鯨之白

What the white whale was to Ahab, has been hinted; what, at times, he was to me, as yet remains unsaid.

白鯨對亞哈意味著什麼，已經暗示過了；牠有時對我意味著什麼，卻還沒說。

Aside from those more obvious considerations touching Moby Dick, which could not but occasionally awaken in any man’s soul some alarm, there was another thought, or rather vague, nameless horror concerning him, which at times by its intensity completely overpowered all the rest; and yet so mystical and well nigh ineffable was it, that I almost despair of putting it in a comprehensible form. It was the whiteness of the whale that above all things appalled me. But how can I hope to explain myself here; and yet, in some dim, random way, explain myself I must, else all these chapters might be naught.

撇開那些關於莫比敵、較為顯而易見、不能不偶爾在任何人靈魂裡喚起幾分驚惶的考量之外，還有另一個念頭——或者該說是一種關於牠的、模糊而無名的恐怖——它有時以其強烈，徹底壓倒了其餘的一切；然而它又如此神祕、近乎無法言傳，以致我幾乎絕望於把它表述成一個可理解的形式。最叫我驚駭的，正是這鯨的「白」。可我在這兒又怎能指望把自己說明白；然而，以某種朦朧、隨意的方式，我又非把自己說明白不可，否則這一切章節或許都成了枉然。

Though in many natural objects, whiteness refiningly enhances beauty, as if imparting some special virtue of its own, as in marbles, japonicas, and pearls; and though various nations have in some way recognised a certain royal preeminence in this hue... yet for all these accumulated associations, with whatever is sweet, and honorable, and sublime, there yet lurks an elusive something in the innermost idea of this hue, which strikes more of panic to the soul than that redness which affrights in blood.

儘管在許多自然之物裡，白色都精緻地增益著美，彷彿賦予了某種它自身特有的德性，如大理石、山茶花、珍珠；儘管各民族都以某種方式承認了這色澤裡某種王者般的尊貴——連緬甸那粗獷而古老的諸王，都把「白象之主」的頭銜置於他們其他一切誇耀統御的封號之上；暹羅的當代諸王在王旗上展開同一頭雪白的四足獸；漢諾威的旗幟上繪著一匹雪白的戰馬；偉大的奧地利帝國——凱撒式的、那凌駕一切的羅馬的繼承者——以同一種帝王之色為帝色；儘管這份尊貴還延伸到人類自身，賦予白種人對每個黝黑部族的「理想主宰權」；儘管除此之外，白色甚至被賦予歡欣之意——羅馬人以一塊白石標記歡樂的日子；儘管在其他種種凡人的情感與象徵裡，這同一色澤又被當作許多動人、高貴之物的標誌——新娘的純真、老者的慈祥；儘管在美洲紅人那裡，贈予白貝串（wampum）是最深的榮譽之誓；儘管在許多地方，白色以法官的貂袍象徵正義的尊嚴、並為乳白駿馬所拉的帝王后妃的日常排場增色；儘管即便在最莊嚴宗教的更高奧義裡，它也被當作神聖無瑕與權能的象徵——波斯拜火教徒以那白色分叉的火焰為祭壇上最聖之物；希臘神話裡偉大的宙斯本人化身為一頭雪白的公牛；儘管對高貴的易洛魁人而言，仲冬獻祭神聖白狗，是他們神學裡最神聖的節慶，那無瑕、忠實的造物被當作他們所能派出、向「大靈」傳達自己年度忠誠的最純潔使者；儘管直接源自拉丁文「白」一字，所有基督教神職人員都得出了他們聖袍其中一部分的名稱——穿在法袍之下的「亞麻長袍（alb）」；儘管在羅馬天主教信仰那神聖的盛典裡，白色尤其用於我主受難的紀念；儘管在《聖約翰的異象（啟示錄）》裡，得救者被賜以白袍，二十四位長老身著白衣立在那偉大的白色寶座前，而坐在那兒的「聖者」白如羊毛——然而，儘管累積了這一切與甜美、可敬、崇高之物相關的聯想，在這色澤最內在的概念裡，仍潛伏著某種捉摸不定的東西，它給靈魂帶來的驚惶，比那血中令人駭怕的紅還要多。

