莫比敵

I, Ishmael, was one of that crew; my shouts had gone up with the rest; my oath had been welded with theirs; and stronger I shouted, and more did I hammer and clinch my oath, because of the dread in my soul. A wild, mystical, sympathetical feeling was in me; Ahab’s quenchless feud seemed mine. With greedy ears I learned the history of that murderous monster against whom I and all the others had taken our oaths of violence and revenge.

我，以實瑪利，也是那船員中的一個；我的呼喊曾和眾人的一同響起；我的誓言曾與他們的熔接在一起；而我喊得更響、把我的誓言鎚得更緊、咬得更死——正因為我靈魂深處的那份恐懼。一種狂野、神祕、感同身受的情緒在我心中；亞哈那不可熄滅的仇恨，彷彿成了我的。我貪婪地豎起耳朵，探聽那頭殺人巨獸的歷史——我和所有其他人，都已對牠立下了暴力與復仇的誓言。

For some time past, though at intervals only, the unaccompanied, secluded White Whale had haunted those uncivilized seas mostly frequented by the Sperm Whale fishermen. But not all of them knew of his existence; only a few of them, comparatively, had knowingly seen him; while the number who as yet had actually and knowingly given battle to him, was small indeed. ... In that way, mostly, the disastrous encounter between Ahab and the whale had hitherto been popularly regarded.

過去一段時間裡——雖只是斷斷續續地——那頭形單影隻、離群索居的白鯨，一直在抹香鯨漁人最常出沒的那些蠻荒海域出沒。但並非所有漁人都知道牠的存在；相對而言，只有少數人「確知」見過牠；而真正、確知與牠交過手的人數，更是少得很。（由於捕鯨船數目龐大、雜亂地散布在整個浩瀚的海面上，許多船冒險地沿著孤寂的緯度推進牠們的搜尋，往往一整年或更久碰不上一艘能通報消息的船；加上每趟航程長得離譜、出航時間又不規律；這些（連同其他直接間接的因素），長久地阻礙了關於莫比敵的特定個體消息傳遍全球的捕鯨隊。幾乎無可懷疑，好幾艘據報在某時某經度遭遇過一頭異常龐大兇惡、重創追獵者後又徹底逃脫的抹香鯨——我說，在某些人看來，不無理由地推定：那頭鯨必定正是莫比敵。然而由於近來捕抹香鯨業屢屢出現所獵巨獸兇猛、狡詐、惡毒的實例；因此那些偶然、懵懂地與莫比敵交過手的人，多半寧可把牠所激起的那種特殊恐怖，更多地歸於「捕抹香鯨這行整體的凶險」，而非歸於某個特定的緣由。）大抵就這樣，亞哈與那鯨那場災難性的遭遇，迄今一直被人們這麼看待。

And as for those who, previously hearing of the White Whale, by chance caught sight of him; in the beginning of the thing they had every one of them, almost, as boldly and fearlessly lowered for him, as for any other whale of that species. But at length, such calamities did ensue in these assaults—not restricted to sprained wrists and ankles, broken limbs, or devouring amputations—but fatal to the last degree of fatality; those repeated disastrous repulses, all accumulating and piling their terrors upon Moby Dick; those things had gone far to shake the fortitude of many brave hunters, to whom the story of the White Whale had eventually come.

至於那些先前聽說過白鯨、又碰巧瞧見牠的人；起初，他們幾乎個個都像對任何別的同類鯨一樣，大膽無畏地放艇追牠。但最終，這些攻擊竟招致了這般的災禍——不僅限於扭傷手腕腳踝、斷肢、或被吞噬的截肢，而是致命到無以復加的地步；這一次次災難性的擊退，把恐怖層層累積、堆疊在莫比敵身上；這些事，已大大動搖了許多勇敢獵人的膽——那些最終聽到白鯨故事的人。

Nor did wild rumors of all sorts fail to exaggerate, and still the more horrify the true histories of these deadly encounters. For not only do fabulous rumors naturally grow out of the very body of all surprising terrible events,—as the smitten tree gives birth to its fungi; but, in maritime life, far more than in that of terra firma, wild rumors abound, wherever there is any adequate reality for them to cling to. ... in such latitudes and longitudes, pursuing too such a calling as he does, the whaleman is wrapped by influences all tending to make his fancy pregnant with many a mighty birth.

