【译习】红死病的假面 The Masque of the Red Death

作者：Edgar Allan Poe (published 1850) 译者：CaptainSnafu 未经允许，请勿转载 THE "Red Death" had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avator and its seal -- the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour. “红死病”已长久地蹂躏着这个国家。未曾有过如此致命或狰狞的瘟疫。血，则是它的化身与纹章——血之赤红与恐怖。届时会有刺骨的剧痛和猝然的眩晕，接着毛孔剧烈渗血，伴随着血肉的溶解。在受害者的躯体上——尤其是在脸面上呈现的猩红斑点，便是将其排斥在救助与同情之外的放逐令咒。病症从发作、恶化到最后终结的整个过程，也仅是发生在半小时内的连串意外。 But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys. This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the prince's own eccentric yet august taste. A strong and lofty wall girdled it in. This wall had gates of iron. The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts. They resolved to leave means neither of ingress or egress to the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy from within. The abbey was amply provisioned. With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion. The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think. The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the "Red Death." 可普洛斯彼罗亲王是快乐、无畏及聪慧的。当他的领民损殁近半，他从宫廷的亲友中召来众多健壮乐观的骑士与名媛，一同撤往他其中一所与世隔绝的城堡庄园。这是一座瑰丽雄浑的匠筑，是亲王那异乎寻常却不乏威严的品味之创造。环绕着它的是一堵坚实高耸的围墙，墙门更由钢铁铸建。侍臣们带着熔炉和巨锤进入后，便把门栓焊死。他们决心不留任何进出的通路，由内而外地断绝任何绝望或癫狂的突发冲动。庄园的补给亦是充沛。在此等防范之下，足以让谄媚者们蔑视瘟疫的触染。至于墙外的世界，人们自会照顾好自己。在此期间，哀悼或思虑都是愚蠢的。亲王提供了所有的消遣设施，弄臣、即兴诗人、芭蕾舞者、乐师均已就位，还有美人与美酒。一切的欢乐与安全应有尽有，而没有的只会是“红死病”。  It was toward the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion, and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad, that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence. 在隐居的将近第五或第六个月末，也是外部的瘟疫最为猖獗地肆虐之际，普洛斯彼罗亲王举办一场空前盛大的假面舞会，以款待众友。 It was a voluptuous scene, that masquerade. But first let me tell of the rooms in which it was held. There were seven -- an imperial suite. In many palaces, however, such suites form a long and straight vista, while the folding doors slide back nearly to the walls on either hand, so that the view of the whole extent is scarcely impeded. Here the case was very different; as might have been expected from the duke's love of the bizarre. The apartments were so irregularly disposed that the vision embraced but little more than one at a time. There was a sharp turn at every twenty or thirty yards, and at each turn a novel effect. To the right and left, in the middle of each wall, a tall and narrow Gothic window looked out upon a closed corridor which pursued the windings of the suite. These windows were of stained glass whose color varied in accordance with the prevailing hue of the decorations of the chamber into which it opened. That at the eastern extremity was hung, for example, in blue -- and vividly blue were its windows. The second chamber was purple in its ornaments and tapestries, and here the panes were purple. The third was green throughout, and so were the casements. The fourth was furnished and lighted with orange -- the fifth with white -- the sixth with violet. The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue. But in this chamber only, the color of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The panes here were scarlet -- a deep blood color. Now in no one of the seven