D*****r 发帖数: 6791 | 1 1 Day was departing and the darkened air
2 released the creatures of the earth
3 from their labor, and I, alone,
4 prepared to face the struggle --
5 of the way and of the pity of it --
6 which memory, unerring, shall retrace.
7 O Muses, O lofty genius, aid me now!
8 O memory, that set down what I saw,
9 here shall your worth be shown.
10 I began: 'Poet, you who guide me,
11 consider if my powers will suffice
12 before you trust me to this arduous passage.
13 'You tell of the father of Sylvius
14 that he, still subject to corruption, went
15 to the eternal world while in the flesh.
16 'But that the adversary of all evil showed
17 such favor to him, considering who and what he was,
18 and the high sequel that would spring from him,
19 'seems not unfitting to a man who understands.
20 For in the Empyrean he was chosen
21 to father holy Rome and her dominion,
22 'both of these established -- if we would speak
23 the truth -- to be the sacred precinct where
24 successors of great Peter have their throne.
25 'On this journey, for which you grant him glory,
26 he heard the words that prompted him
27 to victory and prepared the Papal mantle.
28 'Later, the Chosen Vessel went there
29 to bring back confirmation of our faith,
30 the first step in our journey to salvation.
31 'But why should I go there? who allows it?
32 I am not Aeneas, nor am I Paul.
33 Neither I nor any think me fit for this.
34 'And so, if I commit myself to come,
35 I fear it may be madness. You are wise,
36 you understand what I cannot express.'
37 And as one who unwills what he has willed,
38 changing his intent on second thought
39 so that he quite gives over what he has begun,
40 such a man was I on that dark slope.
41 With too much thinking I had undone
42 the enterprise so quick in its inception.
白昼在离去,昏暗的天色
在使大地上一切生物从疲劳中解脱,
只有我独自一人
在努力承受这艰巨的历程
和随之而来的怜悯之情的折磨,
我记忆犹新的脑海将追述事情的经过。
啊!诗神缪斯啊!或者崇高的才华啊!现在请来帮助我;
要么则是我的脑海啊!请写下我目睹的一切,
这样,大家将会看出你的高贵品德。
我开言道:“指引我的诗人啊!
在你让我从事这次艰险的旅行之前,
请看一看我的能力是否足够强大。
你说过,西尔维乌斯的父亲还活着时,
也曾去过那永恒的世界,
尽管他依然带有肉体的感觉。
但如果说万恶之敌
因为想到埃涅阿斯所必然产生的深远影响,
而对他相待以礼,
不论他的后代是谁,又有什么德能,也都似乎不会有
违明智者的心意;
正是在净火天里,
他被选定为圣城罗马和罗马帝国之父:
这帝国和圣城——倘若想说实情——
也都曾被奠定为圣地,
被奠定为大彼得的后继者的府邸。
通过你所吟诵的那次冥界之行,
埃涅阿斯听到了一些事情,
得知他何以会取胜,教皇的法衣又何以会应运而生。
后来,‘神选的器皿’去到那里,
为信仰带来了鼓励,
而信仰正是走上获救之途的凭依。
但是,我为何要到那里去?又是谁容许我这样做?
我不是埃涅阿斯,我也不是保罗;
我自己和旁人都不会相信我有这样的资格。
因此,如果说我听任自己前往,
我却担心此行是否发狂。
你是明智的;你必能更好地理解我说的理由。”
正如一个人放弃了原先的念头,
由于有了新的想法,改变了主意,
把已经开始做的事全部抛弃,
我在昏暗的山地所做的也正是这样,
我原来的行为实在莽撞,
经过再三考虑,我才舍弃了这大胆的设想。 | D*****r 发帖数: 6791 | 2 43 'If I have rightly understood your words,'
44 replied the shade of that great soul,
45 'your spirit is assailed by cowardice,
46 'which many a time so weighs upon a man
47 it turns him back from noble enterprise,
48 the way a beast shies from a shadow.
49 'To free you from this fear
50 I'll tell you why I came and what I heard
51 when first I felt compassion for you.
52 'I was among the ones who are suspended
53 when a lady called me, so blessèd and so fair
54 that I implored her to command me.
55 'Her eyes shone brighter than the stars.