This elusive quality it is, which causes the thought of whiteness, when divorced from more kindly associations, and coupled with any object terrible in itself, to heighten that terror to the furthest bounds. Witness the white bear of the poles, and the white shark of the tropics; what but their smooth, flaky whiteness makes them the transcendent horrors they are? That ghastly whiteness it is which imparts such an abhorrent mildness, even more loathsome than terrific, to the dumb gloating of their aspect. So that not the fierce-fanged tiger in his heraldic coat can so stagger courage as the white-shrouded bear or shark.

正是這捉摸不定的特質，使得「白」這個念頭，一旦脫離了較和善的聯想、與任何本身就恐怖之物相結合，便把那恐怖推到了最遠的極限。看那兩極的白熊、熱帶的白鯊吧；除了牠們那滑膩、片狀的白，還有什麼使牠們成了那般超絕的恐怖？正是那慘白，賦予了牠們那瘖啞貪婪的兇相一種可憎的「溫和」——一種比可怖更教人作嘔的溫和。所以，連紋章上那獠牙猙獰的虎，都不如那裹著白屍布的熊或鯊，那般令勇氣崩潰。

*With reference to the Polar bear... yet, were it not for the whiteness, you would not have that intensified terror.

＊關於北極熊，那願就此事鑽研得更深的人，或許會主張：使這畜生那難以忍受的猙獰加劇的，並不是「白」本身；因為，分析起來，那加劇的猙獰（或可說）只是源於這麼一種情形——這生物那不負責任的兇殘，被披上了「天國般純真與愛」的羊毛；於是，藉由把這兩種如此對立的情感並置於我們心中，北極熊以這般不自然的對比嚇住了我們。但即便假定這一切都對；可若不是因為那白，你也不會有那加劇了的恐怖。

As for the white shark... the French call him Requin.

至於白鯊，那生物平常神態下所見的、那白色滑行的鬼魅般的靜止，奇異地與北極那四足獸的同一特質相吻合。這特點被法國人賦予那魚的名字捕捉得最為傳神。羅馬天主教為死者所做的彌撒以「Requiem eternam（永恆的安息）」開始，因而「Requiem（安魂曲）」便用以稱呼那彌撒本身、以及任何別的喪葬音樂。如今，影射這鯊魚身上那死亡般的、白色而沉默的靜止、以及牠那溫和的致命習性，法國人便管牠叫 Requin（安魂鯊）。

Bethink thee of the albatross, whence come those clouds of spiritual wonderment and pale dread, in which that white phantom sails in all imaginations? Not Coleridge first threw that spell; but God’s great, unflattering laureate, Nature.

想想那信天翁吧——那白色幽靈航行於一切想像之中，被包裹在那「靈性的驚奇與蒼白的恐懼」的雲霧裡，這雲霧從何而來？最先施下那道咒的，不是柯立芝；而是神那偉大、不諂媚的桂冠詩人——大自然。

*I remember the first albatross I ever saw... Yet, in saying this, I do but indirectly burnish a little brighter the noble merit of the poem and the poet.