apartments was there any lamp or candelabrum, amid the profusion of golden ornaments that lay scattered to and fro or depended from the roof. There was no light of any kind emanating from lamp or candle within the suite of chambers. But in the corridors that followed the suite, there stood, opposite to each window, a heavy tripod, bearing a brazier of fire, that projected its rays through the tinted glass and so glaringly illumined the room. And thus were produced a multitude of gaudy and fantastic appearances. But in the western or black chamber the effect of the fire-light that streamed upon the dark hangings through the blood-tinted panes, was ghastly in the extreme, and produced so wild a look upon the countenances of those who entered, that there were few of the company bold enough to set foot within its precincts at all. 那场舞会真可谓奢侈淫逸。但还是先让我描述下会场的房间吧。这里有着七个独一的华贵的套间。在许多宫殿中，这样的套间都会构成一整道绵长笔直的远景长廊，折叠门滑退至墙体的两侧，使得对全景的观览都几乎不受阻碍。或许出于亲王对奇特的钟爱，这里却是大相径庭。套房被不规整地布置着，以至在一览中几乎只能目睹其一。每隔二三十码便有一道急促的转弯，而在每道转弯都有着一种珍奇的景观。在弯道的左右两侧，每堵墙的中央都有一扇狭窄的哥特式高窗，眺向追接着套房那些蜿蜒曲径的闭环走廊。这些窗户的玻璃都被染成与各房间装潢的主色调一致。例如，垂挂在东端套间的装饰为蓝色，其窗户的玻璃便是亮蓝。第二间房室点缀着紫红色的饰品和挂毯，其窗格也呈华紫。第三间通室碧绿，其窗扉亦是。第四间配置着橙红色的家具和采光口，第五第六间则分别是白与蓝紫。而第七间套房，则被严密地包裹在黑色的丝绒绣帷之中。遍覆的绣帷从天花板和墙壁悬坠而下，层层垂褶在同样材质和色调的地毯上。但也仅在此间，窗色未能与装饰相同。这里的窗格是猩红的——一种深厚的血色。在那些丰沛地散布在屋顶的金黄饰物之下，七个厅室中没有任何一个灯盏或枝形烛台，更没有它们所散发出的光亮。但在那些连接着套间的走廊中，每扇窗户的对面都伫立一台笨重的三脚架，其承载的熊熊烈焰投出火光，透过染色玻璃，耀目地照亮着房间，也因此产生了多重绚丽而梦幻的光景。但在西端那间漆黑的房室，火光渗进血红的窗格，在深暗的挂饰上涌动着，悚然至极。而那些足够勇敢以涉足光影之间的少数宾客，其面容也因而变得愈发怪异。 It was in this apartment, also, that there stood against the western wall, a gigantic clock of ebony. Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and when the minute-hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar a note and emphasis that, at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause, momentarily, in their performance, to harken to the sound; and thus the waltzers perforce ceased their evolutions; and there was a brief disconcert of the whole gay company; and, while the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was observed that the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused revery or meditation. But when the echoes had fully ceased, a light laughter at once pervaded the assembly; the musicians looked at each other and smiled as if at their own nervousness and folly, and made whispering vows, each to the other, that the next chiming of the clock should produce in them no similar emotion; and then, after the lapse of sixty minutes, (which embrace three thousand and six hundred seconds of the Time that flies,) there came yet another chiming of the clock, and then were the same disconcert and tremulousness and meditation as before. 也是在这房室里，一台庞大的乌木钟紧靠西墙地立着。它的钟摆随着沉闷厚重且千篇一律的铿锵声摇荡，当分针在钟面上环行一圈，时针搐动之际，一阵清晰嘹亮、低沉并极为悦耳的声响从大钟的铜肺中呼鸣。它的音调是如此独特而昭显，以至于每隔一个小时，管弦乐师们都会被迫暂停演奏以聆听钟响，而华尔兹舞者们也因此必须停下变换着位置的脚步。从而，在狂欢的人群中萌生了一种短暂的不安。钟声鸣响的同时，可见这群最为眼花缭乱的轻薄之人都变得脸色苍白，而更为沉着的长者们则将手掌举过眉毛，仿佛陷入了一场迷乱的遐思冥想之中。当回响完全收息，一阵轻快的笑声立即弥漫在集会者之间。乐师们相视而笑，仿佛是在揶揄自己方才的神经过敏与笨拙一般，并彼此低声立誓，在下次钟声再临之时绝不重蹈覆辙。然而，在六十分钟——三千六百秒的时光飞逝之后，另一道钟鸣如期而至，仍旧掀起了一片同样的惊惶、战栗与惘然空想。 