COMPLINE
In which Salvatore tells of a prodigious1 spell.
The supper for the legation was superb. The abbot must have known well both human weaknesses and the customs of the papal court (which, I must say, did not displease2 Brother Michael’s Minorites, either). The freshly slaughtered4 pigs were to have produced blood pudding according to the Monte Cassino recipe, the cook had told us. But Venantius’s wretched end had obliged them to throw away all the pigs’ blood, though they would eventually slaughter3 some more pigs. I believe that in those days everyone abhorred6 the idea of killing7 the Lord’s creatures. Nevertheless, we had a ragout of pigeon, marinaded in the wine of those lands, and roast rabbit, Saint Clare’s pasties, rice with the almonds of those hills—the blanc-mange of fast days, that is—and borage tarts8, stuffed olives, fried cheese, mutton with a sauce of raw peppers, white broad beans, and exquisite9 sweets, Saint Bernard’s cake, Saint Nicholas’s pies, Saint Lucy’s dumplings, and wines, and herb liqueurs that put everyone in a good humor, even Bernard Gui, usually so austere10: an elixir11 of lemon verbena, walnut12 wine, wine against the gout, and gen?tian wine. It seemed an assembly of gluttons13, except that every sip14 or every morsel15 was accompanied by devotional readings.
In the end, all rose very happy, some mentioning vague ailments16 as an excuse not to go down to compline. But the abbot did not take offense17. Not all have the privilege and the obligations we assume on being conse?crated18 in our order.
As the monks19 departed, my curiosity made me linger in the kitchen, where they were preparing to lock up for the night. I saw Salvatore slip off toward the garden with a bundle under his arm. My curiosity still further aroused, I followed and called him. He tried to evade20 me, but when I questioned him he replied that in the bundle (which moved as if inhabited by something alive) he was carrying a basilisk.
“Cave basilischium! The rex of serpenti, tant pleno of poison that it all shines dehors! Che dicam, il veleno, even the stink21 comes dehors and kills you! Poisons you ... And it has black spots on his back, and a head like a coq, and half goes erect22 over the terra, and half on the terra like the other serpents. And it kills the bellula. ...”
“The bellula?”
“Oc! Parvissimum animal, just a bit plus longue than the rat, and also called the musk-rat. And so the serpe and the botta. And when they bite it, the bellula runs to the fenicula or to the cicerbita and chews it, and comes back to the battaglia. And they say it generates through the oculi, but most say they are wrong.”
I asked him what he was doing with a basilisk and he said that was his business. Now completely overwhelmed by curiosity, I said that these days, with all the deaths, there could be no more secret matters, and I would tell William. Then Salvatore ardently23 begged me to remain silent, opened the bundle, and showed me a black cat. He drew me closer and, with an obscene smile, said that he didn’t want the cellarer, who was powerful, or me, young and handsome, to enjoy the love of the village girls any more, when he couldn’t because he was ugly and a poor wretch5. But he knew a prodigious spell that would make every woman succumb24 to love. You had to kill a black cat and dig out its eyes, then put them in two eggs of a black hen, one eye in one egg, one eye in the other (and he showed me two eggs that he swore he had taken from appropriate hens). Then you had to let the eggs rot in a pile of horse dung (and he had one ready in a corner of the vegetable garden where nobody ever went), and there a little devil would be born from each egg, and would then be at your service, procuring25 for you all the delights of this world. But, alas26, he told me, for the magic spell to work, the woman whose love he wanted had to spit on the eggs before they were buried in the dung, and that problem tormented27 him, because he would have to have the woman in question at hand that night, and make her perform the ritual without knowing its purpose.
A sudden heat seized me, in the face, or the viscera, or in my whole body, and I asked in a faint voice whether that night he would bring the same girl within the walls. He laughed, mocking me, and said I was truly gripped by a great lust28 (I said not, that I was asking out of pure curiosity), and then he said there were plenty of women in the village, and he would bring up another, even more beautiful than the one I liked. I supposed he was lying to me to make me go away. And in any case what could I have done? Follow him all night, when William was awaiting me for quite different enterprises? And again see her (if it was she) toward whom my appetites drove me while my reason drove me away—and whom I should never see again even though I did desire to see her further? Surely not. So I persuaded myself that Salvatore was telling the truth, as far as the woman was concerned. Or perhaps he was lying about everything, and the spell he described was a fantasy of his na?ve, superstitious29 mind, and he would not do anything.
I became irritated with him, treated him roughly, told him that for that night he would do better to go to bed, because archers30 were patrolling the abbey. He answered that he knew the abbey better than the ar?chers did, and with this fog nobody would see anybody. Indeed, he said to me, I’m going to run off now, and you won’t see me any more, even if I were two feet away having my pleasure with the girl you desire. He expressed himself with different words, but this was the meaning of what he said. I left, indignant, because it was unwor?thy of me, nobleman and novice31, to dispute with such rabble32.
I joined William and we did what was to be done. That is, we prepared to follow compline at the rear of the nave33, so that when the office ended we would be ready to undertake our second (for me, third) journey into the bowels34 of the labyrinth35.
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1
prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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2
displease
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| vt.使不高兴，惹怒；n.不悦，不满，生气 | |
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3
slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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4
slaughtered
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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abhorred
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| v.憎恶( abhor的过去式和过去分词 )；（厌恶地）回避；拒绝；淘汰 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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tarts
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| n.果馅饼( tart的名词复数 )；轻佻的女人；妓女；小妞 | |
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exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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austere
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| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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elixir
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| n.长生不老药，万能药 | |
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walnut
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| n.胡桃，胡桃木，胡桃色，茶色 | |
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13
gluttons
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| 贪食者( glutton的名词复数 )； 贪图者； 酷爱…的人； 狼獾 | |
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14
sip
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| v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量 | |
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morsel
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| n.一口，一点点 | |
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ailments
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| 疾病（尤指慢性病），不适( ailment的名词复数 ) | |
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offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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crated
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| 把…装入箱中( crate的过去式 ) | |
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monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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evade
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| vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避 | |
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stink
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| vi.发出恶臭；糟透，招人厌恶；n.恶臭 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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23
ardently
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| adv.热心地，热烈地 | |
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24
succumb
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| v.屈服，屈从；死 | |
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procuring
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的现在分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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26
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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27
tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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28
lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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30
archers
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| n.弓箭手，射箭运动员( archer的名词复数 ) | |
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31
novice
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| adj.新手的，生手的 | |
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32
rabble
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| n.乌合之众，暴民；下等人 | |
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33
nave
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| n.教堂的中部；本堂 | |
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34
bowels
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| n.肠，内脏，内部；肠( bowel的名词复数 )；内部，最深处 | |
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labyrinth
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| n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路 | |
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