《光荣的荆棘路》，1856 年
the thorny Road of honor, 1856
一条荣誉的荆棘路，这是一个古老的故事。有一个射手，他确实获得了地位和官职，但那是在经过了一生与困难的疲倦斗争之后。
An old story yet lives of the “thorny Road of honor,” of a marksman, who indeed attained to rank and office, but only after a lifelong and weary strife against difficulties.
谁在读这个故事时，不曾想到自己的奋斗，以及自己无数的 “困难” 呢？
who has not, in reading this story, thought of his own strife, and of his own numerous “difficulties?”
这个故事与现实非常相似；但它在尘世仍有其和谐的解释，而现实往往指向生命界限之外的永恒之境。
the story is very closely akin to reality; but still it has its harmonious explanation here on earth, while reality often points beyond the confines of life to the regions of eternity.
世界历史就像一盏魔灯，在当下黑暗的背景上，以明亮的画面向我们展示，人类的恩人、天才的殉道者们是如何沿着荣誉的荆棘路前行的。
the history of the world is like a magic lantern that displays to us, in light pictures upon the dark ground of the present, how the benefactors of mankind, the martyrs of genius, wandered along the thorny road of honor.
来自各个时期、各个国家，这些闪耀的画面向我们展现出来。
From all periods, and from every country, these shining pictures display themselves to us.
每一幅画面只出现片刻，但每一幅都代表着一生，有时甚至是一个时代，及其冲突与胜利。
Each only appears for a few moments, but each represents a whole life, sometimes a whole age, with its conflicts and victories.
让我们在这里或那里沉思一下殉道者的行列中的一位 —— 这个行列将不断接纳新成员，直到世界本身消逝。
Let us contemplate here and there one of the pany of martyrs — the pany which will receive new members until the world itself shall pass away.
我们俯瞰一个拥挤的圆形露天剧场。
we look down upon a crowded amphitheatre.
从阿里斯托芬的《云》中，讽刺与幽默如溪流般倾泻到观众身上；在舞台上，苏格拉底，雅典最杰出的人，那个曾是民众抵御三十僭主的盾牌和扞卫者的人，在精神和肉体上都遭到了嘲弄 —— 苏格拉底，他在战斗的混乱中救了亚西比德和色诺芬，他的天才远远超越了古代诸神。
out of the “clouds” of Aristophanes, satire and humor are pouring down in streams upon the audience; on the stage Socrates, the most remarkable man in Athens, he who had been the shield and defence of the people against the thirty tyrants, is held up mentally and bodily to ridicule — Socrates, who saved Alcibiades and xenophon in the turmoil of battle, and whose genius soared far above the gods of the ancients.
他本人就在场；他从观众席上站起身来，走上前去，好让欢笑的雅典人能充分领略他本人和舞台上那幅漫画之间的相似之处。
he himself is present; he has risen from the spectator’s bench, and has stepped forward, that the laughing Athenians may well appreciate the likeness between himself and the caricature on the stage.
他就站在他们面前，高高地凌驾于他们所有人之上。
there he stands before them, towering high above them all.
你这多汁、碧绿、有毒的毒芹，把你的阴影投向雅典吧 —— 而不是你，那声名远扬的橄榄树！
thou juicy, green, poisonous hemlock, throw thy shadow over Athens — not thou, olive tree of fame!
七座城市争夺诞生荷马的荣誉 —— 也就是说，他们是在他死后才开始争夺的！让我们看看他生前的样子吧。
Seven cities contended for the honor of giving birth to homer — that is to say, they contended after his death! Let us look at him as he was in his lifetime.
他徒步在城市中流浪，靠吟诵自己的诗句为生；对明日的忧虑使他的头发变白了！他，这位伟大的先知，双目失明，痛苦地摸索着前行 —— 那尖锐的荆棘撕破了这位诗王的披风。
he wanders on foot through the cities, and recites his verses for a livelihood; the thought for the morrow turns his hair gray! he, the great seer, is blind, and painfully pursues his way — the sharp thorn tears the mantle of the king of poets.