＊我記得我生平所見的第一隻信天翁。那是在一場持續的暴風裡，在逼近南極海的水域。我從上午在底艙的值班上來、登上那烏雲密布的甲板；在那兒，重重撲落在主艙口蓋上，我看見一隻帝王般、純白無瑕的羽族之物，長著一個彎鉤的、崇高的羅馬式喙。牠不時張開牠那天使長般的巨翼，彷彿要去擁抱某個神聖的約櫃。奇異的撲動與悸顫震撼著牠。雖肉體無傷，牠卻發出叫聲，像某個國王的鬼魂在超自然的痛苦中。透過牠那難以言喻、奇異的眼睛，我彷彿窺見了那攫住上帝的祕密。我像亞伯拉罕在天使面前那樣俯伏了下去；那白色之物如此之白、牠的翼如此之闊，而在那永遠被放逐的水域裡，我已失去了那些關於傳統與城鎮的、可悲扭曲的記憶。我久久凝視著那羽毛的奇蹟。那時掠過我心中的種種，我說不出、只能暗示。但我終於醒轉；轉過身，問一個水手這是什麼鳥。「一隻 goney（信天翁的俗稱），」他答。Goney！我從沒聽過這名字；難道這光輝之物竟全然不為岸上人所知，這可能嗎？絕不可能！可過了一陣我才知道，goney 不過是某些水手對信天翁的叫法。所以，柯立芝那首狂野的《古舟子詠》絕無可能與我見牠在我們甲板上時、那屬於我的神祕印象有任何關係。因為那時我既沒讀過那首詩，也不知那鳥是信天翁。然而，這麼說，我不過是間接地把那詩與詩人的高貴功績，擦得更亮了一點。

I assert, then, that in the wondrous bodily whiteness of the bird chiefly lurks the secret of the spell... but never with such emotions as when I beheld the Antarctic fowl.

那麼我斷言：那咒的祕密，主要潛伏在這鳥那奇妙的、身軀的白裡；這一點更可由此見證——由於用詞上的一種「不合語法（solecism）」，有些鳥被稱作「灰信天翁」；這些我也常見，卻從不曾懷著我見那南極之鳥時的那種情緒。

But how had the mystic thing been caught?... when the white fowl flew to join the wing-folding, the invoking, and adoring cherubim!

可這神祕之物是怎麼被捉住的呢？別聲張，我來告訴你；是用一個詭詐的鉤與線，趁那鳥浮在海面時捉的。最後船長把牠當成了郵差；在牠頸上繫了一塊刻著字的皮牌、寫上船的時間與地點；然後放牠逃走。但我毫不懷疑：那塊本為人而設的皮牌，在天國被取了下來——當那白色羽族飛去加入那收攏雙翼、祈求、崇拜著的眾天使（基路伯）之列時！

Most famous in our Western annals and Indian traditions is that of the White Steed of the Prairies... Nor can it be questioned... that it was his spiritual whiteness chiefly, which so clothed him with divineness; and that this divineness had that in it which, though commanding worship, at the same time enforced a certain nameless terror.

在我們西部的史冊與印第安傳統裡，最有名的便是那「草原白駒」的傳說；一匹壯麗的乳白戰馬，大眼、小頭、寬胸，舉止高昂、睥睨一切，帶著千位君王的尊嚴。牠是那些野馬大群所推選的「薛西斯（王）」——在那些日子裡，牠們的牧場只以洛磯山與阿勒格尼山為界。在牠們那烈焰般的隊首，牠向西成群馳騁，像那顆每晚引領光之眾軍的天選之星。牠那閃光如瀑的鬃、那彎曲如彗星的尾，給牠披上了比金匠銀匠所能打造的更輝煌的「鞍披」。一個最帝王、最天使長般的異象，來自那未墮落的西方世界——在老獵人與捕獸者眼中，牠重現了那原初時代的榮光，那時亞當如神般莊嚴行走、寬眉無懼一如這匹雄駒。（無論是在無數軍團的前鋒、與牠的副官將領一同行進，那軍團如俄亥俄河般無盡地漫流過平原；還是在地平線四周、被牠那環繞的臣民圍著吃草時，這白駒奔馳著檢閱牠們，溫暖的鼻孔在牠清涼的乳白中透出紅來；）無論牠以何種姿態現身，對最勇敢的印第安人而言，牠始終是戰慄的敬畏與崇拜的對象。而從這匹高貴之馬載入傳說的種種看來，也無可置疑：主要正是牠那「精神性的白」，給牠披上了神性；而這神性裡含有某種東西——它雖令人崇拜，卻同時強加著一種無名的恐怖。

But there are other instances where this whiteness loses all that accessory and strange glory which invests it in the White Steed and Albatross.

