zanoni-第65部分
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the most eminent of the faculty; and to him he recited the
optical delusion of his sister。 The physician listened
attentively; and seemed sanguine in his hopes of cure。 He came
to the house two hours before the one so dreaded by the patient。
He had quietly arranged that the clocks should be put forward
half an hour; unknown to Adela; and even to her brother。 He was
a man of the most extraordinary powers of conversation; of
surpassing wit; of all the faculties that interest and amuse。 He
first administered to the patient a harmless potion; which he
pledged himself would dispel the delusion。 His confident tone
woke her own hopes; he continued to excite her attention; to
rouse her lethargy; he jested; he laughed away the time。 The
hour struck。 〃Joy; my brother!〃 she exclaimed; throwing herself
in his arms; 〃the time is past!〃 And then; like one released
from a spell; she suddenly assumed more than her ancient
cheerfulness。 〃Ah; Clarence!〃 she whispered; 〃forgive me for my
former desertion;forgive me that I feared YOU。 I shall live!
I shall live! in my turn to banish the spectre that haunts my
brother!〃 And Clarence smiled and wiped the tears from his
burning eyes。 The physician renewed his stories; his jests。 In
the midst of a stream of rich humour that seemed to carry away
both brother and sister; Glyndon suddenly saw over Adela's face
the same fearful change; the same anxious look; the same
restless; straining eye; he had beheld the night before。 He
rose;he approached her。 Adela started up。 〃looklooklook!〃
she exclaimed。 〃She comes! Save me;save me!〃 and she fell at
his feet in strong convulsions as the clock; falsely and in vain
put forward; struck the half…hour。
The physician lifted her in his arms。 〃My worst fears are
confirmed;〃 he said gravely; 〃the disease is epilepsy。〃 (The
most celebrated practitioner in Dublin related to the editor a
story of optical delusion precisely similar in its circumstances
and its physical cause to the one here narrated。)
The next night; at the same hour; Adela Glyndon died。
CHAPTER 5。VI。
La loi; dont le regne vous epouvante; a son glaive leve sur vous:
elle vous frappera tous: le genre humain a besoin de cet
exemple。Couthon。
(The law; whose reign terrifies you; has its sword raised against
you; it will strike you all: humanity has need of this example。)
〃Oh; joy; joy!thou art come again! This is thy handthese thy
lips。 Say that thou didst not desert me from the love of
another; say it again;say it ever!and I will pardon thee all
the rest!〃
〃So thou hast mourned for me?〃
〃Mourned!and thou wert cruel enough to leave me gold; there it
is;there; untouched!〃
〃Poor child of Nature! how; then; in this strange town of
Marseilles; hast thou found bread and shelter?〃
〃Honestly; soul of my soul! honestly; but yet by the face thou
didst once think so fair; thinkest thou THAT now?〃
〃Yes; Fillide; more fair than ever。 But what meanest thou?〃
〃There is a painter herea great man; one of their great men at
Paris; I know not what they call them; but he rules over all
here;life and death; and he has paid me largely but to sit for
my portrait。 It is for a picture to be given to the Nation; for
he paints only for glory。 Think of thy Fillide's renown!〃 And
the girl's wild eyes sparkled; her vanity was roused。 〃And he
would have married me if I would!divorced his wife to marry me!
But I waited for thee; ungrateful!〃
A knock at the door was heard;a man entered。
〃Nicot!〃
〃Ah; Glyndon!hum!welcome! What! thou art twice my rival!
But Jean Nicot bears no malice。 Virtue is my dream;my country;
my mistress。 Serve my country; citizen; and I forgive thee the
preference of beauty。 Ca ira! ca ira!〃
But as the painter spoke; it hymned; it rolled through the
streets;the fiery song of the Marseillaise! There was a crowd;
a multitude; a people up; abroad; with colours and arms;
enthusiasm and song;with song; with enthusiasm; with colours
and arms! And who could guess that that martial movement was
one; not of war; but massacre;Frenchmen against Frenchmen? For
there are two parties in Marseilles;and ample work for Jourdan
Coupe…tete! But this; the Englishman; just arrived; a stranger
to all factions; did not as yet comprehend。 He comprehended
nothing but the song; the enthusiasm; the arms; and the colours
that lifted to the sun the glorious lie; 〃Le peuple Francais;
debout contre les tyrans!〃 (Up; Frenchmen; against tyrants!)
