I:His Task
Should anyone here not know the art of love,read this,and learn by reading how to love. By art the boat’s set gliding,with oar and sail,by art the chariot’s swift:love’s ruled by art. Automedon was skilled with Achilles’s chariot reins,Tiphys in Thessaly was steersman of the Argo,Venus appointed me as guide to gentle Love:I’ll be known as Love’s Tiphys,and Automedon. It’s true Love’s wild,and one who often flouts me:but he’s a child of tender years,fit to be ruled. Chiron made the young Achilles perfect at the lyre,and tempered his wild spirits through peaceful art. He,who so terrified his enemies and friends,they say he greatly feared the aged Centaur. That hand that Hector was destined to know,was held out,at his master’s orders,to be flogged; I am Love’s teacher as Chiron was Achilles’s,both wild boys,both children of a goddess.Yet the bullock’s neck is bowed beneath the yoke,and the spirited horse’s teeth worn by the bit. And Love will yield to me,though with his bow he wounds my heart,shakes at me his burning torch. The more he pierces me,the more violently he burns me,so much the fitter am I to avenge the wounds. Nor will I falsely say you gave me the art,Apollo,no voice from a heavenly bird gives me advice,I never caught sight of Clio or Clio’s sisterswhile herding the flocks,Ascra,in your valleys:Experience prompts this work:listen to the expert poet. I sing true; Venus,help my venture! Far away from here,you badges of modesty,the thin headband,the ankle-covering dress! I sing of safe love,permissible intrigue,and there’ll be nothing sinful in my song.
Now the first task for you who come as a raw recruitis to find out who you might wish to love. The next task is to make sure that she likes you:the third,to see to it that the love will last. That’s my aim,that’s the ground my chariot will cover:that’s the post my thundering wheels will scrape.
1.他的任务
假如在我们的国人中有一个人不懂得爱的艺术,那么他只要读了这部诗作,之后他便能够理解了,他就学会了爱。用帆和桨使船儿航行得很快的是一门艺术,使车儿驰行得很轻捷的也是一门艺术。艺术也能够统治阿谟尔。沃岛美东善于驾车和运用那柔顺的马缰;谛费斯是海木尼阿船的舵工。而我呢,维纳斯曾经叫我做过她的小阿谟尔的老师;人们将称我为阿谟尔的谛费斯和沃岛美东。他生来就非常倔强,他时常与我对抗,但是他还是个孩子,应该是柔顺的年龄,是听人指挥的。菲丽拉的儿子用琴的韵律来教育阿岂赖斯,用这种平寂的艺术,驯服了他的野性。这个人,他曾经多少次让他的同伙,和他的敌人感到恐怖,但是有人却说看见他在一个衰颓的老人前退缩颤抖;他的双手使海克笃尔都感到十分有分量,但是当他的老师让他拿出来时,他却会毫不犹豫地伸出来接受惩罚。岂龙是艾阿古斯的孙子的启蒙老师;我呢,我是阿谟尔的启蒙老师。两个都是让人敬畏的孩子,两个都是女神的儿子。可是骄恣的雄牛终究还是要驾着耕犁的轭,勇敢的战马再骠悍也还是要嚼着那控制着它的辔头。我也是这样,我降伏了阿谟尔,虽然他的箭伤了我的心,而且还在我的面前摇动着他那耀眼的火炬。他的箭越是尖锐,他的火也就越是猛烈,他也就越激起我为了那伤痕而去报复。斐菩斯啊,我决不会冒充说那我所教的艺术是受你的影响而来的;传授我这艺术的更不是鸟儿的歌声和羽毛;当我在你的山谷,阿斯克拉牧羊的时候,我没有看见过格丽奥和格丽奥的姊妹们,经验是我的导师:听从有心得的诗人的教诲吧。真实,这就是我要唱的;帮助我吧,阿谟尔我的母亲!走得远些,你轻盈的细带,贞节的象征,而你,曳地的长衣,你将我们的贵妇们的纤足遮住了一半!我们要唱的是没有危险的欢乐和得到允许的偷香窃玉;我的诗是没有一点可以责备的。
愿意投到维纳斯的旗帜下学习的人,其一,你应当留心去寻找你的恋爱对象;其二,你应当留心去勾引你所爱的女子;其三,要使这爱情维持得久长。这就是我的范围,这就是我的马车要跑的跑道;这就是那应当达到的目的。
II:How to Find Her
While you’re still free,and can roam on a loose rein,pick one to whom you could say “You alone please me” . She won’t come falling for you out of thin air:the right girl has to be searched for:use your eyes. The hunter knows where to spread nets for the stag,he knows what valleys hide the angry boar:the wild-fowler knows the woods:the fisherman knows the waters where the most fish spawn:You too,who search for the essence of lasting love,must be taught the places that the girls frequent. I don’t demand you set your sails,and search,or wear out some long road to discover them. Perseus brought Andromeda from darkest India,and Trojan Paris snatched his girl from Greece,Rome will grant you lots of such lovely girls,you’ll say:“Here’s everything the world has had. ” Your Rome’s as many girls as Gargara’s sheaves,as Methymna’s grapes,as fishes in the sea,as birds in the hidden branches,stars in the sky: Venus,Aeneas’s mother,haunts his city. If you’d catch them very young and not yet grown,real child-brides will come before your eyes:if it’s young girls you want,thousands will please you. You’ll be forced to be unsure of your desires:if you delight greatly in older wiser years,here too,believe me,there’s an even greater crowd.
