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第35章

sartor resartus-第35章

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the Marchfeld will be green; nay greener。 Thrifty unwearied Nature; ever out of our great waste educing some little profit of thy own;how dost thou; from the very carcass of the Killer; bring Life for the Living!

〃What; speaking in quite unofficial language; is the net purport and upshot of war?  To my own knowledge; for example; there dwell and toil; in the British village of Dumdrudge; usually some five hundred souls。  From these; by certain 'Natural Enemies' of the French; there are successively selected; during the French war; say thirty able…bodied men; Dumdrudge; at her own expense; has suckled and nursed them:  she has; not without difficulty and sorrow; fed them up to manhood; and even trained them to crafts; so that one can weave; another build; another hammer; and the weakest can stand under thirty stone avoirdupois。  Nevertheless; amid much weeping and swearing; they are selected; all dressed in red; and shipped away; at the public charges; some two thousand miles; or say only to the south of Spain; and fed there till wanted。  And now to that same spot; in the south of Spain; are thirty similar French artisans; from a French Dumdrudge; in like manner wending:  till at length; after infinite effort; the two parties come into actual juxtaposition; and Thirty stands fronting Thirty; each with a gun in his hand。  Straightaway the word 'Fire!' is given; and they blow the souls out of one another; and in place of sixty brisk useful craftsmen; the world has sixty dead carcasses; which it must bury; and anew shed tears for。  Had these men any quarrel?  Busy as the Devil is; not the smallest!  They lived far enough apart; were the entirest strangers; nay; in so wide a Universe; there was even; unconsciously; by Commerce; some mutual helpfulness between them。  How then?  Simpleton! their Governors had fallen out; and instead of shooting one another; had the cunning to make these poor blockheads shoot。Alas; so is it in Deutschland; and hitherto in all other lands; still as of old; 'what devilry soever Kings do; the Greeks must pay the piper!'In that fiction of the English Smollett; it is true; the final Cessation of War is perhaps prophetically shadowed forth; where the two Natural Enemies; in person; take each a Tobacco…pipe; filled with Brimstone; light the same; and smoke in one another's faces; till the weaker gives in:  but from such predicted Peace…Era; what blood…filled trenches; and contentious centuries; may still divide us!〃

Thus can the Professor; at least in lucid intervals; look away from his own sorrows; over the many…colored world; and pertinently enough note what is passing there。  We may remark; indeed; that for the matter of spiritual culture; if for nothing else; perhaps few periods of his life were richer than this。  Internally; there is the most momentous instructive Course of Practical Philosophy; with Experiments; going on; towards the right comprehension of which his Peripatetic habits; favorable to Meditation; might help him rather than hinder。  Externally; again; as he wanders to and fro; there are; if for the longing heart little substance; yet for the seeing eye sights enough in these so boundless Travels of his; granting that the Satanic School was even partially kept down; what an incredible knowledge of our Planet; and its Inhabitants and their Works; that is to say; of all knowable things; might not Teufelsdrockh acquire!

〃I have read in most Public Libraries;〃 says he; 〃including those of Constantinople and Samarcand:  in most Colleges; except the Chinese Mandarin ones; I have studied; or seen that there was no studying。  Unknown Languages have I oftenest gathered from their natural repertory; the Air; by my organ of Hearing; Statistics; Geographics; Topographics came; through the Eye; almost of their own accord。  The ways of Man; how he seeks food; and warmth; and protection for himself; in most regions; are ocularly known to me。  Like the great Hadrian; I meted out much of the terraqueous Globe with a pair of Compasses that belonged to myself only。

〃Of great Scenes why speak?  Three summer days; I lingered reflecting; and even composing (_dichtete_); by the Pine…chasms of Vaucluse; and in that clear Lakelet moistened my bread。  I have sat under the Palm…trees of Tadmor; smoked a pipe among the ruins of Babylon。  The great Wall of China I have seen; and can testify that it is of gray brick; coped and covered with granite; and shows only second…rate masonry。Great Events; also; have not I witnessed?  Kings sweated down (_ausgemergelt_) into Berlin…and…Milan Customhouse…Officers; the World well won; and the World well lost; oftener than once a hundred thousand individuals shot (by each other) in one day。 All kindreds and peoples and nations dashed together; and shifted and shovelled into heaps; that they might ferment there; and in time unite。 The birth…pangs of Democracy; wherewith convulsed Europe was groaning in cries that reached Heaven; could not escape me。

〃For great Men I have ever had the warmest predilection; and can perhaps boast that few such in this era have wholly escaped me。  Great Men are the inspired (speaking and acting) Texts of that divine BOOK OF REVELATIONS; whereof a Chapter is completed from epoch to epoch; and by some named HISTORY; to which inspired Texts your numerous talented men; and your innumerable untalented men; are the better or worse exegetic Commentaries; and wagon…load of too…stupid; heretical or orthodox; weekly Sermons。  For my study; the inspired Texts themselves!  Thus did not I; in very early days; having disguised me as tavern…waiter; stand behind the field…chairs; under that shady Tree at Treisnitz by the Jena Highway; waiting upon the great Schiller and greater Goethe; and hearing what I have not forgotten。 For〃

But at this point the Editor recalls his principle of caution; some time ago laid down; and must suppress much。  Let not the sacredness of Laurelled; still more; of Crowned Heads; be tampered with。  Should we; at a future day; find circumstances altered; and the time come for Publication; then may these glimpses into the privacy of the Illustrious be conceded; which for the present were little better than treacherous; perhaps traitorous Eavesdroppings。  Of Lord Byron; therefore; of Pope Pius; Emperor Tarakwang; and the 〃White Water…roses〃 (Chinese Carbonari) with their mysteries; no notice here!  Of Napoleon himself we shall only; glancing from afar; remark that Teufelsdrockh's relation to him seems to have been of very varied character。  At first we find our poor Professor on the point of being shot as a spy; then taken into private conversation; even pinched on the ear; yet presented with no money; at last indignantly dismissed; almost thrown out of doors; as an 〃Ideologist。〃  〃He himself;〃 says the Professor; 〃was among the completest Ideologists; at least Ideopraxists: in the Idea (_in der Idee_) he lived; moved and fought。  The man was a Divine Missionary; though unconscious of it; and preached; through the cannon's throat; that great doctrine; _La carriere ouverte aux talens_ (The Tools to him that can handle them); which is our ultimate Political Evangel; wherein alone can liberty lie。  Madly enough he preached; it is true; as Enthusiasts and first Missionaries are wont; with imperfect utterance; amid much frothy rant; yet as articulately perhaps as the case admitted。  Or call him; if you will; an American Backwoodsman; who had to fell unpenetrated forests; and battle with innumerable wolves; and did not entirely forbear strong liquor; rioting; and even theft; whom; notwithstanding; the peaceful Sower will follow; and; as he cuts the boundless harvest; bless。〃

More legitimate and decisively authentic is Teufelsdrockh's appearance and emergence (we know not well whence) in the solitude of the North Cape; on that June Midnight。  He has a 〃light…blue Spanish cloak〃 hanging round him; as his 〃most commodious; principal; indeed sole upper…garment;〃 and stands there; on the World…promontory; looking over the infinite Brine; like a little blue Belfry (as we figure); now motionless indeed; yet ready; if stirred; to ring quaintest changes。

〃Silence as of death;〃 writes he; 〃for Midnight; even in the Arctic latitudes; has its charac

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