"Art thou going to gather moonshine, Aurelius? Why then didst thou not fetch baskets?"
And he would answer, laughing and pointing to his eyes:
And so it was: the moon glimmered11 in his eyes and the sun sparkled therein. But he could not translate them into marble and therein lay the serene12 tragedy of his life.
He was descended13 from an ancient patrician14 race, had a good wife and children, and suffered from no want.
When the obscure rumor15 about Lazarus reached him, he consulted his wife and friends and undertook the far journey to Judea to see him who had miraculously16 risen from the dead. He was somewhat weary in those days and he hoped that the road would sharpen his blunted senses. What was said of Lazarus did not frighten him: he had pondered much over Death, did not like it, but he disliked also those who confused it with life.
"In this life,—life and beauty;
beyond,—Death, the enigmatical"—
thought he, and there is no better thing for a man to do than to delight in life and in the beauty of all things living. He had even a vainglorious17 desire to convince Lazarus of the truth of his own view and restore his soul to life, as his body had been restored. This seemed so much easier because the rumors18, shy and strange, did not render the whole truth about Lazarus and but vaguely19 warned against something frightful20.
Lazarus had just risen from the stone in order to follow the sun which was setting in the desert, when a rich Roman attended by an armed slave, approached him and addressed him in a sonorous21 tone of voice:
"Lazarus!"
And Lazarus beheld22 a superb face, lit with glory, and arrayed in fine clothes, and precious stones sparkling in the sun. The red light lent to the Roman's face and head the appearance of gleaming bronze—that also Lazarus noticed. He resumed obediently his place and lowered his weary eyes.
"Yes, thou art ugly, my poor Lazarus,"—quietly said the Roman, playing with his golden chain; "thou art even horrible, my poor friend; and Death was not lazy that day when thou didst fall so heedlessly into his hands. But thou art stout23, and, as the great Cæsar used to say, fat people are not ill-tempered; to tell the truth, I don't understand why men fear thee. Permit me to spend the night in thy house; the hour is late, and I have no shelter."
Never had anyone asked Lazarus' hospitality.
"I have no bed," said he.
"I am somewhat of a soldier and I can sleep sitting," the Roman answered. "We shall build a fire."
"I have no fire."
"Then we shall have our talk in the darkness, like two friends. I think thou wilt24 find a bottle of wine."
"I have no wine."
The Roman laughed.
"Now I see why thou art so somber25 and dislikest thy second life. No wine! Why, then we shall do without it: there are words that make the head go round better than the Falernian."
By a sign he dismissed the slave, and they remained all alone. And again the sculptor started speaking, but it was as if, together with the setting sun, life had left his words; and they grew pale and hollow, as if they staggered on unsteady feet, as if they slipped and fell down, drunk with the heavy lees of weariness and despair. And black chasms26 grew up between the words—like far-off hints of the great void and the great darkness.
"Now I am thy guest, and thou wilt not be unkind to me, Lazarus!"—said he. "Hospitality is the duty even of those who for three days were dead. Three days, I was told, thou didst rest in the grave. There it must be cold ... and that is whence comes thy ill habit of going without fire and wine. As to me, I like fire; it grows dark here so rapidly.... The lines of thy eyebrows27 and forehead are quite, quite interesting: they are like ruins of strange palaces, buried in ashes after an earthquake. But why dost thou wear such ugly and queer garments? I have seen bridegrooms in thy country, and they wear such clothes—are they not funny—and terrible.... But art thou a bridegroom?"
The sun had already disappeared, a monstrous28 black shadow came running from the east—it was as if gigantic bare feet began rumbling29 on the sand, and the wind sent a cold wave along the backbone30.
"In the darkness thou seemest still larger, Lazarus, as if thou hast grown stouter31 in these moments. Dost thou feed on darkness, Lazarus? I would fain have a little fire—at least a little fire, a little fire. I feel somewhat chilly32, your nights are so barbarously cold.... Were it not so dark, I should say that thou wert looking at me, Lazarus. Yes, it seems to me, thou art looking.... Why, thou art looking at me, I feel it,—but there thou art smiling."
Night came, and filled the air with heavy blackness.
"How well it will be, when the sun will rise to-morrow anew.... I am a great sculptor, thou knowest; that is how my friends call me. I create. Yes, that is the word ... but I need daylight. I give life to the cold marble, I melt sonorous bronze in fire, in bright hot fire.... Why didst thou touch me with thy hand?"
"Come"—said Lazarus—"Thou art my guest."
The slave, seeing that his master did not come, went to seek him, when the sun was already high in the sky. And he beheld his master side by side with Lazarus: in profound silence were they sitting right under the dazzling and scorching34 sunrays and looking upward. The slave began to weep and cried out:
"My master, what has befallen thee, master?"