但還有別的例子，在那裡，這「白」失去了它在白駒與信天翁身上所披的那一切附帶而奇異的榮光。

What is it that in the Albino man so peculiarly repels and often shocks the eye, as that sometimes he is loathed by his own kith and kin! It is that whiteness which invests him... The Albino is as well made as other men—has no substantive deformity—and yet this mere aspect of all-pervading whiteness makes him more strangely hideous than the ugliest abortion. Why should this be so?

是什麼，使白化症者（Albino）如此特別地令人反感、常常驚到旁人的眼，以致他有時被自己的至親骨肉所嫌惡？正是那披在他身上的「白」——一種由他所承的名字（Albino，源自「白」）所表達之物。白化症者跟別人一樣發育健全——並無實質的畸形——然而僅僅這一身無所不在的白的外觀，就使他比最醜的畸胎還要詭異可怖。這是為什麼呢？

Nor, in quite other aspects, does Nature in her least palpable but not the less malicious agencies, fail to enlist among her forces this crowning attribute of the terrible. From its snowy aspect, the gauntleted ghost of the Southern Seas has been denominated the White Squall... the desperate White Hoods of Ghent murder their bailiff in the market-place!

而在全然不同的方面，大自然以她那最難以捉摸、卻同樣懷著惡意的力量，也不曾不把這恐怖之物的「至高屬性（白）」徵召進她的陣中。因其雪白的外觀，南海那戴著鐵手套的幽靈被命名為「白色狂飆」。而在某些歷史實例裡，人類惡意的伎倆也不曾略過這麼一個強大的幫手。當根特（Ghent）那些絕望的「白頭黨」，戴著他們黨派那雪白的標誌、在市集廣場上謀殺他們的執法官時——傅華薩（Froissart）那段記載被這白渲染得何等狂烈！

Nor, in some things, does the common, hereditary experience of all mankind fail to bear witness to the supernaturalism of this hue... even the king of terrors, when personified by the evangelist, rides on his pallid horse.

而在某些事情上，全人類共有的、世代相傳的經驗，也不曾不為這色澤的「超自然性」作證。幾乎無可懷疑：死者外貌中最令注視者驚駭的那唯一可見的特質，正是那滯留其上的、大理石般的蒼白；彷彿那蒼白，既像此世凡人恐懼的徵記，也像彼世驚惶的標誌。而正是從死者那蒼白，我們借來了裹屍布那富表現力的色澤。即便在我們的迷信裡，我們也不曾不給我們的幽靈披上同樣雪白的斗篷；一切鬼魂都在乳白的霧中升起——是啊，當這些恐怖攫住我們時，讓我們再補一句：即便那「恐怖之王（死亡）」，當被那位福音書作者（《啟示錄》的約翰）人格化時，也騎著他那匹灰白的馬。

Therefore, in his other moods, symbolize whatever grand or gracious thing he will by whiteness, no man can deny that in its profoundest idealized significance it calls up a peculiar apparition to the soul.

因此，無論人在別的心境下，用白色去象徵任何宏偉或優雅之物，沒有人能否認：在它最深邃、最理想化的意義裡，它都向靈魂喚起一個奇異的幻影。

But though without dissent this point be fixed, how is mortal man to account for it? To analyse it, would seem impossible. Can we, then, by the citation of some of those instances... can we thus hope to light upon some chance clue to conduct us to the hidden cause we seek?

但儘管這一點可毫無異議地確定下來，凡人又如何能解釋它呢？要分析它，似乎是不可能的。那麼，我們能否藉著援引其中一些實例——那些白色之物雖一時或全部、或大部分地被剝去了一切足以賦予它任何可怖之意的直接聯想、卻仍對我們施展著同樣的（縱然有所變形的）巫術——我們能否就此指望偶然撞上一條線索，引我們找到所尋的那隱藏的緣由？

Let us try. But in a matter like this, subtlety appeals to subtlety, and without imagination no man can follow another into these halls...

