悲劇的誕生The Birth Of Tragedy 第7期:海倫的微笑
In order to comprehend this we must take down the elaborate edifice of Apollinian culture stone by stone until we discover its foundations.
At first the eye is struck by the marvelous shapes of the Olympian gods who stand upon its pediments, and whose exploits, in shining bas-relief, adorn its friezes.
首先，我們發現那些莊嚴的奧林匹斯神象高據這大廈的山牆上，他們的事蹟被刻成光輝四射的浮雕，裝飾着腰壁。The fact that among them we find Apollo as one god among many, making no claim to a privileged position, should not mislead us.
雖則阿波羅不過是與諸神並列的一介之神，沒有優越地位的權利，但我們不應因此感到迷惑。
The same drive that found its most complete representation in Apollo generated the whole Olympian world, and in this sense we may consider Apollo the father of that world.
因爲整個奧林匹斯神界，總的說來，是從體現在阿波羅神身上的那種衝動誕生的，所以，在這一意義上，阿波羅堪稱爲神界之父。But what was the radical need out of which that illustrious society of Olympian beings sprang?
那麼，由於甚麼不可思議的要求而產生如此輝煌的奧林匹斯神界呢？Whoever approaches the Olympians with a different religion in his heart, seeking moral elevation, sanctity, spirituality, loving kindness, will presently be forced to turn away from them in ill-humored disappointment.
若是有人懷着別種宗教信念去接近奧林匹斯諸神，想從他們那裏尋找道德的高尚，神聖的虔潔，超肉體的靈性，慈祥的秋波，他勢必悵然失望，立刻掉首而去了。Nothing in these deities reminds us of asceticism, high intellect, or duty: we are confronted by luxuriant, triumphant existence, which deifies the good and the bad indifferently.
因爲這裏沒有甚麼使人想到遁世，靈性，清規戒律的東西：這裏我們只聽到精力充沛生意盎然的凱旋，這裏存在的一切，不論善惡，都被奉若神明。And the beholder may find himself dismayed in the presence of such overflowing life and ask himself what potion these heady people must have drunk in order to behold, in whatever direction they looked, Helen laughing back at them, the beguiling image of their own existence.
所以，靜觀的人，站在如此奇妙的生機充溢的景象之前，定必愕然失措，他要撫心自問：這些豪放不羈的人們到底飲了甚麼奇方妙藥，而能夠這樣樂生，所以他們不論向哪裏看，都見到海倫（Holena）的微笑，而她正是他們自己在 “情海浮沉”的生活的理想畫景？But we shall call out to this beholder, who has already turned his back: Don't go! Listen first to what the Greeks themselves have to say of this life, which spreads itself before you with such puzzling serenity.
然而，我們必須向業已掉首不顧的靜觀者高聲疾呼：“別跑開，請先聽聽古希臘民間智慧怎樣闡述這種以如此妙不可言的歡樂展開在你眼前的生活”。An old legend has it that King Midas hunted a long time in the woods for the wise Silenus, companion of Dionysus, without being able to catch him.
有一個古老故事說：“昔日米達斯（Midas）王曾很久在林中尋找酒神的伴侶，聰明的西列諾斯（Se－lenus），但沒有找到。When he had finally caught him the king asked him what he considered man's greatest good.
當西列諾斯終於落到他手上時，王就問他：對於人絕好絕妙的是甚麼呢？The daemon remained sullen and uncommunicative until finally, forced by the king, he broke into a shrill laugh and spoke: "Ephemeral wretch, begotten by accident and toil, why do you force me to tell you what it would be your greatest boon not to hear?
這位神靈呆若木雞，一言不發，等到王強逼他，他終於在宏亮的笑聲中說出這樣的話：朝生暮死的可憐蟲，無常與憂患的兒子，你爲什麼強逼我說出你最好是不要聽的話呢？What would be best for you is quite beyond your reach: not to have been born, not to be, to be nothing. But the second best is to die soon."
世間絕好的東西是你永遠得不到的，——那就是不要降生，不要存在，成爲烏有。但是，對於你次好的是——早死。”What is the relation of the Olympian gods to this popular wisdom?
奧林匹斯神界對這民間智慧的關係是怎樣呢？It is that of the entranced vision of the martyr to his torment.
就象臨刑的殉道者對於自己的苦難感到一種狂喜的幻覺。
