In order to comprehend this we must take down the elaborate edifice of Apollinian culture stone by stone until we discover its foundations.
想了解这一点，我们就必须把梦神阿波罗文化的艺术大厦一砖一石拆除，直至见到它所凭借的基础。
At first the eye is struck by the marvelous shapes of the Olympian gods who stand upon its pediments, and whose exploits, in shining bas-relief, adorn its friezes.
首先，我们发现那些庄严的奥林匹斯神象高据这大厦的山墙上，他们的事迹被刻成光辉四射的浮雕，装饰着腰壁。
The fact that among them we find Apollo as one god among many, making no claim to a privileged position, should not mislead us.
虽则阿波罗不过是与诸神并列的一介之神，没有优越地位的权利，但我们不应因此感到迷惑。
The same drive that found its most complete representation in Apollo generated the whole Olympian world, and in this sense we may consider Apollo the father of that world.
因为整个奥林匹斯神界，总的说来，是从体现在阿波罗神身上的那种冲动诞生的，所以，在这一意义上，阿波罗堪称为神界之父。
But what was the radical need out of which that illustrious society of Olympian beings sprang?
那么，由于甚么不可思议的要求而产生如此辉煌的奥林匹斯神界呢？
Whoever approaches the Olympians with a different religion in his heart, seeking moral elevation, sanctity, spirituality, loving kindness, will presently be forced to turn away from them in ill-humored disappointment.
若是有人怀着别种宗教信念去接近奥林匹斯诸神，想从他们那里寻找道德的高尚，神圣的虔洁，超肉体的灵性，慈祥的秋波，他势必怅然失望，立刻掉首而去了。
Nothing in these deities reminds us of asceticism, high intellect, or duty: we are confronted by luxuriant, triumphant existence, which deifies the good and the bad indifferently.
因为这里没有甚么使人想到遁世，灵性，清规戒律的东西：这里我们只听到精力充沛生意盎然的凯旋，这里存在的一切，不论善恶，都被奉若神明。
And the beholder may find himself dismayed in the presence of such overflowing life and ask himself what potion these heady people must have drunk in order to behold, in whatever direction they looked, Helen laughing back at them, the beguiling image of their own existence.
所以，静观的人，站在如此奇妙的生机充溢的景象之前，定必愕然失措，他要抚心自问：这些豪放不羁的人们到底饮了甚么奇方妙药，而能够这样乐生，所以他们不论向哪里看，都见到海伦（Holena）的微笑，而她正是他们自己在 “情海浮沉”的生活的理想画景？
But we shall call out to this beholder, who has already turned his back: Don't go! Listen first to what the Greeks themselves have to say of this life, which spreads itself before you with such puzzling serenity.
然而，我们必须向业已掉首不顾的静观者高声疾呼：“别跑开，请先听听古希腊民间智慧怎样阐述这种以如此妙不可言的欢乐展开在你眼前的生活”。
An old legend has it that King Midas hunted a long time in the woods for the wise Silenus, companion of Dionysus, without being able to catch him.
有一个古老故事说：“昔日米达斯（Midas）王曾很久在林中寻找酒神的伴侣，聪明的西列诺斯（Se－lenus），但没有找到。
When he had finally caught him the king asked him what he considered man's greatest good.
当西列诺斯终于落到他手上时，王就问他：对于人绝好绝妙的是甚么呢？
The daemon remained sullen and uncommunicative until finally, forced by the king, he broke into a shrill laugh and spoke: "Ephemeral wretch, begotten by accident and toil, why do you force me to tell you what it would be your greatest boon not to hear?
这位神灵呆若木鸡，一言不发，等到王强逼他，他终于在宏亮的笑声中说出这样的话：朝生暮死的可怜虫，无常与忧患的儿子，你为什么强逼我说出你最好是不要听的话呢？
What would be best for you is quite beyond your reach: not to have been born, not to be, to be nothing. But the second best is to die soon."
世间绝好的东西是你永远得不到的，——那就是不要降生，不要存在，成为乌有。但是，对于你次好的是——早死。”
What is the relation of the Olympian gods to this popular wisdom?
奥林匹斯神界对这民间智慧的关系是怎样呢？
It is that of the entranced vision of the martyr to his torment.
就象临刑的殉道者对于自己的苦难感到一种狂喜的幻觉。 |