讓我們試試。但在這樣一件事情上，幽微只能訴諸幽微，沒有想像力，誰也無法跟隨另一個人走進這些殿堂。而且，雖然將要呈現的那些想像性的印象，無疑至少有一部分曾為大多數人所共有，然而當時或許很少有人完全意識到它們，因此現在也許無法回想起來。

Why to the man of untutored ideality... why does the passing mention of a White Friar or a White Nun, evoke such an eyeless statue in the soul?

對一個未經教化、卻富於理想冥想的人——他碰巧只是鬆散地了解某個節日的特殊性質——何以僅僅提起「五旬節（Whitsuntide）」，就會在他幻想中列隊召來這般長長的、淒涼、無言的隊伍——一列列緩步而行、垂著頭、罩著新落白雪的朝聖者？或者，對美國中部各州那未讀過書、純樸的新教徒，何以隨口一提「白衣修士」或「白衣修女」，就會在靈魂裡喚起這般一尊「無眼的雕像」？

Or what is there apart from the traditions of dungeoned warriors and kings... why is this phantom more terrible than all the whooping imps of the Blocksburg?

或者，除了那些被囚的武士與國王的傳說（那並不能完全解釋它）之外，是什麼使「倫敦白塔」對一個未曾遠遊的美國人的想像，比它那些有故事的鄰居——拜沃德塔、甚至血塔——衝擊得更強烈？而那些更崇高的塔——新罕布夏的「白山」——何以在某些特殊的心境裡，僅僅提起那名字，就有一種巨大的鬼魅感掠過靈魂，而想到維吉尼亞的「藍嶺」卻滿是一種柔和、含露、遙遠的夢幻？或者，不論緯度經度，何以「白海」這名字對幻想施展出這般的幽靈感，而「黃海」這名字卻以一種凡塵的念頭撫慰我們——波上漫長、上了漆般、溫和的午後，繼之以最絢麗、卻又最昏沉的日落？或者，舉一個全然虛幻、純粹訴諸幻想的例子，何以在讀中歐那些古老童話時，哈茨森林那「蒼白的高個子」——他那永不改變的蒼白無聲地滑過林間的綠——何以這幽靈比布洛克斯堡（女巫山）一切呼嘯的小妖都更可怖？

Nor is it, altogether, the remembrance of her cathedral-toppling earthquakes... For Lima has taken the white veil; and there is a higher horror in this whiteness of her woe. Old as Pizarro, this whiteness keeps her ruins for ever new; admits not the cheerful greenness of complete decay; spreads over her broken ramparts the rigid pallor of an apoplexy that fixes its own distortions.

也並不全然是因為記得她那震塌教堂的地震；不是她那狂亂海濤的奔騰；不是她那從不下雨、乾旱無淚的天空；不是她那一大片傾斜的尖塔、被扭歪的封頂石、與全都低垂的十字架（像下了錨的艦隊那傾側的桅桁）的景象；也不是她那郊區的、牆壁彼此傾倒相疊如一副被拋散的紙牌的街道——並不單是這些，使這無淚的利馬（Lima），成了你所能見到的最奇異、最哀傷的城。因為利馬已「戴上了白面紗」；在她這悲愁的白裡，有一種更高的恐怖。古老如皮薩羅（Pizarro），這白使她的廢墟永遠嶄新；不容那「徹底腐朽」所帶來的、令人寬慰的綠意；在她殘破的城垣上，鋪展著一種中風般的、僵直的蒼白——那中風把它自己的扭曲，永遠定格住了。

I know that, to the common apprehension, this phenomenon of whiteness is not confessed to be the prime agent in exaggerating the terror of objects otherwise terrible... What I mean by these two statements may perhaps be respectively elucidated by the following examples.