2.如何找到她
当你的思想一无羁绊,任意驰骋的时候,你可以去选一个女子对她说“只有你才是我最怜爱的人儿”。她是不会乘着一阵舒爽的风儿从天上吹下来的;你最中意的美人是应当用你的眼睛去寻找的。猎人很明白他应该在什么地方张开捕鹿的网,他很清楚在哪一个山谷中有野猪的巢穴。捕鸟的人认识那有利于他捕猎的树林,而渔夫也不会不知道哪一条河中的鱼最多。你也如此,要找一个长久的爱情的目标,也就是首先应该知道在哪里才能够遇到许多少女。要去找她们,你也用不着坐船去航海,也不用到远方去旅行。拜尔塞斯从熏黑的印度人中找到了他的昂德萝美黛,弗里基阿人掠到了一个希腊女子;我很愿意这样。但是单单是一个罗马就已经能够给你一位同样美丽的女子了,而且还如此的多,使你不得不承认说:“我们的城中有世界上最美的人。”正如迦尔迦拉丰收的麦穗,麦丁那盛产的葡萄,海洋里有鱼,树林里有鸟,天上有星一样,在你所居住的罗马,也一样拥有如此众多年轻漂亮的女人;阿谟尔的母亲已在她热爱的艾耐阿斯城中定居了。假如你迷恋那些青春年少又正在发育的美女,一个真正无瑕的少女就会使你感到满意;假如你喜欢年纪大一点的,成千上万的少妇都会使你欢心,而你便会有选择的困难了。或许一个中年有经验的妇人在你看来是格外有情趣的,那么,请相信我,这种人是非常多的。
III:Search while you’re out Walking
Just walk slowly under Pompey’s shady colonnade,when the sun’s in Leo,on the back of Hercules’s lion:or where Octavia added to her dead son Marcellus’s gifts,with those rich works of foreign marble. Don’t miss the Portico that takes its namefrom Livia its creator,full of old masters:or where the daring Danaids prepare to murder their poor husbands,and their fierce father stands,with out-stretched sword. And don’t forget the shrine of Adonis,Venus wept for,and the sacred Sabbath rites of the Syrian Jews. Don’t skip the Memphite temple of the linen-clad heifer:she makes many a girl what she herself was to Jove.
And the law-courtswho’d believe it?they suit love:a flame is often found in the noisy courts:where the Appian waters pulse into the air,from under Venus’s temple,made of marble,there the lawyer’s often caught by love,and he who guides others,fails to guide himself:In that place of eloquence often his words desert him,and a new case starts,his own cause is the brief. There Venus,from her neighbouring temples,laughs:he,who was once the counsel,now wants to be the client.