各種離奇的謠言也少不了去誇大、進一步把這些致命遭遇的真實經過渲染得更恐怖。因為，荒誕的謠言不僅自然地從一切驚人可怖事件的本體中生長出來——正如被擊傷的樹會長出菌菇；而且，在海上生活裡，遠比在陸地上更甚，只要有足夠的現實可供攀附，狂野的謠言便處處滋生。（而正如大海在這方面勝過陸地，捕鯨業又勝過其他一切海上行當——在那兒流傳的謠言之奇、之可怖。因為捕鯨人作為一個群體，不僅未能免於一切水手世襲的無知與迷信；而且在所有水手中，他們是最直接地與海中一切駭人驚絕之物正面接觸的——他們不僅面對面目睹海的最大奇觀，更是手對顎地與之搏鬥。孤身一人，在那般偏遠的水域——縱然你航行千里、經過千岸，也到不了任何一塊鑿刻過的爐邊石、或那片陽光下任何好客之所；）在那樣的緯度與經度裡、又從事著他這樣一種營生，捕鯨人被種種影響所包裹，這些影響全都傾向於使他的幻想孕育出許多宏偉的「生產」。

No wonder, then, that ever gathering volume from the mere transit over the widest watery spaces, the outblown rumors of the White Whale did in the end incorporate with themselves all manner of morbid hints, and half-formed fœtal suggestions of supernatural agencies, which eventually invested Moby Dick with new terrors unborrowed from anything that visibly appears. So that in many cases such a panic did he finally strike, that few who by those rumors, at least, had heard of the White Whale, few of those hunters were willing to encounter the perils of his jaw.

那麼，也就難怪：白鯨那些散播出去的謠言，僅僅在最遼闊的水域上傳遞，便不斷積累著分量，最終把種種病態的暗示、種種半成形的、胎兒般的超自然力量的臆想，都吸納進自身——這些終於賦予了莫比敵種種新的恐怖，那是從任何肉眼可見之物都借不來的。以至於在許多情況下，牠最終激起了這般的恐慌：那些至少是經由謠言聽說過白鯨的獵人中，沒幾個願意去冒牠那顎的險。

But there were still other and more vital practical influences at work. Not even at the present day has the original prestige of the Sperm Whale, as fearfully distinguished from all other species of the leviathan, died out of the minds of the whalemen as a body. ... Nor is the pre-eminent tremendousness of the great Sperm Whale anywhere more feelingly comprehended, than on board of those prows which stem him.

但還有其他更為切實的因素在起作用。即便到今日，抹香鯨作為一個與其他一切巨獸種類有著可怖區別的存在，其原有的威名，仍未從捕鯨人這個群體的心中消失。（今天他們之中仍有這樣的人：雖對格陵蘭鯨或露脊鯨夠聰明、夠勇敢地迎戰，卻或許——出於職業上的生疏、無能或膽怯——拒絕與抹香鯨一較高下；無論如何，有許多捕鯨人，尤其在那些不掛美國旗的捕鯨國裡，從未懷敵意地遭遇過抹香鯨，他們對巨獸的全部認識，僅限於早先在北方所獵的那種較卑微的怪物；這些人坐在艙口蓋上，會帶著孩童圍爐般的興味與敬畏，傾聽那些關於南方捕鯨的狂野奇談。）而那偉大抹香鯨那無與倫比的可畏，沒有任何地方比在迎面破浪追逐牠的那些船首之上，被體會得更為真切。

And as if the now tested reality of his might had in former legendary times thrown its shadow before it; we find some book naturalists—Olassen and Povelson—declaring the Sperm Whale not only to be a consternation to every other creature in the sea, but also to be so incredibly ferocious as continually to be athirst for human blood. ... yet in their full terribleness, even to the bloodthirsty item of Povelson, the superstitious belief in them is, in some vicissitudes of their vocation, revived in the minds of the hunters.