他的诗歌依然流传，仅凭这一点，古代所有的英雄和神只才得以永生。
his song yet lives, and through that alone live all the heroes and gods of antiquity.
一幅又一幅画面从东方、从西方涌现出来，它们在时间和地点上彼此相距甚远，但每一幅都构成了荣誉的荆棘路的一部分，在这条路上，蓟确实会开出花朵，但那只是为了装饰坟墓。
one picture after another springs up from the east, from the west, far removed from each other in time and place, and yet each one forming a portion of the thorny road of honor, on which the thistle indeed displays a flower, but only to adorn the grave.
骆驼在棕榈树下走过；它们驮着丰富的靛蓝和其他贵重珍宝，这些是这片土地的统治者送给那个其歌声为民众所喜爱、为国家带来声誉的人的。
the camels pass along under the palm trees; they are richly laden with indigo and other treasures of value, sent by the ruler of the land to him whose songs are the delight of the people, the fame of the country.
那个被嫉妒和谎言逼得流亡的人被找到了，商队朝着他避难的小镇走去。
he whom envy and falsehood have driven into exile has been found, and the caravan approaches the little town in which he has taken refuge.
一具可怜的尸体被抬出城门，送葬的队伍让商队停了下来。死者正是他们要寻找的人 —— 菲尔多西 —— 他在荣誉的荆棘路上一直走到了尽头。
A poor corpse is carried out of the town gate, and the funeral procession causes the caravan to halt. the dead man is he whom they have been sent to seek — Firdusi — who has wandered the thorny road of honor even to the end.
那个非洲人，五官粗钝、嘴唇厚实、头发卷曲，坐在葡萄牙首都宫殿的大理石台阶上乞讨。
the African, with blunt features, thick lips, and woolly hair, sits on the marble steps of the palace in the capital of portugal, and begs.
他是卡蒙斯温顺的奴隶，要不是他，要不是路人扔给他的铜币，他的主人 ——《卢济塔尼亚人之歌》的诗人 —— 就要饿死了。现在，一座昂贵的纪念碑标志着卡蒙斯的坟墓。
he is the submissive slave of camoens, and but for him, and for the copper coins thrown to him by the passers - by, his master, the poet of the “Lusiad,” would die of hunger. Now, a costly monument marks the grave of camoens.
又有一幅新画面。
there is a new picture.
在铁栅栏后面出现了一个人，脸色像死人一样苍白，胡须又长又乱。
behind the iron grating a man appears, pale as death, with long unkempt beard.
“我有一个发现，” 他说，“是几个世纪以来最伟大的发现；而他们却把我关在这里二十多年了！”
“I have made a discovery,” he says, “the greatest that has been made for centuries; and they have kept me locked up here for more than twenty years!”
这个人是谁？
who is the man?
“一个疯子，” 疯人院的看守回答道。
“A madman,” replies the keeper of the madhouse.
“这些疯子的想法真是稀奇古怪！他居然想象能用蒸汽推动东西。”
“what whimsical ideas these lunatics have! he imagines that one can propel things by means of steam.”
这人是所罗门?德?卡雷斯，蒸汽动力的发现者，他用晦涩的话语表述的理论，黎塞留都没能理解；他死在了疯人院里。
It is Solomon de cares, the discoverer of the power of steam, whose theory, expressed in dark words, is not understood by Richelieu; and he dies in the madhouse.
这里站着哥伦布，以前街头的孩子们常常跟着他嘲笑他，因为他想发现一个新世界；而他已经发现了。
here stands columbus, whom the street boys used once to follow and jeer, because he wanted to discover a new world; and he has discovered it.
欢呼声从所有人的胸膛中迸发出来迎接他，钟声齐鸣来庆祝他凯旋而归；但嫉妒的钟声很快就盖过了其他声音。
Shouts of joy greet him from the breasts of all, and the clash of bells sounds to celebrate his triumphant return; but the clash of the bells of envy soon drowns the others.
