1What is truth? said jesting Pilate;真理是什么？彼拉多戏谑地问道；彼拉多是审判耶稣的罗马总督，此处引用他怀疑真理的态度and would not stay for an answer.并且不愿等待答案。
2-4Certainly, there be that delight in giddiness; and count it a bondage to fix a belief; affecting freewill in thinking as well as in acting.确实，有人以轻浮为乐；视坚定信仰为束缚；在思想和行动上都追求自由意志。培根批评那些不愿追求真理、喜欢思想飘忽不定的人
5-7And though the sects of philosophers of that kind be gone, yet there remain certain discoursing wits which are of the same veins, though there be not so much blood in them as was in those of the ancients.虽然那种哲学流派已经消失，但仍有一些善于诡辩的才子秉承同样的脉络，尽管他们不如古人那样有深度。
8-11But it is not only the difficulty and labor which men take in finding out of truth: nor again, that, when it is found, it imposeth upon men's thoughts, that doth bring lies in favor; but a natural though corrupt love of the lie itself.但使谎言盛行的，不仅是人们发现真理的困难和辛劳：也不是真理一旦发现就会束缚人的思想；而是人对谎言本身有一种虽败坏却天然的爱。培根分析人们偏爱谎言的原因
12-15One of the later schools of the Grecians examineth the matter, and is at a stand to think what should be in it that men should love lies; where neither they make for pleasure, as with poets; nor for advantage, as with the merchant, but for the lie's sake.后来希腊的一个学派研究了这个问题，对于人们为何喜爱谎言感到困惑；因为谎言既不像诗人那样为了愉悦，也不像商人那样为了利益，而是为了谎言本身。
16-18But I cannot tell; this same truth is a naked and open daylight, that doth not show the masks, and mummeries, and triumphs of the world, half so stately and daintily as candle-lights.但我不知道；这真理就像赤裸裸的白昼阳光，不像烛光那样庄严精致地展示世界的面具、哑剧和胜利。培根用比喻说明真理的直白与现实的虚幻之间的对比
19-21Truth may perhaps come to the price of a pearl, that showeth best by day, but it will not rise to the price of a diamond or carbuncle, that showeth best in varied lights.真理或许能值一颗珍珠的价钱，在日光下最好看，但不会升到钻石或红宝石的价钱，它们在多变的光线下最好看。
22A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure.掺入谎言总能增加乐趣。
23-27Doth any man doubt, that if there were taken out of men's minds vain opinions, flattering hopes, false valuations, imaginations as one would, and the like, but it would leave the minds of a number of men poor shrunken things, full of melancholy and indisposition, and unpleasing to themselves?有人怀疑吗，如果从人们心中除去虚妄的意见、谄媚的希望、错误的评价、随心所欲的想象等等，会不会使许多人的心灵变成贫乏萎缩的东西，充满忧郁和不适，令自己不快？培根指出人们依赖虚幻想法来维持心理平衡
28-31One of the fathers, in great severity, called poesy "vinum dæmonum," because it filleth the imagination, and yet it is but with the shadow of a lie.一位教父极为严厉地称诗歌为"恶魔之酒"，因为它充满想象，然而那只是谎言的影子。"vinum dæmonum"是拉丁文，意为"恶魔之酒"
32-34But it is not the lie that passeth through the mind, but the lie that sinketh in, and settleth in it, that doth the hurt, such as we spake of before.但是造成伤害的不是经过心灵的谎言，而是深入心灵并在其中扎根的谎言，如我们之前所说。
35-39But howsoever these things are thus in men's depraved judgments and affections, yet truth, which only doth judge itself, teacheth that the inquiry of truth, which is the love-making, or wooing of it, the knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it, and the belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it, is the sovereign good of human nature.但无论这些东西在人们败坏的判断和情感中如何，唯有真理能判断自己，它教导说：探究真理（即求爱或追求它）、认识真理（即它的存在）和相信真理（即享受它）是人性的至高善。培根阐述真理的三个层次：探究、认识和相信
40-43The first creature of God, in the works of the days, was the light of the sense; the last was the light of reason; and his sabbath work, ever since, is the illumination of his Spirit.上帝在创世工作中的第一个创造是感官之光；最后是理性之光；此后他的安息日工作则是他圣灵的光照。培根引用基督教神学概念描述认知的三个层次
44-46First, he breathed light upon the face of the matter, or chaos; then he breathed light into the face of man; and still he breatheth and inspireth light into the face of his chosen.首先，他将光吹在物质或混沌的表面；然后将光吹入人的面庞；并且他仍在将光吹入并注入他选民的面上。
47-52The poet that beautified the sect, that was otherwise inferior to the rest, saith yet excellently well: "It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tossed upon the sea; a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battle, and the adventures thereof below; but no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage-ground of truth" (a hill not to be commanded, and where the air is always clear and serene), "and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in the vale below;"那位美化了一个本不如其他流派的学派的诗人说得非常好："站在岸上看船在海上颠簸是一种乐趣；站在城堡窗口看战斗及其下方的冒险是一种乐趣；但没有什么乐趣比得上站在真理的制高点上（一个无法被征服的山丘，那里空气总是清澈宁静），'看下面山谷中的错误、徘徊、迷雾和风暴；'"培根引用卢克莱修的诗歌描述从真理高度观察世界的优越性
53-55so always that this prospect be with pity, and not with swelling or pride.只要这种展望总是带着怜悯，而不是膨胀或骄傲。
56-58Certainly it is heaven upon earth, to have a man's mind move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth.确实，一个人的心灵在慈善中行动，在神意中安息，并围绕真理的轴心转动，这就是人间天堂。培根描述理想的心灵状态
59-61To pass from theological and philosophical truth to the truth of civil business; it will be acknowledged, even by those that practise it not, that clear and round dealing is the honor of man's nature, and that mixture of falsehood is like alloy in coin of gold and silver, which may make the metal work the better, but it embaseth it.从神学和哲学的真理转向民事事务的真理；即使那些不实践它的人也会承认，清晰而正直的处事是人性的荣誉，而掺杂虚假就像金银币中的合金，它可能使金属更容易加工，但却降低了它的价值。培根将真理的概念应用到实际生活中
62-64For these winding and crooked courses are the goings of the serpent; which goeth basely upon the belly, and not upon the feet.因为这些迂回曲折的道路是蛇的行进方式；它卑贱地用腹部爬行，而不是用脚行走。引用圣经中蛇的意象比喻欺诈行为的卑劣
65-67There is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame, as to be found false and perfidious; and therefore Montaigne saith prettily, when he inquired the reason why the word of the lie should be such a disgrace, and such an odious charge:没有什么恶行比被发现虚假和不忠更使人蒙羞；因此蒙田说得很巧妙，当他探究为什么说谎这个词是如此耻辱和可憎的指控时：
68-70saith he, "If it be well weighed, to say that a man lieth, is as much as to say that he is brave towards God and a coward towards men.他说："如果仔细衡量，说一个人说谎，就等于说他对上帝勇敢而对人类懦弱。
71-72For a lie faces God, and shrinks from man;" surely, the wickedness of falsehood and breach of faith cannot possibly be so highly expressed, as in that it shall be the last peal to call the judgments of God upon the generations of men:因为谎言面对上帝，却畏缩于人；"确实，虚假和背信的邪恶不可能有比这更高的表达，因为它将是召唤上帝审判人类世代的最后钟声：
73-74it being foretold, that, when "Christ cometh," he shall not "find faith upon the earth."正如预言所说，当"基督来临时"，他将不会"在地上找到信仰"。引用圣经路加福音18:8，强调末后世风日下、信仰缺失的状况