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I do a lot of public speaking for business leaders about how using the science of happiness can improve their organization and make life easier for everyone. But there’s one question I get very frequently: “What about when I have to do hard things that make people unhappy?” For example: having to fire someone, or asking people to make sacrifices. How do I think about this common scenario?
我为企业领袖做了很多公开演讲，以了解如何使用幸福科学可以改善他们的组织并使每个人的生活更轻松。但是我经常会有一个问题：“当我必须做艰难的事情使人们不开心的事情何时呢？”例如：必须解雇某人或要求人们做出牺牲。我如何看待这种常见情况？
This quandary is as old as time, and no one addressed it better than Marcus Tullius Cicero, the Roman philosopher and statesman who lived more than two millennia ago. For much of his career, Cicero lived a comfortable, uncontentious life of the mind, respected by all. But after Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C.E., he felt a civic duty to speak out about a threat to the republic in the person of Mark Antony, who was vying for power. Cicero denounced Antony as a tyrant in a series of speeches called the Philippics. It was a risky move, one that made a powerful enemy, but Cicero honestly believed that by doing the right thing as he understood it, he was making no sacrifice at all.
这个难题与时代一样古老，没有人比罗马哲学家和政治家马库斯·塔利乌斯·西塞罗（Marcus Tullius Cicero）更好地解决了这一问题，他的生活在两千年以上。西塞罗（Cicero）在大部分职业生涯中都过着舒适，毫无意义的生活，并受到所有人的尊重。但是，在公元前44年，朱利叶斯·凯撒（Julius Caesar）被暗杀后，他感到公民义务是在马克·安东尼（Mark Antony）争夺权力的马克·安东尼（Mark Antony）对共和国的威胁。西塞罗（Cicero）在一系列名为《菲律宾》（Philippics）的演讲中谴责安东尼（Antony）为暴君。这是一个冒险的举动，是一个强大的敌人，但塞塞罗诚实地相信，通过他理解的正确的事情做正确的事，他根本没有做出牺牲。
In a book written around the same time as the Philippics, titled De Officiis (“On Duties”), Cicero explained exactly why he believed that doing what is difficult but morally correct is also what most reliably and enduringly brings the rewards we seek in life. Despite our flawed instinct to take the path of least resistance, he reasoned, we will always be better served by choosing to do the right thing. In this masterwork, Cicero created a guide for how to have a successful life through honorable behavior. Take that to heart, and you have a guide for living a happier life as well.
在一本书与菲利普（De officiis）的菲利普（De officiis）（“责任”）的同时，西塞罗（Cicero）确切地解释了为什么他相信要做困难但道德上正确的事情也是最可靠，最坚实地带来我们在生活中寻求的奖励的原因。他认为，尽管我们的本能是阻力最小的道路，但我们认为，选择做正确的事，我们将永远得到更好的服务。在这项杰作中，西塞罗（Cicero）为如何通过光荣的行为获得成功的生活创建了指南。将其牢记在心，您也有一个指南，可以过上更幸福的生活。
From the September 1865 issue: Life and times of Marcus Tullius Cicero
从1865年9月发行：马库斯·塔鲁斯·西塞罗（Marcus Tullus Cicero）的生活和时代
De Officiis was written in the form of a very long public letter to Cicero’s son, Cicero Minor, who was a philosophy student in Athens at the time. College life then being not so different from what it is today, he appears to have sorely needed advice on his duties. According to what the philosopher Seneca wrote some years later, the young man “was not gifted with a good memory, and drunkenness was gradually destroying any that he had.”
De Officiis的写作是写给西塞罗（Cicero）的儿子西塞罗（Cicero Minor）的一封长期公开信，他当时是雅典的哲学专业学生。然后，大学生活与今天的生活没有太大的不同，他似乎对自己的职责非常需要建议。根据哲学家塞内卡（Seneca）几年后的哲学家所写，年轻人“没有充满良好的记忆，醉酒逐渐摧毁了他所拥有的任何东西。”
Cicero’s book is in three parts, beginning with a study of what is honorable in life. He asserts that “all that is morally right rises from some one of four sources,” which he lists as truth, justice, nobility, and moderation. These are, essentially, a variation of Plato’s four cardinal virtues of wisdom, justice, courage, and temperance, and Cicero argues that these traits are the foundation for a life of integrity and rectitude.
