第 8 节
作者:上访不如上网      更新:2022-05-01 22:41      字数:9322
  nor could they ever believe that human society could have been maintained
  with so little artifice and human patchwork。  I should tell Plato that it
  is a nation wherein there is no manner of traffic; no knowledge of
  letters; no science of numbers; no name of magistrate or political
  superiority; no use of service; riches or poverty; no contracts; no
  successions; no dividends; no properties; no employments; but those of
  leisure; no respect of kindred; but common; no clothing; no agriculture;
  no metal; no use of corn or wine; the very words that signify lying;
  treachery; dissimulation; avarice; envy; detraction; pardon; never heard
  of。
  'This is the famous passage which Shakespeare; through Florio's
  version; 1603; or ed。  1613; p。 102; has employed in the 〃Tempest;〃
  ii。 1。'
  How much would he find his imaginary Republic short of his perfection?
  〃Viri a diis recentes。〃
  '〃Men fresh from the gods。〃Seneca; Ep。; 90。'
  〃Hos natura modos primum dedit。〃
  '〃These were the manners first taught by nature。〃
  Virgil; Georgics; ii。 20。'
  As to the rest; they live in a country very pleasant and temperate; so
  that; as my witnesses inform me; 'tis rare to hear of a sick person; and
  they moreover assure me; that they never saw any of the natives; either
  paralytic; bleareyed; toothless; or crooked with age。  The situation of
  their country is along the sea…shore; enclosed on the other side towards
  the land; with great and high mountains; having about a hundred leagues
  in breadth between。  They have great store of fish and flesh; that have
  no resemblance to those of ours: which they eat without any other
  cookery; than plain boiling; roasting; and broiling。  The first that rode
  a horse thither; though in several other voyages he had contracted an
  acquaintance and familiarity with them; put them into so terrible a
  fright; with his centaur appearance; that they killed him with their
  arrows before they could come to discover who he was。  Their buildings
  are very long; and of capacity to hold two or three hundred people; made
  of the barks of tall trees; reared with one end upon the ground; and
  leaning to and supporting one another at the top; like some of our barns;
  of which the covering hangs down to the very ground; and serves for the
  side walls。 They have wood so hard; that they cut with it; and make their
  swords of it; and their grills of it to broil their meat。  Their beds are
  of cotton; hung swinging from the roof; like our seamen's hammocks; every
  man his own; for the wives lie apart from their husbands。  They rise with
  the sun; and so soon as they are up; eat for all day; for they have no
  more meals but that; they do not then drink; as Suidas reports of some
  other people of the East that never drank at their meals; but drink very
  often all day after; and sometimes to a rousing pitch。  Their drink is
  made of a certain root; and is of the colour of our claret; and they
  never drink it but lukewarm。  It will not keep above two or three days;
  it has a somewhat sharp; brisk taste; is nothing heady; but very
  comfortable to the stomach; laxative to strangers; but a very pleasant
  beverage to such as are accustomed to it。  They make use; instead of
  bread; of a certain white compound; like coriander seeds; I have tasted
  of it; the taste is sweet and a little flat。  The whole day is spent in
  dancing。  Their young men go a…hunting after wild beasts with bows and
  arrows; one part of their women are employed in preparing their drink the
  while; which is their chief employment。  One of their old men; in the
  morning before they fall to eating; preaches to the whole family; walking
  from the one end of the house to the other; and several times repeating
  the same sentence; till he has finished the round; for their houses are
  at least a hundred yards long。  Valour towards their enemies and love
  towards their wives; are the two heads of his discourse; never failing in
  the close; to put them in mind; that 'tis their wives who provide them
  their drink warm and well seasoned。  The fashion of their beds; ropes;
  swords; and of the wooden bracelets they tie about their wrists; when
  they go to fight; and of the great canes; bored hollow at one end; by the
  sound of which they keep the cadence of their dances; are to be seen in
  several places; and amongst others; at my house。  They shave all over;
  and much more neatly than we; without other razor than one of wood or
  stone。  They believe in the immortality of the soul; and that those who
  have merited well of the gods are lodged in that part of heaven where the
