英文名著分集阅读 詹妮弗·巴西特《威廉·莎士比亚》part5
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William Shakespeare by Jennifer Bassett
单词提示
1.Earl 伯爵
2.plague 瘟疫
3.council 议会，委员会
4.sonnets 十四行诗
5.lodgings 暂住的房间
6.sworn 发誓
7.thee 第二人称，你
原文
Chapter 5: The plague years
Will wrote his play Richard Iii for Richard Burbage, and it was a great success.
Richard Iii was a wicked king, a murderer, but he was wonderful on the stage with Burbage's,great voice and fine acting.
Soon all London was saying King Richard's famous words when his horse is killed in war, “A horse, a horse. My kingdom for a horse.”
All kinds of people came to see plays, and Will was making a lot of new friends.
One day after the play, he was talking to a young man outside the Rose.
He was a very beautiful young man, a bit like a girl perhaps, but still very good looking.
Later,I asked Will who he was.
“The Earl of Southampton.” Will said, “he's only 18, but he loves poetry and plays.”
“Isn't he a friend of the Earl of Essex?” I asked.
Everybody knew the Earl of Essex.
He was young and good looking, and some people said that Queen Elizabeth was in love with him.”
I don't know about that.
The Queen was 59 years old and a very, very clever woman.
But it was true that she liked to have good looking young men around her, and the Earl of Essex was her favorite.
Then it all changed later, of course.
“Yes,he is.” said Will, “but I think Essex is a dangerous man, Henry needs better friends than him.”
“Henry?” I said surprised, “my word, do you really call him Henry, not Lord Southampton?”
“Only when other people aren't there.” Will laughed,“I'm still just an actor from Stratford, Toby, not very important. Let's go and have a drink at the Boar's Head on our way home.”
Will was always like that, quiet, never shouting about himself to the world.
In the Boar's Head, we met some friends and started talking.
The talk was all about the plague, which was coming back again into London.
“Have you heard the latest news?” said one man, “They say that more than 30 people are dying every week now, and the city council said another man wants to close all the theatres. They always do that. When the play comes to London, there'll be no work for any of us actors.”
“But the players can go on tour surely,” said Will.
“Yes,”said the first man, “But it's a hard life, a different town, a different inn, a different play every night. I think I'll stay in London.”
The plague is terrible in any place, but it was worst in London, in those narrow streets with houses so close together and the dirty water running down the middle of the street.
There was no escape.
When the plague came, it ran like fire through the town.
If someone in a house got the plague, then the doors were shut and locked and a big red cross was put on the door.
Nobody could leave the house.
You had to stay inside and fight or die.
If you were rich, you left London as fast as you could.
In September 1592, the city council closed the theatres.
“Are we going on tour, Will?.” I said to him one day, “or back to Stratford?”
“We can't stay in London. You go back to Stratford, Toby.” he said slowly, “I'm going to Lord Southampton's home in Hampshire for a while. He's asked me to go and stay with him. I can do some writing there, read his books, meet a few people.”
I looked at him, “There's a woman in this somewhere, isn't there? You've had a strange look in your eyes for weeks.”
Will laughed, but didn't answer my question.
The theatres in London didn't open again until June 1594.
Will often visited Lord Southampton, but sometimes we went on tour with the company or spent time at home in Stratford.
Will began to spend more time in Stratford, because it was quiet there and he could do his writing.
I never heard what Anne thought about it all.
During those years, Will wrote a lot of poetry.
He wrote his beautiful long poem Venus and Adonis for his friend Lord Southampton, and he wrote many of his famous short poems, the sonnets.
But they didn't go in a book, they were only for his friends to read.
One day, when we were back in London, I was reading some of his latest sonnets.
Will was out somewhere, and I was at home in our lodgings in Bishop's Gate.
A lot of the poems were about a woman, a terrible black haired, black eyed woman.
She was cruel and cruel, then she was true and loving, and then she was cruel again.