我知道，按一般的理解，這「白」的現象並不被承認為「誇大那些本就恐怖之物的恐怖」的首要動因；對缺乏想像力的心智而言，那些景象——其可怖在另一些心智看來幾乎全在於這唯一的現象——也並無任何恐怖可言，尤其當它以任何近乎「瘖啞」或「普遍」的形式呈現時。我這兩句話的意思，或許可分別由以下兩個例子來說明。

First: The mariner, when drawing nigh the coasts of foreign lands, if by night he hear the roar of breakers, starts to vigilance... let him be called from his hammock to view his ship sailing through a midnight sea of milky whiteness... then he feels a silent, superstitious dread... Yet where is the mariner who will tell thee, “Sir, it was not so much the fear of striking hidden rocks, as the fear of that hideous whiteness that so stirred me?”

第一：海員在駛近異國海岸時，若在夜裡聽見碎浪的轟鳴，他會警覺起來、生出剛好足以磨利他一切官能的戰慄；但在完全相同的情況下，若把他從吊床裡叫起、來看他的船正航行於一片午夜的乳白之海——彷彿從環抱的岬角四周，有成群梳理過的白熊正繞著他游——那麼，他便感到一種沉默的、迷信的恐懼；那白化之水那裹著屍布的幻影，對他來說恐怖得像一個真的鬼魂；任憑測深錘向他保證他離海底尚遠，也是徒然；他的心與他的舵，雙雙沉了下去；他不得安寧，直到腳下重新有了蔚藍的深水。然而，哪裡找得到一個會這麼告訴你的海員：「先生，那麼攪動我的，與其說是怕撞上暗礁，不如說是怕那可怖的白」？

Second: To the native Indian of Peru, the continual sight of the snow-howdahed Andes conveys naught of dread... Not so the sailor, beholding the scenery of the Antarctic seas... views what seems a boundless churchyard grinning upon him with its lean ice monuments and splintered crosses.

第二：對祕魯的土著印第安人而言，不斷望見那馱著積雪如象轎（howdah）的安地斯山，並不傳達任何恐懼，除非或許是在純粹想像那般高海拔上永恆冰封的荒涼、以及想像在那般非人的孤寂中迷失會是何等可怖之時。西部的拓荒者也大抵如此，他相對漠然地看待一片鋪滿風雪、無一樹一枝的影子來打破那「白的凝定恍惚」的無邊草原。但水手卻不然——當他眺望南極海的景緻時；在那兒，有時，由於霜與氣那種地獄般的「戲法（legerdemain）」，他這顫抖著、半已遇難的人，看見的不是向他的苦難訴說希望與慰藉的彩虹，而是一座彷彿無邊的墓園，正以它那瘦削的冰碑與斷裂的十字架，朝他咧嘴獰笑。

But thou sayest, methinks that white-lead chapter about whiteness is but a white flag hung out from a craven soul; thou surrenderest to a hypo, Ishmael.

但你會說，我看哪，這一篇「鉛白」似的、關於白的章節，不過是一面從怯懦靈魂裡掛出的白旗；你這是向一陣憂鬱（hypo）投降了，以實瑪利。

Tell me, why this strong young colt, foaled in some peaceful valley of Vermont... why will he start, snort, and with bursting eyes paw the ground in phrensies of affright?... for what knows he, this New England colt, of the black bisons of distant Oregon?

告訴我，為什麼這匹強壯的小馬——生在佛蒙特某個和平的山谷裡、遠離一切猛獸——為什麼在最晴朗的日子裡，你只要在牠背後抖一抖一張新鮮的野牛皮，讓牠根本看不見、只聞到那野獸的麝味——牠為什麼會驚跳、噴鼻、瞪裂了眼、在恐懼的瘋狂中刨地？牠的記憶裡並沒有任何在牠那綠色北方家園被野獸牴傷的事，所以牠所聞到的那陌生麝味，不可能勾起任何與牠先前涉險經驗相關之物；因為，這匹新英格蘭的小馬，對遙遠俄勒岡的黑色野牛，又知道些什麼呢？

No: but here thou beholdest even in a dumb brute, the instinct of the knowledge of the demonism in the world. Though thousands of miles from Oregon, still when he smells that savage musk, the rending, goring bison herds are as present as to the deserted wild foal of the prairies, which this instant they may be trampling into dust.

