海圖

Had you followed Captain Ahab down into his cabin after the squall that took place on the night succeeding that wild ratification of his purpose with his crew, you would have seen him go to a locker in the transom, and bringing out a large wrinkled roll of yellowish sea charts, spread them before him on his screwed-down table. ... At intervals, he would refer to piles of old log-books beside him, wherein were set down the seasons and places in which, on various former voyages of various ships, sperm whales had been captured or seen.

那場狂飆——就在他與船員狂野地確立其目的的次夜——過後，你若跟著亞哈船長下到他的艙裡，便會看見他走向船尾橫板上的一只櫃子，取出一大卷泛黃、起皺的海圖，攤在他那螺絲固定的桌上。然後在它面前坐下，你會看見他凝神研究映入眼簾的種種線條與暈影；用緩慢卻穩定的鉛筆，在原本空白的區域上描出新增的航線。他不時翻查身旁一疊舊的航海日誌——那上面記載著歷年各船在何種季節、何種地點，捕到或見過抹香鯨。

While thus employed, the heavy pewter lamp suspended in chains over his head, continually rocked with the motion of the ship, and for ever threw shifting gleams and shadows of lines upon his wrinkled brow, till it almost seemed that while he himself was marking out lines and courses on the wrinkled charts, some invisible pencil was also tracing lines and courses upon the deeply marked chart of his forehead.

他這樣忙著時，頭頂上用鏈子吊著的那盞沉重錫燈，隨船的晃動不停搖擺，永不停歇地把線條那遊移的微光與陰影投在他起皺的額頭上——直到幾乎像是：當他本人在那起皺的海圖上描著線條與航線時，也有一支看不見的鉛筆，在他額頭那「刻痕深深的海圖」上，描著線條與航線。

But it was not this night in particular that, in the solitude of his cabin, Ahab thus pondered over his charts. Almost every night they were brought out; almost every night some pencil marks were effaced, and others were substituted. For with the charts of all four oceans before him, Ahab was threading a maze of currents and eddies, with a view to the more certain accomplishment of that monomaniac thought of his soul.

但亞哈在他艙裡的孤獨中這樣對著海圖沉思，並非單單這一夜如此。幾乎每一夜，那些海圖都被取出來；幾乎每一夜，總有些鉛筆痕跡被擦掉、另一些被替換上去。因為，攤開四大洋的海圖在面前，亞哈正穿行於一座由洋流與漩渦織成的迷宮，為的是更確切地達成他靈魂裡那偏執狂的念頭。

Now, to any one not fully acquainted with the ways of the leviathans, it might seem an absurdly hopeless task thus to seek out one solitary creature in the unhooped oceans of this planet. But not so did it seem to Ahab, who knew the sets of all tides and currents; and thereby calculating the driftings of the sperm whale’s food; and, also, calling to mind the regular, ascertained seasons for hunting him in particular latitudes; could arrive at reasonable surmises, almost approaching to certainties, concerning the timeliest day to be upon this or that ground in search of his prey.

如今，對任何不完全熟悉巨獸習性的人，要這樣在這顆星球那無箍束的大洋裡，找出單獨一頭生物，似乎是荒謬而毫無指望的差事。但在亞哈看來卻不然——他熟知一切潮汐與洋流的流向；藉此推算抹香鯨食物的漂流；又把在特定緯度獵牠的那些規律、確知的季節記在心裡；便能得出合理的推測——幾乎近於確定——關於該在何日、到這片或那片漁場去搜尋他的獵物。

So assured, indeed, is the fact concerning the periodicalness of the sperm whale’s resorting to given waters, that many hunters believe that... the migrations of the sperm whale would be found to correspond in invariability to those of the herring-shoals or the flights of swallows. On this hint, attempts have been made to construct elaborate migratory charts of the sperm whale.

抹香鯨定期出沒於特定水域，這一事實是如此確鑿，以致許多獵人相信：倘若能在全世界仔細觀察、研究牠，倘若把整支捕鯨隊一趟航程的日誌都仔細彙集比對，那麼便會發現，抹香鯨的迴游，其恆定不變，足與鯡魚群的洄游、或燕子的遷飛相對應。受此啟發，人們已嘗試繪製精細的抹香鯨迴游圖。（＊自上文寫成以來，這說法欣然地被一份官方通報所證實——華盛頓國家天文台的莫里中尉於 1851 年 4 月 16 日發布。據該通報，正有這樣一張圖在編製中；通報中呈現了它的部分內容。「此圖把海洋劃分成五緯度乘五經度的區塊；每一區塊縱向有十二欄、對應十二個月；橫向有三行：一行顯示每月在每區塊所耗的天數，另兩行顯示見到抹香鯨或露脊鯨的天數。」）

Besides, when making a passage from one feeding-ground to another, the sperm whales, guided by some infallible instinct—say, rather, secret intelligence from the Deity—mostly swim in veins, as they are called; continuing their way along a given ocean-line with such undeviating exactitude, that no ship ever sailed her course, by any chart, with one tithe of such marvellous precision. ... The sum is, that at particular seasons within that breadth and along that path, migrating whales may with great confidence be looked for.

