Briefly7 to sum up the respective merits of these three races, it may be allowable to define them as representing manhood in the past, present, and future tenses.
The Saxons have been men, and right good men, too, in their day; but that day has gone by, and they are now rapidly degenerating8 into mere9 fossil antiquities10, physically11 deteriorated12 from constant intermarriage, and morally opposed to any sort of progress involving amalgamation13 with the surrounding races.
The Hungarians are men in the full sense of the word, perhaps all the more so that they are a nation of soldiers rather than men of science and letters.
The Roumanians will be men a few generations hence, when they have had time to shake off the habits of slavery and have learned to recognize their own value. There is a wealth of unraised treasure, of abilities in the raw block, of uncultured talent, lying dormant14 in this ignorant peasantry, who seem but lately to have begun to understand that they need not always bend their neck beneath the yoke15 of other{123} masters, nor are necessarily born to slavery and humiliation16. In face of their rapidly increasing population, of the thirst for knowledge and the powerful spirit of progress which have arisen among them of late years, it is scarcely hazardous17 to prophesy18 that this people have a great future before them, and that a day will come when, other nations having degenerated19 and spent their strength, these descendants of the ancient Romans, rising ph?nix-like from their ashes, will step forward with a whole fund of latent power and virgin20 material to rule as masters where formerly21 they have crouched22 as slaves.
Two popular legends current in Transylvania may here find a place, as somewhat humorously defining the national characteristics of the three races just alluded23 to.
“When God had decreed to banish24 Adam and Eve from Paradise because they had sinned against his laws, he first deputed his Hungarian angel Gabor (Gabriel) to chase them out of the garden of Eden. But Adam and Eve were already wise, for they had eaten of the fruit of knowledge; so they resolved to conciliate the angel by putting good cheer before him, and inviting25 him to partake of it. In truth, the angel ate and drank heartily26 of the good things on the table, and, after having eaten, he had not the heart to repay his kind hosts for their hospitality by chasing them out of Paradise, so he returned to heaven without having executed his commission, and begged the Lord to send another in his place, for he could not do it.
“Then God sent the Wallachian angel Florian, thinking he was less fine-feeling and would execute the mission better. Adam and Eve were sitting at table when the servant of the Lord entered, shod in leather opintschen (sandals) and with fur cap under his arm. After humbly27 saluting28, he told his errand. But Adam, on seeing the appearance of this messenger, felt no more fear, and asked roughly, ‘Hast brought no written warrant with thee?’ At this the angel Florian began to tremble, turned round on the spot, and went back to heaven.
“Then the Lord became angry, and sent down the German Archangel Michael. Adam and Eve were mightily29 terrified on seeing him, but resolved to do their best to soften30 his heart; so they prepared for him a sumptuous31 meal of his favorite dishes—ham-sausage, pickled sauerkraut, beer, wine, and sweet mead32. The German angel was highly pleased, and played such a good knife and fork that Adam and Eve began to feel light of heart again. But hardly had the archangel{124} eaten his fill when, rising from the table, he swung his flaming sword overhead and thundered forth33 to his terrified hosts, ‘Now pack yourselves off!’ In vain did our first parents beg and sue for mercy; nothing served to touch the heart of the inflexible34 German angel, who, without further ado, drove them both out of Paradise.”
The second legend relates to the Holy Sepulchre, and tells us how a deputation, consisting of a Hungarian, a Saxon, and a Wallachian, was once sent by the Transylvanian Diet to Palestine in order to recover the Saviour’s body from the infidels. “They started on their journey full of hope, but when they had reached Jerusalem they found the sepulchre guarded by a strong enforcement of Roman soldiers. What was now to be done? was the question debated between them. The Hungarian was for cutting into the soldiers at once with his sword, but the canny35 Saxon held him back and said, ‘They are stronger than we, and we might receive blows; let us rather attempt to barter36.’ The Wallachian only winked37 with one eye and whispered, ‘Let us wait till nightfall, and then we can steal the body.’”
