第 21 节
作者:雨霖铃      更新:2024-12-13 14:16      字数:9322
  the king a popular color; and so ingratiated me with the people;
  that when I set up my standard; which I soon after did; they
  readily and cheerfully listed under my banners and embraced my
  cause; which I persuaded them was their own; for that it was to
  protect them against foreigners that I had drawn my sword。  The
  word foreigners with an Englishman hath a kind of magical effect;
  they having the utmost hatred and aversion to them; arising from
  the cruelties they suffered from the Danes and some other foreign
  nations。  No wonder therefore they espoused my cause in a quarrel
  which had such a beginning。
  〃But what may be somewhat more remarkable is; that when I
  afterwards returned to England from banishment; and was at the
  head of an army of the Flemish; who were preparing to plunder the
  city of London; I still persisted that I was come to defend the
  English from the danger of foreigners; and gained their credit。
  Indeed; there is no lie so gross but it may be imposed on the
  people by those whom they esteem their patrons and defenders。
  〃The king saved his city by being reconciled to me; and taking
  again my daughter; whom he had put away from him; and thus;
  having frightened the king into what concessions I thought
  proper; I dismissed my army and fleet; with which I intended;
  could I not have succeeded otherwise; to have sacked the city of
  London and ravaged the whole country。
  〃I was no sooner re…established in the king's favor; or; what was
  as well for me; the appearance of it; than I fell violently on
  the archbishop。  He had of himself retired to his monastery in
  Normandy; but that did not content me:  I had him formally
  banished; the see declared vacant; and then filled up by another。
  〃I enjoyed my grandeur a very short time after my restoration to
  it; for the king; hating and fearing me to a very great degree;
  and finding no means of openly destroying me; at last effected
  his purpose by poison; and then spread abroad a ridiculous story;
  of my wishing the next morsel might choke me if I had had any
  hand in the death of Alfred; and; accordingly; that the next
  morsel; by a divine judgment; stuck in my throat and performed
  that office。
  〃This of a statesman was one of my worst stages in the other
  world。  It is a post subjected daily to the greatest danger and
  inquietude; and attended with little pleasure and less ease。  In
  a word; it is a pill which; was it not gilded over by ambition;
  would appear nauseous and detestable in the eye of every one; and
  perhaps that is one reason why Minos so greatly compassionates
  the case of those who swallow it:  for that just judge told me he
  always acquitted a prime minister who could produce one single
  good action in his whole life; let him have committed ever so
  many crimes。  Indeed; I understood him a little too largely; and
  was stepping towards the gate; but he pulled me by the sleeve;
  and; telling me no prime minister ever entered there; bid me go
  back again; saying; he thought I had sufficient reason to rejoice
  in my escaping the bottomless pit; which half my crimes committed
  in any other capacity would have entitled me to。〃
  CHAPTER XXI
  Julian's adventures in the post of a soldier。
  〃I was born at Caen; in Normandy。  My mother's name was Matilda;
  as for my father; I am not so certain; for the good woman on her
  death…bed assured me she herself could bring her guess to no
  greater certainty than to five of duke William's captains。  When
  I was no more than thirteen (being indeed a surprising stout boy
  of my age) I enlisted into the army of duke William; afterwards
  known by the name of William the Conqueror; landed with him at
  Pemesey or Pemsey; in Sussex; and was present at the famous
  battle of Hastings。
  〃At the first onset it was impossible to describe my
  consternation; which was heightened by the fall of two soldiers
  who stood by me; but this soon abated; and by degrees; as my
  blood grew warm; I thought no more of my own safety; but fell on
  the enemy with great fury; and did a good deal of execution;
  till; unhappily; I received a wound in my thigh; which rendered
  me unable to stand any longer; so that I now lay among the dead;
  and was constantly exposed to the danger of being trampled to
  death; as well by my fellow…soldiers as by the enemy。  However; I
  had the fortune to escape it; and continued the remaining part of
  the day and the night following on the ground。
