改编自最后的人玛丽·雪莱(1826)
我完成了我的使命;我看到了卡拉扎。他有些吃惊;他说,他会看看能做些什么,但这需要时间,雷蒙德命令我在中午之前回来。在这么短的时间内影响任何事情是不可能的。我必须呆到第二天,或者在把目前的情况报告给将军之后再回来。我的选择很容易做出。一种不安,一种对即将发生的事情的恐惧,一种对雷蒙德意图的怀疑,促使我立即回到他的住处。离开七塔,我向东骑向甜水河。我选择了一条迂回的小路,主要是为了登上前面提到的山顶,在那里可以看到这座城市的景色。 I had my glass with me. The city basked under the noon-day sun, and the venerable walls formed its picturesque boundary. Immediately before me was the Top Kapou, the gate near which Mahomet had made the breach by which he entered the city. Trees gigantic and aged grew near; before the gate I discerned a crowd of moving human figures—with intense curiosity I lifted my glass to my eye. I saw Lord Raymond on his charger; a small company of officers had gathered about him, and behind was a promiscuous concourse of soldiers and subalterns, their discipline lost, their arms thrown aside; no music sounded, no banners streamed. The only flag among them was one which Raymond carried; he pointed with it to the gate of the city. The circle round him fell back. With angry gestures he leapt from his horse, and seizing a hatchet that hung from his saddle-bow, went with the apparent intention of battering down the opposing gate. A few men came to aid him; their numbers increased; under their united blows the obstacle was vanquished, gate, portcullis, and fence were demolished, and the wide sun-lit way, leading to the heart of the city, now lay open before them. The men shrank back; they seemed afraid of what they had already done, and stood as if they expected some Mighty Phantom to stalk in offended majesty from the opening. Raymond sprung lightly on his horse, grasped the standard, and with words which I could not hear (but his gestures, being their fit accompaniment, were marked by passionate energy), he seemed to adjure their assistance and companionship; even as he spoke, the crowd receded from him. Indignation now transported him; his words I guessed were fraught with disdain—then turning from his coward followers, he addressed himself to enter the city alone. His very horse seemed to back from the fatal entrance; his dog, his faithful dog, lay moaning and supplicating in his path—in a moment more, he had plunged the rowels into the sides of the stung animal, who bounded forward, and he, the gateway passed, was galloping up the broad and desert street.
在此之前,我的灵魂只在我的眼睛里。我惊奇地凝视着,夹杂着恐惧和热情。后一种感觉现在占了主导地位。我忘记了我们之间的距离:“我要和你一起去,雷蒙德!”我叫了起来,但是,我的眼睛离开了镜子,我几乎看不清离我大约一英里远的人群中矮小的身影,他们围着大门。雷蒙德的形象消失了。我急不可待,用鞭策的力量和松开的缰绳催促我的马下坡,这样,在危险到来之前,我就可以走到我高贵的、神一般的朋友身边了。当我到达平原时,许多建筑物和树木挡住了我的视线,使我看不见这座城市。但就在这时,听到了一声撞击声。雷鸣般的声音回荡在天空中,天空一片漆黑。 A moment more and the old walls again met my sight, while over them hovered a murky cloud; fragments of buildings whirled above, half seen in smoke, while flames burst out beneath, and continued explosions filled the air with terrific thunders. Flying from the mass of falling ruin which leapt over the high walls, and shook the ivy towers, a crowd of soldiers made for the road by which I came; I was surrounded, hemmed in by them, unable to get forward. My impatience rose to its utmost; I stretched out my hands to the men; I conjured them to turn back and save their General, the conqueror of Stamboul, the liberator of Greece; tears, aye tears, in warm flow gushed from my eyes—I would not believe in his destruction, yet every mass that darkened the air seemed to bear with it a portion of the martyred Raymond. Horrible sights were shaped to me in the turbid cloud that hovered over the city; and my only relief was derived from the struggles I made to approach the gate. Yet when I affected my purpose, all I could discern within the precincts of the massive walls was a city of fire: the open way through which Raymond had ridden was enveloped in smoke and flame. After an interval the explosions ceased, but the flames still shot up from various quarters; the dome of St. Sophia had disappeared. Strange to say (the result perhaps of the concussion of air occasioned by the blowing up of the city), huge, white thunder clouds lifted themselves up from the southern horizon, and gathered overhead; they were the first blots on the blue expanse that I had seen for months, and amidst this havoc and despair they inspired pleasure. The vault above became obscured, lightning flashed from the heavy masses, followed instantaneously by crashing thunder; then the big rain fell. The flames of the city bent beneath it, and the smoke and dust arising from the ruins was dissipated.