There has been of late years so much learned discussion about the origin of this Roumanian people that it were presumption38, in face of the erudite authorities enlisted39 on either side, to advance any independent opinion on the subject. German writers, especially Saxons, have been strenuous40 in sneering41 down all claims to Roman extraction, and contending that whatever Roman elements remained over after their evacuation of the territory must long since have been swallowed up in the great rush of successive nations which passed over the land in the early part of the Middle Ages. Roumanian writers, on the contrary, are fond of laying great stress on the direct Roman lineage which it is their pride to believe in, sometimes, however, injuring their own cause by over-anxiety to claim too much—laying too little stress on the admixture of Slave blood, which is as surely a fundamental ingredient of the race. One of the most enlightened Roumanian authors, Joan Slavici, states the case more accurately42 in saying that the ethnographical importance of the Roumanians does not lie in the fact of their being descendants of the ancient Romans, nor in that of the long-vanished Dacian race having been Romanized by the conquerors43, but solely44 and entirely45 therein; that this people, placed between two sharply contrasting races, form an important connecting link in the chain of European tribes.
The classical type of feature so often to be met with among Roumanian peasants of both sexes pleads strongly in favor of the theory of Roman origin; and if in a former chapter I compared the features of Saxon peasants to those of Noah’s-ark figures, rudely cut out of the very coarsest wood, the Roumanians as often remind me of a type of face chiefly to be met with on cameo ornaments46 or ancient signet-rings. If we take at random47 a score of individuals from any Roumanian village, we cannot fail to find a goodly choice of classical profiles, worthy to be immortalized on agate48, onyx, or jasper, like a handful of antique gems49 which have been strewn broadcast over the land.
Wallack, or Wlach, by which name this people was generally designated up to the year ’48, points equally to Roman extraction—Wallack being but another version of the appellations51 Welsh, Welch, Wallon, etc., given by Germans to all people native of Italy. It may, however, not be superfluous52 here to mention that at no period whatever did these people describe themselves otherwise than as “Romāns,” Roumanians, and would have been as little likely to speak of themselves as Wallacks as would be an American to call himself a Yankee, or a Londoner to designate himself as a cockney. As far as I can make out, a certain sense of opprobrium53 seems to be attached to this word Wallack as applied54 by strangers, explainable perhaps by the fact that the appellation50 Wlach was formerly used to describe all people subjugated55 by the Romans.
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1
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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alluding
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| 提及，暗指( allude的现在分词 ) | |
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3
bugs
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| adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误 | |
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barbarian
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| n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的 | |
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boor
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| n.举止粗野的人；乡下佬 | |
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cringing
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| adj.谄媚，奉承 | |
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7
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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8
degenerating
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| 衰退，堕落，退化( degenerate的现在分词 ) | |
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9
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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10
antiquities
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| n.古老( antiquity的名词复数 )；古迹；古人们；古代的风俗习惯 | |
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11
physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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12
deteriorated
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| 恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13
amalgamation
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| n.合并，重组；；汞齐化 | |
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14
dormant
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| adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的 | |
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yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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16
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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hazardous
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| adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的 | |
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prophesy
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| v.预言；预示 | |
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degenerated
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| 衰退，堕落，退化( degenerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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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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21
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
banish
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| vt.放逐，驱逐；消除，排除 | |
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inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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saluting
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的现在分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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29
mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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30
soften
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| v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和 | |
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31
sumptuous
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| adj.豪华的，奢侈的，华丽的 | |
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32
mead
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| n.蜂蜜酒 | |
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33
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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34
inflexible
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| adj.不可改变的，不受影响的，不屈服的 | |
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35
canny
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| adj.谨慎的，节俭的 | |
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36
barter
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| n.物物交换，以货易货，实物交易 | |
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37
winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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presumption
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| n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定 | |
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enlisted
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| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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40
strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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41
sneering
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| 嘲笑的，轻蔑的 | |
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42
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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43
conquerors
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| 征服者，占领者( conqueror的名词复数 ) | |
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44
solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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45
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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46
ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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47
random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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48
agate
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| n.玛瑙 | |
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49
gems
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| growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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50
appellation
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| n.名称，称呼 | |
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51
appellations
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| n.名称，称号( appellation的名词复数 ) | |
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52
superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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53
opprobrium
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| n.耻辱，责难 | |
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54
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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55
subjugated
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| v.征服，降伏( subjugate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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