此外，從一片漁場前往另一片時，抹香鯨靠著某種萬無一失的本能——不如說是來自神的祕密神諭——大多沿著所謂的「脈絡（veins）」游動；沿著某條固定的海上路線前進，其毫不偏離的精確，使得從沒有哪艘船按任何海圖航行，能有牠那神奇精確的十分之一。雖然在這些情況下，任何一頭鯨所取的方向都直如測量員的平行線、其前進路線也嚴格限於它自己那無可避免的、筆直的航跡，可牠據說在這些時候游動其中的那條「任意脈絡」，一般也寬達數哩（視那脈絡被認為擴張或收縮而或多或少）；但從不超出捕鯨船桅頂謹慎滑行於這「魔法地帶」時的視野範圍。總而言之：在特定季節、那寬度之內、沿那條路徑，極有把握能等到迴游的鯨。

And hence not only at substantiated times, upon well known separate feeding-grounds, could Ahab hope to encounter his prey; but in crossing the widest expanses of water between those grounds he could, by his art, so place and time himself on his way, as even then not to be wholly without prospect of a meeting.

因此，亞哈不僅能在已被證實的時節、於那些著名而分立的漁場，指望遭遇他的獵物；連在橫渡那些漁場之間最寬闊的水域時，他也能憑他的本事，把自己在途中的位置與時機安排得恰到好處，使得即便那時，也不至於全然沒有相遇的指望。

There was a circumstance which at first sight seemed to entangle his delirious but still methodical scheme. ... That particular set time and place were conjoined in the one technical phrase—the Season-on-the-Line. For there and then, for several consecutive years, Moby Dick had been periodically descried, lingering in those waters for awhile, as the sun, in its annual round, loiters for a predicted interval in any one sign of the Zodiac. There it was, too, that most of the deadly encounters with the white whale had taken place; there the waves were storied with his deeds; there also was that tragic spot where the monomaniac old man had found the awful motive to his vengeance. But ... he would not permit himself to rest all his hopes upon the one crowning fact above mentioned... nor in the sleeplessness of his vow could he so tranquillize his unquiet heart as to postpone all intervening quest.

有一種情形，乍看似乎纏住了他那譫妄卻仍有條理的計畫。但實際上，或許並非如此。（雖然成群的抹香鯨各有其出沒特定漁場的固定季節，可大體上你不能斷定：今年出沒於某緯度某經度的鯨群，與去年在那兒發現的，會是同一群——儘管也有些特殊而確鑿的反例。一般而言，同樣的說法、只在較窄的範圍內，也適用於那些成熟、年老的抹香鯨中的獨行者與隱士。所以，雖然莫比敵前些年曾在、譬如印度洋所謂的塞席爾漁場、或日本沿岸的火山灣被見過；卻不能因此推斷：裴廓德號若在此後任一相應的季節去那兩處，就必定能在那兒遇上牠。對牠不時現身的其他幾片漁場也是如此。但這些似乎都只是牠隨意的歇腳處、海上的客棧，而非牠久居之地。前面說到亞哈達成其目的的種種機會時，所提的只是他在抵達某個特定時地之前、沿途那些先行的、額外的指望；）那個特定的時地，被結合在一個術語裡——「赤道線季（the Season-on-the-Line）」。因為，連續數年，正是在那兒、那時，莫比敵都定期被人望見，在那片水域逗留一陣——如同太陽在它一年的運行中，會在黃道某一宮裡逗留一段可預測的時間。也正是在那兒，與白鯨的多數致命遭遇都發生過；那兒的波濤裡傳頌著牠的事蹟；那兒也正是那悲劇之地——那偏執狂的老人在此找到了他復仇的可怕動機。但亞哈以謹慎的縝密、不懈的警覺，把他沉鬱的靈魂投入這毫不動搖的追獵，他不肯讓自己把全部希望都擱在上述那一個壓軸的事實上，無論它多麼能討好那些希望；他那誓願的失眠，也無法使他不安的心平靜到肯擱下一切沿途的搜尋。

Now, the Pequod had sailed from Nantucket at the very beginning of the Season-on-the-Line. ... Because, an interval of three hundred and sixty-five days and nights was before him; an interval which, instead of impatiently enduring ashore, he would spend in a miscellaneous hunt... So that Monsoons, Pampas, Nor’-Westers, Harmattans, Trades; any wind but the Levanter and Simoon, might blow Moby Dick into the devious zig-zag world-circle of the Pequod’s circumnavigating wake.

