“I think I see Monsieur Choulette.”
Seated in a shoemaker’s shop, his pipe in his hand, Choulette was making rhythmic1 gestures, and appeared to be reciting verses. The Florentine cobbler listened with a kind smile. He was a little, bald man, and represented one of the types familiar to Flemish painters. On a table, among wooden lasts, nails, leather, and wax, a basilic plant displayed its round green head. A sparrow, lacking a leg, which had been replaced by a match, hopped2 on the old man’s shoulder and head.
Madame Martin, amused by this spectacle, called Choulette from the threshold. He was softly humming a tune3, and she asked him why he had not gone with her to visit the Spanish chapel4.
He arose and replied:
“Madame, you are preoccupied5 by vain images; but I live in life and in truth.”
He shook the cobbler’s hand and followed the two ladies.
“While going to church,” he said, “I saw this old man, who, bending over his work, and pressing a last between his knees as in a vise, was sewing coarse shoes. I felt that he was simple and kind. I said to him, in Italian: ‘My father, will you drink with me a glass of Chianti?’ He consented. He went for a flagon and some glasses, and I kept the shop.”
And Choulette pointed6 to two glasses and a flagon placed on a stove.
“When he came back we drank together; I said vague but kind things to him, and I charmed him by the sweetness of sounds. I will go again to his shop; I will learn from him how to make shoes, and how to live without desire. After which, I shall not be sad again. For desire and idleness alone make us sad.”
The Countess Martin smiled.
“Monsieur Choulette, I desire nothing, and, nevertheless, I am not joyful7. Must I make shoes, too?”
Choulette replied, gravely:
“It is not yet time for that.”
When they reached the gardens of the Oricellari, Madame Marmet sank on a bench. She had examined at Santa Maria-Novella the frescoes9 of Ghirlandajo, the stalls of the choir10, the Virgin11 of Cimabue, the paintings in the cloister12. She had done this carefully, in memory of her husband, who had greatly liked Italian art. She was tired. Choulette sat by her and said:
“Madame, could you tell me whether it is true that the Pope’s gowns are made by Worth?”
Madame Marmet thought not. Nevertheless, Choulette had heard people say this in cafes. Madame Marmet was astonished that Choulette, a Catholic and a socialist13, should speak so disrespectfully of a pope friendly to the republic. But he did not like Leo XIII.
“The wisdom of princes is shortsighted,” he said; “the salvation14 of the Church must come from the Italian republic, as Leo XIII believes and wishes; but the Church will not be saved in the manner which this pious15 Machiavelli thinks. The revolution will make the Pope lose his last sou, with the rest of his patrimony16. And it will be salvation. The Pope, destitute17 and poor, will then become powerful. He will agitate18 the world. We shall see again Peter, Lin, Clet, Anaclet, and Clement19; the humble20, the ignorant; men like the early saints will change the face of the earth. If to-morrow, in the chair of Peter, came to sit a real bishop21, a real Christian22, I would go to him, and say: ‘Do not be an old man buried alive in a golden tomb; quit your noble guards and your cardinals23; quit your court and its similacrums of power. Take my arm and come with me to beg for your bread among the nations. Covered with rags, poor, ill, dying, go on the highways, showing in yourself the image of Jesus. Say, “I am begging my bread for the condemnation24 of the wealthy.” Go into the cities, and shout from door to door, with a sublime25 stupidity, “Be humble, be gentle, be poor!” Announce peace and charity to the cities, to the dens8, and to the barracks. You will be disdained26; the mob will throw stones at you. Policemen will drag you into prison. You shall be for the humble as for the powerful, for the poor as for the rich, a subject of laughter, an object of disgust and of pity. Your priests will dethrone you, and elevate against you an anti-pope, or will say that you are crazy. And it is necessary that they should tell the truth; it is necessary that you should be crazy; the lunatics have saved the world. Men will give to you the crown of thorns and the reed sceptre, and they will spit in your face, and it is by that sign that you will appear as Christ and true king; and it is by such means that you will establish Christian socialism, which is the kingdom of God on earth.’”
