In Praise of Birds

One spring morning, Amelius, the solitary philosopher, was sitting with his books in the shade of his country house, reading. Struck by the singing of birds all around, he gradually began to listen and think, and he stopped reading. Finally, he took up his pen, and then and there he wrote what follows.

Birds are by nature the most joyous creatures in the world. I do not mean this in the sense that they always bring you joy whenever you see or hear them but that they themselves feel joy and gaiety more than any other animals. The other animals normally look serious and grave, and many of them even appear melancholy; they seldom give signs of joy, and when they do, these are slight and brief; during most of their enjoyment and pleasures they do not show exhilaration or any indication of gaiety. Even if they derive pleasure from the green fields, from the open and beautiful vistas, from the brilliant sunshine, from the crystalline and sweet air, they do not give any outward sign of it – except for the hares, about which it is said that at night when the moon shines, and especially when it is a full moon, they hop and play together, rejoicing in that brightness, as Xenophon writes. Mostly, birds show themselves extremely joyous in their movements and in their looks; and their virtue of bringing us gaiety by their presence comes only from the fact that their forms and their actions are always such that by nature they display a special ability and a special disposition for pleasure and joy – an appearance not to be deemed empty and deceptive. With every pleasure and satisfaction they experience, they sing; and the greater the pleasure or the satisfaction, the greater the vigor and the effort they put into their singing. And since they sing a great deal of the time, we must conclude that normally they are cheerful and enjoy life. And although it has been observed that when they are in love they sing better and more often and at greater lengths than at other times, it must not be believed that they are not moved to singing by other pleasures and other satisfactions than those of love. For we can clearly see that on a calm and serene day they sing more than on a dark and turbulent one; and during a storm they keep silent as they do any other time they are assailed by fear; and after a storm, they come out into the air singing and playing with one another. Similarly, we can see that they are used to singing in the morning when they wake, being moved partly by the gaiety they derive from the new day and partly by the pleasure, common to all animals, of feeling restored and refreshed by sleep. Likewise, they highly enjoy cheerful verdures, fertile vales, pure and transparent waters, beautiful landscapes. It is quite interesting that what appears agreeable and beautiful to us appears the same to them – as may be ascertained by the lures with which they are drawn into nets or birdlime in the hunting thickets and the like. It may also be ascertained from the nature of those places in the countryside that are most frequented by birds and where their singing is continuous and fervid. On the other hand, either none or very few of the other animals, except perhaps those that are domesticated and are used to living with men, share with us this notion of the amenity and the beauty of places. This should not be surprising, for they find pleasure only in what is natural. Now, in these things, a very large part of what we call natural is not so but is, in fact, rather artificial; thus cultivated fields, trees, and other plants trained and disposed in a certain order, rivers confined within precise boundaries and directed toward a definite course, and similar things have neither the condition nor the appearance they would have naturally. So that the aspect of every country in habited by generations of civilized men – even if we do not consider the cities and other places where men congregate to live together – is something artificial and very difierent from what it would be in nature. Some people say, and it would bear on this subject, that the voice of birds is softer and sweeter and their singing more modulated in our areas than where men are wild and primitive; and they conclude that birds, even being free, pick up a little of the civilization of those men whose quarters they frequent.

Whether these people speak the truth or not, it certainly was a remarkable provision of nature to assign to the same species of animals both song and flight; so that those whose job it was to amuse the other living beings with their voices should normally be in high places, from which the sound could spread about through a greater space and reach a larger number of listeners, so that the air, which is the element destined for sound, should be peopled with vocal and musical creatures. We truly draw great consolation and pleasure – and we men no more, in my opinion, than the other animals – from listening to the singing of birds. And I think that this comes mainly not from the sweetness of the sounds, no matter how great they are, nor from their variety, nor from their mutual resonance, but from that gaiety which is naturally contained in song in general and in the song of birds in particular. Which is, so to speak, a sort of laughter, uttered by the birds when they feel well and comfortable.

Thus, in some way, it might be said that birds share with man the privilege of laughter – a privilege the other animals do not have. In fact, some people thought that since man is defined as an intellectual and reasoning animal, he could no less adequately be defined as a laughing animal, for they believed that laughter is no less characteristic of man than reason. And this is indeed something to marvel at: that man, who is the most afflicted and the most miserable of all creatures, should possess the faculty of laughter, which is alien to every other animal. And also something to marvel at is the use we make of this faculty, for we see many in extremely severe accidents, others in the depths of sadness, and still others who scarcely retain any love for life at all, totally convinced as they are of the vanity of every human good, almost incapable of any joy, and deprived of all hope – and yet we see them laugh. As a matter of fact, the more they know the vanity of those goods and the unhappiness of life, and the less they can hope and the less they are suited for the enjoyment of pleasure, the more men are inclined to laughter. Yet the nature of laughter in general and its inner principles and modes, as regards that part of it which consists in the mind, can scarcely be defined and explained – except by saying that laughter is a form of temporary madness, raving, and delirium. For men, never being satisfied and never finding real pleasure in anything, cannot have a reasonable and just cause for laughter. It would also be interesting to investigate how and on what most probable occasion men first used and recognized this power of theirs. For there is no doubt that in a primitive condition, they generally appear serious, as do the other animals; and they even look melancholy. Thus, I am of the opinion that not only did laughter appear in the world after tears – as to which there cannot be any controversy – but that it took a good space of time before it was first experimented with and seen. And during that time neither did the mother smile at her child, nor did the child recognize her with a smile – as Virgil says. For if nowadays, and at least where people have become civilized, men begin to laugh shortly after they are born, they do so mainly as a result of example because they see others laugh. I would think that the first occasion and the first cause for men to laugh was drunkenness – which is also inherently characteristic of the human race. This originated long before men attained any kind of civilization; in fact, we know that there can scarcely be found any people so primitive who have not provided themselves with some beverage or some other means to inebriate themselves and who are not in the habit of doing so immoderately. This should not be surprising, for as men are unhappy beyond all other animals, so more than all others do they find pleasure in every painless alienation of the mind, in forgetting about themselves, in an interruption, so to speak, of life. And so, by suspending, or in some way decreasing, the sense and knowledge of their own ills, they receive no small benefit. And as to laughter, we can observe that, although they are of serious and sad appearance at other times, primitive people laugh profusely when drunk – talking abundantly and singing, contrary to their habits. But I will discuss these matters more extensively in a history of laughter, which I have in mind to write. After investigating its birth, I will proceed by narrating its exploits, its vicissitudes, and its fortunes, up to the present time – when it is given more dignity and power than ever before by holding a place in civilized nations, by performing a function through which in some way it assumes the roles previously played by virtue, justice, honor, and the like, and in many ways by restraining and frightening men from evil actions. Now, to conclude on the singing of birds, I will say that since we generally draw consolation and gaiety from the joy we see or know in others – if we do not envy them – Nature very laudably decided that the singing of birds, which is an expression of gaiety and a kind of laughter, should be public whereas the singing and the laughter of man, with respect to the rest of the world, are private; and she wisely saw to it that the earth and air should swarm with animals that continuously give out resonant and solemn sounds, as though to applaud universal life and incite other living creatures to gaiety, thereby bearing uninterrupted, though false, witness to the happiness of all things.

And that birds are and show themselves to be more joyous than the other animals is not without a profound reason. For as I implied at the beginning, Nature really made them better suited for pleasure and happiness. First of all, they do not seem to be subject to boredom. They change place every moment; they pass from one region to another, however remote, and from the lowest to the highest realms of the air, in a brief space of time and with prodigious ease; in the course of their lives they see and experience things that are infinite in number and most diverse in form; they continuously exercise their bodies; they greatly abound in open-air activities. All the other animals, when they have provided for their needs, like to sit quietly and leisurely; not one of them, with the possible exception of fish and also some flying insects, goes running about for sheer amusement. Similarly, primitive man – who hardly takes a step except to keep providing for his daily needs which demand but little and short work, or except when a storm, or some wild beast or another similar event drives him – likes mainly leisure and apathy; he consumes almost his entire day sitting indolently and silently inside his little shapeless hut, in the open air, or in the clefts and caverns of cliffs and rocks. Birds, on the contrary, remain in the same place for a very short while; they continuously come and go without any need whatsoever; they fly around for pleasure; and sometimes they enjoy flying hundreds of miles from the area where they usually stay, and then they return there the evening of the same day. Even during the short time they stay in one place, you will never see them sit still; they keep turning here and there, strolling about, bending, stretching their necks, shaking, fluttering with liveliness, agility, and an indescribable swiftness of movement. In short, from when a bird is unlocked from the egg until it dies, save for the intervals of sleep, it is never at rest for a moment. As a result of these observations, it seems apparent that by nature the normal state of the other animals, including men, is rest; of birds, movement.

To these qualities and external conditions correspond the internal ones, that is to say, those of the mind – which make them better suited for happiness than other animals. Their sense of hearing is extremely sharp, and their eyesight is so efficient and perfect that our minds can hardly imagine it; because of these powers they enjoy all day long immense and most diversified spectacles, and from high up they discover at once so great an expanse of land and distinctly perceive so many regions with their eyes as man can hardly comprehend at the same time; from which we must infer that they must possess very great strength and vivacity and very great power of imagination. Not of that kind of profound, fervid, and tempestuous imagination as Dante and Tasso possessed – which is a most fatal gift and the origin of most grievous and perpetual anxiety and anguish – but of the kind that is rich, varied, light, unstable, and childlike, which is the most abundant source of pleasant and joyful thoughts, sweet illusions, manifold pleasures and consolations; it is also the greatest and the most fruitful gift Nature can generously bestow on living souls. Thus, birds possess in great abundance what in this faculty is good and conducive to mental happiness without what is noxious and painful. And since they abound in external life, they are equally rich in the internal but in such a way that this abundance brings them advantages and pleasures, as with children – not disadvantages and misery, as generally with men. For as in their liveliness and outward mobility birds manifestly resemble children, so we may reasonably assume that they resemble them in their inner qualities as well. And were the blessings of childhood common to the other ages and the ills of these no greater than those of childhood itself, perhaps man would have cause to bear life patiently.

In my opinion, if considered in certain ways, the nature of birds surpasses in perfection the nature of the other animals. For example, if we consider that birds by far excel all the others in eyesight and in the faculty of hearing, which, according to the natural order concerning living creatures, are the principal senses, it then follows that the nature of birds is more perfect than the other natures of living creatures. Additionally, if, as we have seen, other animals are naturally inclined to rest and birds to movement – and movement is more alive than rest, life consisting actually in movement, while birds abound in external movement more than any other animal – and moreover, if eyesight and hearing, in which they excel all the others and which predominate among their powers, are the two senses most characteristic of the living, for they also are more vivid and mobile both in themselves as in the habits and other effects that they produce inwardly and outwardly in the animal; and, finally, if we consider the other things already mentioned, the conclusion follows that birds have more external and internal life than the other animals. Now, if life is more perfect than its opposite, at least in living creatures, and if, therefore, a greater abundance of life is greater perfection, also here it follows that the nature of birds is more perfect. At this point we cannot forget that birds are equally suited to withstand the extremes of cold and heat, even without any interval of time between one and the other. In fact, we often see that in little more than an instant, from the ground they soar through the air to very great altitudes, which is like saying to extremely cold areas, and in a short time many of them fly across a variety of climates.

Finally, as Anacreon wished he could be changed into a mirror to be continuously looked at by his beloved, or into a skirt to cover her, or into an ointment to anoint her, or into water to wash her, or into a breast band so that she would press him to her bosom, or into a pearl which she would wear around her neck, or into a shoe that at least she might press him with her foot – similarly, I would like to be changed for a while into a bird so that I could experience the contentment and the joy of their life.

Song of the Great Wild Rooster

Some Hebrew scholars and writers assert that between the sky and the earth, or rather half in one and half in the other, there lives a certain wild rooster, whose feet rest on the earth and whose crest and beak touch the sky. In addition to such peculiarities of his as can be read in those authors, this giant rooster has the use of reason; or, indeed, like a parrot, it has been taught by I know not whom to utter words in the manner of men. In fact, a song entitled Scir detarnegòl bara letzafra, that is to say, Morning Song of the Great Wild Rooster, written in Hebrew script and in a language mixed with Chaldean, Targumic, Rabbinic, Cabalistic, and Talmudic, was found in an ancient parchment. I have managed to understand it and to translate it into our vernacular as follows, not without great labor or without consulting various rabbis, cabalists, theologians, jurists, and Jewish philosophers. I have not been able to ascertain as yet whether this song is repeated by the rooster from time to time or every morning; whether it was sung only once; who hears it or who has heard it; whether its language is actually the language of the rooster or whether the song itself was translated from another tongue. As to the present rendering, I have sought in every way I could to make it as faithful as possible, and I have thought it best to use prose rather than verse, notwithstanding the fact that it was poetry. Its somewhat disconnected and perhaps occasionally turgid style should not be held against me, for it conforms to that of the original text, which in this respect corresponds to the norms of Oriental languages and especially of their poets.

Up, mortals, awake! The day is born again; truth returns to earth, and empty images depart. Arise; take up again the burden of life; return from the false to the real world!

This is the time when everyone collects and reviews in his mind all the thoughts of his present life, recalls to memory his plans, efforts, and affairs, represents to himself the pleasures and the afflictions that might come to him during the new day. And each one during this time wishes more than ever to find in his mind joyous expectations and pleasant thoughts. But very few are granted this wish. For to awake is unfortunate for everyone. No sooner are the wretched awakened than they fall back into the hands of their unhappiness. Sweetest of all things is that sleep which was brought about by a combination of joy and hope – which are both preserved whole and safe until the coming of day, but then they both fail or dwindle.

If the sleep of mortals were perpetual and one and the same with life; if under the day star all living creatures languished in the most profound quiet all over the earth and there appeared no activity whatever: no lowing of oxen in the meadows, no roar of wild beasts in the forests, no singing of birds in the air, no murmur of butter-flies nor buzzing of bees throughout the countryside, no voice, no movement arose in any place but that of waters, winds, and storms; then the universe would indeed be useless; but would there perhaps be in it a lesser quantity of happiness or a larger amount of misery than there is now? I ask you, O Sun, author of the day and guardian of our waking hours, in the course of the centuries that you have so far measured and consumed rising and setting, did you once see a single one of the living beings happy? Of the innumerable works of the mortals which you have seen until now, do you think that even one achieved its aim: the satisfaction, continuous or temporary, of the creature that had produced it? Rather, do you see now, or did you ever see, happiness within the confines of the world? In what field does it dwell, in what forest, on what mountain, in what valley, in what region inhabited or deserted, in what planet of the many your flames light up and warm? Maybe it hides from your sight or resides in the depths of the caverns or in the bosom of the earth or at the bottom of the sea? What living thing, what plant or anything else you give life to, what creature endowed with, or deprived of, vegetative or animal life partakes of it? And you yourself, who, like an indefatigable giant, night and day, without either sleep or respite, swiftly run the immeasurable path that is prescribed to you, are you happy or unhappy?

Mortals awake! You are not yet free from life. The time will come when no external force, no internal movement, will shake you from the quiet of sleep, in which you will then forever insatiably rest. Death is not granted to you as yet; only occasionally are you allowed a semblance of it for a short space of time. For life could not be sustained if it were not frequently interrupted. Too long a want of this brief and ephemeral sleep is in itself deadly and a cause of eternal sleep. Such a thing is life that in order to bear it, we must lay it down, now and again, to catch our breath and to refresh ourselves with a taste and almost a particle of death.

The very essence of things seems to have death as its real and only purpose. All that exists springs from nothingness, because what does not exist cannot die. It is certain that the ultimate purpose of existence is not happiness, for nothing is happy. It is true that living creatures aim at this end with every one of their works; but they do not attain it through any one of them; and during their entire lives they keep striving, straining themselves, and suffering without agonizing and without toiling toward anything but the achievement of this sole purpose of nature, which is death.

The first hours of the day are normally the most endurable for the living. Few people find their minds occupied by pleasant and joyous thoughts when they awake; but almost everyone produces and forms some rather quickly; for at that hour the human mind, although without any specific and particular reason, is above all inclined to cheerfulness and more disposed than at any other time to tolerate the ills of life. Therefore, if someone was filled with despair when caught by sleep, he again finds hope in his mind when he awakens, even if there is no reason for it. Many misfortunes and personal troubles, many causes for fear and for distress appear at that time much smaller than the night before. Also, often the anguish of the past day is scorned and almost laughed at as the result of illusions and of empty imagining. The evening is comparable to old age, while the beginning of the morning is like youth, which is generally at ease and confident; and the evening is sad, discouraged, and inclined to ominous expectations. But just as actual youth in life, so the one mortals experience every day is extremely brief and ephemeral; and very soon the day too grows older.

Although it is the best part of life, the flower of our years is yet a rather miserable thing. In fact, even this paltry blessing fails in such a short time that when man notices by many signs that it is declining, he has scarcely experienced the perfection of his being, or has hardly been able to feel and know his own powers when they already begin to diminish. Mortal creatures of all kinds spend the greatest part of life withering away. So much is nature intent upon pointing to death in all her works: for no other reason does old age prevail so manifestly and for so long a time in life and in the world. Every part of the universe hastens indefatigably toward death with marvellous determination and swiftness. Only the universe itself appears immune to decaying and to languishing; for if in the fall and in the winter it shows itself almost infirm and old, nevertheless, it always grows young again in the new season. But just as mortals in the first part of the day reacquire some portion of their youth and yet grow older every day and finally expire, so the universe may appear to grow young again at the beginning of every year, although it nevertheless continuously grows older. The time will come when this universe and nature herself will be no more. And just as of very great human kingdoms and empires and of their marvelous exploits, which were so very famous in other ages, there remains no sign of fame whatsoever; so too of the entire world, and of the infinite vicissitudes and calamities of all created things, no single trace will remain; but a naked silence and a most profound quiet will fill the immensity of space. Thus, this stupendous and frightening mystery of universal existence, before it can be declared or understood, will vanish and be lost.

The Copernicus

Scene One

THE FIRST HOUR AND THE SUN

FIRST HOUR. Good morning, Your Excellency.

SUN. Yes, rather, good night.

FIRST HOUR. The horses are ready.

SUN. Good.

FIRST HOUR. The morning star has been out for some time.

SUN. Let her come and go as she likes.

FIRST HOUR. What do you mean by that, Your Excellency?

SUN. I mean that I want you to leave me alone.

FIRST HOUR. But, Your Excellency, the night has already lasted so long that it can't last any longer. If we wait any more, Your Excellency, something really strange might happen.

SUN. Whatever happens, I'm not going to move.

FIRST HOUR. Oh, Your Excellency, what's that? Don't you feel well?

SUN. No, no, I'm not feeling anything. I just don't want to move. And you, you mind your own business.

FIRST HOUR. How can I, if you don't come? I'm the first hour of the day; and how can the day be, if Your Excellency isn't kind enough to come out as usual?

SUN. If not to the day, you'll belong to the night – or the Hours of the night will work a double shift, and you and your day companions will do nothing. Because, do you know what? I'm tired of this continuous going around to give light to a few little animals that live on a handful of mud – so small that I, who have quite good eyesight, can't even see it. Tonight I have decided that I don't want to take any more trouble for this; and if men want to see some light, they should keep their fires burning or find some other way.

FIRST HOUR. But, Your Excellency, what way do you want them to find, those poor little creatures? And to have to keep their lamps burning or to keep so many candles lit the whole space of the day will be excessively costly. If they had already found that kind of air to be used for burning, for lighting streets, rooms, shops, cellars, and everything else, at a very low cost, then I would say that it wouldn't be so bad. But the fact is that three hundred years, more or less, still have to pass before men find this kind of remedy. Mean-while, they'll run out of oil, and of wax, and of pitch, and of tallow; and they'll have nothing more to burn.

SUN. They can go and catch fireflies and glowworms.

FIRST HOUR. And what will they do against the cold? For without Your Excellency's assistance, the firewood of all the forests won't be enough to keep them warm. They'll also starve to death, for the earth will no longer bear fruit. And so in the course of a few years, even the breed of those poor animals will be lost. And when they'll have gone groping here and there about the earth for a while, looking for something to eat and to keep warm, finally, after there is nothing left to swallow and when the last spark of fire is no more, they'll all die in the dark, frozen like pieces of rock crystal.

SUN. Why should I care? Am I, by any chance, the wet nurse of the human race, or the chef who must prepare and cook their food? And why should I care if a few invisible little creatures, millions of miles away, can't see and can't stand the cold without my light? And then, if I must also serve, so to speak, as a heater or a fireplace for this human family, it's only reasonable that if the family wants to warm themselves, they should come to the fireplace, and not that the fireplace should go running around the house. So, if the earth needs my presence, let her go moving around herself and do everything possible to get it; for, personally, I don't need anything from the earth that I should go and look out for her.

FIRST HOUR. Your Excellency means to say, if I understand well, that now the earth should do what you have been doing in the past.

SUN. Yes, now, and forever from now on.

