当古人护卫他们称之为自由的东西时,自由一词代表的是他们在危急关头的明白无疑的切身利益:他们的城市不会遭致灭顶之灾,他们的领地不会受到抢掠盘剥,他们自己则不会沦为奴隶。特别是对希腊人而言,自由甚至意味着更多。也许古典哲学最深层的前提假设就是,作为一方的自然与诸神和作为另一方的人,都有其固定的特性,故而存在着必要的虔诚,真正的哲学,标准的幸福,以及正规的艺术。希腊人自信他们已经比别的民族更好地掌握了这些永恒的原则。当然他们的自信并非毫无道理。他们已经 When the ancients defended what they called freedom, the word freedom meant their clear, unmistakable vital interests in times of crisis: their cities would not be drowned and their territory would not be looted and exploited, and their You will not be reduced to slaves. Especially for the Greeks, freedom means even more. Perhaps the deepest presupposition of classical philosophy is that the nature and the gods as one side and the other side have their fixed characteristics, so there is the necessary piety, true philosophy, standard happiness, and formal art . The Greeks are confident that they have mastered these eternal principles better than other nations. Of course, their confidence is not unreasonable. They already