“Call ye that a Society,” cries he again, “where there is no longer any Social Idea extant; not so much as the Idea of a common Home, but only of a common over-crowded Lodging-house? Where each, isolated8, regardless of his neighbor, turned against his neighbor, clutches what he can get, and cries ‘Mine!’ and calls it Peace, because, in the cut-purse and cut-throat Scramble9, no steel knives, but only a far cunninger sort, can be employed? Where Friendship, Communion, has become an incredible tradition; and your holiest Sacramental Supper is a smoking Tavern10 Dinner, with Cook for Evangelist? Where your Priest has no tongue but for plate-licking: and your high Guides and Governors cannot guide; but on all hands hear it passionately11 proclaimed: Laissez faire; Leave us alone of your guidance, such light is darker than darkness; eat you your wages, and sleep!
“Thus, too,” continues he, “does an observant eye discern everywhere that saddest spectacle: The Poor perishing, like neglected, foundered12 Draught–Cattle, of Hunger and Overwork; the Rich, still more wretchedly, of Idleness, Satiety13, and Overgrowth. The Highest in rank, at length, without honor from the Lowest; scarcely, with a little mouth-honor, as from tavern-waiters who expect to put it in the bill. Once-sacred Symbols fluttering as empty Pageants14, whereof men grudge15 even the expense; a World becoming dismantled16: in one word, the STATE fallen speechless, from obesity17 and apoplexy; the STATE shrunken into a Police–Office, straitened to get its pay!”
We might ask, are there many “observant eyes,” belonging to practical men in England or elsewhere, which have descried18 these phenomena19; or is it only from the mystic elevation20 of a German Wahngasse that such wonders are visible? Teufelsdrockh contends that the aspect of a “deceased or expiring Society” fronts us everywhere, so that whoso runs may read. “What, for example,” says he, “is the universally arrogated21 Virtue22, almost the sole remaining Catholic Virtue, of these days? For some half-century, it has been the thing you name ‘Independence.’ Suspicion of ‘Servility,’ of reverence23 for Superiors, the very dog-leech is anxious to disavow. Fools! Were your Superiors worthy24 to govern, and you worthy to obey, reverence for them were even your only possible freedom. Independence, in all kinds, is rebellion; if unjust rebellion, why parade it, and everywhere prescribe it?”
But what then? Are we returning, as Rousseau prayed, to the state of Nature? “The Soul Politic25 having departed,” says Teufelsdrockh, “what can follow but that the Body Politic be decently interred26, to avoid putrescence? Liberals, Economists27, Utilitarians29 enough I see marching with its bier, and chanting loud paeans30, towards the funeral pile, where, amid wailings from some, and saturnalian revelries from the most, the venerable Corpse31 is to be burnt. Or, in plain words, that these men, Liberals, Utilitarians, or whatsoever32 they are called, will ultimately carry their point, and dissever and destroy most existing Institutions of Society, seems a thing which has some time ago ceased to be doubtful.
“Do we not see a little subdivision of the grand Utilitarian28 Armament come to light even in insulated England? A living nucleus33, that will attract and grow, does at length appear there also; and under curious phasis; properly as the inconsiderable fag-end, and so far in the rear of the others as to fancy itself the van. Our European Mechanizers are a sect34 of boundless35 diffusion36, activity, and co-operative spirit: has not Utilitarianism flourished in high places of Thought, here among ourselves, and in every European country, at some time or other, within the last fifty years? If now in all countries, except perhaps England, it has ceased to flourish, or indeed to exist, among Thinkers, and sunk to Journalists and the popular mass, — who sees not that, as hereby it no longer preaches, so the reason is, it now needs no Preaching, but is in full universal Action, the doctrine37 everywhere known, and enthusiastically laid to heart? The fit pabulum, in these times, for a certain rugged39 workshop intellect and heart, nowise without their corresponding workshop strength and ferocity, it requires but to be stated in such scenes to make proselytes enough. — Admirably calculated for destroying, only not for rebuilding! It spreads like a sort of Dog-madness; till the whole World-kennel will be rabid: then woe40 to the Huntsmen, with or without their whips! They should have given the quadrupeds water,” adds he; “the water, namely, of Knowledge and of Life, while it was yet time.”
Thus, if Professor Teufelsdrockh can be relied on, we are at this hour in a most critical condition; beleaguered41 by that boundless “Armament of Mechanizers” and Unbelievers, threatening to strip us bare! “The World,” says he, “as it needs must, is under a process of devastation42 and waste, which, whether by silent assiduous corrosion43, or open quicker combustion44, as the case chances, will effectually enough annihilate45 the past Forms of Society; replace them with what it may. For the present, it is contemplated46 that when man’s whole Spiritual Interests are once divested47, these innumerable stript-off Garments shall mostly be burnt; but the sounder Rags among them be quilted together into one huge Irish watch-coat for the defence of the Body only!” — This, we think, is but Job’s-news to the humane48 reader.
“Nevertheless,” cries Teufelsdrockh, “who can hinder it; who is there that can clutch into the wheelspokes of Destiny, and say to the Spirit of the Time: Turn back, I command thee? — Wiser were it that we yielded to the Inevitable49 and Inexorable, and accounted even this the best.”