  〃The next morning; the duke sending out parties to bring off the
  wounded; I was found almost expiring with loss of blood;
  notwithstanding which; as immediate care was taken to dress my
  wounds; youth and a robust constitution stood my friends; and I
  recovered after a long and tedious indisposition; and was again
  able to use my limbs and do my duty。
  〃As soon as Dover was taken I was conveyed thither with all the
  rest of the sick and wounded。  Here I recovered of my wound; but
  fell afterwards into a violent flux; which; when it departed;
  left me so weak that it was long before I could regain my
  strength。  And what most afflicted me was; that during my whole
  illness; when I languished under want as well as sickness; I had
  daily the mortification to see and hear the riots and excess of
  my fellow…soldiers; who had happily escaped safe from the battle。
  〃I was no sooner well than I was ordered into garrison at Dover
  Castle。  The officers here fared very indifferently; but the
  private men much worse。  We had great scarcity of provisions;
  and; what was yet more intolerable; were so closely confined for
  want of room (four of us being obliged to lie on the same bundle
  of straw); that many died; and most sickened。
  〃Here I had remained about four months; when one night we were
  alarmed with the arrival of the earl of Boulogne; who had come
  over privily from France; and endeavored to surprise the castle。
  The design proved ineffectual; for the garrison making a brisk
  sally; most of his men were tum… bled down the precipice; and he
  returned with a very few back to France。  In this action;
  however; I had the misfortune to come off with a broken arm; it
  was so shattered; that; besides a great deal of pain and misery
  which I endured in my cure; I was disabled for upwards of three
  months。
  〃Soon after my recovery I had contracted an amour with a young
  woman whose parents lived near the garrison; and were in much
  better circumstances than I had reason to expect should give
  their consent to the match。  However; as she was extremely fond
  of me (as I was indeed distractedly enamored of her); they were
  prevailed on to comply with her desires; and the day was fixed
  for our marriage。
  〃On the evening preceding; while I was exulting with the eager
  expectation of the happiness I was the next day to enjoy; I
  received orders to march early in the morning towards Windsor;
  where a large army was to be formed; at the head of which the
  king intended to march into the west。  Any person who hath ever
  been in love may easily imagine what I felt in my mind on
  receiving those orders; and what still heightened my torments
  was; that the commanding officer would not permit any one to go
  out of the garrison that evening; so that I had not even an
  opportunity of taking leave of my beloved。
  〃The morning came which was to have put me in the possession of
  my wishes; but; alas! the scene was now changed; and all the
  hopes which I had raised were now so many ghosts to haunt; and
  furies to torment me。
  〃It was now the midst of winter; and very severe weather for the
  season; when we were obliged to make very long and fatiguing
  marches; in which we suffered all the inconveniences of cold and
  hunger。  The night in which I expected to riot in the arms of my
  beloved mistress I was obliged to take up with a lodging on the
  ground; exposed to the inclemencies of a rigid frost; nor could I
  obtain the least comfort of sleep; which shunned me as its enemy。
  In short; the horrors of that night are not to be described; or
  perhaps imagined。  They made such an impression on my soul; that
  I was forced to be dipped three times in the river Lethe to
  prevent my remembering it in the characters which I afterwards
  performed in the flesh。〃
  Here I interrupted Julian for the first time; and told him no
  such dipping had happened to me in my voyage from one world to
  the other:  but he satisfied me by saying 〃that this only
  happened to those spirits which returned into the flesh; in order
  to prevent that reminiscence which Plato mentions; and which
  would otherwise cause great confusion in the other world。〃
  He then proceeded as follows:  〃We continued a very laborious
  march to Exeter; which we were ordered to besiege。  The town soon
  surrendered; and his majesty built a castle there; which he
  garrisoned with his Normans; and unhappily I had the misfortune
  to be one of the number。
  〃Here we were confined c