Man is the eye of things.
Euryph, “de Vit. Hum.”
...There is, therefore, a certain ecstatical or transporting
power, which, if at any time it shall be excited or stirred up by
an ardent1 desire and most strong imagination, is able to conduct
the spirit of the more outward even to some absent and
far-distant object.
Von Helmont.
The rooms that Mejnour occupied consisted of two chambers3 communicating with each other, and a third in which he slept. All these rooms were placed in the huge square tower that beetled4 over the dark and bush-grown precipice5. The first chamber2 which Glyndon entered was empty. With a noiseless step he passed on, and opened the door that admitted into the inner one. He drew back at the threshold, overpowered by a strong fragrance6 which filled the chamber: a kind of mist thickened the air rather than obscured it, for this vapour was not dark, but resembled a snow-cloud moving slowly, and in heavy undulations, wave upon wave regularly over the space. A mortal cold struck to the Englishman’s heart, and his blood froze. He stood rooted to the spot; and as his eyes strained involuntarily through the vapour, he fancied (for he could not be sure that it was not the trick of his imagination) that he saw dim, spectre-like, but gigantic forms floating through the mist; or was it not rather the mist itself that formed its vapours fantastically into those moving, impalpable, and bodiless apparitions7? A great painter of antiquity8 is said, in a picture of Hades, to have represented the monsters that glide9 through the ghostly River of the Dead, so artfully, that the eye perceived at once that the river itself was but a spectre, and the bloodless things that tenanted it had no life, their forms blending with the dead waters till, as the eye continued to gaze, it ceased to discern them from the preternatural element they were supposed to inhabit. Such were the moving outlines that coiled and floated through the mist; but before Glyndon had even drawn10 breath in this atmosphere — for his life itself seemed arrested or changed into a kind of horrid11 trance — he felt his hand seized, and he was led from that room into the outer one. He heard the door close,— his blood rushed again through his veins12, and he saw Mejnour by his side. Strong convulsions then suddenly seized his whole frame,— he fell to the ground insensible. When he recovered, he found himself in the open air in a rude balcony of stone that jutted13 from the chamber, the stars shining serenely15 over the dark abyss below, and resting calmly upon the face of the mystic, who stood beside him with folded arms.
“Young man,” said Mejnour, “judge by what you have just felt, how dangerous it is to seek knowledge until prepared to receive it. Another moment in the air of that chamber and you had been a corpse16.”
“Then of what nature was the knowledge that you, once mortal like myself, could safely have sought in that icy atmosphere, which it was death for me to breathe? Mejnour,” continued Glyndon, and his wild desire, sharpened by the very danger he had passed, once more animated17 and nerved him, “I am prepared at least for the first steps. I come to you as of old the pupil to the Hierophant, and demand the initiation18.”
Mejnour passed his hand over the young man’s heart,— it beat loud, regularly, and boldly. He looked at him with something almost like admiration19 in his passionless and frigid20 features, and muttered, half to himself, “Surely, in so much courage the true disciple21 is found at last.” Then, speaking aloud, he added, “Be it so; man’s first initiation is in TRANCE. In dreams commences all human knowledge; in dreams hovers22 over measureless space the first faint bridge between spirit and spirit,— this world and the worlds beyond! Look steadfastly23 on yonder star!”
Glyndon obeyed, and Mejnour retired24 into the chamber, from which there then slowly emerged a vapour, somewhat paler and of fainter odour than that which had nearly produced so fatal an effect on his frame. This, on the contrary, as it coiled around him, and then melted in thin spires25 into the air, breathed a refreshing26 and healthful fragrance. He still kept his eyes on the star, and the star seemed gradually to fix and command his gaze. A sort of languor27 next seized his frame, but without, as he thought, communicating itself to the mind; and as this crept over him, he felt his temples sprinkled with some volatile28 and fiery29 essence. At the same moment a slight tremor30 shook his limbs and thrilled through his veins. The languor increased, still he kept his gaze upon the star, and now its luminous31 circumference32 seemed to expand and dilate33. It became gradually softer and clearer in its light; spreading wider and broader, it diffused34 all space,— all space seemed swallowed up in it. And at last, in the midst of a silver shining atmosphere, he felt as if something burst within his brain,— as if a strong chain were broken; and at that moment a sense of heavenly liberty, of unutterable delight, of freedom from the body, of birdlike lightness, seemed to float him into the space itself. “Whom, now upon earth, dost thou wish to see?” whispered the voice of Mejnour. “Viola and Zanoni!” answered Glyndon, in his heart; but he felt that his lips moved not.