Nay50, might not an attentive51 Editor, drawing his own inferences from what stands written, conjecture52 that Teufelsdrockh, individually had yielded to this same “Inevitable and Inexorable” heartily53 enough; and now sat waiting the issue, with his natural diabolico-angelical Indifference54, if not even Placidity55? Did we not hear him complain that the World was a “huge Ragfair,” and the “rags and tatters of old Symbols” were raining down everywhere, like to drift him in, and suffocate56 him? What with those “unhunted Helots” of his; and the uneven57 sic vos non vobis pressure and hard-crashing collision he is pleased to discern in existing things; what with the so hateful “empty Masks,” full of beetles58 and spiders, yet glaring out on him, from their glass eyes, “with a ghastly affectation of life,” — we feel entitled to conclude him even willing that much should be thrown to the Devil, so it were but done gently! Safe himself in that “Pinnacle of Weissnichtwo,” he would consent, with a tragic59 solemnity, that the monster UTILITARIA, held back, indeed, and moderated by nose-rings, halters, foot-shackles, and every conceivable modification60 of rope, should go forth61 to do her work; — to tread down old ruinous Palaces and Temples with her broad hoof62, till the whole were trodden down, that new and better might be built! Remarkable63 in this point of view are the following sentences.
“Society,” says he, “is not dead: that Carcass, which you call dead Society, is but her mortal coil which she has shuffled64 off, to assume a nobler; she herself, through perpetual metamorphoses, in fairer and fairer development, has to live till Time also merge65 in Eternity66. Wheresoever two or three Living Men are gathered together, there is Society; or there it will be, with its cunning mechanisms67 and stupendous structures, overspreading this little Globe, and reaching upwards68 to Heaven and downwards69 to Gehenna: for always, under one or the other figure, it has two authentic70 Revelations, of a God and of a Devil; the Pulpit, namely, and the Gallows71.”
Indeed, we already heard him speak of “Religion, in unnoticed nooks, weaving for herself new Vestures;" — Teufelsdrockh himself being one of the loom-treadles? Elsewhere he quotes without censure72 that strange aphorism73 of Saint Simon’s, concerning which and whom so much were to be said: “L’age d’or, qu’une aveugle tradition a place jusqu’ici dans le passe, est devant nous; The golden age, which a blind tradition has hitherto placed in the Past, is Before us.” — But listen again:—
“When the Phoenix74 is fanning her funeral pyre, will there not be sparks flying! Alas75, some millions of men, and among them such as a Napoleon, have already been licked into that high-eddying Flame, and like moths76 consumed there. Still also have we to fear that incautious beards will get singed77.
“For the rest, in what year of grace such Phoenix-cremation will be completed, you need not ask. The law of Perseverance78 is among the deepest in man: by nature he hates change; seldom will he quit his old house till it has actually fallen about his ears. Thus have I seen Solemnities linger as Ceremonies, sacred Symbols as idle Pageants, to the extent of three hundred years and more after all life and sacredness had evaporated out of them. And then, finally, what time the Phoenix Death–Birth itself will require, depends on unseen contingencies79. — Meanwhile, would Destiny offer Mankind, that after, say two centuries of convulsion and conflagration80, more or less vivid, the fire-creation should be accomplished81, and we to find ourselves again in a Living Society, and no longer fighting but working, — were it not perhaps prudent82 in Mankind to strike the bargain?”
Thus is Teufelsdrockh, content that old sick Society should be deliberately83 burnt (alas, with quite other fuel than spice-wood); in the faith that she is a Phoenix; and that a new heaven-born young one will rise out of her ashes! We ourselves, restricted to the duty of Indicator84, shall forbear commentary. Meanwhile, will not the judicious85 reader shake his head, and reproachfully, yet more in sorrow than in anger, say or think: From a Doctor utriusque Juris, titular86 Professor in a University, and man to whom hitherto, for his services, Society, bad as she is, has given not only food and raiment (of a kind), but books, tobacco and gukguk, we expected more gratitude87 to his benefactress; and less of a blind trust in the future which resembles that rather of a philosophical88 Fatalist and Enthusiast38, than of a solid householder paying scot-and-lot in a Christian89 country.