  sun rises; and the accursed in the west。
  They have I know not what kind of priests and prophets; who very rarely
  present themselves to the people; having their abode in the mountains。
  At their arrival; there is a great feast; and solemn assembly of many
  villages: each house; as I have described; makes a village; and they are
  about a French league distant from one another。  This prophet declaims to
  them in public; exhorting them to virtue and their duty: but all their
  ethics are comprised in these two articles; resolution in war; and
  affection to their wives。  He also prophesies to them events to come; and
  the issues they are to expect from their enterprises; and prompts them to
  or diverts them from war: but let him look to't; for if he fail in his
  divination; and anything happen otherwise than he has foretold; he is cut
  into a thousand pieces; if he be caught; and condemned for a false
  prophet: for that reason; if any of them has been mistaken; he is no more
  heard of。
  Divination is a gift of God; and therefore to abuse it; ought to be a
  punishable imposture。  Amongst the Scythians; where their diviners failed
  in the promised effect; they were laid; bound hand and foot; upon carts
  loaded with firs and bavins; and drawn by oxen; on which they were burned
  to death。'Herodotus; iv。  69。' Such as only meddle with things
  subject to the conduct of human capacity; are excusable in doing the best
  they can: but those other fellows that come to delude us with assurances
  of an extraordinary faculty; beyond our understanding; ought they not to
  be punished; when they do not make good the effect of their promise; and
  for the temerity of their imposture?
  They have continual war with the nations that live further within the
  mainland; beyond their mountains; to which they go naked; and without
  other arms than their bows and wooden swords; fashioned at one end like
  the head of our javelins。  The obstinacy of their battles is wonderful;
  and they never end without great effusion of blood: for as to running
  away; they know not what it is。  Every one for a trophy brings home the
  head of an enemy he has killed; which he fixes over the door of his
  house。  After having a long time treated their prisoners very well; and
  given them all the regales they can think of; he to whom the prisoner
  belongs; invites a great assembly of his friends。  They being come; he
  ties a rope to one of the arms of the prisoner; of which; at a distance;
  out of his reach; he holds the one end himself; and gives to the friend
  he loves best the other arm to hold after the same manner; which being。
  done; they two; in the presence of all the assembly; despatch him with
  their swords。  After that; they roast him; eat him amongst them; and send
  some chops to their absent friends。  They do not do this; as some think;
  for nourishment; as the Scythians anciently did; but as a representation
  of an extreme revenge; as will appear by this: that having observed the
  Portuguese; who were in league with their enemies; to inflict another
  sort of death upon any of them they took prisoners; which was to set them
  up to the girdle in the earth; to shoot at the remaining part till it was
  stuck full of arrows; and then to hang them; they thought those people of
  the other world (as being men who had sown the knowledge of a great many
  vices amongst their neighbours; and who were much greater masters in all
  sorts of mischief than they) did not exercise this sort of revenge
  without a meaning; and that it must needs be more painful than theirs;
  they began to leave their old way; and to follow this。  I am not sorry
  that we should here take notice of the barbarous horror of so cruel an
  action; but that; seeing so clearly into their faults; we should be so
  blind to our own。  I conceive there is more barbarity in eating a man
  alive; than when he is dead; in tearing a body limb from limb by racks
  and torments; that is yet in perfect sense; in roasting it by degrees; in
  causing it to be bitten and worried by dogs and swine (as we have not
  only read; but lately seen; not amongst inveterate and mortal enemies;
  but among neighbours and fellow…citizens; and; which is worse; under
  colour of piety and religion); than to roast and eat him after he is
  dead。
  Chrysippus and Zeno; the two heads of the Stoic sect; were of opinion
  that there was no hurt in making use of our dead carcasses; in what way
  soever for our necessity; and in feeding upon them too;'Diogenes
  Laertius; vii。  188。' as our own ancestors; who being besieged by
  Caesar in the city Alexia; res