"Paradox (悖论), all paradox!" exclaimed Albert.
"Not so paradoxical as you imagine," I replied.
"You allow that we designate (把…定名为) a disease as mortal (致死的) when nature is so severely attacked, and her strength so far exhausted, that she cannot possibly recover her former condition under any change that may take place.”
"Now, my good friend, apply this to the mind; observe a man in his natural, isolated condition;
consider how ideas work, and how impressions fasten on him, till at length a violent passion seizes him, destroying all his powers of calm reflection, and utterly ruining him.”
"It is in vain that a man of sound mind and cool temper understands the condition of such a wretched being, in vain he counsels (劝告) him.
He can no more communicate his own wisdom to him than a healthy man can instil (逐渐灌输) his strength into the invalid, by whose bedside he is seated."
Albert thought this too general. I reminded him of a girl who had drowned (溺死) herself a short time previously, and I related her history.
She was a good creature, who had grown up in the narrow sphere of household industry and weekly appointed labour;
one who knew no pleasure beyond indulging in a walk on Sundays, arrayed (打扮) in her best attire (服装), accompanied by her friends, or perhaps joining in the dance now and then at some festival, and chatting away her spare hours with a neighbour, discussing the scandal (流言蜚语) or the quarrels of the village, trifles (琐事) sufficient to occupy her heart.{1}
At length the warmth of her nature is influenced by certain new and unknown wishes.
Inflamed by the flatteries of men, her former pleasures become by degrees insipid (无趣的) , till at length she meets with a youth to whom she is attracted by an indescribable feeling;
upon him she now rests all her hopes; she forgets the world around her; she sees, hears, desires nothing but him, and him only. He alone occupies all her thoughts.
Uncorrupted by the idle indulgence of an enervating vanity, her affection moving steadily toward its object, she hopes to become his, and to realise, in an everlasting union with him, all that happiness which she sought, all that bliss for which she longed.{2}
His repeated promises confirm her hopes: embraces and endearments, which increase the ardour of her desires, overmaster (征服) her soul.
She floats in a dim, delusive (欺瞒的) anticipation (预感) of her happiness; and her feelings become excited to their utmost tension.
She stretches out her arms finally to embrace the object of all her wishes and her lover forsakes her.
Stunned (震惊的) and bewildered, she stands upon a precipice (绝壁). All is darkness around her.
No prospect, no hope, no consolation -- forsaken by him in whom her existence was centred!
She sees nothing of the wide world before her, thinks nothing of the many individuals who might supply the void (空虚) in her heart;
she feels herself deserted, forsaken by the world; and, blinded and impelled (驱使) by the agony which wrings her soul, she plunges into the deep, to end her sufferings in the broad embrace of death.
See here, Albert, the history of thousands; and tell me, is not this a case of physical infirmity (疾病)?
Nature has no way to escape from the labyrinth (难解的事物) : her powers are exhausted: she can contend no longer, and the poor soul must die.
"Shame upon him who can look on calmly, and exclaim, 'The foolish girl! she should have waited; she should have allowed time to wear off the impression;
her despair would have been softened, and she would have found another lover to comfort her.'{3}
One might as well say, 'The fool, to die of a fever! why did he not wait till his strength was restored, till his blood became calm? all would then have gone well, and he would have been alive now.'"
Albert, who could not see the justice of the comparison, offered some further objections, and, amongst others, urged that I had taken the case of a mere ignorant girl.
But how any man of sense, of more enlarged views and experience, could be excused, he was unable to comprehend.
"My friend!" I exclaimed, "man is but man; and, whatever be the extent of his reasoning powers, they are of little avail when passion rages within, and he feels himself confined by the narrow limits of nature.
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It were better, then -- but we will talk of this some other time," I said, and caught up my hat.
Alas! my heart was full; and we parted without conviction on either side.
How rarely in this world do men understand each other!
AUGUST 15.
There can be no doubt that in this world nothing is so indispensable (不可缺少的) as love.
I observe that Charlotte could not lose me without a pang, and the very children have but one wish; that is, that I should visit them again to-morrow.
I went this afternoon to tune Charlotte's piano.
But I could not do it, for the little ones insisted on my telling them a story; and Charlotte herself urged me to satisfy them.
I waited upon them at tea, and they are now as fully contented with me as with Charlotte; and I told them my very best tale of the princess who was waited upon by dwarfs.
I improve myself by this exercise, and am quite surprised at the impression my stories create.
If I sometimes invent an incident which I forget upon the next narration, they remind one directly that the story was different before;
so that I now endeavour to relate with exactness (正确) the same anecdote in the same monotonous (单调的) tone, which never changes.
I find by this, how much an author injures his works by altering them, even though they be improved in a poetical point of view.
The first impression is readily received. We are so constituted that we believe the most incredible things;
and, once they are engraved upon the memory, woe to him who would endeavour to efface them.
AUGUST 18.
Must it ever be thus, -- that the source of our happiness must also be the fountain of our misery?
The full and ardent sentiment which animated (鼓舞) my heart with the love of nature, overwhelming me with a torrent of delight, and which brought all paradise before me, has now become an insupportable torment, a demon which perpetually pursues and harasses me.{4}
When in bygone days I gazed from these rocks upon yonder mountains across the river, and upon the green, flowery valley before me, and saw all nature budding and bursting around;
the hills clothed from foot to peak with tall, thick forest trees; the valleys in all their varied windings, shaded with the loveliest woods;
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and the soft river gliding along amongst the lisping reeds, mirroring the beautiful clouds which the soft evening breeze wafted across the sky,
-- when I heard the groves about me melodious (悦耳的) with the music of birds, and saw the million swarms (蜂群) of insects dancing in the last golden beams of the sun, whose setting rays awoke the humming beetles (甲壳虫) from their grassy beds,
whilst the subdued (被制服的) tumult (骚动) around directed my attention to the ground, and I there observed the arid (干旱的) rock compelled to yield nutriment to the dry moss,
whilst the heath flourished upon the barren sands below me, all this displayed to me the inner warmth which animates all nature, and filled and glowed within my heart.
I felt myself exalted by this overflowing (溢出的) fulness to the perception of the Godhead, and the glorious forms of an infinite universe became visible to my soul!
Stupendous (巨大的) mountains encompassed (环绕) me, abysses (深渊) yawned at my feet, and cataracts (洪水) fell headlong down before me;
impetuous rivers rolled through the plain, and rocks and mountains resounded from afar. In the depths of the earth I saw innumerable powers in motion, and multiplying to infinity (无穷);
whilst upon its surface, and beneath the heavens, there teemed ten thousand varieties of living creatures.
Everything around is alive with an infinite number of forms; while mankind fly for security to their petty houses, from the shelter of which they rule in their imaginations over the wide-extended universe.
Poor fool! in whose petty estimation (估计) all things are little.
From the inaccessible mountains, across the desert which no mortal foot has trod (踩踏) , far as the confines of the unknown ocean, breathes the spirit of the eternal Creator;
and every atom (原子) to which he has given existence finds favour in his sight.{5}
Ah, how often at that time has the flight of a bird, soaring above my head, inspired me with the desire of being transported to the shores of the immeasurable waters,
there to quaff (痛饮) the pleasures of life from the foaming goblet of the Infinite,
and to partake, if but for a moment even, with the confined powers of my soul,
the beatitude of that Creator who accomplishes all things in himself, and through himself!