西塞罗（Cicero）的书分为三部分，从研究生活中的事物开始。他断言：“在道德上，所有这些都是从四个来源之一中升起的”，他列为真理，正义，贵族和节制。从本质上讲，这些是柏拉图的四个主要智慧，正义，勇气和节制的基础，而西塞罗认为，这些特征是正直和正直生活的基础。
His letter offers limited encouragement to people who write advice columns. Modern research demonstrates that virtues are indeed most effectively transmitted by parents and peers, whereas outside interventions to teach virtue show only modest effectiveness. But as far as paternal influence goes, the book perhaps had some effect: Though Cicero Minor did not enjoy the illustrious career that his father did, he went on to hold a series of official positions in the Roman Republic.
他的信为撰写建议专栏的人提供了有限的鼓励。现代研究表明，美德确实是父母和同龄人最有效地传播的，而教授美德的外部干预措施仅显示出适度的有效性。但是，就父亲的影响而言，这本书也许有一定的影响：尽管西塞罗·未成年人不喜欢他父亲所做的杰出职业，但他继续在罗马共和国担任一系列官方职务。
The second part of De Officiis discusses the worldly rewards people naturally want. Cicero focuses on honor, wealth, and power—prizes bound up with a desire for status that is encoded in our genes. As evolutionary biologists have long argued, these rewards correlate with both reproductive success and resource acquisition. Our ancestors’ drive to succeed has surely passed on to us a craving to be superior to others in money, power, and prestige. Cicero acknowledges this reality, but notes that there are morally better and worse ways to acquire these rewards. Less honorable ways include disloyalty toward others and dishonesty in our dealings. The morally superior means for doing so include generosity, courtesy, and excellence—the virtues from part one, above.
De Officiis的第二部分讨论了人们自然想要的世俗奖励。西塞罗（Cicero）专注于荣誉，财富和权力 - 以对我们基因中编码的地位的渴望来束缚。正如进化生物学家长期以来争论的那样，这些奖励与生殖成功和资源获取既相关。我们祖先取得成功的动力肯定传给了我们，渴望在金钱，权力和声望方面优越其他人。西塞罗（Cicero）承认这一现实，但指出，在道德上有更好，更糟糕的方法来获得这些奖励。在我们的交易中，不太光荣的方式包括对他人的不忠和不诚实。这样做的道德上优越的手段包括慷慨，礼貌和卓越 - 上面的第一部分的美德。
Part three of De Officiis is the most important because he argues that the honorable route to worldly rewards is also the most expedient and effective way to get them and keep them. In other words, there is no conflict between doing well and doing good. Back in part two, he realizes that people tend not to believe this, because they operate on the zero-sum assumption that someone must “take something from his neighbour” and so “profit by his neighbour’s loss.” But in part three, Cicero rejects this completely. “For a man to take something from his neighbour and to profit by his neighbour’s loss is more contrary to Nature than is death or poverty or pain or anything else that can affect either our person or our property.”
De Officiis的第三部分是最重要的，因为他认为获得世俗奖励的光荣途径也是获得并保留它们的最优势和有效的方法。换句话说，做得好与做好之间没有冲突。在第二部分中，他意识到人们倾向于不相信这一点，因为他们以零和假设的方式运作，即某人必须“从邻居那里拿走东西”，因此“从邻居的损失中获利”。但是在第三部分中，西塞罗完全拒绝了这一点。“让男人从邻居那里夺取某些东西并因邻居的损失而获利比自然更违反自然，而死亡，贫困或痛苦或其他任何可能影响我们的人或我们财产的东西。”
Cicero makes three arguments to bolster his claim that virtue is more profitable than vice. First, using Stoic reasoning, to behave unethically degrades your character, making any success that you realize not worth having. Second, any short-term gain by taking advantage of others will harm your reputation and therefore your long-term worldly success. Third, to use a not very Roman word, karma. Bad behavior, Cicero believed, disrupts the universe’s natural harmony, with negative consequences for the perpetrator.
西塞罗（Cicero）提出了三个论点，以加强他的主张，即美德比副主席更有利可图。首先，使用坚忍的推理，表现不道德地降低了您的性格，使您意识到的任何成功都不值得拥有。其次，通过利用他人的任何短期收益，都会损害您的声誉，从而损害您的长期世俗成功。第三，用不太罗马语的词，业力。西塞罗（Cicero）认为，不良行为破坏了宇宙的自然和谐，对肇事者造成了负面影响。
Arthur C. Brooks: How my struggle with Wittgenstein can make you happier
亚瑟·布鲁克斯（Arthur C. Brooks）：我与维特根斯坦的斗争如何使你更快乐
Cicero’s argument—that lasting worldly success is not possible without virtue—can apply to happiness as well. In an effort to raise their well-being, at least temporarily, people constantly engage in behaviors they may not be proud of. People may cheat on their spouse for a thrill or to feel romantic love again. They may steal for an easy gain or lie for personal advantage. They may act selfishly by looking after their own interests and ignoring other people’s.
