Such large virtue lurks in these small things when extreme political superstitions invest them, that in some royal instances even to idiot imbecility they have imparted potency. But when, as in the case of Nicholas the Czar, the ringed crown of geographical empire encircles an imperial brain; then, the plebeian herds crouch abased before the tremendous centralization. Nor, will the tragic dramatist who would depict mortal indomitableness in its fullest sweep and direct swing, ever forget a hint, incidentally so important in his art, as the one now alluded to.
这些微不足道的东西,一旦加上极端的政治迷信,就有这么的了不起的效力,以致在一些王室的事例中,连大笨伯也给弄得权力十足了。而且,正如尼古拉沙皇的情形一样,那顶地理学上的王国的王冠一箍上那只至尊的脑袋,平民也就自卑地匍伏在那可怕的中央集权之前了。悲剧家要描摹那种气势万千。不可一世而具有不屈不挠的精神的人物,也始终忘不了这里所说的这种暗示,因为,这在他的艺术作品中是有意想不到的重大意义的。
But Ahab, my Captain, still moves before me in all his Nantucket grimness and shagginess; and in this episode touching Emperors and Kings, I must not conceal that I have only to do with a poor old whale-hunter like him; and, therefore, all outward majestical trappings and housings are denied me. Oh, Ahab! what shall be grand in thee, it must needs be plucked at from the skies, and dived for in the deep, and featured in the unbodied air!
不过,出现在我眼前的我的亚哈船长,却还是带着南塔开特人的严酷的表情,穿得邋里邋遢;因此,在这个有关帝王的插话中,我必须不加隐瞒地承认,象他这样的人,我只有把他作为一个可怜的捕鲸老头来处理了;因此,一切外表堂皇的服饰和鞍褥都给我摒弃了。亚哈呵!说到你的伟大,真是如天之高,如海之深,如太空之广漠!