But, in spite of these things, it was a gay and magnificent revel. The tastes of the duke were peculiar. He had a fine eye for colors and effects. He disregarded the decora of mere fashion. His plans were bold and fiery, and his conceptions glowed with barbaric lustre. There are some who would have thought him mad. His followers felt that he was not. It was necessary to hear and see and touch him to be sure that he was not. 不过尽管如此，这也诚为一场极乐且华丽的狂欢。亲王的品味别树一帜，于色彩与效果营造的眼光高远独到，对时髦的装点不屑一顾。他的筹划大胆狂放、激情如火，他的理念闪烁着原始野性的光。有些人本以为他已癫狂，他的追随者则不以为然。人们必须要亲身聆听、目视和触碰于他，才会确信他神智的清醒。 He had directed, in great part, the moveable embellishments of the seven chambers, upon occasion of this great fête; and it was his own guiding taste which had given character to the masqueraders. Be sure they were grotesque. There were much glare and glitter and piquancy and phantasm -- much of what has been since seen in "Hernani." There were arabesque figures with unsuited limbs and appointments. There were delirious fancies such as the madman fashions. There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust. To and fro in the seven chambers there stalked, in fact, a multitude of dreams. And these -- the dreams -- writhed in and about, taking hue from the rooms, and causing the wild music of the orchestra to seem as the echo of their steps. And, anon, there strikes the ebony clock which stands in the hall of the velvet. And then, for a moment, all is still, and all is silent save the voice of the clock. The dreams are stiff-frozen as they stand. But the echoes of the chime die away -- they have endured but an instant -- and a light, half-subdued laughter floats after them as they depart. And now again the music swells, and the dreams live, and writhe to and fro more merrily than ever, taking hue from the many tinted windows through which stream the rays from the tripods. But to the chamber which lies most westwardly of the seven, there are now none of the maskers who venture; for the night is waning away; and there flows a ruddier light through the blood-colored panes; and the blackness of the sable drapery appals; and to him whose foot falls upon the sable carpet, there comes from the near clock of ebony a muffled peal more solemnly emphatic than any which reaches their ears who indulge in the more remote gaieties of the other apartments.  在很大程度上，他亲自为这场盛大庆典督导了七大厅室的可动装饰。也正是他独有的品味着引领和赋予着假面舞者们怪诞奇异的特色。会场内充斥光耀、闪烁、神秘和幻象，就如同《欧那尼》【注1】上演以来在戏剧中所见的那般。这里有着阿拉伯式的图纹和装设，而那些蔓藤花纹上却伸展着格格不入的枝蔓。还有各种错乱的花式饰品，如同疯人的时尚。美丽、放荡、奇妙之装扮，不一而足，其中还有不少可谓骇人，甚至激起反感。在七个厅室中阔步游荡着恍惚若梦的人群，这些梦者绕转腾挪、徘徊来往，披戴着厅室中的溢彩流光，仿佛管弦乐团的狂野乐章便是他们脚步的回响。再一次地，丝绒厅堂中的乌木大钟被敲响。随即一切均在顷刻间静止，除了时钟的声响，万物皆寂，而梦者们也都僵直如立。但一当鸣响的回音消散而去，他们忍耐不过一瞬，便又浮现出轻松而又半带克制的笑声。音乐再次飙响，而梦者回生，带着一种从所未有的喜悦来回往复，翻腾如潮，透过众多染色玻璃掠走火盆架上舞动的辐光焰影。然而，在七室中最西侧的那间厅堂里，如今并无任何敢于冒险其中的假面舞者。随着夜色阑珊，一道红光自血色窗格淌入，深暗帐幔的渊黑愈显骇人。而对于双脚踏上了漆黑绒毯之人，从附近乌木大钟传出的那声沉闷洪鸣，比沉醉在其它套间的狂欢者所耳闻过的任何一声钟响都更为庄严着重。 注1：雨果的浪漫主义戏剧《欧那尼》（Hernani），上演时掀起了一阵对古典主义传统戏剧的冲击。 