彷彿牠那如今已被驗證的偉力，早在從前的傳說時代就已把它的影子投射在前；我們發現某些書齋裡的博物學家——奧拉森與波弗爾森——宣稱抹香鯨不僅是海中其他一切生物的驚駭之源，而且兇猛得難以置信，以致不斷地渴飲人血。（即便晚到居維葉的時代，這些或近似的印象也未被抹去。因為在他的《自然史》裡，男爵本人斷言：一見抹香鯨，所有的魚（包括鯊魚）都「被最強烈的恐怖所襲」，並「往往在倉皇逃竄中，猛撞礁石、力道之大竟當場斃命」。而無論捕鯨業的一般經驗如何修正這類報導；）然而它們那十足的可怖——甚至連波弗爾森那「渴血」的說法在內——那份迷信的相信，在他們這行的某些起落時刻，仍會在獵人心中復甦。

So that overawed by the rumors and portents concerning him, not a few of the fishermen recalled, in reference to Moby Dick, the earlier days of the Sperm Whale fishery, when it was oftentimes hard to induce long practised Right whalemen to embark in the perils of this new and daring warfare; ... That to attempt it, would be inevitably to be torn into a quick eternity. On this head, there are some remarkable documents that may be consulted.

於是，被關於牠的謠言與凶兆所懾，不少漁人想起——就莫比敵而論——抹香鯨業早年的情形：那時往往很難勸動久經歷練的露脊鯨捕手，去投身這新而大膽的戰事之險；這些人抗議說：別的巨獸或許還可懷著希望去追，可要去追逐、用長槍指向抹香鯨這樣一個「異象」，卻非凡人所能。說去嘗試，必定會被撕扯著、瞬間進入永恆（喪命）。關於這一點，有些值得參閱的非凡文獻。

One of the wild suggestions referred to, as at last coming to be linked with the White Whale in the minds of the superstitiously inclined, was the unearthly conceit that Moby Dick was ubiquitous; that he had actually been encountered in opposite latitudes at one and the same instant of time.

前面提到的那些狂野臆想之一——最終在迷信者心中與白鯨掛上鉤的——是那不屬人間的奇想：莫比敵是「無所不在」的；說在同一時刻、在相反的緯度裡，竟都有人遭遇過牠。

Nor, credulous as such minds must have been, was this conceit altogether without some faint show of superstitious probability. For as the secrets of the currents in the seas have never yet been divulged, even to the most erudite research; so the hidden ways of the Sperm Whale when beneath the surface remain, in great part, unaccountable to his pursuers; and from time to time have originated the most curious and contradictory speculations regarding them, especially concerning the mystic modes whereby, after sounding to a great depth, he transports himself with such vast swiftness to the most widely distant points.

而儘管抱這念頭的人想必輕信，這奇想卻也並非全無一絲迷信式的「貌似可能」。因為，正如海中洋流的祕密至今尚未向最博學的研究揭曉；抹香鯨在水面之下時那些隱密的行蹤，大半仍是追獵者無從解釋的；並不時引發關於牠們的種種最離奇、最自相矛盾的臆測，尤其是關於牠在深潛之後，藉以如此飛快地把自己運送到最遙遠各點的那種神祕方式。

It is a thing well known to both American and English whale-ships, and as well a thing placed upon authoritative record years ago by Scoresby, that some whales have been captured far north in the Pacific, in whose bodies have been found the barbs of harpoons darted in the Greenland seas. ... these fabulous narrations are almost fully equalled by the realities of the whalemen.

有一件美英捕鯨船都熟知、且多年前已由斯科斯比載入權威記錄的事：有些在太平洋極北處被捕的鯨，身上竟發現了在格陵蘭海擲出的魚叉倒鉤。（也無可否認，在其中某些實例裡，據宣稱兩次攻擊之間相隔的時間不可能超過很多天。因此，有些捕鯨人據此推斷：那長久困擾人類的「西北航道」之謎，對鯨來說從來就不是謎。於是，在此處——在活人活生生的親身經驗裡——古時關於葡萄牙內陸斯特雷洛山所傳的奇蹟（據說其峰頂附近有一湖，沉船的殘骸會浮上湖面）；以及那更神奇的、敘拉古附近阿瑞圖薩泉的故事（其水據信經由地下通道從聖地而來）；）這些荒誕的傳說，竟幾乎被捕鯨人的現實所完全比肩。

Forced into familiarity, then, with such prodigies as these; and knowing that after repeated, intrepid assaults, the White Whale had escaped alive; it cannot be much matter of surprise that some whalemen should go still further in their superstitions; declaring Moby Dick not only ubiquitous, but immortal (for immortality is but ubiquity in time); that though groves of spears should be planted in his flanks, he would still swim away unharmed; or if indeed he should ever be made to spout thick blood, such a sight would be but a ghastly deception; for again in unensanguined billows hundreds of leagues away, his unsullied jet would once more be seen.

