騎士與侍從

The chief mate of the Pequod was Starbuck, a native of Nantucket, and a Quaker by descent.

裴廓德號的大副是斯塔巴克，南塔克特本地人，貴格世家的後裔。

He was a long, earnest man, and though born on an icy coast, seemed well adapted to endure hot latitudes, his flesh being hard as twice-baked biscuit.

他是個瘦長、神色懇切的人，雖生在冰封的海岸，卻彷彿天生就能耐得住炎熱的緯度，他那一身肉硬得像烤過兩遍的餅乾。

Transported to the Indies, his live blood would not spoil like bottled ale.

就算把他運到印度群島，他那活生生的血也不會像瓶裝麥酒那樣變質。

He must have been born in some time of general drought and famine, or upon one of those fast days for which his state is famous.

他準是生在某個普遍乾旱饑荒的年月，或是在他那州（麻州）以之聞名的某個齋戒日。

Only some thirty arid summers had he seen; those summers had dried up all his physical superfluousness.

他不過經歷了約莫三十個乾旱的夏天；那些夏天把他身上一切多餘的贅肉都抽乾了。

But this, his thinness, so to speak, seemed no more the token of wasting anxieties and cares, than it seemed the indication of any bodily blight.

但這份瘦——這麼說吧——既不像是焦慮憂思損耗的標誌，也不像是任何身體病弱的徵兆。

It was merely the condensation of the man.

那不過是「這個人的濃縮」罷了。

He was by no means ill-looking; quite the contrary.

他長相絕不難看；恰恰相反。

His pure tight skin was an excellent fit; and closely wrapped up in it, and embalmed with inner health and strength, like a revivified Egyptian, this Starbuck seemed prepared to endure for long ages to come, and to endure always, as now; for be it Polar snow or torrid sun, like a patent chronometer, his interior vitality was warranted to do well in all climates.

他那純淨緊實的皮膚，是一身極合身的「衣裳」；緊緊裹在裡頭、以內在的健康與力量加以防腐保存，像一具復活的埃及木乃伊，這位斯塔巴克彷彿已準備好歷經未來漫長的歲月，並且永遠如此刻這般撐下去；因為無論極地冰雪還是赤道烈日，他內在的生命力都像一具精密航海鐘，保證在一切氣候下運轉良好。

Looking into his eyes, you seemed to see there the yet lingering images of those thousand-fold perils he had calmly confronted through life.

望進他的雙眼，你彷彿能在那兒看見他一生中冷靜面對過的千百重危險，至今仍殘留的影像。

A staid, steadfast man, whose life for the most part was a telling pantomime of action, and not a tame chapter of sounds.

一個沉穩、堅定的人，他的人生大半是一場意味深長的「行動默劇」，而非一段平淡的「聲音篇章」。

Yet, for all his hardy sobriety and fortitude, there were certain qualities in him which at times affected, and in some cases seemed well nigh to overbalance all the rest.

然而，儘管他堅毅清醒、剛強不屈，他身上某些特質有時卻會起作用，在某些情況下幾乎要壓過其餘的一切。

Uncommonly conscientious for a seaman, and endued with a deep natural reverence, the wild watery loneliness of his life did therefore strongly incline him to superstition; but to that sort of superstition, which in some organizations seems rather to spring, somehow, from intelligence than from ignorance.

作為一個水手，他異乎尋常地有良知，又天生稟賦著深沉的虔敬；因此，他這海上荒蕪的孤寂，強烈地使他傾向於迷信——但那是某種迷信：在某些人的心性裡，它彷彿不知怎地源自智慧，而非源自無知。

Outward portents and inward presentiments were his.

外在的凶兆與內心的預感，都屬於他。

And if at times these things bent the welded iron of his soul, much more did his far-away domestic memories of his young Cape wife and child, tend to bend him still more from the original ruggedness of his nature, and open him still further to those latent influences which, in some honest-hearted men, restrain the gush of dare-devil daring, so often evinced by others in the more perilous vicissitudes of the fishery.

而若說這些東西有時能折彎他那如熔鐵般的靈魂，那麼他對遠方家中年輕的合恩角妻子與孩子的種種思念，更是把他從本性原有的剛硬上折彎得更厲害，使他更進一步敞開於那些潛在的影響——在某些心地誠實的人身上，這些影響會抑制住那股蠻勇的噴湧，而那股蠻勇，旁人在捕鯨更兇險的起落中卻屢屢顯露。

“I will have no man in my boat,” said Starbuck, “who is not afraid of a whale.”

