Whilest Calidore does follow that faire mayd,
Unmindful of his vow1 and high beheast
Which by the Faerie Queene was on him layd.
Spenser, “Faerie Queene,” cant2. x. s. 1.
It was that grey, indistinct, struggling interval3 between the night and the dawn, when Clarence stood once more in his chamber4. The abstruse5 calculations lying on his table caught his eye, and filled him with a sentiment of weariness and distaste. But —“Alas, if we could be always young! Oh, thou horrid6 spectre of the old, rheum-eyed man! What apparition7 can the mystic chamber shadow forth8 more ugly and more hateful than thou? Oh, yes, if we could be always young! But not [thinks the neophyte9 now]— not to labour forever at these crabbed10 figures and these cold compounds of herbs and drugs. No; but to enjoy, to love, to revel11! What should be the companion of youth but pleasure? And the gift of eternal youth may be mine this very hour! What means this prohibition12 of Mejnour’s? Is it not of the same complexion13 as his ungenerous reserve even in the minutest secrets of chemistry, or the numbers of his Cabala?— compelling me to perform all the toils14, and yet withholding15 from me the knowledge of the crowning result? No doubt he will still, on his return, show me that the great mystery CAN be attained17; but will still forbid ME to attain16 it. Is it not as if he desired to keep my youth the slave to his age; to make me dependent solely18 on himself; to bind19 me to a journeyman’s service by perpetual excitement to curiosity, and the sight of the fruits he places beyond my lips?” These, and many reflections still more repining, disturbed and irritated him. Heated with wine — excited by the wild revels20 he had left — he was unable to sleep. The image of that revolting Old Age which Time, unless defeated, must bring upon himself, quickened the eagerness of his desire for the dazzling and imperishable Youth he ascribed to Zanoni. The prohibition only served to create a spirit of defiance21. The reviving day, laughing jocundly22 through his lattice, dispelled23 all the fears and superstitions24 that belong to night. The mystic chamber presented to his imagination nothing to differ from any other apartment in the castle. What foul25 or malignant26 apparition could harm him in the light of that blessed sun! It was the peculiar27, and on the whole most unhappy, contradiction in Glyndon’s nature, that while his reasonings led him to doubt,— and doubt rendered him in MORAL conduct irresolute28 and unsteady; he was PHYSICALLY29 brave to rashness. Nor is this uncommon30: scepticism and presumption31 are often twins. When a man of this character determines upon any action, personal fear never deters32 him; and for the moral fear, any sophistry33 suffices to self-will. Almost without analysing himself the mental process by which his nerves hardened themselves and his limbs moved, he traversed the corridor, gained Mejnour’s apartment, and opened the forbidden door. All was as he had been accustomed to see it, save that on a table in the centre of the room lay open a large volume. He approached, and gazed on the characters on the page; they were in a cipher34, the study of which had made a part of his labours. With but slight difficulty he imagined that he interpreted the meaning of the first sentences, and that they ran thus:—
“To quaff35 the inner life, is to see the outer life: to live in defiance of time, is to live in the whole. He who discovers the elixir36 discovers what lies in space; for the spirit that vivifies the frame strengthens the senses. There is attraction in the elementary principle of light. In the lamps of Rosicrucius the fire is the pure elementary principle. Kindle37 the lamps while thou openst the vessel38 that contains the elixir, and the light attracts towards thee those beings whose life is that light. Beware of Fear. Fear is the deadliest enemy to Knowledge.” Here the ciphers39 changed their character, and became incomprehensible. But had he not read enough? Did not the last sentence suffice?—“Beware of Fear!” It was as if Mejnour had purposely left the page open,— as if the trial was, in truth, the reverse of the one pretended; as if the mystic had designed to make experiment of his COURAGE while affecting but that of his FORBEARANCE. Not Boldness, but Fear, was the deadliest enemy to Knowledge. He moved to the shelves on which the crystal vases were placed; with an untrembling hand he took from one of them the stopper, and a delicious odor suddenly diffused40 itself through the room. The air sparkled as if with a diamond-dust. A sense of unearthly delight,— of an existence that seemed all spirit, flashed through his whole frame; and a faint, low, but exquisite41 music crept, thrilling, through the chamber. At this moment he heard a voice in the corridor calling on his name; and presently there was a knock at the door without. “Are you there, signor?” said the clear tones of Maestro Paolo. Glyndon hastily reclosed and replaced the vial, and bidding Paolo await him in his own apartment, tarried till he heard the intruder’s steps depart; he then reluctantly quitted the room. As he locked the door, he still heard the dying strain of that fairy music; and with a light step and a joyous42 heart he repaired to Paolo, inly resolving to visit again the chamber at an hour when his experiment would be safe from interruption.