Having spoken in this way, Choulette lighted one of those long and tortuous27 Italian cigars, which are pierced with a straw. He drew from it several puffs28 of infectious vapor29, then he continued, tranquilly30:
“And it would be practical. You may refuse to acknowledge any quality in me except my clear view of situations. Ah, Madame Marmet, you will never know how true it is that the great works of this world were always achieved by madmen. Do you think, Madame Martin, that if Saint Francis of Assisi had been reasonable, he would have poured upon the earth, for the refreshment31 of peoples, the living water of charity and all the perfumes of love?”
“I do not know,” replied Madame Martin; “but reasonable people have always seemed to me to be bores. I can say this to you, Monsieur Choulette.”
They returned to Fiesole by the steam tramway which goes up the hill. The rain fell. Madame Marmet went to sleep and Choulette complained. All his ills came to attack him at once: the humidity in the air gave him a pain in the knee, and he could not bend his leg; his carpet-bag, lost the day before in the trip from the station to Fiesole, had not been found, and it was an irreparable disaster; a Paris review had just published one of his poems, with typographical errors as glaring as Aphrodite’s shell.
He accused men and things of being hostile to him. He became puerile32, absurd, odious33. Madame Martin, whom Choulette and the rain saddened, thought the trip would never end. When she reached the house she found Miss Bell in the drawing-room, copying with gold ink on a leaf of parchment, in a handwriting formed after the Aldine italics, verses which she had composed in the night. At her friend’s coming she raised her little face, plain but illuminated34 by splendid eyes.
“Darling, permit me to introduce to you the Prince Albertinelli.”
The Prince possessed35 a certain youthful, godlike beauty, that his black beard intensified36. He bowed.
“Madame, you would make one love France, if that sentiment were not already in our hearts.”
The Countess and Choulette asked Miss Bell to read to them the verses she was writing. She excused herself from reciting her uncertain cadence37 to the French poet, whom she liked best after Francois Villon. Then she recited in her pretty, hissing38, birdlike voice.
“That is very pretty,” said Choulette, “and bears the mark of Italy softly veiled by the mists of Thule.”
“Yes,” said the Countess Martin, “that is pretty. But why, dear Vivian, did your two beautiful innocents wish to die?”
“Oh, darling, because they felt as happy as possible, and desired nothing more. It was discouraging, darling, discouraging. How is it that you do not understand that?”
“And do you think that if we live the reason is that we hope?”
“Oh, yes. We live in the hope of what to-morrow, tomorrow, king of the land of fairies, will bring in his black mantle39 studded with stars, flowers, and tears. Oh, bright king, To-morrow!”
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1
rhythmic
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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hopped
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| 跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花 | |
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tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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dens
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| n.牙齿，齿状部分；兽窝( den的名词复数 )；窝点；休息室；书斋 | |
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frescoes
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| n.壁画( fresco的名词复数 )；温壁画技法，湿壁画 | |
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10
choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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11
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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12
cloister
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| n.修道院；v.隐退，使与世隔绝 | |
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socialist
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| n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的 | |
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salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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15
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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patrimony
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| n.世袭财产，继承物 | |
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17
destitute
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| adj.缺乏的；穷困的 | |
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18
agitate
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| vi.(for,against)煽动，鼓动；vt.搅动 | |
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19
clement
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| adj.仁慈的；温和的 | |
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20
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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23
cardinals
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| 红衣主教( cardinal的名词复数 )； 红衣凤头鸟（见于北美，雄鸟为鲜红色）； 基数 | |
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24
condemnation
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| n.谴责; 定罪 | |
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sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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disdained
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| 鄙视( disdain的过去式和过去分词 )； 不屑于做，不愿意做 | |
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tortuous
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| adj.弯弯曲曲的，蜿蜒的 | |
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28
puffs
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| n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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29
vapor
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| n.蒸汽，雾气 | |
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30
tranquilly
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| adv. 宁静地 | |
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refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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32
puerile
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| adj.幼稚的，儿童的 | |
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33
odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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34
illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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36
intensified
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
cadence
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| n.（说话声调的）抑扬顿挫 | |
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38
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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39
mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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