「我的小艇上，」斯塔巴克說，「不要任何不怕鯨的人。」

By this, he seemed to mean, not only that the most reliable and useful courage was that which arises from the fair estimation of the encountered peril, but that an utterly fearless man is a far more dangerous comrade than a coward.

他這話似乎是說：最可靠、最有用的勇氣，是那種出於對所遇危險「公正估量」而生的勇氣；不僅如此，一個全然無懼的人，是比懦夫危險得多的同伴。

“Aye, aye,” said Stubb, the second mate, “Starbuck, there, is as careful a man as you’ll find anywhere in this fishery.” But we shall ere long see what that word “careful” precisely means when used by a man like Stubb, or almost any other whale hunter.

「沒錯，沒錯，」二副斯塔布說，「斯塔巴克啊，是這捕鯨行裡你哪兒都找不出第二個的、那麼『小心』的人。」可我們不久就會明白，「小心」這個詞，從斯塔布這種人、或幾乎任何別的獵鯨人嘴裡說出來，究竟確切是什麼意思。

Starbuck was no crusader after perils; in him courage was not a sentiment; but a thing simply useful to him, and always at hand upon all mortally practical occasions.

斯塔巴克不是個追逐危險的十字軍；勇氣於他不是一種情懷，而只是件對他實用的東西，隨時備在一切攸關生死的實際場合。

Besides, he thought, perhaps, that in this business of whaling, courage was one of the great staple outfits of the ship, like her beef and her bread, and not to be foolishly wasted.

此外，他大概還認為，在捕鯨這一行，勇氣是船上一項重要的常備物資，像牛肉和麵包一樣，不該愚蠢地浪費掉。

Wherefore he had no fancy for lowering for whales after sun-down; nor for persisting in fighting a fish that too much persisted in fighting him.

所以他不愛在日落之後放艇追鯨；也不愛跟一條太過死纏著要鬥他的鯨硬鬥到底。

For, thought Starbuck, I am here in this critical ocean to kill whales for my living, and not to be killed by them for theirs; and that hundreds of men had been so killed Starbuck well knew.

因為，斯塔巴克想：我在這片凶險的海上，是為我自己謀生而殺鯨，不是讓鯨為牠們謀生而把我殺掉；而有幾百個人就是這麼喪命的，斯塔巴克心知肚明。

What doom was his own father’s? Where, in the bottomless deeps, could he find the torn limbs of his brother?

他自己的父親又是什麼下場？在那無底的深淵裡，他上哪兒去找他弟兄被撕碎的肢體？

With memories like these in him, and, moreover, given to a certain superstitiousness, as has been said; the courage of this Starbuck which could, nevertheless, still flourish, must indeed have been extreme.

心裡懷著這樣的記憶，加上如前所述、又帶幾分迷信；這位斯塔巴克竟仍能保有的那份勇氣，必定確實是極端的。

But it was not in reasonable nature that a man so organized, and with such terrible experiences and remembrances as he had; it was not in nature that these things should fail in latently engendering an element in him, which, under suitable circumstances, would break out from its confinement, and burn all his courage up.

但按情理，一個如此構成、又有過他那般可怖經歷與記憶的人；按本性，這些東西不可能不在他心底潛伏地孕育出某種元素——在適當的情境下，它會從囚禁中衝出來，把他所有的勇氣燒個精光。

And brave as he might be, it was that sort of bravery chiefly, visible in some intrepid men, which, while generally abiding firm in the conflict with seas, or winds, or whales, or any of the ordinary irrational horrors of the world, yet cannot withstand those more terrific, because more spiritual terrors, which sometimes menace you from the concentrating brow of an enraged and mighty man.

而他再勇敢，那也主要是某些無畏者身上可見的那種勇敢：在與海、與風、與鯨、或與世間任何尋常而非理性的恐怖搏鬥時，它通常堅定如常，卻擋不住那些更可怕、因為更屬精神層面的恐怖——那種恐怖，有時會從一個盛怒而強大的人凝聚的眉宇間，向你步步進逼。

But were the coming narrative to reveal in any instance, the complete abasement of poor Starbuck’s fortitude, scarce might I have the heart to write it; for it is a thing most sorrowful, nay shocking, to expose the fall of valour in the soul.