FIRST HOUR. Your Excellency is certainly right there, in addition to the fact that you can do whatever you like. Nevertheless, please consider how many beautiful things will necessarily go to rack and ruin if you establish this new order of things. The day will no longer have its beautiful gilded chariot, with its beautiful horses, that used to bathe in the sea; and without dwelling on other details, we poor Hours will no longer have a place in the sky, and from celestial maidens we'll become terrestrial, unless, as I expect, we dissolve into smoke. But be this as it may, the problem will be to convince the earth to go around, which must be quite difficult, for she is not used to it; and it must also seem strange to her to have to run forever and exert herself so much, after never having moved an inch from that place of hers. And if Your Excellency is seemingly beginning to lend an ear to laziness, I've heard that the earth is in no way more inclined to physical exertion now than she was in the past.

SUN. In this case, need will goad her and make her jump and run as much as necessary. But here the fastest and surest way is to find a poet or a natural philosopher who would convince the earth to move or, in case he couldn't convince her, who would force her to. For in the long run, most of this business is in the hands of poets and of natural philosophers; as a matter of fact, they can do nearly anything. The poets are those who in the past (when I was younger and listened to them), with those beautiful songs of theirs, led me – big and fat as I am – to do of my own free will, as a sport or an honorable exercise, that extremely stupid job of running desperately around a small grain of sand. But now that I'm older and have turned to philosophy, in everything I look for what's useful and not for what's beautiful; and the sentiments of poets, when they don't make me sick, make me laugh. Before doing something, I want to have good and substantial reasons; and since I find no reason whatsoever for considering an active life preferable to a leisurely and pleasant one – for an active life could not give you any fruit worth the trouble or even the thought (in the world there is no fruit worth a penny) – I've resolved to leave the exertions and the discomforts to others and, as far as I'm concerned, live at home in peace and without doing anything. Besides being partly the effect of age, this change, as I told you, was caused by philosophers – people who these days have begun to gain power, and keep gaining it more and more. Therefore, if I want the earth to move and to run around in my place, in one respect a poet would be more suitable than a natural philosopher or a scientist, for poets, with one story or another, make people believe that the things of the world are really valuable and important and that they are very pleasant and beautiful, and they create a thousand cheerful hopes, and thus they persuade people to exert themselves and work hard, whereas philosophers dissuade them. However, since philosophers have begun to get the upper hand, I'm afraid that nowadays a poet would not be listened to by the earth any more than by me; or if he were listened to, he wouldn't have any effect. Therefore, I think it's better if we enlist the services of a natural philosopher or a scientist, for although philosophers are normally little suited, and still less inclined, to persuade others to work, it might nevertheless happen that in this extreme case they would manage to do something totally unusual – unless the earth decides that it is more advantageous to go to perdition rather than to trouble herself so much – in which case I wouldn't say that she is wrong. Enough, we'll see what happens. Now, do this: go down to the earth, or send one of your sisters, anyone you want; and if she finds one of those natural philosophers outside his house in the fresh air, studying the sky and the stars – for it is reasonable to expect that she will find some because of the extraordinary length of this night – without more ado, she should lift him up, throw him on her back, and bring him all the way up here to me; and I'll persuade him to do what's necessary. Do you understand?

FIRST HOUR. Yes, Your Excellency. I'll do just that.

Scene Two

(Standing on his terrace, watching the eastern sky through a small paper tube – because the telescope had not been invented yet)

COPERNICUS. Incredible. Either the clocks are all wrong, or the sun should have already risen more than an hour ago; and yet here we can't even see the faintest glimmer in the east, although the sky is as clear and limpid as a mirror. All the stars are shining as if it were midnight. Now go and check Almagest and Sacrobosco, and ask them to explain the reason for this. I have often heard about the night Jupiter spent with Amphitryon's wife; I also remember having recently read in a modern book by a Spaniard that the Peruvians say that once in ancient times there was in their country an extremely long night, as a matter of fact an interminable one, and that finally the sun came out of a lake they call Titicaca. But until now I thought that this was sheer nonsense; and just like all reasonable men I was sure that it was so. Now that I realize that reason and science aren't worth an iota, I have decided to believe that those, and similar things, may be perfectly true. In fact, I'm about to go to all the lakes and all the swamps I can find, to see if I can, by any chance, fish out the sun. But what's this roar that I hear – like the sound of the wings of a great bird?

Scene Three

THE LAST HOUR AND COPERNICUS

LAST HOUR. Copernicus, I'm the Last Hour.

COPERNICUS. The last hour? Well, I can't do anything about it. Only, if possible, give me enough time to write my last will and put my affairs in order – before I die.

LAST HOUR. What do you mean,‘die’? I'm not the last hour of life.

COPERNICUS. Who are you then? The last canonical hour of the breviary?

LAST HOUR. I certainly believe that you like that one better than the others – when you are in the choir.

COPERNICUS. But how do you know that I'm a canon priest? And how do you know me? You just called me by my name.

LAST HOUR. I got information about you from some people down below in the street. In short, I'm the last hour of the day.

COPERNICUS. Ah, I understand. The First Hour is ill; that's why we don't see the day yet.

LAST HOUR. Allow me to go on. The day won't come any more – not today, not tomorrow, not ever, if you don't do something about it.

COPERNICUS. That's a good one! As if it were my job to make the day!

LAST HOUR. I'll tell you how. But first you must come with me immediately to the house of the Sun, my master. You'll learn more along the way, and His Excellency will tell you part of it himself when we get there.

COPERNICUS. All right. But if I'm not mistaken, the trip must be a rather long one. And how can I carry enough supplies so that I won't starve to death some years before I get there? Besides, I don't think His Excellency's lands produce enough for a single lunch.

LAST HOUR. Forget about these fears. You won't have to stay in the house of the Sun for long; and the trip will take but a moment – for in case you don't know, I'm a spirit.

COPERNICUS. But I'm a body.

LAST HOUR. Well, there's no need for you to worry about these things; you're not a metaphysical philosopher. Come here, get on my shoulders, and leave the rest to me.

COPERNICUS. Well, here we go ... Let's see how this thing is going to end.

Scene Four

COPERNICUS AND THE SUN

COPERNICUS. Most illustrious sir.

SUN. Forgive me, Copernicus, if I don't ask you to sit down; but we don't use chairs. We'll be done in a moment. You've already heard from my servant what this problem is all about. Personally – and from what the girl tells me about your ability – I think you are perfectly suited for the job we have in mind.

COPERNICUS. Sir, I see many difficulties in this job.

SUN. Difficulties should not frighten a man of your kind. As a matter of fact, people say that they increase the courage of the courageous. But then, what are these difficulties?

COPERNICUS. First of all, no matter how great is the power of natural philosophy or science, I'm not sure it's so great as to convince the earth to begin to run rather than sit comfortably, and to work and exert herself rather than remain idle, especially in our times, which are not heroic at all.

SUN. So, if you can't convince her, force her.

COPERNICUS. Gladly, my illustrious sir, if I were a Hercules or even a Roland, and not a canon priest from Worms.

SUN. What has that got to do with it? Aren't we told that one of your ancient mathematicians used to say that if he could stand somewhere outside the world, no doubt he could move heaven and earth? Now, you don't have to move heaven; and here you are in a place outside the earth. Therefore, if you're no less clever than that ancient one, you should be able to move her – whether she likes it or not.

COPERNICUS. My dear sir, I could do that, but I would need a lever, which should be so long that not only I, but you yourself, illustrious sir, however rich you may be, wouldn't have enough to cover the cost of the necessary materials and of the labor. Another, and graver, difficulty is the following: as a matter of fact, it's like a knot of difficulties. Up to now the earth has held first place in the universe, that is to say, the center; and, as you know, she has been sitting motionless without anything else to do but look around at all the other globes of the universe, the largest as well as the smallest, the shiny as well as the dark, which have kept rolling above and below and by her sides with such a hurry, such a concern, such a vehemence that we are stunned if we just think about it. And, thus, everything proved to be at her services, and the universe looked like a court where the earth sat as if on a throne, and the other globes all around her, like courtiers, guards, and lackeys, tending to one job or another. As a result, the earth has always believed herself to be the empress of the universe; and, actually, while conditions remained as they were in the past, we can't say that hers was an unreasonable idea; as a matter of fact, I wouldn't deny that such an idea of hers rested on good foundations. And then what shall I tell you about men? We consider, and shall always consider, ourselves the first and the supremely important among all earthly creatures. Each one of us, even if dressed in rags and with no more than a piece of hard bread to gnaw on, thinks of himself as an emperor; and not just of Constantinople or of Germany or of half the earth – as the Roman emperors were – but as an emperor of the universe, an emperor of the sun, of the planets, of all the stars, visible and invisible, and the ultimate cause of the stars, of the planets, of your illustrious Excellency, and of all things. But now if we want the earth to abandon that central place, if we make her run, revolve, bustle about continuously, do exactly the same job as has so far been done by the other globes, and, finally, become one of the planets – this will mean that her earthly majesty, and their human majesties, will have to clear the throne and abandon the empire – being left with their rags and their miseries, which aren't few.

SUN. What are you driving at with this talk, my dear Father Nicholas? Are you perhaps afraid that such an action would be high treason?

COPERNICUS. No, most illustrious sir; for neither the codes, nor the Digest, nor the books of public law, nor those of imperial law, nor of civil law, nor of natural law, mention this kind of treason, as far as I can remember. But I mean to say that this business of ours is not going to be simply material, as it appears at first sight, and that its effects are not going to be restricted to physics, for it will upset all the steps on the ladder of the dignity of things and the order of beings; it will switch the purposes of creatures; and therefore it will cause an extremely great revolution in metaphysics as well as in fact, in every thing that touches the speculative side of knowledge. And as a result, if men can or want to reason well, they'll discover that they are something completely different from what they have been until now or from what they have imagined themselves to be.

SUN. Son, those things don't frighten me at all; for I respect metaphysics as much as physics, and as much as chemistry – or necromancy, if you like. And men will have to be satisfied with being what they are, and if they don't like that, let them go on with their upside-down reasoning and with their arguing against the evidence of facts, as they will be able to do very easily. Thus, they'll continue to believe they are whatever they think – either barons, or dukes, or emperors, or anything else they like. This will comfort them, and those judgments of theirs won't annoy me in the slightest.

COPERNICUS. All right, let's forget about men and about earth. But consider, my most illustrious sir, what we may expect to happen with the other planets. When they see that the earth has become one of them and does everything they do, they will no longer want to be so naked and unadorned, so deserted and sad as they have always been – with the earth alone having so many ornaments. They too will want their rivers, their seas, their mountains, their plants, and, among other things, their animals and their inhabitants; for they won't see any reason for being inferior to the earth in anything. And there will be another immense revolution in the universe: an endless number of new families will in a moment be seen springing up everywhere like mushrooms.

SUN. And you can let them spring up. And let them be as many as they can; for my light and my heat will be enough for all of them – and at no extra cost; and the universe will have enough to feed, clothe, lodge, and treat them generously without getting into debt.

COPERNICUS. But most illustrious sir, consider a little further, and you'll see yet another messy situation. The stars, too, when they see that you have sat down, not on a stool but on a throne, and that you are surrounded by such a beautiful court and such a population of planets – they, too, will want not only to sit down themselves and take a rest, but they'll want to reign as well; and in order to reign, one must have subjects; therefore, they'll want their own planets just as you have – each one his own. And these new planets will also have to be adorned and inhabited, like the earth. And at this point I won't tell you any more about the poor human race – which has already become almost nothing in relation to this present world. What will it become when so many thousands of other worlds burst forth so that the minutest star in the Milky Way won't be without one of her own? But even if we consider only your own interest, let me say that until now you have been, if not first, certainly second in the universe – let's say, next to the earth – and have had no equal, for the stars haven't had the audacity to compare themselves with you. But in this new state of the universe you'll have as many equals as there are stars with their worlds. So be careful that this change you want to make doesn't prejudice your own dignity.

SUN. Don't you remember what your Caesar said when, crossing the Alps, he happened to pass near the hamlet of some poor barbarians? – that he would rather be first in that little hamlet than second in Rome. Similarly, I should prefer to be first in this world of ours rather than second in the universe. But it isn't ambition that moves me to change the present state of things; it's only the love of peace or, to be more exact, laziness. And so, I don't much care about having or not having equals or about being in first or in last place; for unlike Cicero I'm more interested in leisure than in dignity.

COPERNICUS. Most illustrious sir, as far as I'm concerned, I'll do everything possible to get this leisure for you. But I'm afraid that even if I manage to succeed in my intent, it won't last very long. First, I'm almost sure that before many years have passed, you'll be forced to go whirling around like the pulley of a well or like a millstone – though without changing places. Then I suspect that finally, sooner or later, you'll find it necessary to begin to run again; I don't say around the earth; but what do you care about this? And perhaps that same revolving of yours will serve as a reason for your running. Enough, be it as it may; in spite of all difficulties and other considerations, if you insist in your resolution, I'll see if I can help you, so that if this doesn't work out, you'll believe that I could not – and not say that I'm a man without much courage.

SUN. All right, my Copernicus, try.

COPERNICUS. There is only one more difficulty.

SUN. Tell me, what's that?

COPERNICUS. I wouldn't like to be burned alive like the phoenix because of this. For if this happens, I'm sure that I wouldn't rise again from my ashes like that bird; and so, from then on I wouldn't see Your Excellency's face any more.

SUN. Listen, Copernicus, you know that at the time when you philosophers and scientists had scarcely been born – I mean to say, when poetry held the field – I was a prophet. Now I want you to let me predict the future for the last time, and in memory of my ancient power I want you to believe me. So then, I tell you that perhaps after you, those who approve what you have done may get somewhat charred or something like that; but you yourself, as far as I can see, won't suffer at all because of this. And if you want to be even safer, follow this advice: dedicate the book you write on the subject to the pope. This way, I promise you that you won't even lose your canonry.

Dialogue Between an Almanac Peddler and a Passer-by

PEDDLER. Almanacs, new almanacs; new calendars. Do you need any almanacs, Sir?

PASSER-BY. Almanacs for the new year?

PEDDLER. Yes, Sir.

PASSER-BY. Do you think the new year is going to be a happy one?

PEDDLER. Yes, Sir, absolutely.

PASSER-BY. Like last year?

PEDDLER. More, much more.

PASSER-BY. Like the year before?

PEDDLER. More, Sir, more.

PASSER-BY. But like what other? Wouldn't you want the new year to be like one of these past years?

PEDDLER. No, Sir, I wouldn't.

PASSER-BY. How many new years ago did you start selling almanacs?

PEDDLER. Sir, it must be twenty years.

PASSER-BY. Which one of those twenty years would you want the next one to be like?

PEDDLER. Me? I wouldn't know.

PASSER-BY. Don't you remember any year in particular that you thought was happy?

PEDDLER. Actually, I don't, Sir.

PASSER-BY. But life is beautiful, isn't it?

PEDDLER. Everybody knows that.

PASSER-BY. Wouldn't you like to live those twenty years over again, and all your past years, beginning with the day you were born?

PEDDLER. Eh, my dear Sir, I wish to God I could.

PASSER-BY. But if you had to live exactly the same life all over again – with all its pleasures and all its pains?

PEDDLER. I wouldn't like that.

PASSER-BY. But what kind of life would you like to live over again? The life I've had, or a prince's, or who else's? Don't you think that I, the prince, or anyone else, would answer just like you, that having to live the same life over again, no one would want to go back to it?

PEDDLER. I think so.

PASSER-BY. You wouldn't go back either, unless you could in some other way?

PEDDLER. No. Sir; I really wouldn't.

PASSER-BY. But what kind of life would you like then?

PEDDLER. Any kind, just as God would send it to me, with no other conditions.

PASSER-BY. Any life at random, without knowing anything about it in advance, just as we don't know anything about the new year?

PEDDLER. Precisely.

PASSER-BY. That's what I would like too if I were to live all over again; and that's what everyone would like. But this means that, up until the end of this year, Fortune has treated everyone badly. And it's clear that every one thinks that he was allotted more, and greater, evil than good – if to live the same life all over again, with all its good and all its evil, no one would want to be born anew. The life that's beautiful is not the life we know, but the life we don't know; not the past life, but the future. With the new year, Fortune will start treating you and me and all the others well, and the happy life will begin. Isn't it true?

PEDDLER. Let's hope so.

PASSER-BY. Then show me your most beautiful almanac.

PEDDLER. Here it is, Sir. This one is thirty cents.

PASSER-BY. Here's thirty cents.

PEDDLER. Thank you, Sir. Goodbye. Almanacs, new almanacs; new calendars.

企鹅口袋书系列·伟大的思想

论权力

(英汉双语)

[英]莎士比亚 著

朱生豪 方 平 等译

中国出版集团

中译出版社


图书在版编目(CIP)数据

论权力:英汉对照/(英)莎士比亚著;朱生豪,方平译.—北京:中译出版社,2015.11

(企鹅口袋书系列·伟大的思想)

ISBN 978-7-5001-4345-1

Ⅰ.①论… Ⅱ.①莎…②朱…③方… Ⅲ.①莎士比亚,W.(1564~1616)—戏剧文学—文学研究—英、汉 Ⅳ.①I561.073

中国版本图书馆CIP数据核字(2015)第267702号


Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

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This selection first published in Penguin Books 2009

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ISBN 978-7-5001-4345-1

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“企鹅”及相关标识是企鹅图书有限公司已经注册或尚未注册的商标。

未经允许,不得擅用。

中译出版社与企鹅图书有限公司联合出版

《伟大的思想》中文版序

企鹅《伟大的思想》丛书2004年开始出版。在英国,已付梓八十种,尚有二十种计划出版。美国出版的丛书规模略小,德国的同类丛书规模更小一些。丛书销量已远远超过二百万册,在全球众多读者间,尤其是学生当中,普及了哲学和政治学。中文版《伟大的思想》丛书的推出,迈出了新的一步,令人欢欣鼓舞。

推出这套丛书的目的是让读者再次与一些伟大的非小说类经典著作面对面地交流。太久以来,确定版本依据这样一个假设——读者在教室里学习这些著作,因此需要导读、详尽的注释、参考书目等。此类版本无疑十分有用,但我想,如果能够重建托马斯·潘恩《常识》或约翰·罗斯金《艺术与人生》初版时的环境,营造更具亲和力的氛围,也许是一件有趣的事。这样,读者除了原作者及其自身的理性思考外没有其他参照。

这样做有一定的缺陷:每位作者的话难免有难解或不可解之处,一些重要的背景知识会缺失。例如,读者对亨利·梭罗创作时的情形毫无头绪,也不了解该书的接受情况以及影响;不过,这样做的优点也显而易见。最突出的优点是:作者的初衷又一次变得重要起来——托马斯·潘恩的愤怒、查尔斯·达尔文的灵光、塞内加的隐逸。这些作家在许多国家影响着许多人的生活,其影响难以估量;长达几个世纪,读他们书的乐趣罕有匹敌。没有亚当·斯密或阿图尔·叔本华,或无法想象我们今天的世界。这些小书的创作年代久远,但其中的话语彻底改变了我们的政治学、经济学、智力生活、社会规划和宗教信仰。

《伟大的思想》丛书一直求新求变。地域不同,收录的作家亦不同。在中国或美国,一些作家更受欢迎。英国《伟大的思想》收录的一些作家在其他地方则默默无闻。称其为“伟大的思想”,我们亦慎之又慎。思想之伟大,在于其影响之深远,而不意味着这些思想是“好”的,实际上一些书或可列入“坏”思想之列。丛书中很多作家受到同一丛书其他作家的很大影响,例如,马塞尔·普鲁斯特承认受约翰·罗斯金影响很大,米歇尔·德·蒙田也承认深受塞内加影响,但其他作家彼此憎恶,如果发现他们被收入同一丛书,一定会气愤难平。不过,读者可自行判明这些思想是否合理。我们衷心希望,您可以从阅读这些杰作中获得乐趣。

《伟大的思想》出版者

西蒙·温德尔

Introduction to the Chinese Editions of Great Ideas

Penguin's Great Ideas series began publication in 2004. In the UK we now have 80 copies in print with plans to publish a further 20. A somewhat smaller list is published in the USA and a related, even smaller series in Germany. The books have sold now well over two million copies and have popularized philosophy and politics for many people around the world — particularly students. The launch of a Chinese Great Ideas series is an extremely exciting new development.

The intention behind the series was to allow readers to be once more face to face with some of the great nonfiction classics. For too long the editions of these books were created on the assumption that you were studying them in the classroom and that the student needed an introduction, extensive notes, a bibliography and so on. While this sort of edition is of course extremely useful, I thought it would be interesting to recreate a more intimate feeling — to recreate the atmosphere in which, for example, Thomas Paine's Common Sense or John Ruskin's On Art and Life was first published — where the reader has no other guide than the original author and his or her own common sense.

This method has its severe disadvantages — there will inevitably be statements made by each author which are either hard or impossible to understand, some important context might be missing. For example the reader has no clue as to the conditions under which Henry Thoreau was writing his book and the reader cannot be aware of the book's reception or influence. The advantages however are very clear — most importantly the original intentions of the author become once more important. The sense of anger in Thomas Paine, of intellectual excitement in Charles Darwin, of resignation in Seneca — few things can be more thrilling than to read writers who have had such immeasurable influence on so many lives, sometimes for centuries, in many different countries. Our world would not make sense without Adam Smith or Arthur Schopenhauer — our politics, economics, intellectual lives, social planning, religious beliefs have all been fundamentally changed by the words in these little books, first written down long ago.