But these other apartments were densely crowded, and in them beat feverishly the heart of life. And the revel went whirlingly on, until at length there commenced the sounding of midnight upon the clock. And then the music ceased, as I have told; and the evolutions of the waltzers were quieted; and there was an uneasy cessation of all things as before. But now there were twelve strokes to be sounded by the bell of the clock; and thus it happened, perhaps that more of thought crept, with more of time, into the meditations of the thoughtful among those who revelled. And thus too, it happened, perhaps, that before the last echoes of the last chime had utterly sunk into silence, there were many individuals in the crowd who had found leisure to become aware of the presence of a masked figure which had arrested the attention of no single individual before. And the rumor of this new presence having spread itself whisperingly around, there arose at length from the whole company a buzz, or murmur, expressive of disapprobation and surprise -- then, finally, of terror, of horror, and of disgust.  其余的套房内则室座无隙地，人们骈肩叠迹，生机蓬勃的心脏狂热地跃动其中。眩人心神的狂欢继续，直到午夜的钟声终于响起。随后便像我先前提过的那般，乐音断绝，华尔兹舞者旋步收定，还有一种令人坐立不安的诸行停滞。不同的是，如今大钟击发出了十二声钟响。因此在其更长的回荡之际，狂欢群众中善思者的冥想里，也许能蔓生更多思绪。或许，也因如此，许多人便能在最后一次钟声的回响完全沉寂之前余出闲暇时刻，以察觉到那个戴着面具之人的存在。而此前，他从未吸引过任何人的注意。关于此名新出席者的流言在周围悄悄传开，终于在人群中引起一阵持续而嘈杂的低语，深表着非难和诧异——继而，最终变成了惊慌、恐惧和憎恶。 In an assembly of phantasms such as I have painted, it may well be supposed that no ordinary appearance could have excited such sensation. In truth the masquerade license of the night was nearly unlimited; but the figure in question had out-Heroded Herod, and gone beyond the bounds of even the prince's indefinite decorum. There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion. Even with the utterly lost, to whom life and death are equally jests, there are matters of which no jest can be made. The whole company, indeed, seemed now deeply to feel that in the costume and bearing of the stranger neither wit nor propriety existed. The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat. And yet all this might have been endured, if not approved, by the mad revellers around. But the mummer had gone so far as to assume the type of the Red Death. His vesture was dabbled in blood -- and his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror. 在一场如我所述的集会上，大概不该有什么寻常角色的到场能激发如此的轰动。事实上，今晚这场假面舞会的入场许可几乎没有限制。但这位谜之角色展现出了一种比希律王【注2】更盛的残暴，甚至越过了亲王那本就不拘的礼仪之界限。最鲁莽之狂徒都会有着能被强烈触动的心弦。即使对一无所有、视生死同为玩笑之人而言，也会有着不可戏谑的事物。此时，似乎所有人都深切地感觉到，这位陌生人着装和举止，均既不得体也非明智。此人高挑而枯瘦，从头到脚都包裹在殓葬的丧服中。遮掩着容貌的面具与僵直尸体的脸面几近别无二致，只有最缜密地细察方可辨出端倪。然而即使人们并不赞可，所有的这些都理应能被周围狂热的纵情者所容忍。但这名沉默的变装者已做得过火，俨然红死病的象征。他的衣裳溅染着血液，他那宽大的眉毛还有脸上的所有器官，都被洒满了猩红的恐怖。 注2：希律王（Herod），罗马帝国在犹太行省耶路撒冷任命的代理王。在基督文化中被塑造为典型的暴君形象，曾于宴会上遣人斩杀先知约翰。 When the eyes of Prince Prospero fell upon this spectral image (which with a slow and solemn movement, as if more fully to sustain its role, stalked to and fro among the waltzers) he was seen to be convulsed, in the first moment with a strong shudder either of terror or distaste; but, in the next, his brow reddened with rage. 普洛斯彼罗亲王的双眼缓慢而庄严地在华尔兹舞者中来回移动，仿佛这能更充分地支撑起他的君王角色。当他的目光落在这个幽灵般的人影上，他似乎大为震撼，在最初的一瞬因惊恐或厌恶强烈地颤抖，但旋即他的眉眼便因愤怒而通红。 "Who dares?" he demanded hoarsely of the courtiers who stood near him -- "who dares insult us with this blasphemous mockery? Seize him and unmask him -- that we may know whom we have to hang at sunrise, from the battlements!" “何人胆敢如此?” 他嘶哑地质问着站在身旁的奉承者们。“何人胆敢以此等亵渎的嘲讽来侮辱我们？