交響樂

It was a clear steel-blue day. The firmaments of air and sea were hardly separable in that all-pervading azure; only, the pensive air was transparently pure and soft, with a woman’s look, and the robust and man-like sea heaved with long, strong, lingering swells, as Samson’s chest in his sleep.

那是個鋼藍色的晴朗日子。空與海這兩重蒼穹，在那無所不在的湛藍裡幾乎難分彼此；只是，那沉思般的空氣透明、純淨而柔軟，帶著一種女子的神情，而那雄健、有如男子的海，則挺起胸膛、湧動著悠長、強勁、纏綿不去的浪濤，宛如睡夢中參孫的胸膛。

Hither, and thither, on high, glided the snow-white wings of small, unspeckled birds; these were the gentle thoughts of the feminine air; but to and fro in the deeps, far down in the bottomless blue, rushed mighty leviathans, sword-fish, and sharks; and these were the strong, troubled, murderous thinkings of the masculine sea. But though thus contrasting within, the contrast was only in shades and shadows without; those two seemed one; it was only the sex, as it were, that distinguished them.

高空之上，小小的、毫無斑點的鳥兒，雪白的翅膀東來西去地滑翔著；這些，是那陰性空氣溫柔的念頭；可在深海裡、在那深不見底的湛藍深處，巨碩的鯨、劍魚與鯊魚來回奔湧著；這些，是那陽性大海強悍、躁動而殺氣騰騰的思緒。可儘管內裡這般兩相對照，那對照在外表上卻只是濃淡明暗之別罷了；那兩者看起來渾然一體；彷彿區分它們的，僅僅是性別而已。

Aloft, like a royal czar and king, the sun seemed giving this gentle air to this bold and rolling sea; even as bride to groom. And at the girdling line of the horizon, a soft and tremulous motion—most seen here at the equator—denoted the fond, throbbing trust, the loving alarms, with which the poor bride gave her bosom away.

高高在上，那太陽就像一位皇皇的沙皇與帝王，彷彿正把這柔和的空氣，許配給這膽壯而翻滾的海；正如把新娘嫁與新郎。而在那環繞一周的水平線上，有一陣柔軟而顫動的波光——在赤道這兒最常見——昭示著那可憐的新娘獻出自己胸懷時，那份深情而悸動的信賴、那既愛又怯的不安。

Tied up and twisted; gnarled and knotted with wrinkles; haggardly firm and unyielding; his eyes glowing like coals, that still glow in the ashes of ruin; untottering Ahab stood forth in the clearness of the morn; lifting his splintered helmet of a brow to the fair girl’s forehead of heaven.

身子綁束扭曲；滿臉皺紋虯結盤錯；憔悴卻堅毅不屈；雙眼灼灼如炭火，在毀滅的灰燼裡兀自燃著；亞哈穩穩地、毫不踉蹌地挺立在那清朗的晨光之中；把他那如裂開的頭盔般的額頭，仰向那如妙齡少女前額般的蒼天。

Oh, immortal infancy, and innocency of the azure! Invisible winged creatures that frolic all round us! Sweet childhood of air and sky! how oblivious were ye of old Ahab’s close-coiled woe! But so have I seen little Miriam and Martha, laughing-eyed elves, heedlessly gambol around their old sire; sporting with the circle of singed locks which grew on the marge of that burnt-out crater of his brain.

哦，那湛藍永恆的嬰孩之態、那份天真無邪啊！那些在我們四周嬉戲的、看不見的有翼精靈！空氣與天空那甜美的童年啊！你們竟這般渾然不覺老亞哈那緊緊盤結的悲苦！可我也曾這樣看著小米莉安和瑪莎，那一雙笑眼的小精靈，無憂無慮地繞著她們年邁的父親蹦跳；逗弄著他那燒灼過的頭腦——那已燒成空殼的火山口——邊緣長出的那一圈焦黑的鬈髮。

Slowly crossing the deck from the scuttle, Ahab leaned over the side and watched how his shadow in the water sank and sank to his gaze, the more and the more that he strove to pierce the profundity... That glad, happy air, that winsome sky, did at last stroke and caress him; the step-mother world, so long cruel—forbidding—now threw affectionate arms round his stubborn neck, and did seem to joyously sob over him, as if over one, that however wilful and erring, she could yet find it in her heart to save and to bless. From beneath his slouched hat Ahab dropped a tear into the sea; nor did all the Pacific contain such wealth as that one wee drop.

