LESSON 61

THE QUARREL OF BRUTUS AND CASSIUS

布鲁图和凯西尤的争吵

Cas. That you have wronged me doth appear in this:

You have condemned and noted Lucius Pella

For taking bribes here of the Sardians;

Wherein my letters, praying on his side,

Because I knew the man, were slighted off.

Bru. You wronged yourself to write in such a case.

Cas. In such a time as this, it is not meet

That every nice offense should bear his comment.

Bru. Yet let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself

Are much condemned to have an itching palm,

To sell and mart your offices for gold

To undeservers.

Cas. I an itching palm!

You know that you are Brutus that speak this,

Or, by the gods, this speech were else your last.

Bru. The name of Cassius honors this corruption,

And chastisement doth therefore hide his head.

Cas. Chastisement!

Bru. Remember March, the ides of March remember!

Did not great Julius bleed for justice’ sake?

What villain touched his body, that did stab,

And not for justice? What! shall one of us,

That struck the foremost man of all this world

But for supporting robbers; shall we now

Contaminate our fingers with base bribes,

And sell the mighty space of our large honors

For so much trash as may be grasped thus?

I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon,

Than such a Roman.

Cas. Brutus, bay not me;

I’ll not endure it: you forget yourself,

To hedge me in; I am a soldier, I,

Older in practice, abler than yourself

To make conditions.

Bru. Go to; you are not, Cassius.

Cas. I am.

Bru. I say you are not.

Cas. Urge me no more, I shall forget myself:

Have mind upon your health; tempt me no further.

Bru. Away, slight man!

Cas. Is’t possible?

Bru. Hear me, for I will speak.

Must I give way and room to your rash choler?

Shall I be frighted when a madman stares?

Cas. O ye gods! ye gods! must I endure all this?

Bru. All this! Ay, more: fret till your proud heart break;

Go, show your slaves how choleric you are,

And make your bondmen tremble. Must I budge?

Must I observe you? Must I stand and crouch

Under your testy humor? By the gods,

You shall digest the venom of your spleen,

Though it do split you; for, from this day forth,

I’ll use you for my mirth, yea for my laughter,

When you are waspish.

Cas. Is it come to this?

Bru. You say you are a better soldier;

Let it appear so; make your vaunting true,

And it shall please me well: for mine own part,

I shall be glad to learn of noble men.

Cas. You wrong me every way; you wrong me, Brutus;

I said, an elder soldier, not a better:

Did I say “better”?

Bru. If you did, I care not.

Cas. When Caesar lived, he durst not thus have moved me.

Bru. Peace, peace! you durst not so have tempted him.

Cas. I durst not?

Bru. No.

Cas. What! durst not tempt him?

Bru. For your life, you durst not.

Cas. Do not presume too much upon my love;

I may do that I shall be sorry for.

Bru. You have done that you should be sorry for.

There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats;

For I am armed so strong in honesty

That they pass by me as the idle wind,

Which I respect not. I did send to you

For certain sums of gold, which you denied me;—

For I can raise no money by vile means:

By heaven! I had rather coin my heart,

And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring

From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash

By any indirection.—I did send

To you for gold to pay my legions,

Which you denied me: was that done like Cassius?

Should I have answered Caius Cassius so?

When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous,

To lock such rascal counters from his friends,

Be ready, gods, with an your thunderbolts;

Dash him to pieces!

Cas. I denied you not.

Bru. You did.

Cas. I did not: he was but a fool that brought

My answer back. Brutus hath rived my heart:

A friend should bear his friend’s infirmities,

But Brutus makes mine greater than they are.

Bru. I do not, till you practice them on me.

Cas. You love me not.

Bru. I do not like your faults.

Cas. A friendly eye could never see such faults.

Bru. A flatterer’s would not, though they do appear

As huge as high Olympus.