As he crossed his threshold, Paolo started back, and exclaimed, “Why, Excellency! I scarcely recognise you! Amusement, I see, is a great beautifier to the young. Yesterday you looked so pale and haggard; but Fillide’s merry eyes have done more for you than the Philosopher’s Stone (saints forgive me for naming it) ever did for the wizards.” And Glyndon, glancing at the old Venetian mirror as Paolo spoke43, was scarcely less startled than Paolo himself at the change in his own mien44 and bearing. His form, before bent45 with thought, seemed to him taller by half the head, so lithesome and erect46 rose his slender stature47; his eyes glowed, his cheeks bloomed with health and the innate48 and pervading49 pleasure. If the mere50 fragrance51 of the elixir was thus potent52, well might the alchemists have ascribed life and youth to the draught53!
“You must forgive me, Excellency, for disturbing you,” said Paolo, producing a letter from his pouch54; “but our Patron has just written to me to say that he will be here tomorrow, and desired me to lose not a moment in giving to yourself this billet, which he enclosed.”
“Who brought the letter?”
“A horseman, who did not wait for any reply.”
Glyndon opened the letter, and read as follows:—
“I return a week sooner than I had intended, and you will expect me tomorrow. You will then enter on the ordeal55 you desire, but remember that, in doing so, you must reduce Being as far as possible into Mind. The senses must be mortified56 and subdued,— not the whisper of one passion heard. Thou mayst be master of the Cabala and the Chemistry; but thou must be master also over the Flesh and the Blood,— over Love and Vanity, Ambition and Hate. I will trust to find thee so. Fast and meditate57 till we meet!”
Glyndon crumpled58 the letter in his hand with a smile of disdain59. What! more drudgery,— more abstinence! Youth without love and pleasure! Ha, ha! baffled Mejnour, thy pupil shall gain thy secrets without thine aid!
“And Fillide! I passed her cottage in my way,— she blushed and sighed when I jested her about you, Excellency!”
“Well, Paolo! I thank thee for so charming an introduction. Thine must be a rare life.”
“Ah, Excellency, while we are young, nothing like adventure,— except love, wine, and laughter!”
“Very true. Farewell, Maestro Paolo; we will talk more with each other in a few days.”
All that morning Glyndon was almost overpowered with the new sentiment of happiness that had entered into him. He roamed into the woods, and he felt a pleasure that resembled his earlier life of an artist, but a pleasure yet more subtle and vivid, in the various colours of the autumn foliage60. Certainly Nature seemed to be brought closer to him; he comprehended better all that Mejnour had often preached to him of the mystery of sympathies and attractions. He was about to enter into the same law as those mute children of the forests. He was to know THE RENEWAL61 OF LIFE; the seasons that chilled to winter should yet bring again the bloom and the mirth of spring. Man’s common existence is as one year to the vegetable world: he has his spring, his summer, his autumn, and winter,— but only ONCE. But the giant oaks round him go through a revolving62 series of verdure and youth, and the green of the centenarian is as vivid in the beams of May as that of the sapling by its side. “Mine shall be your spring, but not your winter!” exclaimed the aspirant63.
Wrapped in these sanguine64 and joyous reveries, Glyndon, quitting the woods, found himself amidst cultivated fields and vineyards to which his footstep had not before wandered; and there stood, by the skirts of a green lane that reminded him of verdant65 England, a modest house,— half cottage, half farm. The door was open, and he saw a girl at work with her distaff. She looked up, uttered a slight cry, and, tripping gayly into the lane to his side, he recognised the dark-eyed Fillide.
“Hist!” she said, archly putting her finger to her lip; “do not speak loud,— my mother is asleep within; and I knew you would come to see me. It is kind!”
Glyndon, with a little embarrassment66, accepted the compliment to his kindness, which he did not exactly deserve. “You have thought, then, of me, fair Fillide?”
“Yes,” answered the girl, colouring, but with that frank, bold ingenuousness67, which characterises the females of Italy, especially of the lower class, and in the southern provinces,—“oh, yes! I have thought of little else. Paolo said he knew you would visit me.”
“And what relation is Paolo to you?”
“None; but a good friend to us all. My brother is one of his band.”
“One of his band!— a robber?”
“We of the mountains do not call a mountaineer ‘a robber,’ signor.”
“I ask pardon. Do you not tremble sometimes for your brother’s life? The law —”
“Law never ventures into these defiles68. Tremble for him! No. My father and grandsire were of the same calling. I often wish I were a man!”
“By these lips, I am enchanted69 that your wish cannot be realised.”
“Fie, signor! And do you really love me?”
“With my whole heart!”
“And I thee!” said the girl, with a candour that seemed innocent, as she suffered him to clasp her hand.
“But,” she added, “thou wilt70 soon leave us; and I—” She stopped short, and the tears stood in her eyes.
There was something dangerous in this, it must be confessed. Certainly Fillide had not the seraphic loveliness of Viola; but hers was a beauty that equally at least touched the senses. Perhaps Glyndon had never really loved Viola; perhaps the feelings with which she had inspired him were not of that ardent71 character which deserves the name of love. However that be, he thought, as he gazed on those dark eyes, that he had never loved before.
“And couldst thou not leave thy mountains?” he whispered, as he drew yet nearer to her.
“Dost thou ask me?” she said, retreating, and looking him steadfastly72 in the face. “Dost thou know what we daughters of the mountains are? You gay, smooth cavaliers of cities seldom mean what you speak. With you, love is amusement; with us, it is life. Leave these mountains! Well! I should not leave my nature.”