一个世界的发现者 —— 他把美洲这块黄金之地从大海中托起，并把它献给了他的国王 —— 他得到的回报却是铁链。
the discoverer of a world — he who lifted the American gold land from the sea, and gave it to his king — he is rewarded with iron chains.
他希望这些铁链能被放进他的棺材里，因为它们向世人见证了一个人同时代的人是如何回报卓越功绩的。
he wishes that these 铁链 may be placed in his coffin, for they witness to the world of the way in which a man’s contemporaries reward good service.
一幅又一幅画面接踵而至；荣誉与声名的荆棘之路拥挤不堪。
one picture after another es crowding on; the thorny path of honor and of fame is over-filled.
在这漆黑的夜晚，坐着那个测量过月球上山脉的人；那个强行闯入无尽太空，穿梭于恒星和行星之间的人；那个理解自然之灵、能感觉到大地在脚下移动的伟人 —— 伽利略。
here in dark night sits the man who measured the mountain in the moon; he who forced his way out into the endless space, among stars and planets; he, the mighty man who understood the spirit of nature, and felt the earth moving beneath his feet — Galileo.
他双目失明，双耳失聪，坐在那里 —— 一位饱经苦难之矛穿刺的老人，在被人忽视的折磨中，几乎都抬不起脚 —— 就是那只脚，当人们否认真理时，他怀着灵魂的剧痛，曾跺着脚大喊：“可它还是在动！”
blind and deaf he sits — an old man thrust through with the spear of suffering, and amid the torments of neglect, scarcely able to lift his foot — that foot with which, in the anguish of his soul, when men denied the truth, he stamped upon the ground, with the exclamation, “Yet it moves!”
这里站着一位有着孩童般心智的女子，但却满怀信念与灵感。
here stands a woman of childlike mind, yet full of faith and inspiration.
她在作战的军队前高举旗帜，为她的祖国带来胜利与救赎。
She carries the banner in front of the bating army, and brings victory and salvation to her fatherland.
呼喊声响起，柴堆燃烧起来。
the sound of shouting arises, and the pile flames up.
他们正在焚烧女巫，圣女贞德。
they are burning the witch, Joan of Arc.
是的，而且未来的一个世纪还会嘲笑这朵白百合。
Yes, and a future century jeers at the white Lily.
伏尔泰，人类才智的讽刺者，写了《奥尔良少女》。
Voltaire, the satyr of human intellect, writes “La pucelle.”
在维堡的议会集会上，丹麦的贵族们焚烧了国王的律法。
At the thing or Assembly at Viborg, the danish nobles burn the laws of the king.
火焰熊熊燃烧，照亮了那个时代和立法者，也把光辉洒进了阴暗的监狱塔楼，那里有一位老人正变得灰白且弯腰驼背。
they flame up high, illuminating the period and the lawgiver, and throw a glory into the dark prison tower, where an old man is growing gray and bent.
他用手指在石桌上划出一道凹槽。
with his finger he marks out a groove in the stone table.
坐在那里的是深受民众爱戴的国王，曾是三个王国的统治者，是市民和农民的朋友。
It is the popular king who sits there, once the ruler of three kingdoms, the friend of the citizen and the peasant.
他就是克里斯蒂安二世。
It is christian the Second.
敌人书写了他的历史。
Enemies wrote his history.
如果我们无法忘记他的罪行，那就让我们记住他二十七年的功绩吧。
Let us remember his improvements of seven and twenty years, if we cannot forget his crime.
一艘船起航了，驶离丹麦海岸。
A ship sails away, quitting the danish shores.
一个人靠在桅杆上，最后看了一眼胡恩岛。
It is tycho brahe.
他让丹麦的名字闪耀于星空之上，却得到了伤害、损失和悲痛的回报。
he raised the name of denmark to the stars, and was rewarded with injury, loss and sorrow.
他要去一个陌生的国家。
he is going to a strange country.
“苍穹处处在我头顶之上，” 他说，“我还奢求什么呢？”
“the vault of heaven is above me everywhere,” he says, “and what do I want more?”
