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egypt-第1部分

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Egypt (La Mort De Philae)

by Pierre Loti

Translated from the French by W。 P。 BAINES









CHAPTER I



A WINTER MIDNIGHT BEFORE THE GREAT SPHINX



A night wondrously clear and of a colour unknown to our climate; a

place of dreamlike aspect; fraught with mystery。 The moon of a bright

silver; which dazzles by its shining; illumines a world which surely

is no longer ours; for it resembles in nothing what may be seen in

other lands。 A world in which everything is suffused with rosy color

beneath the stars of midnight; and where granite symbols rise up;

ghostlike and motionless。



Is that a hill of sand that rises yonder? One can scarcely tell; for

it has as it were no shape; no outline; rather it seems like a great

rosy cloud; or some huge; trembling billow; which once perhaps raised

itself there; forthwith to become motionless for ever。 。 。 。 And from

out this kind of mummified wave a colossal human effigy emerges; rose…

coloured too; a nameless; elusive rose; emerges; and stares with fixed

eyes and smiles。 It is so huge it seems unreal; as if it were a

reflection cast by some mirror hidden in the moon。 。 。 。 And behind

this monster face; far away in the rear; on the top of those undefined

and gently undulating sandhills; three apocalyptic signs rise up

against the sky; those rose…coloured triangles; regular as the figures

of geometry; but so vast in the distance that they inspire you with

fear。 They seem to be luminous of themselves; so vividly do they stand

out in their clear rose against the deep blue of the star…spangled

vault。 And this apparent radiation from within; by its lack of

likelihood; makes them seem more awful。



And all around is the desert; a corner of the mournful kingdom of

sand。 Nothing else is to be seen anywhere save those three awful

things that stand there upright and stillthe human likeness

magnified beyond all measurement; and the three geometric mountains;

things at first sight like exhalations; visionary things; with

nevertheless here and there; and most of all in the features of the

vast mute face; subtleties of shadow which show that /it/ at least

exists; rigid and immovable; fashioned out of imperishable stone。



Even had we not known; we must soon have guessed; for these things are

unique in the world; and pictures of every age have made the knowledge

of them commonplace: the Sphinx and the Pyramids! But what is strange

is that they should be so disquieting。 。 。 。 And this pervading colour

of rose; whence comes it; seeing that usually the moon tints with blue

the things it illumines? One would not expect this colour either;

which; nevertheless; is that of all the sands and all the granites of

Egypt and Arabia。 And then too; the eyes of the statue; how often have

we not seen them? And did we not know that they were capable only of

their one fixed stare? Why is it then that their motionless regard

surprises and chills us; even while we are obsessed by the smile of

the sealed lips that seem to hold back the answer to the supreme

enigma? 。 。 。



It is cold; but cold as in our country are the fine nights of January;

and a wintry mist rises low down in the little valleys of the sand。

And that again we were not expecting; beyond question the latest

invaders of this country; by changing the course of the old Nile; so

as to water the earth and make it more productive; have brought hither

the humidity of their own misty isle。 And this strange cold; this

mist; light as it still is; seem to presage the end of ages; give an

added remoteness and finality to all this dead past; which lies here

beneath us in subterranean labyrinths haunted by a thousand mummies。



And the mist; which; as the night advances; thickens in the valleys;

hesitates to mount to the great daunting face of the Sphinx; and

covers it with the merest and most transparent gauze; and; like

everything else here to…night; this gauze; too; is rose…colored。 And

meanwhile the Sphinx; which has seen the unrolling of all the history

of the world; attends impassively the change in Egypt's climate;

plunged in profound and mystic contemplation of the moon; its friend

for the last 5000 years。



Here and there on the soft pathway of the sandhills are pigmy figures

of men that move about or sit squatting as if on the watch; and small

as they are; low down in the hollows and far away; this wonderful

silver moon reveals even their slightest gestures; for their white

robes and black cloaks stand sharply out against the monotonous rose

of the desert。 At times they call to one another in a harsh; aspirate

tongue; and then go off at a run; noiselessly; barefooted; with

burnous flying; like moths in the night。 They lie in wait for the

parties of tourists who arrive from time to time。 For the great

symbols; during the hundreds and thousands of years that have elapsed

since men ceased to venerate them; have nevertheless scarcely ever

been alone; especially on nights with a full moon。 Men of all races;