那麼，既被迫熟悉了這類奇蹟；又知道在一次次無畏的攻擊之後，白鯨總能活著逃脫；那麼，有些捕鯨人把他們的迷信推得更遠，也就不足為奇了；他們宣稱莫比敵不僅無所不在，而且「不死」（因為不死，不過是時間上的無所不在）；說即便有成片成林的長矛插進牠的脅腹，牠仍會毫髮無傷地游走；又或者，牠縱然真被刺得噴出濃血，那景象也不過是一個可怖的假象；因為在幾百里格之外、未被血染的浪濤裡，又會再次見到牠那潔白無瑕的噴水。

But even stripped of these supernatural surmisings, there was enough in the earthly make and incontestable character of the monster to strike the imagination with unwonted power. For, it was not so much his uncommon bulk that so much distinguished him from other sperm whales, but, as was elsewhere thrown out—a peculiar snow-white wrinkled forehead, and a high, pyramidical white hump. These were his prominent features; the tokens whereby, even in the limitless, uncharted seas, he revealed his identity, at a long distance, to those who knew him.

但即便剝去這些超自然的臆測，這巨獸那塵世的形貌與無可爭辯的特性裡，仍有足夠的東西，以不尋常的力量擊中人的想像。因為，把牠與其他抹香鯨如此區別開來的，與其說是牠那異常的體型，不如說是——如別處已透露的——一個獨特的、雪白起皺的額頭，以及一個高聳的、金字塔狀的白色駝峰。這些是牠最顯著的特徵；憑著這些標記，即便在無邊、無圖的海上，牠也能在遠距離向認得牠的人，顯示牠的身分。

The rest of his body was so streaked, and spotted, and marbled with the same shrouded hue, that, in the end, he had gained his distinctive appellation of the White Whale; a name, indeed, literally justified by his vivid aspect, when seen gliding at high noon through a dark blue sea, leaving a milky-way wake of creamy foam, all spangled with golden gleamings.

牠身體的其餘部分，也被同一種如裹屍布般的色澤條紋斑點、雲石般渲染著，以致到頭來，牠贏得了「白鯨」這個獨特的稱號；這名字，確實名副其實地由牠那鮮明的外觀所證實——當人看見牠在正午高陽下滑過一片深藍的海、身後留下一道乳白如銀河、灑滿金光閃爍的奶油色泡沫航跡時。

Nor was it his unwonted magnitude, nor his remarkable hue, nor yet his deformed lower jaw, that so much invested the whale with natural terror, as that unexampled, intelligent malignity which, according to specific accounts, he had over and over again evinced in his assaults. More than all, his treacherous retreats struck more of dismay than perhaps aught else. For, when swimming before his exulting pursuers, with every apparent symptom of alarm, he had several times been known to turn round suddenly, and, bearing down upon them, either stave their boats to splinters, or drive them back in consternation to their ship.

使這鯨披上天然恐怖的，並不那麼在於牠那不尋常的體型、不在於牠那非凡的色澤、也不在於牠那畸形的下顎，而在於那前所未見的、智性的惡意——據種種具體記述，牠在攻擊中一再地顯露這惡意。尤其是，牠那詭詐的佯退，所激起的驚惶或許勝過其他任何一切。因為，當牠在得意洋洋的追獵者面前游動、現出一切驚慌的徵象時，曾有好幾次，牠突然回過身來、朝他們直壓過去，不是把他們的小艇撞成碎片，就是把他們駭得倉皇退回他們的船。

Already several fatalities had attended his chase. But though similar disasters, however little bruited ashore, were by no means unusual in the fishery; yet, in most instances, such seemed the White Whale’s infernal aforethought of ferocity, that every dismembering or death that he caused, was not wholly regarded as having been inflicted by an unintelligent agent.

追獵牠的過程中，已有過好幾起致命事故。但儘管類似的災難——縱然在岸上鮮少張揚——在捕鯨業裡絕非罕見；然而在大多數實例裡，白鯨那兇殘彷彿是「地獄般蓄謀」的，以致牠所造成的每一次肢解或死亡，都不被完全當作是出自一個「無智施動者」之手。

Judge, then, to what pitches of inflamed, distracted fury the minds of his more desperate hunters were impelled, when amid the chips of chewed boats, and the sinking limbs of torn comrades, they swam out of the white curds of the whale’s direful wrath into the serene, exasperating sunlight, that smiled on, as if at a birth or a bridal.