于是，这位着名的丹麦天文学家扬帆起航，要在异国他乡过上受人尊敬且自由自在的生活。
And away sails the famous dane, the astronomer, to live honored and free in a strange land.
“唉，要是能摆脱身体难以忍受的痛苦，那就自由了！” 一声叹息穿越时空传来，传入我们耳中。
“Ay, free, if only from the unbearable sufferings of the body!” es in a sigh through time, and strikes upon our ear.
多么壮观的一幅画面啊！格里芬菲尔德，一位丹麦的普罗米修斯，被囚禁在蒙克霍尔姆的岩石小岛上。
what a picture! Griffenfeldt, a danish prometheus, bound to the rocky island of munkholm.
我们来到了美洲，在一条最大的河流岸边；无数的人聚集在那里，因为据说有一艘船要逆风逆浪航行，公然向自然力挑战。
we are in America, on the margin of one of the largest rivers; an innumerable crowd has gathered, for it is said that a ship is to sail against the wind and weather, bidding defiance to the elements.
那个自认为能解决这个问题的人名叫罗伯特?富尔顿。
the man who thinks he can solve the problem is named Robert Fulton.
船开始起航了，但突然停了下来。
the ship begins its passage, but suddenly it stops.
人群开始哄笑、吹口哨、发出嘘声 —— 就连那个人的亲生父亲也和其他人一起吹口哨。
the crowd begins to laugh and whistle and hiss — the very father of the man whistles with the rest.
“自负！愚蠢！” 人们叫嚷着。
“conceit! Foolery!” is the cry.
“这是他咎由自取。
把这个疯子关起来！”
“It has happened just as he deserved.
put the crack-brain under lock and key!”
然后，突然有一颗小钉子断了，就是这颗钉子刚才让机器停了一会儿；现在轮子又转动起来了，船桨冲破了水流的阻力，船继续航行；而蒸汽机的横梁把遥远陆地之间的距离从数小时缩短到了几分钟。
then suddenly a little nail breaks, which had stopped the machine for a few minutes; and now the wheels turn again, the floats break the force of the waters, and the ship continues its course; and the beam of the steam engine shortens the distance between far lands from hours into minutes.
啊，人类，你能领会这样一种觉悟时刻的幸福吗？当灵魂因自身使命而被深深触动，在那一刻，所有的沮丧，每一处伤痛 —— 哪怕是因自身过错所致的伤痛 —— 都转化为健康、力量与清明，当不和谐变为和谐，在那一刻，人们似乎在一个人身上看到了天赐恩泽的显现，并感受到此人将它传递给所有人。
o human race, canst thou grasp the happiness of such a minute of consciousness, this penetration of the soul by its mission, the moment in which all dejection, and every wound — even those caused by one’s own fault — is changed into health and strength and clearness — when discord is converted to harmony — the minute in which men seem to recognize the manifestation of the heavenly grace in one man, and feel how this one imparts it to all?
于是，荣誉的荆棘路就这样显现为一种荣光，用它的光芒环绕着大地。
thus the thorny path of honor shows itself as a glory, surrounding the earth with its beams.
那被选中成为这条路上的漫游者的人是三倍的幸福啊，他无需自身功绩，就被置于桥梁建造者与大地之间 —— 介于天意与人类之间。
thrice happy he who is chosen to be a wanderer there, and, without merit of his own, to be placed between the builder of the bridge and the earth — between providence and the human race.
历史的精神凭借着强大的羽翼在岁月长河中飘荡，它展示着 —— 给予勇气与慰藉，唤起温柔的思绪 —— 在黑暗的夜空背景下，却以闪耀的画面呈现出荣誉的荆棘路，这条路不像童话那样在尘世以辉煌与欢乐作结，而是延伸至所有时间之外，甚至直至永恒！
on mighty wings the spirit of history floats through the ages, and shows — giving courage and fort, and awakening gentle thoughts — on the dark nightly background, but in gleaming pictures, the thorny path of honor, which does not, like a fairy tale, end in brilliancy and joy here on earth, but stretches out beyond all time, even into eternity!