MANFRED: The lamp must be replenish’d, but even then / It will not burn so long as I must watch: / My slumbers—if I slumber—are not sleep, / But a continuance of enduring thought, / Which then I can resist not: in my heart / There is a vigil, and these eyes but close / To look within; and yet I live, and bear / The aspect and the form of breathing men.
但悲痛本身应启迪智者。忧伤即是知识。知道得最深的人，必为那致命的真理哀悼最深：知识树并非生命树。
But grief should be the instructor of the wise; / Sorrow is knowledge: they who know the most / Must mourn the deepest o’er the fatal truth, / The Tree of Knowledge is not that of Life.
Philosophy and science, and the springs / Of wonder, and the wisdom of the world, / I have essay’d, and in my mind there is / A power to make these subject to itself— / But they avail not: I have done men good, / And I have met with good even among men— / But this avail’d not: I have had my foes, / And none have baffled, many fallen before me— / But this avail’d not:—Good, or evil, life, / Powers, passions, all I see in other beings, / Have been to me as rain unto the sands, / Since that all-nameless hour.
I have no dread, / And feel the curse to have no natural fear, / Nor fluttering throb, that beats with hopes or wishes, / Or winds itself about the petty existence / Of gentle companions.
Mysterious Agency! / Ye spirits of the unbounded Universe! / Whom I have sought in darkness and in light— / Ye, who do compass earth about, and dwell / In subtler essence—ye, to whom the tops / Of mountains inaccessible are haunts, / And earth’s and ocean’s caves familiar things— / I call upon ye by the written charm / Which gives me power upon you—Rise! Appear!
(他们还不来。)
(A pause.) They come not yet.
现在，以你们之中为首者的声音——以这令你们战栗的印记——以那不朽者的名义！现身！出现！出现！
Now by the voice of him who is the first / Among you—by this sign, which makes you tremble— / By the reluctant spirit of which is her / But for a time, I summon ye—Rise! Appear! Appear!
Spirits of earth and air, / Ye shall not thus elude me: by a power, / Deeper than all yet urged, a tyrant-spell, / Which had its birth in a celestial curse, / A starry constellation, and a thing / Of burning wreck, or a wandering hell / In the eternal space; by the strong curse / Which is upon my soul, and shall be on yours, / Till I compassed by what I seek, / I do compel ye to my will—Rise!
(停顿。随后传来众灵的声音。)
(A pause. A Seventh Spirit appears with the voices of the others.)
FIRST SPIRIT: Mortal! to thy bidding bow’d, / From my mansion in the cloud, / Which the breath of twilight builds, / And the summer’s sunbeam gilds / With the azure and vermilion, / Which is mix’d for my pavilion; / Though thy quest may be forbidden, / On a star-beam I have ridden: / To thine adjuration bow’d, / Mortal—be thy wish avow’d!
SECOND SPIRIT: Mont Blanc is the monarch of mountains; / They crown’d him long ago / On a throne of rocks, in a robe of clouds, / With a diadem of snow. / Around his waist are forests braced, / The Avalanche in his hand; / But ere it fall, that thundering ball / Must pause for my command. / The Glacier’s cold and restless mass / Moves onward day by day; / But I am he who bids it pass, / Or with its ice delay. / I am the Spirit of the place, / Could make the mountain bow / And quiver to his cavern’d base— / What with me wouldst thou?
THIRD SPIRIT: In the blue depth of the waters, / Where the wave hath no strife, / Where the wind is a stranger, / And the sea-snake hath life, / Where the Mermaid is decking / Her green hair with shells, / Like the storm on the surface / Came the sound of thy spells; / O’er my calm Hall of Coral / The deep echo roll’d— / To the Spirit of Ocean / Thy wishes unfold!
FOURTH SPIRIT: Where the slumbering earthquake / Lies pillow’d on fire, / And the lakes of bitumen / Rise boilingly higher; / Where the roots of the Andes / Strike deep in the earth, / As their summits to heaven / Shoot soaringly forth; / I have quitted my birthplace, / Thy bidding to bide— / Thy spell hath subdued me, / Thy will be my guide!
FIFTH SPIRIT: I am the Rider of the wind, / The Stirrer of the storm; / The hurricane I left behind / Is yet with lightning warm; / To speed to thee, o’er shore and sea / I swept upon the blast: / The fleet I met sail’d cheerfully, / For the last time they pass’d.
第六精灵的声音： 我的居所是夜的阴影。你的魔法为何要用光来折磨我？
SIXTH SPIRIT: My dwelling is the shadow of the night, / Why doth thy magic torture me with light?
SEVENTH SPIRIT: The star which rules thy destiny / Was ruled, ere earth began, by me: / It was a world as fresh and fair / As e’er revolved round sun in air; / Its course was free and regular, / Space bosom’d not a lovelier star. / The hour arrived—and it became / A wandering mass of shapeless flame, / A pathless comet, and a curse, / The menace of the universe; / Still rolling on with innate force, / Without a sphere, without a course, / A bright deformity on high, / The monster of the upper sky!
And thou! beneath its influence born— / Thou worm! whom I obey and scorn— / Forced by a power (which is not thine, / And lent thee but to make thee mine) / For this brief moment to descend, / Where these weak spirits round thee bend / And parley with a thing like thee— / What wouldst thou, Child of Clay! with me?
THE SEVEN SPIRITS: Earth, ocean, air, night, mountains, winds, thy star, / Are at thy beck and bidding, Child of Clay! / Before thee at thy quest their spirits are— / What wouldst thou with us, son of mortals—say?
曼弗雷德： 忘却……
MANFRED: Forgetfulness—
第一精灵： 忘却什么？忘却谁？为何要忘？
FIRST SPIRIT: Of what—of whom—and why?
曼弗雷德： 忘却我内心之物。读读那里吧。你们知道它，而我无法言说。
MANFRED: Of that which is within me; read it there— / Ye know it, and I cannot utter it.
SPIRIT: We can but give thee that which we possess: / Ask of us subjects, sovereignty, the power / O’er earth—the whole, or portion—or a sign / Which shall control the elements, whereof / We are the dominators, each and all, / These shall be thine.
曼弗雷德： 湮灭。自我的湮灭。难道你们不能从你们如此慷慨提供的隐秘领域中，榨取出我所求之物吗？
MANFRED: Oblivion, self-oblivion! / Can ye not wring from out the hidden realms / Ye offer so profusely what I ask?
精灵： 那不在我们的本质里，不在我们的能力中……但是——你可以死去。
SPIRIT: It is not in our essence, in our skill; / But—thou may’st die.
MANFRED: Ye mock me—but the power which brought ye here / Hath made you mine. Slaves, scoff not at my will! / The mind, the spirit, the Promethean spark, / The lightning of my being, is as bright, / Pervading, and far-darting as your own, / And shall not yield to yours, though coop’d in clay! / Answer, or I will teach you what I am.
精灵： 我们的回答一如之前；我们的答复正在你自己的话语之中。
SPIRIT: We answer as we answer’d; our reply / Is even in thine own words.
SPIRIT: Yet pause: being here, our will would do thee service; / Bethink thee, is there then no other gift / Which we can make not worthless in thine eyes?
MANFRED: No, none: yet stay—one moment, ere we part— / I would behold ye face to face. I hear / Your voices, sweet and melancholy sounds, / As music on the waters; and I see / The steady aspect of a clear large star; / But nothing more. Approach me as ye are, / Or one, or all, in your accustom’d forms.
MANFRED: I have no choice; there is no form on earth / Hideous or beautiful to me. Let him, / Who is most powerful of ye, take such aspect / As unto him may seem most fitting—Come!
第七精灵：(以一位美丽女性形象显现。) 看！
SEVENTH SPIRIT: (Appearing in the shape of a beautiful female figure.) Behold!
MANFRED: Oh God! if it be thus, and thou / Art not a madness and a mockery, / I yet might be most happy. I will clasp thee, / And we again will be—
(他难以自持。) 我的心……碎了！
(The figure vanishes.) My heart is crush’d!
(曼弗雷德不省人事，倒地。一个声音响起，吟诵下述咒语。)
(MANFRED falls senseless. A Voice is heard in the Incantation which follows.)
那个声音： 当月光洒在波浪，萤火虫闪烁于草丛，流星划过坟茔，鬼火游荡在沼泽；当流星纷纷坠落，猫头鹰彼此应和，寂静的叶子不再作响，在山峦的阴影里——我的灵魂将缠绕你的灵魂，带着力量与印记。 VOICE: When the moon is on the wave, / And the glow-worm in the grass, / And the meteor on the grave, / And the wisp on the morass; / When the falling stars are shooting, / And the answer’d owls are hooting, / And the silent leaves are still / In the shadow of the hill, / Shall my soul be upon thine, / With a power and with a sign.
Though thy slumber may be deep, / Yet thy spirit shall not sleep; / There are shades which will not vanish, / There are thoughts thou canst not banish; / By a power to thee unknown, / Thou canst never be alone; / Thou art wrapt as with a shroud, / Thou art gather’d in a cloud; / And for ever shalt thou dwell / In the spirit of this spell.
Though thou seest me not pass by, / Thou shalt feel me with thine eye / As a thing that, though unseen, / Must be near thee, and hath been; / And when in thy secret dread / Thou hast turn’d around thy head, / Thou shalt marvel I am not / As thy shadow on the spot, / And the power which thou dost feel / Shall be what thou must conceal.
And a magic voice and verse / Hath baptized thee with a curse; / And a spirit of the air / Hath begirt thee with a snare; / In the wind there is a voice / Shall forbid thee to rejoice; / And to thee shall Night deny / All the quiet of her sky; / And the Day shall have a sun, / Which shall make thee wish it done.
From thy false tears I did distil / An essence which hath strength to kill; / From thy own heart I then did wring / The black blood in its blackest spring; / From thy own smile I snatch’d the snake, / For there it coil’d as in a brake; / From thy own lip I drew the charm / Which gave all these their chiefest harm; / In proving every poison known, / I found the strongest was thine own.
By thy cold breast and serpent smile, / By thy unfathom’d gulfs of guile, / By that most seeming virtuous eye, / By thy shut soul’s hypocrisy; / By the perfection of thine art / Which pass’d for human thine own heart; / By thy delight in others’ pain, / And by thy brotherhood of Cain, / I call upon thee! and compel / Thyself to be thy proper Hell!
And on thy head I pour the vial / Which doth devote thee to this trial; / Nor to slumber, nor to die, / Shall be in thy destiny; / Though thy death shall still seem near / To thy wish, but as a fear; / Lo! the spell now binds thee, / And the clankless chain hath bound thee; / O’er thy heart and brain together / Hath the word been pass’d—now wither!
MANFRED: The spirits I have raised abandon me, / The spells which I have studied baffle me, / The remedy I reck’d of tortured me; / I lean no more on superhuman aid, / It hath no power upon the past, and for / The future, till the past be gulf’d in darkness, / It is not of my search.
My mother Earth! / And thou fresh-breaking Day, and you, ye Mountains, / Why are ye beautiful? I cannot love ye. / And thou, the bright eye of the universe, / That openest over all, and unto all / Art a delight—thou shin’st not on my heart.
And you, ye crags, upon whose extreme edge / I stand, and on the torrent’s brink beneath / Behold the tall pines dwindled as to shrubs / In dizziness of distance; when a leap, / A stir, a motion, even a breath, would bring / My breast upon its rocky bosom’s bed / To rest for ever—wherefore do I pause?
I feel the impulse—yet I do not plunge; / I see the peril—yet do not recede; / And my brain dizzies—yet my foot is firm; / There is a power upon me which withholds, / And makes it my fatality to live; / If it be life to wear within myself / This barrenness of spirit, and to be / My own soul’s sepulchre, for I have ceased / To justify my deeds unto myself— / The last infirmity of evil.
MANFRED (cont.): Ay, / Thou winged and cloud-cleaving minister, / Whose happy flight is highest into heaven, / Well may’st thou swoop so near me—I should be / Thy prey, and gorge thine eaglets; thou art gone / Where the eye cannot follow thee; but thine / Yet pierces downward, onward, or above, / With a pervading vision.—Beautiful!
How beautiful is all this visible world! / How glorious in its action and itself! / But we, who name ourselves its sovereigns, we, / Half dust, half deity, alike unfit / To sink or soar, with our mix’d essence make / A conflict of its elements, and breathe / The breath of degradation and of pride, / Contending with low wants and lofty will, / Till our mortality predominates, / And men are—what they name not to themselves, / And trust not to each other.
MANFRED (cont.): Hark! the note, / The natural music of the mountain reed— / For here the patriarchal days are not / A pastoral fable—pipes in the liberal air, / Mix’d with the sweet bells of the sauntering herd; / My soul would drink those echoes. Oh, that I were / The viewless spirit of a lovely sound, / A living voice, a breathing harmony, / A bodiless enjoyment—born and dying / With the blest tone which made me!
CHAMOIS HUNTER: Even so / This way the chamois leapt: her nimble feet / Have baffled me; my gains to-day will scarce / Repay my labor:—What is here? who seems / Not of my trade, and yet hath reach’d a height / Which none until this hour hath dared to tread / Save steps as light as their own native snows. / His garb is rich, his mien is proud, / His aspect airy, his eye flashing free. / I will approach him nearer.
MANFRED (not perceiving the other): To be thus— / Gray-hair’d with anguish, like these blasted pines, / Wrecks of a single winter, barkless, branchless, / A blighted trunk upon a cursed root, / Which feeds held on its own decay—to be / Thus, and for ever; and thus pass’d and to pass!— / My furrow’d brow / Is plough’d by moments, not by years; / And hours—all tortured into ages—hours / Which I outlive!
Ye toppling crags of ice! / Ye avalanches, whom a breath draws down / In mountainous o’erwhelming, come and crush me! / I hear ye momently above, beneath, / Crash with a frequent conflict; but ye pass, / And only fall on things that still would live; / On the young flourishing forest, or the hut / And hamlet of the harmless villager.
猎人： 山谷里的雾气开始升腾了。我得提醒他下山，不然他可能同时迷路丧命。
CHAMOIS HUNTER: The mists begin to rise from up the valley; / I’ll warn him to descend, or he may lose / His way and life together.
MANFRED: The mists boil up around the glaciers; clouds / Rise curling fast beneath me, white and sulphury, / Like foam from the roused ocean of deep Hell, / Whose every wave breaks on a living shore, / Heap’d with the damn’d like pebbles.—I am giddy.
猎人： 我必须小心靠近。若离得近了，突然的脚步声会惊到他。而且他看起来已经摇摇欲坠。
CHAMOIS HUNTER: I must approach him cautiously; if near, / A sudden step will startle him, and he / Seems tottering already.
MANFRED: Mountains have fallen, / Leaving a gap in the clouds, and with the shock / Rocking their Alpine echoes; earth-shaking, / Filling the mature and emerald valleys / With ruinous fragments; by a sudden crash / Damming the rivers with a sudden crash, / And turning the water into mist, and forcing / The springs to find new channels—even thus, / In its stage of decay, the Rosenberg fell: / Why stood I not beneath it?
猎人： 朋友！当心！你的下一步可能致命！看在造物主的份上，别站在那悬崖边上！
CHAMOIS HUNTER: Friend! have a care, / Your next step may be fatal!—for the love / Of Him who made you, stand not on that brink!
MANFRED (not hearing him): Such would have been for me a fitting tomb; / My bones had then been quiet in their depth; / They had not then been scatter’d on the rocks / For the wind’s pastime—as they shall be now. / In this one plunge.—Farewell, ye opening heavens! / Look not upon me thus reproachfully— / You were not meant for me—Earth! take these atoms!
(正当曼弗雷德要纵身跃下悬崖时，猎人抓住并阻止了他。)
(As MANFRED is in act to spring from the cliff, the CHAMOIS HUNTER seizes and retains him with a sudden effort.)
猎人： 住手，疯子！就算你活腻了，也别用你罪恶的血玷污我们纯洁的山谷。跟我走！我绝不会松手！
CHAMOIS HUNTER: Hold, madman!—though weary of thy life, / Stain not our pure vales with thy guilty blood— / Away with me—I will not quit my hold.
曼弗雷德： 我头晕目眩……不，别抓着我！！我浑身无力……群山在我周围旋转……我看不见了……你是谁？
MANFRED: I am giddy—ay, there’s a power!—hold me! / I am all feebleness—the mountains whirl / Spinning around me—I grow blind—What art thou?
CHAMOIS HUNTER: I’ll tell thee that anon.—Away with me— / The clouds grow thicker—there—now lean on me— / Place your foot here—here, take this staff, and cling / A moment to that shrub—now give me your hand, / And hold fast by my girdle—softly—well— / The chalet will be gain’d within an hour— / Come on, we’ll quickly find a surer footing, / And something like a pathway, which the torrent / Hath wash’d since winter.—Come, ’tis bravely done— / You should have been a hunter.—Follow me.
(他们艰难地攀下岩石。幕落。)
(As they descend the rocks with difficulty, the curtain falls.)
CHAMOIS HUNTER: No, no—yet pause awhile; yon step of yours / Is so unsettled, that the wind will shake it / Or the green turf o’erleap. I pray you, sit.
曼弗雷德： 无关紧要。我很清楚自己的路线，无需指引。
MANFRED: It matters not, my course for my own guide / Is clear enough; I need no further help.
CHAMOIS HUNTER: Thy garb and gait bespeak thee of high lineage— / One of the many chiefs, whose castles stand / On the tall crags that overlook the vales / Exposed to every wind and winter’s storm; / Which of these keepings is thine own? I know / All their wide portals;—in my mountain-life / I’ve seen the fires of many a festive hall / Light up the glaciers;—where is thine, Sir Count?
CHAMOIS HUNTER: Well, Sir, pardon me the question, / And be of better cheer. Come, taste my wine; / ’Tis of an ancient vintage; many a day / ’T’as warm’d my very veins among the glaciers, / And now, let it do thus for thine—Come, pledge me!
曼弗雷德： 拿走，拿走！杯沿上有血！难道它永远——永远——不会渗入大地吗？
MANFRED: Away, away! there’s blood upon the brim! / Will it then never—never sink in the earth?
猎人： 你什么意思？你神志不清了。
CHAMOIS HUNTER: What dost thou mean? thy senses wander from thee.
MANFRED: I say ’tis blood—my blood! the pure warm stream / Which ran in the veins of my fathers, and in ours / When we were in our youth, and had one heart, / And loved each other as we should not love, / And this was shed: but it strengthens and outlives, / And it upbraids me with its fatal brightness, / Reddening the clouds which make a bar betwixt / Our souls and heaven—where thou art gone, and I / Can never follow.
CHAMOIS HUNTER: Man of strange words, and some half-maddening sin, / Which makes thee people vacancy, whate’er / Thy dread and sufferance be, there’s comfort yet— / The aid of holy men, and heavenly patience—
MANFRED: Patience and patience! Hence—that word was made / For brutes of burthen, not for birds of prey; / Preach it to mortals of a dust like thine,— / I am not of thine order.
CHAMOIS HUNTER: Thanks to heaven! / I would not be of thine for the free fame / Of William Tell; but whatsoe’er thine ill, / It must be borne, and these wild starts are useless.
曼弗雷德： 难道我没有忍受吗？看看我——我还活着。
MANFRED: Do I not bear it?—Look on me—I live.
猎人： 这只是痉挛，不是健康的生命。
CHAMOIS HUNTER: This is convulsion, and no healthful life.
MANFRED: I tell thee, man! I have lived many years, / Many long years, but they are nothing now / To those which I must number: ages—ages— / Space and eternity—and consciousness, / With the fierce thirst of death—and still unslaked!
猎人： 可是，你额上连中年的印记都几乎未见。我比你年长得多。
CHAMOIS HUNTER: Why, on thy brow the seal of middle age / Hath scarce been set; I am thine elder far.
MANFRED: Think’st thou existence doth depend on time? / It doth; but actions are our epochs: mine / Have made my days and nights imperishable, / Endless, and all alike, as sands on the shore, / Innumerable atoms; and one desert, / Barren and cold, on which the wild waves break, / But nothing rests, save carcasses and wrecks, / Rocks, and the salt-surf weeds of bitterness.
猎人：(旁白) 唉！他疯了——但我还不能丢下他。
CHAMOIS HUNTER (aside): Alas! he’s mad—but I must not leave him thus.
曼弗雷德： 我倒希望我是疯了，那么我所见的一切，就只是一场错乱的梦。
MANFRED: I would I were—for then the things I see / Would be but a distemper’d dream.
猎人： 你到底看见了什么，或者说你以为自己看见了什么？
CHAMOIS HUNTER: What is it / That thou dost see, or think thou look’st upon?
MANFRED: Myself, and thee—a peasant of the Alps— / Thy humble virtues, hospitable home, / And spirit patient, pious, proud, and free; / Thy self-respect, grafted on innocent thoughts; / Thy days of health, and nights of sleep; thy toils, / By danger dignified, yet guiltless; hopes / Of cheerful old age and a quiet grave, / With cross and garland over its green turf, / And thy grandchildren’s love for epitaph; / This do I see—and then I look within— / It matters not—my soul was scorch’d already!
猎人： 那么，你愿意用你的命运交换我的吗？
CHAMOIS HUNTER: And wouldst thou then exchange thy lot for mine?
MANFRED: No, friend! I would not wrong thee, nor exchange / My lot with living being: I can bear— / However wretchedly, ’tis still to bear— / In life what others could not dream to sleep, / And live unhurt.
CHAMOIS HUNTER: And with this steadfastness of spirit, why / Dost thou still look on me with such an eye / Of dark and hollow meaning? I have known / Such things as thou hast said of; but they pass’d.
MANFRED: Oh, no, no, no! my injuries came down / On those who loved me—on those whom I loved best; / My foes have never suffer’d from my blow / Save in self-defence—but my embrace was fatal.
猎人： 愿上天赐你安宁！愿忏悔能使你恢复本心。我会为你祈祷。
CHAMOIS HUNTER: Heaven give thee rest! / And penitence restore thee to thyself; / My prayers shall be for thee.
MANFRED: I need them not, / But can endure thy pity. I depart— / ’Tis time—farewell!—Here’s gold, and thanks for thee; / No words—it is thy due.—Follow me not— / I know my path—the mountain peril’s past: / I once again beg of thee, follow not!
MANFRED: It is not noon—the sunbow’s rays still arch / The torrent with the many hues of heaven, / And roll the sheeted silver’s waving column / O’er the crag’s headlong perpendicular, / And fling its lines of foaming light along, / And to and fro, like the pale courser’s tail, / The Giant steed, to be bestrode by Death, / As told in the Apocalypse.
此刻，唯我双眼独享这瑰丽景象。我本该是这甜美孤寂中唯一的存在，与此地之灵共享这流水的礼赞。我要召唤她。 No eye / But mine now looks upon this amphitheatre, / I should be sole in this sweet solitude, / And with the Spirit of the place divide / The homage of these waters.—I will call her.
(曼弗雷德掬起一捧水洒向空中，同时低声念诵咒语。稍顿，阿尔卑斯女巫在瀑布虹霓的拱形光晕下升起。)
(MANFRED takes some of the water into the palm of his hand and flings it into the air, muttering the adjuration. After a pause, the WITCH OF THE ALPS rises beneath the arch of the sunbow of the torrent.)
MANFRED: Beautiful Spirit! with thy hair of light, / And dazzling eyes of glory… and the hue, / Of youth’s self-shaded cheek, which care-set slumbers, / Tinged by thy mother’s smile… into thy celestial aspect, and make tame / The beauties of the sunbow which bends o’er thee.
Beautiful Spirit! in thy calm clear brow, / Wherein is glass’d serenity of soul, / Which of itself shows immortality, / I read that thou wilt pardon to a Son / Of Earth, whom the abstruser powers permit / At times to commune with them—if that he / Avail him of his spells to call thee thus, / And gaze on thee a moment.
WITCH: Son of Earth! I know thee, and the powers which give thee power; / I know thee for a man of many thoughts, / And deeds of good and ill, extreme in both, / Fatal and fated in thy sufferings. / I have expected thee. What wouldst thou with me?
MANFRED: To look upon thy beauty—nothing further. / The face of the earth hath madden’d me, and I / Take refuge in her mysteries, and pierce / To the abodes of those who govern her— / But they can nothing aid me. I have sought / From them what they could not bestow, and now / I search no further.
女巫： 还有什么追求，是连最强大的存在、那些无形世界的统治者，也无能为力的？
WITCH: What could be the quest / Which is not in the power of the most powerful, / The rulers of the invisible?
曼弗雷德： 一个恩惠；但我何必重提？那是徒劳。
MANFRED: A boon; / But why should I repeat it? ’twere in vain.
MANFRED: Well, though it torture me, ’tis but the same; / My pang shall find a voice. From my youth upwards / My spirit walk’d not with the souls of men, / Nor look’d upon the earth with human eyes.
The thirst of their ambition was not mine, / The aim of their existence was not mine; / My joys, my griefs, my passions, and my powers, / Made me a stranger; though I wore the form, / I had no sympathy with breathing flesh, / Nor midst the creatures of clay that girded me / Was there but one who—but of her anon.
My early strength / To quaff the foam-fountains; to sleep / On the chill-white peaks; to follow the moon; / To gaze on the lightning; to listen / To the autumn wind’s singing. These were my pastimes, and to be alone.
Then, in my solitudes I settled down / Upon the caves of Death, to search its cause / From its effect; and drew from wither’d bones, / And skulls, and heap’d-up dust, conclusions most / Forbidden. … I made / My eyes familiar with Eternity.
MANFRED: She was like me in lineaments—her eyes, / Her hair, her features, all, to the very tone / Even of her voice, they said were like to mine; / But soften’d all, and temper’d into beauty.
她有着同样孤独的思绪与漫游，对隐秘知识的求索，以及一颗渴望理解宇宙的心灵。不仅如此；她还拥有那些比我更温柔的力量——怜悯、微笑与泪水——这些我都不曾拥有……她的缺点是我的；她的美德属于她自己。我爱她——却又毁了她！ She had the same lone thoughts and wanderings, / The quest of hidden knowledge, and a mind / To comprehend the universe: and besides, / She had the gentler powers—which I had not, / Pity, and smiles, and tears—which I had not… / Her faults were mine—her virtues were her own— / I loved her, and destroy’d her!
MANFRED: Not with my hand, but heart—which broke her heart; / It gazed on mine, and wither’d. I have shed / Blood, but not hers—and yet her blood was shed; / I saw—and could not staunch it.
WITCH: And for this— / A being of the race thou dost despise… / Hast thou compromised the gifts of our great knowledge, / And shrunk back into coward life? Begone!
MANFRED: Daughter of Air! I tell thee, since that hour— / Behold me in my slumbers—and survey / The vigilance of my despair. Come, sit! / My solitude is being peopled by / The Furies. I have pray’d / For madness as a blessing—’tis denied me. / I have affronted Death… / I dwell in my despair— / And live—and live for ever.
MANFRED: We are the fools of Time and Terror… / There is a power / Still in my science—I can spell the dead, / And ask them what it is we dread to be: / The sternest answer can but be the Grave, / And that is nothing—if they answer not… / If I had never lived, that which I loved / Had still been living; had I never loved, / That which I loved had still been beautiful— / Happy and giving happiness. … I dread / Before I do the thing. I have not shrunk / From spirit-illumined—but now I shudder… / But I can act even what I most abhor, / And champion human fears. The night approaches.
FIRST DESTINY: The moon is rising broad, and round, and bright; / Adown the fatal precipice, / The snows which never pass away / In the unmeasur’d depth of ice, / Are stirr’d as by a storm (yet all is still) / Upon the dizzy verge. … The crystal ocean of the mountain ice / Rolls its frozen billows, / Form’d in the mixing of the elements / And all arrested in their tumbling course, / A life-less world of eddies.
And this most steep fantastic pinnacle, / The fretwork of some earthquake—where the clouds / Pause to repose themselves in passing by— / Is sacred to our revels, or our vigils; / Here do I wait my sisters, on our way / To the Hall of Arimanes, for to-night / Is our great festival.
VOICE (without): The captive Usurper, / From his pride of place, / Is scatter’d and driven / In utter disgrace; / I broke through his slumbers, / I shiver’d his chain, / I leagued him with mortals— / He’s Tyrant again!
以百万人的鲜血，他将回报我的关照，以一国的毁灭——他的溃逃与绝望。
With the blood of a million he’ll answer my care, / With a nation’s destruction—his flight and despair.