For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright, who art as black as hell, as dark as night.
“Was Will writing about himself here?” I asked myself, “And who was this woman, this dark lady?”
I always like to know what's going on, so I listened and watched and looked at all his women friends.
Then one day I saw her, I was coming in the door at our lodgings, and she was coming downstairs.
She had black hair and great stormy black eyes, and there was gold at her ears and round her neck.
I stood back and she went past me like a ship sailing into war.
She looked wild and angry and very, very beautiful.
“Woo,”I said to myself, “if that's Will's dark lady, he'll never have a quiet, easy life.”
The woman looked Italian, so I went and asked John Florio about her.
Florio was Lord Southampton's Italian teacher.
We saw a lot of him in those days.
I described the woman, and he knew her at once.
“Amelia,”he said. “Amelia Bassano. Now Amelia Lanier, wife to Alfonso O Lanier. Before that, she lived with the old Lord Chamberlain. She wasnot his wife, you understand, but why do you want to know, my friend?”
“If she's a married lady, she doesn't have a lover now then.”
Florio laughed loudly, “Lovers, you don't know Amelia Lanier, she's a bad woman, my friend, a bad woman.”
Now he spoke very quietly for a time, “She was the friend of Lord Southampton, but not now.”
That is all finished.
I didn't ask him about Will, perhaps Amelia Lanier was Will's dark lady, or perhaps Will was just trying to help his friend Lord Southampton.
Nobody will ever know now.
翻译
第五章：瘟疫岁月
威尔为理查德·伯比奇创作了剧本《理查三世》，并取得了巨大的成功。
理查三世是个邪恶的暴君、一个杀人犯，但在舞台上，凭借伯比奇洪亮的嗓音和精湛的演技，这个角色被演绎得精彩绝伦。
很快，全伦敦的人都在传诵着国王理查在战马被杀时的那句名言：“马，马，一马换江山！”
形形色色的人都来看戏，威尔也因此结识了许多新朋友。
一天演出结束后，他在玫瑰剧院外和一个年轻人交谈。
那是个非常俊美的年轻人，或许带点阴柔之气，但依然十分英俊。
后来，我问威尔他是谁。
“是南安普顿伯爵，”威尔说，“他才18岁，但非常热爱诗歌和戏剧。”
“他不是埃塞克斯伯爵的朋友吗？”我问。
埃塞克斯伯爵可是个家喻户晓的人物。