那麼，你且想想：當他那些更為絕望的獵人，在被嚼碎的小艇殘片之間、在被撕裂的同伴正下沉的肢體之間，從那鯨可怖暴怒所攪起的白色泡沫凝乳中游出來、游進那寧靜而惱人的陽光裡——那陽光兀自微笑著，彷彿是在笑迎一場誕生或一場婚禮——他們的心，是被驅向了何等熾烈、何等發狂的怒火之巔。

His three boats stove around him, and oars and men both whirling in the eddies; one captain, seizing the line-knife from his broken prow, had dashed at the whale, as an Arkansas duellist at his foe, blindly seeking with a six inch blade to reach the fathom-deep life of the whale. That captain was Ahab. And then it was, that suddenly sweeping his sickle-shaped lower jaw beneath him, Moby Dick had reaped away Ahab’s leg, as a mower a blade of grass in the field. ... He piled upon the whale’s white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart’s shell upon it.

他的三艘小艇都在他四周被撞破，槳與人都在漩渦裡打轉；一位船長從他破碎的船首抓起割繩刀、朝那鯨撲了過去，像一個阿肯色的決鬥者撲向他的仇敵，盲目地想用一把六吋的刀刃，去刺到那鯨深及一噚的命門。那船長就是亞哈。而正是那時，莫比敵突然把牠那鐮刀狀的下顎在他下方一掃，便割走了亞哈的腿，像割草人在田裡割下一根草。（沒有哪個纏頭巾的土耳其人、哪個受僱的威尼斯人或馬來人，能帶著更像是惡意的神情砍向他。那麼，幾乎無可懷疑：自那次幾乎致命的遭遇後，亞哈便對那鯨懷著一種狂野的報復心；而在他瘋狂的病態中，他最終竟把不只他一切肉體的傷痛、更把他一切智性與精神的苦惱，都與那鯨認同起來——這就使這報復心越發兇惡。白鯨在他面前游動，成了那一切惡意力量的、偏執狂式的化身——某些深刻之人感到那些力量在他們體內啃噬著，直到他們只剩半顆心、半片肺地活著。那自開天闢地就有的、無形的惡意；連現代基督徒都把世界的一半歸於它的統御；古時東方的「蛇派（Ophites）」在他們的蛇形偶像中崇拜它——亞哈並不像他們那樣俯首膜拜，而是譫妄地把它的概念轉嫁到那可憎的白鯨身上，以渾身殘缺之軀，與它對抗。一切最令人發狂、最折磨人的；一切攪動萬物渣滓的；一切帶著惡意的真理；一切使筋骨碎裂、使腦髓凝結的；生命與思想一切隱微的魔性；一切的「惡」——對瘋狂的亞哈而言，都在莫比敵身上具體地人格化了、變得實際可攻擊了。）他把亞當以降、他整個族類所感到的一切普遍的怒與恨，全堆上那鯨的白色駝峰；然後，彷彿他的胸膛是一尊臼炮，他把他那熾熱的心的彈殼，轟在了它上頭。

It is not probable that this monomania in him took its instant rise at the precise time of his bodily dismemberment. ... Human madness is oftentimes a cunning and most feline thing. When you think it fled, it may have but become transfigured into some still subtler form. ... his special lunacy stormed his general sanity, and carried it, and turned all its concentred cannon upon its own mad mark; so that far from having lost his strength, Ahab, to that one end, did now possess a thousand fold more potency than ever he had sanely brought to bear upon any one reasonable object.