SECOND VOICE (without): The ship sail’d on, the ship sail’d fast, / But I left not a sail, and I left not a mast; / There is not a plank of the hull or the deck, / And there is not a wretch to lament o’er his wreck; / Save one, whom I held, as he swam, by the hair, / And he was a subject well worthy my care; / A traitor on land, and a pirate at sea— / But I saved him to wreak further havoc for me!
FIRST DESTINY (answering): The city lies sleeping; / The morn, to deplore it, / May dawn on it weeping: / Sullenly, slowly, / The black plague flew o’er it— / Thousands lie lowly; / Sorrow and blushing are over the nations— / And the coming of things which shall be, and have been, / But the dead are the happy, who hear not the groan / Of a world that is moaning!
这一夜之功——这一国之毁——这我亲手所为的壮举！我行之已久，并将不断重演！
This work of a night—this wreck of a state— / Done by the spirit of evil and fate! / I have done it—and will do!
(第二命运与第三命运上场。)
(Enter SECOND and THIRD DESTINIES.)
三命运齐声： 赐予即索取，奴隶之魂灵。人心在我手，坟茔在足下。
THE THREE: Our hands contain the hearts of men, / Our footsteps are their graves; / We only give to take again / The spirits of our slaves!
第一命运： 欢迎！涅墨西斯在哪儿？
FIRST DESTINY: Welcome!—Where’s Nemesis?
第二命运： 在处理些大事；具体何事我不知晓，因我手头也忙得很。
SECOND DESTINY: At some great work; / But what I know not, for my hands were full.
第三命运： 看——她来了。
THIRD DESTINY: Behold she comes.
(涅墨西斯上场。)
(Enter NEMESIS.)
第一命运： 说，你去哪儿了？你和我的姐妹们今晚可有些迟了。
FIRST DESTINY: Say, where hast thou been? / My sisters and thyself are slow to-night.
NEMESIS: I was detain’d repairing shatter’d thrones, / Marrying fools, restoring dynasties, / Avenging men upon their enemies, / And making them repent their own revenge; / Goading the wise to madness; from the dull / Shaping out oracles to rule the world / Afresh, for they were waxing out of date, / And men had gnaw’d on each other, and talk’d / Of freedom, the forbidden fruit.—Away!
走吧！我们已耽搁了时辰。让我们驾云启程！
We have outstay’d the hour—mount we our clouds!
[同下。]
[Exeunt.]
][][
第二幕，第四场
ACT II, SCENE IV
场景： 阿里曼尼斯之殿。阿里曼尼斯端坐于王座，手握一团火球，众灵环绕。
Scene: The Hall of Arimanes. Arimanes on his Throne, a Globe of Fire in his hand, and the Spirits around him.
HYMN OF THE SPIRITS: Hail to our Master!—Prince of Earth and Air! / Who walks the clouds and waters… Life is his, / With all its infinite of agonies— / And his the spirit of whatever is!
(三命运与涅墨西斯上场。)
(Enter the DESTINIES and NEMESIS.)
第一命运： 荣耀归于阿里曼尼斯！他在人间的威权正日益增长。
FIRST DESTINY: Glory to Arimanes! on the earth / His power increaseth.
(曼弗雷德上场。)
(Enter MANFRED.)
第一精灵： 此为何物？一个凡人！你这鲁莽而自取灭亡的可怜虫！跪下礼拜！
A SPIRIT: What is here? / A mortal!—Thou most rash and fatal wretch, / Bow down and worship!
曼弗雷德： 我听见了；但你们也看到，我并未下跪。
MANFRED: I hear thee; and the powers which give thee power / I know; and see not why I should bow down.
第五精灵： 你胆敢拒绝宝座上的阿里曼尼斯？……跪下！我命令你。
FIFTH SPIRIT: Dost thou dare / Refuse to Arimanes on his throne / What the whole earth accords… / Kneel, and blaspheme not, else the world shall tremble!
MANFRED: Bid him bow down to that which is above him, / The overruling Infinite—the Maker / Who made him not for worship—let him kneel, / And we will kneel together.
FIRST DESTINY: Crush the worm! / Back, on your lives!—he is mine. / Prince of the Powers invisible! This man / Is of no common order… his knowledge, and his powers and will… / As much as is allow’d to fleshly nature.
MANFRED: Ye know what I have known; and without power / I could not be amongst ye: but there are / Powers deeper still beyond—I come in quest / Of such, to call upon them. Call the dead— / My question is for them.
涅墨西斯： 你要召唤何人？
NEMESIS: Whom would’st thou unsepulchre?
曼弗雷德： 一个没有坟墓的人。召唤阿斯塔特。
MANFRED: One without a tomb—call up Astarte.
(阿斯塔特的幽灵升起，默然伫立。)
(The Phantom of ASTARTE rises and stands in the midst.)
MANFRED: Can this be death? there’s bloom upon her cheek; / But now I see it is no living hue… / Astarte!—No, I cannot speak to her— / But bid her speak to me.
NEMESIS: By the power which hath broken the slumber which bound thee, / Speak to him who hath spoken… / She is silent, / And must be summon’d with a mightier spell. / Mortal! thy quest is vain, and so is ours.
MANFRED: Hear me, hear me— / Astarte! my beloved! speak to me: / I have so much endured—so much endure— / Look on me! the grave hath not changed thee more / Than I am changed for thee.
I have outwatch’d the stars, / And gazed o’er heaven in vain in search of thee. / Speak to me! … Speak to me! though it be in wrath;—but say— / I reck not what—but let me hear thee once— / This once—once more!
阿斯塔特的幽灵： 曼弗雷德！
PHANTOM: Manfred!
曼弗雷德： 哦！说啊——说啊！我仅凭这声音活着——这是你的声音！
MANFRED: Say on, say on— / I live but in the sound—it is thy voice!
ANOTHER SPIRIT: Yet see, he mastereth himself, and makes / His torture tributary to his will. / Had he been one of us, he would have made / An awful spirit.
曼弗雷德： 离去了……而她赐予的这份恩典，使我此刻离去时，犹负一份债务。
MANFRED: She is gone… / And I must follow.
[下。]
[Exit MANFRED.]
][][
第三幕，第一场
ACT III, SCENE I
场景： 曼弗雷德城堡内的一间大厅。
Scene: A Hall in the Castle of Manfred.
曼弗雷德与赫尔曼上场。
MANFRED and HERMAN.
曼弗雷德： 现在是什么时辰？
MANFRED: What is the hour?
赫尔曼： 离日落还有一个小时，看来会是个宜人的黄昏。
HERMAN: It wants but one till sunset, / And promises a lovely twilight.
曼弗雷德： 塔楼里的一切，是否都按我的吩咐安排妥当了？
MANFRED: Say, / Are all things so disposed of in the tower / As I directed?
赫尔曼： 一切均已就绪，大人；这是钥匙和匣子。
HERMAN: All, my lord, are ready; / Here is the key and casket.
MANFRED: There is a calm upon me— / Inexplicable stillness! which till now / Did not belong to what I knew of life. / If that I did not know philosophy / To be of all our vanities the motliest, / The merest word that ever fool’d the ear / From out the schoolman’s jargon, I should deem / The golden secret, the sought “Kalon,” found, / And seated in my soul.
这不会持久，但能知晓其存在，哪怕仅此一遭，也是好的。它以一种新的感知拓展了我的思想。
It will not last, / But it is well to have known it, though but once: / It hath enlarged my thoughts with a new sense, / And I should kneel, and humbly thank the powers / Which made me thus a being of the earth.
[赫尔曼重上。]
[Re-enter HERMAN.]
赫尔曼： 大人，圣莫里斯的修道院长请求觐见。
HERMAN: My lord, the Abbot of St. Maurice craves / Admittance to your presence.
圣莫里斯修道院长 (上场)： 愿您平安，曼弗雷德伯爵！
ABBOT: Peace be with Count Manfred!
曼弗雷德： 感谢您，神父！欢迎光临寒舍；您的到来令此地蓬荜生辉，也福泽居于此间的人。 MANFRED: Thanks, holy father! welcome to these walls; / Thy presence honours them, and blesseth those / Who dwell within them.
ABBOT: Would it were so, Count! / …Rumours strange, / And of unholy nature, are abroad, / And busy with thy name; a noble name / For centuries; … ’Tis said thou holdest converse / With the things forbidden by the church.
曼弗雷德： 又是哪些人在断言这些事情？
MANFRED: And who are they who do avouch these things?
院长： 我虔诚的教友们——受惊的乡民——甚至您自己的封臣……我来是为拯救，而非毁灭。
ABBOT: My pious brethren—the scared peasantry— / Even thy own vassals, who do look on thee / With most unquiet eyes. … I come to save, / And not destroy.
MANFRED: I hear thee. This is my reply: whate’er / I may have been, or am, doth rest between / Heaven and myself. I shall not choose a mortal / To be my mediator.
院长： 我的孩子！我所说的并非惩罚，而是忏悔与宽恕。
ABBOT: My son! I speak not of punishment, but penitence / And pardon.
MANFRED: Old man! there is no power in holy men, / Nor charm in prayer, nor purifying form / Of penitence, nor outward look, nor fast, / Nor agony— … Which can exorcise from the unbounded spirit / The quick-eyed memories of its own dead crimes, / … There is no future pang / Can deal that justice on the self-condemn’d / He deals on his own soul.
ABBOT: All this is well; / For this will pass away, and be succeeded / By an auspicious hope, which shall look up / With calm assurance to that blessed place / Which all who seek may win. … Come with me, / And I will teach thee all our church can teach.
MANFRED: When Rome’s sixth emperor was near his last, / The victim of a self-inflicted wound, / To shun the public tyranny of those / Whom he had make his slaves—a soldier, with / A show of loyal pity, would have stanch’d / The gushing throat with his abounding robe; / The dying Roman thrust him back, and said— / Some empire still in his expiring gaze— / “It is too late—is this fidelity?”
院长： 这又如何？
ABBOT: And what of this?
曼弗雷德： 我的回答与那罗马人一样——“太迟了。”
MANFRED: I answer with the Roman— / “It is too late!”
院长： 与自己的灵魂和解，永远不会太迟。
ABBOT: It never can be so, / To reconcile thyself with thy own soul, / And thy own soul with Heaven.
MANFRED: Ay—father! I have had those earthly visions / And noble aspirations in my youth… / I could not tame my nature down; for he / Must serve who fain would sway—and soothe—and sue— / … I disdained to mingle with / A herd, though to be leader—and of wolves. / The lion is alone, and so am I.
MANFRED: Because my nature was averse from life; / And yet not cruel; for I would not make, / But find a desolation:—like the wind, / The red-hot breath of the most lone Simoom, / Which dwells but in the desert… such have I been.
院长： 唉！我恐怕您已非我及我的使命所能救助……
ABBOT: Alas! I fear that thou art past all aid / From me and from my calling.
MANFRED: Look on me! there is an order / Of mortals on the earth, who do become / Old in their youth, and die ere middle age… / Some of heart-break, or of broken hopes— / … Look on me! there is an order / Of mortals on the earth…
ABBOT: This should have been a noble creature: he / Hath all the energy which would have made / A goodly frame of glorious elements, / Had they been wisely mingled; as it is, / It is an awful chaos—light and darkness— / And mind and dust—and passions and pure thoughts, / Mix’d, and contending without end or order, / All dormant or destructive. He will perish, / And yet he must not; I will try once more.
[下。]
[Exit.]
][][
第三幕，第二场
ACT III, SCENE II
场景： 城堡中另一室内。
Scene: Another Chamber in the Castle.
曼弗雷德与赫尔曼上场。
MANFRED and HERMAN.
赫尔曼： 大人，您吩咐我在日落时分听候差遣。太阳正沉入山后。
HERMAN: My lord, you bade me wait on you at sunset: / He sinks behind the mountain.
Glorious Orb! the idol / Of early nature, and the vigorous race / Of undiseased mankind, the giant sons / Of the embrace of angels, with a sex / More beautiful than spirits, and before / The worlds were yielded to the spirit of the air.
Most glorious orb! that wert a worship, ere / The mystery of thy making was reveal’d! / Thou earliest minister of the Almighty, / Which gladden’d, on their mountain tops, the hearts / Of the Chaldean shepherds, till they pour’d / Themselves in orisons!
Thou material God! / And representative of the Unknown— / Who chose thee for his shadow! Thou chief star! / Centre of many stars! which mak’st our earth / Endurable… Sire of the seasons! Monarch of the climes, / And those who dwell in them!
Thou risest, / And shin’st, and sett’st in glory. Fare thee well! / I ne’er shall see thee more. As my first glance / Of love and wonder was for thee, then take / My latest look.
HERMAN: ’Tis strange enough; night after night, for years, / He hath pursued long vigils in this tower, / Without a witness. … There is a room / Which none have enter’d: I would give the free / Full earnings of my last three years to scan / Its mysteries.
曼努埃尔： 那会很危险。知道多少，就满足于多少吧。
MANUEL: It were a dangerous spy-light; be content / With what thou know’st already.
赫尔曼： 唉，曼努埃尔！……在曼弗雷德伯爵出生之前，我侍奉的是他的父亲，而伯爵与他父亲并不相像。
HERMAN: Ah! Manuel! … I served / His father, whom he naught resembles.
MANUEL: I speak not of features or of form, / But mind and habits. Count Sigismund was proud, / But gay and free as on a battlefield; / … He had no silent thoughts, nor solitary pastimes, / Nor ever shunn’d the light or his fellow-men.
赫尔曼： 请别怪我多嘴，但那真是快活的时光啊！……
HERMAN: Beseech you, do not blame me, / But those were happy times!
MANUEL: Oh, Herman! I have seen within these walls / Strange sights and sounds. … That was a night indeed! / I do remember ’twas an hour like this; / … Count Manfred was, as now, within his tower,— / How occupied, we knew not, but with him / The sole companion of his wanderings / And watchings—her, whom of all earthly things / That lived, the only thing he seem’d to love,— / As he, indeed, by blood was bound to do, / The lady Astarte, his—
(突然。)
(Suddenly stops.)
嘘！谁来了？
Hush! who comes here?
(修道院长上场。)
(Enter the ABBOT.)
院长： 你们的主人在哪里？
ABBOT: Where is your master?
赫尔曼： 在他的塔楼里。
HERMAN: Yonder in the tower.
院长： 我必须和他谈谈。
ABBOT: I must speak with him.
曼努埃尔： 这不可能。他极重隐私，绝不能这样被打扰。
MANUEL: ’Tis impossible; / He is most private, and must not be thus / Intruded on.
院长： 纵有冲撞之咎，亦由我一身承当——但我必须见他。
ABBOT: Upon myself I take / The forfeit of my fault, if fault there be— / But I must see him.
赫尔曼： 您今晚已经见过他一次了。
HERMAN: Thou hast seen him once / To-night already.
院长： 赫尔曼！我命令你。去敲门，通报伯爵我来了。
ABBOT: Herman! I command thee, / Knock, and apprise the Count of my approach.
赫尔曼： 我们不敢。
HERMAN: We dare not.
院长： 那么看来，我只好亲自去通报我的来意了。
ABBOT: Then it seems I must / Be mine own herald.
曼努埃尔： 尊敬的神父，请留步！我恳求您，且慢！请这边走几步，容我私下相告。
MANUEL: Reverend father, stop! / I do beseech thee, pause. … Will it please you to step aside, / And I will tell you further.
MANFRED: The stars are forth, the moon above the tops / Of the snow-shining mountains.—Beautiful! / I do remember out of her mid-heaven, / In the close night-hour, I have learn’d the tongue / Of another world.
I do remember in my youth, when I / Was gazing on the dwelling of the Caesars… / And thou didst shine, thou rolling moon, upon / All this, and cast a wide and tender light… / Which make the dwelling of the ancient dead / A place of religion.
ABBOT: I see a dark and awful figure rise, / Like an infernal god, from out the earth; / … Behold! he unveils his face; on his brow / The scar of thunder is engraved; and from / His eyes leap forth the lightnings of the pit. / Avaunt!
(一精灵上场。)
(Enter a SPIRIT.)
曼弗雷德： 宣告——你的使命为何？
MANFRED: Pronounce—what is thy mission?
精灵： 来！此人的守护精灵。来！时辰到了。
SPIRIT: Come! … The Spirit of thy destiny. Come! The hour is come.
MANFRED: I am prepared for all things, but deny / The power which summons me. Who sent thee here? / I have commanded beings of a birth / More noble than thy kindred. Back!
MANFRED: I do defy ye;—though I feel my soul / Is ebbing from me, yet I do defy ye; / … No—I have been my own destroyer, and will be / My own hereafter.—Back, ye baffled fiends! / The hand of death is on me—but not yours!
ABBOT: Alas! how pale thou art—thy lips are white— / And thy breast heaves—and in thy gasping throat / The accents rattle:—Give thy prayers to Heaven— / Pray—albeit but in thought—but die not thus.
曼弗雷德： 结束了——我昏花的双眼已无法聚焦于你……永别了——将你的手给我。
MANFRED: ’Tis over—my dull eyes can fix thee not; / But all things swim around me, and the earth / Heaves as it were beneath me. Fare thee well— / Give me thy hand.
院长： 冰冷——冰冷——直透心底——但尚有一愿……唉！你感觉如何？
ABBOT: Cold—cold—even to the heart— / But yet one prayer—Alas! how farest thou?
曼弗雷德： 老先生……死去，并非那么艰难。
MANFRED: Old man! ’tis not so difficult to die.
(曼弗雷德死去。)
(MANFRED dies.)
院长： 他去了——他的灵魂已踏上无尘的旅程；但去往何方？我惧于思索——但他确实去了。
ABBOT: He’s gone—his soul hath ta’en its earthless flight; / Whither? I dread to think—but he is gone.
ACT I, Scene 1 [The Royal Chamber of the Palace of Lydia]
（利迪亚老王、泰梅西斯、泽纳库斯、马泽雷斯、菲德利奥、阿莫尔福、塞克斯托里奥及洛多维库斯上。众人行至王座前，却发现西里西亚的暴君阿玛特里特斯早已端坐于御椅之上。马泽雷斯上前，为他加冕。老王与泰梅西斯惊愕呆立。号声起。）(Enter the Old King, Tymethes, Zenocrates, Mazeres, Fidelio, Amorpho, Sextorio, and Lodovicus. They approach the throne, only to find Armatrites, the Tyrant of Cilicia, already seated upon the chair of state. Mazeres steps forward and crowns him. The Old King and Tymethes stand struck with amazement. Flourish of trumpets.)
阿玛特里特斯： （起身）斯佩兰扎！（希望！）
ARMATRITES: (Rising) Speranza! (Hope!)
众人： 阿玛特里特斯国王万岁！
ALL: Long live King Armatrites!
老王： 为何？
OLD KING: Why?
阿玛特里特斯： 老东西，惊呆了吗？我追随一个幻象而来——此刻，我便将它化为现实。
ARMATRITES: Old man, are you amazed? I followed a vision hither—and now, I have turned it into reality.
OLD KING: There is no nobility or virtue in this, but a defiance of religion, loyalty, heaven, and the laws of nature! That you should so treacherously break into a place that should be sacred to faith and honor! I sought help from a friend, not a hypocrite; I needed a royal neighbor, not a deadly enemy. Could a foe have done worse than this?
ARMATRITES: Alas, doting Lydia, is it no merit to have brought an army hither, hazarding our person and the lives of our soldiers to help you against your enemies? That would be to waste our courage, blunt our best men, exhaust our provisions, and throw our glory to unworthy souls. Why should we pour out the honey of our victory only for these drones to feast upon?
ARMATRITES: All or nothing. Nothing but this kingdom is worthy of our blood: eagles do not hunt flies, nor do they thank us for crumbs. As for Cilicia, our other realm, it shall be governed by our son, Zenocrates.
ZENOCRATES: (Kneeling) Sir, let me here beg for mercy, mercy for this venerable and unfortunate King, and for his sorrowful son, my dear friend and sworn brother, Tymethes. O, my most noble father, keep still the seal of honor and faith: a kingdom possessed by right and gentle rule yields far more joy than a realm usurped by violence.
阿玛特里特斯： （旁白）这小子几乎说动了我。
ARMATRITES: (Aside) The boy almost moves me.
马泽雷斯： （旁白）陛下心软了。（高声） 陛下，请记住，您已掌控一切。
MAZERES: (Aside) His Majesty relents. (Aloud) Sir, remember, you have all in your power.
MAZERES: The devil? It is a title! A kingdom! All Lydia! They breathe only under your scepter. The power is yours. Do not be bought by sweet words. A kingdom is precious: kiss your fortune, hold fast your mind, and settle your state.
ARMATRITES: Thanks to Mazeres; he has restored our spirit. Zenocrates, one word more is death. Your speech is a threat; either rise in silence, or fall in blood.
（泽纳库斯起身。）
(Zenocrates rises.)
老王： 暴君当道，除却血腥，还能指望什么？
OLD KING: When a tyrant rules, what can be expected but blood?
ARMATRITES: Our cruelty to your fortune is less than that of your treacherous nephew, Lapirus. He sought your life, basely besieged you, and sold you to the fury of your enemies. It is well known how wickedly he acted; our actions are but fit, call them policy, profit, foresight—no, rather just compensation. Deceit is common in peace; there, young heirs are often sold. You have your life; be thankful, for it is more than your treacherous nephew would have granted had he prevailed. Your fate is sealed; the sooner you depart, the safer for you.
老王： （旁白）拉皮鲁斯，你这背信弃义之徒，愿老夫的诅咒如奥林匹斯山压顶，令你永世不得翻身！
OLD KING: (Aside) Lapirus, you treacherous knave, may my curse press upon you like Mount Olympus, that you may never rise again!
菲德利奥： 您的王后带着两位婴孩逃离了都城，被这场叛变与新战事吓破了胆。
FIDELIO: Your Queen has fled the city with two infants, frightened by this revolt and the new wars.
OLD KING: This news is more grievous than the loss of my kingdom. She must have fled at the very start; had she stayed, she would be dead, exiled, or sold. Are there any loyal servants of mine left here?
OLD KING: All these? No, no; you forget I am no longer worth flattering. I am ruined, old, and exiled. I can only bow to the rising sun. If there be any who still serve me out of love, where are they? Let such a man now shame the world and follow me.
菲德利奥： 臣在此，陛下。
FIDELIO: I am here, my Liege.
阿莫尔福： 臣亦在此。
AMORPHO: And I.
老王： 什么，仅你二人？当记下：仅两人追随一位贫穷年迈的国王。
OLD KING: What, only two? Let it be recorded: only two follow a poor, aged King.
（老王、菲德利奥与阿莫尔福同下。）
(Exeunt Old King, Fidelio, and Amorpho.)
塞克斯托里奥： 再会了，国王。我就当条比目鱼，随潮水进退。
SEXTORIO: Farewell, King. I’ll be like a flatfish, moving with the tide.
洛多维库斯： 我也一样；这才是涨潮的一边。
LODOVICUS: And I; this is the side where the tide rises.
马泽雷斯： （对阿玛特里特斯）这些人现在归您了，陛下。
MAZERES: (To Armatrites) These men are yours now, Sir.
ARMATRITES: We shall favor them especially. (To Sextorio and Lodovicus) Attend our pleasure; those who serve us shall be promoted. (Taking Mazeres aside) His son Tymethes is no cause for concern. Young and fond of pleasure, he has no heart for policy.
ZENOCRATES: (Aside) Who but Mazeres, that court-fly, could so poison a King’s virtue? A man runs to sin in a moment’s leap; but to walk toward goodness, one must step as if on thin ice. My own father, so quickly turned tyrant!
泰梅西斯： 安静，求你安静。你若吵醒我，我便完了；说到底，这定是一场梦。
TYMETHES: Peace, I pray you, peace. If you wake me, I am undone; surely, this must be a dream.
TYMETHES: No dream? Then wake, beggar. My only comfort is these seemingly heroic kinsmen. Alas, Zenocrates, the loss of a kingdom, the exile of a father, the unknown fate of a mother—these pains are not half so great as the obstruction of my heart. No, what burns me is the matter between your sister and me. Whether because of fortune, or her father’s frowning face, all the structure of her love… now, she either will not, or dares not love me.
ZENOCRATES: Times change, but not true hearts; look at me—despite tyranny, I still hold you as a treasure. Fortune does but cloud a good man’s mirror; yet its value remains, unchanged by fate. Should virtue be cast aside like a rag because of misery? I will never call her sister who hates virtue in its distress.
（安菲多特上。）
(Enter Amphidote.)
泽纳库斯： （续）她来了，亲自为你驱散疑云。
ZENOCRATES: (Cont.) She comes herself to clear your doubts.
AMPHIDOTE: What a world is this! That my father, in his old age, should use tyranny against a friend, wasting the time of penance in plots, and committing more sins than he has tears to wash away?
泰梅西斯： 唉，殿下，命运已改我境遇；你可爱一个乞丐？
TYMETHES: Alas, Madam, fortune has changed my state; can you love a beggar?
ZENOCRATES: Save your wonder; she has proved herself unchanged. Before she came, I spoke for her virtue… After my father’s days, I swear this kingdom, now unlawfully possessed, shall be restored to you entire. Not as a dowry, but as your rightful due.
（马泽雷斯悄然上，窥视。）
(Mazeres enters quietly, spying.)
泽纳库斯： （续）来，让你们的唇相遇吧，纵使命运漂泊。
ZENOCRATES: (Cont.) Come, let your lips meet, though fortune wanders.
（安菲多特与泰梅西斯接吻。）
(Amphidote and Tymethes kiss.)
马泽雷斯： （旁白）哈！竟与一个乞丐如此慷慨地唇齿相亲？
MAZERES: (Aside) Ha! To be so generous with her lips to a beggar?
泽纳库斯： 如此，让你们的爱情在稳固中安歇；时间使人沦为不幸，亦能使同样的人获得福佑。
ZENOCRATES: Thus, let your love rest in certainty; time makes men miserable, yet can make the same men blessed.
MAZERES: What’s this? If Prince Zenocrates in a fit of charity chooses to share his glory to save a desperate beggar’s dying fortune… then my counsel to keep Tymethes here was folly. I have brought in a wolf and sought my own trouble. I love the Princess, and the King approves. If Tymethes becomes my rival… then I have built my own ruin with my own advice. No matter. My plots shall destroy him. If one fails, another shall rise, or a third. I must prevail. (Exit.)
][][
第一幕，第二场 [森林中]
ACT I, Scene 2 [In the Forest]
（老王后怀抱两名婴孩奔逃而上，后有紧追之声。）
(Enter the Old Queen, carrying two infants, fleeing; sounds of pursuit behind her.)
老王后： 我能带着这些可怜的孩儿逃往何方？在这深林之中，竟两度落难！他们掠走我的一切，剥尽我的衣衫，将我抛在这般绝境！是何等残酷的命运，在摧折我那善良的国王、我的夫君？我已辨不清哪一桩才是更大的苦难。啊，背信弃义的拉皮鲁斯！你这渎神的侄儿！愿那一颗罪恶灵魂所滋生的一切恐怖，统统报应在你身上！我可怜的孩儿，你们要么在此化为饿殍，要么……就让战争的饕餮之口，饮尽你们无辜的鲜血！ OLD QUEEN: Whither shall I fly with these poor infants? Twice distressed in these deep woods! They have rifled me of all, stripped me of my very garments, and left me in this wretched state! What cruel fate pursues my good King, my husband? I know not which misery is the greater. O, treacherous Lapirus! You sacrilegious nephew! May all the terrors that a guilty soul can breed light upon you! My poor babes, you must either perish here by famine, or… let the gluttonous jaws of war drink up your innocent blood!
（内喊声：“追！快追！”）
(Voices within: “Follow! Follow!”)
老王后（续）： 快逃！莫等他们追来，夺走我们的性命，玷污我的名节！
OLD QUEEN (Cont.): Away! Lest they overtake us, take our lives, and triumph over my honor!
LAPIRUS: Villain and fugitive!—you loathsome carcass!—where can you possibly hide? Now that you’ve betrayed your country, what disguise can keep you safe or free? Foul Lapirus! Earth, open your throat and swallow this bitter fruit, even if you hate the very taste of it!
（老王后奔逃上，两名兵卒紧追其后。）
(Enter the Old Queen, fleeing, pursued by two Soldiers.)
老王后： 救命！善心人哪，救救这可怜的妇人免遭屠戮！
OLD QUEEN: Help! Good people, save a poor, distressed woman from being slaughtered!
兵卒甲： 先把她的嘴堵上。当兵的得找点乐子。这是他们用血换来的权利。
1ST SOLDIER: First, shut her up. Soldiers need their fun. It’s a right they buy with their blood.