逮住他，卸下他的面具——这样就能得知我们将在日出时分的城垛上吊死的到底是谁！” It was in the eastern or blue chamber in which stood the Prince Prospero as he uttered these words. They rang throughout the seven rooms loudly and clearly -- for the prince was a bold and robust man, and the music had become hushed at the waving of his hand. 普洛斯彼罗亲王正是站在东边的蓝色厅堂中说出这些辞令。它们嘹亮明晰地响彻七大套间——因为亲王便是一个勇猛强健之人，而音乐也在他挥手的瞬间缄默噤声。 It was in the blue room where stood the prince, with a group of pale courtiers by his side. At first, as he spoke, there was a slight rushing movement of this group in the direction of the intruder, who, at the moment was also near at hand, and now, with deliberate and stately step, made closer approach to the speaker. But from a certain nameless awe with which the mad assumptions of the mummer had inspired the whole party, there were found none who put forth hand to seize him; so that, unimpeded, he passed within a yard of the prince's person; and, while the vast assembly, as if with one impulse, shrank from the centres of the rooms to the walls, he made his way uninterruptedly, but with the same solemn and measured step which had distinguished him from the first, through the blue chamber to the purple -- through the purple to the green -- through the green to the orange -- through this again to the white -- and even thence to the violet, ere a decided movement had been made to arrest him. It was then, however, that the Prince Prospero, maddening with rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice, rushed hurriedly through the six chambers, while none followed him on account of a deadly terror that had seized upon all. He bore aloft a drawn dagger, and had approached, in rapid impetuosity, to within three or four feet of the retreating figure, when the latter, having attained the extremity of the velvet apartment, turned suddenly and confronted his pursuer. There was a sharp cry -- and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon which, instantly afterwards, fell prostrate in death the Prince Prospero. Then, summoning the wild courage of despair, a throng of the revellers at once threw themselves into the black apartment, and, seizing the mummer, whose tall figure stood erect and motionless within the shadow of the ebony clock, gasped in unutterable horror at finding the grave cerements and corpse-like mask which they handled with so violent a rudeness, untenanted by any tangible form. 亲王站立在那蓝色的厅堂，一群脸色苍白的谄臣侍候于边上。在最初，亲王发言的同时，这群谄臣中便有人径直地冲向那位不速之客——而他此刻近在手边，正迈着从容而堂皇的步伐靠近着发话者。然而，出于对这名变装者那些失控般的设想，在全员中激发起了某种不可名状的敬畏，竟无一人敢伸手去抓他。从而，他畅通 无阻地从亲王本尊的一码之内走过。似乎只在一个冲动之下，广大的人群便从房间中央畏避，退至墙边。于此同时，他并无停歇地继续迫近，带着那股从一开始就使他与众不同的庄严和慎重。在任何一个下定决心去逮捕他的行动被执行之前，他已从蔚蓝的厅堂穿行至华紫之间——又从华紫之间迈入碧绿——再到洁白——甚至直达紫罗兰套房。就在那时，普洛斯彼罗亲王对自己一时的懦弱感到羞愧和愤慨，勃然大怒，急迫地奔越六间厅堂。而由于一股侵袭着全员的死亡恐惧，竟没有一人追随亲王的冲锋。亲王抽出一把匕首，高举过头，向着正从视野中退去的那道身影迅猛地冲去。当离目标还有三或四尺的距离时，后者已到达了丝绒套间的尽头，他突然转身，直面他的追逐者。一声尖锐的嚎叫传出，匕首寒光闪烁地掉落在暗黑的地毯上，而紧随其后的正是俯身毙命的普洛斯彼罗亲王。终于，在从绝望中迫发出的蛮勇之号召下，一群狂欢者立即向着那间黑色套房飞奔，去捉拿那名高瘦的变装者，而他正纹丝不动地伫立在乌木大钟的阴影里。人们在难以言喻的恐惧中倒抽着凉气，只因在那些粗暴蛮横的擒握之下，他们发现那入墓的裹尸布和死者容貌的假面，并未依附于任何触手能及的形体。 And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all. 如今，红死病的到来已被确实。他如同盗贼，于夜晚降临。纵情者一们个接着一个地倒在被鲜血浸染的狂欢大厅上，而每一个都以倒下时的绝望姿态死去。随着最后一个狂欢者死亡，乌木大钟寿终正寝，三脚架上的火焰也已熄灭。而黑暗、衰败与红死病开始了无边无期的至高统治。