亞哈從艙口緩緩穿過甲板，俯身倚在舷邊，看著自己在水裡的影子，隨著他愈想看穿那深邃、便愈沉、愈沉地墜入他的凝視……那歡欣的、幸福的空氣，那嫵媚的天空，終於輕撫、愛憐起他來；那長久以來嚴酷、冷拒的「繼母般的世界」，此刻竟張開慈愛的雙臂，摟住了他倔強的脖頸，似在為他喜極而泣——彷彿面對著這樣一個人：無論他多麼任性、多麼悖逆，她仍能從心底找到那份意願，去拯救他、祝福他。亞哈從低垂的帽簷底下，落了一滴淚入海；整個太平洋所蘊藏的財富，都抵不上這一小滴。

Starbuck saw the old man; saw him, how he heavily leaned over the side; and he seemed to hear in his own true heart the measureless sobbing that stole out of the centre of the serenity around. Careful not to touch him, or be noticed by him, he yet drew near to him, and stood there. Ahab turned. / “Starbuck!” / “Sir.”

斯塔巴克看見了那老人；看見他如何沉重地俯倚在舷邊；他彷彿在自己那顆真誠的心裡，聽見了那無從度量的啜泣，正從四周一片靜謐的中心悄悄滲出。他小心翼翼地，不去碰他、也不讓他察覺，卻仍一步步走近他，在那兒站定。亞哈轉過身來。/「斯塔巴克！」/「在，先生。」

“Oh, Starbuck! it is a mild, mild wind, and a mild looking sky. On such a day—very much such a sweetness as this—I struck my first whale—a boy-harpooneer of eighteen! Forty—forty—forty years ago!... for forty years has Ahab forsaken the peaceful land, for forty years to make war on the horrors of the deep!... away, whole oceans away, from that young girl-wife I wedded past fifty, and sailed for Cape Horn the next day, leaving but one dent in my marriage pillow—wife? wife?—rather a widow with her husband alive! Aye, I widowed that poor girl when I married her, Starbuck... what a forty years’ fool—fool—old fool, has old Ahab been!... Close! stand close to me, Starbuck; let me look into a human eye; it is better than to gaze into sea or sky; better than to gaze upon God. By the green land; by the bright hearth-stone! this is the magic glass, man; I see my wife and my child in thine eye. No, no; stay on board, on board!—lower not when I do; when branded Ahab gives chase to Moby Dick. That hazard shall not be thine. No, no! not with the far away home I see in that eye!”

「哦，斯塔巴克！這是一陣溫和、溫和的風，這是一片看著就溫和的天。在這樣的一個日子——很像今天這般的甜美——我刺中了我生平第一條鯨——一個十八歲的少年標槍手！四十——四十——四十年前了！……四十年來，亞哈拋棄了安寧的陸地，四十年來向深海的恐怖宣戰！……隔著重重大洋，遠離那個我年過五十才娶的少女妻子，娶她的次日我就啟航去繞合恩角，只在我的婚枕上留下一個凹痕——妻子？妻子？——倒不如說是個丈夫還活著的寡婦！是啊，我娶那可憐姑娘的那一刻，就讓她守了活寡，斯塔巴克……老亞哈這四十年來，是個何等的傻瓜——傻瓜——老傻瓜啊！……靠過來！靠緊我站著，斯塔巴克；讓我看進一隻凡人的眼睛裡；這勝過凝望大海或天空；勝過仰望上帝。憑那青翠的陸地、憑那明亮的爐石起誓！這是面有魔力的鏡子啊，老兄；我在你眼裡看見了我的妻子和我的孩子。不，不；你留在船上，留在船上！——我放艇下去時你別跟著下；當烙了印的亞哈去追莫比敵的時候。那份凶險，不該由你來擔。不，不！有你眼裡那遙遠的家，就更不能！」

“Oh, my Captain! my Captain! noble soul! grand old heart, after all! why should any one give chase to that hated fish! Away with me! let us fly these deadly waters! let us home! Wife and child, too, are Starbuck’s—wife and child of his brotherly, sisterly, play-fellow youth; even as thine, sir, are the wife and child of thy loving, longing, paternal old age! Away! let us away!—this instant let me alter the course!... I think, sir, they have some such mild blue days, even as this, in Nantucket.”

