Even if we don’t take a part in the chant about “mosques and minarets,” we can still yield praises to Stamboul. We can chant about the harbour; we can say, and sing, that nowhere else does the sea come so home to a city; there are no pebbly1 shores — no sand bars — no slimy river-beds — no black canals — no locks nor docks to divide the very heart of the place from the deep waters. If being in the noisiest mart of Stamboul you would stroll to the quiet side of the way amidst those cypresses2 opposite, you will cross the fathomless3 Bosphorus; if you would go from your hotel to the bazaars5, you must go by the bright, blue pathway of the Golden Horn, that can carry a thousand sail of the line. You are accustomed to the gondolas6 that glide7 among the palaces of St. Mark, but here at Stamboul it is a 120 gun ship that meets you in the street. Venice strains out from the steadfast8 land, and in old times would send forth9 the chief of the State to woo and wed10 the reluctant sea; but the stormy bride of the Doge is the bowing slave of the Sultan. She comes to his feet with the treasures of the world — she bears him from palace to palace — by some unfailing witchcraft11 she entices12 the breezes to follow her 5 and fan the pale cheek of her lord — she lifts his armed navies to the very gates of his garden — she watches the walls of his serai — she stifles13 the intrigues14 of his ministers — she quiets the scandals of his courts — she extinguishes his rivals, and hushes15 his naughty wives all one by one. So vast are the wonders of the deep!
All the while that I stayed at Constantinople the plague was prevailing16, but not with any degree of violence. Its presence, however, lent a mysterious and exciting, though not very pleasant, interest to my first knowledge of a great Oriental city; it gave tone and colour to all I saw, and all I felt — a tone and a colour sombre enough, but true, and well befitting the dreary17 monuments of past power and splendour. With all that is most truly Oriental in its character the plague is associated; it dwells with the faithful in the holiest quarters of their city. The coats and the hats of Pera are held to be nearly as innocent of infection as they are ugly in shape and fashion; but the rich furs and the costly18 shawls, the broidered slippers19 and the gold-laden saddle-cloths, the fragrance20 of burning aloes and the rich aroma21 of patchouli — these are the signs that mark the familiar home of plague. You go out from your queenly London — the centre of the greatest and strongest amongst all earthly dominions22 — you go out thence, and travel on to the capital of an Eastern Prince, you find but a waning24 power, and a faded splendour, that inclines you to laugh and mock; but let the infernal Angel of Plague be at hand, and he, more mighty25 than armies, more terrible than Suleyman in his glory, can restore such pomp and majesty26 to the weakness of the Imperial city, that if, WHEN HE IS THERE, you must still go prying27 amongst the shades of this dead empire, at least you will tread the path with seemly reverence28 and awe29.
It is the firm faith of almost all the Europeans living in the East that Plague is conveyed by the touch of infected substances, and that the deadly atoms especially lurk30 in all kinds of clothes and furs. It is held safer to breathe the same air with a man sick of the plague, and even to come in contact with his skin, than to be touched by the smallest particle of woollen or of thread which may have been within the reach of possible infection. If this be a right notion, the spread of the malady31 must be materially aided by the observance of a custom prevailing amongst the people of Stamboul. It is this; when an Osmanlee dies, one of his dresses is cut up, and a small piece of it is sent to each of his friends as a memorial of the departed — a fatal present, according to the opinion of the Franks, for it too often forces the living not merely to remember the dead man, but to follow and bear him company.
The Europeans during the prevalence of the plague, if they are forced to venture into the streets, will carefully avoid the touch of every human being whom they pass. Their conduct in this respect shows them strongly in contrast with the “true believers”: the Moslem33 stalks on serenely34, as though he were under the eye of his God, and were “equal to either fate”; the Franks go crouching35 and slinking from death, and some (those chiefly of French extraction) will fondly strive to fence out destiny with shining capes36 of oilskin!
For some time you may manage by great care to thread your way through the streets of Stamboul without incurring37 contact, for the Turks, though scornful of the terrors felt by the Franks, are generally very courteous38 in yielding to that which they hold to be a useless and impious precaution, and will let you pass safe if they can. It is impossible, however, that your immunity40 can last for any length of time if you move about much through the narrow streets and lanes of a crowded city.