Cas. Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come,

Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius,

For Cassius is aweary of the world;

Hated by one he loves; braved by his brother;

Checked like a bondman; all his faults observed,

Set in a notebook, learned, and conned by rote,

To cast into my teeth. Oh, I could weep

My spirit from mine eyes! There is my dagger,

And here my naked breast; within, a heart

Dearer than Plutus’ mine, richer than gold:

If that thou be’st a Roman, take it forth:

I, that denied thee gold, will give my heart:

Strike, as thou didst at Caesar; for, I know,

When thou didst hate him worst, thou lovedst him better

Than ever thou lovedst Cassius.

Bru. Sheathe your dagger:

Be angry when you will, it shall have scope;

Do what you will, dishonor shall be humor.

O Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb

That carries anger as the flint bears fire;

Who, much enforced, shows a hasty spark,

And straight is cold again.

Cas. Hath Cassius lived

To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus,

When grief, and blood ill-tempered, vexeth him?

Bru. When I spoke that, I was ill-tempered, too.

Cas. Do you confess so much? Give me your hand.

Bru. And my heart, too.

Cas. O Brutus!

Bru. What’s the matter?

Cas. Have you not love enough to bear with me,

When that rash humor which my mother gave me

Makes me forgetful?

Bru. Yes, Cassius; and, from henceforth,

When you are over earnest with your Brutus,

He’ll think your mother chides, and leave you so.

Shakespeare.—Julius Caesar, Act iv, Scene iii.