他年轻俊美，有人说伊丽莎白女王都对他动了情。
我倒不觉得。
女王当时已经59岁了，是个极其聪明的女人。
不过，她确实喜欢让俊美的年轻人陪在身边，而埃塞克斯伯爵正是她最宠爱的一个。
当然，他们后来的关系还是变了。
“是的，他是。”威尔说，“但我觉得埃塞克斯是个危险人物，亨利需要比他更好的朋友。”
“亨利？”我惊讶地说，“天哪，你居然真的叫他亨利，而不是南安普顿勋爵？”
“只有没外人的时候才这么叫。”威尔笑着说，“托比，我毕竟只是个来自斯特拉特福的演员，没什么大不了的。走吧，我们回家路上去野猪头酒馆喝一杯。”
威尔总是这样，低调内敛，从不向世人张扬自己。
在野猪头酒馆里，我们遇见了几个朋友，大家开始闲聊起来。
话题全绕着瘟疫转，因为瘟疫又卷土重来，逼近伦敦了。
“你们听说最新消息了吗？”一个人说，“据说现在每周都有30多人丧命，市议会里又有人提议关闭所有剧院。他们总是这样。等瘟疫在伦敦蔓延开来，我们这些演员就都没饭吃了。”
“不过演员们肯定可以去外地巡演吧？”威尔说。
“是啊，”第一个人回答，“但那日子太苦了。每个晚上都要换一座城、换一家客栈、演一出不同的戏。我想我还是留在伦敦吧。”
瘟疫在任何地方都很可怕，但在伦敦却最为致命。那里街道狭窄，房屋紧紧挨在一起，肮脏的污水就在街道中央流淌。
根本无处可逃。
瘟疫一旦爆发，就像烈火般席卷全城。
如果一户人家有人染病，大门就会被死死锁住，门上还会画上一个大大的红十字。
谁也不许离开。
你只能待在里面，要么拼命活下去，要么等死。
如果你有钱，就会以最快的速度逃离伦敦。
1592年9月，市议会下令关闭了所有剧院。
“我们要去外地巡演吗，威尔？”有一天我问他，“还是回斯特拉特福？”
“我们不能留在伦敦了。托比，你回斯特拉特福吧。”他慢吞吞地说，“我要去汉普郡南安普顿伯爵的家里住一阵子。他邀请我去他那儿。我可以在那儿写点东西，读读他的藏书，再结交些人。”
我看着他：“这背后是不是有个女人？你这几个星期的眼神可不太对劲。”
威尔笑了笑，却没有回答我的问题。
直到1594年6月，伦敦的剧院才重新开门。
威尔经常去拜访南安普顿伯爵，但有时我们也会跟着剧团去巡演，或者回斯特拉特福的家里住上一阵。
威尔开始花更多时间待在斯特拉特福，因为那里很安静，适合他写作。
我从没听过安妮对此有什么想法。
在那几年里，威尔写了很多诗。
他为好友南安普顿伯爵写了那首优美的长诗《维纳斯与阿多尼斯》，还写了许多著名的十四行诗。
但这些诗并没有结集出版，只是拿给朋友们私下传阅。
有一天，当我们回到伦敦时，我正在读他最新写的几首十四行诗。
威尔出门去了别的地方，我一个人待在主教门我们租住的屋子里。
他有很多首诗都在写一个女人，一个有着可怕的黑发、黑眼睛的女人。
她时而残忍冷酷，时而深情专一，接着又再次变得冷酷无情。
“我曾发誓说你美丽，以为你光彩照人，谁知你黑如地狱，暗似长夜。”
“威尔这是在写他自己吗？”我自问，“而这个女人，这位‘黑女士’，到底是谁？”
我一向喜欢打听个究竟，所以我留心观察着他身边的所有女性朋友。
后来有一天，我终于见到了她。
当时我正走进我们租住的屋子，而她正从楼上走下来。
她有着黑色的头发和一双如暴风雨般深邃的黑眼睛，耳朵和脖子上都戴着金饰。
我退到一旁，她从我身边走过，就像一艘驶向战场的战船。
她看起来狂野、愤怒，却又美得惊心动魄。
“天哪，”我心里暗想，“如果这就是威尔的‘黑女士’，那他这辈子都别想过上安稳舒心的日子了。”
那个女人看起来像意大利人，于是我去找了约翰·弗洛里奥打听。
弗洛里奥是南安普顿伯爵的意大利语老师。
那阵子我们经常见到他。
我向他描述了那个女人的模样，他立刻就知道是谁了。
“是艾米莉亚，”他说，“艾米莉亚·巴萨诺。现在叫艾米莉亚·拉尼尔，是阿方索·德·拉尼尔的妻子。在那之前，她曾和老宫廷大臣住在一起。你明白的，她并不是他的妻子。不过，我的朋友，你打听她做什么？”
“如果她是个有夫之妇，那她现在应该没有情夫了吧？”
弗洛里奥大声笑了起来：“情夫？你还不了解艾米莉亚·拉尼尔啊，我的朋友，她是个坏女人，是个坏女人。”
接着，他压低声音，沉默了一会儿才说：“她曾是南安普顿伯爵的情人，但现在不是了。一切都结束了。”
我没有再向他打听威尔的事。
也许艾米莉亚·拉尼尔就是威尔诗中的“黑女士”，又或许威尔只是在帮他的朋友南安普顿伯爵打掩护。
事到如今，再也没有人知道了。
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