As for me, I soon got “compromised.” After one day of rest, the prayers of my hostess began to lose their power of keeping me from the pestilent side of the Golden Horn. Faithfully promising41 to shun42 the touch of all imaginable substances, however enticing43, I set off very cautiously, and held my way uncompromised till I reached the water’s edge; but before my caique was quite ready some rueful-looking fellows came rapidly shambling down the steps with a plague-stricken corpse44, which they were going to bury amongst the faithful on the other side of the water. I contrived45 to be so much in the way of this brisk funeral, that I was not only touched by the men bearing the body, but also, I believe, by the foot of the dead man, as it hung lolling out of the bier. This accident gave me such a strong interest in denying the soundness of the contagion46 theory, that I did in fact deny and repudiate47 it altogether; and from that time, acting48 upon my own convenient view of the matter, I went wherever I chose, without taking any serious pains to avoid a touch. It seems to me now very likely that the Europeans are right, and that the plague may be really conveyed by contagion; but during the whole time of my remaining in the East, my views on this subject more nearly approached to those of the fatalists; and so, when afterwards the plague of Egypt came dealing49 his blows around me, I was able to live amongst the dying without that alarm and anxiety which would inevitably50 have pressed upon my mind if I had allowed myself to believe that every passing touch was really a probable death-stroke.
And perhaps as you make your difficult way through a steep and narrow alley51, shut in between blank walls, and little frequented by passers, you meet one of those coffin-shaped bundles of white linen52 that implies an Ottoman lady. Painfully struggling against the obstacles to progression interposed by the many folds of her clumsy drapery, by her big mud-boots, and especially by her two pairs of slippers, she works her way on full awkwardly enough, but yet there is something of womanly consciousness in the very labour and effort with which she tugs53 and lifts the burthen of her charms. She is closely followed by her women slaves. Of her very self you see nothing except the dark, luminous54 eyes that stare against your face, and the tips of the painted fingers depending like rose-buds from out of the blank bastions of the fortress55. She turns, and turns again, and carefully glances around her on all sides, to see that she is safe from the eyes of Mussulmans, and then suddenly withdrawing the yashmak, 6 she shines upon your heart and soul with all the pomp and might of her beauty. And this, it is not the light, changeful grace that leaves you to doubt whether you have fallen in love with a body, or only a soul; it is the beauty that dwells secure in the perfectness of hard, downright outlines, and in the glow of generous colour. There is fire, though, too — high courage and fire enough in the untamed mind, or spirit, or whatever it is, which drives the breath of pride through those scarcely parted lips.
You smile at pretty women — you turn pale before the beauty that is great enough to have dominion23 over you. She sees, and exults56 in your giddiness; she sees and smiles; then presently, with a sudden movement, she lays her blushing fingers upon your arm, and cries out, “Yumourdjak!” (Plague! meaning, “there is a present of the plague for you!”) This is her notion of a witticism57. It is a very old piece of fun, no doubt — quite an Oriental Joe Miller58; but the Turks are fondly attached, not only to the institutions, but also to the jokes of their ancestors; so the lady’s silvery laugh rings joyously59 in your ears, and the mirth of her women is boisterous60 and fresh, as though the bright idea of giving the plague to a Christian61 had newly lit upon the earth.
Methley began to rally very soon after we had reached Constantinople; but there seemed at first to be no chance of his regaining62 strength enough for travelling during the winter, and I determined63 to stay with my comrade until he had quite recovered; so I bought me a horse, and a “pipe of tranquillity,” 7 and took a Turkish phrase-master. I troubled myself a great deal with the Turkish tongue, and gained at last some knowledge of its structure. It is enriched, perhaps overladen, with Persian and Arabic words, imported into the language chiefly for the purpose of representing sentiments and religious dogmas, and terms of art and luxury, entirely64 unknown to the Tartar ancestors of the present Osmanlees; but the body and the spirit of the old tongue are yet alive, and the smooth words of the shopkeeper at Constantinople can still carry understanding to the ears of the untamed millions who rove over the plains of Northern Asia. The structure of the language, especially in its more lengthy65 sentences, is very like to the Latin: the subject matters are slowly and patiently enumerated66, without disclosing the purpose of the speaker until he reaches the end of his sentence, and then at last there comes the clenching67 word, which gives a meaning and connection to all that has gone before. If you listen at all to speaking of this kind your attention, rather than be suffered to flag, must grow more and more lively as the phrase marches on.