「哦，我的船長！我的船長！高貴的靈魂！原來骨子裡是顆了不起的老心腸啊！何苦有誰非去追那條可恨的魚不可！跟我走吧！讓我們逃離這片致命的海域！讓我們回家！斯塔巴克也有妻子和孩子啊——是他那情同手足、青梅竹馬的少年時光裡的妻子和孩子；正如您的，先生，是您那充滿愛憐與思念的、為人父的暮年裡的妻子和孩子！走吧！讓我們離開這兒！——這就讓我來掉轉航向！……我想，先生，在南塔克特，也會有這樣溫和的、湛藍的日子，就像今天一樣。」

“They have, they have. I have seen them—some summer days in the morning. About this time—yes, it is his noon nap now—the boy vivaciously wakes; sits up in bed; and his mother tells him of me, of cannibal old me; how I am abroad upon the deep, but will yet come back to dance him again.” / “’Tis my Mary, my Mary herself! She promised that my boy, every morning, should be carried to the hill to catch the first glimpse of his father’s sail!... See, see! the boy’s face from the window! the boy’s hand on the hill!”

「是有的，是有的。我見過——夏日清晨的某些時光。大約這個時辰——對，這會兒正是他睡午覺的時候——那孩子活潑潑地醒來；在床上坐起身；他母親跟他講起我，講起像吃人生番似的老我；說我如何遠在深海之上，可終究會回來再逗他、抱他跳舞。」/「這是我的瑪麗，正是我的瑪麗本人哪！她答應過，每天早上都要把我的孩子抱到山丘上，去捕捉父親船帆的第一眼！……看哪，看哪！窗口那孩子的臉！山丘上那孩子的手！」

But Ahab’s glance was averted; like a blighted fruit tree he shook, and cast his last, cindered apple to the soil. “What is it, what nameless, inscrutable, unearthly thing is it; what cozening, hidden lord and master, and cruel, remorseless emperor commands me; that against all natural lovings and longings, I so keep pushing, and crowding, and jamming myself on all the time?... Is Ahab, Ahab? Is it I, God, or who, that lifts this arm?... By heaven, man, we are turned round and round in this world, like yonder windlass, and Fate is the handspike... Where do murderers go, man! Who’s to doom, when the judge himself is dragged to the bar?... toil we how we may, we all sleep at last on the field. Sleep? Aye, and rust amid greenness; as last year’s scythes flung down, and left in the half-cut swaths—Starbuck!”

可亞哈的目光別開了；他像一棵枯萎的果樹般顫抖，把最後一顆燒成了灰的蘋果，落向泥土。「這到底是什麼，什麼無名的、高深莫測、非塵世的東西；是什麼欺哄人的、隱身的主宰，什麼殘忍、毫無悔意的帝王，在命令著我；逼我違背一切自然的愛戀與渴望，這般不停地推著自己、擠著自己、硬把自己往前塞？……亞哈，還是亞哈嗎？舉起這條手臂的，是我，是上帝，還是誰？……天哪，老兄，我們在這世上被轉了一圈又一圈，就像那邊那架絞盤，而命運就是那根撬棒……兇手都到哪兒去了，老兄！當審判官自己都被拖上被告席，又有誰來定罪？……任憑我們怎麼勞碌，到頭來，我們全都睡在這片田野上。睡？是啊，還在一片青翠裡鏽蝕掉；就像去年那些被扔下的鐮刀，丟在割了一半的草壟裡——斯塔巴克！」

But blanched to a corpse’s hue with despair, the Mate had stolen away. Ahab crossed the deck to gaze over on the other side; but started at two reflected, fixed eyes in the water there. Fedallah was motionlessly leaning over the same rail.

可那大副，早已絕望得面如死灰，悄悄地溜走了。亞哈穿過甲板，走到另一舷去俯望；卻被水裡那兩隻倒映著的、定定不動的眼睛嚇了一跳。費達拉，正一動不動地，倚在同一道欄杆上。