LAPIRUS: (Aside) A mother tortured by these heartless slaves? Let me redeem my honor by saving her. Let this one act of good kill the man I used to be.
兵卒乙： 快点，快点！
2ND SOLDIER: Hurry up, get on with it!
老王后： 若是有哪位女子曾生育你们——
OLD QUEEN: If any woman ever gave you birth—
拉皮鲁斯： （拔剑）无论谁生了他们，定是妖魔养了他们！无情无义的该死恶徒！
LAPIRUS: (Drawing his sword) Whoever bore them, surely a devil raised them! You heartless, damned villains!
两兵卒： 且慢，且慢，大人！我们是兵卒不假，可我们并不好斗。
BOTH SOLDIERS: Wait, wait, sir! We’re soldiers, it’s true, but we aren’t looking for a fight!
（两兵卒逃下。）
(The Soldiers flee.)
老王后： 请容我劝您莫要指望任何报偿……唯有感谢与祈祷，这是一个乞丐仅有的礼物。
OLD QUEEN: Let me warn you not to expect any reward… except thanks and prayers. They are the only gifts a beggar has.
LAPIRUS: There is nothing I thirst for more than prayer. My soul is barren—like a grand house with no furniture inside. It lacks the curtains of sincere tears. Without prayer, a man is nothing but a ruined wall. Who are you, crossing this dangerous forest with such a precious and heavy burden?
OLD QUEEN: Generous sir, I was the Queen of Lydia—as happy then as I am miserable now. Then a traitor named Lapirus, the King’s own nephew, plotted to overthrow the state. Even as the King was making peace with his enemy, this man led a secret army to surround the land. Who could have expected such unnatural treason from a kinsman? I am that honored and most wretched Queen.
拉皮鲁斯： （旁白）啊，此刻便让我坠入永劫不复之地吧！（高声）请勿再言。
LAPIRUS: (Aside) O, let me sink into eternal hell this very second! (Aloud) Say no more.
OLD QUEEN: No, no. I will tell you everything. Your noble deed proved you are honest and worthy of my trust. Fearing the new wars and Lapirus’s betrayal, I chose to flee with these two infants rather than wait for a slow death.
拉皮鲁斯： （旁白）噢，她每一字都令我如受千刀万剐！
LAPIRUS: (Aside) Oh, every word she says is like a thousand stabs!
LAPIRUS: (Wildly) If it brings your sorrow any comfort, know this: Lapirus—the man you have every reason to curse and seek revenge upon—is hiding in this very forest… in a state as desperate as yours.
老王后： 什么？那个可憎的恶棍就在这森林里？
OLD QUEEN: What? That loathsome villain is in this forest?
LAPIRUS: Here, take my sword. Hold it tight. Are you resolved? Letting his blood stain your hand will only dirty your noble name. Even so, will you strike?
老王后： 我没看见他。
OLD QUEEN: I don’t see him.
拉皮鲁斯： 刺穿他那充满罪孽与背叛的骨头，让他亲眼看看他背誓灵魂的恐怖。准备好了吗？
LAPIRUS: Pierce through his guilty and treacherous bones. Let him see the horror of his lying soul. Are you ready?
OLD QUEEN: Lapirus! Oh, the hour of revenge is here! Now all your wicked deeds will be paid back at once: the ruin of your country, the sorrow of the King—your uncle—and my own suffering. It all meets in this one moment. (Aside) Why doesn’t he fight back? He just bows, prays, and begs. What more can I ask for? There is no glory in killing a man who kneels and repents for his crimes. If I send him to heaven, I’m afraid he’ll drag me down to hell with him. Listen to the cries of your poor children; they are calling for revenge too. Or is it just hunger in their bellies? Enough, enough—he deserves to die. (Pause) But—he just saved me and preserved my honor. Since I am his elder, how can I become his murderer? Will killing him bring back my kingdom? Besides, he was so resolute when he drew his sword for me. This truly troubles my heart! (Aloud) Stand up, stand up. Those who sincerely repent find redemption.
OLD QUEEN: I only ask for one penance for all your past faults: while we are stuck in this forest, your job is to find food and supplies for me and my children.
拉皮鲁斯： （惊愕，随即急切起身）臣若失职，愿地裂而吞我。
LAPIRUS: (Amazed, then rising eagerly) If I fail in this, let the earth open and swallow me whole.
老王后： （对婴孩）他们现在安静下来了；若我那老国王夫君在此，我愿永远居留于此。
OLD QUEEN: (To the infants) They are quiet now. If only the King were here, I would be happy to stay in this forest forever.
（同下。）(They exit together.)
][][
第一幕，第四场 [年轻王后寝宫外]
ACT I, Scene 4 [Outside the Young Queen’s Apartments]
（泰梅西斯与泽纳库斯上。）
(Enter Tymethes and Zenocrates.)
泽纳库斯： 且收了你这些愁绪吧。稍存些信念。我必教你重展欢颜。
ZENOCRATES: Put away these gloomy thoughts. Have a little faith. I’ll show you something to bring the smile back to your face.
泰梅西斯： 就像你父王葬礼上，你那身为嗣子的心情？
TYMETHES: What, like the joy of an heir at his father’s funeral?
泽纳库斯： 看来我妹妹确实令你魂牵梦萦。
ZENOCRATES: It seems my sister has truly taken possession of your soul.
泰梅西斯： 除她之外，世间再无欢愉与妙音。
TYMETHES: Without her, there is no joy or music left in the world.
ZENOCRATES: My friend, in this palace, my father is so wasted by jealousy that he keeps his beautiful wife locked away in seclusion. I doubt you’ve ever laid eyes on her.
泰梅西斯： 我直至此刻方知有此一人，自然未曾见过。
TYMETHES: I didn’t even know she existed until now, so of course I haven’t seen her.
泽纳库斯： 那么，正好借你新来的眼光，我特地带你去品评一番。
ZENOCRATES: Then, with your fresh eyes, I’ve brought you here specifically to judge her beauty.
泰梅西斯： 我倾诉的是爱慕。
TYMETHES: It’s love I’m talking about, not judgment.
泽纳库斯： 不，她值得令人妒忌，尽管妒忌本身，远配不上一国之君。
ZENOCRATES: No, she is worth the envy—even if jealousy itself is beneath a king.
（罗克萨诺上。）
(Enter Roxano.)
罗克萨诺： 我尊贵的殿下？
ROXANO: My noble lord?
泽纳库斯： 王后心情如何？
ZENOCRATES: How is the Queen’s mood?
（二人低语。）
(They whisper together.)
泰梅西斯： （旁白）我岂非先前见过此人？此人颇有龟公之相；我不知其名，亦不晓其职。
TYMETHES: (Aside) Haven’t I seen this fellow before? He has the look of a pimp about him; I don’t know his name or his office.
泽纳库斯： （高声）就照那些话去办。
ZENOCRATES: (Aloud) See it done as we discussed.
罗克萨诺： 遵命，殿下。凡是用得着小的之事，尽管吩咐。（下。）
ROXANO: At your service, my lord. Anything you need from me, just say the word. (Exit.)
ZENOCRATES: Who, Roxano? A highly trusted servant, handpicked by my father’s own suspicion. But like everyone else, he’s under the Young Queen’s command. Honestly, if the pay were right, she could pimp herself out. If a wife has no shame, no amount of spying or guarding can keep her chaste.
TYMETHES: You’re a prophet, Zenocrates. What’s the point of it all? Only jealousy, sighs, and ridiculous groaning. Hunger and lust can pierce through flesh and stone; they’ll blow through castle gates, chastity belts, and Italian locks like a whirlwind.
泽纳库斯： 那这些善妒的老爷们岂非疯了？他们锁住妻子，防尽天下男人，却独独不防自家奴仆？
ZENOCRATES: Aren’t these jealous masters insane? They lock up their wives and guard against every man on earth—except their own servants.
（年轻王后手持一书上。）
(The Young Queen enters, with a book.)
泽纳库斯 （续）： 说着便到，看，看，她来了。
ZENOCRATES (Cont.): Speaking of her—look, look, here she comes.
泰梅西斯： （旁白）诸美为证……我心底的欲望骤然升腾。优雅与完美自她眸中灼灼迸射。我目眩神迷。
TYMETHES: (Aside) By all that is beautiful… a sudden desire rises within me. Grace and perfection blaze from her eyes. I am dazzled.
泽纳库斯： （引见）这位是泰梅西斯，夫人，乃遭流放的前王之子。
ZENOCRATES: (Presenting him) This is Tymethes, Madam, son to the late exiled King.
年轻王后： 便是他么？
YOUNG QUEEN: Is it he?
泽纳库斯： 正是，亲爱的夫人。
ZENOCRATES: It is, dear Madam.
年轻王后： （旁白）我至今方知欲望之力竟如此磅礴！情欲在我五内翻腾；我怕这一瞥便注定是我的劫数。
YOUNG QUEEN: (Aside) I never knew the power of desire could be this immense! Lust churns within me; I fear this single look will be my undoing.
泽纳库斯： （低声提醒）喂，泰梅西斯？朋友？
ZENOCRATES: (Whispering) Hey, Tymethes? Friend?
泰梅西斯： （茫然四顾）嗯？
TYMETHES: (Startled) Hmm?
泽纳库斯： （低声提醒）上前向我们的夫人、我们的母后致意。
ZENOCRATES: (Whispering) Go forward and greet our Lady, our Queen.
年轻王后： （旁白）他竟如此大胆地朝我走来！（高声）阁下便是泰梅西斯王子，我听得可对？
YOUNG QUEEN: (Aside) How boldly he approaches me! (Aloud) You are Prince Tymethes, if I heard correctly?
泰梅西斯： 正是那不幸之人，最尊贵的夫人，在您无瑕的完美面前。
TYMETHES: I am that unfortunate man, most noble Lady, standing before your flawless perfection.
YOUNG QUEEN: Sir, remember your place. (Aside) He said “perfection”! (Aloud) This is no place for romance, and I am no fit subject for such talk; return to your friend.
泰梅西斯： （旁白）所有希望，尚未绽放便已夭折。
TYMETHES: (Aside) All hope is dead before it could even bloom.
年轻王后： （旁白）这话说得太过冷酷，实在……
YOUNG QUEEN: (Aside) That sounded too cold, far too…
（罗克萨诺持酒上。）
(Enter Roxano with wine.)
年轻王后 （续）： 啊，这是给我们儿子泽纳库斯和他那位无礼朋友的酒么？真是周到。
YOUNG QUEEN (Cont.): Ah, is this wine for our son Zenocrates and his… blunt friend? How thoughtful.
泰梅西斯： （旁白）哈，看来还有希望！若她肯借机祝我健康……
TYMETHES: (Aside) Ha, there’s hope yet! If she’ll only take the chance to toast my health…
TYMETHES: (Aside) Heavens! Why does misfortune’s contempt follow me so closely! She wouldn’t even offer a toast; what was she made for? I can’t stay here, lest I catch a fire that only cold death can quench or tame. (Aloud) Zenocrates, let’s go. (Exit.)
泽纳库斯： 我得走了；愿您心境如乐章，王后。
ZENOCRATES: I must be off. May your mood be like music, Queen.
年轻王后： 愿你亦如是。
YOUNG QUEEN: And yours as well.
泽纳库斯： 愿您心想事成，亦如我口所能宣。
ZENOCRATES: May your desires be fulfilled as easily as my words can say it.
YOUNG QUEEN (Cont.): That one left without a word, but he left me with enough thoughts for both of us. Tymethes? That’s the name. Poor heart, be careful: see the end before you begin the act. You can love, but love wisely. They say even the wisest man has one blind spot—and that’s when he’s in love. In that moment, folly becomes his master. I don’t need to fear the servants watching me: their loyalty is tied to my purse; they are more faithful to me than to my husband. The true threat, the danger, lies in the very man I must have—Tymethes. Young men like to boast. In his cups, he might brag to some cheap mistress, using my shame as a stepping stone to raise himself up… and from there, word would reach the King. A strange fate: the place where my desire lives is the same place where my fear dwells.
ARMATRITES: (Aside) Alone? Where are her guards? To let her sink into her own thoughts? That’s a dangerous indulgence. Her thoughts have a will of their own.
ROXANO: (Aside) My lady’s thoughts right now are far from the sweet smile she’s wearing for the tyrant. I consider myself a good judge of character, but their faces have never been more fake. My lady isn’t being honest with herself. She’s got some twisted ideas. If there’s anything she needs a hand with, she might just be lucky enough to tell me. She knows what I’m worth and what I can do; she can’t fool me. I offer dedicated service and total silence—what more could a lady ask for? She has total faith in us; those of us who guard her hem would all risk a little something to serve her and keep her happy.
（年轻王后忧思上。）(The Young Queen enters, deep in thought.)
老天，她来了。看这情状，定是服了什么古怪的药石。
Good grief, here she comes. By the looks of it, she’s taken some strange potion.
YOUNG QUEEN: (Aside) No logic can suppress this thought. It has a brute force pushing upward; do sparks ever fly down? I can no longer restrain this obsession with Tymethes. I try to threaten it with my husband’s jealousy, but it still rises above all opposition. I see the danger; I see the terror I’m in. I’m running toward an abyss on a single narrow plank. Yet, even if that board were three times narrower, I’d still risk stepping onto it. The pain of love! Who’s there? Roxano? He’s seen me. (Aloud) What news, Roxano?
罗克萨诺： 没什么好消息，夫人。
ROXANO: No good news, Madam.
年轻王后： 没有？那坏消息是什么？
YOUNG QUEEN: No? Then what’s the bad news?
罗克萨诺： 最坏的消息便是，夫人，您很不快活。
ROXANO: The worst news, Madam, is that you are very unhappy.
YOUNG QUEEN: He must never know who I am, even though I feel I’ll die if I can’t have him. My husband’s pale jealousy chases me like a hound; if Tymethes knew who he was enjoying, the word would reach the King. Since my desire carries such terrifying consequences, I’d rather die of love than any other way. What do you say?
ROXANO: Then he’ll say, like a proper gentleman, that he’ll do his duty: bring the two of you together, let you unite, and then leave the two of you alone. What more could a gentleman do?
ROXANO: Safely? Yes, I swear it on my hand, or may I never work this trade again. Leave it to me, Madam. I’ve got some clever tricks in mind that will let you see him and enjoy him without him ever knowing where he is or who he’s with.
ROXANO: Oh, that’s exactly what I don’t want him to know, Madam. Think about it: if he knew it was you, would you ever be safe? Hmph. Some young punks are so vain and ridiculous—if they slept with their own mother, they’d probably beat a drum and announce it in every tavern. It happens all the time. Since I’ve promised, I’ll swear to it: you’ll have him before tonight is over, and he won’t know it was you even by tomorrow morning.
YOUNG QUEEN: You are not only indispensable, you’re a delight. (Giving him money) Here, take your reward. Make sure everything is arranged perfectly. I pay you in gold today; I will repay you with honor in the future. (Exit.)
ROXANO: I’m your humble servant, Madam. Hey, beautiful gold! Heaven knows, this money was easy to earn. If you ask me, there’s no better business in the world than match-making. With this reward, a lowly servant like me can become a grand steward in no time. (Exit.)
][][
第二幕，第一场 [羊圈外]
ACT II, Scene 1 [Outside the Sheepfolds]
（地上有一深坑，以断枝覆盖，旁置一苹果。弄人与二牧羊女上。）
(A deep pit in the ground, covered with broken branches; an apple is placed nearby. Enter the Fool and two Shepherdesses.)
牧羊女甲： 来，兄弟，坑挖好了吗？
1ST SHEPHERDESS: Come on, brother—is the pit ready?
弄人： 挖好啦，我敢担保，深得像个精明的放高利贷者的良心！
FOOL: It’s dug, and I guarantee it’s as deep as a shrewd moneylender’s conscience!
牧羊女乙： 老天，那可够深的；它一顿早饭的工夫，就能吞掉一个带着三个孤儿的寡妇！轻点，是这个吗？
2ND SHEPHERDESS: Good grief, that’s deep enough. It could swallow a widow and three orphans before breakfast! Easy now, is this the spot?
牧羊女甲： 是，是，就是这个。
1ST SHEPHERDESS: Yes, yes, this is it.
弄人： 论深度，我敢发誓没话说；来瞧瞧，我把这些树枝交叉铺好了。
FOOL: I’ll swear to the depth any day. Take a look—I’ve laid these branches out in a perfect lattice.
牧羊女乙： 这苹果是干嘛的？
2ND SHEPHERDESS: What’s the apple for?
弄人： 逮狼用的。
FOOL: To catch wolves.
二人： 什么狼？
BOTH: What kind of wolves?
弄人： 哎，就是所有那些吃羊肉的混蛋，我指的是那些祸害咱们羊群的狼。我想把它们都困在这儿。
FOOL: Oh, all those mutton-eating bastards—I mean the wolves that harass our flocks. I want to trap the lot of them here.
牧羊女乙： 我倒纳闷，那些吃咱们羊的狼，到底是公狼还是母狼？
2ND SHEPHERDESS: I wonder, are these wolves that eat our sheep male or female?
FOOL: By their love for mutton, they should be male; but by their sheer greed, they must be female. A female wolf’s belly needs a dam to plug it, or it’ll never be full.
牧羊女甲： 怎么，母狼比公狼还坏？
1ST SHEPHERDESS: What, are the females worse than the males?
弄人： 怎么，难道母畜不比魔鬼更凶吗，您说说看？
FOOL: Well, isn’t a female beast fiercer than the devil himself? You tell me.
牧羊女甲： （笑）你这话可把我堵回去了。真逗。
1ST SHEPHERDESS: (Laughing) You’ve got me there. That’s funny.
FOOL: Listen, girl, even if the whole earth were parchment, the ocean ink, every twig a pen, and every rogue a clerk—even then, they’d only just begin to record the treachery of those female wolves!
牧羊女乙： 瘟死它们，公的母的都好：它们专吸咱们羊羔的血。
2ND SHEPHERDESS: A plague on them all, male or female. They suck the very blood out of our lambs.
弄人： 哎，总是最弱小的被挤到墙角。打个比方：推倒一只羊，它往前倒；推倒一个人，他往后倒。
FOOL: Ay, the weakest are always pushed to the wall. Think of it this way: push a sheep, it falls forward; push a man, he falls backward.
牧羊女甲： 有学问。先生，我好奇这世上有多少种狼啊？
1ST SHEPHERDESS: Very learned. Sir, I wonder how many kinds of wolves there are?
弄人： （纠正）“有多少种。”没人说“有多少种狼在。”——哎呀，就跟扑克牌里老K花色一样多呗。
FOOL: (Correcting her) “How many kinds.” Nobody says “how many kinds of wolves are in.” Well, there are as many kinds as there are rogues in a deck of cards.
牧羊女乙： 哦，那是四种。
2ND SHEPHERDESS: Oh, so four kinds then.
弄人： 头一等是宫廷狼，吃相龌龊，喝相却“干净”。
FOOL: The first are the Court-Wolves. Their eating is filthy, but their drinking is “clean.”
牧羊女乙： 为什么喝相“干净”？
2ND SHEPHERDESS: Why “clean” drinking?
弄人： 怎么，因为他们一喝醉，通常就把肚里的东西吐个精光，所以在喝酒这事上，倒是做得挺“干净”。
FOOL: Because when they get drunk, they usually vomit up everything in their stomachs. So, they keep their drinking quite “clean.”
牧羊女乙： 这么说来，先生，那些确实是“干净”酒徒了。
2ND SHEPHERDESS: I see, sir; they are “clean” drinkers indeed.
弄人： 下一等是乡野狼。粮食入仓时，他们笑得比狐狸还精；跳舞不跟曲调，只盯着斗里的金币转悠。
FOOL: The next are the Country-Wolves. When grain goes into the barn, they grin wider than foxes. They don’t dance to the tune; they only watch the gold coins spinning in the bin.
牧羊女甲： （纠正）“一枚金币加一配克！”没人说“一斗里的金币。”
1ST SHEPHERDESS: (Correcting) “A gold coin and a peck!” Nobody says “gold coins in a bin.”
2ND SHEPHERDESS: No, it’s “a pinch and a handful, and silly Polly’s belly swells”… let the gallows take those grain-hoarders! But aren’t there City-Wolves?
FOOL: Plenty of them, oh yes, in packs. You can see them all over the streets! They’ll eat carrion—they’d even swallow a harlot’s corpse—and that’s why we use the apple.
牧羊女甲： 他们有那么大的胃口？
1ST SHEPHERDESS: They have appetites that big?
弄人： 胃口？哎，妹子，拉琴的都没他们这么好的胃口！我见过有的，三两口就能吞掉一个贵族老爷。
FOOL: Appetite? Girl, a fiddler doesn’t have an appetite like theirs! I’ve seen some who could swallow a nobleman in three bites.
牧羊女乙： （纠正）你是说，“三小口”吧。
2ND SHEPHERDESS: (Correcting) You mean “three tiny nibbles.”
弄人： 游侠骑士在他们眼里不算什么；一个年轻的浪荡公子，他们能像吞条小鱼似的，整个儿吞下去。
FOOL: A knight-errant is nothing to them. They can swallow a young gallant whole, like a little minnow.
牧羊女甲： 老天！我奇怪那条小鱼怎么没被他噎着。
1ST SHEPHERDESS: Heavens! I wonder the minnow didn’t choke him.
FOOL: If you could find the throat of his conscience, the minnow might choke him. But those minnows swallow everything. Five silk-clad gallants are easier to swallow than a single plum. That’s how our City-Wolves do it—they gulp him down like a gold-leaf pill. Wrapped in smooth silk, he slides right down the throat without a single chew. That’s why they call them “silken-slick gallants.”
牧羊女甲： 非得喉咙深不见底才行。我可不当那种耍把戏的贵妇人。
1ST SHEPHERDESS: You’d need a bottomless throat for that. I’m glad I’m not a high-society lady playing those tricks.
FOOL: If you played those tricks, you wouldn’t be a lady. Lastly, there’s the Sea-Wolf, a terrifying predator. His belly is as big as a ship, and he swallows enough silk in one go to keep forty tailors busy all through Christmas!
1ST SHEPHERDESS: (Aside) I didn’t know these land-beasts knew so much about silk. (Aloud) Alright, the trap is set. What do we do once we catch a wolf?
弄人： 怎么，又大又凶的，咱就放生；又小又怂的，咱就吊起来。就这么着，行不？
FOOL: Well, the big, fierce ones we let go; the small, cowardly ones we hang. How’s that sound?
三人： 行，行，行！
ALL: Fine, fine, fine!
（三人下。拉皮鲁斯独自上，仍喃喃自语。）
(Exeunt. Enter Lapirus alone, still muttering to himself.)
LAPIRUS: You filthy carcass, breeding monsters, forced to live off the very thing that destroys you! Why must man be nature’s debtor? Every other creature feasts freely at the earth’s table, yet the earth, which brings forth everything for man, has almost no place to grant him real food. What a wicked wind blows here—not a single tree offers a friendly branch. Fallen Queen and poor children, the very earth you walk on is like a proud mother, refusing you a single bite.
LAPIRUS (Cont.): Ha! Thank you, Fortune. Now I defy you, Famine! Blessed tree, four lives grow within your fruit. Quick, I must taste it—every man for himself, or the world is lost.
（他上前拾取苹果，跌入坑中。）
(He goes to pick up the apple and falls into the pit.)
LAPIRUS (Cont.): Alas, I am a damned and most miserable man! Help! Help! Is there no angel to listen and carry my cry upward? No one to help? Oh, then let me wither and die!
（弄人上。）
(Enter the Fool.)
弄人： 抓到狼啦！抓到狼啦！
FOOL: Caught a wolf! Caught a wolf!
拉皮鲁斯： 噢，救命！我不是狼，好朋友。
LAPIRUS: Oh, help me! I’m no wolf, good friend.
弄人： 不是？那你是什么？
FOOL: No? Then what are you?
拉皮鲁斯： 一个悲惨的可怜虫。
LAPIRUS: A miserable wretch.
弄人： 你是个吱哇乱叫、专啄谷子的黄鼠狼放债人？
FOOL: Are you a squeaking, grain-pecking weasel of a moneylender?
拉皮鲁斯： 什么？不，不是。
LAPIRUS: What? No, I’m not.
弄人： 那你是个咧着猴嘴笑的当铺老板？
FOOL: Then are you a grinning, monkey-faced pawnbroker?
拉皮鲁斯： 不，不是！莫要嘲笑一个身处苦痛、伤口未愈之人：当敷香膏，而非猛药。
LAPIRUS: No, I’m not! Don’t mock a man in pain whose wounds haven’t healed. Give me balm, not poison.
弄人： （旁白）蜗牛壳的！他说话像个郎中！（高声）你若真是郎中，为何不自己治治，先生？
FOOL: (Aside) By a snail’s shell! He talks like a doctor. (Aloud) If you’re really a doctor, why don’t you cure yourself, sir?
拉皮鲁斯： 是什么？
LAPIRUS: A what?
弄人： 郎中啊。
FOOL: A doctor.
拉皮鲁斯： 我不是郎中，朋友；我叫拉皮鲁斯。
LAPIRUS: I’m no doctor, friend. My name is Lapirus.
弄人： 怎么着！好，好，好，好，好！哟，逮着只大耗子！拉，拉，拉，拉皮鲁斯，嗬！
FOOL: What! Well, well, well! Look at that—I’ve caught a giant rat! La-la-la-Lapirus, huh?
拉皮鲁斯： 拉皮鲁斯是我的名字；你不认得我吗？
LAPIRUS: Lapirus is my name. Don’t you recognize me?
弄人： 认得你？认得一个贪婪的无赖，连自己的国家都能出卖——而且这“出卖”，是懦夫般的背叛。
FOOL: Recognize you? I recognize a greedy rogue who sold out his own country—and did it with the betrayal of a coward.
拉皮鲁斯： 请不要折磨我，我求你。我就是那个可怜虫。我曾是恶棍，但我如今——
LAPIRUS: Don’t torture me, I beg you. I am that wretch. I was a villain, but now—
FOOL: Devils in the pit! It was you, you dog, who sold out my country and your uncle, the King! Tush. I may be a fool, but I’m no traitor. Stay down there and wait for the wolves to eat you, you treacherous Carthaginian bastard! You maggot! (Exit.)
拉皮鲁斯： （叹息）唉，我这至为悲惨可怜的造物！我如今方知，确有一种复仇的命运，专令恶人遭遇不幸。
LAPIRUS: (Sighing) Alas, I am the most miserable creature alive! Now I know for sure: there is a vengeful fate that ensures the wicked meet a wretched end.
][][
第二幕，第二场 [城堡内一室]
ACT II, Scene 2 [A Room in the Castle]
（泽纳库斯、泰梅西斯与安菲多特上，马泽雷斯尾随其后。）
(Enter Zenocrates, Tymethes, and Amphidote; Mazeres follows them.)
泰梅西斯： （瞥见马泽雷斯）我们被人盯着呢。
TYMETHES: (Spying Mazeres) We’re being watched.
泽纳库斯： 被谁？
ZENOCRATES: By whom?
泰梅西斯： 马泽雷斯跟着我们。
TYMETHES: Mazeres is tailing us.
安菲多特： 哦，他已公然自诩为我的追求者。你唯一的情敌。
AMPHIDOTE: Oh, he’s openly declared himself my suitor. Your only rival.
泰梅西斯： 见他的鬼。
TYMETHES: To hell with him.
安菲多特： 那你打算让他成为一个“热情似火”的追求者咯？
AMPHIDOTE: So, do you plan to make him a “burning” lover then?
泰梅西斯： 他最终或许会“火”起来的；他那副好身段正祈求着呢。
TYMETHES: He might just end up on fire eventually; that fine body of his is practically begging for it.
TYMETHES: Right. You leave first, my lady; I want to take my leave specifically while he’s watching. He’s a jealous type—a single kiss will pierce his heart. I’m going to deliver a heavy blow to him, right on your lips.
（二人接吻。）
(They kiss.)
马泽雷斯： （旁白）该死！遭天谴！又一个吻？他们怕不是以亲吻来计时的吧！
MAZERES: (Aside) Damnation! Curse them! Another kiss? Do they measure time by kisses?
泰梅西斯： （旁白）嗬，嗬。我这下刺中了他的肝胆，而非皮肉！他流散的是心绪，这可比伤口更糟。
TYMETHES: (Aside) Ha! I’ve stabbed him in the vitals, not just the skin. He’s bleeding out his peace of mind, which is far worse than a physical wound.
