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第15节

heretics-第15节

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doubtless he would jump off the Monument; but he would not jump



off the Monument all day long to the delight of the City。



But if we took it to a blind man; saying; 〃This will enable you to see;〃



he would be under a heavier temptation。  It would be hard for him



not to rub it on his eyes whenever he heard the hoof of a noble



horse or the birds singing at daybreak。  It is easy to deny one's



self festivity; it is difficult to deny one's self normality。



Hence comes the fact which every doctor knows; that it is often



perilous to give alcohol to the sick even when they need it。



I need hardly say that I do not mean that I think the giving



of alcohol to the sick for stimulus is necessarily unjustifiable。



But I do mean that giving it to the healthy for fun is the proper



use of it; and a great deal more consistent with health。







The sound rule in the matter would appear to be like many other



sound rulesa paradox。  Drink because you are happy; but never because



you are miserable。  Never drink when you are wretched without it;



or you will be like the grey…faced gin…drinker in the slum;



but drink when you would be happy without it; and you will be like



the laughing peasant of Italy。  Never drink because you need it;



for this is rational drinking; and the way to death and hell。



But drink because you do not need it; for this is irrational drinking;



and the ancient health of the world。







For more than thirty years the shadow and glory of a great



Eastern figure has lain upon our English literature。



Fitzgerald's translation of Omar Khayyam concentrated into an



immortal poignancy all the dark and drifting hedonism of our time。



Of the literary splendour of that work it would be merely banal to speak;



in few other of the books of men has there been anything so combining



the gay pugnacity of an epigram with the vague sadness of a song。



But of its philosophical; ethical; and religious influence which has



been almost as great as its brilliancy; I should like to say a word;



and that word; I confess; one of uncompromising hostility。



There are a great many things which might be said against



the spirit of the Rubaiyat; and against its prodigious influence。



But one matter of indictment towers ominously above the rest



a genuine disgrace to it; a genuine calamity to us。  This is the terrible



blow that this great poem has struck against sociability and the joy



of life。  Some one called Omar 〃the sad; glad old Persian。〃



Sad he is; glad he is not; in any sense of the word whatever。



He has been a worse foe to gladness than the Puritans。







A pensive and graceful Oriental lies under the rose…tree



with his wine…pot and his scroll of poems。  It may seem strange



that any one's thoughts should; at the moment of regarding him;



fly back to the dark bedside where the doctor doles out brandy。



It may seem stranger still that they should go back



to the grey wastrel shaking with gin in Houndsditch。



But a great philosophical unity links the three in an evil bond。



Omar Khayyam's wine…bibbing is bad; not because it is wine…bibbing。



It is bad; and very bad; because it is medical wine…bibbing。 It



is the drinking of a man who drinks because he is not happy。



His is the wine that shuts out the universe; not the wine that reveals it。



It is not poetical drinking; which is joyous and instinctive;



it is rational drinking; which is as prosaic as an investment;



as unsavoury as a dose of camomile。  Whole heavens above it;



from the point of view of sentiment; though not of style;



rises the splendour of some old English drinking…song







  〃Then pass the bowl; my comrades all;



   And let the zider vlow。〃







For this song was caught up by happy men to express the worth



of truly worthy things; of brotherhood and garrulity; and the brief



and kindly leisure of the poor。  Of course; the great part of



the more stolid reproaches directed against the Omarite morality



are as false and babyish as such reproaches usually are。  One critic;



whose work I have read; had the incredible foolishness to call Omar



an atheist and a materialist。  It is almost impossible for an Oriental



to be either; the East understands metaphysics too well for that。



Of course; the real objection which a philosophical Christian



would bring against the religion of Omar; is not that he gives



no place to God; it is that he gives too much place to God。



His is that terrible theism which can imagine nothing else but deity;



and which denies altogether the outlines of human personality



and human will。







  〃The ball no question makes of Ayes or Noes;



   But Here or There as strikes the Player goes;



   And He that tossed you down into the field;



   He knows about it allhe knowshe knows。〃







A Christian thinker such as Augustine or Dante would object to this



because it ignores free…will; which is the valour and dignity of the soul。



The quarrel of the highest Christianity with this scepticism is



not in the least that the scepticism denies the existence of God;



it is that it denies the existence of man。







In this cult of the pessimistic pleasure…seeker the Rubaiyat



stands first in our time; but it does not stand alone。



Many of the most brilliant intellects of our time have urged



us to the same self…conscious snatching at a rare delight。



Walter Pater said that we were all under sentence of death;



and the only course was to enjoy exquisite moments simply



for those moments' sake。  The same lesson was taught by the



very powerful and very desolate philosophy of Oscar Wilde。



It is the carpe diem religion; but the carpe diem religion is



not the religion of happy people; but of very unhappy people。



Great joy does; not gather the rosebuds while it may;



its eyes are fixed on the immortal rose which Dante saw。



Great joy has in it the sense of immortality; the very splendour



of youth is the sense that it has all space to stretch its legs in。



In all great comic literature; in 〃Tristram Shandy〃



or 〃Pickwick〃; there is this sense of space and incorruptibility;



we feel the characters are deathless people in an endless tale。







It is true enough; of course; that a pungent happiness comes chiefly



in certain passing moments; but it is not true that we should think



of them as passing; or enjoy them simply 〃for those moments' sake。〃



To do this is to rationalize the happiness; and therefore to destroy it。



Happiness is a mystery like religion; and should never be rationalized。



Suppose a man experiences a really splendid moment of pleasure。



I do not mean something connected with a bit of enamel; I mean



something with a violent happiness in itan almost painful happiness。



A man may have; for instance; a moment of ecstasy in first love;



or a moment of victory in battle。  The lover enjoys the moment;



but precisely not for the moment's sake。  He enjoys it for the



woman's sake; or his own sake。  The warrior enjoys the moment; but not



for the sake of the moment; he enjoys it for the sake of the flag。



The cause which the flag stands for may be foolish and fleeting;



the love may be calf…love; and last a week。  But the patriot thinks



of the flag as eternal; the lover thinks of his love as something



that cannot end。  These moments are filled with eternity;



these moments are joyful because they do not seem momentary。



Once look at them as moments after Pater's manner; and they become



as cold as Pater and his style。  Man cannot love mortal things。



He can only love immortal things for an instant。







Pater's mistake is revealed in his most famous phrase。



He asks us to burn with a hard; gem…like flame。  Flames are never



hard and never gem…likethey cannot be handled or arranged。



So human emotions are never hard and never gem…like; they are



always dangerous; like flames; to touch or even to examine。



There is only one way in which our passions can become hard



and gem…like; and that is by becoming as cold as gems。



No blow then has ever been struck at the natural loves and laughter



of men so sterilizing as this carpe diem of the aesthetes。



For any kind of pleasure a totally different spirit is required;



a certain shyness; a certain indeterminate hope; a certain



boyish expectation。  Purity and simplicity are essential to passions



yes even to evil passions。  Even vice demands a sort of virginity。







Omar's (or Fitzgerald's) effect upon the other world we may let go;



his hand upon this world has been heavy and paralyzing。


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