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1 utterances | |
n.发声( utterance的名词复数 );说话方式;语调;言论 | |
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2 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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3 gregarious | |
adj.群居的,喜好群居的 | |
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4 juncture | |
n.时刻,关键时刻,紧要关头 | |
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5 smote | |
v.猛打,重击,打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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6 shreds | |
v.撕碎,切碎( shred的第三人称单数 );用撕毁机撕毁(文件) | |
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7 defunct | |
adj.死亡的;已倒闭的 | |
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8 isolated | |
adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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9 scramble | |
v.爬行,攀爬,杂乱蔓延,碎片,片段,废料 | |
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10 tavern | |
n.小旅馆,客栈;小酒店 | |
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11 passionately | |
ad.热烈地,激烈地 | |
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12 foundered | |
v.创始人( founder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13 satiety | |
n.饱和;(市场的)充分供应 | |
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14 pageants | |
n.盛装的游行( pageant的名词复数 );穿古代服装的游行;再现历史场景的娱乐活动;盛会 | |
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15 grudge | |
n.不满,怨恨,妒嫉;vt.勉强给,不情愿做 | |
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16 dismantled | |
拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 ); 拆卸; 废除; 取消 | |
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17 obesity | |
n.肥胖,肥大 | |
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18 descried | |
adj.被注意到的,被发现的,被看到的 | |
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19 phenomena | |
n.现象 | |
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20 elevation | |
n.高度;海拔;高地;上升;提高 | |
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21 arrogated | |
v.冒称,妄取( arrogate的过去式和过去分词 );没来由地把…归属(于) | |
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22 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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23 reverence | |
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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24 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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25 politic | |
adj.有智虑的;精明的;v.从政 | |
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26 interred | |
v.埋,葬( inter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27 economists | |
n.经济学家,经济专家( economist的名词复数 ) | |
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28 utilitarian | |
adj.实用的,功利的 | |
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29 utilitarians | |
功利主义者,实用主义者( utilitarian的名词复数 ) | |
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30 paeans | |
n.赞歌,凯歌( paean的名词复数 ) | |
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31 corpse | |
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32 whatsoever | |
adv.(用于否定句中以加强语气)任何;pron.无论什么 | |
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33 nucleus | |
n.核,核心,原子核 | |
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34 sect | |
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35 boundless | |
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36 diffusion | |
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37 doctrine | |
n.教义;主义;学说 | |
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38 enthusiast | |
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39 rugged | |
adj.高低不平的,粗糙的,粗壮的,强健的 | |
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40 woe | |
n.悲哀,苦痛,不幸,困难;int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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41 beleaguered | |
adj.受到围困[围攻]的;包围的v.围攻( beleaguer的过去式和过去分词);困扰;骚扰 | |
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42 devastation | |
n.毁坏;荒废;极度震惊或悲伤 | |
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43 corrosion | |
n.腐蚀,侵蚀;渐渐毁坏,渐衰 | |
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44 combustion | |
n.燃烧;氧化;骚动 | |
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45 annihilate | |
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46 contemplated | |
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47 divested | |
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48 humane | |
adj.人道的,富有同情心的 | |
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49 inevitable | |
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的 | |
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50 nay | |
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
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51 attentive | |
adj.注意的,专心的;关心(别人)的,殷勤的 | |
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52 conjecture | |
n./v.推测,猜测 | |
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53 heartily | |
adv.衷心地,诚恳地,十分,很 | |
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54 indifference | |
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55 placidity | |
n.平静,安静,温和 | |
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56 suffocate | |
vt.使窒息,使缺氧,阻碍;vi.窒息,窒息而亡,阻碍发展 | |
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57 uneven | |
adj.不平坦的,不规则的,不均匀的 | |
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58 beetles | |
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59 tragic | |
adj.悲剧的,悲剧性的,悲惨的 | |
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60 modification | |
n.修改,改进,缓和,减轻 | |
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61 forth | |
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62 hoof | |
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63 remarkable | |
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的 | |
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64 shuffled | |
v.洗(纸牌)( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 );拖着脚步走;粗心地做;摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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65 merge | |
v.(使)结合,(使)合并,(使)合为一体 | |
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66 eternity | |
n.不朽,来世;永恒,无穷 | |
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67 mechanisms | |
n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 );机械装置;[生物学] 机制;机械作用 | |
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68 upwards | |
adv.向上,在更高处...以上 | |
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69 downwards | |
adj./adv.向下的(地),下行的(地) | |
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70 authentic | |
a.真的,真正的;可靠的,可信的,有根据的 | |
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71 gallows | |
n.绞刑架,绞台 | |
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72 censure | |
v./n.责备;非难;责难 | |
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73 aphorism | |
n.格言,警语 | |
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74 phoenix | |
n.凤凰,长生(不死)鸟;引申为重生 | |
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75 alas | |
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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76 moths | |
n.蛾( moth的名词复数 ) | |
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77 singed | |
v.浅表烧焦( singe的过去式和过去分词 );(毛发)燎,烧焦尖端[边儿] | |
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78 perseverance | |
n.坚持不懈,不屈不挠 | |
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79 contingencies | |
n.偶然发生的事故,意外事故( contingency的名词复数 );以备万一 | |
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80 conflagration | |
n.建筑物或森林大火 | |
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81 accomplished | |
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的 | |
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82 prudent | |
adj.谨慎的,有远见的,精打细算的 | |
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83 deliberately | |
adv.审慎地;蓄意地;故意地 | |
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84 indicator | |
n.指标;指示物,指示者;指示器 | |
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85 judicious | |
adj.明智的,明断的,能作出明智决定的 | |
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86 titular | |
adj.名义上的,有名无实的;n.只有名义(或头衔)的人 | |
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87 gratitude | |
adj.感激,感谢 | |
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88 philosophical | |
adj.哲学家的,哲学上的,达观的 | |
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89 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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