56 Gentle and clear, the words she spoke to me --
57 an angel's voice was in her speech:
58 '"O courteous Mantuan spirit,
59 whose fame continues in the world
60 and shall continue while the world endures,
61 '"my friend, who is no friend of Fortune,
62 is so hindered on his way upon the desert slope
63 that, in his terror, he has turned back,
64 '"and, from what I hear of him in Heaven,
65 I fear he has gone so far astray
66 that I arose too late to help him.
67 '"Set out, and with your polished words
68 and whatever else is needed for his safety,
69 go to his aid, that I may be consoled.
70 '"I who bid you go am Beatrice.
71 I come from where I most desire to return.
72 The love that moved me makes me speak.
73 '"And when I am before my Lord
74 often will I offer praise of you to Him."
75 Then she fell silent. And I began:
76 '"O lady of such virtue that by it alone
77 the human race surpasses all that lies
78 within the smallest compass of the heavens,
79 '"so pleased am I at your command that my consent,
80 were it already given, would be given late.
81 You have but to make your desire known.
82 '"But tell me why you do not hesitate
83 to descend into the center of the earth
84 from the unbounded space you long for."
85 '"Since you are so eager to know more,"
86 she answered, "I shall be brief in telling you
87 why I am not afraid to enter here.
88 '"We should fear those things alone
89 that have the power to harm.
90 Nothing else is frightening.
91 '"I am made such by God's grace
92 that your affliction does not touch,
93 nor can these fires assail me.
94 '"There is a gracious lady in Heaven so moved
95 by pity at his peril, she breaks stern judgment
96 there above and lets me send you to him.
97 '"She summoned Lucy and made this request:
98 Your faithful one is now in need of you
99 and I commend him to your care.
100 '"Lucy, the enemy of every cruelty,
101 arose and came to where I sat
102 at venerable Rachel's side,
103 '"and said: Beatrice, true praise of God,
104 why do you not help the one who loved you so
105 that for your sake he left the vulgar herd?
106 '"Do you not hear the anguish in his tears?
107 Do you not see the death besetting him
108 on the swollen river where the sea cannot prevail?
109 '"Never were men on earth so swift to seek
110 their good or to escape their harm as I,
111 after these words were spoken,
112 '"to descend here from my blessèd seat,
113 trusting to the noble speech that honors you
114 and those who have paid it heed."
115 'After she had said these things to me,
116 she turned away her eyes, now bright with tears,
117 making me more eager to set out.
118 'And so I came to you just as she wished.
119 I saved you from the beast denying you
120 the short way to the mountain of delight.
121 'What then? Why, why do you delay?
122 Why do you let such cowardice rule your heart?
123 Why are you not more spirited and sure,
124 'when three such blessèd ladies
125 care for you in Heaven's court
126 and my words promise so much good?'
“倘若我对你说的话没有听错”,
这个伟大的灵魂回答我,
“伤害你的心灵的是怯懦;
这怯懦曾不止一次起阻碍作用,
它阻挡人们去采取光荣的行动,
正如马匹看到虚假的现象而受惊。
为了消除你心中的惊恐,
我要告诉你我此来的原因,
我还要告诉你我何以从一开始便对你抱有怜惜之情。
我是悬在半空中的幽魂中间的一个,
那位享有天国之福的美丽圣女召唤我,
而我自己也欢迎她对我发号施令。
她那一双明眸闪闪发光,胜过点点繁星;
她开始用柔和而平静的、天使般的声音,
向我倾诉她的心情:
‘啊!曼图亚的温文尔雅的魂灵!
你的声誉至今仍在世上传颂,
并将和世界一样万古长存,
我的朋友——但他并不走运——
正在那荒凉的山地中途受阻,
他受到惊吓,正在转身走回头路;
我担心他已经迷失路途,
我又不能及时赶去救助,
尽管我在天府听到他陷于危难之中。
如今请你立即行动,
用你那华美的言辞和一切必要的手段救他一命,
你能助一臂之力,也便令我感到心松。
我是贝阿特丽切,是我请你去的;
我来自那个地方,我还要回到那里去,
是爱推动我这样说,是爱叫我对你说。
当我回到我的上帝面前时,
我一定要经常向他赞扬你’。
这时,她不再言语,
我随即说道:‘啊!贤德的圣女!
