无法确定什么能够执行，什么不能执行，因为总会出现无数障碍阻止其执行。 —

Every command that is carried out is always one out of a mass of commands that are not carried out. —
每一个被执行的命令都是那些未被执行的命令中的一个。 —

All the impossible commands are inconsistent with the course of events and are not carried out. —
所有不可能被执行的命令都与事件的进程相矛盾，因此无法被执行。 —

Only those which are possible are connected with consecutive series of commands, consistent with series of events, and they are carried out.
只有可能被执行的命令才与一系列连续的命令和事件相连，并且被执行。

Our false conception that the command that precedes an event is the cause of an event is due to the fact that when the event has taken place and those few out of thousands of commands, which happen to be consistent with the course of events, are carried out, we forget those which were not, because they could not be carried out. —
我们错误的观念是，事件之前的命令是事件的原因，这是因为当事件发生后，那些恰好与事件进程相一致的数以千计的命令被执行，而我们忘记了那些无法被执行的命令。 —

Apart from that, the chief source of our error arises from the fact that in the historical account a whole series of innumerable, various, and most minute events, as, for instance, all that led the French soldiers to Russia, are generalised into a single event, in accordance with the result produced by that series of events; —
此外，我们的错误主要来源于历史记载中，无数各种细微事件（如导致法国士兵进攻俄罗斯的一切）被概括为一个单一事件，与该事件的结果相一致。 —

and by a corresponding generalisation a whole series of commands too is summed up into a single expression of will.
通过相应的概括，整个系列的命令也被归纳为一个单一的意愿表达。

We say: Napoleon chose to invade Russia and he did so. —
我们说：拿破仑选择入侵俄罗斯，他就入侵了。 —

In reality we never find in all Napoleon’s doings anything like an expression of that design: —
实际上，在拿破仑的所有行动中，我们从未发现任何设计的表达： —

what we find is a series of commands or expressions of his will of the most various and undefined tendency. —
我们发现的只是一系列最各种各样、最不确定的命令或意愿表达。 —

Out of many series of innumerable commands of Napoleon not carried out, one series of commands for the campaign of 1812 was carried out; —
在拿破仑的众多未被执行的命令中，有一系列命令用于1812年的战役。 —

not from any essential difference between the commands carried out and those not carried out, but simply because the former coincided with the course of events that led the French soldiers into Russia; —
不是由于命令执行与未执行之间的实质差异，而仅仅是因为前者与导致法国士兵进入俄罗斯的事件相吻合； —

just as in stencil-work one figure or another is sketched, not because the colours are laid on this side or in that way, but because on the figure cut out in stencil, colours are laid on all sides.
就像在模板工作中，选择绘制一种或另一种图案，并不是因为颜色放置在这一侧或那一侧，而是因为在剪出的模板图案上，颜色可以放置在任何一侧；

So that examining in time the relation of commands to events, we find that the command can never in any case be the cause of the event, but that a certain definite dependence exists between them. —
因此，当及时检查命令与事件之间的关系时，我们发现命令在任何情况下都不能成为事件的原因，但它们之间存在一定的依赖关系； —

To understand of what this dependence consists, it is essential to restore the other circumstance lost sight of, a condition accompanying any command issuing not from the Deity, but from man. —
要理解这种依赖关系的内容，必须恢复其他常被忽视的情况，即不是由神而是由人发出的命令所伴随的情况； —

That circumstance is that the man giving the command is himself taking part in the event.
这个情况是指发出命令的人本身参与事件；

That relation of the commanding person to those he commands is indeed precisely what is called power. —
指挥者与被指挥者之间的这种关系确实正是所谓的权力； —

That relation may be analysed as follows.
这种关系可以分析如下；

For common action, men always unite in certain combinations, in which, in spite of the difference of the objects aimed at by common action, the relation between the men taking a part in the action always remains the same.
对于共同行动，人们总是组成某些组合，尽管这些组合的目标各不相同，参与行动的人之间的关系始终保持不变；

Uniting in these combinations, men always stand in such a relation to one another that the largest number of men take a greater direct share, and a smaller number of men a less direct share in the combined action for which they are united. —
在这些组合中，人们总是以这样一种关系站在彼此之间，即较多的人在所结合的共同行动中扮演更直接的角色，较少的人扮演更间接的角色； —