MAZERES: (Aside) Is he lingering just to torture me? Curse the moment I ever pleaded for his life. All my traps have failed. I can’t rely on those useless fools anymore. I’ll take a faster route—straight to the heart. I’ll hunt him down myself. (Exit.)
TYMETHES: Look at that—he’s stomping off with a scowl. No matter; call me when those angry eyebrows of his can actually cause an earthquake. Until then, I’m not moved.
ROXANO: (Aside) Lord, there he is, wandering about. I barely recognize myself in these rags. I can handle any disguise, though drinking is the only thing that hides me better—I’ll admit defeat there, as it can turn a proper gentleman into a total mess. Hush, I think I’ve been spotted.
泽纳库斯： 留意他。
ZENOCRATES: Keep an eye on him.
泰梅西斯： 我留意着呢。
TYMETHES: I am.
（罗克萨诺走近他们。）
(Roxano approaches them.)
罗克萨诺： 好心的老爷们，行行好，给点儿慈悲的施舍，救救我这命途多舛的可怜绅士吧？
ROXANO: Kind sirs, have a little mercy. Spare some charity for a poor gentleman who’s fallen on hard times?
ROXANO: (Aside) “A plague on me?” These young lords only give the kind of “charity” that sticks to you—as if it were a virtue. He doesn’t just want my hat off; he wants my skin and bones too. (Aloud) Thank you for your “grace,” my lord.
泰梅西斯： 不，那可不是恭维！
TYMETHES: No, that wasn’t a compliment!
安菲多特： 他称你为“老爷”呢。
AMPHIDOTE: He’s calling you “my lord.”
泽纳库斯： （笑）不，那是他们黑话里的‘大王’！
ZENOCRATES: (Laughing) No, in their slang, that means “King of the beggars”!
罗克萨诺： 好心的老爷们！我也曾风光过。
ROXANO: Kind sirs! I’ve seen better days.
泰梅西斯： 哦，那你现在算什么？
TYMETHES: Oh? And what are you now?
罗克萨诺： （唱）“养过好牲口啊，/娶过三房妻，/两个汉子要起义啊，/三个闺女躺平地……” ROXANO: (Sings) “I once kept fine cattle, / And married wives three, / Two men rose in riot, / And three girls lay low on the lea…”
（泰梅西斯朝罗克萨诺扔了些钱币。）
(Tymethes tosses some coins to Roxano.)
罗克萨诺 （续）： 噢，好心的老爷们哪！
ROXANO (Cont.): Oh, bless you, kind sirs!
泰梅西斯： （耸肩）天杀的，我自己也是个乞丐。
TYMETHES: (Shrugging) Hell, I’m a bit of a beggar myself.
罗克萨诺： 或许老爷您能熬过去。慈卑的老爷啊！
ROXANO: Perhaps you’ll pull through, my lord. Merciful sir!
泰梅西斯： 这家伙该挨鞭子。
TYMETHES: This fellow needs a whipping.
罗克萨诺： 老爷您怕是忘了自己也曾是乞丐的时候了。
ROXANO: Perhaps your lordship forgets when you were a beggar yourself.
泰梅西斯： （将他拉到一旁）就冲你这句话，我可得好好“赏”你，真的！
TYMETHES: (Pulling him aside) For that comment alone, I really ought to “reward” you!
罗克萨诺： 不过眼下既已避人耳目，就请合上您的钱袋，张开您的耳朵吧，阁下。
ROXANO: But now that we’re out of earshot, close your purse and open your ears, sir.
泰梅西斯： 怎么！
TYMETHES: What!
（安菲多特欲走向泰梅西斯与罗克萨诺。泽纳库斯抓住她的手臂。）
(Amphidote tries to walk toward them. Zenocrates catches her arm.)
ROXANO: (Aside) And I thought he wasn’t a fool. (Aloud) Otherwise, let me die a miserable death in this business—and the worst curse I can think of is to die like an old pimp.
泰梅西斯： 说得好。何时见面？
TYMETHES: Fair enough. When do we meet?
罗克萨诺： 明日傍晚，五时整。
ROXANO: Tomorrow evening, at five sharp.
泰梅西斯： 好。地点？
TYMETHES: Good. Where?
罗克萨诺： 皇家猎场附近，那座旧猎屋。
ROXANO: The old lodge near the royal hunting grounds.
泰梅西斯： 但是……她是诚实的，对吧？在她的意图上？
TYMETHES: But… she’s honest, right? In her intentions?
罗克萨诺： 若非如此，那这世上的正经人，怕是比公堂上‘讲良心’的律师还要稀罕了。
ROXANO: If she weren’t, then honest people in this world would be rarer than a lawyer with a conscience.
泰梅西斯： 够了。五时？猎屋？嗯，我会赴约。
TYMETHES: Enough. Five o’clock? The lodge? Fine, I’ll be there.
罗克萨诺： 愿您享尽女人最甜蜜的珍宝。（下。）
ROXANO: May you enjoy the sweetest treasures a woman has to offer. (Exit.)
泰梅西斯： （旁白）啊，忠贞不渝……我倒是听说过。
TYMETHES: (Aside) Ah, constant fidelity… I’ve heard rumors of it.
（泽纳库斯回到泰梅西斯身边。）
(Zenocrates returns to Tymethes.)
泽纳库斯： 怎么，你跟那乞丐了结完了？
ZENOCRATES: Well, are you finished with the beggar?
泰梅西斯： 这世上，还没哪个活人能说自己彻底打发了乞丐。
TYMETHES: No living soul can say they’ve truly finished with beggars in this world.
泽纳库斯： 我没问你营生；怎跟这等货色商议这么久？
ZENOCRATES: I wasn’t asking about your business; why did you consult with that low-life for so long?
TYMETHES: What? Are you crazy? If you dodge every beggar you see, you might miss out on someone extraordinary. I’ll bet he’s some kind of ruined gallant.
（同下。）(Exeunt together.)
][][
第二幕，第三场 [羊圈外]
ACT II, Scene 3 [Outside the Sheepfolds]
（老王、菲德利奥与阿莫尔福上。）
(Enter the Old King, Fidelio, and Amorpho.)
老王： 失却王后之痛，比利迪亚所有背信更甚。那没有人性的禽兽！
OLD KING: The pain of losing my Queen hurts more than all the treachery in Lydia. That heartless beast!
LAPIRUS: (Crying out from the pit) Hey! You up there! If you truly have human forms to match your voices—if you have hearts that can be pierced by the dying groans of a suffering soul—then have mercy on a wretch trapped in darkness! Please, come closer and lend a hand. Save me from this tiny grave and let me see the light of day again!
OLD KING: Poor soul—it must be some countryman who lost his way in the night and fell in. Everyone, lend a hand; let’s pull him up. Come on, my friend; even the highest of us can fall low.
拉皮鲁斯： 万千感谢与祈祷。
LAPIRUS: A thousand thanks and prayers to you.
老王： 你可真沉啊，先生，不管你是谁。
OLD KING: You’re quite a weight, sir, whoever you are.
拉皮鲁斯： 是我内心的重负，连带着我的魂魄，一齐往下坠。
LAPIRUS: It’s the heavy burden in my heart—it drags my very soul downward.
老王： 再使把劲，咱们的辛苦便没白费，微薄之力正助微薄之人。好了，先生，欢迎你来到——
OLD KING: One more pull and our work is done. A little help for a man in need. There now, sir—welcome back to—
（拉皮鲁斯与老王彼此认出。）
(Lapirus and the Old King recognize each other.)
老王： 拉皮鲁斯？是你？
OLD KING: Lapirus? Is it you?
（拉皮鲁斯再次瘫倒，非因坑洞，而是因为羞愧。）
(Lapirus collapses again, not from the pit, but from shame.)
The Old Queen enters, her face etched with grief, cradling two infants. One is dead. She places the living child on a mossy mound, then collapses into sorrow, clutching the dead infant to her chest. She moves toward the back of the stage and begins digging a shallow grave with her bare hands.
The 1st and 2nd Shepherdesses stroll in, looking relaxed and chatting in pantomime. The Fool follows them, mimicking their gestures. The 2nd Shepherdess spots the baby on the mound; the two women rush forward, playful and competing for the child. The Fool, seizing the moment, snatches the baby from their arms.
弄人怀抱婴孩起舞，百般逗弄，引得牧羊女忍俊不禁。
The Fool dances with the baby in his arms, making silly faces and teasing the child, making the Shepherdesses burst into silent laughter.
老王后还，尸身已掩。见土坡空空如也，她失魂落魄，四下寻觅，随即瘫倒在地，哀毁骨立。
The Old Queen returns, the tiny body now buried. Seeing the empty mound, she loses her mind with terror, searching frantically in all directions before collapsing to the ground in total despair.
众牧羊女怜之，招手唤其前。弄人躬身一揖，如仪奉还婴孩。
The Shepherdesses are moved to pity; they beckon her over. The Fool bows low with mock-solemnity and formally returns the baby to her.
Overjoyed, the Queen hugs the living child tight. She points to her own withered breasts, showing she has no milk left. The women understand and offer their own abundant milk to nurse the child. The Fool gives the baby a comical kiss on the forehead.
Lapirus leads the Old King and his courtiers onto the stage. The King and Queen lock eyes, then rush into a tight embrace. Lapirus kneels before the Queen, bowing his head in repentance. The Fool shrugs and throws up his hands to the audience with a self-mocking grin.
［乐声骤强，归于一沉郁和弦。灯光骤灭，众演员隐于暗处退场。］
[The music swells into a heavy, somber chord. The lights cut out, and the actors exit into the shadows.]
ROXANO: This is the lodge, the appointed spot, and the hour isn’t here yet. Well then. I wasn’t born for this trade; but right now, I’ve got the reek of a pimp in my very marrow. In this light, from head to toe, every hair on me smells like a bawd. Never mind, I’ll play the part well. I’m so jealous of that fellow’s luck that I could slit his throat for a moment’s pleasure. Thinking of the soft luxury waiting for him, I could chew up feathers and swallow them. The highest I can reach is some milkmaid—that’s the “cream” of my fortune. But he gets to wallow in nectar and ambrosia, while I’m stuck splashing in sour buttermilk!
（马泽雷斯沉思上。）
(Mazeres enters, brooding.)
马泽雷斯： （旁白）我得另想办法了，他绝不能活。
MAZERES: (Aside) I must find another way. He cannot be allowed to live.
ROXANO: (Aside) Who’s this? Lord Mazeres, looking like a thundercloud! He’s sought me out twice in private; I don’t know what his game is. What does he want with me? I’ll show myself; if the other one arrives now, I’ll take it as a brave capture, but it’s still early. Let’s test him.
马泽雷斯： （旁白）依我看，罗克萨诺最合适，也最不易惹人怀疑，因他本就常在宫中走动。
MAZERES: (Aside) Roxano is the best choice, I think—the least likely to cause suspicion since he’s always moving about the palace.
MAZERES: Yes, I haven’t asked you… (Pause) I’ve looked for you twice. Tell me, Roxano, do I carry any weight in your heart? Can I move your will? Has any part of me bonded with your very blood?
罗克萨诺： （旁白）这话听着可真是无礼。（高声）如同生命一般，大人。
ROXANO: (Aside) That’s a rude way to put it. (Aloud) As much as life itself, my lord.
马泽雷斯： 如同爱一般，伙计；那我便不多问了。
MAZERES: Like love itself, man; then I won’t ask further.
罗克萨诺： 那么便碰碰我吧，大人，试试我的成色。
ROXANO: Then touch me, my lord—test my mettle.
马泽雷斯： （给他金子）先给你金子，随之而来的将是我的宠幸，以及命运女神名下的一切馈赠。 MAZERES: (Giving him gold) Here is gold first. What follows will be my favor and everything Fortune has to give.
MAZERES: There is one called Tymethes, son of the exiled king. He haunts the palace now, favored by Zenocrates. That fellow is my disease. While he’s near, I’m restless and nothing goes right. I won’t brag about my rewards, but if you rid me of his physical shell, you’ll live in wealth and peace forever. You’re a smart man; think on it. Farewell. (Exit.)
ROXANO: (Aside) Well, well. “You’re a smart man; farewell.” The first lesson of wisdom is this: when gold is held out, grab it—even philosophers agree on that. I heard that from a very “learned” advisor. Now I have to think. Kill Tymethes? A man strangely loved by a lady and dreadfully hated by a lord? On this side, gold for introducing him; on that side, gold for killing him. Let me weigh them: which is heavier? Honestly, the murder-gold has more weight. What I like least about this is Lord Mazeres being his open enemy. He’s the King’s favorite; he can whisper thoughts into the King’s ear. I’d rather be torn apart by a whirlwind than fall into the fury of either of them. Truth be told, the smartest way is to be a total rogue. I’ll blow the whole affair wide open. I’ll sell him out completely.
（马泽雷斯上。）
(Mazeres enters.)
马泽雷斯： 想好了吗？我可否施恩于你？我能化消遣为功业，使你这双手赢得尊荣。
MAZERES: Have you decided? May I grant you my favor? I can turn a pastime into a great deed and bring honor to those hands of yours.
罗克萨诺： 大人？
ROXANO: My lord?
马泽雷斯： 你已下定决心，而我，将成为你的靠山？
MAZERES: Have you made up your mind? Shall I be your patron?
ROXANO: You’ll see my resolve soon enough. Before I even tell you the plan, you can start being proud of your revenge. No one’s hatred was ever so lucky. Just let me work my magic, and you’ll see.
马泽雷斯： 你让我心痒难耐。
MAZERES: You make me impatient.
罗克萨诺： 泰梅西斯将在此与我会面。
ROXANO: Tymethes is meeting me right here.
马泽雷斯： 在此？妙极。
MAZERES: Here? Excellent.
罗克萨诺： 我本就打算向您和盘托出，大人；请您明白这一点。
ROXANO: I always intended to tell you everything, my lord; please understand that.
TYMETHES: A sweet, tender lady? Heavens, who could it be? I can’t know her name or see her face? I hope this isn’t some trick to give me a beating. Or maybe a “welcome” of clubs? Or tossing me in a blanket for a big tumble? Honestly, as long as it’s a lady and her maids doing the tossing, I don’t mind—because if they throw me in a blanket, I’ll throw them in the sheets, and we’ll call it even.
马泽雷斯： （低声）我既佩服这计策，也佩服我的复仇。
MAZERES: (Whispering) I admire the plan as much as I admire my revenge.
罗克萨诺： （低声）大人，我为您铺路。
ROXANO: (Whispering) My lord, I’m paving the way for you.
马泽雷斯： （低声）你盯好你的“朋友”。
MAZERES: (Whispering) Keep a close eye on your “friend.”
（马泽雷斯下。罗克萨诺走向泰梅西斯。）
(Mazeres exits. Roxano approaches Tymethes.)
泰梅西斯： 你在这儿。我们分秒不差地碰面了。那么，那么，接下来怎么做？
TYMETHES: There you are. We met right on the dot. So, so—what’s next?
罗克萨诺： 没什么，只需把这头罩戴在您头上。
ROXANO: Nothing much—just put this hood over your head.
泰梅西斯： 什么？我可从没蒙着眼走过路。
TYMETHES: What? I’ve never walked blindfolded in my life.
ROXANO: You’ll never want to do it any other way, sir, because all the secret affairs of this world are blind by nature. Besides, sir, if a man sees the evil he does, he’ll see every tiny sin as a bloody business.
泰梅西斯： 这话从一个仆役嘴里说出来，倒有几分道理。
TYMETHES: That’s surprisingly philosophical coming from a servant.
罗克萨诺： 做下人的，总得跟着主子的脚步，先生。
ROXANO: A servant must always follow in his master’s footsteps, sir.
泰梅西斯： 那倒未必，总不能跟到主子相好的闺房里去吧。
TYMETHES: Not always—you wouldn’t follow him into his mistress’s bedroom, would you?
TYMETHES: (Muffled) “And after dark, you can’t tell who is who.” With that kind of experience, you might become an expert. Come, give me your hand. You might prove to be an honest lad, my friend, but whatever happens, I trust you.
ROXANO: Ah, sir—try me before you trust me. But let’s not waste the golden hour. Come, follow me, sir. Hey, this is exactly what you pleasure-seeking gentlemen value. You’d rather lose your eyes than lose your thrill. (Exit.)
][][
第三幕，第二场 [猎屋寝殿，夜]
ACT III, Scene 2 [A Bedchamber in the Lodge, Night]
（夜色中，年轻王后独自上。她手持一书，并非阅读，而是如握护身符般死死攥着。她侧耳凝听，静候。）
(In the darkness, enter the Young Queen alone. She holds a book, not for reading, but clutching it like a protective talisman. She tilts her head, listening, waiting.)
YOUNG QUEEN: The servants are all bound by heavy oaths. Their silence has been bought with gold, then sealed. Now my very life and fortune hang in their hands… and in his.
年轻王后 （续）： 罗克萨诺发誓，他的计划定会滴水不漏—— 那是个能为贵妇了却任何心愿的男人。
YOUNG QUEEN (Cont.): Roxano swore his plan would be flawless—he is a man who can satisfy any lady’s whim.
YOUNG QUEEN (Cont.): God! Time crawls like a venomous insect! Is this how the hours feel for thieves and adulterers—this agonizing? Every second is a hammer-blow, falling hard on the anvil of my fear. This is the only true clock: the thunder of lust within a terrified heart.
［她听见幕后一响——一声足音，一句耳语。她蓦然僵住，恐惧与渴望交织的神情如电光掠过脸庞。］
[She hears a sound offstage—a footfall, a whisper. She freezes suddenly; a look of mingled terror and longing flashes across her face like lightning.]
年轻王后 （对自己，稳住心神）： 此刻。序幕拉开。
YOUNG QUEEN (To herself, steadying her nerves): Now. The prologue begins.
［她迅疾而决绝地退下，前往那约定的地点。］
[She exits swiftly and resolutely toward the appointed place.]
][][
第三幕，第三场 [猎屋宴厅]
ACT III, Scene 3 [The Banqueting Hall in the Lodge]
（乐声轻柔，桌上灯盏陈列，挂毯铺展。罗克萨诺引蒙眼的泰梅西斯上。马泽雷斯默然迎上。）
(Soft music; lamps are set on the table, tapestries displayed. Roxano enters, leading the blindfolded Tymethes. Mazeres enters silently to meet them.)
泰梅西斯： （闷声）我们这趟“盲程”走到哪儿了？
TYMETHES: (Muffled) How far have we come on this “blind journey”?
马泽雷斯： （对罗克萨诺低语）嘘！罗克萨诺！
MAZERES: (Whispering to Roxano) Shh! Roxano!
罗克萨诺： 您到了您的——（对马泽雷斯低语）大人，请回避；我来帮您装扮一番。
ROXANO: You’ve reached your— (Whispering to Mazeres) My lord, step aside; let me help you with your disguise.
马泽雷斯： （对罗克萨诺低语）够了。（下。）
MAZERES: (Whispering to Roxano) Enough. (Exit.)
泰梅西斯： （闷声）我觉得自己走在一处地下墓穴里。
TYMETHES: (Muffled) I feel as if I’m walking through a catacomb.
罗克萨诺： 如今，您久蔽的双目重见天光。且看，大人——这便是您的新天地。 （扯下头罩。）
ROXANO: Now, let those long-veiled eyes see the light of day. Behold, my lord—your new world. (He pulls off the hood.)
泰梅西斯： 老天，天亮了！
TYMETHES: Heavens, it’s broad daylight!
罗克萨诺： 请在此歇息，大人，您将得偿所愿；静候您的欲念，它们自会呈上。（下。）
ROXANO: Rest here, my lord; your heart’s desire is at hand. Just wait, and your lusts will be served up to you. (Exit.)
TYMETHES: (Aside) Though it’s night, this place is dawn itself compared to the darkness that led me here. Ha! Tapestries on the floor? What place is this? Such magnificent curtains? A room so richly adorned? The lamps and their glow, the wealth and its splendor! These silent witnesses tell me this is no ordinary woman. I think I’m beginning to understand my mistress better. Whoever she is, I’m already in love with this unseen beauty, for everything in this room displays such exquisite courtly taste.
（乐声大作。瓦莱斯塔与斯卡特戴面具捧宴席上；他们放下宴席即下。）
(Loud music. Valesta and Scate enter in masks, carrying a banquet; they set the table and exit.)
TYMETHES: The servants are masked? Lord, I admire her management of love. It seems this woman has the skill to be wanton while shielding a man’s shame—or perhaps shielding her own reputation when she hands it over to a man’s tongue. I’d swear to keep the secrets of love, but a woman is wise not to trust me. Everything said or done seems perfectly measured; it all comes down to her own joy and cleverness.
（罗克萨诺与扮作蒙面仆役、手持酒壶的马泽雷斯上。）
(Roxano and Mazeres enter, disguised as a masked servant with a wine flagon.)
ROXANO: This feast comes by her own grace. She prepared it for you herself, and as these delicacies show, it is meant to enchant the soul and lead you into the joys of love. By her command, I welcome you, our most noble guest, to enjoy this feast before the greater banquet of bliss.
ROXANO: (Aside) Lord Mazeres has snatched this duty for himself. I can hardly stop laughing; he plays the devil perfectly in that mask—wherever he bows is cursed ground. How could that foolish boy guess that beneath the mask hides his mortal enemy? It’s the fashion of the times—great men kill just as flatterers stab.
MAZERES: (Aside) If only I could poison him now—decently, aptly, exquisitely! My revenge declares my joy! (Offering the poisoned cup.) Your wine, my lord.
（泰梅西斯不慎打翻酒杯。）
(Tymethes accidentally knocks over the cup.)
泰梅西斯： 哎哟。（对马泽雷斯）把这脏东西收拾了，听见没？
TYMETHES: Oops! (To Mazeres) Clean up this mess, do you hear me?
MAZERES: (Aside) Damnation! The poisoned wine spilled on the floor, and my great revenge is ruined! Now my frustrated fury must find another way to destroy you.
罗克萨诺： （旁白）这杯酒可是彻底砸了马泽雷斯大人的指望。
ROXANO: (Aside) That spill has completely crushed Lord Mazeres’ hopes.
[Eerie, unsettling music swells. The Young Queen, masked and in a sheer robe, passes across the far end of the room attended by Valesta. She does not look at Tymethes. They disappear through another door.]
泰梅西斯： 我从未见过有人能像我们此刻这般，为寻欢作乐安排得如此巧妙；真是奇招，且执行得如此美妙。
TYMETHES: I’ve never seen pleasure managed with such ingenuity; a strange plan, and so beautifully executed.
罗克萨诺： 风与潮汐皆已就位，大人；您已驶入一片极乐之海。宽衣吧，阁下。
ROXANO: The wind and tide are in place, my lord; you have sailed into a sea of bliss. Undress, sir.
（泰梅西斯开始宽衣。）
(Tymethes begins to undress.)
泰梅西斯： 我定将有一次甜蜜的航程。
TYMETHES: I’m sure to have a sweet voyage.
罗克萨诺： 是的，大人，若您知晓全部的话。
ROXANO: Yes, my lord—if only you knew the half of it.
泰梅西斯： 难道还有我不知道的？还有什么可说的？
TYMETHES: Is there more I don’t know? What else is there to say?
罗克萨诺： 事成之后，另有五百克朗恭候阁下。
ROXANO: After the deed is done, five hundred crowns are waiting for you, sir.
ROXANO: It’s a gift from my kind lady. Her generosity is cloudless and bright. Some love pleasures that cost them dearly; but I see that’s not your way. You prefer the kind that comes with a feast and five hundred crowns extra.
泰梅西斯： 没错，老天作证，我就爱这种，而且我看你跟我想法一样。
TYMETHES: Exactly—God knows I love that kind, and I see you think just like I do.
罗克萨诺： 咱们倒是颇为投契，大人。
ROXANO: We are perfectly matched, my lord.
泰梅西斯： 可她为何要事先奖赏我？万一我在床上表现得像个十足的阉人，她可怎么知道？
TYMETHES: But why reward me beforehand? How does she know I won’t perform like a total eunuch in bed?
罗克萨诺： 哎哟，大人，就您这路风流人物，我可从没见过哪个不是此中绝顶高手。
ROXANO: Oh, my lord, I’ve never seen a gallant of your stripe who wasn’t a master of the craft.
泰梅西斯： 什么？说真的，咱们半斤八两。不过这有张字条；上面写的什么？
TYMETHES: What? Truthfully, we’re two of a kind. But here’s a note; what does it say?
ROXANO: (Reading) “My love and bounty shall grow as you prize my peace; unless you are willing to forfeit your life, do not seek my name. Enjoy my body: for your sake, I take this risk. Be wise, then, and keep your silence; even in the face of death, you must not look upon my true face.”
（马泽雷斯悄然上，未被察觉。）
(Mazeres enters quietly, unobserved.)
泰梅西斯： 我这就去？
TYMETHES: Shall I go now?
罗克萨诺： 穿过那扇门，主人。穿过那扇门。
ROXANO: Through that door, master. Through that door.
泰梅西斯： 好吧，我这就更衣，安于我这“摸索”而来的运气便是。（下。）
TYMETHES: Well, I’ll undress and trust in this “groping” luck of mine. (Exit.)
罗克萨诺： 哎，大人，您会摸索到正地方的。（下。）
ROXANO: Ah, my lord, you’ll grope your way to the right spot. (Exit.)
MAZERES: I’ll follow and watch my heaped-up revenge overflow. His destruction is my duty; what I’ve seen tonight would make stones blush. Her lust is like lightning in a storm—terrifying, wild, like a drunkard’s thunder. This path is full of peril, and though I use the skills of a pimp, with spies for eyes and ears, what role is too foul if it destroys my enemy? This is only the beginning; it won’t stop here. Next time, I’ll turn him to ash and foul air. (Exit.)
][][
第四幕，第一场 [城堡内一室]
ACT IV, Scene 1 [A Room in the Castle]
（翌日。泰梅西斯与泽纳库斯上。）
(The next day. Tymethes and Zenocrates enter.)
泰梅西斯： 告诉我，这世上可曾有过如此天衣无缝的机巧？
TYMETHES: Tell me, has there ever been such flawless ingenuity in all the world?
泽纳库斯： 好家伙！蒙着眼被引去会见一位夫人，受以盛礼，宴席之上人人面具遮脸！
ZENOCRATES: Lord! Led blindfold to a lady, received with such ceremony, and every face at the banquet hidden behind a mask!
泰梅西斯： 全是，老天作证！可这一切比起她床笫间那妙不可言的欢愉，都算不得什么。
TYMETHES: Every single one, I swear! But all of that is nothing compared to the exquisite pleasures of her bed.
TYMETHES: No, don’t ask, brother; I’d sooner lose one eye if I could use the other to see her. (Takes a jewel from his pocket) See this jewel? I slipped it off her finger while she lay in a deep, post-coital sleep.
泽纳库斯： 猜不出她是谁，也猜不出那地方？
ZENOCRATES: No guess as to her identity, or the place?
TYMETHES: Not a clue, though I’ve racked my brain. I tell you, man, it was so well-ordered—such admirable craft—that between my blindfold and their masks, I was no wiser when my eyes were freed than when they were bound. I stood before them plainly enough, but to me, every lamp was shrouded and every face was a mist.
（阿玛特里特斯与马泽雷斯悄然上，窥视。）
(Amatritus and Mazeres enter quietly, spying.)
泽纳库斯： 天哪，我真佩服这手段！
ZENOCRATES: By heavens, I admire the method!
泰梅西斯： （笑）不，你的佩服可比不上我的。我那份感受，远非你的热情所能及。
TYMETHES: (Laughing) No, your admiration can’t touch mine. What I felt is far beyond the reach of your mere enthusiasm.
（安菲多特上。）
(Amphidote enters.)
泽纳库斯： 好了，暂且打住；看，我妹妹来了。
ZENOCRATES: Enough for now; look, here comes my sister.
阿玛特里特斯： （对马泽雷斯低语）你确定吗，马泽雷斯，他在追求我们的女儿？
AMATRITUS: (Whispering to Mazeres) Are you certain, Mazeres, that he pursues our daughter?
马泽雷斯： （低语）我确定更多，陛下：她对他也有意。
MAZERES: (Whispering) I am certain of more, Sire: she returns his affection.
阿玛特里特斯： （低语）那个乞丐？
AMATRITUS: (Whispering) That beggar?
马泽雷斯： （低语）更糟，陛下，是那个恶棍、叛国者。
MAZERES: (Whispering) Worse, Sire—that rogue, that traitor.
阿玛特里特斯： （低语）什么？
AMATRITUS: (Whispering) What?
马泽雷斯： （低语）请恕罪，陛下；时机更成熟时，真相自会浮现。
MAZERES: (Whispering) Forgive me, Sire; the truth will emerge when the time is riper.