The Great Ideas series continues to change and evolve. In different parts of the world different writers would be included. In China or in the United States there are some writers who are liked much more than others. In the UK there are writers in the Great Ideas series who are ignored elsewhere. We have also been very careful to call the series Great Ideas — these ideas are great because they have been so enormously influential, but this does not mean that they are Good Ideas — indeed some of the books would probably qualify as Bad Ideas. Many of the writers in the series have been massively influenced by others in the series — for example Marcel Proust owned so much to John Ruskin, Michel de Montaigne to Seneca. But others hated each other and would be distressed to find themselves together in the same series! But readers can decide the validity of these ideas for themselves. We very much hope that you enjoy these remarkable books.

Simon Winder

Publisher

Great Ideas

目录

《伟大的思想》中文版序

Introduction to the Chinese Editions of Great Ideas

导读

政府权力

家庭权力

战争和暴力中的权力

恋人间的权力

Contents

Power in government

Power in the family

Power in war and violence

Power of love, between men and women

返回总目录

导读

威廉·莎士比亚,这个从文艺复兴时期施施然走来的英国人,创造了文学世界的一个奇观:他的译本遍布全球,研究他的论著浩如烟海,他同时得到文学巨匠和普通读者的一致倾慕,他的作品完美地诠释了“经典”和“畅销”,他是普世的,是属于千秋万代的。大仲马曾经说:“除了上帝,莎士比亚创造的最多。”木心则更进一步,直言:“威廉,你是仅次于上帝的人。”

这样的评论,本来不可轻信,可是面对莎翁的一部部传世精品,我们只能哑口无言,只好看一遍,再看一遍,一任由他牵引,听他对世相人心、权力欲望,抽筋刮骨似的鞭辟,还有,感受一个文学家对天下一切的可悲可怜难以自禁的同情。莎士比亚不仅有一双天赋的慧眼,一份天纵的才情,写善恶两极时,痛快淋漓,直见性命,更有一颗金心,句句诚恳,对人事自有一份体谅。

对一部《哈姆雷特》的论述,也许已经可以撑起一座图书馆。但是莎士比亚之所以是莎士比亚,当还有另外一层伟大——在这本中英文都只有百十页的小书《论权力》里,没有曲折的情节,摘选莎作中有关权力的诸片段,处处易懂,但也处处都是警句——想必能做到随意抽取片言片语,都闪烁着金句光芒的,莎翁之作,仅次于《圣经》。

对于高高在上的君王,莎翁有刻骨铭心的嘲讽,但淳朴、实在,他嘲笑他们煊赫的排场和所得的奉承,在《李尔王》里对虚荣国王不留情面;他也体恤,借着亨利五世之口直言:“随着‘伟大’而来的,是多么难堪的地位啊……做了国王,多少民间所享受的人生乐趣他就得放弃”;同时,他还清醒,国王“除了地位、名衔、外表引起人们的敬畏与惶惑外——你还有什么呢”……不是李尔王执迷不悟,也不是亨利五世勤恳清明,而是莎士比亚,实在透彻。

透彻的莎翁自然也不会放过对庶人的针刺。他在《奥赛罗》里写出两种奴才相:有一辈是天生的奴才,奴颜卑膝,为了粮草出卖一生;另有一种,则表面鞠躬如也,骨子里实利成癖。这样的感喟,并非出自知识,它来自一个敏感的文豪敏感的处世经验。这样的奴才代代都不稀缺,所以说,莎翁的写作超越了时代,因为他退得开,所以他看得透。人间百态,人性深层,写到这样悠游裕如的地步,他因此永恒。

而莎士比亚的金心,在这本书中最动人的体现,首推最后“恋人间的权力”部分的选段。当鲍西亚对着巴萨尼奥倾诉肺腑,慨言为妻的忠诚时,当罗密欧说“朱丽叶所在的地方就是天堂”,为爱陨殉时,我们有幸,读到了这世上最美的情书。后来人再写年少的爱恋,难以超越了。莎士比亚,他是世间所有懂爱之人的知音。

莎翁没有上过大学,可他的语言之优美、词汇之丰饶,令人感佩,这或许恰巧印证了那句“虎豹出自山野”吧。在无数的莎翁著作中译本中,朱生豪先生的译笔尤健,既雅且达,颇现原著精髓。作为读者,我们只有以阅读来贡献敬仰。

假若没有《哈姆雷特》和《罗密欧与朱丽叶》,文学世界将少了怎样两颗明珠?假若没有莎翁,世界文学史有没有塌下一角的感觉?实在不敢想象。因此只好打开书,再读一遍莎翁的金句,感叹他那颗金子般的心。

政府权力

哈姆莱特 第三幕 第三场

罗森格兰兹  每一个庶民都知道怎样远祸全身,一个身负天下重寄的人,尤其应该时刻不懈地防备危害的袭击。君主的薨逝不仅是个人的死亡,它像一个旋涡一样,凡是在它近旁的东西,都要被它卷去同归于尽;又像一个矗立在最高山峰上的巨轮,它的轮辐上连附着无数的小物件,当巨轮轰然崩裂的时候,那些小物件也跟着它一齐粉碎。国王的一声叹息,总是随着全国的呻吟。

(朱生豪 译)

理查二世 第三幕 第二场

理查王  不必问他在什么地方。谁也不准讲那些安慰的话儿,让我们谈谈坟墓、蛆虫和墓碑吧;让我们以泥土为纸,用我们淋雨的眼睛在大地的胸膛上写下我们的悲哀;让我们找几个遗产管理人,商议我们的遗嘱——可是这也不必,因为我们除了把一具尸骸还给大地以外,还有什么可以遗留给后人的?我们的土地、我们的生命,一切都是波林勃洛克的,只有死亡和掩埋我们骨骼的一黄土,才可以算是属于我们自己的。为了上帝的缘故,让我们坐在地上,讲些关于国王们的死亡的悲惨的故事;有些是被人废黜的,有些是在战场上阵亡的,有些是被他们所废黜的鬼魂们缠绕着的,有些是被他们的妻子所毒毙的,有些是在睡梦中被杀的,全都不得善终;因为在那围绕着一个凡世的国王头上的这顶空洞的王冠之内,正是死神驻节的宫廷,这妖魔高坐在里边,揶揄他的尊严,讪笑他的荣华,给他一段短短的呼吸的时间,让他在舞台上露一露脸,使他君临万民,受尽众人的敬畏,一眨眼就可以致人于死命,把妄自尊大的思想灌注他的心头,仿佛这包藏着我们生命的血肉的皮囊,是一堵不可摧毁的铜墙铁壁一样;当他这样志得意满的时候,却不知道他的末日已经临近眼前,一枚小小的针就可以刺破他的壁垒,于是再会吧,国王!戴上你们的帽子;不要把严肃的敬礼施在一个凡人的身上;丢开传统的礼貌,仪式的虚文,因为你们一向都把我认错了;像你们一样,我也靠着面包生活,我也有欲望,我也懂得悲哀,我也需要朋友;既然如此,你们怎么能对我说我是一个国王呢?

(朱生豪 译)

雅典的泰门 第四幕 第三场

艾帕曼特斯  要是你披上这身寒酸的衣服,目的只是要惩罚你自己的骄傲,那么很好;可是你是出于勉强的,倘然你不再是一个乞丐,你就会再去做一个廷臣。自愿的贫困胜如不定的浮华;穷奢极欲的人要是贪得无厌,比最贫困而知足的人更要不幸得多了。你既然这样困苦,应该但求速死。

泰门  我不会听了一个比我更倒霉的人的话而去寻死。你是一个奴隶,命运的温柔的手臂从来不曾拥抱过你。要是你从呱呱堕地的时候就跟我们一样,可以随心所欲地享受这浮世的欢娱,你一定已经沉溺在无边的放荡里,把你的青春消磨在左拥右抱之中,除了一味追求眼前的淫乐以外,再也不会知道那些冷冰冰的人伦道德。可是我,整个的世界曾经是我的糖果的作坊;人们的嘴、舌头、眼睛和心都争先恐后地等候着我的使唤,虽然我没有这许多工作可以给他们做;无数的人像叶子依附橡树一般依附着我,可是经不起冬风的一吹,他们便落下枝头,剩下我赤裸裸的枯干,去忍受风雨的摧残:像我这样享福过来的人,一旦挨受这种逆运,那才是一件难堪的重荷;你却是从开始时候就尝到人世的痛苦的,经验已经把你磨炼得十分坚强了。你为什么厌恶人类呢?他们从来没有向你献过媚;你曾经有些什么东西给人家呢?倘然你要咒骂,你就得咒骂你的父亲,那个穷酸的叫化,他因为一时起兴,和一个女乞婆养下了你这世袭的穷光蛋来。滚开!快去!倘然你不是生下来就是世间最下贱的人,你就是个奸佞的小人。

(朱生豪 译)

亨利五世 第一幕 第二场

坎特伯雷  所以上天把人体当作一个政体,赋予了性质各各不同的机能;不同的机能使一个个欲求不断地见之于行动;而每一个行动,就像系附着同一种目标或者是同一种对象,也必然带来了整体的服从。蜜蜂就是这样发挥它们的效能;这种昆虫,凭着自己天性中的规律把秩序的法则教给了万民之邦。它们有一个王,有各司其职的官员;有些像地方官,在国内惩戒过失;也有些像闯码头、走外洋去办货的商人;还有些像兵丁,用尾刺做武器,在那夏季的丝绒似的花蕊中间大肆劫掠,然后欢欣鼓舞,把战利品往回搬运——运到大王升座的宝帐中;那日理万机的蜂王,可正在视察那哼着歌儿的泥水匠把金黄的屋顶给盖上。一般安份的老百姓又正在把蜂蜜酿造;可怜那脚夫们,肩上扛着重担,硬是要把小门挨进;只听见“哼!”冷冷的一声——原来那瞪着眼儿的法官把那无所事事、呵欠连连的雄蜂发付给了脸色铁青的刽子手。我的结论是:许许多多的事情只要环绕着一个共同的目的,不妨分头进行;就像从各个不同的角度发出的箭,射向一个目标;东西南北的道路都通向一个城镇;千百条淡水的河流汇聚在一片咸海里;许多线条结合在日晷的中心点——就像这样,千头万绪的事业一旦动手,共同完成一个使命,什么都顺利进行,不会有一些儿差错。所以,到法兰西去吧,我的君主!把你那“快乐的英格兰”一分为四,这四分之一就归你带到法兰西去大显威风,叫高卢族人人发抖。而我们,以三倍的力量在国内防守,要是再不能扎紧藩篱,不许野狗钻进来,那么合该我们倒楣,叫恶狗扑身,丧尽了咱们民族的勇敢与政治上机警的英名。

(方 平 译)

科利奥兰纳斯 第二幕 第二场

吏乙  老实说一句,有许多大人物尽管口头上拚命讨好平民,心里却一点不喜欢他们;也有许多人喜欢了一个人,却不知道为什么要喜欢他,他们既然会莫名其妙地爱他,也就会莫名其妙地恨他。所以科利奥兰纳斯对于他们的爱憎漠不关心,正可以表示他真正了解他们的性格;他也由他们去看得一清二楚,满不在意。

吏甲  要是他对于他们的爱憎漠不关心,那么他既不会有心讨好他们,也不会故意冒犯他们;可是他对他们寻衅的心理,却比他们对他仇恨的心理更强,凡是可以表明他是他们的敌人的事实,他总是不加讳饰地表现出来。像这样有意装出敌视人民的态度,比起他所唾弃的那种取媚人民以求得他们欢心的手段来,同样是不足为法的。

吏乙  他替国家立下了极大的功劳;他的跻登高位,绝不像那些毫无寸尺之功、单凭着向人民曲意逢迎的手段滥邀爵禄的人们那样容易;他的荣誉彪炳在他们的眼前,他的功业铭刻在他们的心底,他们要是不作一声,否认这一切,那就是忘恩负义;要是颠倒是非,混淆黑白,那就是恶意中伤。

吏甲  别讲他了;他是一个可尊敬的人。

(朱生豪 译)

亨利五世 第四幕 第二场

亨利王  要国王负责!那不妨把我们的生命、灵魂,把我们的债务、我们的操心的妻子、我们的孩子以及我们的罪恶,全都放在国王头上吧!他得一古脑儿担当下来。随着“伟大”而来的,是多么难堪的地位啊;听凭每个傻瓜来议论他——他们想到、感觉到的,只是个人的苦楚!做了国王,多少民间所享受的人生乐趣他就得放弃!而人君所享有的,有什么是平民百姓所享受不到的——只除了排场,只除了那众人前的排场?你又算是什么呢——你偶像似的排场?你比崇拜者忍受着更大的忧患,又是什么神明?你收到多少租金,又带来了多少进账?啊,排场,让我看一看你的价值是多少吧!你凭什么法宝叫人这样崇拜?除了地位、名衔、外表引起人们的敬畏与惶恐外——你还有些什么呢?你叫人惶恐,为什么反而不及那班诚惶诚恐的人来得快乐呢?你天天喝下肚去的,除了有毒的谄媚代替了纯洁的尊敬外,还有什么呢?啊,伟大的“伟大”呀,且等你病倒了,吩咐你那套排场来给你治病吧!你可认为那沸烫的发烧,会因为一大堆一味奉承的字眼而退去吗?凭着那打躬作揖,病痛就会霍然而愈吗?当你命令乞丐向你双膝跪下的时候,你能同时命令他把康健献给你吗?不,你妄自尊大的幻梦啊,你这样善于戏弄帝王的安眠。我这一个国王早已看破了你。我明白,无论帝王加冕的圣油、权杖和那金球,也无论那剑、那御杖、那皇冠、那金线织成和珍珠镶嵌的王袍、那加在帝号前头的长长一连串荣衔;无论他高倨的王位,或者是那煊赫尊荣,像声势浩大的潮浪泛滥了整个陆岸——不,不管这一切辉煌无比的排场,也不能让你睡在君王的床上,就像一个卑贱的奴隶那样睡得香甜。一个奴隶,塞饱了肚子,空着脑子,爬上床去——干了一天辛苦活儿,就再不看见那阴森森的、从地狱里产生的黑夜。他倒像是伺候太阳神的一个小厮,从日出到日落,只是在阳光里挥汗,到了晚上,就在乐园里睡个通宵;第二天天一亮,又一骨碌起身,赶着替太阳神把骏马套上了车;年年月月,他就干着这营生,直到进入了坟墓。像这样,一个奴隶,欠缺的就只是煊赫的排场,要不然,他日出而作,日入而息,远远地胜过了做一个皇帝。他浑浑噩噩、安安稳稳地过着太平日子,全没想到做人君的为了维护这太平世界,对着孤灯,操着怎样一片心;他宵旰勤劳,到头来却是那村夫最受用。

(方 平 译)

一报还一报 第一幕 第一场

公爵  关于政治方面的种种机宜,我不必多向你絮说,因为我知道你在这方面的经验阅历,胜过我所能给你的任何指示;对于地方上人民的习性,以及布政施教的宪章、信赏必罚的律法,你也都了如指掌,比得上任何博学练达之士,所以我尽可信任你的才能,让你自己去适宜应付。我给你这一道诏书,愿你依此而行。(以诏书授爱斯卡勒斯)来人,去唤安哲鲁过来。(一侍从下)你看:他这人能不能代理我的责任?因为我在再三考虑之下,已经决定当我出巡的时候,叫他摄理政务;他可以充分享受众人的畏惧爱敬,全权处置一切的事情。你以为怎样?

爱斯卡勒斯  在维也纳地方,要是有人值得受这样隆重的眷宠恩荣,那就是安哲鲁大人了。

公爵  他来了。

〔安哲鲁上。〕

安哲鲁  听见殿下的召唤,小臣特来恭听谕令。

公爵  安哲鲁,在你的生命中有一种与众不同的地方,使人家一眼便知道你的全部的为人。你自己和你所有的一切,倘不拿出来贡献于人世,仅仅一个人独善其身,那实在是一种浪费。上天生下我们,是要把我们当作火炬,不是照亮自己,而是普照世界;因为我们的德行倘不能推及他人,那就等于没有一样。一个人有了才华智慧,必须使它产生有益的结果;造物是一个工于算计的女神,她所给与世人的每一分才智,都要受赐的人知恩感激,加倍报答。可是我虽然这样对你说,也许我倒是更应该受你教益的;所以请你收下这道诏书吧,安哲鲁;(以诏书授安哲鲁)当我不在的时候,你就是我的全权代表,你的片言一念,可以决定维也纳人民的生死,年高的爱斯卡勒斯虽然先受到我的嘱托,他却是你的辅佐。

(朱生豪 译)

理查二世 第五幕 第五场

理查王  我正在研究怎样可以把我所栖身的这座牢狱和整个的世界两相比较;可是因为这世上充满了人类,这儿除了我一身之外,没有其他的生物,所以它们是比较不起来的;虽然这样说,我还要仔细思考一下。我要证明我的头脑是我的心灵的妻子,我的心灵是我的思想的父亲;它们两个产下了一代生生不息的思想,这些思想充斥在这小小的世界之上,正像世上的人们一般互相倾轧,因为没有一个思想是满足的。比较好的那些思想,例如关于宗教方面的思想,却和怀疑互相间杂,往往援用经文的本身攻击经文;譬如说,“来吧,小孩子们;”可是接着又这么说,“到天国去是像骆驼穿过针孔一般艰难的。”野心勃勃的思想总在计划不可能的奇迹;凭着这些脆弱无力的指爪,怎样从这冷酷的世界的坚硬的肋骨,我的凹凸不平的囚墙上,抓破一条出路;可是因为它们没有这样的能力,所以只能在它们自己的盛气之中死去。安分自足的思想却用这样的话安慰自己:它们并不是命运的最初的奴隶,不会是它的最后的奴隶;正像愚蠢的乞丐套上了枷,自以为许多人都在他以前套过枷,在他以后,也还有别的人要站在他现在所站的地方,用这样的思想掩饰他们的羞辱一样。凭着这一种念头,它们获得了精神上的宽裕,假借过去的人们同样的遭际来背负它们不幸的灾祸。这样我一个人扮演着许多不同的角色,没有一个能够满足他自己的命运:有时我是国王;叛逆的奸谋使我希望我是一个乞丐,于是我就变成了乞丐;可是压人的穷困劝诱我还不如做一个国王,于是我又变成了国王;一会儿忽然想到我的王位已经被波林勃洛克所推翻,那时候我就立刻化为乌有;可是无论我是什么人,无论是我还是别人,只要是一个人,在他没有彻底化为乌有以前,是什么也不能使他感到满足的。

(朱生豪 译)

雅典的泰门 第一幕 第一场

诗人  您瞧这一大群蝇营蚁附的宾客。在我的拙作中间,我勾划出了一个受尽世俗爱宠的人;可是我并不单单着力作个人的描写,我让我的恣肆的笔锋在无数的模型之间活动,不带一丝恶意,只是像凌空的鹰隼一样,一往直前,不留下一丝痕迹。

画师  您的意思我有点不大懂得。

诗人  我可以解释给您听。您瞧各种不同地位不同性情的人,无论是轻浮油滑的,或是严肃庄重的,都愿意为泰门大爷效劳服役;他的巨大的财产,再加上他的善良和蔼的天性,征服了各种不同的人,使他们乐于向他输诚致敬;从那些脸上反映出主人的喜怒的谄媚者起,直到憎恨自己的艾帕曼特斯,一个个在他的面前屈膝,只要泰门点点头,就可以使他们满载而归。

画师  我曾经看见他跟艾帕曼特斯在一起谈话。

诗人  先生,我假定命运的女神端坐在一座巍峨而幽美的山上;在那山麓下面,有无数智愚贤不肖的人在那儿劳心劳力,追求世间的名利,他们的眼睛都一致注视着这位主宰一切的女神;我把其中一个人代表泰门,命运女神用她象牙一样洁白的手招引他到她的身边;他是她眼前的恩宠,他的敌人也一齐变成了他的奴仆。

画师  果然是很巧妙的设想。我想这一个宝座,这一位命运女神和这一座山,在这山下的许多人中间只有一个人得到女神的招手,这个人正弓着身子向峻峭的山崖爬去,攀登到幸福的顶端,很可以表现出我们这儿的情形。

诗人  不,先生,听我说下去。那些在不久以前还是和他同样地位的人,也有一些本来胜过他的人,现在都跟在他后面亦步亦趋;他的接待室里挤满了关心他的起居的人,他的耳朵中充满了一片有如向神圣祷告那样的低语;连他的马镫也被奉为神圣,他们从他那里呼吸到自由的空气。

画师  好,那便怎么样呢?

