第 83 节
作者:这就是结局      更新:2021-02-20 15:59      字数:9322
  hope through the wilderness of Death。  Strange is the passion
  that makes a world in itself; that individualises the One amidst
  the Multitude; that; through all the changes of my solemn life;
  yet survives; though ambition and hate and anger are dead; the
  one solitary angel; hovering over a universe of tombs on its two
  tremulous and human wings;Hope and Fear!
  How is it; Mejnour; that; as my diviner art abandoned me;as; in
  my search for Viola; I was aided but by the ordinary instincts of
  the merest mortal;how is it that I have never desponded; that I
  have felt in every difficulty the prevailing prescience that we
  should meet at last?  So cruelly was every vestige of her flight
  concealed from me;so suddenly; so secretly had she fled; that
  all the spies; all the authorities of Venice; could give me no
  clew。  All Italy I searched in vain!  Her young home at Naples!
  how still; in its humble chambers; there seemed to linger the
  fragrance of her presence!  All the sublimest secrets of our lore
  failed me;failed to bring her soul visible to mine; yet morning
  and night; thou lone and childless one; morning and night;
  detached from myself; I can commune with my child!  There in that
  most blessed; typical; and mysterious of all relations; Nature
  herself appears to supply what Science would refuse。  Space
  cannot separate the father's watchful soul from the cradle of his
  first…born!  I know not of its resting…place and home;my
  visions picture not the land;only the small and tender life to
  which all space is as yet the heritage!  For to the infant;
  before reason dawns;before man's bad passions can dim the
  essence that it takes from the element it hath left; there is no
  peculiar country; no native city; and no mortal language。  Its
  soul as yet is the denizen of all airs and of every world; and in
  space its soul meets with mine;the child communes with the
  father!  Cruel and forsaking one;thou for whom I left the
  wisdom of the spheres; thou whose fatal dower has been the
  weakness and terrors of humanity;couldst thou think that young
  soul less safe on earth because I would lead it ever more up to
  heaven!  Didst thou think that I could have wronged mine own?
  Didst thou not know that in its serenest eyes the life that I
  gave it spoke to warn; to upbraid the mother who would bind it to
  the darkness and pangs of the prison…house of clay?  Didst thou
  not feel that it was I who; permitted by the Heavens; shielded it
  from suffering and disease?  And in its wondrous beauty; I
  blessed the holy medium through which; at last; my spirit might
  confer with thine!
  And how have I tracked them hither?  I learned that thy pupil had
  been at Venice。  I could not trace the young and gentle neophyte
  of Parthenope in the description of the haggard and savage
  visitor who had come to Viola before she fled; but when I would
  have summoned his IDEA before me; it refused to obey; and I knew
  then that his fate had become entwined with Viola's。  I have
  tracked him; then; to this Lazar House。  I arrived but yesterday;
  I have not yet discovered him。
  。。。
  I have just returned from their courts of justice;dens where
  tigers arraign their prey。  I find not whom I would seek。  They
  are saved as yet; but I recognise in the crimes of mortals the
  dark wisdom of the Everlasting。  Mejnour; I see here; for the
  first time; how majestic and beauteous a thing is death!  Of what
  sublime virtues we robbed ourselves; when; in the thirst for
  virtue; we attained the art by which we can refuse to die!  When
  in some happy clime; where to breathe is to enjoy; the charnel…
  house swallows up the young and fair; when in the noble pursuit
  of knowledge; Death comes to the student; and shuts out the
  enchanted land which was opening to his gaze;how natural for us
  to desire to live; how natural to make perpetual life the first
  object of research!  But here; from my tower of time; looking
  over the darksome past; and into the starry future; I learn how
  great hearts feel what sweetness and glory there is to die for
  the things they love!  I saw a father sacrificing himself for his
  son; he was subjected to charges which a word of his could
  dispel;he was mistaken for his boy。  With what joy he seized
  the error; confessed the noble crimes of valour and fidelity
  which the son had indeed committed; and went to the doom;
  exulting that his death saved the life he had given; not in vain!