of all times; have come to wander round them; vaguely attracted by

their immensity and mystery。 In the days of the Romans they had

already become symbols of a lost significance; legacies of a fabulous

antiquity; but people came curiously to contemplate them; and tourists

in toga and in peplus carved their names on the granite of their bases

for the sake of remembrance。



The tourists who have come to…night; and upon whom have pounced the

black…cloaked Bedouin guides; wear cap and ulster or furred greatcoat;

their intrusion here seems almost an offence; but; alas; such visitors

become more numerous in each succeeding year。 The great town hard by

which sweats gold now that men have started to buy from it its dignity

and its soulis become a place of rendezvous and holiday for the

idlers and upstarts of the whole world。 The modern spirit encompasses

the old desert of the Sphinx on every side。 It is true that up to the

present no one has dared to profane it by building in the immediate

neighbourhood of the great statue。 Its fixity and calm disdain still

hold some sway; perhaps。 But little more than a mile away there ends a

road travelled by hackney carriages and tramway cars; and noisy with

the delectable hootings of smart motor cars; and behind the pyramid of

Cheops squats a vast hotel to which swarm men and women of fashion;

the latter absurdly feathered; like Redskins at a scalp dance; and

sick people; in search of purer air; and consumptive English maidens;

and ancient English dames; a little the worse for wear; who bring

their rheumatisms for the treatment of the dry winds。



Passing on our way hither; we had seen this road and this hotel and

these people in the glare of the electric lights; and from an

orchestra that was playing there we caught the trivial air of a

popular refrain of the music halls; but when in a dip of the ground

all this had disappeared; what a sense of deliverance possessed us;

how far off this turmoil seemed! As soon as we commenced to tread upon

the sand of centuries; where all at once our footsteps made no sound;

nothing seemed to have existence; save only the great calm and the

religious awe of this world into which we were come; of this world

with its so crushing commentary upon our own; where all seemed silent;

undefined; gigantic and suffused with rose…colour。



And first there is the pyramid of Cheops; whose immutable base we had

to skirt on our way hither。 In the moonlight we could see the separate

blocks; so enormous; so regular; so even in their layers; which lie

one above the other to infinity; getting ever smaller and smaller; and

mounting; mounting in diminishing perspective; until at last high up

they form the apex of this giddy triangle。 And the pyramid seemed to

be illumined by some sad dawn of the end of the world; a dawn which

made ruddy only the sands and the granites of earth; and left the

heavens; pricked with their myriad stars; more awful in their

darkness。 How impossible it is for us to conceive the mental attitude

of that king who; during some half…century; spent the lives of

thousands and thousands of his slaves in the construction of this

tomb; in the fond and foolish hope of prolonging to infinity the

existence of his mummy。



The pyramid once passed there was still a short way to go before we

confronted the Sphinx; in the middle of what our contemporaries have

left him of his desert。 We had to descend the slope of that sandhill

which looked like a cloud; and seemed as if covered with felt; in

order to preserve in such a place a more complete silence。 And here

and there we passed a gaping black holean airhole; as it seemed; of

the profound and inextricable kingdom of mummies; very populous still;

in spite of the zeal of the exhumers。



As we descended the sandy pathway we were not slow to perceive the

Sphinx itself; half hill; half couchant beast; turning its back upon

us in the attitude of a gigantic dog; that thought to bay the moon;

its head stood out in dark silhouette; like a screen before the light

it seemed to be regarding; and the lappets of its headgear showed like

downhanging ears。 And then gradually; as we walked on; we saw it in

profile; shorn of its noseflat…nosed like a death's headbut having

already an expression even when seen afar off and from the side;

already disdainful with thrust…out chin and baffling; mysterious

smile。 And when at length we arrived before the colossal visage; face

to face with itwithout however encountering its gaze; which passed

high above our headsthere came over us at once the sentiment of all

the secret thought which these men of old contrived to incorporate and

make eternal behind this mutilated mask。



But in full daylight their great Sphinx is no more。 It has ceased as

it were to exist。 It is so scarred by time; and by the hands of

iconoclasts; so dilapidated; broken and diminished; that it is as

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