他這偏執狂未必是在他肉體被截肢的那一刻就立即萌生的。（當時，他持刀撲向那巨獸，不過是放任了一股突然的、激情的、肉體上的敵意；而當他挨了那把他撕裂的一擊，他大概也只感到那撕心裂肺的肉體創傷，別無其他。然而，當這場相撞迫使他掉頭返航、在隆冬繞行那淒厲嚎叫的巴塔哥尼亞海角、漫長數月的日日週週裡，亞哈與痛苦一同躺在同一張吊床上；那時，他撕裂的身體與創傷的靈魂，便彼此血流交融；如此交融滲透，把他逼瘋了。這場最終的偏執狂只在返航途中、那次遭遇之後才攫住他——這幾乎是確定的：航程中他時不時是個狂吼的瘋子；雖少了一條腿，他那埃及人般的胸膛裡仍潛藏著如此旺盛的生命力、又被他的譫妄所強化，以致船副們不得不把他緊緊綁住，即便他就那樣在吊床裡狂吼著航行。他穿著緊身衣，隨狂風的瘋狂搖晃而擺盪。而當船駛入較可忍受的緯度、張著溫和的副帆、漂過寧靜的熱帶，老人的譫妄看似已連同合恩角的浪濤一起被拋在身後、他從幽暗的窩裡走進那受祝福的光與空氣、即便那時他帶著那堅定鎮靜的面容——縱然蒼白——再度發出冷靜的命令、他的船副們感謝上帝那可怖的瘋狂如今已去；即便那時，亞哈在他隱祕的自我裡，仍在狂吼。）人類的瘋狂往往是一種狡黠、極像貓的東西。當你以為它逃走了，它或許只是化作了某種更微妙的形式。（亞哈那完整的瘋狂並未消退，而是越收越緊地凝聚；像那不曾減弱的哈德遜河，當那高貴的北方之河窄窄地、卻深不可測地流過高地的峽谷時。但正如在他那窄窄流動的偏執狂裡，亞哈那廣闊瘋狂的一分一毫都不曾被拋下；同樣，在那廣闊的瘋狂裡，他那偉大天賦的智力也一分一毫都不曾泯滅。那從前「活的施動者」，如今成了「活的工具」。倘若容我用這麼一個狂暴的比喻：）他那特殊的瘋狂攻占了他一般的理智、把它擄獲，並把它那集中的全部炮火，對準了它自己那瘋狂的標靶；所以，亞哈非但沒有失去他的力量，反而為了那一個目標，如今擁有了千倍於他從前清醒地施加於任何一個合理目標時的力量。

This is much; yet Ahab’s larger, darker, deeper part remains unhinted. But vain to popularize profundities, and all truth is profound. ... So with a broken throne, the great gods mock that captive king; so like a Caryatid, he patient sits, upholding on his frozen brow the piled entablatures of ages. Wind ye down there, ye prouder, sadder souls! question that proud, sad king! A family likeness! aye, he did beget ye, ye young exiled royalties; and from your grim sire only will the old State-secret come.

這已說了不少；然而亞哈那更龐大、更幽暗、更深邃的部分，仍未被點明。可要把深邃之物通俗化，是徒勞的；而一切真理都是深邃的。（從我們此刻所立、這座尖頂林立的克呂尼府邸之心臟深處，蜿蜒往下——無論它多麼宏偉奇妙，此刻且離開它；）你們這些更高貴、更哀傷的靈魂啊，且取道下行，去那古羅馬「浴場（Thermes）」的廣闊大廳；在那遠低於人類上層大地那奇幻塔樓之下，他那宏偉的根、他那整個可畏的本質，蓄著鬍鬚、莊嚴地端坐著——一件被埋在古物之下的古物，登基在一座座殘軀之上！如此，在一座殘破的王座上，偉大的諸神嘲弄著那被囚的王；如此，他像一尊女像柱（Caryatid）般耐心地坐著，用他冰封的額頭，撐著一個個時代層層堆疊的「柱頂楣構（entablature）」。你們這些更驕傲、更哀傷的靈魂啊，蜿蜒下去吧！去質問那驕傲而哀傷的王！一種家族的相似！對，是他生了你們，你們這些年輕的、被放逐的王族；而那古老的「國祕」，唯有從你們那陰鬱的父親口中，才會吐露。

Now, in his heart, Ahab had some glimpse of this, namely: all my means are sane, my motive and my object mad. Yet without power to kill, or change, or shun the fact; he likewise knew that to mankind he did long dissemble; in some sort, did still. But that thing of his dissembling was only subject to his perceptibility, not to his will determinate. Nevertheless, so well did he succeed in that dissembling, that when with ivory leg he stepped ashore at last, no Nantucketer thought him otherwise than but naturally grieved, and that to the quick, with the terrible casualty which had overtaken him.

此刻，在他心裡，亞哈對這一點有著某種瞥見，即：我的一切手段都是清醒的，我的動機與目標卻是瘋的。然而他無力殺死、改變、或迴避這事實；他同樣知道，他長久以來一直對世人偽裝；某種程度上，至今仍在偽裝。但他那偽裝的本領，只在於他的「能察覺」，而不在於他「能決意」的意志。然而，他那偽裝竟如此成功，以致當他終於拄著象牙腿踏上岸時，沒有一個南塔克特人不認為他只是因為那降臨在他身上的可怖災禍，而自然而然地哀傷著、而且傷到了骨子裡。

The report of his undeniable delirium at sea was likewise popularly ascribed to a kindred cause. ... But be all this as it may, certain it is, that with the mad secret of his unabated rage bolted up and keyed in him, Ahab had purposely sailed upon the present voyage with the one only and all-engrossing object of hunting the White Whale. ... They were bent on profitable cruises, the profit to be counted down in dollars from the mint. He was intent on an audacious, immitigable, and supernatural revenge.