只是依靠你的贤德,人类才能超越
存在于天上最小圆环之下的一切生灵,
你的命令使我感到喜悦欢欣,
即使我立即从命,似乎也嫌太迟;
你不必再多费心思,只须向我吐露你的心事。
不过,请告诉我:你为何不怕
从那辽阔的空间下降到这地球的中心,
而你还要再返回原来的仙境’。
她答道:‘既然你心中是如此渴望知道其中原因,
我就简略地向你说明究竟,
说明我何以不怕到此一行。
人们只须害怕某些事情:
这些事情有能力去伤害别人;
对其他事情就无须顾忌,因为这些事情并不骇人听闻。
感谢上帝使我得以享有天国之福,
你们的不幸不会令我心动,
地狱酷刑的火焰也不会给我造成伤痛。
天上的慈悲女神怜悯此人面临危境,
命我来请你前往救援,使他绝处逢生,
因而她打破了上无所做的严厉决定。
这位女神把露齐亚召到他的面前,
她说:——如今你的忠实信徒需要你,
我也就把他托付给你——
露齐亚对任何残暴行为都深恶痛绝,
她立即起身,前来找我,
我正和古代的拉结一起,结伴同坐,
她说:——贝阿特丽切,上帝真正赞美的女神!
你为何不去搭救你如此心爱的人?
他曾为你脱离了世上的庸俗的人群。
难道你不曾听见他痛苦的哭泣?
难道你不曾看见威胁着他的死神?
那死神就伏在那大海也难以匹敌的波涛汹涌的江河!——
世上没有任何人会像我,
在听罢这番话之后立即迅速动作,
力图寻求安全,逃避灾祸,
我就这样离开我的天国福地,降落到这里,
我相信你的诚恳话语,
这话语使你自己和闻听此言的人都感到光荣无比’。
她向我讲述一番之后,
就转动着她那晶莹的泪眼,
暗示我尽快前来营救。
我如她所愿来到你的身边;
我要救你从这猛兽面前脱险,
这猛兽竟敢阻挡你径直登上那壮丽的高山。
那么,你这是怎么了?为何,为何你又踟躕不前?
为何你心中仍让那怯懦的情绪纠缠?
为何你仍无胆量。仍你坦然?
既然有那三位上天降福的女神,
在天上的法庭保佑你安全脱身,
我自己也对你做了如此诚挚的应允?”
【在 D*****r 的大作中提到】![](/moin_static193/solenoid/img/up.png) : 1 Day was departing and the darkened air : 2 released the creatures of the earth : 3 from their labor, and I, alone, : 4 prepared to face the struggle -- : 5 of the way and of the pity of it -- : 6 which memory, unerring, shall retrace. : 7 O Muses, O lofty genius, aid me now! : 8 O memory, that set down what I saw, : 9 here shall your worth be shown. : 10 I began: 'Poet, you who guide me,
| D*****r 发帖数: 6791 | 3 127 As little flowers, bent and closed
128 with chill of night, when the sun
129 lights them, stand all open on their stems,
130 such, in my failing strength, did I become.
131 And so much courage poured into my heart
132 that I began, as one made resolute:
133 'O how compassionate was she to help me,
134 how courteous were you, so ready to obey
135 the truthful words she spoke to you!
136 'Your words have made my heart
137 so eager for the journey
138 that I've returned to what was first proposed.
139 'Set out then, for one will prompts us both.
140 You are my leader, you my lord and master,'
141 I said to him, and when he moved ahead
142 I entered on the deep and savage way.
正如低垂、闭拢的小花,在阳光照耀下,
摆脱了夜间的寒霜,
挺直了茎杆,竟相怒放,
我也就是这样重新振作精神,
鼓起我胸中的坚强勇气,
开始成为一个心胸坦荡的人:
“啊!那位大慈大悲、救我活命的女神!
还有你,如此温文尔雅的灵魂!
对她向你说的那些真情实话,你是那样立即听从!
你的一番叮咛,慰籍了我的心灵,
使我甘心情愿与你同行,
我回心转意,恢复我原来的决定。
现在,走罢!我们二人是同一条心:
你是恩师,你是救主,你是引路人”。
我对他这样说;他随即起步转身,
我于是走上这条坎坷、蛮荒的路径。
【在 D*****r 的大作中提到】![](/moin_static193/solenoid/img/up.png) : 43 'If I have rightly understood your words,' : 44 replied the shade of that great soul, : 45 'your spirit is assailed by cowardice, : 46 'which many a time so weighs upon a man : 47 it turns him back from noble enterprise, : 48 the way a beast shies from a shadow. : 49 'To free you from this fear : 50 I'll tell you why I came and what I heard : 51 when first I felt compassion for you. : 52 'I was among the ones who are suspended
|
|