西塞罗（Cicero）的论点 - 如果没有美德，持续的世俗成功是不可能的 - 也可以适用于幸福。为了至少暂时提高自己的福祉，人们不断从事自己可能不自豪的行为。人们可能会为自己的配偶欺骗自己的刺激，或者再次感到浪漫的爱。他们可能会轻松获利或为个人优势而撒谎。他们可以通过照顾自己的利益并无视别人的利益来自私。
Few of us would brag about being disloyal, dishonest, or selfish. As Cicero notes, people act in these ways because they evidently believe that happiness in life “will assuredly clash with moral rectitude.” People think that you can’t always feel good by being good, so you may have to sacrifice the former for the latter. Predictably, Cicero says this is bunk—a “sorry state of servitude” and mere “pandering to sensual pleasure.”
我们中很少有人会吹嘘不忠，不诚实或自私。正如西塞罗（Cicero）所指出的那样，人们以这些方式采取行动，因为他们显然相信生活中的幸福“肯定会与道德上的正直冲突”。人们认为您不能总是通过良好而感觉良好，因此您可能必须为后者牺牲前者。可以预见的是，西塞罗（Cicero）说，这是铺位 - 一种“遗憾的奴役状态”，仅仅是“为感性的愉悦狂热”。
By the same logic that the exercise of virtue ultimately delivers worldly success, Cicero believed it also brings true happiness. Modern social science shows that he was spot-on. For example, a happy marriage is not simply linked to conjugal fidelity; that loyalty is itself a central ingredient in marital contentment. Similarly, honesty in one’s personal dealings reliably raises life satisfaction. And generous behavior has been found again and again to increase happiness. In the long run, then, the best way to feel good is to do good, despite any temptation to cut corners.
通过同样的逻辑，美德最终带来了世俗的成功，西塞罗也认为这也带来了真正的幸福。现代社会科学表明他是现场的。例如，幸福的婚姻不仅与夫妻忠诚有关。这种忠诚本身就是婚姻满足的核心要素。同样，诚实的个人交易可靠地提高了生活满意度。一遍又一遍地发现了慷慨的行为，以增加幸福感。因此，从长远来看，尽管有任何诱惑能砍伐拐角，但感觉良好的最佳方法是做好事。
This dictum offers a reassuringly simple formula for a happier life. That doesn’t mean it will always be easy to follow, but instead of asking, “What will make me happy right now?,” consider how to answer the question “What is the virtuous path in this situation?” That correct path may involve tough decisions, but it will ultimately lead you to the greatest happiness in life.
这个格言为生活更幸福的生活提供了令人放心的简单公式。这并不意味着它总是很容易遵循，而是要问：“什么会让我现在快乐？”，请考虑如何回答“在这种情况下的良性道路是什么？”正确的道路可能涉及艰难的决定，但最终将使您获得生活中最大的幸福。
Arthur C. Brooks: The key to critical self-awareness
亚瑟·布鲁克斯（Arthur C. Brooks）：批判性自我意识的关键
To return to the leader’s quandary I began with: How should we think about a situation when, in acting properly, we inflict unhappiness? Cicero’s answer was unambiguous: Do your duty—even when doing so may harm your own and others’ short-term happiness.
要回到领导者的难题中：我应该如何看待一种情况，在正确的行动时，我们会造成不快乐？西塞罗的回答是明确的：履行职责 - 即使这样做可能会损害自己和他人的短期幸福。
In Cicero’s case, this was not hypothetical. Mark Antony came to power in a three-man dictatorship and sought to eliminate all of the dictators’ opponents, starting with Cicero. With a warrant out for his execution, Cicero attempted to flee his villa for Macedonia, but was captured by Roman soldiers. As legend has it, seeing that the arrestee was the famous, noble Cicero, a tribune named Popillius hesitated in carrying out the execution. Cicero, the man of honor, did not plead for his life, but rather schooled the centurion on his duty: “Approach, veteran soldier,” he said, “and, if you can at least do so much properly, sever this neck.”
就西塞罗而言，这不是假设的。马克·安东尼（Mark Antony）以三人的独裁统治上台，并试图消除从西塞罗（Cicero）开始的所有独裁者的对手。西塞罗（Cicero）试图将自己的别墅逃往马其顿，但被罗马士兵俘虏。作为传奇人物，看到被捕者是著名的贵族西塞罗（Noble Cicero），他是一个名叫皮比利乌斯（Popillius）的论坛报，犹豫不决。荣誉人士西塞罗（Cicero）并没有为他的一生辩护，而是为他的职责而教了百夫长：“接近，老兵士兵，”他说，“而且，如果您至少可以做得很好，那就切断这脖子。”