3.在闲逛中寻找
当太阳触到海尔古赖斯的狮子背脊时,你只要到庞培门的阴凉下慢慢地去散步,或者是在华丽的纪念物旁漫步,那个建筑物是一位慈母,为了送一件贵重的礼物给她的儿子而让人用异国的云石建造的。不要忘记去欣赏那绘满了古画的廊庑,那里叫丽薇雅,这就是它的创立者;也不要忘记你在那里可以看见那些谋害不幸的堂兄弟们的培鲁斯的孙女们和她们的手中握着剑的残忍的父亲的廓庑。更不要忘记维纳斯为之哀哭的阿陶尼斯节,和叙利亚的犹太人每个礼拜的第七日所举行的大祭典。更不要避开牝牛,埃及的披着麻衣的女神的神殿;她使许多妇人都模仿她对裘比德做的事。
即是那市场谁会相信呢?也是有利于阿谟尔的,不管它有多少喧闹,一缕感情的火焰还是会从那里生出来。在供奉着维纳斯的云石的神殿下,阿比阿斯用飞泉射到空中。在那个地方,有许多法学家被阿谟尔所绑缚,而这些能保护别人的人却不能保护自己。经常地,在这个地方,即使是最善辩的人也缺乏辞令:新的利益占据着他,使他不得不为自己的利害进行辩论。在邻近的地方,维纳斯在她的神殿里微笑着看他的窘态;在不久之前还是保护别人的人,现在却只希望受到别人的保护了。
IV:At the Theatre
But hunt for them,especially,at the tiered theatre:that place is the most fruitful for your needs. There you’ll find one to love,or one you can play with,one to be with just once,or one you might wish to keep. As ants return home often in long processions,carrying their favourite food in their mouths,or as the bees buzz through the flowers and thyme,among their pastures and fragrant chosen meadows,so our fashionable ladies crowd to the famous shows:my choice is often constrained by such richness. They come to see,they come to be seen as well:the place is fatal to chaste modesty. These shows were first made troublesome by Romulus,when the raped Sabines delighted unmarried men. Then no awnings hung from the marble theatre,the stage wasn’t stained with saffron perfumes:Then what the shady Palatine provided,leaves simply placed,was all the artless scene. The audience sat on tiers made from turf,and covered their shaggy hair,as best they could,with leaves. They watched,and each with his eye observed the girl he wanted,and trembled greatly in his silent heart. While,to the measure of the homely Etruscan flute,the dancer,with triple beat,struck the levelled earth,amongst the applause applause that was never artful then the king gave the watched-for signal for the rape. They sprang up straightaway,showing their intent by shouting,and eagerly took posses-sion of the women. As doves flee the eagle,in a frightened crowd,as the new-born lamb runs from the hostile wolf: So they fled in panic from the lawless men,and not one showed he colour she had before. Now they all fear as one,but not with one face of fear. Some tear their hair; some sit there,all will lost; one mourns silently,another cries for her mother in vain; one moans,one faints; one stays,while that one runs; the captive girls were led away,a joyful prize,and many made even fear itself look fitting. Whoever showed too much fight,and denied her lover,he held her clasped high to his loving heart,and said to her“Why mar your tender cheeks with tears? As your father to your mother,I’ll be to you.” Romulus,alone,knew what was fitting for soldiers:I’ll be a soldier,if you give me what suits me. From that I suppose came the theatres’usual customs:now too they remain a snare for the beautiful.
4.在剧院里
你尤其应该在剧院和它的半圆形的座位中撒开你的网:这些地方都充满了机会。在那里,你可以找到某个能够打动你、某个你可以欺骗、某个不过是路边的闲花野草、某个你可以和她建立长久的关系的人。好像蚂蚁在长阵中来来往往的运输着它们的食品谷子,或者是像那些蜜蜂找到了它们所喜爱的香草时,轻轻地在茄香和花枝上飞舞,女子也是如此,穿着艳丽的服饰,忙着向剧院蜂拥而去;她们的数目往往使我在选择的时候感到非常为难。她们是去看戏的,可是她们同时也是去被看的,这对于贞洁来说是一个非常危险的地方。这就是你的开端啊,罗摩路斯,你将烦恼混到了游艺之中,掳掠沙皮尼族的女子给你的战士作妻子。那时剧院的垂幕还没有装饰云石,番红花汁还没有染红舞台。从巴拉丁山的树上采下来的树叶的彩带是并不精致的剧场的唯一装饰品。在分做层级的草地的座位上,人民都坐着,树叶漫过了他们的头发。每个人都向自己的周围观望,搜寻他所渴望的少女,在心中悄悄地做着自己的打算。当号角声响起,一个狂剧的演员用脚在平地上顿了三下,在人民的欢呼声中,罗摩路斯发出暗号给他的部下让他们夺取各人的猎物。他们突然发出那泄露他们阴谋的呼声向前奔去,用他们贪婪的手扑向年轻的处女。正如一群受到惊吓的小鸽子飞翔在老鹰的前面,正如一头小绵羊看到狼的影子而拼命奔逃,沙皮尼的女子也一样地颤抖着,当她们看见那些蛮横的战士向她们扑过来时。她们全都脸色惨白:因为她们都很惊慌,虽然惊慌的表现各不相同。有的是自己抓着自己的头发,有的则是坐在自己的位置上晕过去了;这个默默地哭泣,那个徒然地喊着她的母亲;其余的或者是呜咽着,或者是被惊呆了;有的则一动不动地站着,有的想要逃走。人们便牵着那些女子,注定是他们婚床上的猎物,有许多女子因为惊慌而显得格外美丽。假如有一个女子剧烈反抗,不肯顺从那个想要抢她的人,那么那人便抱起她,热情地将她紧贴在胸口,对她说:“为什么要用眼泪来破坏你那美丽眼眸的光辉呢?你父亲是如何对待你母亲的,我就会如何来对待你。” 哦,罗摩路斯!只有你能适当地奖赏你的士兵:为了这种奖品,我很愿意投到你的旗帜之下。这是一定的,由于对这古老习惯的忠实,直到现在,剧场里还为美人们设着陷阱。