第 24 节
作者:不受约束      更新:2021-02-25 00:19      字数:9322
  We think to mark the daylight and the sun;
  And; shut within a room; yet still we seem
  To change our skies; our oceans; rivers; hills;
  To cross the plains afoot; and hear new sounds;
  Though still the austere silence of the night
  Abides around us; and to speak replies;
  Though voiceless。 Other cases of the sort
  Wondrously many do we see; which all
  Seek; so to say; to injure faith in sense…
  In vain; because the largest part of these
  Deceives through mere opinions of the mind;
  Which we do add ourselves; feigning to see
  What by the senses are not seen at all。
  For naught is harder than to separate
  Plain facts from dubious; which the mind forthwith
  Adds by itself。
  Again; if one suppose
  That naught is known; he knows not whether this
  Itself is able to be known; since he
  Confesses naught to know。 Therefore with him
  I waive discussion… who has set his head
  Even where his feet should be。 But let me grant
  That this he knows;… I question: whence he knows
  What 'tis to know and not…to…know in turn;
  And what created concept of the truth;
  And what device has proved the dubious
  To differ from the certain?… since in things
  He's heretofore seen naught of true。 Thou'lt find
  That from the senses first hath been create
  Concept of truth; nor can the senses be
  Rebutted。 For criterion must be found
  Worthy of greater trust; which shall defeat
  Through own authority the false by true;
  What; then; than these our senses must there be
  Worthy a greater trust? Shall reason; sprung
  From some false sense; prevail to contradict
  Those senses; sprung as reason wholly is
  From out the senses?… For lest these be true;
  All reason also then is falsified。
  Or shall the ears have power to blame the eyes;
  Or yet the touch the ears? Again; shall taste
  Accuse this touch or shall the nose confute
  Or eyes defeat it? Methinks not so it is:
  For unto each has been divided off
  Its function quite apart; its power to each;
  And thus we're still constrained to perceive
  The soft; the cold; the hot apart; apart
  All divers hues and whatso things there be
  Conjoined with hues。 Likewise the tasting tongue
  Has its own power apart; and smells apart
  And sounds apart are known。 And thus it is
  That no one sense can e'er convict another。
  Nor shall one sense have power to blame itself;
  Because it always must be deemed the same;
  Worthy of equal trust。 And therefore what
  At any time unto these senses showed;
  The same is true。 And if the reason be
  Unable to unravel us the cause
  Why objects; which at hand were square; afar
  Seemed rounded; yet it more availeth us;
  Lacking the reason; to pretend a cause
  For each configuration; than to let
  From out our hands escape the obvious things
  And injure primal faith in sense; and wreck
  All those foundations upon which do rest
  Our life and safety。 For not only reason
  Would topple down; but even our very life
  Would straightaway collapse; unless we dared
  To trust our senses and to keep away
  From headlong heights and places to be shunned
  Of a like peril; and to seek with speed
  Their opposites! Again; as in a building;
  If the first plumb…line be askew; and if
  The square deceiving swerve from lines exact;
  And if the level waver but the least
  In any part; the whole construction then
  Must turn out faulty… shelving and askew;
  Leaning to back and front; incongruous;
  That now some portions seem about to fall;
  And falls the whole ere long… betrayed indeed
  By first deceiving estimates: so too
  Thy calculations in affairs of life
  Must be askew and false; if sprung for thee
  From senses false。 So all that troop of words
  Marshalled against the senses is quite vain。
  And now remains to demonstrate with ease
  How other senses each their things perceive。
  Firstly; a sound and every voice is heard;
  When; getting into ears; they strike the sense
  With their own body。 For confess we must
  Even voice and sound to be corporeal;
  Because they're able on the sense to strike。
  Besides voice often scrapes against the throat;
  And screams in going out do make more rough
  The wind…pipe… naturally enough; methinks;
  When; through the narrow exit rising up
  In larger throng; these primal germs of voice
  Have thus begun to issue forth。 In sooth;
  Also the door of the mouth is scraped against
  'By air blown outward' from distended 'cheeks'。
  。     。     。     。     。     。
  And thus no doubt there is; that voice and words
  Consist of elements corporeal;
  With power to pain。 Nor art thou unaware
  Likewise how much of body's ta'en away;
  How much from very thews and powers of men
  May be withdrawn by steady talk; prolonged
