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二四 全漢文卷三一
杜欽《説王鳳》:“男子五十,好色未衰;婦人四十,容貌改前。以改前之容,侍於未衰之年,而不以禮爲制,則其原不可救。”按參觀《史記》卷論《吕不韋列傳》。杜氏語本《韓非子· 備内》篇:“丈夫年五十而好色未解也,婦人年三十而美色衰矣;以衰美之婦人事好色之丈夫,則身見疏賤。”後來如唐陳羽《古意》:“妾貌漸衰郎漸薄,時時强笑意索寞。……妾年四十絲滿頭,郎年五十封公侯。……歸來略略不相顧,却令侍婢生光輝”;宋梅堯臣《宛陵先生集》卷三九《無悔》:“婦人未四十,容貌已改前;男年踰五十,嗜慾固自偏”;舊説相沿,亦緣切中浮世薄俗也。《儒林外史》第三四回季葦蕭語杜少卿:“與三十多歲老嫂子看花飲酒,也覺掃興”,正是一例。《周禮·媒氏》、《禮記·曲禮》及《内則》皆言古制男子三十而娶,女子二十而嫁;知齊年則難偕老,遂定夫妻有十歲之差,而未察其差之隨年漸減,結褵十、廿載後,仍如韓非、杜欽所慮耳。宋方夔《富山遺稿》卷一《詩人詠鴟夷、西子之事多矣。按越敗於魯哀公元年,想鴟夷五餌之策,必其時也;至哀公二十二年,越滅吴,西子復歸,計其年亦已老矣。豈鴟夷如洛陽賈人,不能忘情於舊約耶?》:“去時苧蘿山,送我摶黍叫;歸時苧蘿山,迎我桃花笑。一别二十年,過眼如風燎。人生重後會,世事中前料。未驚馬齒長,猶喜雞皮少。功名志已酬,富貴頭終掉。傍君鴟夷槳,舞我烏栖調。撫景惜餘年,烟波老漁釣。”讀書頗得閒,即以女齒長而男猶情深爲怪也。王闓運《湘綺樓日記》民國四年九月二十五日:“看唐詩 ‘蛾眉鶴髮’云云,不覺有感。女寵而論年,是不知寵嬖者也。唐玄之於楊妃,庶幾非好少者,武氏之控鶴,亦庶幾自忘其年者。余有句云:‘安得長見垂髫,如君百歲不祧’;登徒子其異於宋玉乎!……長爪生云:‘天若有情天亦老’,彼不知情老不相干也”;雖言外爲己之溺於周嫗解嘲,而别多情於好色,異乎韓、杜之祇知色衰愛㢮矣。古希臘悲劇家歐里庇得斯(Euripides)云: “男女同年,不宜婚偶,以男血氣之剛較女容貌之美爲經久”(Itis highly wrong to join together two young persons of the same age;for the strength of man lasts far longer,while the beauty ofthe female body passes away more rapidly);亞理士多德欲制律:“女十八而嫁,男三十七而娶,則將來可以同時衰老”(Woman should marry when they are about eighteen years of age,and men at seven and thirty;then they are in the prime of life,and the decline in the powers of both will coincide);亞理奥士圖(Ariosto)教友人擇配詩謂娶婦當少於夫十至十二歲,因女子盛時易過(De dieci anni o di dodici,se fai/per mio con-siglio,fia di te minore;/.../perché passando,il megliore/tem-po e i begli anni in lor prima che in noi);
【增訂四】康德亦云,世情歷練之婦輒戒女毋嫁少年抑且齊年之夫,因光陰催老,女先於男也(Daher wird jede erfahreneEhefrau die Heirat mit einen jungen Manne,auch nur von gleichen Alter,widerraten denn im Fortgange der Jahre ältert doch der weibliche Teil früher als der männliche. - Kant,Anthropolgie,§ 103,Werke,ed. E. Cassirer,Vol.VIII,p. 202)。
巴爾札克謂夫與妻衰老之期相差十五年(Physiquement,un hom-me est plus longtemps homme que la femme n’est femme. Rela- tivement au mariage,la différence de durée qui existe entre la vie amoureuse de l’homme et celle de la femme est donc quinze ans);英國一小詩人亦云:“妻年當爲夫年之半,復益以七歲;如男二十,則女宜十七,男三十六則女宜二十五。故女年五十七者,必求百歲老翁爲嘉耦”(A wife should be half the age of her husband with sevens years added. Thus,if the gentleman is twenty,his wife should be seventeen. If he is thirty-six,she should be twenty-five;and so on. No lady of the ripe age of fif- ty-seven has a right to the luxury of a spouse who is less than acentury)。用意均不異《周官》、《禮記》。韓非以婦年三十爲衰,杜欽等寬限至於四十;西方舊日有謂是三十五歲,幾若折衷焉,如意大利古劇云:“汝乃墟墓中物;女年過三十五,應去世而入幽冥濯垢獄中耳”(Voi siete cosa da cemiterio,perché una femina che passa trentacinque anni,deve andar in pace,ideste in purgatorio ad pregar Dio per i vivi)。此類見解實緣男貴而女賤耳,倘女尊而男卑,又當别論。王闓運不道及“武氏控鶴” 乎?阿武婆暮年弊相,而彼蓮花六郎輩必不謂其“美色衰”、“容貌改前”也。司當達《愛情論》記一貴婦曰:“在平民眼中,公爵夫人年貌無逾三十者”(Une duchesse n’a jamais que trente ans pour un bourgeois),復記一小家碧玉自言苟男乃大公或親王,則己必覺其風貌可人意(Une jolie femme de la Haye ne pou-vait se résoudre à ne pas trouver charmant un homme qui était ducou prince);十七世紀有意大利人使英,得見查理二世,載記曰:“英王后顴頰以下極狹,歸宿而爲尖頦,口闊大,牙齒可憎畏;姿容甚美,因世上未聞王后而貌醜者也。英王若衹是未顯達之紳士,則儀表殊陋,然既貴爲國君,遂儼然可稱美丈夫矣”(Il viso dal mezzo in giù è assai stretto,onde il ne rimane aguzzo,la bocca è grande e i denti spaventali. La regina è bella perchè non s’è mai sentito in questo mondo che una regina siabrutta. Il re d’Inghilterra se fusse un privato cavaliere sarebbe brutto,ma perchè gli è re arriva passar per uom ben fatto)。蓋物論無準,色之盛衰,固由於年之盛衰,亦或由於勢有盛衰也。《戰國策·齊策》一鄒忌謂:“妾之美我者,畏我也,客之美我者,欲有求於我也”,可相發明。
Fr. 24, quoted in Hans Licht, Sexual Life in Ancient Greece, tr. J. H.Freese,35.
Politics,VII. 16,op. cit.,l302.
Satira,V,187-192,Opere minori,Ricciardi,555.
Physiologie du Mariage,Aphorismes l4,op. cit.,XXXII,44.
Frederick Locker,Patchwork,88.
Bruno,Candalaio, IV. viii(Bonifaccio), op. cit., 120. Cf. A. H. Bullen, ed.,Speculum Amantis,102,Melpomene:“ At twety-five in women’s eyes/Beauty does fade,at thirty dies.”
Stendhal,De l’Amour,I,i,“Le Divan”,I,29. Cf. Baudelaire:“Spleen”,Oeuv. comp.,“Bib. de la Pléiade”,146:“ Je suis comme le roi d’un pays pluvieux,/.../Et les dames d’atour,pour qui tout prince est beau”.
Lorenzo Megalotti, Relazioni d’Ihghilterra 1668 e 1688, a cura di Anna Maria Crinò,39,40,41,173,174.