アダム・スミス『道徳感情論』（42）審美眼の機微（nicety of taste）

A man of sensibility may sometimes feel great uneasiness lest he should have yielded too much even to what may be called an honourable passion; to his just indignation, perhaps, at the injury which may have been done either to himself or to his friend. He is anxiously afraid lest, meaning only to act with spirit, and to do justice, he may, from the too great vehemence of his emotion, have done a real injury to some other person; who, though not innocent, may not have been altogether so guilty as he at first apprehended. – Adam Smith, The Theory of moral sentiments： 3.1.2. Chap. II

《感受性の豊かな人は、自分や友人のどちらかに為（な）されたかもしれない危害に対する真っ当な憤り、言うならば名誉の感情にさえ負け過ぎてはしまわないかと大きな不安に駆られることがあるかもしれない。ただ奮然（ふんぜん）と行動し、正義を為そうとしたつもりが、その感情の激しさのあまり、無実ではないにせよ、最初に彼が感知したほどには罪深くはなかったかもしれない他人に実害を与えてしまわないかと心配し恐れるのである》 ― アダム・スミス『道徳感情論』第3部：第２章

The opinion of other people becomes, in this case, of the utmost importance to him. Their approbation is the most healing balsam; their disapprobation, the bitterest and most tormenting poison that can be poured into his uneasy mind. When he is perfectly satisfied with every part of his own conduct, the judgment of other people is often of less importance to him. – Ibid.

《この場合、他人の意見が彼にとって最も重要になる。彼らが賛同してくれることが、最も心を癒（いや）してくれるのであり、賛同してくれないのは、彼の不安な心に注がれる、最も苦くて、最も苦しめる毒薬となるのである。自分の行い全てに何の疑念もなければ、他人の意見は彼にとってそれほど重要でないことが多い》 ― 同

There are some very noble and beautiful arts, in which the degree of excellence can be determined only by a certain nicety of taste, of which the decisions, however, appear always, in some measure, uncertain. There are others, in which the success admits, either of clear demonstration, or very satisfactory proof. Among the candidates for excellence in those different arts, the anxiety about the public opinion is always much greater in the former than in the latter. – Ibid.

《非常に高尚で美しい芸術の中には、ある種の審美眼の機微によってのみ優劣が決まるが、その決定には、常に、幾分不確さが見られるものもある。また、その出来が、明確な証明や、非常に満足のいく吟味によって、認められるものもある。これらの様々な芸術の優れた候補の中で、世論に対する不安は常に、前者の方が後者よりも遥かに大きい》― 同

The beauty of poetry is a matter of such nicety, that a young beginner can scarce ever be certain that he has attained it. Nothing delights him so much, therefore, as the favourable judgments of his friends and of the public; and nothing mortifies him so severely as the contrary. The one establishes, the other shakes, the good opinion which he is anxious to entertain concerning his own performances. Experience and success may in time give him a little more confidence in his own judgment. – Ibid.

《詩の美しさは、経験のない初心者がその域に達したとほとんど確信できないほど機微にわたる問題である。したがって、友人や大衆の好評ほど彼を喜ばせるものはないが、その反対ほど、酷く苛立たせるものもない。彼自身の出来栄えに関して彼が是非抱いて欲しいと願う好評を、前者は確立し、後者はぐらつかせる。経験と成功によって、やがて彼は自分の判断にもう少し自信を有（も）てるようになるかもしれない》― 同