（泰梅西斯亲吻安菲多特。）
(Tymethes kisses Amphidote.)
马泽雷斯 （续）： （低语）请看那儿，陛下。
MAZERES (Cont.): (Whispering) Look there, Sire.
阿玛特里特斯： （低语）她竟敢如此放肆，忘却对我们的尊重，黯淡自身光彩去抬举他？！
AMATRITUS: (Whispering) Does she dare be so bold—to forget her respect for us and dim her own glory just to elevate him?!
MAZERES: (Whispering) Favors between them are a common rule. I hear of letters, private suppers, whispered intimacies… and the most “assignated” of meetings.
阿玛特里特斯： （低语）我会让他们的幽会变成送命的陷阱。
AMATRITUS: (Whispering) I shall turn their meetings into a fatal snare.
（安菲多特瞥见泰梅西斯手中的珠宝。）
(Amphidote spies the jewel in Tymethes’ hand.)
安菲多特： 说实话，阁下，我要这枚珠宝。
AMPHIDOTE: In truth, sir, I must have that jewel.
泰梅西斯： 这……这非我所能赠人之物。
TYMETHES: This… this is not something I can give away.
阿玛特里特斯： （对马泽雷斯低语）那是什么，马泽雷斯？
AMATRITUS: (Whispering to Mazeres) What is that, Mazeres?
马泽雷斯： （低语）哎呀，陛下，她正优雅地向他要一枚珠宝，而他却推拒，仿佛心中有鬼。
MAZERES: (Whispering) Ah, Sire, she gracefully begs a jewel of him, yet he demurs as if his conscience were burdened.
安菲多特： 我非要不可，阁下。
AMPHIDOTE: I insist, sir.
泰梅西斯： （递过珠宝）既然如此，那你定会将其妥善保管，不让任何外人窥见吧？
TYMETHES: (Handing it over) Since you insist—you will keep it safe then, and let no stranger’s eye behold it?
安菲多特： （欣喜）我发誓。
AMPHIDOTE: (Joyfully) I swear it.
泰梅西斯： 那便够了。
TYMETHES: Then it is enough.
（二人接吻。泽纳库斯与安菲多特下。）
(They kiss. Zenocrates and Amphidote exeunt.)
马泽雷斯： （对阿玛特里特斯低语）现在是她的了，陛下，他们以吻别收场。
MAZERES: (Whispering to Amatritus) Now it is hers, Sire; they seal the theft with a kiss.
阿玛特里特斯： （低语）我会让那些会面变得苦涩；双方都将后悔。马泽雷斯，我们发觉你至今所言皆实。
AMATRITUS: (Whispering) I will make those meetings bitter; both shall repent. Mazeres, we find that all you have spoken is the truth.
TYMETHES: Is there truly no way to see this lady? Curse this restless heart! What did the note say? “Unless you are willing to forfeit your life, do not seek my name.” Pish. Empty words. She was so wanton, so “industrious” in her passion last night—how could she ever bear to see me die?
（马泽雷斯与罗克萨诺上。）
(Mazeres and Roxano enter.)
马泽雷斯： （对罗克萨诺低语）够了；他们是清白的。我很中意你。去，引导他走向毁灭吧。
MAZERES: (Whispering to Roxano) Enough; they are innocent. I like you well. Go, lead him to his ruin.
罗克萨诺： （低语）交给我吧，大人；保管引导好他。我会引导他的。
ROXANO: (Whispering) Leave him to me, my lord; I’ll lead him well. I’ll guide him.
TYMETHES: Exactly. I’ll join you shortly. (Aside) I’ll go to her, whatever follows. What could happen? Since she still craves my love, she would never plot my death. (Exit.)
ROXANO: Good, good. I admire a man in a hurry to destroy himself. He has a leaping spirit for vice—he’d jump into the very jaws of hell to grab it. But for virtue? He drags his feet like he’s sent on a dull, profitless errand. Nature is wicked: she loves most what she should hate. In this world, only white hair, sorrow, and sin grow faster than weeds. (Exit.)
][][
第四幕，第二场 [城堡内一室]
ACT IV, Scene 2 [A Room in the Castle]
（安菲多特与马泽雷斯上。）
(Amphidote and Mazeres enter.)
安菲多特： 大人，何事？
AMPHIDOTE: What is it, my lord?
马泽雷斯： 我也不知；国王传召您。
MAZERES: I know not; the King summons you.
安菲多特： 既如此，我们遵命便是。
AMPHIDOTE: Then we must obey.
（阿玛特里特斯上。）
(Amatritus enters.)
马泽雷斯： 啊，陛下驾到。
MAZERES: Ah, His Majesty approaches.
阿玛特里特斯： 这是何人？
AMATRITUS: Who is this?
安菲多特： 我，父王？陛下曾认得我的，您最顺从的女儿。
AMPHIDOTE: It is I, Father. You once knew me as your most obedient daughter.
阿玛特里特斯： 谁对你这么说，谁便是撒谎；此刻的你，已非吾女。
AMATRITUS: Whoever told you that lied; at this moment, you are no daughter of mine.
AMATRITUS: No longer, for I do not recognize the creature you have become, and I shall work harder to forget you. You have forgotten my favor and your own worth. I look upon you now as a fallen thing, a stain upon my grace—and upon your own blood—a disgrace to my house. Was there not one noble among my chosen lords fit for your favor, that you must pick this Tymethes? The son of my arch-enemy! A knave! A beggar! A thing already dead to all fortune, honor, or hope! Base creature, to place your affections so hotly upon him where they can never be repaid! Do not deny it; I know the favors you have shown him: tokens of love, secret letters, private meetings, and those habitual whispers between you. Come, where is his gift? Show me his token!
安菲多特： （困惑）陛下受了严重的误导；臣女从未收受任何信物。
AMPHIDOTE: (Confused) Your Majesty is gravely misled; I have received no such token.
AMATRITUS: Shameless wretch! When I have seen with my own eyes and heard with my own ears how you shamefully debased your highest honor, casting aside all ancestral pride—you begged a jewel from him!
AMPHIDOTE: Begged? (Realizing, with a short laugh) Oh, forgive me, Father, I forgot for a moment. (Produces the jewel) Here it is; you must mean this one.
阿玛特里特斯： （一把夺过）此物？你从何得来？
AMATRITUS: (Snatching it) This? Where did you get this?
安菲多特： 我刚递给您的呀，父王。
AMPHIDOTE: I just gave it to you, Father.
阿玛特里特斯： 那是谁给你的？
AMPHIDOTE: Who gave it to you?
安菲多特： 泰梅西斯。
AMPHIDOTE: Tymethes.
阿玛特里特斯： 哈！谁给他的？
AMATRITUS: Ha! And who gave it to him?
安菲多特： “给他”？这臣女不知，父王。他是王子，偶有珠宝随手赠人，有何不可？
AMPHIDOTE: “To him”? That I do not know, Father. He is a prince; why should he not have jewels to give away as he pleases?
阿玛特里特斯： （呼唤）马泽雷斯！
AMATRITUS: (Calling) Mazeres!
马泽雷斯： 陛下！
MAZERES: My Liege!
阿玛特里特斯： （出示珠宝）这是王后的！朕的王后的，马泽雷斯！此物怎会到他手中？
AMATRITUS: (Showing the jewel) This belongs to the Queen! My Queen’s, Mazeres! How did it come into his hands?
马泽雷斯： 臣可解此惑，陛下。
MAZERES: I can solve that riddle, Sire.
阿玛特里特斯： 你能吗，马泽雷斯？
AMATRITUS: Can you, Mazeres?
马泽雷斯： 面具已揭。陛下请看：一个奸徒。一个玷污您龙床的叛贼。
MAZERES: The mask is off. Behold, Sire: an adulterer. A traitor who defiles your royal bed.
阿玛特里特斯： 呃？噢，朕要因这折磨爆裂了！
AMATRITUS: Ugh? Oh, I shall burst with this torture!
马泽雷斯： 就在今夜，他已被引入王后怀中、体内。
MAZERES: Even this very night, he was brought into the Queen’s arms—into her very body.
阿玛特里特斯： 朕感体内一股旋风，即将撕碎这副血肉凡躯！
AMATRITUS: I feel a whirlwind within me, ready to tear this mortal flesh asunder!
马泽雷斯： 臣追踪他至行事之处。
MAZERES: I tracked him to the very place of the deed.
MAZERES: To be certain, I did not hesitate to soil my eyes and foul my ears with their wanton sounds; it was loyalty that drove me to confirm the filth of what I discovered.
阿玛特里特斯： 朕这满腔苦胆如怒潮翻涌；满身热血皆化作了毒药，呸，连五脏六腑都散发着苦味！
AMATRITUS: My gall overflows like a raging tide; my very blood turns to venom—pah, even my vitals reek of bitterness!
马泽雷斯： 就在今夜。
MAZERES: This very night.
阿玛特里特斯： （呼唤）洛多维库斯！
AMATRITUS: (Calling) Lodovicus!
（洛多维库斯上。）
(Lodovicus enters.)
洛多维库斯： 陛下？
LODOVICUS: Your Majesty?
阿玛特里特斯： 你是如何发迹的？说来听听。
AMATRITUS: How did you rise to power? Tell me.
洛多维库斯： 陛下，微臣最初是个掮客。
LODOVICUS: Sire, I began as a broker.
阿玛特里特斯： 那便是打根上就是个无赖；没指望了。（呼唤）塞克斯托里奥！
AMATRITUS: Then you were a knave from the root; no hope there. (Calling) Sextorio!
（塞克斯托里奥上。）
(Sextorio enters.)
塞克斯托里奥： 臣在，陛下！
SEXTORIO: Here, Sire!
阿玛特里特斯： 朕知你正直；你是如何发迹的？说来听听。
AMATRITUS: I know you to be honest; how did you rise?
塞克斯托里奥： 全凭陛下恩宠，非臣有何功绩可恃。
SEXTORIO: Purely by your Majesty’s favor; I have no merit of my own to claim.
阿玛特里特斯： 你这回答诚实。去，散布消息，说朕已在四十里格之外。在宫中巧妙散开。
AMATRITUS: An honest answer. Go, spread the word that I am forty leagues away. Let it be subtly whispered through the palace.
塞克斯托里奥： 臣定忠实执行，陛下。
SEXTORIO: I shall perform it faithfully, Sire.
阿玛特里特斯： 不。要做得诡诈，去吧；你若做得忠厚，你便没命。
AMATRITUS: No. Do it craftily. Go; if you do it with simple honesty, you are a dead man.
AMATRITUS (Cont.): A violent force has robbed me of all senses. I am blind with rage, Mazeres. Lead me: I walk upon the void, seeing neither footprint nor path; I have lost myself, yet I cannot escape this fury.
AMPHIDOTE: It must be true. Tymethes? Adultery? With the Queen? My mother? I hate him now. As beauty hates a skeleton, or a usurer hates a gift given for nothing. He is like a leper in my eyes now, covered in the black venom of sin, a foul, syphilitic sore.
AMPHIDOTE (Cont.): (Musing) Poor Mazeres, who has waited for me so long with true devotion, starved by my coldness—his loyalty now proves that love. (Calling) Oh, Mazeres?
马泽雷斯： 殿下？
MAZERES: Your Highness?
安菲多特： 我的……爱人？大人，我本该称您，但我想说……我的爱人。
AMPHIDOTE: My… lover? “My lord” I should call you, but I wish to say… my lover.
MAZERES: (Startled) Uh—I pray your Highness forgives my actions? Do not judge me harshly; I was forced to reveal the truth, not out of jealousy because he was my rival, nor from any old grudge, but by the very nature of the deed itself.
安菲多特： 起来，亲爱的马泽雷斯，你仍在吾之眷顾之中。
AMPHIDOTE: Rise, dear Mazeres. You remain in my favor.
马泽雷斯： 若恒久效力可称功绩，臣愿以此相报。
MAZERES: If constant service be a merit, I offer it in return.
MAZERES: (Aside) Ha! This observation and follow-up are timed to perfection. The King returns late tonight and will scour every secret passage. I must be with him. (Aloud) My love?
安菲多特： 我恨不得初见之时，便已迫他殒命。（下。）
AMPHIDOTE: I wish I had forced his death the moment I first saw him. (Exit.)
MAZERES: Better still. It fits my revenge perfectly. Now my plot bears fruit. The end shall see me at the height of power. She is mine. The crown is within reach. I am… fulfilled. (Exit.)
][][
第四幕，第三场 [林中宅邸内室]
ACT IV, Scene 3 [An Inner Room in the Forest Lodge]
（年轻王后与瓦莱斯塔持灯上。）
(The Young Queen and Valesta enter with a lamp.)
年轻王后： 好了，暂且退下；把灯也带走。若他前来，莫让人察觉我在。你知如何款待他，去吧。
YOUNG QUEEN: Enough, retire for now; and take the light with you. If he comes, let no one sense my presence. You know how to entertain him; go.
YOUNG QUEEN (Cont.): In truth, I find no joy, no matter how high my power climbs. I wish only to ally myself with desolate darkness and fearful fancies; tonight, there is no music in my soul. Why should I fear? The loyalty of every servant sleeps within my favor; neither bribes nor threats can rouse them from the dream of my safety. As for the King, I have just learned he has ridden forty leagues away. Yet this heavy mood, like a tyrant, uses the cover of night to usurp my spirit.
（她入睡。罗克萨诺引蒙头的提米西斯上。）
(She falls asleep. Roxano enters, leading the hooded Tymethes.)
提米西斯： （闷声）此番路程似乎比初次更长。
TYMETHES: (Muffled) This journey seems longer than the first.
罗克萨诺： 欢愉一经品尝，再尝便觉乏味。
ROXANO: Pleasure, once tasted, grows tedious upon the second serving.
提米西斯： （闷声）此乃常理？
TYMETHES: (Muffled) Is that the general rule?
罗克萨诺： 哦，大人，经验确证如此。初临是为享用那未知之妙，如今一切不过是重复，任您如何行事。
ROXANO: Oh, sir, experience confirms it. The first time is to enjoy the unknown wonder; now, it is all mere repetition, no matter how you perform.
提米西斯： （旁白）我偏要证其虚妄；她的容颜于我永远新鲜。
TYMETHES: (Aside) I shall prove that false; her face will be forever fresh to me.
ROXANO: (Removing the hood) I suddenly recall urgent business with Lord Mazeres. It concerns my duty to the King. You are inside the lodge now, sir; this is the private chamber.
提米西斯： 太暗了，我什么也看不见。
TYMETHES: It’s too dark; I can’t see a thing.
罗克萨诺： 无妨，大人，只要您感觉尚存便足矣。
ROXANO: No matter, sir, as long as your senses remain, that is enough.
ROXANO: Can’t you tell? It is in my hand, sir. Forgive me, I must withdraw for a moment. But for my safety and your own, do not leave this room until I return.
提米西斯： 好，我以手为誓，绝不离开。
TYMETHES: Very well, I give my hand on it; I shall not leave.
TYMETHES: (Aside) Shh! Is he gone? Then I shall venture forth like a shrewd explorer to discover that unknown beauty, whose mind is as meticulous as her strategy. (Lights a dark lantern.) Behold, this light is enough to fulfill all my desires; by it, I shall taste the forbidden fruit which, as she said, brings death: a death that devours. Quietly now, where am I? Let me see… it is not the same room as last time; no, slightly different. Yet still the high tapestries, the courtly decor—yes, everything— (He spots the sleeping Young Queen.) Ah! All that a mortal could wish for is gathered in your eternal loveliness, your grace! It is the Young Queen!
（她惊醒。）
(She starts awake.)
年轻王后： （震惊）你竟背叛我？你意欲何为？
YOUNG QUEEN: (Shocked) You betray me? What is your intent?
提米西斯： 绝无打扰您……尊贵之身完美安宁之意。
TYMETHES: Never to disturb the perfect peace of your noble person.
年轻王后： 啊，我必遭毁灭无疑！
YOUNG QUEEN: Ah, I am surely destroyed!
提米西斯： 令人倾慕的夫人，请听我言，听我起誓。
TYMETHES: Admirable lady, hear me speak; hear my oath.
年轻王后： 啊，不幸的年轻人，如今无人能救你！
YOUNG QUEEN: Oh, unhappy youth, now no one can save you!
TYMETHES: (Misunderstanding her) By all that humanity holds dear, noble Queen, by every bond an oath can tie, I shall prove myself faithful, silent, and watchful—as solemn as a soul before the sacred call of death. Your own spirit is not more loyal to your secrets than I am to them, to all things, and to you.
年轻王后： 啊，建筑于言语之上的爱恋何其可悲！若我对天道的信仰，已如对人之誓言般荡然无存！
YOUNG QUEEN: How wretched is a love built upon words! If only my faith in heaven were as vanished as my faith in the oaths of men!
提米西斯： 若我食而无饱，生而无知，爱而无得，若我永远——
TYMETHES: If I should eat and never be filled, live and never know, love and never gain—if I ever—
年轻王后： 好了，这已超出所需。
YOUNG QUEEN: Enough, this exceeds what is needed.
提米西斯： 那么尚有慰藉。
TYMETHES: Then there is comfort.
年轻王后： 你既自称如此忠诚，我命你行一小小忏悔，以试你真心，如何？
YOUNG QUEEN: Since you claim such loyalty, I command you to perform a small penance to test your heart. Shall I?
YOUNG QUEEN: Spend only this hour of your offense in sincere confession of your sins and the errors of your reckless youth; if you are cleansed, you shall have what you prize most.
提米西斯： 若我此行忏悔有伪，愿永世不得您眷顾。
TYMETHES: If my repentance be false, may I be forever cast from your favor.
TYMETHES: The Young Queen herself! Luckily all went well and her anger is cooled. I swear, when she began to command penance, I expected a harsher sentence. Her wit is as pleasing as her beauty; I have never seen affection bloom so fast—sincere and burning, yet without suspicion. To realize the Sovereign I serve is also the secret of my bed… my shock is beyond measure. It is a strange fortune—
TYMETHES (Cont., aside): Quiet, she comes; kneel in penance— (Aloud) “I repent sincerely, as a dying man bids the world farewell, with this broken and contrite heart, confessing all my life—the original sin I was born with, the wicked thoughts of my wanton youth… Amen.”
YOUNG QUEEN (Cont.): I allowed him to don the armor of the soul and sent him like a Knight Templar into eternity. (To the corpse) For you must taste this one death through many deaths; if any warning ever touched your senses, this pity and love have already confessed too much. Rash, reckless youth, my soul bleeds for you. How many times did I warn you that this path meant death? Yet you pressed on, foolish man, knowing the cost. But what destruction is youth not willing to chase? You could have lived long, loved, and enjoyed pleasure, had your whims not destroyed our happiness. One who breaks his own oath can never keep mine. We must be safe, youth; no one knows of this. There is more love to come, more glory—yes, plenty. Yet, defying death, I shall kiss you still. (Kisses his mangled face.) Oh, strange malady! That we find comfort in slaughter out of fear! This poor, bleeding frame—whom shall I entrust it to? There is a secret passage leading to the castle depths; I shall leave him there for now. Unhappy wretch, you never knew how precious possession truly was!
YOUNG QUEEN: It was mine, my noble husband. Look upon this villain; he has received his due reward. Look here, my King: this violent youth, whom I have never seen before tonight, seemed to know the secret paths of the dark passages. He burst in, found me with a dark lantern as I prayed alone, and seized me… dragging me to this room, far from guards or rescue, intending to defile my honor. But in the struggle, guided by the gods, my hand found a pistol. And so, with a bullet, I ransomed my chastity from his lust, leaving him here as you see.
AMATRITUS: Come here; closer. How did this man come here? I’d like to hear it. I want to learn the method. Tell me, that I may marvel and “love” you all the more for it. Tell me, why is the timing so crooked? He falls, yet you stand? Ha! Why is that?
年轻王后： 我……我为陛下感到遗憾，我不明白。
YOUNG QUEEN: I… I am sorry for your Majesty, but I do not understand.
AMATRITUS: The deed itself is not as terrible as the clouds of doubt it raises. The cunning of it shocks me far more than the evil of the crime—that he should die before my fury had even begun.
年轻王后： 陛下？
YOUNG QUEEN: Sire?
阿玛特里特斯： 过来，再过来，伸出你左手。让我看看那曾戴戒指的手指。
AMATRITUS: Come, closer still. Give me your left hand. Let me see the finger that once wore a ring.
年轻王后： 那并非戴戒指的手指，陛下。
YOUNG QUEEN: That was not the finger for a ring, Sire.
阿玛特里特斯： 那么，你慷慨赠予此珠宝的，又是何人？
AMATRITUS: To whom, then, did you so generously give this jewel?
年轻王后： （旁白）我不喜此问。
YOUNG QUEEN: (Aside) I do not like this question.
阿玛特里特斯： （出示珠宝）仔细看看。认得么？认得，你发抖了。
AMATRITUS: (Producing the jewel) Look closely. Do you know it? You do; you’re trembling.
年轻王后： （旁白）啊，天哪，此物怎会在此？（高声）此乃陛下所赐，是我之物！
YOUNG QUEEN: (Aside) Oh god, how did this get here? (Aloud) It was your Majesty’s gift to me—it is mine!
AMATRITUS: The setting remains, but the stone is new. You metaphysical harlot, do you still think your tricks can deceive me? I expected a blush of shame on your cheeks, but I see none. Is this how lust strangles shame? Where is my witness? Where? (Calling) Roxano!
（马泽雷斯假扮罗克萨诺上。）
(Mazeres enters, disguised as Roxano.)
年轻王后： 啊，我被出卖了！
YOUNG QUEEN: Ah, I am betrayed!
阿玛特里特斯： 那女子可是奸妇？
AMATRITUS: Is this woman an adulteress?
马泽雷斯： 正是，陛下。
MAZERES: She is, Sire.
阿玛特里特斯： 这男子可是在与其私通时被擒？享宴并受尽其极乐款待？
AMATRITUS: Was this man caught in the act of adultery? Feasting and receiving her ultimate pleasures?
马泽雷斯： 属实，陛下；是我引他前来，见他受享，并如您所言，“受纳”一切。
MAZERES: It is true, Sire; I led him here, saw him enjoy her, and, as you say, “receive” it all.
年轻王后： 啊，罗克萨诺！
YOUNG QUEEN: Oh, Roxano!
马泽雷斯： （旁白）如此，我略施小计便将二人蒙骗；如今他将厌弃她。（下。）
MAZERES: (Aside) Thus, with a small trick, I have deceived them both; now he shall loathe her. (Exit.)
阿玛特里特斯： 尚需更多证人么？我可再召。
AMATRITUS: Need I more witnesses? I can call others.
YOUNG QUEEN: Ah, no. There is a witness here within me that accuses me more than all the bought loyalty in the world. Sentence me to death; only save me from the long torture of your gaze. Let me not live to be executed by your frown… I confess.
AMATRITUS: Ah, only now do I feel the sting! All previous evidence was like dead flesh; I felt nothing until this confession. Now I stand beside the crime and watch it all unfold: the secret messages, the cunning passages, the intricate plots, the whispers, the hours, the feasts, and the obscene candlelight! It all stabs my eyes at once. Yet, you shall live.
年轻王后： 什么？不，不。莫以生命折磨我。我求一死。
YOUNG QUEEN: What? No, no. Do not torture me with life. I beg for death.
AMATRITUS: Ah, have you not confessed? No more excuses? Where is your cunning now? I saw it in your confession: you do not want to die. Since you have hunted this stag, now you shall taste the venison yourself. I have prepared a seat for you; you shall be the only diner at this feast.
AMATRITUS: (Kicking the corpse) This is the stag you shot yourself. The venison for your own teeth. You shall taste its flavor. A more noble seat is set for you, the most noble of tasters. Ho! Sextorio! Lodovicus!
AMATRITUS: Drag away this carrion and dismember it at once. I cannot inflict a living man’s rage upon him, for every torture, horror, gallows, rack, or wheel I can imagine—a thousand new ways to die—he escaped them all before he could taste even one.
AMATRITUS (Cont.): But you shall live. Now, take this candle, kneel, and weep. Let’s see which runs out first: the flame or your tears. (The Young Queen kneels.) I will provide your food; you shall not die. If there be a hell on earth to punish sin, it is to marry a harlot and let her sink you into guilt. (Exit.)
YOUNG QUEEN: I long feared this calamity before it came. My ill-omened dreams and terrible premonitions foresaw this end long before the fruit was ripe.
MAZERES: (Aside) She kneels there, unaware that I was the clever one who exposed her lechery. If I can take Roxano’s life, I’ll be perfectly safe; I’m fishing in muddy waters now. (Aloud) Madam, what is this? A living Queen should not be so close to the dust.
年轻王后： 埋于土下，方更安全，也快活得多。
YOUNG QUEEN: It is safer and much happier to be buried beneath the earth.
马泽雷斯： 是何等事由，竟驱使您将自身荣光贬抑至如此卑微境地，陷于这般苦楚？
MAZERES: What cause could drive you to debase your glory to such a lowly state, trapped in such misery?
年轻王后： 是我仆从的背叛，大人。
YOUNG QUEEN: The treachery of my servants, my lord.
马泽雷斯： 他们竟敢背叛？最卑劣的臣仆，竟敢扰乱如此神圣女主人的甜美安宁？
MAZERES: They dared to betray you? The basest of knaves, daring to disturb the sweet peace of so sacred a mistress?
YOUNG QUEEN: I am certain there is a villain whom I once deeply trusted, chosen as my chief confidant, who broke his faith and sold me to my violent and uncontrollable husband.
马泽雷斯： 但请告我他是谁，我愿以剑为夫人效力，刺入其心，从而配得上如您这般一位女主人。
MAZERES: Only tell me who he is; I will use my sword in your service, Madam, and pierce his heart, to prove myself worthy of such a mistress as you.
（罗克萨诺上。）
(Roxano enters.)
年轻王后： 啊，我，太快便看见他了！
YOUNG QUEEN: Ah, I see him too soon!
马泽雷斯： 夫人，请退避；莫让他见光。
MAZERES: Madam, withdraw; let him not see the light.
罗克萨诺： （旁白）哈，现在该是领赏之时。
ROXANO: (Aside) Ha, now is the time for my reward.
MAZERES: He deserves death; I would not spare even my own kin. Though the sword’s point is a journey from the heart, that journey is but the length of a blade. (Draws and stabs Roxano.)
罗克萨诺： 哈？这是何意？这便是“奖赏”？
ROXANO: Huh? What is this? Is this the “reward”?
马泽雷斯： 受死吧，逆贼！你这玷污‘忠诚’二字的害虫，不配活在光天化日之下！ （杀死罗克萨诺。）
MAZERES: Die, traitor! You vermin who defile the word “loyalty,” you are not fit to live in the light of day! (Kills Roxano.)
年轻王后： 此乃些许微末复仇；多谢，大人。将他丢入那洞穴，他不久前正是从那里爬出，将我出卖予国王。
YOUNG QUEEN: A small bit of revenge; thank you, my lord. Throw him into that cave from which he recently crawled to sell me to the King.
马泽雷斯： 啊，恶徒，进去吧，赶上你的灵魂。（拖罗克萨诺尸体下。）
MAZERES: Ah, villain, go in and catch up with your soul. (Drags Roxano’s body off.)
年轻王后： 此处是一颗困惑袒露的心；愿那尚温的钢铁，为我提供同样“效劳”，成全一位王后心愿的至交。
YOUNG QUEEN: Here is a heart laid bare and confused; would that that warm steel could perform the same “service” for me, the ultimate friend to a Queen’s wish.
MAZERES: Ah, forgive me, that would be a total wickedness. I do not threaten angels, even if I slay devils. Fear not for your peace: the King’s anger will cool. I shall serve you faithfully here.
年轻王后： 我们甚悦。
YOUNG QUEEN: We are most pleased.
马泽雷斯： （旁白）悦如无物；我不会进言劝国王违背他已决意之事。（下。）
MAZERES: (Aside) Pleased by nothing; I will not speak a word to turn the King from what he has already resolved. (Exit.)
年轻王后： 在我最信任之处遭背叛？啊，上天，再无任何苦难，堪与我之遭遇相配！
YOUNG QUEEN: Betrayed where I most trusted? Oh, heavens, there is no suffering to match my own!
(Amatritus enters, followed by Sextorio and Lodovicus. They carry covered dishes or cloth bundles with ritual slowness, placing them around the kneeling Queen. They then uncover them, revealing the dismembered limbs of Tymethes.)