不：可你在此看到的，是即便一頭啞獸身上，也有著一種「對世間魔性的本能認知」。雖遠在距俄勒岡千里之外，可當牠聞到那野性的麝味，那撕扯著、牴觸著的野牛群，便如在眼前——一如對草原上那被遺棄的野駒一般真切，而此刻，那野牛群或許正把那野駒踐踏成塵。

Thus, then, the muffled rollings of a milky sea; the bleak rustlings of the festooned frosts of mountains; the desolate shiftings of the windrowed snows of prairies; all these, to Ishmael, are as the shaking of that buffalo robe to the frightened colt!

那麼，乳白之海那悶悶的翻滾；山巒上那如花綵般垂掛的霜的、淒冷的窸窣；草原上那被風堆成壟的雪的、荒涼的移動——這一切，對以實瑪利而言，就如那野牛皮的抖動之於那受驚的小馬！

Though neither knows where lie the nameless things of which the mystic sign gives forth such hints; yet with me, as with the colt, somewhere those things must exist. Though in many of its aspects this visible world seems formed in love, the invisible spheres were formed in fright.

雖然牠和我都不知道，那神祕徵象所暗示的「無名之物」究竟藏在何處；然而對我、一如對那小馬而言，那些東西必定存在於某處。儘管這可見的世界在許多方面看似是以「愛」造成的，那不可見的諸天，卻是以「恐懼」造成的。

But not yet have we solved the incantation of this whiteness, and learned why it appeals with such power to the soul; and more strange and far more portentous—why, as we have seen, it is at once the most meaning symbol of spiritual things, nay, the very veil of the Christian’s Deity; and yet should be as it is, the intensifying agent in things the most appalling to mankind.

但我們還未解開這「白」的咒語、還未弄明白它何以對靈魂有這般強大的感召力；而更為奇異、也更為不祥的是——何以，如我們所見，它一面是精神之物最富意味的象徵、不，甚至是基督徒那「神」的帷幕本身；卻又偏偏如此這般，成了那些最令人類驚駭之物的「加劇之劑」。

Is it that by its indefiniteness it shadows forth the heartless voids and immensities of the universe, and thus stabs us from behind with the thought of annihilation, when beholding the white depths of the milky way?... And of all these things the Albino whale was the symbol. Wonder ye then at the fiery hunt?

是否因為，白色憑其「不確定性」，影射了宇宙那無心的虛空與浩瀚，於是當我們望著銀河那白色的深淵時，它便用「湮滅」之念從背後刺穿我們？又或者，是因為白色在本質上與其說是一種顏色，不如說是顏色的可見缺席、同時又是一切顏色的凝結；正因如此，一片廣袤的雪景裡才有那般瘖啞的空白，滿含意味——那是「無神論」那無色的、含一切色之物，令我們退縮？而當我們再想到自然哲學家的另一種理論——一切其他塵世的色澤，每一種莊嚴或可愛的彩飾、夕陽天空與林木那甜美的暈染、是啊，還有蝴蝶鍍金的天鵝絨、少女蝴蝶般的雙頰——這一切都不過是些微妙的欺騙，並非真正內在於物質，而只是從外面塗上去的；於是，那被神化的「自然」，根本就像那娼妓一般塗脂抹粉，其媚惑所遮掩的，不過是裡頭一座藏屍所；而當我們更進一步、想到那產生她每一種色澤的神祕化妝品——光這偉大的本原——本身永遠是白的、無色的，而若不經由介質、直接作用於物質，便會把一切物體（甚至鬱金香與玫瑰）都染上它那空白的色調——把這一切細想一遍，這癱瘓了的宇宙便如一個痲瘋病人攤在我們面前；而像拉普蘭那些固執的旅人，不肯在眼上戴有色、能著色的眼鏡——那可悲的不信者，便把自己瞪瞎在那包裹著四周一切景象的、紀念碑般的白色屍布前。而這一切的象徵，正是那頭白化的鯨。那麼，你們還會奇怪那場烈火般的追獵嗎？