Il ne faut appeler aucun ordre si ce n’est en tems clair et serein.
“Les Clavicules du Rabbi Salomon.”
(No order of spirits must be invoked1 unless the weather be clear and serene2.)
Letter from Zanoni to Mejnour.
My art is already dim and troubled. I have lost the tranquillity3 which is power. I cannot influence the decisions of those whom I would most guide to the shore; I see them wander farther and deeper into the infinite ocean where our barks sail evermore to the horizon that flies before us! Amazed and awed4 to find that I can only warn where I would control, I have looked into my own soul. It is true that the desires of earth chain me to the present, and shut me from the solemn secrets which Intellect, purified from all the dross5 of the clay, alone can examine and survey. The stern condition on which we hold our nobler and diviner gifts darkens our vision towards the future of those for whom we know the human infirmities of jealousy7 or hate or love. Mejnour, all around me is mist and haze8; I have gone back in our sublime9 existence; and from the bosom10 of the imperishable youth that blooms only in the spirit, springs up the dark poison-flower of human love.
This man is not worthy12 of her,— I know that truth; yet in his nature are the seeds of good and greatness, if the tares13 and weeds of worldly vanities and fears would suffer them to grow. If she were his, and I had thus transplanted to another soil the passion that obscures my gaze and disarms14 my power, unseen, unheard, unrecognised, I could watch over his fate, and secretly prompt his deeds, and minister to her welfare through his own. But time rushes on! Through the shadows that encircle me, I see, gathering15 round her, the darkest dangers. No choice but flight,— no escape save with him or me. With me!— the rapturous thought,— the terrible conviction! With me! Mejnour, canst thou wonder that I would save her from myself? A moment in the life of ages,— a bubble on the shoreless sea. What else to me can be human love? And in this exquisite16 nature of hers,— more pure, more spiritual, even in its young affections than ever heretofore the countless17 volumes of the heart, race after race, have given to my gaze: there is yet a deep-buried feeling that warns me of inevitable18 woe19. Thou austere20 and remorseless Hierophant,— thou who hast sought to convert to our brotherhood21 every spirit that seemed to thee most high and bold,— even thou knowest, by horrible experience, how vain the hope to banish22 FEAR from the heart of woman.
My life would be to her one marvel23. Even if, on the other hand, I sought to guide her path through the realms of terror to the light, think of the Haunter of the Threshold, and shudder24 with me at the awful hazard! I have endeavoured to fill the Englishman’s ambition with the true glory of his art; but the restless spirit of his ancestor still seems to whisper in him, and to attract to the spheres in which it lost its own wandering way. There is a mystery in man’s inheritance from his fathers. Peculiarities25 of the mind, as diseases of the body, rest dormant26 for generations, to revive in some distant descendant, baffle all treatment and elude27 all skill. Come to me from thy solitude28 amidst the wrecks29 of Rome! I pant for a living confidant,— for one who in the old time has himself known jealousy and love. I have sought commune with Adon–Ai; but his presence, that once inspired such heavenly content with knowledge, and so serene a confidence in destiny, now only troubles and perplexes me. From the height from which I strive to search into the shadows of things to come, I see confused spectres of menace and wrath30. Methinks I behold31 a ghastly limit to the wondrous32 existence I have held,— methinks that, after ages of the Ideal Life, I see my course merge33 into the most stormy whirlpool of the Real. Where the stars opened to me their gates, there looms11 a scaffold,— thick steams of blood rise as from a shambles34. What is more strange to me, a creature here, a very type of the false ideal of common men,— body and mind, a hideous35 mockery of the art that shapes the Beautiful, and the desires that seek the Perfect, ever haunts my vision amidst these perturbed36 and broken clouds of the fate to be. By that shadowy scaffold it stands and gibbers at me, with lips dropping slime and gore37. Come, O friend of the far-time; for me, at least, thy wisdom has not purged38 away thy human affections. According to the bonds of our solemn order, reduced now to thee and myself, lone6 survivors39 of so many haughty40 and glorious aspirants41, thou art pledged, too, to warn the descendant of those whom thy counsels sought to initiate42 into the great secret in a former age. The last of that bold Visconti who was once thy pupil is the relentless43 persecutor44 of this fair child. With thoughts of lust45 and murder, he is digging his own grave; thou mayest yet daunt46 him from his doom47. And I also mysteriously, by the same bond, am pledged to obey, if he so command, a less guilty descendant of a baffled but nobler student. If he reject my counsel, and insist upon the pledge, Mejnour, thou wilt48 have another neophyte49. Beware of another victim! Come to me! This will reach thee with all speed. Answer it by the pressure of one hand that I can dare to clasp!