Of all such combinations in which men are organised for the performance of common action, one of the most striking and definite examples is the army.
对于组织共同行动的所有这种组合中，最引人注目和明确的例子之一就是军队；

Every army is composed of members of lower military standing—the private soldiers, who are always the largest proportion of the whole, of members of a slightly higher military standing—corporals and non-commissioned officers, who are fewer in number than the privates; —
每支军队都由军衔较低的成员组成，即士兵，士兵总是整体中人数最多的一部分，其中还有稍微军衔较高的成员，如下士和非军官，他们的数量少于士兵； —

of still higher officers, whose numbers are even less; —
还有军衔更高的军官，他们的数量更少； —

and so on, up to the chief military command of all, which is concentrated in one person.
一直到最高级的全军统帅，军队组织可以完全准确地比作一个圆锥形，底部拥有最大直径的是士兵;

The military organisation may be with perfect accuracy compared to the figure of a cone, the base of which, with the largest diameter, consists of privates; —
接下来的一个较低且较小的层次是下级军官; —

the next higher and smaller plane, of the lower officers; —
如此类推，直到圆锥形的顶点，也就是总司令。 —

and so on up to the apex of the cone, which will be the commander-in-chief.
士兵人数最多，形成了最底层和底部的圆锥形。

The soldiers, who are the largest number, form the lowest plane and the base of the cone. —
士兵自己进行刺杀和残杀，烧杀抢掠，总是根据来自上一级的人员的命令来执行这些行为。 —

The soldier himself does the stabbing and hacking, and burning and pillaging, and always receives commands to perform these acts from the persons in the plane next above. —
他自己从不下命令。非军官人员（他们人数较少）比士兵更少直接执行具体行动; —

He himself never gives a command. The non-commissioned officer (these are fewer in number) more rarely performs the immediate act than the soldier; —
却下命令。再高一级的军官更少直接自己行动，更多下命令。 —

but he gives commands. The officer next above him still more rarely acts directly himself, and still more frequently commands. —
将军除了指挥军队什么都不做，几乎从不使用武器。 —

The general does nothing but command the army, and hardly ever makes use of a weapon. —
总司令从不直接参与行动本身，只是对大规模行动进行一般性布置。 —

The commander-in-chief never takes direct part in the action itself, and simply makes general arrangements as to the movements of the masses. —
在任何共同行动中，这种关系都存在——在农业、商业以及任何活动领域都是如此。 —

A similar relation exists in every combination of persons for common action—in agriculture, commerce, and in every department of activity.
因此，即使不人为地分析圆锥形的所有汇聚平面，或军队的等级或任何部门或公共事业的等级，从下到上，也会形成一种法则，即人们总会以这样的关系联合起来共同行动，直接参与行动的他们所占比例越大，命令他人的能力越弱，而且人数越多;

And so without artificially analysing all the converging planes of the cone and ranks of the army or classes or ranks of any department whatever, or public undertaking, from lower to higher, a law comes into existence, by which men always combine together for the performance of common action in such relation that the more directly they take part in the action, the less they command, and the greater their numbers; —
在共同行动中，直接参与的人越少，命令他人的能力越强，而且人数越少; —

and the less direct the part they take in the common action, the more they command, and the fewer they are in number; —
越少直接参与共同行动的人，他们的命令能力越强，人数越少。 —

passing in that way from the lower strata up to a single man at the top, who takes least direct share in the action, and devotes his energy more than all the rest to giving commands.
依照这种方式，从下层阶层逐渐升到最高层的一个人，他对行动的直接参与最少，花费的精力比其他人更多地用于下达命令。

This is the relation of persons in command to those whom they command, and it constitutes the essence of the conception of what is called power.
这是指挥者与被指挥者之间的关系，构成了所谓权力的本质概念。

Restoring the conditions of time under which all events take place, we found that a command is carried out only when it relates to a corresponding course of events. —
恢复时间条件下事件发生的状况，我们发现只有当命令与相应的事件路径相关时，命令才会得以执行。 —

Restoring the essential condition of connection between the persons commanding and fulfilling the commands, we have found that by their very nature the persons commanding take the smallest part in the action itself, and their energy is exclusively directed to commanding.
恢复指挥者与执行命令者之间的关键联系条件，我们发现指挥者本质上对行动本身的参与最小，他们的精力专注于下达命令。