诗人  当命运突然改变了心肠,把她的宠儿一脚踢下山坡的时候,那些攀龙附凤之徒,本来跟在他后面匍匐膝行的,这时候便会冷眼看他跌落,没有一个人做他患难中的同伴。

(朱生豪 译)

亨利四世上篇 第一幕 第二场

福斯塔夫  呃,我说,乖乖好孩子,等你做了国王以后,不要让我们这些夜间的绅士们被人称为掠夺白昼的佳丽的窃贼;让我们成为狄安娜的猎户,月亮的嬖宠;让人家说,我们都是很有节制的人,因为正像海水一般,我们受着我们高贵纯洁的女王月亮的节制,我们是在她的许可之下偷窃的。

亲王  你说得好,一点不错,因为我们这些月亮的信徒们既然像海水一般受着月亮的节制,我们的命运也像海水一般起伏无定。举个例说,星期一晚上出了死力抢下来的一袋金钱,星期二早上便会把它胡乱花去;凭着一声吆喝“放下”把它抓到手里,喊了几回“酒来”就花得一文不剩。有时潦倒不堪,可是也许有一天时来运转,两脚腾空,高升绞架。

(朱生豪 译)

理查二世 第三幕 第四场

园丁  去,你把那边垂下来的杏子扎起来,它们像顽劣的子女一般,使它们的老父因为不胜重负而弯腰屈背;那些弯曲的树枝你要把它们支撑住了。你去做一个刽子手,斩下那些长得太快的小枝的头,它们在咱们的共和国里太显得高傲了,咱们国里一切都应该平等的。你们去做各人的事,我要去割下那些有害的莠草,它们本身没有一点用处,却会吸收土壤中的肥料,阻碍鲜花的生长。

仆甲  我们何必在这小小的围墙之内保持着法纪、秩序和有条不紊的布置,夸耀我们雏型的治绩;你看我们那座以大海为围墙的花园,我们整个的国土,不是莠草蔓生,她的最美的鲜花全都窒息而死,她的果树无人修剪,她的篱笆东倒西歪,她的花池凌乱无序,她的佳卉异草,被虫儿蛀得枝叶凋残吗?

园丁  不要胡说。那容忍着这样一个凌乱无序的春天的人,自己已经遭到落叶飘零的命运;那些托庇于他的广布的枝叶之下,名为拥护他,实则在吮吸他的精液的莠草,全都被波林勃洛克连根拔起了;我的意思是说威尔特郡伯爵和布希、格林那些人们。

仆甲  什么!他们死了吗?

园丁  他们都死了;波林勃洛克已经捉住那个浪荡的国王。啊!可惜他不曾像我们治理这座花园一般治理他的国土!我们每年按着时季,总要略微割破我们果树的外皮,因为恐怕它们过于肥茂,反而结不出果子;要是他能够用同样的手段,对付那些威权日盛的人们,他们就可以自知戒饬,他也可以尝到他们忠心的果实。对于多余的旁枝,我们总是毫不吝惜地把它们剪去,让那结果的干枝繁荣滋长;要是他也能够采取这样的办法,他就可以保全他的王冠,不至于在嬉戏游乐之中把它轻轻断送了。

(朱生豪 译)

李尔王 第三幕 第一场

高纳里尔  父亲,我们家里难道没有两倍这么多的仆人可以侍候您?依我说,不但用不着二十五个人,就是十个五个也是多余的。

里根  依我看来,一个也不需要。

李尔  啊!不要跟我说什么需要不需要;最卑贱的乞丐,也有他的不值钱的身外之物;人生除了天然的需要以外,要是没有其他的享受,那和畜类的生活有什么分别。你是一位夫人;你穿着这样华丽的衣服,如果你的目的只是为了保持温暖,那就根本不合你的需要,因为这种盛装艳饰并不能使你温暖。可是,讲到真的需要,那么天啊,给我忍耐吧,我需要忍耐!神啊,你们看见我在这儿,一个可怜的老头子,被忧伤和老迈折磨得好苦!假如是你们鼓动这两个女儿的心,使她们忤逆她们的父亲,那么请你们不要尽是愚弄我,叫我默然忍受吧;让我的心里激起了刚强的怒火,别让妇人所恃为武器的泪点玷污我的男子汉的面颊!不,你们这两个不孝的妖妇,我要向你们复仇,我要做出一些使全世界惊怖的事情来,虽然我现在还不知道我要怎么做。你们以为我将要哭泣;不,我不愿哭泣,我虽然有充分的哭泣的理由,可是我宁愿让这颗心碎成万片,也不愿流下一滴泪来。啊,傻瓜!我要发疯了!

(朱生豪 译)

十四行诗 九四

谁有力量损害人而不这样干,

谁不做人以为他们爱做的事,

谁使人动情,自己却石头一般,

冰冷、无动于衷,对诱惑能抗拒——

谁就恰当地承受上天的恩宠,

善于贮藏和保管造化的财富;

他们才是自己美貌的主人翁,

而别人只是自己姿色的家奴。

夏天的花把夏天熏得多芳馥,

虽然对自己它只自开又自落,

但是那花若染上卑劣的病毒,

最贱的野草也比它高贵得多:

极香的东西一腐烂就成极臭,

烂百合花比野草更臭得难受。

(梁宗岱 译)

裘力思·凯撒 第一幕 第二场

凯歇斯  嘿,老兄,他像一个巨人似的跨越这狭隘的世界;我们这些渺小的凡人一个个在他粗大的两腿下行走,四处张望着,替自己寻找不光荣的坟墓。人们有时可以支配他们自己的命运;要是我们受制于人,亲爱的勃鲁托斯,那错处并不在我们的命运,而在我们自己。勃鲁托斯和凯撒;“凯撒”那个名字又有什么了不得?为什么人们只是提起它而不提起勃鲁托斯?把那两个名字写在一起,您的名字并不比他的难看,放在嘴上念起来,它也一样顺口;称起重量来,它们是一样的重;要是用它们呼神召鬼,“勃鲁托斯”也可以同样感动幽灵,正像“凯撒”一样。凭着一切天神的名字,我们这位凯撒究竟吃些什么美食,才会长得这样伟大?可耻的时代!罗马啊,你的高贵的血统已经中断了!自从洪水以后,什么时代你不曾产生比一个更多的著名人物?直到现在为止,什么时候人们谈起罗马,能够说,她的广大的城墙之内,只是一个人的世界?要是罗马给一个人独占了去,那么它真的变成无人之境了。啊!你我都曾听见我们的父老说过,从前罗马有一个勃鲁托斯,不愿让他的国家被一个君主所统治,正像他不愿让它被永劫的恶魔统治一样。

(朱生豪 译)

科利奥兰纳斯 第二幕 第三场

勃鲁托斯  你们难道不会凭着你们所受的教训,对他说当他还没有掌握权力、不过是政府里一个地位卑微的仆人的时候,他就是你们的敌人,老是反对着你们的自由和你们在这共和国里所享有的特权吗?你们难道不会对他说,现在他登上了秉持国家大权的地位,要是他仍旧怀着恶意,继续做平民的死敌,那么你们现在所表示的同意,不将要成为你们自己的咒诅吗?你们应当对他说,他的伟大的功业,既然可以使他享有他所要求的地位而无愧色,但愿他的仁厚的天性,也能够想到你们现在所给他的同情的赞助,而把他对你们的敌意变成友谊,永远做你们慈爱的执政。

西西涅斯  你们照这样对他说了以后,就可以触动他的心性,试探他的真正的意向;也许他会给你们善意的允诺,那么将来倘有需要的时候,你们就可以责令他履行旧约;也许那会激怒他的暴戾的天性,因为他是不能容忍任何拘束的,这样引动了他的恼怒,你们就可以借着他的恶劣的脾气做理由,拒绝他当执政。

勃鲁托斯  你们看他在需要你们好感的时候,会用这样公然侮蔑的态度向你们请求,难道你们没有想到当他有权力压迫你们的时候,他这种侮蔑的态度不会变成公然的伤害吗?怎么,你们胸膛里难道都是没有心的吗?或者你们的舌头会反抗理智的判断吗?

西西涅斯  你们以前不是曾经拒绝过向你们请求的人吗?现在他并没有请求你们,不过把你们讥笑了一顿,你们却会毫不迟疑地给他同意吗?

市民丙  他还没有经过正式的确认,我们还可以拒绝他。

市民乙  我们一定要拒绝他;我可以号召五百个人反对他就任。

市民甲  好,就是一千个人也不难,还可以叫他们各人拉些朋友来充数。

勃鲁托斯  你们立刻就去,告诉你们那些朋友,说他们已经选了一个执政,他将会剥夺他们的自由,限制他们发言的权利,把他们当作狗一样看待,虽然为了要它们吠叫而豢养,可是往往因为它们吠叫而把它们痛打。

(朱生豪 译)

奥瑟罗 第一幕 第一场

伊阿古  我所以跟随他,不过是要利用他达到我自己的目的。我们不能每个人都是主人,每个主人也不是都该让仆人忠心地追随他。你可以看到,有一辈天生的奴才,他们卑躬屈节,拼命讨主人的好,甘心受主人的鞭策,像一头驴子似的,为了一些粮草而出卖他们的一生,等到年纪老了,主人就把他们撵走;这种老实的奴才是应该抽一顿鞭子的。还有一种人,表面上尽管装出一副鞠躬如也的样子,骨子里却是为他们自己打算;看上去好像替主人做事,实际却靠着主人发展自己的势力,等捞足了油水,就可以知道他所尊敬的其实是他本人;像这种人还有几分头脑;我承认我自己就属于这一类。因为,老兄,正像你是罗德利哥而不是别人一样,我要是做了那摩尔人,我就不会是伊阿古。同样地没有错,虽说我跟随他,其实还是跟随我自己。上天是我的公证人,我这样对他赔着小心,既不是为了忠心,也不是为了义务,只是为了自己的利益,才装出这一副假脸。要是我表面上的恭而敬之的行为会泄露我内心的活动,那么不久我就要掬出我的心来,让乌鸦们乱啄了。世人所知道的我,并不是实在的我。

(朱生豪 译)

理查三世 第三幕 第七场

勃金汉  那就请听我冒昧陈辞吧,您不该再三推辞,放弃至尊的宝座,那是您祖代相传的威权所在,是您福运降临,也是您世袭而来的名分,您奕奕皇室的世代光荣,岂能由您让给一支腐朽的系族;您在高枕无忧之中悠思遐想,而这块皇土正等待着大力扶持,为国家前途计,我们特来敦促您醒悟过来;如今纲常不振,面目全非,皇朝正统,凭添枯枝残叶,无以生根,势必陷落深渊,从此湮没无闻。为了拯救这种颓运,我们衷心请求殿下亲自负起国家重任,掌握王权;不再为人作嫁,做一个护政者、家宰、代理人,或当一个卑贱的经手员;您应该维护血统,继承王业,本是您生来的权利,是您的领土,应归您自有。为此之故,我和市民们一起,还有您的虔诚热情的朋友们,都急切地催促着我来向殿下发出这正义呼声,求您垂听下情。

葛罗斯特  以我的地位或您的处境看来,我不知道该默然离去此地,还是该严斥您一番。如果我不予作答,您或许认为我是个守口如瓶的野心家,是我眼见您一厢情愿地把那辉煌的重担套上我的肩头,而我却默然承受下来了;如果我见您一片至诚,向我求告,我反而横加叱责,这岂不是我又杜绝了友辈的言路。因此,我该既不默然而去,也不严辞驳斥,却把我的心头思念向您作明确的答复。您的热诚值得我衷心感激;但是对我要求过分,我自愧无能,怕难孚众望。首先,即使一切障碍都能扫除,我面前这条登基的道路已经铺平,创业时机已经成熟,只等我继承正统,可是我志气还不够高昂,我德行菲薄,瑕疵多端,缺陷重大,我宁愿闭门思过,以免卷入洪流,好比一叶扁舟,岂敢驶进大海,一旦涌上浪巅,欲罢不能,那就只好在彩光烟雾之中窒息而死了。好在今天还不需要我,感谢上帝;如果讲到需要,我正该多下工夫,自助助人;王室系族留下了王室子嗣,经过日换星移,自可成长起来,来日坐镇朝廷,你我都会臣服而乐事新君。您所要委我的重任,我加在他身上,是天命所归,也是他权分所在;上帝不容我强夺他的王权!

勃金汉  我的大人,这确实说明您心地磊落;无奈从多方考虑,您所顾念的都是些不可捉摸的细节。您说爱德华是您大哥的儿子,我们也如此说,却不出自他的妻;早先他和露西夫人订过婚约,至今还有您在世的母亲可以作证,后来又由中间人去法国,向法王的姨妹波娜求婚结盟。此后两人都遭冷落,于是一个多儿的寡母,色衰福浅,竟然乞怜求诉,她虽青春已逝,年已半老,君王却贪淫无度,眉目传情,好比鹰鸟高飞半空,忽而窜落,以致伤风败俗,寡妇重婚;因此一场漠视法纪的结合传下了这个小爱德华,为了保持体面,称为太子。我本可深入揭露,但是为未亡人留些余地,我且话到口边暂留三分。所以,我的好大人,愿您亲自接过我们所呈献的至尊权位;即使不为我们和全国的幸福着想,也该把这祖传的尊贵血统继承下去,匡时拯世,恢复真正的纲纪。

市长  接受吧,好大人;您的市民在请求您了。

勃金汉  伟大的主君,莫拒绝这诚心的献礼。

凯茨比  呵!让他们欢庆吧,允许他们的合理请求吧!

葛罗斯特  唉!你们何必硬要把重担堆在我身上呢?我不配治理国家,不应称君王;务必请你们不要误会,我不能,也不愿,听从你们的要求。

勃金汉  如果您拒绝所请,一心为了爱护您的侄儿,不忍将他废黜;诚如我们在您日常与亲朋过往,处世接物之中,知道您一向心地温厚,待人体贴入微,无奈此刻我们已顾不得您接受与否,反正不能由您侄儿在我国称为君王;我们只好拥立他人继承王位,那样,您的王室势必声名扫地,倾覆无闻:现在我们谨作此决定,并向您告辞。市民们,走吧,我们不再请求了。

〔勃金汉与市民们下。〕

凯茨比  叫他们回来,好主君;接受他们的请求。您如果再不应允,全国都要遭殃了。

葛罗斯特  你们真要逼我负起这样烦心的重任吗?叫他们回来;我何尝是铁石心肠,虽然违拗我的心性,我岂能辜负盛情,顽固到底。(凯茨比下。)

〔勃金汉及众人重上。〕

葛罗斯特  勃金汉贤弟,各位父老,你们既不顾我是否愿意,坚持要把命运的重担压上我肩头,勉强我负起重任,从此我就不得不任劳负重,忍受下去;但是万一在你们迫使我登位之后,假若有人暗中攻讦,或破口辱骂,那么此事既由你们促成,一切诟污糟蹋都应与我无关;上帝知道,你们也可能见到,这是一件多么违反我心愿的事。

市长  上帝祝福您,殿下!我们看见了真情,我们要让大家知道。

葛罗斯特  你们宣扬出去必须根据事实。

勃金汉  现在我向您称君道贺:理查王万岁,英国的尊君万岁!

全体  阿们。

(方 重 译)

特洛伊罗斯与克瑞西达 第一幕 第三场

俄底修斯  特洛亚至今兀立不动,没有给我们攻下,赫克托的宝剑仍旧在它主人的手里,这都是因为我们漠视了军令的森严所致。看这一带大军驻屯的阵地,散布着多少虚有其表的营寨,谁都怀着各不相下的私心。大将就像是一个蜂房里的蜂王,要是采蜜的工蜂大家各自为政,不把采得的粮食归献蜂王,那么还有什么蜜可以酿得出来呢?尊卑的等级可以不分,那么最微贱的人,也可以和最有才能的人分庭抗礼了。诸天的星辰,在运行的时候,谁都恪守着自身的等级和地位,遵循着各自的不变的轨道,依照着一定的范围、季候和方式,履行它们经常的职责;所以灿烂的太阳才能高拱出天,洞察寰宇,纠正星辰的过失,揭恶扬善,发挥它的无上威权。可是众星如果出了常轨,陷入了混乱的状态,那么多少的灾祸、变异、叛乱、海啸、地震、风暴、惊骇、恐怖,将要震撼、摧裂、破坏、毁灭这宇宙间的和谐!纪律是达到一切雄图的阶梯,要是纪律发生动摇,啊!那时候事业的前途也就变成黯淡了。要是没有纪律,社会上的秩序怎么得以稳定?学校中的班次怎么得以整齐?城市中的和平怎么得以保持?各地间的贸易怎么得以畅通?法律上所规定的与生俱来的特权,以及尊长、君王、统治者、胜利者所享有的特殊权利,怎么得以确立不坠?只要把纪律的琴弦拆去,听吧!多少刺耳的噪音就会发出来;一切都是互相抵触;江河里的水会泛滥得高过堤岸,淹没整个的世界;强壮的要欺凌老弱,不孝的儿子要打死他的父亲;威力将代替公理,没有是非之分,也没有正义存在。那时候权力便是一切,而凭仗着权力,便可以逞着自己的意志,放纵无厌的贪欲;欲望,这一头贪心不足的饿狼,得到了意志和权力的两重辅佐,势必至于把全世界供它的馋吻,然后把自己也吃下去。伟大的阿伽门农,这一种混乱的状态,只有在纪律被人扼杀以后才会发生。就是因为漠视了纪律,有意前进的才反而会向后退却。主帅被他属下的将领所轻视,那将领又被他的属下所轻视,这样上行下效,谁都瞧不起他的长官,结果就引起了猜嫉争竞的心理,损害了整个军队的元气。特洛亚所以至今兀立不动,不是靠着它自己的力量,乃是靠着我们的这一种弱点;换句话说,它的生命是全赖我们的弱点替它支持下来的。

(朱生豪 译)

亨利四世下篇 第三幕 第一场

亨利王  我的几千个最贫贱的人民正在这时候酣然熟睡!睡眠啊!柔和的睡眠啊!大自然的温情的保姆,我怎样惊吓了你,你才不愿再替我闭上我的眼皮,把我的感觉沉浸在忘河之中?为什么,睡眠,你宁愿栖身在烟熏的茅屋里,在不舒适的草荐上伸展你的肢体,让嗡嗡作声的蚊虫催着你入梦,却不愿偃息在香雾氤氲的王侯的深宫之中,在华贵的宝帐之下,让最甜美的乐声把你陶醉?啊,你冥漠的神灵!为什么你在污秽的床上和下贱的愚民同寝,却让国王的卧榻变成一个表盒子或是告变的警钟?在巍峨高耸惊心眩目的桅杆上,你不是会使年轻的水手闭住他的眼睛吗?当天风海浪做他的摇篮,那巨大的浪头被风卷上高高的云端,发出震耳欲聋的喧声,即使死神也会被它从睡梦中惊醒的时候。啊,偏心的睡眠!你能够在那样惊险的时候,把你的安息给与一个风吹浪打的水手,可是在最宁静安谧的晚间,最温暖舒适的环境之中,你却不让一个国王享受你的厚惠吗?那么,幸福的卑贱者啊,安睡吧!戴王冠的头是不能安于他的枕席的。

(朱生豪 译)

家庭权力

威尼斯商人 第三幕 第二场

鲍西娅  巴萨尼奥公子,您瞧我站在这儿,不过是这样的一个人。虽然为了我自己的缘故,我不愿妄想自己比现在的我更好一点;可是为了您的缘故,我希望我能够六十倍胜过我的本身,再加上一千倍的美丽,一万倍的富有;我但愿我有无比的贤德、美貌、财产和亲友,好让我在您的心目中占据一个很高的位置。可是我这一身却是一无所有,我只是一个不学无术、没有教养、缺少见识的女子;幸亏她的年纪还不是顶大,来得及发愤学习;她的天资也不是顶笨,可以加以教导;尤其大幸的,她有一颗柔顺的心灵,愿意把它奉献给您,听从您的指导,把您当作她的主人、她的统治者和她的君王。我自己以及我所有的一切,现在都变成您的所有了;刚才我还拥有着这一座华丽的大厦,我的仆人都听从着我的指挥,我是支配我自己的女王,可是就在现在,这屋子、这些仆人和这一个我,都是属于您的了,我的夫君。凭着这一个指环,我把这一切完全呈献给您;要是您让这指环离开您的身边,或者把它丢了,或者把它送给别人,那就预示着您的爱情的毁灭,我可以因此责怪您的。

(朱生豪 译)

李尔王 第一幕 第一场

李尔  现在我要向你们说明我的心事。把那地图给我。告诉你们吧,我已经把我的国土划成三部;我因为自己年纪老了,决心摆脱一切世务的牵萦,把责任交卸给年轻力壮之人,让自己松一松肩,好安安心心地等死。康华尔贤婿,还有同样是我心爱的奥本尼贤婿,为了预防他日的争执,我想还是趁现在把我的几个女儿的嫁奁当众分配清楚。法兰西和勃艮第两位君主正在竞争我的小女儿的爱情,他们为了求婚而住在我们宫廷里,也已经有好多时候了,现在他们就可以得到答复。孩子们,在我还没有把我的政权、领土和国事的重任全部放弃以前,告诉我,你们中间哪一个人最爱我?我要看看谁最有孝心,最有贤德,我就给她最大的恩惠。高纳里尔,我的大女儿,你先说。

高纳里尔  父亲,我对您的爱,不是言语所能表达的;我爱您胜过自己的眼睛、整个的空间和广大的自由;超越一切可以估价的贵重稀有的事物;不亚于赋有淑德、健康、美貌和荣誉的生命;不曾有一个儿女这样爱过他的父亲,也不曾有一个父亲这样被他的儿女所爱;这一种爱可以使唇舌无能为力,辩才失去效用;我爱您是不可以数量计算的。

考狄利娅  (旁白)考狄利娅应该怎么好呢?默默地爱着吧。

李尔  在这些疆界以内,从这一条界线起,直到这一条界线为止,所有一切浓密的森林、膏腴的平原、富庶的河流、广大的牧场,都要奉你为它们的女主人;这一块土地永远为你和奥本尼的子孙所保有。我的二女儿,最亲爱的里根,康华尔的夫人,你怎么说?