Suddenly at that thought,— through this space, in which nothing save one mellow35 translucent36 light had been discernible,— a swift succession of shadowy landscapes seemed to roll: trees, mountains, cities, seas, glided37 along like the changes of a phantasmagoria; and at last, settled and stationary38, he saw a cave by the gradual marge of an ocean shore,— myrtles and orange-trees clothing the gentle banks. On a height, at a distance, gleamed the white but shattered relics39 of some ruined heathen edifice40; and the moon, in calm splendour, shining over all, literally41 bathed with its light two forms without the cave, at whose feet the blue waters crept, and he thought that he even heard them murmur42. He recognised both the figures. Zanoni was seated on a fragment of stone; Viola, half-reclining by his side, was looking into his face, which was bent43 down to her, and in her countenance44 was the expression of that perfect happiness which belongs to perfect love. “Wouldst thou hear them speak?” whispered Mejnour; and again, without sound, Glyndon inly answered, “Yes!” Their voices then came to his ear, but in tones that seemed to him strange; so subdued45 were they, and sounding, as it were, so far off, that they were as voices heard in the visions of some holier men from a distant sphere.
“And how is it,” said Viola, “that thou canst find pleasure in listening to the ignorant?”
“Because the heart is never ignorant; because the mysteries of the feelings are as full of wonder as those of the intellect. If at times thou canst not comprehend the language of my thoughts, at times also I hear sweet enigmas46 in that of thy emotions.”
“Ah, say not so!” said Viola, winding47 her arm tenderly round his neck, and under that heavenly light her face seemed lovelier for its blushes. “For the enigmas are but love’s common language, and love should solve them. Till I knew thee,— till I lived with thee; till I learned to watch for thy footstep when absent: yet even in absence to see thee everywhere!— I dreamed not how strong and all-pervading is the connection between nature and the human soul!...
“And yet,” she continued, “I am now assured of what I at first believed,— that the feelings which attracted me towards thee at first were not those of love. I know THAT, by comparing the present with the past,— it was a sentiment then wholly of the mind or the spirit! I could not hear thee now say, ‘Viola, be happy with another!’”
“And I could not now tell thee so! Ah, Viola, never be weary of assuring me that thou art happy!”
“Happy while thou art so. Yet at times, Zanoni, thou art so sad!”
“Because human life is so short; because we must part at last; because yon moon shines on when the nightingale sings to it no more! A little while, and thine eyes will grow dim, and thy beauty haggard, and these locks that I toy with now will be grey and loveless.”
“And thou, cruel one!” said Viola, touchingly48, “I shall never see the signs of age in thee! But shall we not grow old together, and our eyes be accustomed to a change which the heart shall not share!”
Zanoni sighed. He turned away, and seemed to commune with himself.
Glyndon’s attention grew yet more earnest.
“But were it so,” muttered Zanoni; and then looking steadfastly at Viola, he said, with a half-smile, “Hast thou no curiosity to learn more of the lover thou once couldst believe the agent of the Evil One?”
“None; all that one wishes to know of the beloved one, I know — THAT THOU LOVEST ME!”
“I have told thee that my life is apart from others. Wouldst thou not seek to share it?”
“I share it now!”
“But were it possible to be thus young and fair forever, till the world blazes round us as one funeral pyre!”
“We shall be so, when we leave the world!”
Zanoni was mute for some moments, and at length he said,—
“Canst thou recall those brilliant and aerial dreams which once visited thee, when thou didst fancy that thou wert preordained to some fate aloof49 and afar from the common children of the earth?”
“Zanoni, the fate is found.”
“And hast thou no terror of the future?”
“The future! I forget it! Time past and present and to come reposes51 in thy smile. Ah, Zanoni, play not with the foolish credulities of my youth! I have been better and humbler since thy presence has dispelled52 the mist of the air. The future!— well, when I have cause to dread53 it, I will look up to heaven, and remember who guides our fate!”
As she lifted her eyes above, a dark cloud swept suddenly over the scene. It wrapped the orange-trees, the azure54 ocean, the dense55 sands; but still the last images that it veiled from the charmed eyes of Glyndon were the forms of Viola and Zanoni. The face of the one rapt, serene14, and radiant; the face of the other, dark, thoughtful, and locked in more than its usual rigidness56 of melancholy57 beauty and profound repose50.
