亚伯拉罕·林肯的第二次就职演说
演说辞

Fellow-Countrymen:
国民们：
At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of this great conflict which is of primary concern to the nation as a whole, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
在这第二次宣誓就职总统仪式上，就不需第一次时的那种长篇演说了。当时，对所要采取的政策作一点详细说明，似乎是合适且恰当的。现在，四年任期届满，在这期间于战争的每个重要时刻和阶段──这场战争至今仍为举国所关注、并且占用了国家的大部分力量──我都经常发布公告，现在也没有什么新内容可以讲的。我们的军事进展，是一切其他问题的关键所在，大家对其情形和我一样明了，而且我相信进展的情况可以使我们全体人民有理由感到满意和鼓舞。既然将来很有希望，那么我也无须在这方面冒昧预言。
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.
四年前，在与此相同的时刻，所有人的思想都焦虑地集中在一场即将来临的内战上。谁都害怕内战，都想尽办法去避免它。当我在这个地方作就职演说时，我曾想尽量不诉诸战争而保存联邦，然而反叛分子的代理人却在城里四处活动，企图以不打仗的方式摧毁联邦──他们力图以谈判的方式来瓦解联邦、分裂国家。双方都声称反对战争，可是有一方宁愿打仗也不愿让国家存续，另一方则宁愿接受战争也不愿让国家毁灭。于是就有了战争。
One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
我们全国人口的八分之一是黑奴，他们并不是遍布于全国，而是局部地分布于南方。这些奴隶形成一种特殊而重大的利益。大家都知道这种利益可说是这场战争的原因。为了加强、永久保持并扩大这种利益，反叛分子会不惜以战争来分裂联邦，而政府只不过要限制这种利益扩张到更多区域。当初，任何一方都没有想到战争会发展到目前这么大的范围、持续这么长的时间，也没有料到冲突的原因会随冲突本身的终止而终止，甚至在冲突本身终止以前就终止。双方都在寻求一个较轻易的胜利，都不期盼有什么根本性的或惊人的结果。双方都诵读同一本圣经，向同一个上帝祈祷，甚至都祈求同一个上帝的帮助以对抗另一方。人们竟敢要求一位公正的上帝来帮助他们夺取他人以血汗换来的面包，这看来奇怪。可我们还是不要评判他人，以免受他人的评判。双方的祈祷是无法得到回应的。双方的祈愿从没全部如愿以偿。万能的上帝自有他自己的意旨：“世界由于罪恶而受苦难，因为世界总是有罪恶的，然而那个作恶的人，要受苦难。”假如我们认为美国的奴隶制是这种罪恶之一，而这些罪恶按上帝的意志又在所难免，但既经持续了他所指定的一段时间，他现在便要消除这些罪恶。假如我们认为上帝把这场惨烈的战争加在南北双方的头上，作为对那些作恶的人的责罚，难道我们可以由此认为这有悖于虔奉上帝的信徒们所归诸上帝的那些圣德吗？我们殷切地希塑，热忱地祈祷，但愿这战争的重罚会很快过去。可是，假使上帝要让战争再继续下去，直到二百五十年来奴隶无偿劳动所积聚的财富化为乌有，并像三千年前人们所说的那样，直至被鞭苔所流的每一滴血为刀剑下流的每一滴血所偿付为止，那么，我仍必须说，“主的典章真实，全然公义”。
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
对任何人都不怀恶意，对所有人都心怀慈悲；上帝让我们看到正确的，我们就坚定选择那正确的。让我们继续奋斗，以完成我们正在进行的工作，去弥合国家的创伤，去照顾艰苦作战的战士和他们的遗孀遗孤，尽一切努力去实现并维护我们自己之间以及我国与他国之间的公正而持久的和平。
第二次就职演说录音：Winston Tharp，LibriVox