里根  我跟姊姊具有同样的品质,您凭着她就可以判断我。在我的真心之中,我觉得她刚才所说的话,正是我爱您的实际的情形,可是她还不能充分说明我的心理:我厌弃一切凡是敏锐的知觉所能感受到的快乐,只有爱您才是我的无上的幸福。

考狄利娅  (旁白)那么,考狄利娅,你只好自安于贫穷了!可是我并不贫穷,因为我深信我的爱心比我的口才更富有。

李尔  这一块从我们这美好的王国中划分出来的三分之一的沃壤,是你和你的子孙永远世袭的产业,和高纳里尔所得到的一份同样广大、同样富庶,也同样佳美。现在,我的宝贝,虽然是最后的一个,却并非最不在我的心头;法兰西的葡萄和勃艮第的乳酪都在竞争你的青春之爱;你有些什么话,可以换到一份比你的两个姊姊更富庶的土地?说吧。

考狄利娅  父亲,我没有话说。

李尔  没有?

考狄利娅  没有。

李尔  没有只能换到没有;重新说过。

(朱生豪 译)

亨利四世下篇 第二幕 第三场

潘西夫人  啊!可是为了上帝的缘故,不要去参加这种战争吧。公公,您曾经毁弃过对您自己更有切身关系的诺言;您的亲生的潘西,我那心爱的哈利,曾经好多次引颈北望,盼他的父亲带着援兵到来,可是他终于望了个空。那时候是谁劝您不要出兵的?两重的荣誉已经丧失了,您自己的荣誉和您儿子的荣誉。讲到您自己的荣誉,愿上帝扫清它的雾障吧!他的荣誉却是和他不可分的,正像太阳永远高悬在苍苍的天宇之上一样;全英国的骑士都在他的光辉鼓舞之下,表现了他们英雄的身手。他的确是高贵的青年们的一面立身的明镜;谁不曾学会他的步行的姿态,等于白生了两条腿;说话急速不清本来是他天生的缺点,现在却成为勇士们应有的语调,那些能够用低声而迂缓的调子讲话的人,都宁愿放弃他们自己的特长,模拟他这一种缺点;这样无论在语音上,在步态上,在饮食娱乐上,在性情气质上,在治军作战上,他的一言一动,都是他人效法的规范。然而他,啊,天神一般的他!啊,人类中的奇男子!这盖世无双的他,却得不到您的援助;你竟忍心让他在不利的形势中,面对着狰狞可怖的战神;让他孤军苦战,除了霍茨波的英名之外,再也没有可以抵御敌人的武力;您是这样离弃了他!千万不要,啊!千万不要再给他的亡魂这样的侮辱,把您对于别人的信誉看得比您对于他的信誉更重;让他们去吧。那司礼大臣和那大主教的实力是很强大的;要是我那亲爱的哈利有他们一半的军力,今天也许我可以攀住霍茨波的颈项,听他谈起蒙穆斯的死了。

诺森伯兰  嗳哟,贤媳!你用这样悲痛的申诉重新揭发我的往日的过失,使我的心都寸寸碎裂了。

(朱生豪 译)

理查三世 第四幕 第四场

玛格莱特王后  我曾称你为我的幸运墙上所加的浮雕:称你为可怜的阴影,一个画中王后;你无非把我过去的声势来模仿;为一场大悲剧做了一些动听的剧情说明;哪怕你一时趾高气扬,终究要堕入尘埃;你枉做了一对伶俐的孩子的母亲;过去的一切都成了梦境、泡影、一块高贵的招牌、一面炫耀的旗帜,突兀招展着供人射击;一国之后做了笑柄,在舞台上不过串演着一个配角。如今你丈夫何在?你兄弟何在?你孩子何在?人生乐趣又何在?谁还来跪求你,高呼着“神佑吾后”?一向对你卑躬屈节的大臣们哪儿去了?追随你的大队人马又哪儿去了?前后对照就看清了你的处境:快乐的妻子成为最不幸的寡妇;幸福的母亲却在因为身为母亲而悲伤;坐听人诉的人反向人哭诉;国后变为愁眉蹙额的贱婢;从前轻慢我而今遭我轻慢;从前人人怕你,如今单怕一人;一向发号施令,如今无人听命。可见天道循环,赏罚分明,你只落得在时间的鹰爪下做个牺牲者;你倘若只顾怀念过去,同时又无法摆脱目前的处境,你的苦难将更难忍受。你既僭占了我的名位,岂能不分摊其中的苦楚?如今你的傲骨分挑着我的重担;我这里正好抽出我劳顿的肩头,把这全副担子都卸给你。再会吧,约克的夫人,厄运的王后;英国的这些忧伤,将在法国供我作笑料。

(方 重 译)

仲夏夜之梦 第一幕 第一场

伊吉斯  我怀着满心的气恼,来控诉我的孩子,我的女儿赫米娅。走上前来,狄米特律斯。殿下,这个人,是我答应把我女儿嫁给他的。走上前来,拉山德。殿下,这个人引诱坏了我的孩子。你,你,拉山德,你写诗句给我的孩子,和她交换着爱情的纪念物;你在月夜到她的窗前用做作的声调歌唱着假作多情的诗篇;你用头发编成的腕环、戒指、虚华的饰物、琐碎的玩具、花束、糖果——这些可以强烈地骗诱一个稚嫩的少女之心的“信使”来偷得她的痴情;你用诡计盗取了她的心,煽惑她使她对我的顺从变成倔强的顽抗。殿下,假如她现在当着您的面仍旧不肯嫁给狄米特律斯,我就要要求雅典自古相传的权利,因为她是我的女儿,我可以随意处置她;按照我们的法律,逢到这样的情况,她要是不嫁给这位绅士,便应当立时处死。

忒修斯  你有什么话说,赫米娅?当心一点吧,美貌的姑娘!你的父亲对于你应当是一尊神明;你的美貌是他给与的,你就像在他手中捏成的一块蜡像,他可以保全你,也可以毁灭你。狄米特律斯是一个很好的绅士呢。

赫米娅  拉山德也很好啊。

忒修斯  他本人当然很好;但是要做你的丈夫,如果不能得到你父亲的同意,那么比起来他就要差一筹了。

赫米娅  我真希望我的父亲和我有同样的看法。

忒修斯  实在还是你应该依从你父亲的看法才对。

赫米娅  请殿下宽恕我!我不知道是什么一种力量使我如此大胆,也不知道在这里披诉我的心思将会怎样影响到我的美名,但是我要敬问殿下,要是我拒绝嫁给狄米特律斯,就会有什么最恶的命运临到我的头上?

忒修斯  不是受死刑,便是永远和男人隔绝。因此,美丽的赫米娅,仔细问一问你自己的心愿吧!考虑一下你的青春,好好地估量一下你血脉中的搏动;倘然不肯服从你父亲的选择,想想看能不能披上尼姑的道服,终生幽闭在阴沉的庵院中,向着凄凉寂寞的明月唱着暗淡的圣歌,做一个孤寂的修道女了此一生?她们能这样抑制热情,到老保持处女的贞洁,自然应当格外受到上天的眷宠;但是结婚的女子有如被采下炼制过的玫瑰,香气留存不散,比之孤独地自开自谢,奄然朽腐的花儿,在尘俗的眼光看来,总是要幸福得多了。

赫米娅  就让我这样自开自谢吧,殿下,我不愿意把我的贞操奉献给我心里并不敬服的人。

(朱生豪 译)

冬天的故事 第一幕 第二场

赫米温妮  假如您需要我们,我们就在园里;我们就在那边等着您好吗?

里昂提斯  随你们便吧,只要你们不飞到天上去,总可以找得到的。(旁白)我现在在垂钓,虽然你们没有看见我放下钓线去。好吧,好吧!瞧她那么把嘴向他送过去!简直像个妻子对她正式的丈夫那样无所顾忌!(波力克希尼斯,赫米温妮及侍从等下)已经去了!一顶绿头巾已经稳稳地戴上了!去玩去吧,孩子,玩去吧。你妈在玩着,我也在玩着;可是我扮的是这么一个丢脸的角色,准要给人喝倒彩嘘下了坟墓去的,轻蔑和讥笑便是我的葬钟。去玩去吧,孩子,玩去吧。要是我不曾弄错,那么乌龟这东西确是从来便有的;即使在现在,当我说这话的时候,一定就有许多人抱着他的妻子,却不知道她在他不在的时候早已给别人揩过油;他自己池子里的鱼,已经给他笑脸的邻居捞了去。我道不孤,聊堪自慰。假如有了不贞的妻子的男人全都怨起命来,世界上十分之一的人类都要上吊死了。补救的办法是一点没有的。正像有一个荒淫的星球,照临人世,到处惹是招非。你想,东南西北,无论哪处都抵挡不过肚子底下的作怪;魔鬼简直可以带了箱笼行李堂而皇之地进出呢。我们中间有千万个人都害着这毛病,但自己却不觉得。

(朱生豪 译)

暴风雨 第一幕 第二场

米兰达  亲爱的父亲,假如你曾经用你的法术使狂暴的海水兴起这场风浪,请你使它们平息了吧!天空似乎要倒下发臭的沥青来,但海水腾涌到天的脸上,把火焰浇熄了。唉!我瞧着那些受难的人们,我也和他们同样受难:这样一只壮丽的船,里面一定载着好些尊贵的人,一下子便撞得粉碎!啊,那呼号的声音一直打进我的心坎。可怜的人们,他们死了!要是我是一个有权力的神,我一定要叫海沉进地中,不让它把这只好船和它所载着的人们一起这样吞没了。

普洛斯彼罗  安静些,不要惊骇!告诉你那仁慈的心,一点灾祸都不会发生。

米兰达  唉,不幸的日子!

普洛斯彼罗  不要紧的。凡我所做的事,无非是为你打算,我的宝贝!我的女儿!你不知道你是什么人,也不知道我从什么地方来;你也不会想到我是一个比普洛斯彼罗——一所十分寒伧的洞窟的主人,你的微贱的父亲——更出色的人物。

(朱生豪 译)

终成眷属 第二幕 第三场

国王  你看不起她,不过因为她地位低微,那我可以把她抬高起来。要是把人们的血液倾注在一起,那颜色、重量和热度都难以区别,偏偏在人间的关系上,会划分这样清楚的鸿沟,真是一件怪事。她倘然是一个道德上完善的女子,你不喜欢她,只因为她是一个穷医生的女儿,那么你重视虚名甚于美德,这就错了。穷巷陋室,有德之士居之,可以使蓬荜增辉,世禄之家,不务修善,虽有盛名,亦将隳败。善恶的区别,在于行为的本身,不在于地位的有无。她有天赋的青春、智慧和美貌,这一切的本身即是光荣;最可耻的,却是那些席父祖的余荫、不知绍述先志、一味妄自尊大的人。最好的光荣应该来自我们自己的行动,而不是倚恃家门。虚名是一个下贱的奴隶,在每一座墓碑上说着谎话,倒是在默默无言的一荒土之下,往往埋葬着忠臣义士的骸骨。有什么话好说呢?只要你能因为这女子的本身而爱她,我可以给她其余的一切;她的贤淑美貌是她自己的嫁奁,光荣和财富是我给她的赏赐。

勃特拉姆  我不能爱她,也不想爱她。

国王  你要是抗不奉命,一定要自讨没趣的。

海丽娜  陛下圣体复原,已经使我欣慰万分;其余的事情,不必谈了。

国王  这与我的信用有关,为使它不受损害,我必须运用我的权力。来,骄横傲慢的孩子,握着她的手,你才不配接受这一件卓越的赐与呢。你的愚妄狂悖,不但辜负了她的好处,也已经丧失了我的欢心。你以为她和你处在天平的不平衡的两端,却不知道我站在她的一面,便可以把两方的轻重倒转过来;你也没有想到你的升沉荣辱,完全操在我的手中。为了你自己的好处,赶快抑制你的轻蔑,服从我的旨意;我有命令你的权力,你有服从我的天职;否则你将永远得不到我的眷顾,让年轻的愚昧把你拖下了终身蹭蹬的深渊,我的愤恨和憎恶将要用王法的名义降临到你的头上,没有一点怜悯宽恕。快回答我吧。

勃特拉姆  求陛下恕罪,我愿意捐弃个人的爱憎,服从陛下的指示。当我一想起多少恩荣富贵,都可以随着陛下的一言而予夺,我就觉得适才我所认为最卑贱的她,已经受到陛下的宠眷,而和出身贵族的女子同样高贵了。

(朱生豪 译)

一报还一报 第二幕 第四场

安哲鲁  谁会相信你呢,依莎贝拉?我的洁白无瑕的名声,我的持躬的严正,我的振振有词的驳斥,我的柄持国政的地位,都可以压倒你的控诉,使你自取其辱,人家会把你的话当作挟嫌诽谤,我现在一不做二不休,不再控制我的情欲,你必须满足我的饥渴,放弃礼法的拘束,解脱一切的忸怩,这些对你要请求的事情是有害无利的;把你的肉体呈献给我,来救你弟弟的性命,否则他不但不能活命,而且因为你的无情冷酷,我要叫他遍尝各种痛苦而死去。明天给我答复,否则我要听任感情的支配,叫他知道些厉害。你尽管向人怎样说我,我的虚伪会压倒你的真实。(下。)

依莎贝拉  我将向谁诉说呢?把这种事情告诉别人,谁会相信我?凭着一条可怕的舌头,可以操纵人的生死,把法律供自己的驱使,是非善恶,都由他任意判断!我要去看我的弟弟,他虽然因为一时情欲的冲动而堕落,可是他是一个爱惜荣誉的人,即使他有二十颗头颅,他也宁愿让它们在二十个断头台上被人砍落,而不愿让他姊姊的身体遭受如此的污辱。依莎贝拉,你必须活着做一个清白的人,让你的弟弟死去吧,贞操是比兄弟更为重要的。

(朱生豪 译)

亨利四世下篇 第四幕 第五场

亲王  我再也想不到还会听见您说话。

亨利王  你因为存着那样的愿望,哈利,所以才会发生那样的思想;我耽搁得太长久,害你等得厌倦了。难道你是那样贪爱着我的空位,所以在时机还没有成熟以前,就要攫取我的尊荣吗?啊,傻孩子!你所追求的尊荣,是会把你压倒的。略微再等一会儿;因为我的尊严就像一片乌云,只有一丝微风把它托住,一下子就会降落下来;我的白昼已经昏暗了。你所偷去的东西,再过几小时就可以名正言顺地归你所有;可是你却在我临死的时候,充分证实了我对你的想法。你的平生行事,都可以表明你没有一点爱父之心,现在我离死不远了,你还要向我证实你的不孝。你把一千柄利刃藏在你的思想之中,把它们在你那石块一般的心上磨得雪亮锋快,要来谋刺我的只剩半小时的生命。嘿!难道你不能容忍我再活半小时吗?那么你就去亲手掘下我的坟墓吧;叫那快乐的钟声响起来,报知你加冕的喜讯,而不是我死亡的噩耗。让那应该洒在我的灵榇上的所有的眼泪,都变成涂抹你的头顶的圣油;让我和被遗忘的泥土混合在一起,把那给你生命的人丢给蛆虫吧。贬斥我的官吏,废止我的法令,因为一个无法无天的新时代已经到来了。哈利五世已经加冕为王!起来吧,浮华的淫乐!没落吧,君主的威严!你们一切深谋远虑的老臣,都给我滚开!现在要让四方各处游手好闲之徒聚集在英国的宫廷里了!邻邦啊,把你们的莠民败类淘汰出来吧;你们有没有什么酗酒谩骂、通宵作乐、杀人越货、无所不为的流氓恶棍?放心吧,他不会再来烦扰你们了;英国将要给他不次的光荣,使他官居要职,爵登显秩,手握大权,因为第五代的哈利将要松开奢淫这条野犬的羁勒,让它向每一个无辜的人张牙舞爪了。啊,我的疮痍未复的可怜的王国!我用尽心力,还不能戡定你的祸乱;在朝纲败坏、法纪荡然的时候,你又将怎样呢?啊!你将要重新变成一片荒野,豺狼将要归返它们的故居。

亲王  啊!恕我,陛下;倘不是因为我的眼泪使我哽咽得说不出话来,我决不会默然倾听您这番沉痛的严训而不加分辩的。这儿是您的王冠;但愿永生的上帝保佑您长久享有它!要是我对它怀着私心,并不只是因为它是您的尊荣的标记而珍重它,让我跪在地上,永远站不起来。上帝为我作证,当我进来的时候,看见陛下的嘴里没有一丝气息,我是怎样的感到寒心!要是我的悲哀是虚伪的,啊!让我就在我现在这一种荒唐的行为中死去,再没有机会给世人看看我将要怎样洗心革面,做一个堂堂的人物。我因为进来探望您,看见您仿佛死了的样子,我自己,主上,也几乎因悲痛而死去,当时我就用这样的话责骂这顶王冠,就像它是有知觉的一般,我说:“追随着您的烦恼已经把我的父亲杀害了;所以你这最好的黄金却是最坏的黄金:别的黄金虽然在质地上不如你,却可以炼成祛病延年的药水,比你贵重得多了;可是你这最纯粹的,最受人尊敬重视的,却把你的主人吞噬下去。”我一面这样责骂它,陛下,一面就把它试戴在我的头上,认为它是当着我的面前杀死我的父亲的仇敌,我作为忠诚的继承者应该要和它算账。可是假如它使我的血液中感染着欢乐,或是使我的精神上充满着骄傲,假如我的悖逆虚荣的心灵对它抱着丝毫爱悦的情绪,愿上帝永远不让它加在我头上,使我像一个最微贱的奴隶一般向着它颤栗下跪!

亨利王  啊,我儿!上帝让你把它拿了去,好叫你用这样贤明的辩解,格外博取你父亲的欢心。过来,哈利,坐在我的床边,听我这垂死之人的最后的遗命。上帝知道,我儿,我是用怎样诡诈的手段取得这一顶王冠;我自己也十分明白,它戴在我的头上,给了我多大的烦恼;可是你将要更安静更确定地占有它,不像我这样遭人嫉视,因为一切篡窃攘夺的污点,都将随着我一起埋葬。它在人们的心目之中,不过是我用暴力攫取的尊荣;那些帮助我得到它的人都在指斥我的罪状,他们的怨望每天都在酿成斗争和流血,破坏这粉饰的和平。你也看见我曾经冒着怎样的危险,应付这些大胆的威胁,我做了这么多年的国王,不过在反复串演着这一场争杀的武戏。现在我一死之后,情形就可以改变过来了,因为在我是用非法手段获得的,在你却是合法继承的权利。可是你的地位虽然可以比我稳定一些,然而人心未服,余憾尚新,你的基础还没有十分巩固。那些拥护我的人们,也就是你所必须认为朋友的,他们的锐牙利刺还不过新近拔去;他们用奸险的手段把我扶上高位,我不能不对他们怀着疑虑,怕他们会用同样的手段把我推翻;为了避免这一种危机,我才多方剪除他们的势力,并且正在准备把许多人带领到圣地作战,免得他们在国内闲居无事,又要发生觊觎王座的图谋。所以,我的哈利,你的政策应该是多多利用对外的战争,使那些心性轻浮的人们有了向外活动的机会,不至于在国内为非作乱,旧日的不快的回忆也可以因此而消失。我还有许多话要对你说,可是我的肺力不济,再也说不下去了。上帝啊!恕宥我用不正当的手段取得这一顶王冠;愿你能够平平安安享有它!

亲王  陛下,您好容易挣来这一顶王冠,好容易把它保持下来,现在您把它给了我,我当然对它有合法的所有权;我一定要用超乎一切的努力,不让它从我的手里失去。

(朱生豪 译)

战争和暴力中的权力

裘力思·凯撒 第二幕 第一场

勃鲁托斯  只有叫他死这一个办法;我自己对他并没有私怨,只是为了大众的利益。他将要戴上王冠;那会不会改变他的性格是一个问题;蝮蛇是在光天化日之下出现的,所以步行的人必须刻刻提防。让他戴上王冠?——不!那等于我们把一个毒刺给了他,使他可以随意加害于人。把不忍之心和威权分开,那威权就会被人误用;讲到凯撒这个人,说一句公平话,我还不曾知道他什么时候曾经一味感情用事,不受理智的支配。可是微贱往往是初期野心的阶梯,凭借着它一步步爬上了高处;当他一旦登上了最高的一级之后,他便不再回顾那梯子,他的眼光仰望着云霄,瞧不起他从前所恃为凭借的低下的阶段。凯撒何尝不会这样?所以,为了怕他有这一天,必须早一点防备。既然我们反对他的理由,不是因为他现在有什么可以指责的地方,所以就得这样说:照他现在的地位要是再扩大些权力,一定会引起这样这样的后患;我们应当把他当作一颗蛇蛋,与其让他孵出以后害人,不如趁他还在壳里的时候就把他杀死。

(朱生豪 译)

亨利五世 第四幕 第一场

亨利王  皇上就跟我一样,也是一个人罢了。一朵紫罗兰花儿他闻起来,跟我闻起来还不是一样;他头上和我头上合顶着一方天;他也不过用眼睛来看、耳朵来听啊。把一切荣衔丢开,还他一个赤裸裸的本相,那么他只是一个人罢了;虽说他的心思寄托在比我们高出一层的事物上,可是好比一头在云霄里飞翔的老鹰,他有时也不免降落下来,栖息在枝头和地面上。所以,当他有理由害怕的时候,他就像我们一样,感到了害怕;不用问,那心头的滋味也跟我们的感觉差不多。可是照理说,谁也不能叫他感到一丝恐惧,否则的话,他一流露出来,可不要瓦解军队的士气。

培茨  尽管他外表装得怎样勇敢,今夜又这样冷,可是我相信,他心里希望自己宁可浸在泰晤士河里,哪怕河水齐到了脖子;我也但愿他在那儿,而我呢,就在他身边——只要能离开此地,我们还有什么好计较的?