The Osmanlees speak well. In countries civilised according to the European plan the work of trying to persuade tribunals is almost all performed by a set of men, the great body of whom very seldom do anything else; but in Turkey this division of labour has never taken place, and every man is his own advocate. The importance of the rhetorical art is immense, for a bad speech may endanger the property of the speaker, as well as the soles of his feet and the free enjoyment68 of his throat. So it results that most of the Turks whom one sees have a lawyer-like habit of speaking connectedly, and at length. Even the treaties continually going on at the bazaar4 for the buying and selling of the merest trifles are carried on by speechifying rather than by mere32 colloquies69, and the eternal uncertainty70 as to the market value of things in constant sale gives room enough for discussion. The seller is for ever demanding a price immensely beyond that for which he sells at last, and so occasions unspeakable disgust in many Englishmen, who cannot see why an honest dealer71 should ask more for his goods than he will really take! The truth is, however, that an ordinary tradesman of Constantinople has no other way of finding out the fair market value of his property. The difficulty under which he labours is easily shown by comparing the mechanism72 of the commercial system in Turkey with that of our own country. In England, or in any other great mercantile country, the bulk of the things bought and sold goes through the hands of a wholesale73 dealer, and it is he who higgles and bargains with an entire nation of purchasers by entering into treaty with retail74 sellers. The labour of making a few large contracts is sufficient to give a clue for finding the fair market value of the goods sold throughout the country; but in Turkey, from the primitive75 habits of the people, and partly from the absence of great capital and great credit, the importing merchant, the warehouseman, the wholesale dealer, the retail dealer, and the shopman, are all one person. Old Moostapha, or Abdallah, or Hadgi Mohamed waddles77 up from the water’s edge with a small packet of merchandise, which he has bought out of a Greek brigantine, and when at last he has reached his nook in the bazaar he puts his goods BEFORE the counter, and himself UPON it; then laying fire to his tchibouque he “sits in permanence,” and patiently waits to obtain “the best price that can be got in an open market.” This is his fair right as a seller, but he has no means of finding out what that best price is except by actual experiment. He cannot know the intensity78 of the demand, or the abundance of the supply, otherwise than by the offers which may be made for his little bundle of goods; so he begins by asking a perfectly79 hopeless price, and then descends80 the ladder until he meets a purchaser, for ever
“Striving to attain81 By shadowing out the unattainable.”
This is the struggle which creates the continual occasion for debate. The vendor82, perceiving that the unfolded merchandise has caught the eye of a possible purchaser, commences his opening speech. He covers his bristling83 broadcloths and his meagre silks with the golden broidery of Oriental praises, and as he talks, along with the slow and graceful84 waving of his arms, he lifts his undulating periods, upholds and poises85 them well, till they have gathered their weight and their strength, and then hurls86 them bodily forward with grave, momentous87 swing. The possible purchaser listens to the whole speech with deep and serious attention; but when it is over HIS turn arrives. He elaborately endeavours to show why he ought not to buy the things at a price twenty times larger than their value. Bystanders attracted to the debate take a part in it as independent members; the vendor is heard in reply, and coming down with his price, furnishes the materials for a new debate. Sometimes, however, the dealer, if he is a very pious39 Mussulman, and sufficiently88 rich to hold back his ware76, will take a more dignified89 part, maintaining a kind of judicial90 gravity, and receiving the applicants91 who come to his stall as if they were rather suitors than customers. He will quietly hear to the end some long speech that concludes with an offer, and will answer it all with the one monosyllable “Yok,” which means distinctly “No.”