“Rouse thyself,” said Mejnour; “thy ordeal58 has commenced! There are pretenders to the solemn science who could have shown thee the absent, and prated59 to thee, in their charlatanic jargon60, of the secret electricities and the magnetic fluid of whose true properties they know but the germs and elements. I will lend thee the books of those glorious dupes, and thou wilt61 find, in the dark ages, how many erring62 steps have stumbled upon the threshold of the mighty63 learning, and fancied they had pierced the temple. Hermes and Albert and Paracelsus, I knew ye all; but, noble as ye were, ye were fated to be deceived. Ye had not souls of faith, and daring fitted for the destinies at which ye aimed! Yet Paracelsus — modest Paracelsus — had an arrogance64 that soared higher than all our knowledge. Ho, ho!— he thought he could make a race of men from chemistry; he arrogated65 to himself the Divine gift,— the breath of life. (Paracelsus, ‘De Nat. Rer.,’ lib. i.)
“He would have made men, and, after all, confessed that they could be but pygmies! My art is to make men above mankind. But you are impatient of my digressions. Forgive me. All these men (they were great dreamers, as you desire to be) were intimate friends of mine. But they are dead and rotten. They talked of spirits,— but they dreaded66 to be in other company than that of men. Like orators67 whom I have heard, when I stood by the Pnyx of Athens, blazing with words like comets in the assembly, and extinguishing their ardour like holiday rockets when they were in the field. Ho, ho! Demosthenes, my hero-coward, how nimble were thy heels at Chaeronea! And thou art impatient still! Boy, I could tell thee such truths of the past as would make thee the luminary68 of schools. But thou lustest only for the shadows of the future. Thou shalt have thy wish. But the mind must be first exercised and trained. Go to thy room, and sleep; fast austerely69, read no books; meditate70, imagine, dream, bewilder thyself if thou wilt. Thought shapes out its own chaos71 at last. Before midnight, seek me again!”
收听单词发音 |
1
ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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beetled
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| v.快速移动( beetle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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apparitions
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| n.特异景象( apparition的名词复数 )；幽灵；鬼；（特异景象等的）出现 | |
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antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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glide
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| n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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jutted
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| v.（使）突出( jut的过去式和过去分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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14
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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initiation
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| n.开始 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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frigid
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| adj.寒冷的，凛冽的；冷淡的；拘禁的 | |
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disciple
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| n.信徒，门徒，追随者 | |
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hovers
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| 鸟( hover的第三人称单数 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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steadfastly
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| adv.踏实地，不变地；岿然；坚定不渝 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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spires
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| n.（教堂的） 塔尖，尖顶( spire的名词复数 ) | |
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refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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languor
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| n.无精力，倦怠 | |
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28
volatile
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| adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质 | |
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29
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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tremor
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| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
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luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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circumference
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| n.圆周，周长，圆周线 | |
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dilate
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| vt.使膨胀，使扩大 | |
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diffused
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| 散布的，普及的，扩散的 | |
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mellow
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| adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟 | |
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translucent
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| adj.半透明的；透明的 | |
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glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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stationary
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| adj.固定的，静止不动的 | |
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relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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40
edifice
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| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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43
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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44
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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45
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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enigmas
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| n.难于理解的问题、人、物、情况等，奥秘( enigma的名词复数 ) | |
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47
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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48
touchingly
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| adv.令人同情地，感人地，动人地 | |
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49
aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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50
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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51
reposes
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的第三人称单数 ) | |
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52
dispelled
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| v.驱散，赶跑( dispel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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azure
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| adj.天蓝色的，蔚蓝色的 | |
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dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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rigidness
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| n.坚硬，劲直 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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prated
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| v.（古时用语）唠叨，啰唆( prate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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jargon
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| n.术语，行话 | |
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61
wilt
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| v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱 | |
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erring
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| 做错事的，错误的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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arrogance
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| n.傲慢，自大 | |
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65
arrogated
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| 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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dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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orators
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| n.演说者，演讲家( orator的名词复数 ) | |
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68
luminary
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| n.名人，天体 | |
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69
austerely
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| adv.严格地，朴质地 | |
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70
meditate
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| v.想，考虑，（尤指宗教上的）沉思，冥想 | |
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chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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