但倘若往後的故事，要在某一刻揭露可憐的斯塔巴克的剛毅徹底淪陷，我幾乎沒這個心去寫下它；因為要暴露一個靈魂裡勇氣的墜落，是最叫人哀傷、不，最叫人震驚的事。

Men may seem detestable as joint stock-companies and nations; knaves, fools, and murderers there may be; men may have mean and meagre faces; but man, in the ideal, is so noble and so sparkling, such a grand and glowing creature, that over any ignominious blemish in him all his fellows should run to throw their costliest robes.

人作為股份公司、作為國家，也許顯得可憎；其中或許有惡棍、蠢人和兇手；人或許生著卑賤而寒磣的面孔；但「理想中的人」是如此高貴、如此熠熠生光，是如此宏偉而灼亮的造物，以至於對他身上任何不光彩的污點，所有同胞都該奔上前去，把他們最華貴的袍子拋上去遮蓋。

That immaculate manliness we feel within ourselves, so far within us, that it remains intact though all the outer character seem gone; bleeds with keenest anguish at the undraped spectacle of a valor-ruined man.

那份我們在自己內心深處感到的、純潔無瑕的男子氣概——它深藏在我們裡頭，深到即便外在的一切性格彷彿都已喪盡，它仍完好無損——當一個勇氣毀盡的人赤裸裸地暴露在眼前時，它會以最尖銳的痛楚淌血。

Nor can piety itself, at such a shameful sight, completely stifle her upbraidings against the permitting stars.

面對如此可恥的景象，連虔信本身，也無法完全壓下她對「容許此事發生的星辰」的責難。

But this august dignity I treat of, is not the dignity of kings and robes, but that abounding dignity which has no robed investiture.

但我所談的這份莊嚴的尊嚴，不是君王與華袍的尊嚴，而是那充盈四溢、無需華服加身的尊嚴。

Thou shalt see it shining in the arm that wields a pick or drives a spike; that democratic dignity which, on all hands, radiates without end from God; Himself!

你會看見它閃耀在那揮動鎬頭、或釘下道釘的手臂上；那民主的尊嚴，從四面八方、無窮無盡地從神——祂自己——身上放射出來！

The great God absolute! The centre and circumference of all democracy! His omnipresence, our divine equality!

那絕對的偉大之神！一切民主的圓心與圓周！祂的無所不在，就是我們神聖的平等！

If, then, to meanest mariners, and renegades and castaways, I shall hereafter ascribe high qualities, though dark; weave round them tragic graces; if even the most mournful, perchance the most abased, among them all, shall at times lift himself to the exalted mounts; if I shall touch that workman’s arm with some ethereal light; if I shall spread a rainbow over his disastrous set of sun; then against all mortal critics bear me out in it, thou just Spirit of Equality, which hast spread one royal mantle of humanity over all my kind!

那麼，倘若我往後要賦予最卑微的水手、叛徒與棄兒以崇高（雖則晦暗）的品質、在他們周身編織悲劇的優雅；倘若連他們之中最哀傷、或許最卑下的一個，有時也能把自己提升到那崇高的山巔；倘若我為那勞工的手臂點上某種空靈之光、為他災厄的落日鋪展一道彩虹——那麼，請替我頂住一切凡塵的批評者吧，你公正的「平等之靈」，是你把同一件人性的皇袍，披在了我所有的同類身上！

Bear me out in it, thou great democratic God! who didst not refuse to the swart convict, Bunyan, the pale, poetic pearl; Thou who didst clothe with doubly hammered leaves of finest gold, the stumped and paupered arm of old Cervantes; Thou who didst pick up Andrew Jackson from the pebbles; who didst hurl him upon a war-horse; who didst thunder him higher than a throne!

替我頂住吧，你偉大的民主之神！是你不曾拒絕給那黝黑的囚徒班揚以蒼白而富詩意的珍珠；是你以雙重錘鍛、最純金的葉片，裝點了老塞萬提斯那截殘廢窮困的手臂；是你把安德魯·傑克遜從卵石堆裡拾起、把他擲上一匹戰馬、把他雷霆般高高擎過御座之上！

Thou who, in all Thy mighty, earthly marchings, ever cullest Thy selectest champions from the kingly commons; bear me out in it, O God!

你呀，在你一切偉大的塵世行軍中，總是從帝王般的平民裡，揀選出你最精選的鬥士——替我頂住吧，啊，神！