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《查斯特菲尔德勋爵给儿子信 第21封信》由会员上传分享，免费在线阅读，更多相关内容在行业资料-天天文库。
1、查斯特菲尔德勋爵给儿子的信第二十一信不要以学究的方式表达自己的观点IhavereceivedyourLatin"LectureuponWar,"whichthoughitisnotexactlythesameLatinthatCaesar,Cicero,Horace,Virgil,andOvidspoke,is,however,asgoodLatinastheeruditeGermansspeakorwrite.Ihavealwaysobservedthatthemostlearnedpeople,thatis,thosewhohavereadthemostLatin,wri
2、tetheworst;andthatdistinguishestheLatinofgentlemanscholarfromthatofapedant.Agentlemanhas,probably,readnootherLatinthanthatoftheAugustanage;andthereforecanwritenoother,whereasthepedanthasreadmuchmorebadLatinthangood,andconsequentlywritessotoo.Helooksuponthebestclassicalbooks,asbooksforschool
3、-boys,andconsequentlybelowhim;butporesoverfragmentsofobscureauthors,treasuresuptheobsoletewordswhichhemeetswiththere,andusesthemuponalloccasionstoshowhisreadingattheexpenseofhisjudgment.Plautusishisfavoriteauthor,notforthesakeofthewitandtheviscomicaofhiscomedies,butuponaccountofthemanyobsol
4、etewords,andthecantoflowcharacters,whicharetobemetwithnowhereelse.Hewillratheruse'olli'than'illi','optume'than'optima',andanybadwordratherthananygoodone,providedhecanbutprove,thatstrictlyspeaking,itisLatin;thatis,thatitwaswrittenbyaRoman.Bythisrule,ImightnowwritetoyouinthelanguageofChaucero
5、rSpenser,andassertthatIwroteEnglish,becauseitwasEnglishintheirdays;butIshouldbeamostaffectedpuppyifIdidso,andyouwouldnotunderstandthreewordsofmyletter.Allthese,andsuchlikeaffectedpeculiarities,arethecharacteristicsoflearnedcoxcombsandpedants,andarecarefullyavoidedbyallmenofsense. Idippedac
6、cidentally,theotherday,intoPitiscus'sprefacetohis"Lexicon,"whereIfoundawordthatpuzzledme,andwhichIdidnotrememberevertohavemetwithbefore.Itistheadverb'praefiscine',whichmeans,INAGOODHOUR;anexpressionwhich,bythesuperstitionofit,appearstobelowandvulgar.Ilookedforit:andatlastIfoundthatitisonceo
7、rtwicemadeuseofinPlautus,uponthestrengthofwhichthislearnedpedantthrustsitintohispreface.WheneveryouwriteLatin,rememberthateverywordorphrasewhichyoumakeuseof,butcannotfindinCaesar,Cicero,Livy,Horace,Virgil;andOvid,isbad,illiberalLatin,thoughitmayhavebeenw