The very same day the sculptor left for Rome. On the way Aurelius was pensive35 and taciturn, staring attentively36 at everything—the men, the ship, the sea, as though trying to retain something. On the high sea a storm burst upon them, and all through it Aurelius stayed on the deck and eagerly scanned the seas looming37 near and sinking with a thud.
At home his friends were frightened at the change which had taken place in Aurelius, but he calmed them, saying meaningly:
"I have found it."
And without changing the dusty clothes he wore on his journey, he fell to work, and the marble obediently resounded38 under his sonorous hammer. Long and eagerly worked he, admitting no one, until one morning he announced that the work was ready and ordered his friends to be summoned, severe critics and connoisseurs39 of art. And to meet them he put on bright and gorgeous garments, that glittered with yellow gold—and—scarlet byssus.
"Here is my work," said he thoughtfully.
His friends glanced and a shadow of profound sorrow covered their faces. It was something monstrous, deprived of all the lines and shapes familiar to the eye, but not without a hint at some new, strange image.
On a thin, crooked40 twig41, or rather on an ugly likeness42 of a twig rested askew43 a blind, ugly, shapeless, outspread mass of something utterly44 and inconceivably distorted, a mad leap of wild and bizarre fragments, all feebly and vainly striving to part from one another. And, as if by chance, beneath one of the wildly-rent salients a butterfly was chiseled45 with divine skill, all airy loveliness, delicacy46, and beauty, with transparent47 wings, which seemed to tremble with an impotent desire to take flight.
"Wherefore this wonderful butterfly, Aurelius?" said somebody falteringly48.
"I know not"—was the sculptor's answer.
But it was necessary to tell the truth, and one of his friends who loved him best said firmly:
"This is ugly, my poor friend. It must be destroyed. Give me the hammer."
And with two strokes he broke the monstrous man into pieces, leaving only the infinitely49 delicate butterfly untouched.
From that time on Aurelius created nothing. With profound indifference50 he looked at marble and bronze, and on his former divine works, where everlasting51 beauty rested. With the purpose of arousing his former fervent52 passion for work and, awakening53 his deadened soul, his friends took him to see other artists' beautiful works,—but he remained indifferent as before, and the smile did not warm up his tightened54 lips. And only after listening to lengthy55 talks about beauty, he would retort wearily and indolently:
"But all this is a lie."
And by the day, when the sun was shining, he went into his magnificent, skilfully56 built garden and having found a place without shadow, he exposed his bare head to the glare and heat. Red and white butterflies fluttered around; from the crooked lips of a drunken satyr, water streamed down with a splash into a marble cistern57, but he sat motionless and silent,—like a pallid58 reflection of him who, in the far-off distance, at the very gates of the stony59 desert, sat under the fiery60 sun.
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1
renowned
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| adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的 | |
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sculptor
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| n.雕刻家，雕刻家 | |
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wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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embody
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| vt.具体表达，使具体化；包含，收录 | |
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glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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glimmers
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| n.微光，闪光( glimmer的名词复数 )v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的第三人称单数 ) | |
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8
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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9
cypresses
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| n.柏属植物，柏树( cypress的名词复数 ) | |
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tunic
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| n.束腰外衣 | |
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glimmered
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| v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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patrician
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| adj.贵族的，显贵的；n.贵族；有教养的人；罗马帝国的地方官 | |
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15
rumor
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| n.谣言，谣传，传说 | |
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miraculously
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| ad.奇迹般地 | |
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vainglorious
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| adj.自负的；夸大的 | |
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rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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19
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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sonorous
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| adj.响亮的，回响的；adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；n.感人，堂皇 | |
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22
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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24
wilt
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| v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱 | |
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25
somber
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| adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的 | |
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chasms
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| 裂缝( chasm的名词复数 )； 裂口； 分歧； 差别 | |
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27
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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28
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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30
backbone
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| n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气 | |
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31
stouter
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| 粗壮的( stout的比较级 )； 结实的； 坚固的； 坚定的 | |
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32
chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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33
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
scorching
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| adj. 灼热的 | |
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pensive
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| a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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37
looming
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| n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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38
resounded
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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39
connoisseurs
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| n.鉴赏家，鉴定家，行家( connoisseur的名词复数 ) | |
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40
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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41
twig
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| n.小树枝，嫩枝；v.理解 | |
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42
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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43
askew
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| adv.斜地；adj.歪斜的 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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chiseled
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| adj.凿刻的，轮廓分明的v.凿，雕，镌( chisel的过去式 ) | |
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46
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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falteringly
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| 口吃地，支吾地 | |
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infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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50
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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51
everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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52
fervent
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| adj.热的，热烈的，热情的 | |
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53
awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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54
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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55
lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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56
skilfully
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| adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
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57
cistern
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| n.贮水池 | |
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58
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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59
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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