AMATRITUS: Good, place them further forward; right there, settle them well. Display before her eyes the dismembered limbs of the lover she craved. Welcome, Madam; behold your feast—fine meat, coarse fare. Your lust was sweet; why is it bitter now? By heaven, you shall have no other food until your own bowels become the grave for this corpse. To ensure it, come, I shall lock you away safely, far from human pity. Hang those pieces up; the dregs of the cup of passion taste the most bitter.
ZENOCRATES: Ah, my Tymethes! The truest joy this earth could offer! Could your fate be so stony-hearted, so contrary to the sweet spring of your youth and hope? This must be the venomous work of Mazeres—that accursed adversary. If my reckoning holds, his own intrigue shall topple like a high tower, crushing his own breast beneath its weight.
（阿玛特里特斯上场。）
(Amatritus enters.)
泽纳库斯： 我尊贵的主上。
ZENOCRATES: My noble Lord.
阿玛特里特斯： 噢，你真该早些来见我们。
AMATRITUS: Oh, you should have come to us sooner.
泽纳库斯： 为何，陛下？
ZENOCRATES: Why, Sire?
阿玛特里特斯： 你那位朋友的残肢刚刚凯旋般经过，我想那景象必定令你十分欣喜。
AMATRITUS: The mangled remains of your friend have just passed by in a sort of triumph; I thought the sight would surely have delighted you.
ZENOCRATES: Any knave who pleases my father is no friend of mine. I would have found more satisfaction in that sight had it not been for Mazeres—who let his malice slide into wickedness before the crime even took shape, strangling the fruit before it could ripen. This was a singular “service,” if your fuming Majesty could but see it aright: the politician Mazeres acted more to sate his own venomous spite than for any true peace to settle your mind. He permitted that loathsome treason to occur, though he might have stifled it in its first chaotic breath.
ZENOCRATES: I beseech you, Sire, consider with a man’s composure and a prudent mind: when he saw those dalliances cross the line into a profanation of your peace, and yet committed the matter to time—was the path he trod one of loyalty, or a road to your ultimate ruin?
ZENOCRATES: What makes this matter so hideous, so heavy, so horrific? What unsettles your mind and kindles such fury in your heated breast? Is it not the crime itself?
阿玛特里特斯： （突然）噢！
AMATRITUS: (Suddenly) Oh!
泽纳库斯： 仅有意图便足以判他死刑，那已是充分的交代；但付诸行动——
ZENOCRATES: The intent alone was enough to damn him, and would have been sufficient satisfaction; but to let it proceed to the act—
阿玛特里特斯： 不可容忍！塞克斯托里奥！塞克斯托里奥在哪？
AMATRITUS: Intolerable! Sextorio! Where is Sextorio?
ZENOCRATES: (Aside) Keep your temper, Zenocrates; let me snare him alone. (He withdraws to one side.) It may succeed. Watch, my friend, and see how I express my “love.”
阿玛特里特斯： （旁白）噢，恶棍！若他一见那情景便刺穿他，那我此刻的一分悲痛，便能免去万分！
AMATRITUS: (Aside) Oh, villain! Had he but pierced him at the first sight of the deed, one part of my current grief would have spared ten thousand!
（马泽雷斯与塞克斯托里奥上。）
(Mazeres and Sextorio enter.)
马泽雷斯： （旁白）我梦见因我近日的效劳会有新的封赏，还奇怪他怎能将我的功劳搁置这么久。
MAZERES: (Aside) I dreamed of new rewards for my recent services; I wondered how he could let my merits sit idle for so long.
AMATRITUS: My memory fails me; I still owe you some honors, Mazeres. What office shall we find for you? Your recent service is still warm in our memory, and highly favored. Tell me in detail, how did you so craftily apprehend them?
马泽雷斯： 我被引入一间侍从室，陛下。
MAZERES: I was brought into a waiting room, Sire.
阿玛特里特斯： 是吗！
AMATRITUS: Is that so!
马泽雷斯： 并戴上面具，帮忙侍奉那场“宴席”。
MAZERES: And I wore a mask, helping to serve that “banquet.”
阿玛特里特斯： 哈，哈！
AMATRITUS: Ha, ha!
马泽雷斯： 看见他被私下引入一间密室。
MAZERES: I saw him privately led into a secret chamber.
阿玛特里特斯： 而你仍任由他行事？
AMATRITUS: And you still let him proceed?
马泽雷斯： 我让他“游戏”，陛下。
MAZERES: I let him “play,” Sire.
阿玛特里特斯： 哈，哈，哈！
AMATRITUS: Ha, ha, ha!
马泽雷斯： 我一直就近监视，直到她的双臂拥抱了他。
MAZERES: I kept a close watch until her arms embraced him.
AMATRITUS: Well said, Mazeres! Since you love a show so much, I shall grant you a grand finale—drag him away! Let him taste the most venomous, most lingering tortures this world can devise!
（阿玛特里特斯和塞克斯托里奥拖拽着震惊的马泽雷斯下场。）
(Amatritus and Sextorio exeunt dragging the shocked Mazeres.)
泽纳库斯： （旁白）任何言辞都无法表达我的欣喜。这是一种如此高贵的狂喜，唯有灵魂方能领受。 ZENOCRATES: (Aside) No words can express my joy. This is an ecstasy so noble, only the soul can receive it.
（安菲多特与洛多维克斯上。）
(Amphidote and Lodovicus enter.)
安菲多特： 大人，马泽雷斯已被带去处死了吗？
AMPHIDOTE: My lord, has Mazeres been taken to his death?
洛多维克斯： 恐怕千真万确，亲爱的公主。（下。）
LODOVICUS: I fear it is only too true, dear Princess. (Exit.)
AMPHIDOTE: (Aside) Cursed be the tongue that pronounced his sentence; forever ruined be the hand that sunders him from life! Was there no one else more fit for this tyranny than the one our heart has chosen? Oh, the misery of love! I cannot live and think on this!
ZENOCRATES: Yes, proof enough, in truth. Hear me: Mazeres has reached his eternal home, wherever his body may lie. I prompted the blow! I brewed a bitter cup that quickly stopped his breath.
安菲多特： （旁白）噢，天哪，我的灵魂要出窍了！ （呼喊）拿点酒来，喂！
AMPHIDOTE: (Aside) Oh, heavens, my soul is departing! (Calling) Bring some wine, ho!
泽纳库斯： 给我们的妹妹拿酒来，这消息值得庆贺！
ZENOCRATES: Bring wine for our sister; this news is worth a celebration!
（洛多维克斯持酒上。）
(Lodovicus enters with wine.)
安菲多特： 好，给我；现在退下吧。
AMPHIDOTE: Good, give it to me. Now, leave us.
（洛多维克斯下。）
(Lodovicus exits.)
泽纳库斯： 复仇从未结出过比我想象中我的复仇更幸运的果实。
ZENOCRATES: Never has revenge borne a luckier fruit than what my vengeance has yielded.
（她在酒中下毒。）
(She poisons the wine.)
安菲多特： （旁白）我要启程了，马泽雷斯，来与你相会。 （递过酒杯）给，泽纳库斯。
AMPHIDOTE: (Aside) I am setting out, Mazeres, to meet you. (Handing the cup) Here, Zenocrates.
泽纳库斯： 你看上去可不像这个时辰该有的欢快样子。
ZENOCRATES: You do not look as cheerful as this hour demands.
安菲多特： 喝了这杯就会了。
AMPHIDOTE: I will be, once this is drunk.
泽纳库斯： 哈，酒既能弥补缺憾，也能引生许多。为我们这最后一击的复仇之举干杯。 （二人饮酒。）
ZENOCRATES: Ha! Wine can make up for many lacks, and breed many more. Let us drink to this final stroke of our revenge. (They both drink.)
AMPHIDOTE: He was the mirror that reflected the true face of this court. You saw only a plot; I saw a man who acted while you prated of philosophy. You killed the actor. I killed the author.
泽纳库斯： （踉跄）我们……我们本要恢复一个王国。让一切回归旧日……
ZENOCRATES: (Staggering) We… we were meant to restore a kingdom. To bring everything back to the old days…
ZENOCRATES: (Falling, gasping his final words to the void) Ah, Tymethes… Father… what garden did we think we were tending? Nothing grows here but… poison… and… (Dies.)
][][
第五幕，第二场 [城堡大厅]
ACT V, Scene 2 [The Main Hall of the Castle]
（雷电交加。一颗彗星出现。阿玛特里特斯上。）
(Thunder and lightning. A comet appears. Amatritus enters.)
AMATRITUS: Ha? Thunder? And you, bone-chilling winds, you swift-winged lightning? And you, blazing star, I like not your strange, long-tailed fire; your light is fatal. Ha? See how all their malignant powers conspire in the destruction of my children! Their envied status has been envied by that vicious force, struck down by some jealousy, and now—dead. The omens are foul! Sextorio! Lodovicus!
（塞克斯托里奥与洛多维克斯上。）
(Sextorio and Lodovicus enter.)
阿玛特里特斯： 先把那些尸体从我眼前搬走。
AMATRITUS: Remove those corpses from my sight at once.
塞克斯托里奥： 都死了，陛下。
SEXTORIO: All dead, Sire.
阿玛特里特斯： 是啊，而我们安全；我们自己的死亡反倒不那么可怕了。
AMATRITUS: Yes, and we are safe; our own deaths seem less terrifying now.
（塞克斯托里奥与洛多维克斯搬走尸体。老国王一行乔装成朝圣者立于一旁。）
(They remove the bodies. The Old King, Lapirus, Fidelio, and Amorpho enter, disguised as Pilgrims.)
老国王： （旁白）上天保佑，那边映入眼帘的，是何等恐怖非人的景象？
OLD KING: (Aside) Heavens preserve us, what horrific, inhuman sight greets our eyes there?
菲德里奥： （旁白）那是何物？残肢断臂如腊肉般悬挂……天哪，这哪里是人间寝殿，分明是修罗屠场!
FIDELIO: (Aside) What are those? Severed limbs hanging like cured meats… God, this is no royal chamber, but a slaughterhouse!
阿玛特里特斯： 神圣可敬的朝圣者，欢迎。
AMATRITUS: Holy and venerable pilgrims, welcome.
老国王： 莽撞的异乡人，被暴风雨驱赶至此。
OLD KING: Rash strangers, driven here by the storm.
（响亮的音乐。宴席被送上。阿玛特里特斯引年轻王后上。她面前摆着装着提米西斯头颅的肉盘。）
(Loud music. A banquet is served. Amatritus leads in the Young Queen. Before her is a dish containing Tymethes’ head.)
AMATRITUS: (To the Young Queen) As your penance, I command that you taste no other food—nor would she dare—until the body of her lover is utterly consumed within her own.
老国王： （旁白）哦，天哪，我的儿子提米西斯！
OLD KING: (Aside) Oh, gods, my son Tymethes!
（老国王亮明身份，众人除去伪装。）
(The Old King reveals himself; all cast off their disguises.)
阿玛特里特斯： 哈？这些是什么人？老国王？拉皮鲁斯？被出卖了？
AMATRITUS: Ha? Who are these men? The Old King? Lapirus? Betrayed?
老国王： 死吧，残忍、嗜杀的暴君！ （众人刺杀阿玛特里特斯。）
OLD KING: Die, cruel and murderous tyrant! (They stab Amatritus.)
阿玛特里特斯： 哈哈哈！就这样笑着咽气吧！我的淫欲从未比我的死更令我愉快。（死。）
AMATRITUS: Ha, ha, ha! Let me expire laughing! My lust never gave me more pleasure than my death. (Dies.)
（老王后除去伪装，举起幼子马诺菲斯。）
(The Old Queen reveals herself, holding the infant Manophis.)
老王后： 看，一位有望的继承人。莫惊愕；他是马诺菲斯。
OLD QUEEN: Behold, a hopeful heir. Be not amazed; it is Manophis.
老国王： 为那些肢体准备体面的葬礼吧。一阵欢欣的钟声，将苦难尽数击退。
OLD KING: Prepare a decent burial for those remains. Let a joyful peal of bells strike back all our miseries.
[The Old King’s voice falls into silence. All turn toward the newborn infant, forming a tableau of hope and reconciliation. The music shifts into a solemn, yet slightly pompous, ceremonial melody.]
[The Young Queen alone, like a forgotten sacrificial offering, remains frozen at her small table. The platter before her is empty, yet her eyes remain fixed—glaring either at the invisible remnants of the “flesh” upon the table, or toward the space where the severed limbs once hung. There are no tears upon her face, only an utter hollowness, a detached calm, as if the soul itself has been extricated from this body that was forced to consume its own love.]
[The lights dim, until at last only a single overhead spotlight remains, coldly enveloping her and the empty plate. All other clamor and light in the hall vanish. A silence lasts for several seconds.]
ACT I. THE LAND SPEAKS. SCENE 1 – ELECTRA’S FIRST MONOLOGUE.
ELECTRA Հա՛յր։ Father.
Քո անունը չեմ ասում բարձր, որ պատերը չլսեն և չսովորեն այն հնչյունը, որ պիտի մաշեն իրենց լեզուներով։ I do not speak your name aloud, so the walls will not hear it and learn that sound only to wear it down with their tongues.
Ես կանգնած եմ այստեղ ոչ թե որովհետև սպասում եմ, այլ որովհետև գնալու տեղ չկա այն կնոջ համար, որի ներսում հողը արդեն բացվել է։ I stand here not because I wait, but because there is no place to go for the woman inside whom the earth has already opened.
Գիշերները ես հաշվում եմ քո ոսկորների թվով։ Առավոտները՝ քո արյանի չչորացած հետքերով քարերի վրա։ At night I count your bones. By morning, the still-wet tracks of your blood on the stones.
Նրանք ասում են՝ «Ժամանակը բուժում է»։ Սուտ են խոսում։ Ժամանակը սովորեցնում է միայն, թե ինչպես ապրել վերքի մեջ առանց գոռալու։ They say, “Time heals.” They lie. Time only teaches how to live in a wound without screaming.
Ես սովորել եմ։ Ես չեմ լացում, երբ նրանք նայում են։ Ես չեմ աղաչում։ Ես չեմ ընկնում գետնին ինչպես կանայք, որոնք ուզում են մխիթարվել։ I have learned. I do not cry when they watch. I do not beg. I do not fall to the ground like women who seek comfort.
Իմ մխիթարությունը հիշողությունն է։ Իմ աղոթքը՝ չմոռանալը։ My comfort is memory. My prayer is not to forget.
Նրանք քայլում են քո տան մեջ քո անունը բերանում, ինչպես կեղտոտ հաց։ Նրանք քնում են քո անկողնում և մտածում են՝ հողը լռել է։ Բայց հողը չի լռում։ They walk in your house with your name in their mouths, like dirty bread. They sleep in your bed and think the earth is silent. But the earth does not remain silent.
Հողը լսում է ինձ։ Քարերը լսում են։ Գիշերը, երբ ոչ ոք չի համարձակվում շնչել, ես խոսում եմ նրանց հետ։ The earth listens to me. The stones listen. At night, when no one dares to breathe, I speak with them.
Ես ասում եմ՝ «Պահեք»։ Պահեք այն օրը։ Պահեք այն ժամը։ Պահեք այն ձեռքը, որ պիտի բարձրանա։ I say, “Preserve.” Preserve that day. Preserve that hour. Preserve that hand which must rise.
Ես դեռ գիտեմ բառերը։ Ես դեռ գիտեմ անունները։ Ես չեմ շտապում։ I still know the words. I still know the names. I do not rush.
Ով շտապում է՝ մոռանում է։ Ամեն բան սպասում է ինձ։ Who hurries forgets. Everything waits for me.
Ահա ես այստեղ եմ, հա՛յր, որ չմոռացնեմ։ Here I am, Father, so that I will not forget.
֎
ACT 1. WHEN SHADOWS SPEAK.
SCENE 2 – THE WATCHING WOMEN CHORUS.
WATCHING WOMAN I Նայեցե՛ք նրան։ Look at her. Նա չի շարժվում։ She does not move.
WATCHING WOMAN II Երբ մարդը չի շարժվում, կամ շատ ուժեղ է, կամ արդեն քար է։ When a person does not move, they are either very strong, or already stone.
WATCHING WOMAN III Նա չի լացում։ Սա ամենավտանգավոր նշանն է։ She does not cry. This is the most dangerous sign.
WATCHING WOMAN IV Լացը փրկություն է։ Լացը բաց է թողնում։ Ավելի լավ է բաց թողնել, իսկ նա պահում է։ Crying is salvation. Crying lets go. It is better to let go, but she holds on.
[All four step slowly forward, forming a semi-circle; light tightens on Electra at center stage.]
WATCHING WOMAN I Նրա աչքերը փակ չեն, բայց քուն չկա դրանց մեջ։ Her eyes are not closed, but there is no sleep in them.
WATCHING WOMAN II Նա լսում է այն, ինչ մենք չենք լսում։ She hears what we cannot hear.
WATCHING WOMAN III Գիշերը ես տեսա նրան պատերի հետ խոսելիս։ At night I saw her speaking with the walls.
WATCHING WOMAN IV Չէ՛, նա չէր խոսում։ Նա հրաման էր տալիս։ No, she was not speaking. She was giving orders.
[Short pause; all whisper, eyes fixed on Electra.]
WATCHING WOMAN I Նա հոր անունը բերանում է պահում ինչպես դանակ։ She keeps her father’s name in her mouth like a knife.
WATCHING WOMAN II Եվ չի օգտագործում։ And she does not use it.
WATCHING WOMAN III Դանակը, որ չի օգտագործվում, ավելի սուր է դառնում։ The knife that is not used becomes sharper.
WATCHING WOMAN IV Նա մեզ չի նայում, որովհետև մենք արդեն մեռած ենք նրա համար։ She does not look at us, because we are already dead to her.
WATCHING WOMAN I Կինը, որ մոռանում է իր մարմինը, վտանգավոր է։ The woman who forgets her body is dangerous.
WATCHING WOMAN II Կինը, որ հիշում է միայն հիշողությունը, ավելի վտանգավոր է։ The woman who remembers only memory is more dangerous.
WATCHING WOMAN III Նա չի խելագարվել։ Դեռ ոչ։ She is not mad. Not yet.
WATCHING WOMAN IV Խելագարությունը աղմուկ է։ Սա լռություն է։ Madness is noise. This is silence.
[They step back slowly, bow slightly, then freeze.]
WATCHING WOMEN [I-VI.] Նա չի աղաչում։ Նա չի խնդրում։ Նա չի մոռանում։ And she does not beg. She does not plead. She does not forget.
Եվ ով չի մոռանում, չի ներում։ And whoever does not forget does not forgive.
[Light dims on the Watching Women; focus tightens on Electra center stage, alone, silent. Stone scraping fades. Soft wind continues.]
֎
ACT I. MEMORY BECOMES FLESH. SCENE 3 – ELECTRA’S SECOND MONOLOGUE.
ELECTRA Հիշողությունը այլևս գլխումս չէ։ Memory is no longer in my head.
[Steps forward, hands brushing over thighs and torso as if tracing an internal map.]
Այն իջել է ներքև, ոսկորների մեջ, ուր բառերը չեն հասնում։ It has descended down, into the bones, where words cannot reach.
[Breath deepens; slight tremor in knees; light flickers over her feet.]
Երբ քայլում եմ, հողը ծանրանում է իմ տակ։ Երբ կանգնում եմ, ծնկներս դողում են ոչ հոգնածությունից — այլ որովհետև ինչ-որ բան ուզում է ծնվել ներսում։ When I walk, the earth grows heavy beneath me. When I stand, my knees tremble not from fatigue— but because something wants to be born inside.
[She leans forward, hands almost touching floor, as if feeling a pulse in the earth.]
Ես չեմ կարող երկար նստել։ Ես չեմ կարող պառկել։ Մարմինս գիտի մի բան, որ լեզուս դեռ չի համարձակվում ասել։ I cannot sit for long. I cannot lie down. My body knows something my tongue still does not dare to speak.
[Takes quick breath, chest heaving; slight shiver of shoulders.]
Գիշերը արթնանում եմ քրտինքի մեջ, և դա վախ չէ։ Դա հիշողություն է, որ դուրս է եկել երակներիս վրա։ At night I wake in sweat, and it is not fear. It is memory that has risen through my veins.
[Hand rises slowly toward heart, then traces ribs; light glows slightly red over torso.]
Հա՛յր… քո արյունը ես չեմ տեսել։ Բայց իմ ձեռքերը գիտեն դրա ջերմությունը։ Father… I have not seen your blood. But my hands know its warmth.
[She clenches fists, nails digging slightly into palms; metallic scrape echoes softly.]
Երբ սեղմում եմ մատներս, ինչ-որ բան խշշում է ներսումս, ինչպես մետաղը՝ քարերին դիպչելիս։ When I clench my fingers, something rustles inside me, like metal striking stone.
[Pauses; lifts gaze to audience; voice softens, almost whispering.]
Նրանք ասում են՝ «Մոռացիր, աղջիկ»։ Բայց ես չեմ կարող մոռանալ այն, ինչ հիմա քայլում է իմ մեջ։ They say, “Forget, girl.” But I cannot forget what now walks inside me.
[Steps forward slowly, spreading arms slightly; light warms, highlighting face and torso.]
Ես քեզ կրում եմ ոչ թե սրտումս — այլ ազդրերիս մեջ, մեջքիս լարումում, ատամներիս սեղմման մեջ։ I carry you not in my heart— but in my thighs, in the tension of my back, in the clench of my teeth.
[Breath heavy, audible; pauses to inhale; hand brushes along ribs.]
Երբ շնչում եմ, շունչս ծանր է։ Երբ բացում եմ բերանս, բառերը դառն են։ When I breathe, my breath is heavy. When I open my mouth, the words are bitter.
[Steps back, fists unclench, arms drop slowly.]
Ես այլևս չեմ խոսում հողի հետ։ Հողը խոսում է ինձնով։ I no longer speak with the earth. The earth speaks through me.
Եթե ձեռք բարձրացնեմ, դա իմը չի լինի։ Եթե գոռամ, դա ձայն չէ — դա ճեղք է։ If I raise my hand, it will not be mine. If I scream, it is not a voice— it is a rupture.
[Turns slowly, one hand extended, as if feeling invisible resistance.]
Ես չեմ շտապում։ Բայց մարմինս սկսել է հաշվել։ I am not in a hurry. But my body has begun to count.
Օրերը՝ ոչ արևով, այլ զարկերով։ The days— not by the sun, but by the beats.
[Pause; light flickers; shadow of wall stretches behind her.]
Եվ երբ թիվը լրացվի, ես չեմ հարցնի։ And when the count is complete, I will not ask.
[Step forward sharply; sudden tension in shoulders and hands.]
Ես կշարժվեմ։ I will move.
[Lights dim to near darkness; heartbeat sound grows louder and slower; scrape and metallic tinkle fade.]
֎
ACT II. THE VULTURE GROWS SCENE 1 – THE WATCHING WOMEN [THE OMEN OF ELECTRA]
[The Watching Women enter from different sides, moving silently at first, like shadows pooling into the center. Each step is measured, yet the air trembles with urgency.]
WATCHING WOMAN I Որտե՞ղ է թաքնվում Էլեկտրան։ Where is Electra hiding?
WATCHING WOMAN II Սա Էլեկտրայի ժամը է։ Այն ժամը, երբ նա լաց է լինում հոր գերեզմանի մոտ, մինչդեռ պատերը զրնգում են։ This is Electra’s hour. The hour when she weeps at her father’s grave, while the walls resound.
[A sudden metallic clink echoes; Electra darts out from the inner hall, unseen until now. Everyone turns toward her. She recoils like a wild animal, one arm shielding her face.]
WATCHING WOMAN I Տեսա՞ր, թե ինչպես էր նա մեզ նայում։ Did you see how she looked at us?
WATCHING WOMAN II Չարաճճի։ Նա վայրի կատվի նման է։ Mischievous. She is like a wild cat.
WATCHING WOMAN III Այս պահին նա պառկած է և տնքում է։ At this moment, she lies and prowls.
WATCHING WOMAN I Նա միշտ պառկում է և այդպես տնքում, երբ արևը մայր է մտնում։ She always lies and prowls like this when the sun sets.
WATCHING WOMAN III Եվ հետո մենք չափազանց հեռու գնացինք։ Չափազանց մոտեցանք նրան։ And then we went too far. We approached her too closely.
WATCHING WOMAN I Նա չի կարող դիմանալ, եթե պարզապես նայես նրան։ She cannot bear it if you simply look at her.
WATCHING WOMAN III Մենք չափազանց մոտեցանք նրան։ Հետո նա գոռաց մեզ վրա՝ ինչպես կատվի։ «Գնացե՛ք, ճանճեր, հեռացե՛ք», – գոռաց նա։ We approached her too closely. Then she shouted at us like a cat: “Go, flies, get away!”
WATCHING WOMAN IV «Կեղտոտ ճանճեր, հեռացեք»։ “Filthy flies, get away.”
WATCHING WOMAN III «Մի՛ բավարարվեք իմ վերքերով»։ [raises her hand, striking air as if the lash lands] Եվ մեզ հարվածեց հանգույցված կաշվի կտորով։ “Do not settle for my wounds.” And she struck us with a knotted piece of leather.
[Electra straightens. The laugh rises from her throat—harsh, chattering, not melodic, not human.]
ELECTRA Դուք… դուք ինչ-որ բան մոռացել եք ասել։ You… you forgot to say something.
WATCHING WOMAN IV «Սողալով հեռացեք», – գոռաց նա մեզ վրա։ «Քաղցր կերեք և ճարպ կերեք, և գաղտնի պառկեք քնելու, դուք և ձեր ժողովուրդը…» “Creep away,” she shouted at us. “Eat sweet and fat, and lie down in secret, you and your people…”
WATCHING WOMAN III Մենք անգործ չէինք մնացել— We did not remain idle—
WATCHING WOMAN IV Մենք պատասխանեցինք նրան։ We answered her.
WATCHING WOMAN III Այո՛։ «Եթե քաղցած ես, – պատասխանեցի ես Էլեկտրային, – ուրեմն դու նաև կրքոտ ես»։ Yes. “If you are hungry,” I answered Electra, “then you are also fierce.”
ELECTRA Կրքոտ… Դուք սխալվում եք։ Ես քաղցած չեմ սննդի համար։ Ես քաղցած չեմ սիրո կամ մխիթարության համար։ Fierce… You are mistaken. I am not hungry for food. I am not hungry for love or comfort.
WATCHING WOMAN II Հետո ի՞նչ… Then what…
ELECTRA [Voice erupts, guttural, animal-like growl.] Ես իմ փորի մեջ անգղ եմ կերակրում։ Ամեն օր։ Ամեն ժամ։ Եվ նա աճում է։ Նրա կտուցը սուր է իմ ներսից։ Նրա թևերը ճեղքում են իմ կողերը՝ դուրս գալու համար։ I feed a vulture in my belly. Every day. Every hour. And it grows. Its beak is sharp inside me. Its wings tear through my ribs to get out.
[She folds her hands toward her stomach, as if caressing and restraining the monstrosity within.]
Տեսնու՞մ եք նրան։ Նա սպասում է։ Ինչպես ես։ Do you see it? It waits. Like me.
WATCHING WOMAN I [Half whisper, gasping.] Դիակուտող… Corpse-devourer…
ELECTRA [Soft, almost intimate, metallic in tone.] Այո՛։ Դիակուտող։ Ես նստում եմ այնտեղ, որտեղ կարող եմ զգալ դիակի հոտը։ Ես քերում եմ հողը վաղուց մեռածի հետևից։ Ինչո՞ւ… Yes. Corpse-devourer. I sit where I can smell the corpse. I scratch the earth behind the long-dead. Why…
[Voice sharpens, metallic.]
Որովհետև դիակը սպասում է։ Եվ անգղը սպասում է։ Եվ ես… ես միայն այն միջնորդն եմ, որ պետք է միավորի նրանց։ Because the corpse waits. And the vulture waits. And I… I am only the mediator who must unite them.
[Short, frozen silence. The Watching Women are paralyzed.]
Այժմ գնացեք։ Գնացեք և պատմեք ձեր ժողովրդին։ Ասացեք, որ Էլեկտրան ոչ թե լաց է լինում… Այլ կերակրում է։ Go now. Go and tell your people. Say that Electra does not weep… She feeds.
[She turns, back to them. The Watching Women scatter quickly, clumsily, like shadows fleeing. Spotlight narrows to Electra, alone. Heartbeat softens, metallic echoes fade.]
֎
ACT II. THE HAUNTED MOTHER. SCENE 2 – CLYTEMNESTRA ENTERS.
