The Beauty of Pisa in the Afternoon
午后比萨之美
John Ruskin
约翰·罗斯金
On each side of a bright river he saw rise a line of brighter palaces, arched and pillared, and inlaid with deep red porphyry, and with serpentine; along the quays before their gates were riding troops of knights, noble in face and form, dazzling in crest and shield; horse and man one labyrinth of quaint colour and gleaming light--the purple, and silver, and scarlet fringes flowing over the strong limbs and clashing mail, like sea-waves over rocks at sunset. Opening on each side from the river were gardens, courts, and cloisters; long successions of white pillars among wreaths of vine; leaping of fountains through buds of pomegranate and orange; and still along the garden-paths, and under and through the crimson of the pomegranate shadows, moving slowly, groups of the fairest women that Italy ever saw fairest, because purest and thoughtfulest; trained in all high knowledge, as in all courteous art--in dance, in song, in sweet wit, in lofty learning, in loftier courage,-ill loftiest love- able alike to cheer, to enchant, or save, the souls of men. Above all this scenery of perfect human life, rose dome and bell-tower, burning with white alabaster and gold: beyond dome and bell-tower the slopes of mighty hills, hoary with olive; far in the north, above a purple sea of peaks of solemn Apennine, the clear, sharp- cloven Carrara mountains sent up their steadfast flames of marble summit into amber sky; the great sea itself, scorching with expanse of light, stretching from their feet to the Gorgonian isles; and over all these, ever present, near or far--seen through the leaves of vine, or imaged with all its march of clouds in the Arno's stream, or set with its depth of blue close against the golden hair and burning cheek of lady and knight,-- that untroubled and sacred sky, which was to all men, in those days of innocent faith, indeed the unquestioned abode of spirits, as the earth was of men; and which opened straight through its gates of cloud and veils of dew into the awfulness of the eternal world; a heaven in which every cloud that passed was literally the chariot of an angel and every ray of its Evening and Morning streamed from the throne of God.
在一条灿烂的大河两岸，他看到每一边都矗立着一排更为灿烂的宫殿，有拱门和石柱，并且镶嵌着深红色的斑岩，还有蛇纹岩，宫殿门前的码头上，一队队骑在马上的骑土，威风凛凛，神采奕奕，头盔和盾牌金光锃亮，马匹和骑手组成了色彩和光泽上光怪陆离的一团——披挂在健壮的四肢和铿锵作声的铠甲上的紫红色、银白色和猩红色的流苏，宛如日落时涌上岩石的海浪。呈现在河岸两边的是花园、庭园以及修道院，是缭绕的葡萄藤花掩映着的白色的石柱，一根接一根，长长的一排；是石榴花蕾和桔子花蕾丛中喷泉喷出的水柱，还有就是沿着园中小径，在石榴花绯红色的荫影中成群地姗姗而行的女士们，她们是意大利所见到的最美的美人--最美，是因为她们纯洁无瑕，最富有想象力，她们熟谙各门高尚知识和各种社交艺术：跳舞、唱歌、解颐的妙语、高贵的学识、更高贵的勇气、最高贵的爱情，她们都能鼓舞、陶醉或者拯救男人们的灵魂。在这一片人世间完美无缺的景色之上，高耸着发出白雪花石膏和黄金的辉煌光芒的圆拱屋顶和钟楼，在拱顶和钟楼的后面是雄伟的山脉，山上长满了灰色的油橄榄树，遥远的北方，在威严的亚平宁山脉紫色的群峰之上，轮廓分明的卡拉拉山把永恒不变的火焰似的大理石山顶插入琥珀色的天空，光芒夺目的浩瀚大海从山脚下一直延伸到戈尔高尼群岛，而在这一切之上，无论是透过葡萄叶丛所见到的，还是阿尔诺河上伴着飘忽的云影所反映出来的，还是同贵妇人和骑士的金色头发和红润面颊相映衬的，是一片蔚蓝的天空，无远弗届，无时不在，宁静而庄严。在那信仰单纯的年月里，对所有的人来说，那苍天无容置疑地是神仙的住所，就象地球是人的住所一样。穿过云端的大门，透过露珠的纱幕，一直通向令人敬畏的永恒世界--那就是天国，在那儿朵朵飘过的云彩实际上都是天使的战车，晨曦和晚霞的每缕光芒都来自上帝的宝座。