  I saw women; young; delicate; in the bloom of their beauty; they
  had vowed themselves to the cloister。  Hands smeared with the
  blood of saints opened the gate that had shut them from the
  world; and bade them go forth; forget their vows; forswear the
  Divine one these demons would depose; find lovers and helpmates;
  and be free。  And some of these young hearts had loved; and even;
  though in struggles; loved yet。  Did they forswear the vow?  Did
  they abandon the faith?  Did even love allure them?  Mejnour;
  with one voice; they preferred to die。  And whence comes this
  courage?because such HEARTS LIVE IN SOME MORE ABSTRACT AND
  HOLIER LIFE THAN THEIR OWN。  BUT TO LIVE FOREVER UPON THIS EARTH
  IS TO LIVE IN NOTHING DIVINER THAN OURSELVES。  Yes; even amidst
  this gory butcherdom; God; the Ever…living; vindicates to man the
  sanctity of His servant; Death!
  。。。
  Again I have seen thee in spirit; I have seen and blessed thee;
  my sweet child!  Dost thou not know me also in thy dreams?  Dost
  thou not feel the beating of my heart through the veil of thy
  rosy slumbers?  Dost thou not hear the wings of the brighter
  beings that I yet can conjure around thee; to watch; to nourish;
  and to save?  And when the spell fades at thy waking; when thine
  eyes open to the day; will they not look round for me; and ask
  thy mother; with their mute eloquence; 〃Why she has robbed thee
  of a father?〃
  Woman; dost thou not repent thee?  Flying from imaginary fears;
  hast thou not come to the very lair of terror; where Danger sits
  visible and incarnate?  Oh; if we could but meet; wouldst thou
  not fall upon the bosom thou hast so wronged; and feel; poor
  wanderer amidst the storms; as if thou hadst regained the
  shelter?  Mejnour; still my researches fail me。  I mingle with
  all men; even their judges and their spies; but I cannot yet gain
  the clew。  I know that she is here。  I know it by an instinct;
  the breath of my child seems warmer and more familiar。
  They peer at me with venomous looks; as I pass through their
  streets。  With a glance I disarm their malice; and fascinate the
  basilisks。  Everywhere I see the track and scent the presence of
  the Ghostly One that dwells on the Threshold; and whose victims
  are the souls that would ASPIRE; and can only FEAR。  I see its
  dim shapelessness going before the men of blood; and marshalling
  their way。  Robespierre passed me with his furtive step。  Those
  eyes of horror were gnawing into his heart。  I looked down upon
  their senate; the grim Phantom sat cowering on its floor。  It
  hath taken up its abode in the city of Dread。  And what in truth
  are these would…be builders of a new world?  Like the students
  who have vainly struggled after our supreme science; they have
  attempted what is beyond their power; they have passed from this
  solid earth of usages and forms into the land of shadow; and its
  loathsome keeper has seized them as its prey。  I looked into the
  tyrant's shuddering soul; as it trembled past me。  There; amidst
  the ruins of a thousand systems which aimed at virtue; sat Crime;
  and shivered at its desolation。  Yet this man is the only
  Thinker; the only Aspirant; amongst them all。  He still looks for
  a future of peace and mercy; to begin;ay! at what date?  When
  he has swept away every foe。  Fool! new foes spring from every
  drop of blood。  Led by the eyes of the Unutterable; he is walking
  to his doom。
  O Viola; thy innocence protects thee!  Thou whom the sweet
  humanities of love shut out even from the dreams of aerial and
  spiritual beauty; making thy heart a universe of visions fairer
  than the wanderer over the rosy Hesperus can survey;shall not
  the same pure affection encompass thee; even here; with a charmed
  atmosphere; and terror itself fall harmless on a life too
  innocent for wisdom?
  CHAPTER 7。IV。
  Ombra piu che di notte; in cui di luce
  Raggio misto non e;
  。。。
  Ne piu il palagio appar; ne piu le sue
  Vestigia; ne dir puossiegli qui fue。
  〃Ger。 Lib。; canto xvi。…lxix。
  (Darkness greater than of night; in which not a ray of light is
  mixed;。。。The palace appears no more:  not even a vestige;nor
  can one say that it has been。)
  The clubs are noisy with clamorous frenzy; the leaders are grim
  with schemes。  Black Henriot flies here and there; muttering to
  his armed troops; 〃Robespierre; your beloved; is in danger!〃
  Robespierre stalks perturbed; his list of victims swelling every
  hour。  Tallien; the Macduff to the doomed Macbeth; is whispering
  courage to his pa