  Even from the rising splendour of the morn
  To shadows of black evening;… above all
  If 't be outpoured with most exceeding shouts。
  Therefore the voice must be corporeal;
  Since the long talker loses from his frame
  A part。
  Moreover; roughness in the sound
  Comes from the roughness in the primal germs;
  As a smooth sound from smooth ones is create;
  Nor have these elements a form the same
  When the trump rumbles with a hollow roar;
  As when barbaric Berecynthian pipe
  Buzzes with raucous boomings; or when swans
  By night from icy shores of Helicon
  With wailing voices raise their liquid dirge。
  Thus; when from deep within our frame we force
  These voices; and at mouth expel them forth;
  The mobile tongue; artificer of words;
  Makes them articulate; and too the lips
  By their formations share in shaping them。
  Hence when the space is short from starting…point
  To where that voice arrives; the very words
  Must too be plainly heard; distinctly marked。
  For then the voice conserves its own formation;
  Conserves its shape。 But if the space between
  Be longer than is fit; the words must be
  Through the much air confounded; and the voice
  Disordered in its flight across the winds…
  And so it haps; that thou canst sound perceive;
  Yet not determine what the words may mean;
  To such degree confounded and encumbered
  The voice approaches us。 Again; one word;
  Sent from the crier's mouth; may rouse all ears
  Among the populace。 And thus one voice
  Scatters asunder into many voices;
  Since it divides itself for separate ears;
  Imprinting form of word and a clear tone。
  But whatso part of voices fails to hit
  The ears themselves perishes; borne beyond;
  Idly diffused among the winds。 A part;
  Beating on solid porticoes; tossed back
  Returns a sound; and sometimes mocks the ear
  With a mere phantom of a word。 When this
  Thou well hast noted; thou canst render count
  Unto thyself and others why it is
  Along the lonely places that the rocks
  Give back like shapes of words in order like;
  When search we after comrades wandering
  Among the shady mountains; and aloud
  Call unto them; the scattered。 I have seen
  Spots that gave back even voices six or seven
  For one thrown forth… for so the very hills;
  Dashing them back against the hills; kept on
  With their reverberations。 And these spots
  The neighbouring country…side doth feign to be
  Haunts of the goat…foot satyrs and the nymphs;
  And tells ye there be fauns; by whose night noise
  And antic revels yonder they declare
  The voiceless silences are broken oft;
  And tones of strings are made and wailings sweet
  Which the pipe; beat by players' finger…tips;
  Pours out; and far and wide the farmer…race
  Begins to hear; when; shaking the garmentings
  Of pine upon his half…beast head; god…Pan
  With puckered lip oft runneth o'er and o'er
  The open reeds;… lest flute should cease to pour
  The woodland music! Other prodigies
  And wonders of this ilk they love to tell;
  Lest they be thought to dwell in lonely spots
  And even by gods deserted。 This is why
  They boast of marvels in their story…tellings;
  Or by some other reason are led on…
  Greedy; as all mankind hath ever been;
  To prattle fables into ears。
  Again;
  One need not wonder how it comes about
  That through those places (through which eyes cannot
  View objects manifest) sounds yet may pass
  And assail the ears。 For often we observe
  People conversing; though the doors be closed;
  No marvel either; since all voice unharmed
  Can wind through bended apertures of things;
  While idol…films decline to… for they're rent;
  Unless along straight apertures they swim;
  Like those in glass; through which all images
  Do fly across。 And yet this voice itself;
  In passing through shut chambers of a house;
  Is dulled; and in a jumble enters ears;
  And sound we seem to hear far more than words。
  Moreover; a voice is into all directions
  Divided up; since off from one another
  New voices are engendered; when one voice
  Hath once leapt forth; outstarting into many…
  As oft a spark of fire is wont to sprinkle
  Itself into its several fires。 And so;
  Voices do fill those places hid behind;
  Which all are in a hubbub round about;
  Astir with sound。 But idol…films do tend;
  As once sent forth; in straight directions all;
  Wherefore one can inside a wall see naught;
  Yet catch the voices from beyond the same。
  Nor tongue and palate; whereby we flavour feel;
  Present more problems for more work of thought。
  Firstly; we feel a flavour in the mouth;
  When forth we squeeze it; in chewing up our food;…
  As any one perchance begins to squeeze
  With hand and dry a sponge with water soake