亨利王  不跟你们说瞎话——我愿意代替国王捧着良心说句话——我认为他不会希望不在眼前这个地方,跑到任何别的地方去。

培茨  那么我但愿他独个儿守在这块地方吧。这样,他当然免不了要献出一笔赎金来,许许多多可怜虫因此也就保全了生命啦。

亨利王  我敢说,你对他不至于一点儿敬爱都没有,竟希望就只他一个人守在这儿;你这么说,无非是试探别人的口气罢了。照我看,我无论死在什么地方,也没有像跟国王死在一块儿那样叫我称心了,因为他是师出有名的,他的战争是正义的。

威廉斯  这就不是我们所能了解的了。

培茨  啊,或者说,这就不是我们所该追究的了;因为说到了解不了解,只要我们知道自己是国王的臣民,那就够了。即使他是站在理亏的一边,我们这些人是服从我们的国王,那么也就消除了我们的罪名。

威廉斯  可是,如果这不是师出有名,那么国王头上的这笔账可有得他算了。打一场仗,有多多少少的腿、多多少少的胳膊、多多少少的头要给砍下来;将来有一天,它们又结合在一起了,就会一齐高声呼号:“我们死在这样一个地方!”有的在咒天骂地,有的在喊叫军医,有的在哭他抛下了苦命的妻,有的高嚷他欠了人家的债还没还,也有的一声声叫他甩手不管的孩子——我只怕死在战场上的人很少有死得像个样儿的!人家既然要流你的血,还能跟你讲什么慈悲?我说,如果这班人不得好死,那么把他们领到死路上去的国王就是罪孽深重了。苦的是小百姓,他们要是违抗了君命,那就是违反了做百姓的名份。

亨利王  照这样说来,假如有个儿子,父亲派他出洋去做生意,他结果却带着一身罪孽葬身在海里了,那么照你的一套看法,这份罪孽就应当归在把他派出去的父亲的头上。或者是,有一个奴仆,受了主人的嘱咐,运送一笔钱,却在半路上遭了打劫,还没来得及忏悔,就给强盗杀死了,你也许要把那个主人叫做害这个仆人堕入地狱的主使者。不过,这不是那么一回事。国王手下的兵士他们一个个怎样结局、收场,国王用不着负责。做父亲的对于儿子,做主人的对于奴仆,也是这样;因为,他们派给他们任务的时候,并没有把死派给他们。再说,国王出兵,就算他是完全理直气壮的,一旦到了在战场上见个高低,他也无从叫所有的兵士都免除了罪孽。很难说,有些兵士曾经蓄意谋杀过人——有些兵士拿虚伪的山盟海誓骗取了姑娘的贞操——有一些,曾经犯过抢劫的案子、破坏了安宁和秩序,正好拿战争做避难所。现在,这班人逃脱了法网,躲过了罪有应得的惩罚——虽然人们是给他瞒过了,他却插翅难逃过上帝的手心!战争是他的一张拘票,战争是他的报应;这班人过去触犯了王法,现在就在国王的战争中领受惩罚。他们为了怕死就投了军;他们以为这样就得救了,不料反而遭了殃。那么要是他不得好死,入了地狱,国王负什么责任?正像他们从前犯下不敬上帝的罪不能由他负责一样。为着这罪恶,他们现在得了报应!每个臣民都有为国效忠的本份,可是每个臣民的灵魂却是属于他自己掌管的。

(方 平 译)

哈姆莱特 第四幕 第四场

哈姆莱特  我所见到、听到的一切,都好像在对我谴责,鞭策我赶快进行我的蹉跎未就的复仇大愿!一个人要是把生活的幸福和目的,只看作吃吃睡睡,他还算是个什么东西?简直不过是一头畜生!上帝造下我们来,使我们能够这样高谈阔论,瞻前顾后,当然要我们利用他所赋予我们的这一种能力和灵明的理智,不让它们白白废掉。现在我明明有理由、有决心、有力量、有方法,可以动手干我所要干的事,可是我还是在大言不惭地说:“这件事需要做。”可是始终不曾在行动上表现出来;我不知道这是因为像鹿豕一般的健忘呢,还是因为三分懦怯一分智慧的过于审慎的顾虑。像大地一样显明的榜样都在鼓励我;瞧这一支勇猛的大军,领队的是一个娇养的少年王子,勃勃的雄心振起了他的精神,使他蔑视不可知的结果,为了区区弹丸大小的一块不毛之地,拼着血肉之躯,去向命运、死亡和危险挑战。真正的伟大不是轻举妄动,而是在荣誉遭遇危险的时候,即使为了一根稻秆之微,也要慷慨力争。可是我的父亲给人惨杀,我的母亲给人污辱,我的理智和感情都被这种不共戴天的大仇所激动,我却因循隐忍,一切听其自然,看着这二万个人为了博取一个空虚的名声,视死如归地走下他们的坟墓里去,目的只是争夺一方还不够给他们作战场或者埋骨之所的土地,相形之下,我将何地自容呢?啊!从这一刻起,让我摒除一切的疑虑妄念,把流血的思想充满在我的脑际!

(朱生豪 译)

亨利四世下篇 第一幕 第三场

巴道夫  要是我们把这次战争的运命完全寄托在希望上,那希望对于我们却是无益而有害的,正像我们在早春时候所见的初生的蓓蕾一般,希望不能保证它们开花结实,无情的寒霜却早已摧残了它们的生机。当我们准备建筑房屋的时候,我们第一要测量地基,然后设计图样;打好图样以后,我们还要估计建筑的费用,要是那费用超过我们的财力,就必须把图样重新改绘,设法减省一些人工,或是根本放弃这一项建筑计划。现在我们所进行的这件伟大的工作,简直是推翻一个旧的王国,重新建立一个新的王国,所以我们尤其应该熟察环境,详定方针,确立一个稳固的基础,询问测量师,明了我们自身的力量,是不是能够从事这样的工作,对抗敌人的压迫;否则要是我们徒然在纸上谈兵,把战士的名单代替了实际上阵的战士,那就像一个人打了一幅他的力量所不能建筑的房屋的图样,造了一半就中途停工,丢下那未完成的屋架子,让它去受凄风苦雨的吹淋。

(朱生豪 译)

麦克白 第一幕 第七场

麦克白  要是干了以后就完了,那么还是快一点干;要是凭着暗杀的手段,可以攫取美满的结果,又可以排除了一切后患;要是这一刀砍下去,就可以完成一切、终结一切、解决一切——在这人世上,仅仅在这人世上,在时间这大海的浅滩上;那么来生我也就顾不到了。可是在这种事情上,我们往往逃不过现世的裁判;我们树立下血的榜样,教会别人杀人,结果反而自己被人所杀;把毒药投入酒杯里的人,结果也会自己饮鸩而死,这就是一丝不爽的报应。他到这儿来本有两重的信任:第一,我是他的亲戚,又是他的臣子,按照名分绝对不能干这样的事;第二,我是他的主人,应当保障他身体的安全,怎么可以自己持刀行刺?而且,这个邓肯秉性仁慈,处理国政,从来没有过失,要是把他杀死了,他的生前的美德,将要像天使一般发出喇叭一样清澈的声音,向世人昭告我的弑君重罪;“怜悯”像一个赤身裸体在狂风中飘游的婴儿,又像一个御气而行的天婴,将要把这可憎的行为揭露在每一个人的眼中,使眼泪淹没叹息。没有一种力量可以鞭策我实现自己的意图,可是我的跃跃欲试的野心,却不顾一切地驱着我去冒颠踬的危险。

(朱生豪 译)

理查三世 第五幕 第五场

里士满  那就该是披甲发令的时间了。亲爱的同胞们,时间已经十分紧迫,我无法和你们尽情多谈了;可是大家只消记住这一点,上帝和正义都在同我们一起作战;圣洁的圣徒们和冤死的人们都在为我们祈祷,他们站在我们面前像一座高耸的堡垒;除了理查之外,他手下的人没有一个不宁愿我们战胜,惟恐他得到胜利。要知道他们所跟从的这个人是个什么样的人呢?弟兄们,他确实是一个杀人如麻的暴君;他在人血中成长,靠流血起家;利用他原有的地位以扩展势力,屠宰他自己的谋士,过河拆桥;一颗卑劣的假宝石,空凭英国的王座来衬托出光芒,其实是装错了地位,满不相称;他始终与上帝为敌。你们既和上帝的敌人交战,做上帝的战士必得天道庇佑;如果你们挥着汗除恶歼暴,功成名遂之后,自可高枕无忧;如果你们为国家战胜公敌,国家自然会把肥甘犒赏你们;如果你们为保护妻孥的安全而战,你们的妻孥就会来迎接胜利者回家园;如果你们把儿女救出了虎口,你们的子孙就可在你们的晚年承欢报恩。所以,为上帝之名和这一切权益,举旗前进,凭自愿拔刀杀敌去吧。至于我,为了这英勇的一役要激战一场,甚至不惜寒土埋冷骨;但是我若幸而获胜,这胜利的果实要和你们每一个士卒共享。击鼓吹号吧,奋勇欢呼起来;上帝与圣乔治在此!里士满与胜利!

(方 重 译)

亨利六世中篇 第一幕 第一场

约克  安佐和缅因白白送给了法国人,巴黎已经丧失了,这些地区丢了以后,诺曼第省就处于极不安全的地位。萨福克签订了和约条款,贵族们都已同意,亨利也愿意用两个公爵的采邑换取一个公爵的标致女儿。为了这些事,我也怪不得他们;在他们看来,这些都算得什么?他们送掉的原是你的东西,而不是他们自己的东西。海盗们把抢来的财富尽情挥霍,收买朋友,赏赐娼妓,直到花费干净,也毫不吝惜。而那不幸的物主却只能咳声叹气,搓手摇头,战兢兢地站在一旁,眼看着自己的东西被人分配完毕,全都带走,自己只能忍饥挨饿,对自己的财产连碰都不敢碰一下。我约克正是处于这样的地位:我自己的土地被人家换掉了、出卖了,我只能坐在一旁,忍气吞声。在我看来,英格兰、法兰西、爱尔兰,这些国土都是我心头之肉,都是我生命的寄托。而他们竟然把安佐和缅因送给了法国人!这真是一件令人泄气的消息,那法兰西,如同英格兰的肥沃土地一样,原是我想要弄到手的。总有一天我约克要把自己的东西收归己有。为了这个目的,我不妨站到萨立斯伯雷父子这一边来,在外表上对骄横的亨弗雷公爵表现一下拥戴的态度。等到时机一到,我就提出对王冠的要求,那才是我所追求的最高目标。可是,约克呵,你得耐心一点,要等待时机成熟。当别人入睡的时候,你得保持清醒,留心伺察,把国家的内幕刺探清楚。亨利替英国花了许多钱买来一位王后,他正陶醉在新媳妇的爱河之中,等他和亨弗雷同其他的贵族们一旦发生破裂,那时节,我就要高举乳白色的玫瑰,使那空气里充满它的芬芳,我要树起绣有约克家族徽记的旗帜,对兰开斯特家族进行搏斗。我要使用武力,迫使他交出王冠,这些年来,在他的书呆子般的统治之下,英格兰的威望是一天天低落了。

(章 益 译)

暴风雨 第三幕 第三场

爱丽儿  你们是三个有罪的人;操纵着下界一切的天命使得那贪馋的怒海重又把你们吐了出来,把你们抛在这没有人居住的岛上,你们是不配居住在人类中间的。你们已经发狂了。(阿隆佐、西巴斯辛等拔剑)即使像你们这样勇敢的人,也没有法子免除一死。你们这辈愚人!我和我的同伴们都是运命的使者;你们的用风、火熔炼的刀剑不能损害我们身上的一根羽毛,正像把它们砍向呼啸的风、刺向分而复合的水波一样,只显得可笑。我的伙伴们也是刀枪不入的。而且即使它们能够把我们伤害,现在你们也已经没有力量把臂膀举起来了。好生记住吧,我来就是告诉你们这句话,你们三个人是在米兰把善良的普洛斯彼罗篡逐的恶人,你们把他和他的无辜的婴孩放逐在海上,如今你们也受到同样的报应了。为着这件恶事,上天虽然并不把惩罚立刻加在你们身上,却并没有轻轻放过,已经使海洋陆地,以及一切有生之伦,都来和你们作对了。你,阿隆佐,已经丧失了你的儿子;我再向你宣告;活地狱的无穷的痛苦——一切死状合在一起也没有那么惨,将要一步步临到你生命的途程中;除非痛悔前非,以后洗心革面,做一个清白的人,否则在这荒岛上面,天谴已经迫在眼前了!

〔爱丽儿在雷鸣中隐去。柔和的乐声复起;精灵们重上,跳舞且作揶揄状,把空桌抬下。〕

普洛斯彼罗  你把这怪鸟扮演得很好,我的爱丽儿,这一桌酒席你也席卷得妙,我叫你说的话你一句也没有漏去;就是那些小精灵们也都是生龙活虎,各自非常出力。我的神通已经显出力量,我这些仇人们已经惊惶得不能动弹;他们都已经在我的权力之下了。

(朱生豪 译)

科利奥兰纳斯 第一幕 第一场

市民甲  我们都是苦百姓,贵族才是好市民。那些有权有势的人吃饱了,装不下的东西就可以救济我们。他们只要把吃剩下来的东西趁着新鲜的时候赏给我们,我们就会以为他们是出于人道之心来救济我们;可是在他们看来,我们都是不值得救济的。我们的痛苦饥寒,我们的枯瘦憔悴,就像是列载着他们的富裕的一张清单;他们享福就是靠了我们受苦。让我们举起我们的武器来复仇,趁我们还没有瘦得只剩几根骨头。天神知道我说这样的话,只是迫于没有面包吃的饥饿,不是因为渴于复仇。

(朱生豪 译)

亨利四世上篇 第一幕 第三场

霍茨波  啊,那就难怪他那位做了国王的叔父恨不得要让摩提默在荒凉的山谷之间饿死了。可是你们把王冠加在这个健忘的人的头上,为了他的缘故,蒙上教唆行弑的万恶的罪名,难道你们就这样甘心做一个篡位者的卑鄙的帮凶,一个弑君的刽子手,受尽无穷的咒诅吗?啊!恕我这样不知忌讳,直言指出你们在这狡诈的国王手下充任了何等的角色。难道你们愿意让当世的舆论和未来的历史提起这一件可羞的事实,说是像你们这样两个有地位有势力的人,却会做出那样不义之事——上帝恕宥你们的罪恶!——把理查,那芬芳可爱的蔷薇拔了下来,却扶植起波林勃洛克,这一棵刺人的荆棘?难道你们愿意让它们提起这一件更可羞的事实,说是你们为了那个人蒙受这样的耻辱,结果却被他所愚弄、摈斥和抛弃?不,现在你们还来得及赎回你们被放逐的荣誉,恢复世人对你们的好感;报复这骄傲的国王所加于你们的侮蔑吧,他每天每晚都在考虑着怎样酬答你们的辛劳,他是不会吝惜用流血的手段把你们处死的。所以,我说——

华斯特  静下来,侄儿!别多说了。

(朱生豪 译)

理查三世 第四幕 第三场

提瑞尔  一桩血腥的暴行已经完成;真是这片国土之上还未见过的一件罪大恶极的惨案。我曾唆使戴登和福列司特一起去硬着心肠下这毒手,可是他俩虽然是嗜血暴徒,听了那番临死前的悲诉,也竟顽石点头,像孩提一般流下热泪来。“看哪,”戴登说,“这幼嫩的孩子们躺在那儿;”“就这样,”福列司特说,“他俩这样相互抱住,白蜡似的纯洁臂膀缠得好紧;那嘴唇就像枝头的四瓣红玫瑰,娇滴滴地在夏季的馥郁中亲吻。枕边放着一本祈祷书;我险些儿,”福列司特说道,“心头软下来;然而那魔鬼呵,”——这个恶汉停住了;这时戴登又续道:“我们把开天辟地以来所未有的美品,天公的精心杰作,竟一手给闷死了。”他俩就这样受到良心的责备;话也说不出来;那时我们分了手,我便来向血腥的国王复命:他来了。

〔理查王上。〕

提瑞尔  祝您万福,我的主君!

理查王  好提瑞尔,你的消息是叫我高兴的吗?

提瑞尔  如果我完成了您交下的使命就能叫您高兴的话,那就请您高兴吧,因为这件事已经办成了。

理查王  你看见他们确已死了?

提瑞尔  看见了,我的主君。

理查王  埋葬了吗,好提瑞尔?

提瑞尔  伦敦塔中的牧师把他们埋了;至于埋在哪儿,怎样埋的,我却不知道。

理查王  晚饭后到我这里来,提瑞尔,我要你告诉我他们死时的经过,同时不妨先想一想我该如何酬谢你,怎样满足你的欲望。再见,等你来。

提瑞尔  我敬向您告辞。

理查王  克莱伦斯的儿子我已经关禁起来;他的女儿我已把她嫁给了穷人;爱德华的两个儿子睡进了亚伯拉罕的怀抱里,我妻安辞别了人世。现在我知道布列塔尼的里士满觊觎着我的侄女小伊利莎伯,想借这一结合,妄图争得王冠,我就去找她,再当个快乐幸福的求婚郎。

(方 重 译)

雅典的泰门 第五幕 第四场

艾西巴第斯  吹起喇叭来,让这个懦怯的、淫秽的城市知道我们的大军已经来到。

〔吹谈判信号。元老等登城。〕

艾西巴第斯  在今天以前,由你们胡作非为,肆行不义,把你们的私心当作公道;在今天以前,我自己以及一切睡在你们权力的阴影下面的人,谁都是叉手徬徨,有冤莫诉。现在忍无可忍的时间已经到了,蹲伏惯了的脊骨,在重重的压迫之下,喊出“受不住了”的呼声;现在无告的冤苦将要坐在你们宽大的安乐椅上喘息,短气的骄横将要狼狈奔逃了。

元老甲  尊贵的少年将军,你当初因为些微的误会一怒而去的时候,虽然你还是无拳无勇,我们无须恐惧你的报复,可是我们仍旧召你回来,好意抚慰你,用逾量的恩宠洗刷我们负心的罪戾。

元老乙  就是对于改换了形貌的泰门,我们也曾用谦恭的使节和优渥的允诺恳求他眷念我们的城市。我们并不全是冷酷无情的人,也不该不分皂白地同受战争的屠戮。

元老甲  我们这一座城墙,并不是建立于得罪你的那些人之手;这些巍峨的高塔、标柱和学校,更不应该为了私人的错误而同归毁灭。

元老乙  当初驱迫你出亡的那些人,因为自愧缺少应付非常的才能,中心惭疚,都已忧郁逝世了。尊贵的将军,带领你的大军,高扬你的旗帜,开进我们的城中吧;要是你不顾上天好生之德,你的复仇的欲望必须得到满足,那么请你在十人中杀死一人,让那不幸接触你的锋刃的作为牺牲吧。

(朱生豪 译)

理查二世 第三幕 第三场

波林勃洛克  (向诺森伯兰伯爵)贵爵,请你到那座古堡的顽强的墙壁之前,用铜角把谈判的信号吹进它的残废的耳中,为我这样传言:亨利·波林勃洛克屈下他的双膝,敬吻理查王的御手,向他最尊贵的本人致献臣服的诚意和不贰的忠心;就在他的足前,我准备放下我的武器,遣散我的军队,只要他能答应撤销我的放逐的判决,归还我的应得的土地。不然的话,我要利用我的军力的优势,让那从被屠杀的英国人的伤口中流下的血雨浇溉夏天的泥土;可是我的谦卑的忠顺将会证明用这种腥红的雨点浸染理查王的美好的青绿的田野,决不是波林勃洛克的本意。去,这样对他说;我们就在这儿平坦的草原上整队前进。让我们进军的时候不要敲起惊人的鼓声,这样可以让他们从那城堡的摇摇欲倾的雉堞之上,看看我们雄壮的军容。我想理查王跟我上阵的时候,将要像水火的交攻一样骇人,那彼此接触时的雷鸣巨响,可以把天空震破。让他做火,我愿意做柔顺的水;雷霆之威是属于他的,我只向地上浇洒我的雨露。

(朱生豪 译)

科利奥兰纳斯 第四幕 第五场

科利奥兰纳斯  我的名字是卡厄斯·马歇斯,我曾经把极大的伤害和灾祸加在你和一切伏尔斯人的身上;我的姓氏科利奥兰纳斯就是最好的证明。辛苦的战役、重大的危险、替我这负恩的国家所流过的血,结果只是换到了这一个空洞的姓氏,为你对我所怀的怨恨留下一个创巨痛深的记忆。只有这名字剩留着;残酷猜嫉的人民,得到了我们那些懦怯的贵族的默许,已经一致遗弃了我,抹煞了我一切的功绩,让那些奴才们把我轰出了罗马。这一种不幸的遭遇,使我今天来到你的家里;不要误会我,以为我想来向你求恩乞命,因为要是我怕死的话,我就应该远远地躲开你;我只是因为出于气愤,渴想报复那些放逐我的人,所以才到这儿来站在你的面前。要是你也有一颗复仇的心,想要替你自己和你的国家洗雪耻辱,现在就是你的机会到了,你正可以利用我的不幸,达到你自己的目的,因为我将要用地狱中一切饿鬼的怨毒,来向我的腐败的祖国作战。可是你要是没有这样的胆量,也不想追求远大的前程,那么一句话,我也已经厌倦人世,愿意伸直我的颈项,听任你的宰割,让你一泄这许多年来郁积在心头的怨恨;你要是不杀我,你就是个傻瓜,因为我一向是你的死敌,曾经从你祖国的胸前溅下了无数吨的血;要是让我活在世上,对于你永远是一个耻辱,除非你能够跟我合作。

(朱生豪 译)

亨利四世下篇 第四幕 第一场

威斯摩兰  那么,大主教,我要把您作为我的发言的主要的对象。要是叛乱不脱它的本色,不过是一群乌合之众的暴动,在少数嗜杀好乱的少年领导之下,获得那些无赖贱民的拥护;要是它果然以这一种适合于它的本性的面目出现,那么您,可尊敬的神父,以及这几位尊贵的勋爵,决不会厕身于他们的行列,用你们的荣誉替卑劣残暴的叛徒丑类张目。您,大主教,您的职位是借着国内的和平而确立的,您的鬚髯曾经为和平所吹拂,您的学问文章都是受着和平的甄陶,您的白袍象征着纯洁、圣灵与和平的精神,为什么您现在停止您的优美的和平的宣讲,高呼着粗暴喧嚣的战争的口号,把经典换了甲胄,把墨水换了鲜血,把短笔换了长枪,把神圣的辩舌化成了战场上的号角?

