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第21章

sartor resartus-第21章

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courageous;〃 he succeeded ill in battle; and would fain have avoided it; a result; as would appear; owing less to his small personal stature (for in passionate seasons he was 〃incredibly nimble〃); than to his 〃virtuous principles:〃  〃if it was disgraceful to be beaten;〃 says he; 〃it was only a shade less disgraceful to have so much as fought; thus was I drawn two ways at once; and in this important element of school…history; the war…element; had little but sorrow。〃  On the whole; that same excellent 〃Passivity;〃 so notable in Teufelsdrockh's childhood; is here visibly enough again getting nourishment。  〃He wept often; indeed to such a degree that he was nicknamed _Der Weinende_ (the Tearful); which epithet; till towards his thirteenth year; was indeed not quite unmerited。  Only at rare intervals did the young soul burst forth into fire…eyed rage; and; with a stormfulness (_Ungestum_) under which the boldest quailed; assert that he too had Rights of Man; or at least of Mankin。〃  In all which; who does not discern a fine flower…tree and cinnamon…tree (of genius) nigh choked among pumpkins; reed…grass and ignoble shrubs; and forced if it would live; to struggle upwards only; and not outwards; into a _height_ quite sickly; and disproportioned to its _breadth_?

We find; moreover; that his Greek and Latin were 〃mechanically〃 taught; Hebrew scarce even mechanically; much else which they called History; Cosmography; Philosophy; and so forth; no better than not at all。  So that; except inasmuch as Nature was still busy; and he himself 〃went about; as was of old his wont; among the Craftsmen's workshops; there learning many things;〃 and farther lighted on some small store of curious reading; in Hans Wachtel the Cooper's house; where he lodged;his time; it would appear; was utterly wasted。  Which facts the Professor has not yet learned to look upon with any contentment。  Indeed; throughout the whole of this Bag _Scorpio_; where we now are; and often in the following Bag; he shows himself unusually animated on the matter of Education; and not without some touch of what we might presume to be anger。

〃My Teachers;〃 says he; 〃were hide…bound Pedants; without knowledge of man's nature; or of boy's; or of aught save their lexicons and quarterly account…books。  Innumerable dead Vocables (no dead Language; for they themselves knew no Language) they crammed into us; and called it fostering the growth of mind。  How can an inanimate; mechanical Gerund…grinder; the like of whom will; in a subsequent century; be manufactured at Nurnberg out of wood and leather; foster the growth of anything; much more of Mind; which grows; not like a vegetable (by having its roots littered with etymological compost); but like a spirit; by mysterious contact of Spirit; Thought kindling itself at the fire of living Thought?  How shall _he_ give kindling; in whose own inward man there is no live coal; but all is burnt out to a dead grammatical cinder?  The Hinterschlag Professors knew syntax enough; and of the human soul thus much:  that it had a faculty called Memory; and could be acted on through the muscular integument by appliance of birch…rods。

〃Alas; so is it everywhere; so will it ever be; till the Hod…man is discharged; or reduced to hod…bearing; and an Architect is hired; and on all hands fitly encouraged:  till communities and individuals discover; not without surprise; that fashioning the souls of a generation by Knowledge can rank on a level with blowing their bodies to pieces by Gunpowder; that with Generals and Field…marshals for killing; there should be world…honored Dignitaries; and were it possible; true God…ordained Priests; for teaching。 But as yet; though the Soldier wears openly; and even parades; his butchering…tool; nowhere; far as I have travelled; did the Schoolmaster make show of his instructing…tool:  nay; were he to walk abroad with birch girt on thigh; as if he therefrom expected honor; would there not; among the idler class; perhaps a certain levity be excited?〃

In the third year of this Gymnasic period; Father Andreas seems to have died:  the young Scholar; otherwise so maltreated; saw himself for the first time clad outwardly in sables; and inwardly in quite inexpressible melancholy。  〃The dark bottomless Abyss; that lies under our feet; had yawned open; the pale kingdoms of Death; with all their innumerable silent nations and generations; stood before him; the inexorable word; NEVER! now first showed its meaning。  My Mother wept; and her sorrow got vent; but in my heart there lay a whole lake of tears; pent up in silent desolation。 Nevertheless the unworn Spirit is strong; Life is so healthful that it even finds nourishment in Death:  these stern experiences; planted down by Memory in my Imagination; rose there to a whole cypress…forest; sad but beautiful; waving; with not unmelodious sighs; in dark luxuriance; in the hottest sunshine; through long years of youth:as in manhood also it does; and will do; for I have now pitched my tent under a Cypress…tree; the Tomb is now my inexpugnable Fortress; ever close by the gate of which I look upon the hostile armaments; and pains and penalties of tyrannous Life placidly enough; and listen to its loudest threatenings with a still smile。 O ye loved ones; that already sleep in the noiseless Bed of Rest; whom in life I could only weep for and never help; and ye; who wide…scattered still toil lonely in the monster…bearing Desert; dyeing the flinty ground with your blood;yet a little while; and we shall all meet THERE; and our Mother's bosom will screen us all; and Oppression's harness; and Sorrow's fire…whip; and all the Gehenna Bailiffs that patrol and inhabit ever…vexed Time; cannot thenceforth harm us any more! 〃

Close by which rather beautiful apostrophe; lies a labored Character of the deceased Andreas Futteral; of his natural ability; his deserts in life (as Prussian Sergeant); with long historical inquiries into the genealogy of the Futteral Family; here traced back as far as Henry the Fowler:  the whole of which we pass over; not without astonishment。  It only concerns us to add; that now was the time when Mother Gretchen revealed to her foster…son that he was not at all of this kindred; or indeed of any kindred; having come into historical existence in the way already known to us。  〃Thus was I doubly orphaned;〃 says he; 〃bereft not only of Possession; but even of Remembrance。  Sorrow and Wonder; here suddenly united; could not but produce abundant fruit。  Such a disclosure; in such a season; struck its roots through my whole nature:  ever till the years of mature manhood; it mingled with my whole thoughts; was as the stem whereon all my day…dreams and night…dreams grew。  A certain poetic elevation; yet also a corresponding civic depression; it naturally imparted: _I was like no other_; in which fixed idea; leading sometimes to highest; and oftener to frightfullest results; may there not lie the first spring of tendencies; which in my Life have become remarkable enough?  As in birth; so in action; speculation; and social position; my fellows are perhaps not numerous。〃


In the Bag _Sagittarius_; as we at length discover; Teufelsdrockh has become a University man; though how; when; or of what quality; will nowhere disclose itself with the smallest certainty。  Few things; in the way of confusion and capricious indistinctness; can now surprise our readers; not even the total want of dates; almost without parallel in a Biographical work。  So enigmatic; so chaotic we have always found; and must always look to find; these scattered Leaves。  In _Sagittarius_; however; Teufelsdrockh begins to show himself even more than usually Sibylline:  fragments of all sorts:  scraps of regular Memoir; College…Exercises; Programs; Professional Testimoniums; Milkscores; torn Billets; sometimes to appearance of an amatory cast; all blown together as if by merest chance; henceforth bewilder the sane Historian。  To combine any picture of these University; and the subsequent; years; much more; to decipher therein any illustrative primordial elements of the Clothes…Philosophy; becomes such a problem as the reader may imagine。

So much we can see; darkly; as through the foliage of some wavering thicket:  a y

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