The dark brow of the wretched wanderer grew animated; he gazed
from the window on the throng that marched below; beneath their
waving Oriflamme。 They shouted as they beheld the patriot Nicot;
the friend of Liberty and relentless Hebert; by the stranger's
side; at the casement。
〃Ay; shout again!〃 cried the painter;〃shout for the brave
Englishman who abjures his Pitts and his Coburgs to be a citizen
of Liberty and France!〃
A thousand voices rent the air; and the hymn of the Marseillaise
rose in majesty again。
〃Well; and if it be among these high hopes and this brave people
that the phantom is to vanish; and the cure to come!〃 muttered
Glyndon; and he thought he felt again the elixir sparkling
through his veins。
〃Thou shalt be one of the Convention with Paine and Clootz;I
will manage it all for thee!〃 cried Nicot; slapping him on the
shoulder: 〃and Paris〃
〃Ah; if I could but see Paris!〃 cried Fillide; in her joyous
voice。 Joyous! the whole time; the town; the airsave where;
unheard; rose the cry of agony and the yell of murderwere joy!
Sleep unhaunting in thy grave; cold Adela。 Joy; joy! In the
Jubilee of Humanity all private griefs should cease! Behold;
wild mariner; the vast whirlpool draws thee to its stormy bosom!
There the individual is not。 All things are of the whole! Open
thy gates; fair Paris; for the stranger…citizen! Receive in your
ranks; O meek Republicans; the new champion of liberty; of
reason; of mankind! 〃Mejnour is right; it was in virtue; in
valour; in glorious struggle for the human race; that the spectre
was to shrink to her kindred darkness。〃
And Nicot's shrill voice praised him; and lean Robespierre
〃Flambeau; colonne; pierre angulaire de l'edifice de la
Republique!〃 (〃The light; column; and keystone of the
Republic。〃〃Lettre du Citoyen P; Papiers inedits trouves chez
Robespierre;〃 tom 11; page 127。)smiled ominously on him from
his bloodshot eyes; and Fillide clasped him with passionate arms
to her tender breast。 And at his up…rising and down…sitting; at
board and in bed; though he saw it not; the Nameless One guided
him with the demon eyes to the sea whose waves were gore。
BOOK VI。
SUPERSTITION DESERTING FAITH。
Why do I yield to that suggestion; Whose horrid image doth unfix
my hair。Shakespeare
CHAPTER 6。I。
Therefore the Genii were painted with a platter full of garlands
and flowers in one hand; and a whip in the other。Alexander
Ross; 〃Mystag。 Poet。〃
According to the order of the events related in this narrative;
the departure of Zanoni and Viola from the Greek isle; in which
two happy years appear to have been passed; must have been
somewhat later in date than the arrival of Glyndon at Marseilles。
It must have been in the course of the year 1791 when Viola fled
from Naples with her mysterious lover; and when Glyndon sought
Mejnour in the fatal castle。 It is now towards the close of
1793; when our story again returns to Zanoni。 The stars of
winter shone down on the lagunes of Venice。 The hum of the
Rialto was hushed;the last loiterers had deserted the Place of
St。 Mark's; and only at distant intervals might be heard the oars
of the rapid gondolas; bearing reveller or lover to his home。
But lights still flitted to and fro across the windows of one of
the Palladian palaces; whose shadow slept in the great canal; and
within the palace watched the twin Eumenides that never sleep for
Man;Fear and Pain。
〃I will make thee the richest man in all Venice; if thou savest
her。〃
〃Signor;〃 said the leech; 〃your gold cannot control death; and
the will of Heaven; signor; unless within the next hour there is
some blessed change; prepare your courage。〃
Hoho; Zanoni! man of mystery and might; who hast walked amidst
the passions of the world; with no changes on thy brow; art thou
tossed at last upon the billows of tempestuous fear? Does thy
spirit reel to and fro?knowest thou at last the strength and
the majesty of Death?
He fled; trembling; from the pale…faced man of art;fled through
stately hall and long…drawn corridor; and gained a remote chamber
in the palace; which other step than his was not permitted to
profane。 Out with thy herbs and vessels。 Break from the
enchanted elements; O silvery…azure flame! Why comes he not;
the Son of the Starbeam! Why is Adon…Ai deaf to thy solemn call?
It comes not;the luminous and delightsome Presence! Cabalist!
are thy charms in vain? Has thy throne vanished from the realms
of space? Thou standest pale and trembling。 Pale trembler! not
thus didst thou look when the things of glory gathered at thy
spell。 Never to the pale trembler bow the things of glory: the
soul; and not the herbs; nor the silvery…azure flame; nor the
spells of the Cabala; commands the children of the air; and THY
soul; by Love and Death; is made sceptreless and discrowned!
At length the flame quivers;the air grows cold as the wind in
charnels。 A thing not of earth is present;a mistlike; formless
thing。 It cowers in the distance;a silent Horror! it rises; it
creeps; it nears theedark in its mantle of dusky haze; and
under its veil it looks on thee with its livid; malignant eyes;
the thing of malignant eyes!
〃Ha; young Chaldean! young in thy countless ages;young as when;
cold to pleasure and to beauty; thou