约克  为什么我要采取这样的行动?这是您对我所发的疑问。我的简单的答案是这样的:我们都是害着重病的人;过度的宴乐和荒淫已经使我们遍身像火烧一般发热,我们必须因此而流血;我们的前王理查就是因为染上这一种疾病而不治身亡的。可是,我的最尊贵的威斯摩兰伯爵,我并不以一个医生自任,虽然我现在置身在这些战士们的中间,我并不愿做一个和平的敌人;我的意思不过是暂时借可怖的战争为手段,强迫被无度的纵乐所糜烂的身心得到一些合理的节制,对那开始扼止我们生命活力的障碍作一番彻底的扫除。再听我说得明白一些:我曾经仔细衡量过我们的武力所能造成的损害和我们自己所身受的损害,发现我们的怨愤比我们的过失更重。我们看见时势的潮流奔赴着哪一个方向,在环境的强力的挟持之下,我们不得不适应大势,离开我们平静安谧的本位。我们已经把我们的不满列为条款;在适当的时间,我们将要把它们公开宣布。这些条款在很久以前,我们曾想呈递给国王,但多方祈求仍不能邀蒙接受。当我们受到侮辱损害,准备申诉我们的怨苦的时候,我们总不能得到面谒国王的机会,而那些阻止我们看见他的人,也正就是给我们最大的侮辱与损害的人。新近过去的危机——它的用血写成的记忆还留着鲜明的印象,——以及当前每一分钟所呈现的险象,使我们穿起了这些不合身的武装;我们不是要破坏和平,而是要确立一个名实相符的真正和平。

(朱生豪 译)

恋人间的权力

特洛伊罗斯与克瑞西达 第三幕 第二场

特洛伊罗斯  那么我的克瑞西达为什么这样不容易征服呢?

克瑞西达  似乎不容易征服,可是,殿下,当您第一眼看着我的时候,我早就给您征服了——恕我不再说下去,要是我招认得太多,您会看轻我的。我现在爱着您;可是直到现在为止,我还能够控制我自己的感情;不,说老实话,我说了谎了;我的思想就像一群顽劣的孩子,倔强得不受他们母亲的管束。瞧,我们真是些傻瓜!为什么就要唠唠叨叨说这些话呢?要是我们不能替自己保守秘密,谁还会对我们忠实呢?可是我虽然这样爱您,却没有向您求爱;然而说老实话,我却希望我自己是个男子,或者我们女子也像男子一样有先启口的权利。亲爱的,快叫我止住我的舌头吧;因为我这样得意忘形,一定会说出使我后悔的话来。瞧,瞧!您这么狡猾地一声不响,已经使我从我的脆弱当中流露出我的内心来了。封住我的嘴吧。

特洛伊罗斯  好,虽然甜蜜的音乐从您嘴里发出。

〔他吻了她。〕

(朱生豪 译)

十四行诗 一五〇

哦,从什么威力你取得这力量,

连缺陷也能把我的心灵支配?

教我诬蔑我可靠的目光撒谎,

并矢口否认太阳使白天明媚?

何来这化臭腐为神奇的本领,

使你的种种丑恶不堪的表现

都具有一种灵活强劲的保证,

使它们,对于我,超越一切至善?

谁教你有办法使我更加爱你,

当我听到和见到你种种可憎?

哦,尽管我钟爱着人家所嫌弃,

你总不该嫌弃我,同人家一条心:

既然你越不可爱,越使得我爱,

你就该觉得我更值得你喜爱。

(梁宗岱 译)

维罗那二绅士 第三幕 第一场

凡伦丁  与其活着受煎熬,何不一死了事?死不过是把自己放逐出自己的躯壳以外;西尔维娅已经和我合成一体,离开她就是离开我自己,这不是和死同样的刑罚吗?看不见西尔维娅,世上还有什么光明?没有西尔维娅在一起,世上还有什么乐趣?我只好闭上眼睛假想她在旁边,用这样美好的幻影寻求片刻的陶醉。除非夜间有西尔维娅陪着我,夜莺的歌唱只是不入耳的噪音;除非白天有西尔维娅在我的面前,否则我的生命将是一个不见天日的长夜。她是我生命的精华,我要是不能在她的煦护拂庇之下滋养我的生机,就要干枯憔悴而死。即使能逃过他这可怕的判决,我也仍然不能逃避死亡;因为我留在这儿,结果不过一死,可是离开了这儿,就是离开了生命所寄托的一切。

(朱生豪 译)

无事生非 第三幕 第一场

希罗  爱神在上,我也知道像他这样的人品是值得享受世间一切至美至好的事物的;可是造物造下的女人的心,没有一颗比得上像贝特丽丝那样骄傲冷酷的;轻蔑和讥嘲在她的眼睛里闪耀着,把她所看见的一切贬得一文不值,她因为自恃才情,所以什么都不放在她的眼里。她不会恋爱,也从来不想到有恋爱这件事;她是太自命不凡了。

欧苏拉  不错,我也是这样想;所以还是不要让她知道他对她的爱情,免得反而遭到她的讥笑。

希罗  是呀,你说得很对。无论怎样聪明、高贵、年轻、漂亮的男子,她总要把他批评得体无完肤:要是他面孔长得白净,她就发誓说这位先生应当做她的妹妹;要是他皮肤黑了点儿,她就说上帝在打一个小花脸的图样的时候,不小心涂上了一大块墨渍;要是他是个高个儿,他就是柄歪头的长枪;要是他是个矮子,他就是块刻坏了的玛瑙坠子;要是他多讲了几句话,他就是个随风转的风标;要是他一声不响,他就是块没有知觉的木头。她这样指摘着每一个人的短处,至于他的纯朴的德性和才能,她却绝口不给它们应得的赞赏。

欧苏拉  真的,这种吹毛求疵可不敢恭维。

希罗  是呀,像贝特丽丝这样古怪得不近人情,真叫人不敢恭维。可是谁敢去对她这样说呢?要是我对她说了,她会把我讥笑得无地自容,用她的俏皮话儿把我揶揄死呢!所以还是让培尼狄克像一堆盖在灰里的火一样,在叹息中熄灭了他的生命的残焰吧;与其受人讥笑而死——这就像痒得要死那样难熬——还是不声不响地闷死了好。

(朱生豪 译)

驯悍记 第四幕 第一场

彼特鲁乔  我已经开始巧妙地把她驾驭起来,希望能够得到美满的成功。我这只悍鹰现在非常饥饿,在她没有俯首听命以前,不能让她吃饱,不然她就不肯再练习打猎了。我还有一个治服这鸷鸟的办法,使她能呼之则来,挥之则去;那就是总叫她睁着眼,不得休息,拿她当一只乱扑翅膀的倔强鹞子一样对待。今天她没有吃过肉,明天我也不给她吃;昨夜她不曾睡觉,今夜我也不让她睡觉,我要故意嫌被褥铺得不好,把枕头、枕垫、被单、线毯向满房乱丢,还说都是为了爱惜她才这样做;总之她将要整夜不能合眼,倘然她昏昏思睡,我就骂人吵闹,吵得她睡不着。这是用体贴为名惩治妻子的法子,我就这样克制她的狂暴倔强的脾气;要是有谁知道还有比这更好的驯悍妙法,那么我倒要请教请教。

(朱生豪 译)

鲁克丽丝受辱记 第281—301行

正好比稀稀禾苗,被萋萋恶草掩蔽,

审慎的顾虑几乎被猖狂的欲念窒息。

他竖起耳朵倾听,偷偷举步前移,

满怀无耻的希冀,满腹无聊的猜疑;

希冀、猜疑仿佛是恶人的两名仆役,

让他们相忤的主张交错于他的脑际,

使他一会儿想收兵,一会儿又想进袭。



潜思中,他恍惚瞥见她天仙一般的形象,

还恍惚瞥见柯拉廷,也与她同在那厢;

向她望着的那只眼,搅得他心神迷惘;

向她望着的那只眼,却较为虔敬忠良,

不肯屈从于这种背信弃义的意向,

发出纯真的呼吁,求心灵作出主张;

但心灵既经腐蚀,竟投向恶的一方。



这就大大怂恿了他那卑劣的情思:

见心灵洋洋自得,它们也踌躇满志,

涨满了他的淫欲,像分秒填满了小时;

自吹互捧过了头,它们越来越骄恣,

竟与它们的统帅——心灵毫无二致。

听任奸邪的欲念如此癫狂地指使,

罗马王子直驱鲁克丽丝的卧室。

(杨德豫 译)

仲夏夜之梦 第五幕 第一场

忒修斯  情人们和疯子们都富于纷乱的思想和成形的幻觉,他们所理会到的永远不是冷静的理智所能充分了解。疯子、情人和诗人,都是幻想的产儿:疯子眼中所见的鬼,多过于广大的地狱所能容纳;情人,同样是那么疯狂,能从埃及人的黑脸上看见海伦的美貌;诗人的眼睛在神奇的狂放的一转中,便能从天上看到地下,从地下看到天上。想像会把不知名的事物用一种形式呈现出来,诗人的笔再使它们具有如实的形象,空虚的无物也会有了居处和名字。强烈的想像往往具有这种本领,只要一领略到一些快乐,就会相信那种快乐的背后有一个赐予的人;夜间一转到恐惧的念头,一株灌木一下子便会变成一头熊。

(朱生豪 译)

罗密欧与朱丽叶 第三幕 第三场

罗密欧  这是酷刑,不是恩典。朱丽叶所在的地方就是天堂;这儿的每一只猫、每一只狗、每一只小小的老鼠,都生活在天堂里,都可以瞻仰到她的容颜,可是罗密欧却看不见她。污秽的苍蝇都可以接触亲爱的朱丽叶的皎洁的玉手,从她的嘴唇上偷取天堂中的幸福,那两片嘴唇是这样的纯洁贞淑,永远含着娇羞,好像觉得它们自身的相吻也是一种罪恶;苍蝇可以这样做,我却必须远走高飞,它们是自由人,我却是一个放逐的流徒。你还说放逐不是死吗?难道你没有配好的毒药、锋锐的刀子或者无论什么致命的利器,而必须用“放逐”两个字把我杀害吗?放逐!啊,神父!只有沉沦在地狱里的鬼魂才会用到这两个字,伴着凄厉的呼号;你是一个教士,一个替人忏罪的神父,又是我的朋友,怎么忍心用“放逐”这两个字来寸磔我呢?

(梁宗岱 译)

终成眷属 第一幕 第一场

海丽娜  唉!要是真的只是这样倒好了。我不是想我的父亲;我这些滔滔的眼泪,虽然好像是一片孺慕的哀忱,却不是为他而流。他的容貌怎样,我也早就忘记了,在我的想像之中,除了勃特拉姆以外没有别人的影子。我现在一切都完了!要是勃特拉姆离我而去,我还有什么生趣?我正像爱上了一颗灿烂的明星,痴心地希望着有一天能够和它结合,他是这样高不可攀;我不能踰越我的名分和他亲近,只好在他的耀目的光华下,沾取他的几分余辉,安慰安慰我的饥渴。我的爱情的野心使我备受痛苦,希望和狮子匹配的驯鹿,必须为爱而死。每时每刻看见他,是愉快也是苦痛;我默坐在他的旁边,在心版上深深地刻划着他的秀曲的眉毛,他的敏锐的眼睛,他的迷人的鬈发,他那可爱的脸庞上的每一根线条,每一处微细的特点,都会清清楚楚地摄在我的心里。可是现在他去了,我的爱慕的私衷,只好以眷怀旧日的陈迹为满足。

(朱生豪 译)

十四行诗 五七

既然是你奴隶,我有什么可做,

除了时时刻刻伺候你的心愿?

我毫无宝贵的时间可消磨,

也无事可做,直到你有所驱遣。

我不敢骂那绵绵无尽的时刻,

当我为你,主人,把时辰来看守;

也不敢埋怨别离是多么残酷,

在你已经把你的仆人辞退后;

也不敢用妒忌的念头去探索

你究竟在哪里,或者为什么忙碌,

只是,像个可怜的奴隶,呆想着

你所在的地方,人们会多幸福。

爱这呆子是那么无救药的呆

凭你为所欲为,他都不觉得坏。

(梁宗岱 译)

爱的徒劳 第一幕 第二场

亚马多  我爱上了那被她穿在她的卑贱的鞋子里的更卑贱的脚所践踏的最卑贱的地面。要是我恋爱了,我将要破坏誓约,那就是说了一句虚伪的谎。虚伪的谎怎么可以换到真实的爱呢?爱情是一个魔鬼,是一个独一无二的罪恶的天使。可是参孙也曾被它引诱,他是个力气很大的人;所罗门也曾被它迷惑,他是个聪明无比的人。赫剌克勒斯的巨棍也敌不住丘匹德的箭镞,所以一个西班牙人的宝剑怎么能够对抗得了呢?不消一两个回合,我的剑法就要完全散乱了。什么直刺,什么横劈,在他看来都是不值一笑。他的耻辱是被人称为孩子;他的光荣却是征服成人。别了,勇气!锈了吧,宝剑!静下来,战鼓!因为你们的主人在恋爱了;是的,他在恋爱了。即景生情的诗神啊,帮助我!因为我相信我要写起十四行诗来了。想吧,智慧;写吧,笔!我有足够的诗情,可以写满几大卷的对开大本呢。

(朱生豪 译)

罗密欧与朱丽叶 第一幕 第一场

罗密欧  啊,吵吵闹闹的相爱,亲亲热热的怨恨!啊,无中生有的一切!啊,沉重的轻浮,严肃的狂妄,整齐的混乱,铅铸的羽毛,光明的烟雾,寒冷的火焰,憔悴的健康,永远觉醒的睡眠,否定的存在!我感觉到的爱情正是这么一种东西,可是我并不喜爱这一种爱情。你不会笑我吗?

班伏里奥  不,兄弟,我倒是有点儿想哭。

罗密欧  好人,为什么呢?

班伏里奥  因为瞧着你善良的心受到这样的痛苦。

罗密欧  唉!这就是爱情的错误,我自己已经有太多的忧愁重压在我的心头,你对我表示的同情,徒然使我在太多的忧愁之上再加上一重忧愁。爱情是叹息吹起的一阵烟;恋人的眼中有它净化了的火星;恋人的眼泪是它激起的波涛。它又是最智慧的疯狂,哽喉的苦味,吃不到嘴的蜜糖。

(朱生豪 译)

安东尼与克莉奥佩特拉 第四幕 第十六场

克莉奥佩特拉  什么都没有了,我只是一个平凡的女人,平凡的感情支配着我,正像支配着一个挤牛奶、做贱工的婢女一样。我应该向不仁的神明怒掷我的御杖,告诉他们当他们没有偷去我们的珍宝的时候,我们这世界是可以和他们的天国互相媲美的。如今一切都只是空虚无聊;忍着像傻瓜,不忍着又像疯狗。那么在死神还不敢侵犯我们以前,就奔进了幽秘的死窟,是不是罪恶呢?怎么啦,我的姑娘们?唉,唉!高兴点儿吧!嗳哟,怎么啦,查米恩!我的好孩子们!啊,姑娘们,姑娘们,瞧!我们的灯熄了,它暗下去了,各位好朋友,提起勇气来;——我们要埋葬他,一切依照最庄严、最高贵的罗马的仪式,让死神乐于带我们同去。来,走吧;容纳着那样一颗伟大的灵魂的躯壳现在已经冰冷了;啊,姑娘们,姑娘们!我们没有朋友,只有视死如归的决心。

(朱生豪 译)

十四行诗 二六

我爱情的至尊,你的美德已经

使我这藩属加强对你的拥戴,

我现在寄给你这诗当作使臣,

去向你述职,并非要向你炫才。

职责那么重,我又才拙少俊语,

难免要显得赤裸裸和她相见,

但望你的妙思,不嫌它太粗鄙,

在你灵魂里把它的赤裸裸遮掩;

因而不管什么星照引我前程,

都对我露出一副和悦的笑容,

把华服加给我这寒伧的爱情,

使我配得上你那缱绻的恩宠。

那时我才敢对你夸耀我的爱,

否则怕你考验我,总要躲起来。

(梁宗岱 译)

驯悍记 第五幕 第二场

彼特鲁乔  凯瑟琳,你去告诉这些倔强的女人,做妻子的应该向她们的夫主尽些什么本分。

寡妇  好了,好了,别开玩笑了;我们不要听这些个。

彼特鲁乔  说吧,先讲给她听。

寡妇  用不着她讲。

彼特鲁乔  我偏要她讲;先讲给她听。

凯瑟丽娜  嗳呀!展开你那颦蹙的眉头,收起你那轻蔑的瞥视,不要让它伤害你的主人,你的君王,你的支配者。它会使你的美貌减色,就像严霜噬噬着草原,它会使你的名誉受损,就像旋风摧残着蓓蕾;它绝对没有可取之处,也丝毫引不起别人的好感。一个使性的女人,就像一池受到激动的泉水,混浊可憎,失去一切的美丽,无论怎样喉干吻渴的人,也不愿把它啜饮一口。你的丈夫就是你的主人、你的生命、你的所有者、你的头脑、你的君王;他照顾着你,扶养着你,在海洋里陆地上辛苦操作,夜里冒着风波,白天忍受寒冷,你却穿得暖暖的住在家里,享受着安全与舒适。他希望你贡献给他的,只是你的爱情,你的温柔的辞色,你的真心的服从;你欠他的好处这么多,他所要求于你的酬报却是这么微薄!一个女人对待她的丈夫,应当像臣子对待君王一样忠心恭顺;倘使她倔强使性,乖张暴戾,不服从他正当的愿望,那么她岂不是一个大逆不道、忘恩负义的叛徒?应当长跪乞和的时候,她却向他挑战;应当尽心竭力服侍他、敬爱他、顺从他的时候,她却企图篡夺主权,发号施令:这一种愚蠢的行为,真是女人的耻辱。我们的身体为什么这样柔软无力,耐不了苦,熬不起忧患?那不是因为我们的性情必须和我们的外表互相一致,同样的温柔吗?听我的话吧,你们这些倔强而无力的可怜虫!我的心从前也跟你们一样高傲,也许我有比你们更多的理由,不甘心向人俯首认输,可是现在我知道我们的枪矛只是些稻草,我们的力量是软弱的,我们的软弱是无比的,我们所有的只是一个空虚的外表。所以你们还是挫抑你们无益的傲气,跪下来向你们的丈夫请求怜爱吧。为了表示我的顺从,只要我的丈夫吩咐我,我就可以向他下跪,让他因此而心中快慰。

(朱生豪 译)

特洛伊罗斯与克瑞西达 第二幕 第二场

特洛伊罗斯  假如我今天娶了一个妻子,我的选择是取决于我的意志,我的意志是受我的耳目所左右;假如我在选定以后,我的意志重新不满于我的选择,那么我怎么可以避免既成的事实呢?一方面逃避责任,一方面又要不损害自己的荣誉,这样的事是不可能的。我们把绸缎污毁了以后,就不能再拿它向商家退换;我们也不因为已经吃饱,就把剩余的食物倒在肮脏的阴沟里。当初大家都赞成帕里斯去向希腊人报复;你们的一致同意鼓励了他的远行,善于捣乱的海浪和天风,也协力帮助他一帆风顺地到了他的目的地;为了希腊人俘掳了我们一个年老的姑母,他夺回了一个希腊的王妃作为交换,她的青春和娇艳掩盖了朝暾的美丽。我们为什么留住她不放?因为希腊人没有放还我们的姑母;她是值得我们保留的吗?啊,她是一颗明珠,它的高贵的价值,曾经掀动过千百个国王迢迢渡海而来,大家都要做一个觅宝的商人。你们不能不承认帕里斯的前去并不是失策,因为你们大家都喊着“去!去!”你们也不能不承认他带回了光荣的战利品,因为你们大家都拍手欢呼,说她的价值是不可估计的;那么你们现在为什么要诋毁从你们自己的智慧中产生的果实,把你们曾经估计为价值超过海洋和陆地的宝物重新贬斥得一文不值呢?啊!赃物已经偷了来了,我们却不敢把它保留下来,这才是最卑劣的偷窃!这样的盗贼是不配偷窃这样的宝物的。

