我惊慌失措,毛骨悚然，吓得一句话都讲不出来。
——维吉尔
我并不是像人们所认为的那样是个博物学者,对于人为什么会产生恐惧这个问题的所知也极为有限;但无论如何恐惧都是一种很奇怪的情感,按照医生的说法,没有任何其他情感能像恐惧那样,使我们如此惊慌失措,无法做出正确的判断。的确如此,我就曾亲眼见过许多人因恐惧而变得失魂落魄;即使是那些异常冷静沉稳的人,在恐惧的时候，也一定会心烦意乱、不知所措。至于普通人,因恐惧而导致的精神涣散就更严重了,他们的脑海中一会儿星现出家族已逝成员蒙着裹尸布走出坟墓的一幕,一会儿又出现路遇狼人等妖魔鬼怪的场景。在所有人之中,按理说士兵应该是最勇敢的,但他们不是也常常由于恐惧而把羊群当做全副武装的敌军，把芦苇看成长矛,把朋友当成敌人，把法国的白十字架看做西班牙的红十字架吗?当波旁公爵进攻罗马的时候(1527年),圣彼得镇的一名值勤的旗兵,一听到警报就吓得蒙头转向,立刻扛着旌旗,从城墙的缺口处跑出城外,惊慌失措地径直向敌军奔去,而他自己还以为是在向城里跑呢。波旁公爵的军队以为是城里的守军发动了进攻,便布阵准备迎敌;直到看到敌军,这名旗手才明白自己犯了怎样的错误，于是立即转身,拼命向城里跑去;而此时,他已离自己的城池三百步之遥了。同样,当比尔伯爵和雷奥先生进攻我们的圣保罗镇的时候，指挥官朱利奧麾下的一名旗手也遭遇了类似的不幸:当时，这名惊恐万分的旗手竟莫名其妙地从炮眼里跑出了城外,结果立刻死于敌军的乱刃之下。在这次围城进攻中，还有一位贵族被这种将人紧紧攫住的恐怖气氛吓得心胆俱裂,他在从城墙的缺口逃跑时，竟在没受到任何伤害的情况下,自己倒地而死。这种恐惧有时甚至会使一大群人心智失常。在日耳曼库斯啤率军同德国人进行的一次交战中,两军人马突然惶恐万分，竞各自向对方阵营的方向逃去。有时,恐惧会驱使我们急速前行,犹如双脚插上翅膀一般,比如前面所举的那两个例子;有时,又好像将我们的双脚钉牢在地,使我们无法移动。以泰奥菲尔皇帝为例,在与亚加雷纳人的一次战役中失败之后,他如此惊恐,以致浑身麻木,甚至连逃跑的力气都没有了。
I vas amazed, my hair stood on end, and my voice stuck in my throat.
--Virgil
I am not so good a naturalist (as they call it)as to discern by what secret springs fear has it motion in u; bu, be this as it may, i s rane psin, an a ne that the physicians say there is no other whatever that sooner dethrones our judgment from its proper seat; which is so true, that I myself have scen very many become frantic through fear; and, even in those of the best settled temper it is most certain that it begets a terrible astonishment and confusion during the fit. I omit the vulgar sort, to whom it one while represents their great-grandsires risen out of their graves in their shrouds, another while werewolves, nightmares, and chimaeras; but even amongst soldiers, a sort of men over whom, of all others, it ought to have the least power, how often has it converted flocks of sheep into armed squadrons, reeds and bullrushes into pikes and lances, friends into enemies, and the French white cross into the red cross of Spain! When Monsieur de Bourbon took Rome (In 1527), an ensign who was upon guard at Borgo San Pietro was seied with such a frigt upon the firt lam, that he threw himself out at a breach with his colours upon his shoulder, and ran directly upon the enemy, thinking he had retreated toward the inward defences of the city, and with much ado, seeing Monsieur de Bourbon's people, who thought it had been a sally upon them, draw up to receive him, at last came to himself, and saw his error; and then facing about, he retreated full speed through the same breach by which he had gone out, but not till he had first blindly advanced above three hundred paces into the open field. It did not, however, fall out so well with Captain Giulio's ensign, at the time when St. Paul was tken fron us by te comte de Bure and Monieu de Reu,for he, being so astonished with fear as to throw himself, colours and all, out of a porthole, was immediately, cut to pieces by the enemy; and in the same siege, it was a very memorable fear that so seized, contracted, and froze up the heart of a gentleman, that he sank down, stone-dead, in the breach, without any manner of wound or hurt at all. The like madness does sometimes push on a whole multitude; for in one of the encounters that Germanicus had with the Germans, two great parties were so amazed with fear that they ran two opposite ways, the one to thc same place from which the other had fled. Sometimes it adds wings to the heels, as in the two first; sometimes it nails them to the ground, and fetters them from moving; as we read of the Emperor Theophilus, who, in a battle he lost against the Agarenes, was so astonished and stupefied that he had no power to fly--
上一篇：没有了
下一篇：英文散文翻译示例——The Roots of My Ambition(Excerpt)/我的自强之源（节选）
微信公众号搜索“译员”关注我们，每天为您推送翻译理论和技巧，外语学习及翻译招聘信息。