他在海上那無可否認的譫妄的報告，同樣被人們歸於一個相近的緣由。（後來、直到這趟搭裴廓德號出航的當天為止，那始終盤踞在他眉間的、與日俱增的陰鬱，也是如此被解釋。而且，這也並非很不可能：那精明審慎的島民，非但不因這些陰暗的徵象而懷疑他是否還適合再跑一趟捕鯨航程，反倒傾向於抱持這麼一個想法——正因為這些緣由，他才更夠資格、更被磨利了刃，去從事這樣一樁充滿狂怒與野性的、血腥的獵鯨。一個內裡被啃噬、外面被灼烤、被某個不治之念那深植不放的尖牙咬住的人；這樣一個人，若找得到，似乎正是那個會擲出鐵叉、舉起長槍、迎向一切野獸中最駭人者的人。或者，倘若因故被認為身體上已不勝任那活兒，這樣一個人，似乎也絕頂勝任去激勵、嗥喝著驅使他的部下去進攻。）但無論如何，可以確定的是：亞哈帶著他那未消的暴怒這瘋狂的祕密、把它閂死、上鎖在自己體內，蓄意地踏上了這趟航程，懷著唯一、且壓倒一切的目的——獵殺白鯨。（他岸上的舊識若有誰哪怕做夢夢見一半他心中當時潛伏之物，他們那驚駭而正直的靈魂，會何等迅速地把這船從這麼一個惡魔般的人手中奪走！）他們一心想的是賺錢的航程，那利潤要從鑄幣廠出來、一塊塊美元數清；他一心想的，卻是一場大膽、不可緩和、超自然的復仇。

Here, then, was this grey-headed, ungodly old man, chasing with curses a Job’s whale round the world, at the head of a crew, too, chiefly made up of mongrel renegades, and castaways, and cannibals—morally enfeebled also, by the incompetence of mere unaided virtue or right-mindedness in Starbuck, the invulnerable jollity of indifference and recklessness in Stubb, and the pervading mediocrity in Flask. ... The subterranean miner that works in us all, how can one tell whither leads his shaft by the ever shifting, muffled sound of his pick? Who does not feel the irresistible arm drag? What skiff in tow of a seventy-four can stand still? For one, I gave myself up to the abandonment of the time and the place; but while yet all a-rush to encounter the whale, could see naught in that brute but the deadliest ill.

那麼，這裡就有這麼一個灰髮、不敬神的老人，咒罵著、繞著世界追一頭「約伯之鯨」，而且還率領著一群主要由雜種叛徒、棄兒和食人族湊成的船員——這群人在道德上又被削弱了：被斯塔巴克那單憑一己之德、之正直卻無力回天的無能；被斯塔布那無懈可擊的、出於冷漠與魯莽的樂天；以及弗拉斯克那無所不在的平庸。（這樣一群、由這樣一些軍官統領的船員，彷彿是被某種地獄般的命運特意挑選、打包好，來助他完成他那偏執狂式的復仇的。他們怎麼會那般充分地響應老人的怒火——憑著什麼邪惡的魔法，他們的靈魂被附了體，以致有時他的恨彷彿也成了他們的恨；白鯨彷彿也成了他們和他一樣不共戴天的仇敵；這一切是怎麼來的——白鯨對他們究竟是什麼、又是如何在他們不自覺的理解裡，也以某種隱晦、未被察覺的方式，彷彿成了那「生命之海上滑行而過的巨大魔王」——要把這一切都解釋清楚，就得潛得比以實瑪利所能潛的更深。）在我們每個人體內幹活的那個地底礦工——人怎能憑那忽遠忽近、悶悶的鎬聲，說出他的礦坑通向何方？誰感覺不到那不可抗拒的手臂的拖拽？被一艘七十四門炮的戰艦拖著的小舢舨，哪一艘能停得住？就我而言，我把自己交付給了那時那地的放任沉迷；可正當我全速衝去迎那鯨時，我在那畜生身上，卻只看得見最致命的「惡」。