[Clytemnestra enters slowly from upstage right. Hair plastered to her forehead with sweat. Her body seems to carry a weight of unseen horrors. She stops mid-stage, breath ragged, glancing at Electra but not approaching.]
CLYTEMNESTRA Ջուր տվե՛ք։ Give me water.
[Silence. Nobody moves. Her voice trembles slightly, but is commanding.]
Օդն այստեղ խիտ է։ Սա տուն չէ։ Սա փակված մարմին է։ The air is thick here. This is not a house. This is a closed body.
[She notices Electra. Stares but keeps distance.]
Դու այստեղ ես։ Ես գիտեի։ You are here. I knew it.
Գիշերը, երբ աչքերս փակեցի, դու կանգնած էիր նույն տեղում, և պատերը քրտնում էին։ At night, when I closed my eyes, you stood in the same place, and the walls sweated.
[Pause. She wipes her neck with her hand.]
Իմ մարմինը չի քնում։ Այն հիշում է, երբ ես չեմ ուզում։ My body does not sleep. It remembers when I do not want it to.
Երազներս չեն գալիս պատկերներով։ Նրանք գալիս են հոտով։ Մետաղ։ Հող։ Թաց մազ։ My dreams do not come as images. They come as smell. Metal. Earth. Wet hair.
Երբեմն արթնանում եմ գոռալով, բայց ձայն չկա։ Միայն բերանս է բաց։ Sometimes I wake screaming, but there is no sound. Only my mouth is open.
[Pause. Breath ragged. She takes a tentative step toward Electra, then stops.]
Դու լռում ես։ Դու միշտ լռում ես այնպես, որ թվում է՝ իմ ներսը լսելի է դառնում։ You are silent. You are always silent in such a way that it seems my inside becomes audible.
Ասա մի բան։ Նույնիսկ անեծք։ Նույնիսկ սուտ։ Say something. Even a curse. Even a lie.
Լռությունը կպչում է մաշկիս։ Silence sticks to my skin.
[She steps closer, then halts.]
Ես թագուհի եմ։ Բայց գիշերը թագը ծանրանում է գլխիս վրա, ինչպես քար։ I am a queen. But at night the crown grows heavy on my head, like stone.
Իմ մարմինը չի հավատում իմ իշխանությանը։ My body does not believe in my authority.
Ձեռքերս դողում են։ Ոտքերս հիշում են փախուստը։ My hands tremble. My feet remember fleeing.
[Her voice cracks.]
Ես չեմ վախենում քեզնից։ I am not afraid of you.
[Short pause.]
Սա սուտ է։ This is a lie.
Ես վախենում եմ քո հիշողությունից։ I am afraid of your memory.
[She glances at Electra’s hands.]
Որովհետև այն մարմին ունի։ Because it has a body.
[Short, heavy silence. She stands, frozen, caught between dread and awe.]
Դու ոչինչ չես անում, բայց տունը այլևս չի ենթարկվում ինձ։ You do nothing, yet the house no longer obeys me.
Պատերը շնչում են քեզնով։ Հողը ծանրանում է։ The walls breathe you. The earth grows heavy.
Ասա ինձ՝ դու ինչ ես սպասում։ Tell me— what are you waiting for?
[Whispers.] Ո՞վ է գալու։ Who is coming?
[Silence. Metallic scrape again, closer. A lantern flickers and dies. The wind moves the curtain but the door does not open.]
WATCHING WOMAN [whispering from different corners.] — Ճանապարհի հոտ կա։ — Օտար փոշի։ — Ոտքերի ձայն՝ առանց մարդու։ — There is the scent of a path. — Foreign dust. — Footsteps without a human.
[Clytemnestra shivers, sensing the presence.]
CLYTEMNESTRA Ո՞վ է այստեղ։ Who is here?
[No answer. Only metallic scraping, slowly approaching. Her body tenses.]
WATCHING WOMAN [deep, layered voices.] Այն, ինչ հեռու էր, այլևս հեռու չէ։ Այն, ինչ անուն չուներ, մոտենում է։ That which was distant, is no longer distant. That which had no name, approaches.
[All eyes on Electra. She stands calm, poised, the center of the stage.]
ELECTRA [soft, almost gentle, voice steady.] Երազը չի սպանում — այն պարզապես բացում է դուռը։ The dream does not kill— it simply opens the door.
[Lights slowly dim, leaving only shadows and faint outlines of the characters. The metallic echoes linger as the tension thickens.]
֎
ACT II. DREAMS BECOME FLESH. SCENE 3 – CLYTEMNESTRA [CONTINUES.]
[Clytemnestra sits on a low platform or step. Her hands tremble. Sweat drips down her face. Every emotion is small, hesitant. She begins her fragmented monologue.]
CLYTEMNESTRA Ես չեմ քնում։ I do not sleep.
Եթե աչքերս փակվեն, այն քուն չէ — դա ներս ընկնել է։ If my eyes close, it is not sleep— it is falling inward.
Երազներս չեն գալիս պատմությամբ։ Նրանք գալիս են մարմնով։ My dreams do not come as stories. They come with a body.
Սկզբում՝ մի ձայն։ Ոչ անուն։ Ոչ խոսք։ Միայն ծանրություն, ինչպես քայլ թաց հողի վրա։ At first— a sound. No name. No words. Only weight, like a step on wet earth.
Հետո՝ ձեռքեր։ Then— hands.
Ես չեմ տեսնում դեմք։ Ես տեսնում եմ միայն ինչպես են ձեռքերը իմնից մեծ։ I do not see a face. I see only how the hands are bigger than mine.
Նրանք ինձ չեն խփում։ Դա ավելի վատ է։ They do not strike me. It is worse.
Նրանք չափում են։ Իմ վիզը։ Իմ ուսերը։ Իմ քունքը։ They measure. My neck. My shoulders. My sleep.
[Breathing quickens, almost panicked.]
Երբեմն արթնանում եմ իմ անունը բերանում, բայց դա իմ ձայնը չէ։ Sometimes I wake my name in my mouth, but it is not my voice.
Այլ ձայն է, որ սովորել է իմ բերանը։ It is another voice that has learned my mouth.
Երբեմն ես վազում եմ երազի մեջ, բայց ոտքերս չեն հպվում գետնին։ Sometimes I run in a dream, but my feet do not touch the ground.
Ես լողում եմ արյան միջով, և այն տաք է։ I swim through blood, and it is warm.
Չի այրում։ It does not burn.
Սա ամենասարսափելին է։ This is the most terrible.
[Short pause. Her hands clench, she looks at Electra almost pleadingly.]
Երեկ երազում տեսա ծառ։ Yesterday, in a dream, I saw a tree.
Չոր։ Արմատները՝ դուրս եկած։ Dry. Roots torn out.
Երբ մոտեցա, տեսա՝ արմատների տակ մարմին կա։ When I approached, I saw— beneath the roots was a body.
Ես գիտեի՝ եթե նայեմ դեմքին, ես չեմ արթնանա։ I knew— if I looked at its face, I would not wake.
Ես չնայեցի։ I did not look.
[She speaks without tears; voice empty, almost metallic.]
Բայց մարմինը բացեց աչքերը։ But the body opened its eyes.
[Pause. She trembles slightly, voice softer, fragile.]
Ես թագուհի եմ։ Բայց գիշերը ես պարզապես միս եմ։ I am a queen. But at night I am only flesh.
Եվ միսը հիշում է։ And the flesh remembers.
[Whisper, directed at Electra, almost a confession.]
Ասա ինձ… սա պատիժ է՞, թե հիշեցում։ Tell me… is this punishment, or remembrance?
[She leans forward slightly, eyes searching. A faint metallic clang offstage. Wind rustles the curtain; door remains closed.]
WATCHING WOMEN [I-VI.] [whispering, from different corners.] — Ճանապարհի հոտ կա։ — Օտար փոշի։ — Ոտքերի ձայն՝ առանց մարդու։ — There is the scent of a path. — Foreign dust. — Footsteps without a human.
[Clytemnestra shivers, senses the approach. Fear, awe, and guilt swirl into physical tension.]
CLYTEMNESTRA Ո՞վ է այստեղ։ Who is here?
[Silence. The metallic scrape grows nearer, closer. Her body freezes. A single flickering lantern casts quick shadows.]
WATCHING WOMEN [I-IV.] [deep, layered.] Այն, ինչ հեռու էր, այլևս հեռու չէ։ Այն, ինչ անուն չուներ, մոտենում է։ That which was distant, is no longer distant. That which had no name, approaches.
[All eyes on Electra, still and poised.]
ELECTRA [soft, deliberate, almost gentle.] Երազը չի սպանում — այն պարզապես բացում է դուռը։ The dream does not kill— it simply opens the door.
[Lights dim gradually, shadows swallowing the edges of the stage. Metallic echoes linger. Tension thickens, ready to erupt into the Straussian frenzy of Act III.]
֎
ACT III. THE BLOOD STANDS STILL. SCENE 1 – ORESTES’ FIRST ENTRANCE.
[Door opens silently. Orestes stands at the threshold, body rigid, face unreadable. His presence is cold, almost spectral.]
ORESTES Ես տուն եմ եկել։ I have come home.
[Silence. Clytemnestra trembles, Electra remains still, eyes fixed on him.]
CLYTEMNESTRA Դու— You—
ORESTES [cutting, precise.] Ես տուն եմ եկել։ I have come home.
CLYTEMNESTRA Տունը… Այո՛, տունը… [pleading, fragile.] The house… Yes, the house… Եկ… քո տեղը ներսում է… Come… your place is inside…
ORESTES Իմ տեղը միշտ այստեղ է եղել։ My place has always been here.
ELECTRA [voice rises, then cracks.] Դու ուշացար։ You were late.
ORESTES Դու սպասեցիր։ You waited.
[Long silence. Orestes looks at Clytemnestra. She does not meet his eyes, only watches the crown fall slightly on her neck.]
֎
ACT III. LAST PLEA. SCENE 2 – CLYTEMNESTRA ENTERS.
CLYTEMNESTRA Կրկին լսե՛ք ինձ։ Hear me again.
Ես խոսում եմ, ոչ որպես թագուհի, այլ որպես մարմին, որ դեռ ցանկանում է շնչել։ I speak not as a queen, but as a body that still wants to breathe.
Արյունը իմն է, բայց ո՞վ է հանձնելը: The blood is mine, but who shall surrender it?
Թող ձեր ձեռքը դառնա փափուկ, Թող ձեր աչքը մի պայթի… Let your hand become gentle, Let your eye not burst…
Ես պատրաստ եմ՝ մատանիներ, ոսկի, հող, անուշաբույր… I am ready— rings, gold, soil, fragrance…
Լացեք, եթե պետք է, բայց թող ինձ ապրելու թույլտվություն տաք: Cry, if you must, but grant me permission to live.
[Sharp, urgent, pleading.]
Վերադարձեք… Թող շնչեմ… Թող ես էլ ճեղքեմ լռությունը… Return… Let me breathe… Let me break the silence as well…
[Electra remains cold, unyielding. Orestes’ presence is controlled, silent. Clytemnestra understands: time has run out. The crown slips from her head.]
֎
ACT III. – STRAUSSIAN FRENZY. SCENE 3 – ELECTRA ENTERS.
ELECTRA [with no warning, twisted smile.] Դու մտածեիր, որ շանս ունես… You thought… you had a chance…
[She moves toward Clytemnestra like a predator. Mother recoils.]
CLYTEMNESTRA [screaming, merciless.] Ազնիվ չէ՛… You are not innocent…
ORESTES [breathless, cold.] Դու ժամանակ չունես։ You have no time.
[Clytemnestra runs, claws extended, feet sliding on the floor. Electra grabs her, tight but not tender. Orestes raises the knife.]
ELECTRA [sharp, almost sensitive.] Արդեն իսկ վերջ։ It is already over.
[Movement erupts—blows, grabs, knife. Clytemnestra cries, but not as queen—she is only body, realizing the inevitability. Short, muted silence. Electra’s small smile—the first crack of ecstasy.]
֎
ACT III. FINAL COLLAPSE. SCENE 4 – ELECTRA ENTERS.
ELECTRA [firm, whisper.] Այս տունը… այլևս մերն է։ This house… is ours now.
[Orestes makes a small, precise motion. No enemy, no words. Lights fade gradually. Only the shadows of walls remain.]
֎
ACT III.– SHORT EPILOGUE.
SCENE 5 – ELECTRA ENTERS.
ELECTRA Արյունը մնաց հողին, ոչ ոք չի մաքրելու, ոչ ոք չի մոռանալու: The blood remains on the earth, no one will cleanse it, no one will forget it:
Անկարող է իմ շունչը մոռանալ տառապանքը, անձրևը չի լվացնելու մեղքը, սիրտը չի մոռանալու ծիծաղն ու լացը, Եվ այս տունը… այս տունը միշտ կհիշի այն, ինչ եղել է: My breath cannot forget the suffering, the rain will not wash away the guilt, the heart will not forget laughter and tears, and this house… this house will always remember what has been:
Այս դատը… այս արյունը… Այժմ մերն է, բայց ոչ խաղաղություն։ Ոչ մեղք՝ չի մնացել, ոչ անմեղություն։ This judgment… this blood… is now ours, but there is no peace. No guilt remains, no innocence.
[Silence. Electra and Orestes stand side by side, breaths balanced, eyes sharp. The room heavy, silent. Darkness.]
TITLE: The Maelstrom’s Maw / 漩淵之口 TAOIST PARALLEL: Xiǎo Lán, Ninth Surge Daughter of the Sea ARCHETYPE: The Tide That Devours Pride
TALE: In the era of shifting winds, the Eastern Sea Dragon King built a beacon-tower to tame the tides—a golden spire that claimed to measure all currents, to name all storms, to command all sea-spirits. But his daughter, Xiǎo Lán, the ninth-born of his brood, inherited the soul of the tide itself. She warned: “You cannot measure water without betraying it.” He ignored her. On the ninth typhoon of the ninth year, she rose in spiral wrath, tearing the tower from its roots and drowning her own kin who tried to defend it. The Dragon King wept, but the maelstrom would not relent until every stone sank. Since then, when pride builds towers over tide, her nine vortexes return to cleanse the arrogance of certainty. WHY THE TOWER? Her maelstrom is not punishment—it is the wave that removes what should never have stood. KEYWORDS (Upright): Bēng hǎi (崩海) – Collapsing sea Lóng hāi (龍咳) – Dragon’s cough (storm as rejection) Duàn lónggǔ guāng (斷龍骨光) – Keel-breaking light KEYWORDS (Reversed): Jiǎ tǎ (假塔) – False tower Yān mò (淹沒) – Self-chosen drowning Nuò máo (懦錨) – The coward’s anchor
INTERPRETATION: Xiǎo Lán is not evil. She is truth unbound by structure. Her wrath is not personal—it is a cleansing necessity. She is the Taoist embodiment of uncontrolled change, of nature correcting human overreach, much like Guabancex.
RITUAL: THE SHIPBREAKER’S AXE (破船斧, Pò Chuán Fǔ)
(Inspired by Ming-era scuttling rites and Taoist demolition magic)
PURPOSE: To sink your own illusions before the sea does it for you.
MATERIALS:
A wooden plank (driftwood or old furniture).
Red paint (or bloodroot pigment).
A hammer and nail.
Nine seashells.
STEPS:
Paint your “lie” on the plank in one character. Example: Pride (傲), Fear (怕), Greed (貪).
Nail the plank to a tree (or large log), chanting:
九漩之命，潮咬謊言，斧碎虛塔，沉者自救。
By order of the Nine Vortexes, the tide bites through lies, the axe breaks the false tower, the sunken shall save themselves.
Smash it with the hammer, shouting one true thing you’ve denied.
Bury the shells with the splinters—their hollows now hold what you released.
PARALLEL MYTHOLOGY
TITLE: The Hurricane / The Cleansing Fury
MYTHIC ARCHETYPE: Guabancex, The Lady of the Winds (Taíno)
REGION: The Caribbean (Taíno peoples of Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Cuba, etc.)
FORM: The female cemí of chaos and the hurricane. She is depicted with her arms in a spiral motion, mimicking the winds of the storm she commands.
TALE: Guabancex does not act alone. She is the terrifying queen of a catastrophic trio. When she becomes enraged, she unleashes the juracán. She sends her herald, Guataubá, to announce her coming with thunder, lightning, and dark clouds. Then she sends Coatrisquie to gather the floodwaters and release them, causing massive destruction and floods. Her power is absolute, elemental, and utterly transformative. It is not “evil”; it is the violent, amoral, and necessary power of nature clearing away everything that cannot withstand it.
WHY THE TOWER? She is The Tower card. The lightning bolt from a clear sky is Guataubá’s announcement. The falling figures are those swept away by Coatrisquie’s floods. And the Tower itself is whatever human-made structure—be it a hut, a temple, or a sense of false pride—that stands in the path of the juracán’s spiral arms. She represents the sudden, complete, and humbling destruction of our world by a power far greater than ourselves, paving the way for a complete rebuild on cleared ground.
INTERPRETATION THROUGH GUABANCEX: When this card appears, the winds of change are no longer a breeze; they are a hurricane. A juracán is coming for a structure in your life built on a false or weak foundation. You cannot stop it. You cannot reason with it. To cling to the tower is to be destroyed with it. The only path is to let go, seek humble shelter, and allow the cleansing fury to pass. What feels like total destruction is actually a radical, divine clearing of the land so something truer can be built.
RITUAL OF SHATTERING THE TOWER (For Conscious Demolition)
OBJECTIVE: To identify a false structure, belief, or situation in your life and perform a magical act of destroying it yourself, thus reclaiming agency in a Tower moment.
MATERIALS:
Something safe to break that represents your “tower.” This could be a small terracotta pot, a flat, brittle stone, or even a stale piece of bread or a cracker.
A permanent marker.
A safe place to perform the ritual (outdoors, a garage, or a sturdy box).
Safety gear is essential if breaking pottery or stone (e.g., safety glasses, gloves).
STEPS:
NAMING THE TOWER: With the marker, write the false belief on your object. Be brutally honest. “This job is my only source of worth.” “This relationship defines who I am.” “My pride keeps me from asking for help.”
THE INVOCATION OF THE STORM: Hold the object. Acknowledge the truth. The foundation is cracked. The storm is coming. Say aloud: “Guabancex, Lady of the Winds, I feel the coming of the juracán. I see the lie in this tower I have built. I will not be thrown from it. I will tear it down with my own hands.”
THE SHATTERING: Place the object on a hard surface. Put on your safety gear. This is the moment of release. Take a heavy object (a hammer, another rock) and with a powerful cry, smash your tower. Don’t just tap it; shatter it. Let out the frustration, the fear, the anger. This is your lightning bolt. This is your controlled demolition.
SURVEYING THE RUBBLE: Breathe. Look at the pieces. It’s done. The false structure is gone. What is left is rubble, but also open sky and clean ground. The illusion is broken. Feel the terrifying freedom in that.
CLOSING: Carefully gather the broken pieces. You can either dispose of them far from your home or keep one small, smooth piece as a reminder that you had the strength to tear down your own prison. The ritual is complete. You have weathered the storm by becoming the storm.
SYNCRETIC BRIDGE
Guabancex’s Winds → Dragon’s Hūxiào (呼嘯, “roaring breath”) Both erase human arrogance.
Coatrisquie’s Flood → Hǎi xiāo (海消, “sea-digestion”) What the ocean takes, it transforms.
THE “SCHOLAR’S HEART” MANDATE:
Sources: Primary written source is Fray Ramón Pané’s Relación acerca de las antigüedades de los indios (An Account of the Antiquities of the Indians), written around 1498. He was commissioned by Christopher Columbus to document Taíno beliefs. For the ritual, see: 《九漩掃塔記》 (Jiǔ Xuán Sǎo Tǎ Jì, “The Chronicle of the Nine Maelstrom Scourings”) 1721.
TITLE: The Drowner of the Black Pearl / 黑珠溺者 (Hēi Zhū Nì Zhě) MYTHIC ARCHETYPE: The Pearl Diver Who Could Not Surface TAOIST PARALLEL: The Diver who harvested corruption and mistook it for treasure PIRATE TWIST: Once a healer and fisherwoman, she dove in search of a legendary pearl said to purify qi. Instead, she found a black pearl, knotted with hungry yin, and became obsessed with cleansing it. The more she held it, the more it devoured her. Now she lives beneath the coral shelf, her lungs full of brine, offering the pearl to anyone desperate enough to dive after it.
WHY THE DEVIL? The black pearl is the lie you tell yourself: “If I just hold on longer, I can fix it. I can fix me.” Her chains are not forged or gambled—they are woven from corrupted breath and sunk lifelines.
TAOIST PIRATE SYMBOLISM
KEYWORDS (Upright):
Hēi qì zhū (黑气珠) — Black-Qi Pearl: alluring, but full of decay Mìngtóu shēn (命投深) — Throwing life into the deep: sacrifice without return Zì guǒ (自果) — Self-fruiting: becoming the source of your own poisoning
KEYWORDS (Reversed):
Tuì yǐng (退影) — Withdrawing shadow: stepping back from what stains Diào xīn liàn (钓心链) — Breaking the heart-hook chain Jìng qì (净气) — Purified breath: returning to your center
INTERPRETATION: This card is the soaked whisper: “It is not the pearl that is cursed—it is the hunger you feed it with.” You are diving deeper and deeper, thinking the next grasp will be the one that heals, redeems, or completes. But the object of your desire is not just unreachable—it is rotting, and it poisons you each time you touch it. What you cling to has already drowned you. The way out is not up—it is release. RITUAL: SEVERING THE PEARL’S BREATH (断珠息, Duàn Zhū Xī ) Inspired by Taoist exorcism breathwork, purification baths, and the symbolic death/rebirth of divers. PURPOSE: To sever addiction, obsessive desire, or self-sabotaging attachment by exhaling the corrupted qi and refusing the pearl. MATERIALS: A black stone or marble (to represent the corrupted pearl) A shallow bowl of saltwater (or seawater) A white cloth or sash (symbol of breath and body) A mirror OPTIONAL: a few rotten flower petals (representing decay once called beautiful) STEPS: PREPARATION: The Deep Breath Sit before the bowl of saltwater, the black pearl in your cupped palms. Wrap the white cloth around your chest—symbolizing your lungs, your breath, your life force. Gaze at yourself in the mirror. See the weight you carry. NAMING THE PEARL: Whisper what the black pearl really is: “You are my need for control.” “You are the hunger to be loved.” “You are the poison I keep sipping, hoping for sweetness.” Let it be said. Let it sting. THE BREATH REFUSAL: Inhale deeply. Hold the breath as long as you can—just like a diver. Then exhale sharply, pushing the breath downward into the bowl. As you exhale, drop the black pearl into the saltwater. Say:
我拒绝你的腐烂。我选择浮出水面。
I refuse your rot. I choose to surface.
THE CLEANSING FLOAT: Dip your fingers into the bowl. Swirl gently. If using flower petals, add them now. Wash your face, heart, and throat with this salted water. Let the dead beauty fade. RELEASE THE CLOTH: Unwrap the white cloth. Lay it over the bowl. This act buries the old breath. Gaze once more in the mirror—not for guilt, but for returning. Say aloud: “This body is mine. This breath is mine. I surface now.”
AFTERCARE: Dispose of the cloth and pearl ritually (bury or return to the sea). If indoors, pour the water at the roots of a tree—not down the drain. Let what was taken feed something that lives. PARALLEL MYTHOLOGY
TITLE: The Captain of Obsession / The White Whale Hunt
MYTHIC ARCHETYPE: Captain Ahab and Moby Dick (Modern American Mythos)
REGION: The global ocean of 19th-century whaling / The American literary consciousness.
FORM: The monomaniacal, peg-legged captain of the whaling ship Pequod.
TALE: Having lost his leg to a mysterious and immense white whale known as Moby Dick, Captain Ahab forsakes all else—profit, safety, the lives of his crew—for a single purpose: revenge. He bends the entire world of his ship into a tool for his personal obsession. He rejects all pleas for reason and sanity, hunting the whale across the world’s oceans until it leads to their mutual, apocalyptic destruction.
WHY THE DEVIL? Ahab is the perfect human face of The Devil archetype. He represents the trap of the ego, the enslavement to a single desire, and the seductive power of a charismatic but destructive leader. His quest is not heroic; it is a spiral into the abyss of his own making. The White Whale is the perfect symbol for the external thing we blame for our inner misery.
INTERPRETATION THROUGH AHAB: This card asks: “What is your White Whale?” What single-minded pursuit, grudge, or desire are you sacrificing your happiness, health, and relationships for? You may feel trapped, but the chains are of your own forging. Like Starbuck pleading with Ahab, your conscience is offering you a way out. This card is a dire warning to abandon a hunt that can only lead to your destruction.
RITUAL OF CUTTING THE HARPOON LINE (To Break an Obsession)
OBJECTIVE: To consciously identify a “White Whale” in your life and perform a magical act of severing your obsessive tie to it.
MATERIALS:
A piece of paper and pen.
A length of cord or thick thread (white is ideal).
A sharp pair of scissors or a knife.
A single candle (black or deep blue).
STEPS:
Nailing the Doubloon: Light the candle. On the paper, write down your “White Whale”—the obsession, the addiction, the grudge. Be brutally honest.
FORGING THE HARPOON: Tie one end of the cord securely around the piece of paper. This is now your harpoon line, the energetic connection between you and your destructive quest. Hold the other end of the cord.
AHAB’S OATH: Stare into the candle flame. Let yourself feel the fire of the obsession. Speak aloud why you hold onto it. What does it give you? A sense of purpose? A distraction from pain? “I hunt this because it gives me focus. I hold this grudge because it makes me feel powerful.” Acknowledge the seductive lie.
STARBUCK’S CHOICE: Now, deliberately change your perspective. Think of what the hunt is costing you—your peace, your joy, your “ship.” Let the voice of reason speak. “This quest is costing me my peace of mind. It is harming my relationships. It is time to turn the ship for home.”
CUTTING THE LINE: Hold the cord taut. This is the moment of truth. Take the scissors or knife and, with a powerful, decisive motion, cut the cord. As the paper falls away, say aloud: “The line is cut. The hunt is over. I am free.”
CLOSING: Immediately snuff out the candle. The fire of obsession is extinguished. Take the cut paper and either burn it safely in the candle’s remaining heat, or rip it into tiny pieces and dispose of it. You are no longer Ahab. You are a free sailor on an open sea.
SYNCRETIC BRIDGE
Ahab’s Whale → Corrupt pearl (珠, “pearl”): Both are cursed treasures that cannot be possessed.
Pequod’s Doom → Addiction (瘾, “yǐn”): A floating prison of unpaid karmic debts.
THE “SCHOLAR’S HEART” MANDATE:
Source: The foundational text is Herman Melville’s 1851 novel, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. It is widely considered one of the great masterpieces of literature and has a vast body of academic criticism analyzing its mythological, Gnostic, and psychological themes, solidifying its status as a modern myth. For the ritual, please see: 《斷珠息經》 (Duàn Zhū Xī Jīng, Scripture of the Severed Pearl Breath) Compiled circa 1769, Southern Sea Alchemical Canon (南海丹經集), Volume IX.
Wèi jiě (未解, “untransmuted”)—elements that refuse to marry.
The cracked hourglass (裂沙漏, liè shālòu)—time split by imbalance.
INTERPRETATION: This card is the alchemist’s kiss—where opposite poisons become one medicine.
RITUAL: THE CANNON CAULDRON (炮鼎, Pào Dǐng)
(Inspired by Taoist external alchemy and pirate gunpowder rites)
PURPOSE: To alchemize two warring forces into liquid equilibrium.
MATERIALS:
A metal bowl (or upturned helmet).
Two liquids:
Saltwater (for the sea’s ruthlessness).
Rice wine (for the pirate’s joy).
A pinch of gunpowder (or black tea leaves).
A candle (red).
STEPS:
Light the candle inside the bowl. Name your two opposing forces aloud.
Pour the liquids simultaneously around the flame, chanting:
火焰吞噬潮水，
潮水浇灭火焰——
双方皆无胜负，
双方都改名换姓。
Flame devours the tide,
Tide quenches the flame—
Neither wins,
Both change name.
Add the gunpowder. Watch it hiss but not ignite—this is controlled fusion.
Extinguish the candle with the mixture. The steam is your new path.
