しかし,まったく同じことが男性の間にも観察される。違うのは,ただ,女性はほかのすべての女性を競争相手と見るのに対して,男性は概して,同じ職業の他の男性に対してのみこの感情をいだく,という点である。本書の読者で,ある芸術家のことを別の芸術家の前で(←~に対して;に向かい合って;~に比べて)ほめるという軽率(無分別)なことをしたことがあるだろうか,ある政治家を同じ政党に属する別の政治家の前でほめたことがあるだろうか,(また)あるエジプト学者を別のエジプト学者の前でほめたことがあるだろうか。もしあるなら,ほぼ100%(十中八九),嫉妬(しっと)の嵐を引き起こしたはずである。 |
Among average respectable women envy plays an extraordinarily large part. If you are sitting in the underground and a well-dressed woman happens to walk along the car, watch the eyes of the other women. You will see that every one of them, with the possible exception of those who are better dressed, will watch the woman with malevolent glances, and will be struggling to draw inferences derogatory to her. The love of scandal is an expression of this general malevolence: any story against another woman is instantly believed, even on the flimsiest evidence. A lofty morality serves the same purpose: those who have a chance to sin against it are envied, and it is considered virtuous to punish them for their sins. This particular form of virtue is certainly its own reward. Exactly the same thing, however, is to be observed among men, except that women regard all other women as their competitors, whereas men as a rule only have this feeling towards other men in the same profession. Have you, reader, ever been so imprudent as to praise an artist to another artist? Have you ever praised a politician to another politician of the same party? Have you ever praised an Egyptologist to another Egyptologist? If you have, it is a hundred to one that you will have produced an explosion of jealousy. In the correspondence of Leibniz and Huyghens there are a number of letters lamenting the supposed fact that Newton had become insane. 'Is it not sad,' they write to each other, 'that the incomparable genius of Mr. Newton should have become overclouded by the loss of reason?' And these two eminent men, in one letter after another, wept crocodile tears with obvious relish. As a matter of fact, the event which they were hypocritically lamenting had not taken place, though a few examples of eccentric behaviour had given rise to the rumour. |