This single stick now is ingloriously lying in that neglected corner.
Once it was in a forest, full of sap, leaves and
boughs1; now in vain someone has tried to compete with nature by tying that
withered2 bundle of
twigs3 to its trunk. It is now the reverse of what it was: a tree turned upside down, the branches on the earth, and the root in the air. It is now handled by a maid, and makes other things clean but itself dirty. In the end, worn out in the service of the maids, it is either thrown out, or used as firewood.
When I saw it I sighed, and said within myself: surely man is a broomstick. Nature sends him into the world strong and lusty. He wears his own hair, just like a tree with flourishing leaves and branches. Later, the
axe5 of
intemperance6 cuts off his green branches and leaves him a withered trunk, and he puts on a
wig4 and covers himself with powder. This broomstick is proud of all the branches added to him; yet they are covered with dust. Though the dust is from the finest lady's
chamber7, we
ridicule8 it, and despise its vanity. We are partial judges, that is, partial to our own excellencies and other men's faults.
一根扫帚把灰溜溜地躺在无人注意的角落。
曾经在树林里，它树液充沛，枝叶繁茂；如今变了样，却还有人自作聪明，想靠手艺同大自然竞争，拿来一束枯枝捆在它的身上，结果却是枉费心机。不过是颠倒了它原来的位置，使它枝干朝地，根梢向天。它在女仆的手里使用，从此受命运摆布，把别人打扫干净，自己却落得个又脏又臭。而在女仆们的手里折腾过多次之后，或者被扔出门外，或者作为引火的柴禾被烧掉了。
我看到了这一切，不尽兴叹，自言自语一番：人不也是一根扫帚么？大自然送他入世之初，他是强壮有力的，精力充沛，满头的好发，就像一株枝叶齐全的植物。但不久贪婪就像一把斧子砍掉了他的青枝绿叶，只留给他一根枯株。他赶紧戴上头套，擦上香粉。这把扫帚因为把一些别的树条收集到身上而得意洋洋，其实这些枝条上尽是灰土。即使是最高贵的夫人房里的尘土，我们也一定会嘲笑它的虚荣吧！我们就是这样偏心的审判官，偏于自己的优点，别人的毛病。
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