1 invoked | |
v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 );行使(权利等);祈求救助;恳求 | |
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2 serene | |
adj. 安详的,宁静的,平静的 | |
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3 tranquillity | |
n. 平静, 安静 | |
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4 awed | |
adj.充满敬畏的,表示敬畏的v.使敬畏,使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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5 dross | |
n.渣滓;无用之物 | |
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6 lone | |
adj.孤寂的,单独的;唯一的 | |
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7 jealousy | |
n.妒忌,嫉妒,猜忌 | |
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8 haze | |
n.霾,烟雾;懵懂,迷糊;vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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9 sublime | |
adj.崇高的,伟大的;极度的,不顾后果的 | |
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10 bosom | |
n.胸,胸部;胸怀;内心;adj.亲密的 | |
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11 looms | |
n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现,阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 );隐约出现,阴森地逼近 | |
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12 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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13 tares | |
荑;稂莠;稗 | |
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14 disarms | |
v.裁军( disarm的第三人称单数 );使息怒 | |
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15 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
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16 exquisite | |
adj.精美的;敏锐的;剧烈的,感觉强烈的 | |
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17 countless | |
adj.无数的,多得不计其数的 | |
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18 inevitable | |
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的 | |
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19 woe | |
n.悲哀,苦痛,不幸,困难;int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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20 austere | |
adj.艰苦的;朴素的,朴实无华的;严峻的 | |
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21 brotherhood | |
n.兄弟般的关系,手中情谊 | |
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22 banish | |
vt.放逐,驱逐;消除,排除 | |
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23 marvel | |
vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异;n.令人惊异的事 | |
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24 shudder | |
v.战粟,震动,剧烈地摇晃;n.战粟,抖动 | |
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25 peculiarities | |
n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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26 dormant | |
adj.暂停活动的;休眠的;潜伏的 | |
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27 elude | |
v.躲避,困惑 | |
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28 solitude | |
n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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29 wrecks | |
n.沉船( wreck的名词复数 );(事故中)遭严重毁坏的汽车(或飞机等);(身体或精神上)受到严重损伤的人;状况非常糟糕的车辆(或建筑物等)v.毁坏[毁灭]某物( wreck的第三人称单数 );使(船舶)失事,使遇难,使下沉 | |
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30 wrath | |
n.愤怒,愤慨,暴怒 | |
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31 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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32 wondrous | |
adj.令人惊奇的,奇妙的;adv.惊人地;异乎寻常地;令人惊叹地 | |
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33 merge | |
v.(使)结合,(使)合并,(使)合为一体 | |
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34 shambles | |
n.混乱之处;废墟 | |
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35 hideous | |
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
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36 perturbed | |
adj.烦燥不安的v.使(某人)烦恼,不安( perturb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37 gore | |
n.凝血,血污;v.(动物)用角撞伤,用牙刺破;缝以补裆;顶 | |
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38 purged | |
清除(政敌等)( purge的过去式和过去分词 ); 涤除(罪恶等); 净化(心灵、风气等); 消除(错事等)的不良影响 | |
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39 survivors | |
幸存者,残存者,生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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40 haughty | |
adj.傲慢的,高傲的 | |
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41 aspirants | |
n.有志向或渴望获得…的人( aspirant的名词复数 )v.渴望的,有抱负的,追求名誉或地位的( aspirant的第三人称单数 );有志向或渴望获得…的人 | |
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42 initiate | |
vt.开始,创始,发动;启蒙,使入门;引入 | |
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43 relentless | |
adj.残酷的,不留情的,无怜悯心的 | |
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44 persecutor | |
n. 迫害者 | |
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45 lust | |
n.性(淫)欲;渴(欲)望;vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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46 daunt | |
vt.使胆怯,使气馁 | |
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47 doom | |
n.厄运,劫数;v.注定,命定 | |
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48 wilt | |
v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎;(指人)疲倦,衰弱 | |
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49 neophyte | |
n.新信徒;开始者 | |
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