关于我国明末《伊索寓言》中译之底本的思考——以日译本的底本研究为线索

Reflections on the Late-Ming Dynasty Chinese Translation of Aesop's Fables by Jesuit Missionaries—Learning from the Study of the Original Text Translated into Japanese

《伊索寓言》作为西方寓言文学的代表作品,在我国早已众人皆知。明末,利玛窦就首先在其著作《畸人十篇》中译介过数则伊索寓言,此后又有庞迪我的《七克》、金尼阁的《况义》相继问世。同一时期,日本也产生了两种影响巨大的译本——天草本《ESOPO NO FABVLAS》和国字本《伊曾保物语》。因为日本的《伊索寓言》译本较为完整,所以译本与底本间的比较研究开展地较早,且在深度和广度上都取得了丰富的成果。然而,由于利玛窦、庞迪我和金尼阁所选译的伊索寓言数量较少,缺乏完整性,因此目前的研究对明末《伊索寓言》中译的底本问题缺乏关注。尽管如此,笔者认为日本作为天主教耶稣会在东亚成功传教的首站地,为天主教在中国的传播打下了基础,其在《伊索寓言》日译之底本的考证和比较研究上比较成熟,对我国《伊索寓言》中译之底本的研究极具启发性。

As the most representative work of Western Fable Literature, Aesop’sFableswas well-known among the people of China in an earlier age. In the Late-Ming Dynasty, Matteo Ricci had already translated several Aesopic fables in one of his famous works-Jirenshipian(ten chapters of an extraordinary man). After Ricci’s translation, there were two other works in which several Aesopic fables were translated by missionaries. One was Qi Ke written by Didaco de Pantoja, the other was Kuang Yi written by Nicolas Trigault. During the same period, two influential translations came out-Esopono Fabvlas (Amakusa-ban) and Isoho monogatari (Kokuji-ban)-in which Aesop’sFableswere translated into Japanese. For this reason, we can say that the comparative study between translation and master copy started early, scoring great successes in both depth and width. But the translations by Matteo Ricci, Didaco de Pantoja and Didaco de Pantoja were not abundant, which puts limits on the present-day study of Chinese translations of Aesop’s Fables. However, the Jesuit missionaries who travelled to Japan made a successful first stop in East Asia, meaning that their work in Japan laid a foundation for the spread of Catholicism in China. In this regard, a comparative study of the translation of“Aesop’sFables”will be extremely enlightening for us.