“Keep thy nature ever,— it is a sweet one.”
“Yes, sweet while thou art true; stern, if thou art faithless. Shall I tell thee what I— what the girls of this country are? Daughters of men whom you call robbers, we aspire73 to be the companions of our lovers or our husbands. We love ardently74; we own it boldly. We stand by your side in danger; we serve you as slaves in safety: we never change, and we resent change. You may reproach, strike us, trample75 us as a dog,— we bear all without a murmur76; betray us, and no tiger is more relentless77. Be true, and our hearts reward you; be false, and our hands revenge! Dost thou love me now?”
During this speech the Italian’s countenance78 had most eloquently79 aided her words,— by turns soft, frank, fierce,— and at the last question she inclined her head humbly80, and stood, as in fear of his reply, before him. The stern, brave, wild spirit, in which what seemed unfeminine was yet, if I may so say, still womanly, did not recoil81, it rather captivated Glyndon. He answered readily, briefly82, and freely, “Fillide,— yes!”
Oh, “yes!” forsooth, Clarence Glyndon! Every light nature answers “yes” lightly to such a question from lips so rosy83! Have a care,— have a care! Why the deuce, Mejnour, do you leave your pupil of four-and-twenty to the mercy of these wild cats-a-mountain! Preach fast, and abstinence, and sublime84 renunciation of the cheats of the senses! Very well in you, sir, Heaven knows how many ages old; but at four-and-twenty, your Hierophant would have kept you out of Fillide’s way, or you would have had small taste for the Cabala.
And so they stood, and talked, and vowed85, and whispered, till the girl’s mother made some noise within the house, and Fillide bounded back to the distaff, her finger once more on her lip.
“There is more magic in Fillide than in Mejnour,” said Glyndon to himself, walking gayly home; “yet on second thoughts, I know not if I quite so well like a character so ready for revenge. But he who has the real secret can baffle even the vengeance86 of a woman, and disarm87 all danger!”
Sirrah! dost thou even already meditate the possibility of treason? Oh, well said Zanoni, “to pour pure water into the muddy well does but disturb the mud.”
收听单词发音 |
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vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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cant
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| n.斜穿，黑话，猛扔 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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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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abstruse
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| adj.深奥的，难解的 | |
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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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apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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neophyte
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| n.新信徒；开始者 | |
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crabbed
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| adj.脾气坏的；易怒的；（指字迹）难辨认的；（字迹等）难辨认的v.捕蟹( crab的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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revel
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| vi.狂欢作乐，陶醉；n.作乐，狂欢 | |
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prohibition
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| n.禁止；禁令，禁律 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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toils
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| 网 | |
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withholding
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| 扣缴税款 | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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revels
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| n.作乐( revel的名词复数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉v.作乐( revel的第三人称单数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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jocundly
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| adv.愉快地，快活地 | |
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dispelled
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| v.驱散，赶跑( dispel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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superstitions
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| 迷信，迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 ) | |
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foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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irresolute
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| adj.无决断的，优柔寡断的，踌躇不定的 | |
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physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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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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deters
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| v.阻止，制止( deter的第三人称单数 ) | |
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sophistry
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| n.诡辩 | |
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cipher
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| n.零；无影响力的人；密码 | |
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quaff
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| v.一饮而尽；痛饮 | |
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elixir
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| n.长生不老药，万能药 | |
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kindle
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| v.点燃，着火 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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ciphers
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| n.密码( cipher的名词复数 )；零；不重要的人；无价值的东西 | |
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diffused
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| 散布的，普及的，扩散的 | |
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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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joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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mien
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| n.风采；态度 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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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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stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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innate
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| adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的 | |
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pervading
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的现在分词 ) | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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pouch
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| n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件 | |
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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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mortified
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| v.使受辱( mortify的过去式和过去分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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meditate
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| v.想，考虑，（尤指宗教上的）沉思，冥想 | |
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crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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renewal
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| adj.(契约)延期，续订，更新，复活，重来 | |
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revolving
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| adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想 | |
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aspirant
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| n.热望者；adj.渴望的 | |
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sanguine
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| adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的 | |
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verdant
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| adj.翠绿的，青翠的，生疏的，不老练的 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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ingenuousness
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| n.率直；正直；老实 | |
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defiles
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| v.玷污( defile的第三人称单数 )；污染；弄脏；纵列行进 | |
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enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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wilt
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| v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱 | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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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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aspire
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| vi.(to，after)渴望，追求，有志于 | |
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74
ardently
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| adv.热心地，热烈地 | |
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75
trample
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| vt.踩，践踏；无视，伤害，侵犯 | |
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76
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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77
relentless
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| adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的 | |
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78
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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79
eloquently
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| adv. 雄辩地(有口才地, 富于表情地) | |
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80
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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81
recoil
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| vi.退却，退缩，畏缩 | |
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82
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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83
rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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84
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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85
vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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86
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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87
disarm
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| v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和 | |
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