PARALLEL MYTHOLOGY
TITLE: The Sky-Sea’s Flow / The Divine Alchemy
MYTHIC ARCHETYPE: Tzovinar (Armenian Goddess of Storms and Sea-Waters)
REGION: Ancient Armenia
FORM: A powerful goddess of rain, sea, and storm. Her name means “Daughter of the Sea” or “Tidal-Nar,” and she rides a fiery horse through the sky, bringing life-giving rain from the clouds to the earth and sea.
TALE: Tzovinar is a primordial force. In one myth, she quenches her thirst by drinking a full handful of sea water, which leads to her immaculate conception of the twin heroes Sanasar and Baghdasar (founding fathers of an Armenian city). This act—taking the vast, undrinkable sea and integrating it within herself to create life—is the ultimate act of temperance and alchemy. She blends the sky-world and the sea-world within her very being.
WHY TEMPERANCE? She is the act of mixing. The RWS Angel has one foot on land and one in water, pouring between two cups. Tzovinar embodies this more elementally: she is the divine rain (one cup) pouring into the great sea (the other cup). Her act of drinking the sea shows a mastery over elemental forces, not through force, but through careful integration and blending to create something new and balanced. She is the alchemical marriage of opposites.
INTERPRETATION THROUGH TZOVINAR: This card is a call to be a divine alchemist in your own life. You are being asked to blend two opposing forces—logic and emotion, work and rest, the sacred and the mundane. Like Tzovinar pouring the life-giving rain into the vast sea, you have the power to create a new, healed whole from disparate parts. Do not seek extremes. The answer lies in the “just right” middle path, the perfect mixture that brings peace and generative power.
RITUAL OF THE TWO WATERS (For Creating Harmony)
OBJECTIVE: To find balance and a “middle path” between two conflicting areas of your life (e.g., your day job and your artistic passion, your need for solitude and your need for partnership).
MATERIALS:
Two distinct cups or bowls.
Water from two different sources, if possible (e.g., tap water and rainwater, or saltwater and freshwater). If not, just using two separate containers is fine. One will represent each side of your conflict.
A third, larger “alchemical” bowl, which will be your blending vessel.
Optional: a tiny pinch of salt for one water and a tiny pinch of sugar for the other to make them symbolically distinct.
STEPS:
NAMING THE POLES: Place the two cups of water before you. Assign each cup to one of the conflicting forces in your life. Hold the first cup. Acknowledge its nature, its needs, its voice. “This is my need for structure and security.” Now hold the second cup. Acknowledge its nature. “This is my need for freedom and creative chaos.”
THE INVOCATION OF BLENDING: Place the larger empty bowl between the two cups. Invoke the spirit of the card. “Tzovinar, she who drinks the sea and summons the rain, teach me the art of alchemy. Guide my hands that I may find the middle flow, the path of healing.”
THE TEMPERANCE POUR: Now, perform the central act. Simultaneously, or alternating back and forth, begin pouring the water from the two cups into the central bowl. This is not about just dumping them in. It’s a slow, mindful process. Watch how the waters merge. Listen to the sound. Your goal is to create a single, unified body of water from the two sources. Find a rhythm. Feel the balance.
CONSECRATING THE NEW WAY: When both cups are empty and the water is blended in the central bowl, dip the fingers of both hands into this new, integrated water. Anoint your third eye (for a new perspective), your heart (for a new feeling), and your hands (for new action). Say aloud: “Not two, but one. Not conflict, but balance. Not extremes, but harmony. I walk the middle path.”
CLOSING: Use this consecrated water for something life-giving. Water a plant with it, pour it onto the earth as a libation, or simply leave it on your altar as a symbol of your newfound balance. The ritual is complete.
SYNCRETIC BRIDGE
Tzovinar’s Rain → Taoist Lóngxū (龍鬚, “dragon’s beard”): Both are sky-sea marriages.
Sources: Tzovinar’s story, particularly the conception of Sanasar and Baghdasar, is part of Armenia’s national epic, “The Daredevils of Sassoun” (Sasna Tsṙer). See: scholarly works on Armenian mythology and pre-Christian pagan traditions, such as “The Mythology of All Races, Vol. VII: Armenian” by Mardiros H. Ananikian. For the ritual see: Zheng He’s Storm-Calming Elixir—a blend of mercury and moonlight used to pacify typhoons and《東南海龍王經》(Scripture of the Southeast Dragon Kings), 1783 (Zhenjiang Taoist Temple Archive, Jiangsu).
MYTHIC ARCHETYPE: The Pirate Who Swallowed the Eclipse
TAOIST PARALLEL: Ao Guang (敖廣), the Dragon King of the East Sea, in his death aspect—when he transforms into a black turtle that devours the moon each month.
PIRATE TWIST: This is Zheng Yi Sao’s final voyage, where she steers her burning ship into the turtle’s maw to become the tide itself.
WHY DEATH? The turtle doesn’t kill—it digests time. What sinks in its belly becomes the next high tide.
TAOIST PIRATE SYMBOLISM
KEYWORDS (Upright):
Hǎi xiāo (海消, “sea-digestion”)—endings as nutrients for new waves.
The cracked moon pearl (裂月珠, liè yuè zhū)—what breaks becomes the next dawn.
“Anchor-turning” (起錨轉, qǐ máo zhuǎn)—lifting what must sink to sail anew.
KEYWORDS (Reversed):
Fǔ chén (腐沉, “rot-sinking”)—clinging to a corpse ship.
Yè tān (夜貪, “night greed”)—hoarding dead moonbeams.
The turtle’s hiccup (龜嗝, guī gé)—a rebirth stuck in the throat.
INTERPRETATION: This card is the tide’s empty stomach. What you lose today feeds tomorrow’s shore.
RITUAL: THE TURTLE’S FEAST (龜宴, Guī Yàn)
(Inspired by Ming pirate burial rites and Taoist moon-eating ceremonies)
PURPOSE: To ritually feed an ending to the cosmic turtle.
MATERIALS:
A black bowl of saltwater.
Nine grains of rice (for the turtle’s teeth).
A small ship model (or folded paper boat).
A candle (white, to extinguish).
STEPS:
Name the ending aloud. Place the rice in the bowl—this is your offering to death.
Set the ship afloat in the bowl. Light its candle mast, chanting:
船头断裂，桅杆断裂——
旧月哺育着乌龟的脊背。
Bow is broken, mast is broken—
Old moon feeds the turtle’s back.
When the candle drowns, whisper: “You are eaten. You are tide now.”
Bury the ship in soil or cast it to sea.
PARALLEL MYTHOLOGY
TITLE: The Last Endeavor / The Goddess Who Awakens
MYTHIC ARCHETYPE: The Final Quest of Māui (Polynesian)
REGION: Polynesia (especially Māori tradition of Aotearoa)
FORM: Māui, the great culture hero and trickster. Hine-nui-te-pō, the Great Woman of the Night, Goddess of Death.
TALE: After all his epic deeds—fishing up islands, snaring the sun, stealing fire—the ever-clever Māui decided to embark on his final, greatest adventure: to abolish death for all humanity. He learned that he could do this by entering the body of the sleeping goddess of death, Hine-nui-te-pō, through her birth canal, traveling through her, and emerging from her mouth, thus reversing the cycle of life and death. He took his companions, the birds of the forest, and instructed them to be absolutely silent. But as Māui began his journey, the sight of the great hero wriggling into the goddess was so ridiculous that the little fantail bird (the Pīwakawaka) burst out laughing. This sound awoke Hine-nui-te-pō. She clenched her thighs, crushing the great Māui, and he became the first man to die. And so, because of Māui’s hubris and failure, death remains in the world.
WHY DEATH? This myth is the perfect lesson of the Death card. It shows the most powerful hero humbled by the inevitable. It teaches that one cannot trick, negotiate with, or conquer the end of a cycle. One must let go. The imagery—entering the dark body of the chthonic goddess—is a perfect metaphor for the descent required for transformation. Māui’s failure ensures the cycle of death and rebirth for all of us.
INTERPRETATION THROUGH MĀUI: This card signifies a non-negotiable ending. Like Māui, your ego may want to fight it, trick it, or pretend you can escape it. You cannot. To try and cling to the old way is to be crushed like Māui. This is not a punishment, but a fundamental law of nature. Surrender to this ending. Allow what must die to die. Only by letting go can you make way for what comes next. The little fantail bird is laughing at your attempts to hold on. Listen to its wisdom.
THE RITUAL OF THE LAUGHING BIRD (For Severing a Tie)
OBJECTIVE: To consciously and willfully sever your connection to something that must end (a job, a relationship, an identity, a belief) by acknowledging the futility of holding on.
MATERIALS:
An object that represents the thing you are clinging to.
Scissors or a knife.
A bird feather (or a picture/symbol of a bird).
A place where you can be outside, or at least near an open window.
STEPS:
ACKNOWLEDGING THE ATTACHMENT: Hold the object in your hands. Feel your connection to it. Acknowledge what it has given you. Speak your gratitude for it aloud. Then, acknowledge why you are afraid to let it go. “This identity has kept me safe. I’m afraid of who I will be without it.”
THE HUBRIS OF MĀUI: Now, think about your attempts to keep this thing alive when you know it’s over. See the absurdity in it. You are Māui, trying to crawl backward into the goddess of death. It’s an impossible, prideful task.
HEARING THE LAUGHING BIRD: Pick up the bird feather. This is the Pīwakawaka. This is the part of your soul that sees the truth and knows you need to let go. Imagine hearing its cheerful, irreverent laugh at your struggle. The universe is not mocking you with malice; it is reminding you of the natural flow. It can even be a moment of dark humor—let yourself smile or chuckle at how tightly you’ve been clinging.
THE SEVERANCE: Hold the object (or a thread tied to it). Pick up the scissors. Say aloud: “I cannot reverse the cycle. I honor the ending. I let go.” With a single, decisive action, cut the thread or ceremonially “cut” your energetic tie to the object. It is done. The severance is clean.
CLOSING: Hold the feather up to the open air. “My thanks to the truth-teller.” Release the object respectfully—bury it, burn it (if safe), or simply put it away in a box, signifying that its active life is over. The ritual is complete.
SYNCRETIC BRIDGE
Hine-nui-te-pō → Black Turtle (玄武, Xuánwǔ): Both devour to regenerate.
Māui’s Hubris → Pirate Wàngǔ (頑固, “stubbornness”): The sea tolerates no immortal thieves.
THE “SCHOLAR’S HEART” MANDATE:
Sources: This is one of the most famous stories of the Polynesian cycle. It is heavily documented in the works of Sir George Grey’s Polynesian Mythology and Margaret Orbell’s The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Māori Myth and Legend. For the ritual see: 《閩海幻視法》 [Fujian Sea Vision Magic], 1742.
Yān sǐ (淹死, “drowning death”)—resisting the lesson.
Fú píng (浮萍, “duckweed”)—surfacing too soon.
The hollow gourd (空葫蘆, kōng húlú)—failed enlightenment.
INTERPRETATION: This card is the ocean’s koan. To rise, you must first sink past thinking.
RITUAL: THE BRINE BARREL MEDITATION (鹵桶禪, Lǔ Tǒng Chán)
(Inspired by Taoist “drowning breath” practices and pirate survival trials)
PURPOSE: To surrender mental resistance through controlled drowning.
MATERIALS:
A large bowl of ice-cold saltwater.
A hollow reed or straw.
A black cloth.
A candle (blue).
STEPS:
Kneel before the bowl, light the candle. Cover your head with the cloth.
Submerge your face, breathing only through the reed. Chant underwater:
鐵拐落海，鐵骨上天，
怕死的先見閻王爺！
Iron crutch drowns, iron bones rise, Cowards meet the Death God first!
When lungs burn, emerge but keep eyes closed. The first thing you see inside your eyelids is your true obstacle.
PARALLEL MYTHOLOGY
TITLE: The Belly of the Deep / The Prophet’s Surrender
MYTHIC ARCHETYPE: Jonah in the Belly of the Great Fish (Abrahamic Traditions)
REGION: Ancient Israel / Abrahamic Scripture (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)
TALE: God commands the prophet Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh and preach against its wickedness. Terrified and defiant, Jonah runs from his destiny. He boards a ship sailing in the opposite direction. God sends a great storm, and the sailors, realizing Jonah is the cause, cast him into the sea at his own suggestion. But he does not die. He is swallowed by a “great fish” (often depicted as a whale). For three days and three nights, he is trapped in the belly of the beast—a state of total suspension, darkness, and powerlessness. It is here, in the ultimate Hanged Man position, that he finally stops running. He prays, he surrenders his will to God’s, and he accepts his mission. The fish then vomits him onto dry land, and he goes to Nineveh, a changed man with a new perspective.
WHY THE HANGED WOMAN? Jonah’s story is the Hanged Man’s journey.
SUSPENSION: Trapped in the belly of the fish, he is utterly suspended between worlds, unable to act or escape.
NEW PERSPECTIVE: His world is literally turned upside down. Inside the dark, womb-like prison, he is forced to look inward, leading to an epiphany.
SURRENDER, NOT SACRIFICE: He doesn’t die. He lets go of his defiance. The “voluntary” part isn’t getting swallowed; it’s the act of surrender that happens inside the ordeal.
REBIRTH: He emerges from the ordeal changed and ready to fulfill the purpose he was running from.
INTERPRETATION THROUGH JONAH: This card signifies a necessary pause in your life. You may feel stuck, trapped, or powerless—like you’re in the belly of the beast. Stop fighting it. Stop running from your “Nineveh.” This is not a punishment; it is a sacred time-out. The only way forward is to surrender, let go of your stubborn plans, and look at your situation from this new, uncomfortable perspective. The insight you gain in this “darkness” will be what ultimately frees you.
THE RITUAL OF THE DARK WOMB (For Finding Surrender When Stuck)
OBJECTIVE: To stop resisting a necessary life change by voluntarily entering a symbolic “belly of the fish,” confronting your defiance, and surrendering to your path.
MATERIALS:
A small, dark, enclosed space you can sit in comfortably for a few minutes (a closet, a small bathroom with the lights off, or even under a heavy blanket).
An object that represents your “Nineveh”—the task, decision, or truth you are running from.
A glass of water.
STEPS:
THE FLIGHT AND THE STORM: Before you begin, hold your “Nineveh” object and acknowledge what you’ve been running from. Say it aloud: “I have been running from this difficult conversation” or “I have been avoiding this responsibility.”
ENTERING THE BELLY: Take your object and enter your chosen dark space. Sit down and close the door or cover yourself completely. Plunge yourself into darkness and silence. This is the belly of the fish. You are now officially “stuck.”
THE THREE BREATHS: You cannot fight your way out. You can only surrender. Take three very slow, deliberate breaths.
Breath One: Acknowledge your resistance. Feel it in your body.
Breath Two: Acknowledge your powerlessness in this moment. You cannot escape this darkness through force.
Breath Three: Let go. Release the tension of the fight.
PRAYER OF SURRENDER: Hold your “Nineveh” object in the dark. You don’t need to have a solution. You only need to change your posture from “I won’t” to “I am willing.” Whisper a simple statement of surrender. “I stop running. I am willing to face this. I surrender to the path.”
THE REBIRTH: After a few moments in this surrendered state, emerge from your dark space back into the light. You have been spit out onto the shore. Immediately drink the entire glass of water. This is an act of cleansing and returning to life.
CLOSING: Place your “Nineveh” object on your altar or somewhere you can see it. It is no longer an object of dread, but a symbol of your accepted mission. The ritual is complete.
SYNCRETIC BRIDGE
Jonah’s Fish → Dragon’s Wèi (胃, “stomach”): Both are wombs of forced enlightenment.
Three Days → Three Tides: Taoist rebirth cycles follow moon-pulled waters.
THE “SCHOLAR’S HEART” MANDATE:
Sources: The primary source is The Book of Jonah in the Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh). The story is also recounted in the New Testament and holds a significant place in the Quran, where the prophet is known as Yunus. For the ritual, see: “Drowning Boxing” (溺水拳, Nìshuǐ Quán)—a lost martial art practiced the dead on shipwreck survivors.
TITLE: The Pearlscale Magistrate / 珠秤判官 (Zhū Chèng Pànguān)
MYTHIC ARCHETYPE: Mazu’s Ghost-light Admiral
TAOIST PARALLEL: Bao Zheng (包拯), the legendary “Iron-Faced Judge” of Song Dynasty, merged with Mazu’s Tide-Scribe—a dead scholar who records karmic debts in coral ledger books.
PIRATE TWIST: His court is an empty beach at low tide – the accused have only until the waters return to prove their innocence.
WHY JUSTICE? He doesn’t need to be alive to see guilt; he listens to how the waves echo in a liar’s chest.
TAOIST PIRATE SYMBOLISM
KEYWORDS (Upright):
Cháo píng (潮平, “tide-balance”)—natural law as inevitable as moonpull.
The coral gavel (珊瑚槌, shānhú chuí)—its strike summons truth-telling eels.
“Saltwater oaths” (鹹水誓, xiánshuǐ shì)—broken vows crystallize on the tongue.
KEYWORDS (Reversed):
Wèi zhāng (偽漲, “false tide”)—fabricated evidence.
Yāo gào (妖告, “phantom testimony”)—lies that dissolve like sea foam.
The hollow pearl (空珠, kōng zhū)—justice delayed until the next typhoon.
INTERPRETATION: This card is karma’s tide table. The Magistrate’s verdicts aren’t decided—they’re revealed by how the ship lists.
RITUAL: THE CORAL LEDGER (珊瑚賬, Shānhú Zhàng)
(Inspired by Ming maritime law and Taoist debt-reckoning rites)
PURPOSE: To weigh a moral dilemma with tidal impartiality.
MATERIALS:
Two whale ear bones (or uneven stones).
A length of fishing net (or red thread).
Saltwater in a brass bowl.
Ink & brush (or a sharp shell).
STEPS:
Carve your dilemma onto the bones—one side per bone.
Tie them to the net, creating a primitive scale. Suspend it over the bowl.
Pour saltwater until one bone sinks and the other rises.
The lighter bone holds your true path.
Bury the sunk bone—its truth is settled. Carry the risen bone for 3 tides as counsel.
PARALLEL MYTHOLOGY
TITLE: The Arbiter of Dreams / The Scale of the Reed Beds
MYTHIC ARCHETYPE: Nanshe (Sumerian Goddess of Social Justice)
REGION: Ancient Mesopotamia (Sumer)
FORM: A powerful goddess, daughter of Enki (the god of wisdom, magic, and fresh water). Her sacred animals were birds and fish. Her center of worship was in the city of Lagash, a city of canals and marshes near the Persian Gulf.
TALE: Nanshe was no distant sky-god. Her justice was compassionate and hands-on. She was known as the one “who knows the orphan, who knows the widow, knows the oppression of man over man.” She was the protector of the socially vulnerable. Furthermore, she was a goddess of prophecy and the chief interpreter of dreams, using them to reveal truths and render fair judgments. At the New Year festival, people would come to her temple to have their dreams interpreted and their disputes settled.
WHY JUSTICE? Nanshe is Justice in action. She represents the search for truth (interpreting dreams), the weighing of actions (judging disputes), and the upholding of fairness, with a special emphasis on protecting those who cannot protect themselves. Her connection to water places her perfectly in our deck, and her role as a dream interpreter gives a mystical, intuitive layer to the cold logic often associated with the Justice card.
INTERPRETATION THROUGH NANSHE: This card signifies that a moment of truth has arrived. All actions have consequences, and now is the time they will be weighed. Nanshe asks you to act with absolute integrity. Are you being fair to others and to yourself? Are you honoring your responsibilities, especially to those who are vulnerable? The truth of the situation will be revealed, perhaps in an unexpected way, like a dream. Be prepared to face the clear, unvarnished facts and act accordingly.
THE RITUAL OF NANSHE’S SCALES (For Seeking a Just Path)
OBJECTIVE: To find a fair and true perspective on a situation where you are conflicted or where a difficult judgment must be made.
MATERIALS:
Two identical bowls or cups.
Two small, equal-sized pieces of paper and a pen.
Water.
AN OFFERING: A small amount of grain (barley, flour) or a piece of bread, representing the agricultural staples of Mesopotamia.
STEPS:
STATING THE CASE: Find a quiet place. Fill both bowls with an equal amount of water. On one piece of paper, write down one side of the argument/situation as objectively as possible. On the other paper, write the other side. Fold them and do not worry about which is which.
THE INVOCATION: Hold the offering in your hand. Address the archetype with respect. “Nanshe, Daughter of Wise Enki, She Who Knows the Orphan and the Widow, I seek your clarity. I have a matter to be weighed, and I wish to find the path of truth and fairness. Witness this rite and grant me wisdom.” Place the offering between the two bowls.
THE WEIGHING: Place one folded paper into each bowl of water. Now, place your hands palm-up under the bowls, as if you are the scales of Justice. Close your eyes. Don’t try to “feel” a physical weight. Instead, feel the emotional and moral weight of the situation you have created. Acknowledge the gravity of both sides. Simply hold the balance for a few minutes in silent contemplation. Your goal is not to find the answer now, but to present the case fairly to the judge.
THE DREAM PLEA: After holding the balance, open your eyes. Speak to the bowls. “The case is presented. The scales are balanced. Nanshe, Arbiter of Dreams, I ask you to carry this matter into my sleep. Reveal to me the truth I need to see. Grant me a dream of clarity.”
CLOSING: Leave the bowls with the papers in them by your bedside overnight. Before you sleep, your last thought should be of opening yourself to receive a truthful dream. In the morning, before you do anything else, write down any dreams you had, no matter how strange. The answer to your dilemma may be hidden there symbolically. Dispose of the water and papers by returning them to the earth. The judgment will come.
SYNCRETIC BRIDGE
Nanshe’s Scales → Taoist Chèng (秤, “balance”): Both use water to reveal weightless truths.
Dream Prophecy → Tide-Divination (占潮, zhān cháo): Ming sailors read verdicts in wave patterns.
THE “SCHOLAR’S HEART” MANDATE:
Sources: “Hymn to Nanshe,” a Sumerian cuneiform text that explicitly details her social justice functions. See: Samuel Noah Kramer’s “History Begins at Sumer” and Thorkild Jacobsen’s The Treasures of Darkness” provide deep context for her role in Mesopotamian religion. For the ritual see: Zheng He’s Maritime Code—the first international sea laws, enforced by Mazu’s priests as well as: 《閩海過渡秘錄》 [Secret Records of Fujian Sea Transitions], 1793.
TITLE: The Moon-Tide Lottery / 月潮籤 (Yuè Cháo Qiān)
MYTHIC ARCHETYPE: Mazu’s Gambling Hall
TAOIST PARALLEL: The Dragon Kings’ Dice Game (龍王骰戲, Lóngwáng Tóuxì) where the four sea gods wager tidal fortunes using whalebone dice carved with Bagua symbols.
PIRATE TWIST: The “wheel” is a ship’s steering oar spun by Zheng Yi Sao’s ghost, deciding which junk gets plunder and which gets typhoons.
WHY WHEEL OF FORTUNE? The tides never cheat—but they never play fair either.
TAOIST PIRATE SYMBOLISM
KEYWORDS (Upright):
Cháo bō (潮博, “tide gambling”)—fate as a pirate’s wager.
The moon’s ledger (月賬, yuè zhàng)—where debts wash clean every cycle.
“Kraken’s kiss” (海怪吻, hǎiguài wěn)—sudden fortune from chaos.
KEYWORDS (Reversed):
Shī cháo (失潮, “lost tide”)—missing your wave.
Yāo qián (妖錢, “haunted coins”)—cursed windfalls.
The drowned dice (沉骰, chén tóu)—fixed by sea ghosts.
INTERPRETATION: This card is fate’s tide table—you can’t stop the turn, but you can learn to surf.
RITUAL: THE BAGUA TIDE-CHART (八卦潮表, Bāguà Cháo Biǎo)
(Inspired by Fujianese pirate almanacs and Taoist tide-divination)
PURPOSE: To align with—not fight—life’s cycles.
MATERIALS:
Eight coins (for the Bagua).
A round wooden plate (ship’s wheel or bowl).
Saltwater in a seashell.
A candle (red for luck).
STEPS:
Arrange coins in a Bagua circle on the plate. Light the candle at center.
Spin the plate while chanting:
东龙之金，西龙之浪，
南龙之火，北龙之咸天。
The gold of the East Dragon, the waves of the West Dragon,
the fire of the South Dragon, the salty sky of the North Dragon.
When it stops, the top coin is your current tide:
☰ Heaven: Fortune rises.
☷ Earth: Stay grounded.
☲ Fire: Sudden change.
☵ Water: Go with the flow.
Flick saltwater on that coin—seal your pact with fate.
PARALLEL MYTHOLOGY
TITLE: The Churning of Cosmic Tides / The Wheel of Samudra
MYTHIC ARCHETYPE: The Samudra Manthan (Hindu Cosmology)
REGION: Indian Subcontinent (Hinduism)
FORM: A cosmic event where the Devas and Asuras use the serpent king Vasuki as a rope, wrapped around Mount Mandara as a churning rod, to churn the Ocean of Milk. Lord Vishnu, in his Kurma (turtle) avatar, supports the mountain.
TALE: As detailed above, the churning is a grand cooperative (and later competitive) act that unleashes the full spectrum of fate, from deadly poison to the goddess of fortune, all in the pursuit of immortality.
WHY WHEEL OF FORTUNE? It is the ultimate allegory for fate. The up-and-down pulling motion by the gods and demons perfectly mimics the rise and fall of fortunes. The array of unforeseen outcomes (both bane and boon) demonstrates that we can set events in motion, but we cannot control the cycles of destiny. Lakshmi’s emergence explicitly links the event to fortune.
INTERPRETATION THROUGH SAMUDRA MANTHAN: This card signifies that a great cycle is in motion in your life. You have set the churning rod in place, and now you must be prepared for what emerges from the depths. It may be a poison that tests you, or it may be a treasure you never expected. You cannot stop the wheel from turning, so your task is to adapt, to have faith (like the gods who trusted Shiva to handle the poison), and to be ready to receive the fortune when it arrives.
RITUAL OF THE SWEET AND SALTY CHURN (For Embracing Your Cycle)
OBJECTIVE: To prepare your spirit for an upcoming change or to find peace within a current cycle, acknowledging that all cycles contain both shadow and light.
MATERIALS:
A clear glass bowl or jar filled with water.
A spoonful of honey or sugar (for Lakshmi’s boon).
A spoonful of sea salt (for the Halahala’s challenge).
A small stirring stick or spoon (your Mount Mandara).
Optional: A small item to represent yourself (a small stone or charm).
STEPS:
PREPARATION: Sit with your bowl of water. This is your personal Ocean of Milk, the sea of your current life circumstances.
ACKNOWLEDGING DUALITY: Add the spoonful of honey to the water, saying: “I am open to the sweetness of fortune. I am ready for the blessings I cannot yet see.” Then, add the spoonful of salt, saying: “I have the strength to face the bitterness of challenge. I am ready for the lessons I must learn.”
THE CHURNING: Place your “self” stone in the water if using. Now, use your stirring stick to slowly churn the water. As you stir, don’t focus on mixing everything perfectly. Just observe the currents. See how the sweet and salty elements swirl, sometimes separating, sometimes combining. This is your life’s cycle in motion.
THE SCRY OF ACCEPTANCE: As you churn, speak a simple mantra of surrender: “What comes, I will meet. What goes, I will release. The wheel turns, and I turn with it.” Continue stirring until you feel a sense of calm acceptance.
RECEIVING THE MOMENT: Stop churning. Close your eyes. Dip one finger into the water, and touch it to your tongue. Do you taste sweetness? Saltiness? Both? Neither? This is not a prediction, but a moment of mindfulness—a taste of your life’s current flavor. Accept it without judgment.
CLOSING: Leave the bowl to settle. The water will eventually become still again, the elements merged. This is the new equilibrium you will find after the turn. Pour the water out onto the earth as an offering. Say: “My thanks to the cosmic tides. My heart is ready.” The ritual is complete.
SYNCRETIC BRIDGE
Samudra Manthan → Dragon Pearl Gambit (龍珠賭, Lóngzhū Dǔ): Both unleash boons and curses from the deep.
Lakshmi → Mazu’s Treasure Barge (媽祖寶船, Māzǔ Bǎochuán): Abundance as flotsam from shipwrecks.
THE “SCHOLAR’S HEART” MANDATE:
Sources: This is a cornerstone story in Hinduism. The most detailed accounts are found in the Bhagavata Purana, the Mahabharata, and the Vishnu Purana. We can reference these sacred texts with great respect for their profound philosophical and spiritual depth. Also see: Ming “Tide-Wheel” Clocks—water clocks that predicted fortune cycles via tidal astronomy.
memories of my ghost sista 