講壇

I had not been seated very long ere a man of a certain venerable robustness entered; immediately as the storm-pelted door flew back upon admitting him, a quick regardful eyeing of him by all the congregation, sufficiently attested that this fine old man was the chaplain.

我坐下沒多久，一位帶著某種令人敬重的硬朗氣概的長者便走了進來；那扇被風暴拍打的門才一放他進來、隨即彈回，全場會眾迅即投向他的那一道恭敬注目，便足以證明：這位俊偉的老人就是本堂牧師。

Yes, it was the famous Father Mapple, so called by the whalemen, among whom he was a very great favourite.

不錯，這正是大名鼎鼎的梅普神父——捕鯨人都這麼稱呼他，他在他們之中極受愛戴。

He had been a sailor and a harpooneer in his youth, but for many years past had dedicated his life to the ministry.

他年輕時當過水手、做過魚叉手，但多年來已把一生獻給了神職。

At the time I now write of, Father Mapple was in the hardy winter of a healthy old age; that sort of old age which seems merging into a second flowering youth, for among all the fissures of his wrinkles, there shone certain mild gleams of a newly developing bloom—the spring verdure peeping forth even beneath February’s snow.

在我此刻所寫的這個時候，梅普神父正處在健康晚年那硬朗的隆冬裡；那種彷彿正融入第二度繁花青春的晚年，因為在他皺紋的一道道縫隙之間，閃著某種新綻的、柔和的光彩——彷彿二月的雪下，也探出了一抹春日的新綠。

No one having previously heard his history, could for the first time behold Father Mapple without the utmost interest, because there were certain engrafted clerical peculiarities about him, imputable to that adventurous maritime life he had led.

凡是事先沒聽過他生平的人，頭一回見到梅普神父，無不懷著極大的興味；因為他身上嫁接著某些神職人員特有的怪癖，而這都可歸因於他曾過過的那種冒險的海上生涯。

When he entered I observed that he carried no umbrella, and certainly had not come in his carriage, for his tarpaulin hat ran down with melting sleet, and his great pilot cloth jacket seemed almost to drag him to the floor with the weight of the water it had absorbed.

他進來時我注意到，他沒帶傘，當然也不是坐馬車來的，因為他那頂油布帽往下淌著融化的雨雪，他那件厚厚的領航呢外套，吸飽了水，沉得幾乎要把他往地上拽。

However, hat and coat and overshoes were one by one removed, and hung up in a little space in an adjacent corner; when, arrayed in a decent suit, he quietly approached the pulpit.

不過，帽子、外套和套鞋還是一件件脫下，掛在旁邊角落一小塊地方；隨後，他換上一身整潔的衣裳，靜靜地走向講壇。

Like most old fashioned pulpits, it was a very lofty one, and since a regular stairs to such a height would, by its long angle with the floor, seriously contract the already small area of the chapel, the architect, it seemed, had acted upon the hint of Father Mapple, and finished the pulpit without a stairs, substituting a perpendicular side ladder, like those used in mounting a ship from a boat at sea.

像大多數老式講壇一樣，這座也很高聳；而要登上這樣的高度，一道正規樓梯因與地面成一長長的斜角，勢必會大大壓縮本就狹小的堂內空間，於是建築師似乎採納了梅普神父的提示，把講壇建成了沒有樓梯的——以一道垂直的側繩梯取而代之，就像出海時從小艇攀上大船所用的那種。

The wife of a whaling captain had provided the chapel with a handsome pair of red worsted man-ropes for this ladder, which, being itself nicely headed, and stained with a mahogany colour, the whole contrivance, considering what manner of chapel it was, seemed by no means in bad taste.

一位捕鯨船長的夫人為這道繩梯捐了一對漂亮的紅色精紡毛線扶手繩；繩梯本身梯頭做得精緻、染成桃花心木的顏色，整套裝置，考慮到這是怎樣一座禮拜堂，看上去絕不算品味差。

Halting for an instant at the foot of the ladder, and with both hands grasping the ornamental knobs of the man-ropes, Father Mapple cast a look upwards, and then with a truly sailor-like but still reverential dexterity, hand over hand, mounted the steps as if ascending the main-top of his vessel.

梅普神父在繩梯腳下停了片刻，雙手抓住扶手繩上那兩個裝飾性的圓球，往上望了一眼，然後以一種真正水手般、卻又不失虔敬的俐落身手，兩手交替地一級級攀上，彷彿正登上他自家船的主桅樓。

The perpendicular parts of this side ladder, as is usually the case with swinging ones, were of cloth-covered rope, only the rounds were of wood, so that at every step there was a joint.

這道側繩梯垂直的部分，跟一般晃盪式繩梯一樣，是包了布的繩子，只有踏階是木頭做的，所以每踏一級，那兒都有一個接合處。

At my first glimpse of the pulpit, it had not escaped me that however convenient for a ship, these joints in the present instance seemed unnecessary.

