This single stick now is ingloriously lying in that neglected corner.
once it was in a forest, full of sap, leaves and boughs1; now in vain someone has tried to compete with nature by tying that withered2 bundle of twigs3 to its trunk. It is now the reverse of what it was: a tree turned upside down, the branches on the earth, and the root in the air. It is now handled by a maid, and makes other things clean but itself dirty. In the end, worn out in the service of the maids, it is either thrown out, or used as firewood.
When I saw it I sighed, and said within myself: surely man is a broomstick. Nature sends him into the world strong and lusty. He wears his own hair, just like a tree with flourishing leaves and branches. Later, the axe5 of intemperance6 cuts off his green branches and leaves him a withered trunk, and he puts on a wig4 and covers himself with powder. This broomstick is proud of all the branches added to him; yet they are covered with dust. Though the dust is from the finest ladys chamber7, we ridicule8 it, and despise its vanity. We are partial judges, that is, partial to our own excellencies and other mens faults.
一根扫帚把灰溜溜地躺在无人注意的角落。
过去在树林里，它树液充沛，枝叶繁茂；现在变了样，却还有人自作聪明，想靠技术同大自然角逐，拿来一束枯枝捆在它的身上，结果却是枉费心计。不过是颠倒了它原来的地方，使它枝干朝地，根梢向天。它在女仆的手里用，从此受命摆布，把其他人打扫干净，自己却落得个又脏又臭。而在女仆们的手里折腾过多次之后，或者被扔外出外，或者作为引火的柴禾被烧掉了。
我看到了这所有，不尽兴叹，自言自语一番：人不也是一根扫帚么？大自然送他入世之初，他是强壮有力的，精力充沛，满头的好发，就像一株枝叶齐全的植物。但不久贪婪就像一把斧子砍掉了他的青枝绿叶，只留给他一根枯株。他快点戴上头套，擦上香粉。这把扫帚由于把一些别的树条采集到身上而得意洋洋，其实这类枝条上尽是灰土。即便是最高贵的夫人房里的尘土，大家也必然会嘲笑它的虚荣吧！大家就是如此偏心的审判官，偏于我们的优点，其他人的问题。
