JOHN LOCKE’S EPITAPH
(1632-1704)
Stop
Traveller! Near this place lieth John Locke.
If
you ask what kind of a man he was, he answers that he lived content with his
own small fortune.
Bred
a scholar, he made his learning subservient only to the cause of truth. This
thou will learn from his writings, which will show thee everything else
concerning him, with greater truth, than the suspected praises of an epitaph.
His
virtues, indeed, if he had any, were too little for him to propose as matter of
praise to himself, or as an example to thee. Let his vices be buried together.
As to an example of manners, if you seek that, you have it in the Gospels; of
vices, to wish you have one nowhere; if mortality, certainly, (and may it
profit thee), thou hast one here and everywhere.
过路的人啊，停下你的脚步！在这附近躺着约翰·洛克。
如果你问他是一个什么样的人，他会说是一个满足于以他自己不多的财产生活的人。
作为一个学者，他将探究真理作为唯一的目标。你可以从他的著作中发现这一点，那些著作会比这份可疑的碑文的赞美更真实的告诉你有关他的其它一切。
确实，他的美德，如果有的话，太小不足以令他自夸，或作为你的榜样。让他的恶行一起埋葬吧。至于一个完美人生的榜样，如果你要寻找，你可以在福音书中找到；如果你要找一个恶行的榜样，愿你找不到他；如果你要找一个死人，当然，（但愿这对你有益），你可以在此和任何地方找到。