我頭一眼瞥見這講壇時就已注意到：這些接合處在船上固然方便，但用在眼前這場合，似乎是多餘的。

For I was not prepared to see Father Mapple after gaining the height, slowly turn round, and stooping over the pulpit, deliberately drag up the ladder step by step, till the whole was deposited within, leaving him impregnable in his little Quebec.

因為我萬萬沒料到：梅普神父登上高處後，竟慢慢轉過身來，俯身在講壇上，一級一級、不慌不忙地把整道繩梯往上拖，直到整道梯都收進壇內，把他自己留在他那座攻不破的小「魁北克城堡」裡。

I pondered some time without fully comprehending the reason for this.

我琢磨了好一陣，仍沒完全弄懂這麼做的緣由。

Father Mapple enjoyed such a wide reputation for sincerity and sanctity, that I could not suspect him of courting notoriety by any mere tricks of the stage.

梅普神父以誠摯與聖潔著稱、聲名遠播，因此我不可能懷疑他是想靠什麼舞台花招來博取名聲。

No, thought I, there must be some sober reason for this thing; furthermore, it must symbolize something unseen.

不，我心想，這事必有某個正經的緣由；而且，它必定象徵著某種看不見的東西。

Can it be, then, that by that act of physical isolation, he signifies his spiritual withdrawal for the time, from all outward worldly ties and connexions?

那麼，會不會是這樣：他藉著這一肉身上自我隔絕的舉動，來表示他此刻在精神上，暫時退離了一切外在的塵世牽連與關係？

Yes, for replenished with the meat and wine of the word, to the faithful man of God, this pulpit, I see, is a self-containing stronghold—a lofty Ehrenbreitstein, with a perennial well of water within the walls.

是的；因為對一個忠信的神僕而言，當他飽飲了聖言的肉與酒，這座講壇，我明白了，便是一座自給自足的堡壘——一座高聳的埃倫布賴特施泰因要塞，城牆之內有一口長年不竭的水井。

But the side ladder was not the only strange feature of the place, borrowed from the chaplain’s former sea-farings.

但這側繩梯，並不是這地方唯一一處借自牧師昔日航海生涯的奇特設計。

Between the marble cenotaphs on either hand of the pulpit, the wall which formed its back was adorned with a large painting representing a gallant ship beating against a terrible storm off a lee coast of black rocks and snowy breakers.

在講壇兩側的大理石衣冠塚之間，作為壇背的那面牆上，裝飾著一幅大畫：畫的是一艘英勇的船，在一片滿是黑礁與雪白碎浪的背風海岸外，頂著一場可怕的風暴奮力搏鬥。

But high above the flying scud and dark-rolling clouds, there floated a little isle of sunlight, from which beamed forth an angel’s face; and this bright face shed a distinct spot of radiance upon the ship’s tossed deck, something like that silver plate now inserted into the Victory’s plank where Nelson fell.

但在那飛掠的碎雲與翻滾的烏雲之上高處，浮著一座小小的陽光之島，從那兒射出一張天使的臉；這張光亮的臉，在那顛簸的船甲板上投下一塊清晰的光斑，有點像如今嵌在「勝利號」甲板上、納爾遜倒下之處的那塊銀牌。

“Ah, noble ship,” the angel seemed to say, “beat on, beat on, thou noble ship, and bear a hardy helm; for lo! the sun is breaking through; the clouds are rolling off—serenest azure is at hand.”

「啊，高貴的船，」那天使彷彿在說，「搏下去，搏下去吧，你這高貴的船，把穩你那堅毅的舵；因為看哪！太陽正破雲而出；烏雲正捲走——最寧靜的碧空就在眼前。」

Nor was the pulpit itself without a trace of the same sea-taste that had achieved the ladder and the picture.

連那講壇本身，也帶著與繩梯、那幅畫同樣的航海情味。

Its panelled front was in the likeness of a ship’s bluff bows, and the Holy Bible rested on a projecting piece of scroll work, fashioned after a ship’s fiddle-headed beak.

它鑲板的正面，做成了船首寬鈍的模樣，而《聖經》就擱在一塊向外伸出的卷飾上，那卷飾仿照船首那渦卷狀的鳥喙裝飾雕成。

What could be more full of meaning?—for the pulpit is ever this earth’s foremost part; all the rest comes in its rear; the pulpit leads the world.

還有什麼比這更富含深意呢？——因為講壇永遠是這大地的最前端；其餘的一切都跟在它後頭；講壇引領著整個世界。

From thence it is the storm of God’s quick wrath is first descried, and the bow must bear the earliest brunt.

正是從這兒，最先望見上帝迅疾震怒的風暴，而船首必須首當其衝、承受最早的衝擊。

From thence it is the God of breezes fair or foul is first invoked for favourable winds.

也正是從這兒，最先向那位掌管順風逆風的神祈求順風。

Yes, the world’s a ship on its passage out, and not a voyage complete; and the pulpit is its prow.

是的，這世界是一艘正在出航途中的船，而非一趟已然完成的航程；而講壇，就是它的船首。