(朱生豪 译)

安东尼与克莉奥佩特拉 第一幕 第一场

菲罗  嘿,咱们主帅这样迷恋,真太不成话啦。从前他指挥大军的时候,他的英勇的眼睛像全身盔甲的战神一样发出棱棱的威光,现在却如醉如痴地尽是盯在一张黄褐色的脸上。他的大将的雄心曾经在激烈的鏖战里涨断了胸前的扣带,现在却失掉一切常态,甘愿做一具风扇,搧凉一个吉卜赛女人的欲焰。瞧!他们来了。

〔喇叭奏花腔。安东尼及克莉奥佩特拉率侍从上;太监掌扇随侍。〕

菲罗  留心看着,你就可以知道他本来是这世界上三大柱石之一,现在已经变成一个娼妇的弄人了,瞧吧。

克莉奥佩特拉  (向安东尼)要是那真的是爱,告诉我多么深。

安东尼  可以量深浅的爱是贫乏的。

(朱生豪 译)

奥瑟罗 第一幕 第三场

罗德利哥  我该怎么办?我承认这样痴心是一件丢脸的事,可是我没有力量把它补救过来呀。

伊阿古  力量!废话!我们变成这样那样,全在于我们自己。我们的身体就像一座园圃,我们的意志是这园圃里的园丁;不论我们插荨麻、种莴苣、栽下牛膝草、拔起百里香,或者单独培植一种草木,或者把全园种得万卉纷披,让它荒废不治也好,把它辛勤耕垦也好,那权力都在于我们的意志。要是在我们的生命之中,理智和情欲不能保持平衡,我们血肉的邪心就会引导我们到一个荒唐的结局;可是我们有的是理智,可以冲淡我们汹涌的热情,肉体的刺激和奔放的淫欲;我认为你所称为“爱情”的,也不过是那样一种东西。

(朱生豪 译)

十四行诗 一三一

尽管你不算美,你的暴虐并不

亚于那些因美而骄横的女人;

因为你知道我的心那么糊涂,

把你当作世上的至美和至珍。

不过,说实话,见过你的人都说,

你的脸缺少使爱呻吟的魅力:

尽管我心中发誓反对这说法,

我可还没有公开否认的勇气。

当然我发的誓一点也不欺人;

数不完的呻吟,一想起你的脸,

马上联翩而来,可以为我作证:

对于我,你的黑胜于一切秀妍。

你一点也不黑,除了你的人品,

可能为了这原故,诽谤才流行。

(梁宗岱 译)

William Shakespeare

On Power

PENGUIN BOOKS — GREAT IDEAS

Power in government

Hamlet , Act III, Scene 3

ROSENCRANTZ :

The single and peculiar life is bound

With all the strength and armour of the mind

To keep itself from noyance, but much more

That spirit upon whose weal depends and rests

The lives of many. The cease of majesty

Dies not alone, but like a gulf doth draw

What's near it with it. It is a massy wheel

Fixed on the summit of the highest mount,

To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things

Are mortised and adjoined, which when it falls

Each small annexment, petty consequence,

Attends the boist'rous ruin. Never alone

Did the King sigh, but with a general groan.

Richard II , Act III, Scene 2

KING RICHARD :

Of comfort no man speak.

Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs,

Make dust our paper and with rainy eyes

Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth.

Let's choose executors and talk of wills,

And yet not so, for what can we bequeath

Save our deposed bodies to the ground?

Our lands, our lives, and all are Bolingbroke's,

And nothing can we call our own but death,

And that small model of the barren earth

Which serves as paste and cover to our bones.

For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground

And tell sad stories of the death of kings:

How some have been deposed, some slain in war,

Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed,

Some poisoned by their wives, some sleeping killed,

All murdered. For within the hollow crown

That rounds the mortal temples of a king

Keeps Death his court; and there the antic sits,

Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp,

Allowing him a breath, a little scene,

To monarchize, be feared, and kill with looks,

Infusing him with self and vain conceit,

As if this flesh which walls about our life

Were brass impregnable; and humoured thus,

Comes at the last, and with a little pin

Bores through his castle wall; and farewell, king.

Cover your heads and mock not flesh and blood

With solemn reverence. Throw away respect,

Tradition, form, and ceremonious duty,

For you have but mistook me all this while.

I live with bread, like you; feel want,

Taste grief, need friends. Subjected thus,

How can you say to me I am a king?

Timon of Athens , Act IV, Scene 3

APEMANTUS :

If thou didst put this sour cold habit on

To castigate thy pride, 'twere well, but thou

Dost it enforcedly. Thou'dst courtier be again

Wert thou not beggar. Willing misery

Outlives incertain pomp, is crowned before.

The one is filling still, never complete,

The other at high wish. Best state, contentless,

Hath a distracted and most wretched being,

Worse than the worst, content.

Thou shouldst desire to die, being miserable.

TIMON :

Not by his breath that is more miserable.

Thou art a slave whom fortune's tender arm

With favour never clasped, but bred a dog.

Hadst thou like us from our first swathe proceeded

The sweet degrees that this brief world affords

To such as may the passive drudges of it

Freely command, thou wouldst have plunged thyself

In general riot, melted down thy youth

In different beds of lust, and never learned

The icy precepts of respect, but followed

The sugared game before thee. But myself,

Who had the world as my confectionary,

The mouths, the tongues, the eyes and hearts of men

At duty, more than I could frame employment,

That numberless upon me stuck, as leaves

Do on the oak, have with one winter's brush

Fell from their boughs, and left me open, bare

For every storm that blows. I to bare this,

That never knew but better, is some burden.

Thy nature did commence in sufferance, time

Hath made thee hard in't. Why shouldst thou hate men?

They never flattered thee. What hast thou given?

If thou wilt curse, thy father, that poor rag,

Must be thy subject, who in spite put stuff

To some she-beggar and compounded thee

Poor rogue hereditary. Hence, be gone.

If thou hadst not been born the worst of men

Thou hadst been a knave and flatterer.

Henry V , Act I, Scene 2

CANTERBURY :

True. Therefore doth heaven divide

The state of man in divers functions,

Setting endeavour in continual motion;

To which is fixed, as an aim or butt,

Obedience. For so work the honey-bees,

Creatures that by a rule in nature teach

The act of order to a peopled kingdom.

They have a king, and officers of sorts,

Where some like magistrates correct at home;

Others like merchants venture trade abroad;

Others like soldiers, armed in their stings,

Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds,

Which pillage they with merry march bring home

To the tent royal of their emperor,

Who busied in his majesty surveys

The singing masons building roofs of gold,

The civil citizens lading up the honey,

The poor mechanic porters crowding in

Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate,

The sad-eyed justice with his surly hum

Delivering o'er to executors pale

The lazy yawning drone. I this infer:

That many things, having full reference

To one consent, may work contrariously.

As many arrows, loosed several ways,

Fly to one mark, as many ways meet in one town,

As many fresh streams meet in one salt sea,

As many lines close in the dial's centre,

So may a thousand actions once afoot

End in one purpose, and be all well borne

Without defect. Therefore to France my liege.

Divide your happy England into four,

Whereof take you one quarter into France,

And you withal shall make all Gallia shake.

If we with thrice such powers left at home

Cannot defend our own doors from the dog,

Let us be worried, and our nation lose

The name of hardiness and policy.

Coriolanus , Act II, Scene 2

SECOND OFFICER : There hath been many great men that have flattered the people who ne'er loved them; and there be many that they have loved they know not wherefore, so that if they love they know not why; they hate upon no better a ground. Therefore for Coriolanus neither to care whether they love or hate him manifests the true knowledge he has in their disposition, and out of his noble carelessness lets them plainly see it.

FIRST OFFICER : If he did not care whether he had their love or no he waved indifferently 'twixt doing them neither good nor harm, but he seeks their hate with greater devotion than they can render it him, and leaves nothing undone that may fully discover him their opposite. Now to seem to affect the malice and displeasure of the people is as bad as that which he dislikes, to flatter them for their love.

SECOND OFFICER : He hath deserved worthily of his country, and his ascent is not by such easy degrees as those who, having been supple and courteous to the people, bonneted, without any further deed to have them at all into their estimation and report. But he hath so planted his honours in their eyes and his actions in their hearts that for their tongues to be silent and not confess so much were a kind of in-grateful injury. To report otherwise were a malice that, giving itself the lie, would pluck reproof and rebuke from every ear that heard it.

FIRST OFFICER : No more of him. He's a worthy man.

Henry V , Act IV, Scene 2

KING HARRY :

Upon the King:

‘Let us our lives, our souls, our debts, our care-full wives,

Our children, and our sins, lay on the King.’

We must bear all. O hard condition,

Twin-born with greatness, subject to the breath of every fool,

Whose sense no more can feel

But his own wringing. What infinite heartsease

Must kings neglect that private men enjoy?

And what have kings that privates have not too,

Save ceremony, save general ceremony?

And what art thou, thou idol ceremony?

What kind of god art thou, that suffer'st more

Of mortal griefs than do thy worshippers?

What are thy rents? What are thy comings-in?

O ceremony, show me but thy worth.

What is thy soul of adoration?

Art thou aught else but place, degree, and form,

Creating awe and fear in other men?

Wherein thou art less happy, being feared,

Than they in fearing.

What drink'st thou oft, instead of homage sweet,

But poisoned flattery? O be sick, great greatness,

And bid thy ceremony give thee cure.

Think'st thou the fiery fever will go out

With titles blown from adulation?

Will it give place to flexure and low bending?

Canst thou, when thou command'st the beggar's knee,

Command the health of it? No, thou proud dream

That play'st so subtly with a king's repose.

I am a king that find thee, and I know

'Tis not the balm, the sceptre, and the ball,

The sword, the mace, the crown imperial,

The intertissued robe of gold and pearl,

The farced title running fore the king,

The throne he sits on, nor the tide of pomp

That beats upon the high shore of this world.

No, not all these, thrice-gorgeous ceremony,

Not all these, laid in bed majestical,

Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave

Who with a body filled and vacant mind

Gets him to rest, crammed with distressful bread;

Never sees horrid night, the child of hell,

But like a lackey from the rise to set

Sweats in the eye of Phoebus, and all night

Sleeps in Elysium; next day, after dawn

Doth rise and help Hyperion to his horse,

And follows so the ever-running year

With profitable labour to his grave.

And but for ceremony such a wretch,

Winding up days with toil and nights with sleep

Had the forehand and vantage of a king.

The slave, a member of the country's peace,

Enjoys it, but in gross brain little wots

What watch the King keeps to maintain the peace,

Whose hours the peasant best advantages.

Measure for Measure , Act I, Scene 1

DUKE :

Of government the properties to unfold

Would seem in me t'affect speech and discourse,

Since I am put to know that your own science

Exceeds in that the lists of all advice

My strength can give you. Then no more remains

But this: to your sufficiency, as your worth is able,

And let them work. The nature of our people,

Our city's institutions and the terms

For common justice, you're as pregnant in

As art and practice hath enriched any

That we remember.

He gives Escalus papers.

There is our commission,

From which we would not have you warp.

(To a lord)

Call hither,

I say bid come before us Angelo.

(To Escalus)

What figure of us think you he will bear?

For you must know we have with special soul

Elected him our absence to supply,

Lent him our terror, dressed him with our love,

And given his deputation all the organs

Of our own power. What think you of it?

ESCALUS :

If any in Vienna be of worth

To undergo such ample grace and honour

It is Lord Angelo.

Enter Angelo

DUKE :

Look where he comes.

ANGELO :

Always obedient to your grace's will,

I come to know your pleasure.

DUKE :

Angelo,

There is a kind of character in thy life

That to th'observer doth thy history

Fully unfold. Thyself and thy belongings

Are not thine own so proper as to waste

Thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee.

Heaven doth with us as we with torches do,

Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues

Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike

As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touched

But to fine issues, nor nature never lends

The smallest scruple of her excellence

But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines

Herself the glory of a creditor,

Both thanks and use. But I do bend my speech

To one that can my part in him advertise.

Hold therefore, Angelo.

In our remove be thou at full ourself:

Mortality and mercy in Vienna

Live in thy tongue and heart. Old Escalus,

Though first in question, is thy secondary.

Take thy commission.

Richard II , Act V, Scene 5

KING RICHARD :

I have been studying how I may compare

This prison where I live unto the world,

And for because the world is populous,

And here is not a creature but myself,

I cannot do it. Yet I'll hammer it out.

My brain I'll prove the female to my soul,

My soul the father, and these two beget

A generation of still-breeding thoughts,

And these same thoughts people this little world

In humours like the people of this world.

For no thought is contented. The better sort,

As thoughts of things divine, are intermixed

With scruples, and do set the faith itself

Against the faith, as thus:‘Come, little ones’,

And then again,

‘It is as hard to come as for a camel

To thread the postern of a small needle's eye.’

Thoughts tending to ambition, they do plot

Unlikely wonders: how these vain, weak nails

May tear a passage through the flinty ribs

Of this hard world, my ragged prison walls;

And for they cannot, die in their own pride.

Thoughts tending to content flatter themselves

That they are not the first of fortune's slaves,

Nor shall not be the last, like seely beggars,

Who, sitting in the stocks, refuge their shame

That many have, and others must, set there;

And in this thought they find a kind of ease,

Bearing their own misfortunes on the back

Of such as have before endured the like.

Thus play I in one person many people,

And none contented. Sometimes am I king,

Then treason makes me wish myself a beggar,

And so I am. Then crushing penury

Persuades me I was better when a king.

Then am I kinged again, and by and by

Think that I am unkinged by Bolingbroke,

And straight am nothing. But whate'er I be,

Nor I, nor any man that but man is,

With nothing shall be pleased till he be eased

With being nothing.

Timon of Athens , Act I, Scene 1

POET :

You see this confluence, this great flood of visitors.

I have in this rough work shaped out a man

Whom this beneath world doth embrace and hug

With amplest entertainment. My free drift

Halts not particularly, but moves itself

In a wide sea of tax. No levelled malice

Infects one comma in the course I hold,

But flies an eagle flight, bold and forth on,

Leaving no tract behind.

PAINTER :

How shall I understand you?

POET :

I will unbolt to you.

You see how all conditions, how all minds,

As well of glib and slipp'ry creatures as

Of grave and austere quality, tender down

Their service to Lord Timon. His large fortune,

Upon his good and gracious nature hanging,

Subdues and properties to his love and tendance

All sorts of hearts. Yea, from the glass-faced flatterer

To Apemantus, that few things loves better

Than to abhor himself; even he drops down

The knee before him, and returns in peace,

Most rich in Timon's nod.

PAINTER :

I saw them speak together.

POET :

Sir, I have upon a high and pleasant hill

Feigned Fortune to be throned. The base o'th'mount

Is ranked with all deserts, all kind of natures

That labour on the bosom of this sphere

To propagate their states. Amongst them all

Whose eyes are on this sovereign lady fixed

One do I personate of Lord Timon's frame,

Whom Fortune with her ivory hand wafts to her,

Whose present grace to present slaves and servants

Translates his rivals.

PAINTER :

'Tis conceived to scope.

This throne, this Fortune, and this hill methinks,

With one man beckoned from the rest below,

Bowing his head against the steepy mount

To climb his happiness, would be well expressed

In our condition.

POET :

Nay sir, but hear me on.

All those which were his fellows but of late,

Some better than his value, on the moment

Follow his strides, his lobbies fill with tendance,

Rain sacrificial whisperings in his ear,

Make sacred even his stirrup, and through him

Drink the free air.

PAINTER :

Ay, marry, what of these?

POET :

When Fortune in her shift and change of mood

Spurns down her late beloved, all his dependants,

Which laboured after him to the mountain's top

Even on their knees and hands, let him fall down,

Not one accompanying his declining foot.

Henry IV, Part I , Act I, Scene 2

SIR JOHN OLDCASTLE : Marry then, sweet wag, when thou art king let not us that are squires of the night's body be called thieves of the day's beauty. Let us be‘Diana's foresters’,‘gentlemen of the shade’,‘minions of the moon’, and let men say we be men of good government, being governed, as the sea is, by our noble and chaste mistress the moon, under whose countenance we steal.

PRINCE HARRY : Thou sayst well, and it holds well too, for the fortune of us that are the moon's men doth ebb and flow like the sea, being governed as the sea is by the moon. As for proof now: a purse of gold most resolutely snatched on Monday night and most dissolutely spent on Tuesday morning, got with swearing‘lay by!’and spent with crying‘bring in!’, now in as low an ebb as the foot of the ladder and by and by in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows.

Richard II , Act III, Scene 4

GARDENER (to First Man) :

Go, bind thou up young dangling apricots

Which, like unruly children, make their sire

Stoop with oppression of their prodigal weight.

Give some supportance to the bending twigs.

(To Second Man ) Go thou, and, like an executioner,

Cut off the heads of too fast-growing sprays

That look too lofty in our commonwealth.

All must be even in our government.

You thus employed, I will go root away

The noisome weeds which without profit suck

The soil's fertility from wholesome flowers.

FIRST MAN :

Why should we, in the compass of a pale,

Keep law and form and due proportion,

Showing as in a model our firm estate,

When our sea-walled garden, the whole land,

Is full of weeds, her fairest flowers choked up,

Her fruit trees all unpruned, her hedges ruined,

Her knots disordered, and her wholesome herbs

Swarming with caterpillars?

GARDENER :

Hold thy peace.

He that hath suffered this disordered spring

Hath now himself met with the fall of leaf.

The weeds which his broad spreading leaves did shelter,

That seemed in eating him to hold him up,

Are plucked up, root and all, by Bolingbroke —

I mean the Earl of Wiltshire, Bushy, Green.

SECOND MAN :

What, are they dead?

GARDENER :

They are; and Bolingbroke

Hath seized the wasteful King. O, what pity is it

That he had not so trimmed and dressed his land

As we this garden! We at time of year

Do wound the bark, the skin of our fruit trees,

Lest, being over-proud in sap and blood,

With too much riches it confound itself.

Had he done so to great and growing men,

They might have lived to bear, and he to taste,

Their fruits of duty. Superfluous branches

We lop away, that bearing boughs may live.

Had he done so, himself had borne the crown,

Which waste of idle hours hath quite thrown down.

King Lear , Act III, Scene 1

GONERIL :

Hear me, my lord.

What need you five-and-twenty, ten, or five,

To follow in a house where twice so many

Have a command to tend you?

REGAN :

What need one?

LEAR :

O, reason not the need! Our basest beggars

Are in the poorest thing superfluous.

Allow not nature more than nature needs.

Man's life is cheap as beast's. Thou art a lady.

If only to go warm were gorgeous,

Why, nature needs not what thou, gorgeous, wear'st,

Which scarcely keeps thee warm. But for true need,

You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need.

You see me here, you gods, a poor old man,

As full of grief as age, wretched in both.

If it be you that stirs these daughters' hearts

Against their father, fool me not so much

To bear it tamely. Touch me with noble anger

And let not women's weapons, water-drops,

Stain my man's cheeks. No, you unnatural hags,

I will have such revenges on you both

That all the world shall — I will do such things —

What they are, yet I know not; but they shall be

The terrors of the earth. You think I'll weep.

No I'll not weep. I have full cause of weeping,

Storm and tempest .

But this heart shall break into a hundred thousand flaws

Or ere I'll weep. O Fool, I shall go mad!

Sonnet 94

They that have power to hurt and will do none,

That do not do the thing they most do show,

Who moving others are themselves as stone,

Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow;

They rightly do inherit heaven's graces

And husband nature's riches from expense;

They are the lords and owners of their faces,

Others but stewards of their excellence.

The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,

Though to itself it only live and die,

But if that flower with base infection meet

The basest weed outbraves his dignity.

For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds:

Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.

Julius Caesar , Act I, Scene 2

CASSIUS :

Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world

Like a Colossus, and we petty men

Walk under his huge legs and peep about

To find ourselves dishonourable graves.

Men at sometime were masters of their fates.

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars

But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that‘Caesar’?

Why should that name be sounded more than yours?

Write them together: yours is as fair a name.

Sound them: it doth become the mouth as well.

Weigh them: it is as heavy. Conjure with 'em:

‘Brutus’will start a spirit as soon as‘Caesar’.

Now in the names of all the gods at once,

Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed

That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed.

Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods.

When went there by an age since the great flood,

But it was famed with more than with one man?

When could they say till now, that talked of Rome,

That her wide walls encompassed but one man?

Now is it Rome indeed, and room enough

When there is in it but one only man.

O you and I have heard our fathers say

There was a Brutus once that would have brooked

Th'eternal devil to keep his state in Rome

As easily as a king.