I caught one glimpse of the old heathen world. My habits for studying military subjects had been hardening my heart against poetry; for ever staring at the flames of battle, I had blinded myself to the lesser92 and finer lights that are shed from the imaginations of men. In my reading at this time I delighted to follow from out of Arabian sands the feet of the armed believers, and to stand in the broad, manifest storm-track of Tartar devastation93; and thus, though surrounded at Constantinople by scenes of much interest to the “classical scholar,” I had cast aside their associations like an old Greek grammar, and turned my face to the “shining Orient,” forgetful of old Greece and all the pure wealth she left to this matter-of-fact-ridden world. But it happened to me one day to mount the high grounds overhanging the streets of Pera. I sated my eyes with the pomps of the city and its crowded waters, and then I looked over where Scutari lay half veiled in her mournful cypresses. I looked yet farther and higher, and saw in the heavens a silvery cloud that stood fast and still against the breeze: it was pure and dazzling white, as might be the veil of Cytherea, yet touched with such fire, as though from beneath the loving eyes of an immortal94 were shining through and through. I knew the bearing, but had enormously misjudged its distance and underrated its height, and so it was as a sign and a testimony95, almost as a call from the neglected gods, and now I saw and acknowledged the snowy crown of the Mysian Olympus!
收听单词发音 |
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pebbly
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| 多卵石的，有卵石花纹的 | |
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cypresses
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| n.柏属植物，柏树( cypress的名词复数 ) | |
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fathomless
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| a.深不可测的 | |
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bazaar
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| n.集市，商店集中区 | |
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bazaars
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| （东方国家的）市场( bazaar的名词复数 )； 义卖； 义卖市场； （出售花哨商品等的）小商品市场 | |
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gondolas
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| n.狭长小船( gondola的名词复数 )；货架（一般指商店，例如化妆品店）；吊船工作台 | |
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glide
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| n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝 | |
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steadfast
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| adj.固定的，不变的，不动摇的；忠实的；坚贞不移的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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wed
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| v.娶，嫁，与…结婚 | |
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witchcraft
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| n.魔法，巫术 | |
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entices
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| 诱惑，怂恿( entice的第三人称单数 ) | |
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stifles
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的第三人称单数 )； 镇压，遏制 | |
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intrigues
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| n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 )；神秘气氛；引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 )；激起…的好奇心 | |
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hushes
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| n.安静，寂静( hush的名词复数 ) | |
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prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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aroma
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| n.香气，芬芳，芳香 | |
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dominions
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| 统治权( dominion的名词复数 )； 领土； 疆土； 版图 | |
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dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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waning
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| adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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prying
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| adj.爱打听的v.打听，刺探（他人的私事）( pry的现在分词 )；撬开 | |
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reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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lurk
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| n.潜伏，潜行；v.潜藏，潜伏，埋伏 | |
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malady
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| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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Moslem
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| n.回教徒，穆罕默德信徒；adj.回教徒的，回教的 | |
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serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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capes
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| 碎谷； 斗篷( cape的名词复数 )； 披肩； 海角； 岬 | |
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incurring
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| 遭受，招致，引起( incur的现在分词 ) | |
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courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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immunity
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| n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权 | |
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promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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shun
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| vt.避开，回避，避免 | |
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enticing
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| adj.迷人的；诱人的 | |
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corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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contagion
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| n.(通过接触的疾病)传染；蔓延 | |
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repudiate
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| v.拒绝，拒付，拒绝履行 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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alley
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| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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tugs
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| n.猛拉( tug的名词复数 )；猛拖；拖船v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的第三人称单数 ) | |
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luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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exults
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| 狂喜，欢跃( exult的第三人称单数 ) | |
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witticism
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| n.谐语，妙语 | |
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miller
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| n.磨坊主 | |
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joyously
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| ad.快乐地, 高兴地 | |
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boisterous
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| adj.喧闹的，欢闹的 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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regaining
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| 复得( regain的现在分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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enumerated
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| v.列举，枚举，数( enumerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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clenching
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的现在分词 ) | |
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enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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colloquies
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| n.谈话，对话( colloquy的名词复数 ) | |
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uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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dealer
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| n.商人，贩子 | |
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mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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wholesale
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| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
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retail
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| v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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ware
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| n.(常用复数)商品，货物 | |
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waddles
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| v.（像鸭子一样）摇摇摆摆地走( waddle的第三人称单数 ) | |
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intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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descends
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| v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜 | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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vendor
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| n.卖主；小贩 | |
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bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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poises
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| 使平衡( poise的第三人称单数 )； 保持（某种姿势）； 抓紧； 使稳定 | |
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hurls
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的第三人称单数 )；大声叫骂 | |
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momentous
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| adj.重要的，重大的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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applicants
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| 申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 ) | |
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lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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devastation
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| n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤 | |
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immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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