【中文阅读】

凯西尤 你对我的侮辱，从这件事情看得分明

你给鲁西尤•派拉定了罪，昭告天下

因为他在这儿受了萨狄斯人的贿赂；

因为我了解这个人，特致书说明，

你却把书信撇到一边。

布鲁图 这个案子你本来就不该掺和。

凯西尤 现在这个时候，不该为了一点小小的过失就公开谴责人家。

布鲁图 我跟你说吧，凯西尤，许多人都谴责说

你手掌发痒，

为了黄噔噔的金子，把官爵卖给

无德无能之辈。

凯西尤 我的手掌痒！

要是说这话的人不是你布鲁图，

指着神明起誓，这句话就是你说的最后一句话。

布鲁图 这种贪污失德，有凯西尤的名字作挡箭牌，

惩罚才没有显出它的威力。

凯西尤 惩罚！

布鲁图 记得三月份，记得那三月十五日嘛！

伟大的恺撒不是为了正义的缘故而流血吗？

倘不是为了正义，哪一个恶人敢用匕首刺入他的身体？

什么！我们曾经打倒这个世界最著名的人，

就是因为他庇护盗贼；难道我们现在

甘心让卑污的贿赂玷污我们的手指，

为了这些不值一提的废物，

出卖我们配享环宇的伟大荣誉吗？

做一条冲月亮狂吠的狗，

也比这样一个罗马人强。

凯西尤 布鲁图，不要向我吠叫；

我受不了这样的侮辱。你忘记了你自己是什么人，

如此把我相逼，我是一个军人，我，

经验比你多，比你会处理事情。

布鲁图 哼，你未必吧，凯西尤。

凯西尤 我当然是。

布鲁图 我说你不是。

凯西尤 别再逼我，我快要失去镇静了；

留心你的安全，别再引诱我了。

布鲁图 滚，卑鄙的家伙！

凯西尤 这可能吗？

布鲁图 听着，我要说我的话。

蛮不成我必须对你的暴怒退让吗？

难道一个疯子瞪瞪眼睛就可以把我吓着吗？

凯西尤 神啊！神啊！我必须忍受这一切吗？

布鲁图 这一切！哼，还没完呢。你发怒结果你骄傲的心都气破了吧；

去，让你的奴隶们看看你的脾气多大，

让你的努力抖成一团。难道我必须让着你？

看你的脸色吗？当你心烦意乱时，

我必须老老实实站在一旁，唯命是从吗？我指着神明发誓，

即使你气炸了肺，也是你自怨自艾；

因为，从今天起，你生气时，

我要拿你取乐。

凯西尤 你会达到目的吗？

布鲁图 你说你是一个比我更好的军人；

还是让事实来证明你夸的海口吧，

我当然会十分高兴的。就我自己来说，

我很乐意向高尚的人学习呢。

凯西尤 你在各方面侮辱我；你侮辱我，布鲁图。

我说过我是一个老兵，可并没有说我是一个比你更出色的军人；

我说过“更出色”这个词吗？

布鲁图 你到底说没说过，我不在乎。

凯西尤 恺撒在世的时候，连他也不敢这样招惹我啊。

布鲁图 拉倒，拉倒吧！难道你敢这样招惹他啊。

凯西尤 我不敢？

布鲁图 你不敢。

凯西尤 什么！不敢招惹他？

布鲁图 你确实不敢招惹他。

凯西尤 不要仗着你我的交情太放肆了；

我也许会做叫我后悔的事情来的。

布鲁图 你已经做了你应该后悔的事。

凯西尤，不管你怎样恐吓威胁，我都不怕；

因为正直的居心便是我最有力的武器，

你那些话就像一阵毫无意义的风掠过一样，

我全不放在心上。我曾经派人去

向你借些金钱，你拂了我的面子；——

因为我不会通过邪恶的手段敛钱的

上帝啊！我宁愿把自己一滴滴心血熔铸成钱币，

也不愿从农人粗硬的手里榨取他们那卑贱污秽的铜板。

我派人向你借钱，为了支付军饷，

你却拂了我的面子；这哪像凯西尤的作为啊？

我应不应该也这样对待盖尤斯•凯西尤呢？

当马库斯•布鲁图要是也变得这般吝啬，

像无赖似的锁住他的钱柜，不与他的朋友们时，

神啊，就请你们用雷电

把他劈得粉身碎骨吧！

凯西尤 我并没有拂你的面子啊。

布鲁图 你拒绝我了。

凯西尤 我没有，传我口信的那家伙就是个傻瓜。

布鲁图把我的心都劈碎了

一个朋友应当担待他朋友的过失，

可是布鲁图却把我的过失渲染得格外大。

布鲁图 我没有，是你有负于我的。

凯西尤 你不喜欢我。

布鲁图 我不喜欢你的过错。

凯西尤 一个朋友的眼里决不容许这种过错存在。

布鲁图 在一个阿谀奉承的人眼里，即使有像奥林匹斯山一样高耸庞大的过错，也会视而不见的。

凯西尤 来，安东尼，来，年轻的屋大维，

你们向凯西尤一个人复仇吧，

因为凯西尤已经厌倦这个世界了

被所爱的人憎恨，被他的兄弟胁迫，

像一个奴隶似的被人呵来呵去，他的一切过失

都被人记在本上，烂熟于心，成了当面揭发我的罪状。

啊！我可以从我的眼睛里哭出我的灵魂来。

这是我的刀子，这是我裸露的胸膛，

里面跳动的是一颗比财神普路托斯的宝矿更珍贵，

比黄金更宝贵的心脏；

要是你是一个罗马人，就它挖出来吧，

拒绝给你金钱的我，心甘情愿把心儿交给你。

就像你刺死恺撒那样，也把我刺死吧，因为我知道，

即使在你最恨他的时候，你爱他也远胜于爱凯西尤。

布鲁图 将你的刀子插入鞘吧。

你高兴发怒就发怒吧，

想怎么就怎么，丢脸就当是诙谐。

啊，凯西尤！你的伙伴就是一头羔羊，

愤怒在他的身上，就像燧石里的火花一样，

虽承受最多，但会发出仓促的光芒，

可是一转瞬间就已经冷下去了。

凯西尤 凯西尤活得真无趣，

难道他的忧烦和暴跳如雷，

只会给他的布鲁图带来开心笑料吗？

布鲁图 我说那句话的时候，我也是脾气太坏。

凯西尤 你也承认啊？把你的手给我。

布鲁图 连我的心也一起给你。

凯西尤 啊，布鲁图！

布鲁图 什么事？

凯西尤 我的母亲给了我这副暴躁的脾气，我常会忘记我自己，

我们的友谊难道不足以让你原谅我吗？

布鲁图 当然，凯西尤；从此以后，

要是你有时候跟你的布鲁图过分认真，

他会当作是你母亲在那儿责备发脾气，任你怎地都不介意。

（莎士比亚《尤利乌斯•恺撒》，第四幕第三场）