卻說，裴廓德號正是在「赤道線季」之初從南塔克特出航的。那時無論如何努力，她的船長都不可能完成那向南的長途航行、繞過合恩角、再沿六十度緯度南下、及時趕到赤道太平洋去巡獵。因此，他必須等下一個接續的季節。然而，裴廓德號這提早的出航時辰，或許正是亞哈著眼於這般情勢而精準選定的。因為，他面前有著三百六十五個日夜的間隔；這間隔，他不會焦躁地在岸上苦熬，而會用來進行一場「雜獵」——萬一白鯨正在遠離其定期漁場的海域度「假」、把牠那起皺的額頭探出在波斯灣、或孟加拉灣、或中國海、或牠族類出沒的任何其他水域呢？這麼一來，季風、彭巴風、西北風、哈麥丹風、信風——除了利凡特風與西蒙風之外的任何風——都可能把莫比敵吹進裴廓德號那環球航行的、曲折之字形的世界圈航跡裡。

But granting all this; yet, regarded discreetly and coolly, seems it not but a mad idea, this; that in the broad boundless ocean, one solitary whale, even if encountered, should be thought capable of individual recognition from his hunter, even as a white-bearded Mufti in the thronged thoroughfares of Constantinople? Yes. ... Ah, God! what trances of torments does that man endure who is consumed with one unachieved revengeful desire. He sleeps with clenched hands; and wakes with his own bloody nails in his palms.

但縱然承認這一切；可冷靜謹慎地想來，這豈不只是一個瘋念——在無邊無際的大洋裡，單獨一頭鯨，即便遇上了，竟被認為能被牠的獵人「個別辨認」出來，就像在君士坦丁堡熙攘的大街上認出一個白鬍子的穆夫提（伊斯蘭教法官）？是的（這是瘋念）。因為，莫比敵那獨特的雪白額頭、雪白駝峰，是斷然錯不了的。「我不是已經把這鯨對上號了嗎，」亞哈會喃喃自語——當他研圖到午夜許久之後、仰身向後陷入遐想時——「對上號了，牠還能逃？牠那寬闊的鰭被鑿穿、邊緣缺得像隻走失羊的耳朵！」說到這裡，他那瘋狂的心思便在一場無喘息的賽跑中疾馳；直到一陣沉思的疲憊與虛弱襲來；他便到甲板的露天裡，想恢復他的氣力。啊，神哪！一個被某個尚未達成的復仇慾望吞噬的人，要忍受怎樣的、煎熬的恍惚啊。他攥著拳睡去；醒來時，自己的、染血的指甲掐進了掌心。

Often, when forced from his hammock by exhausting and intolerably vivid dreams of the night... when this hell in himself yawned beneath him, a wild cry would be heard through the ship; and with glaring eyes Ahab would burst from his state room, as though escaping from a bed that was on fire. ... God help thee, old man, thy thoughts have created a creature in thee; and he whose intense thinking thus makes him a Prometheus; a vulture feeds upon that heart for ever; that vulture the very creature he creates.

常有這樣的情形——夜裡那些耗人、鮮明到難以忍受的噩夢（把他白天那些強烈的念頭續演下去、在一片瘋狂的衝撞中把它們帶著走、在他燃燒的腦中團團、團團、團團地旋轉，直到他那「生命之點」的悸動本身成了難以忍受的劇痛）把他從吊床上逼起；而當——如有時的情形——這些精神的劇痛把他的存在從根基掀起、一道深淵彷彿在他體內裂開、分叉的火焰與閃電從中竄起、可詛咒的群魔招手要他跳下去與牠們為伍；當這「他自身之內的地獄」在他腳下張開大口時，全船便會聽見一聲狂叫；亞哈瞪著眼從他的艙房衝出，彷彿從一張著了火的床上逃離。然而這些，與其說是某種潛在軟弱、或對他自己決心的恐懼那壓抑不住的徵兆，或許不如說正是那決心之「強烈」最明白的標記。因為，在這種時候，那瘋狂的亞哈——那個謀劃著、執著得不可平息的白鯨獵人——這個上了吊床的亞哈，並不是那個使他再度恐懼地衝出吊床的「施動者」。後者是他體內那永恆、活著的本原，即靈魂；在睡眠中，它暫時與那「賦予他特性的心智」脫離（那心智在別的時候役使它，當作自己對外的載具或施動者），便本能地想逃離那狂熱之物灼人的緊鄰——當下，它已不再是那狂熱之物不可分割的一部分。但既然心智離了靈魂便不存在，那麼在亞哈身上必定是這樣：由於他把一切思緒幻想都交給了他那唯一至高的目的，那目的便憑其意志本身那根深蒂固的頑固，硬是違抗神與魔、把自己逼成了一種自我擔當、獨立自存的存在。不，它甚至能猙獰地活著、燃燒著，而那與它相連的尋常生命力，卻驚恐萬狀地逃離這「無人召喚、無父而生」的怪胎。因此，當那看似亞哈的東西衝出他的房間、從肉眼裡瞪出的那受折磨的精靈，當下不過是一具被騰空之物、一個無形的、夢遊般的存在、一道活的光——的確是活的光，卻沒有可供它著色的對象、因而本身只是一片空白。願神助你，老人哪；你的思想在你體內造出了一個怪物；而那以如此熾烈的思想、把自己變成普羅米修斯的人——一隻禿鷹便永世啄食著那顆心；那禿鷹，正是他自己所造出的那個怪物。