【每日克蘇魯】《達貢》中英文對照

前言

填補上一篇科普洛夫克拉夫特生平的文章中留下的坑，我準備開始按照HP本人的創作順序不時地給大家分享一些作品，其中會包含原文和譯文的對照（純業餘翻譯，不恰之處敬請指正）以及一些相關背景、細節、趣事的補充，希望感興趣的朋友們能夠喜歡。

《達貢》（也譯作大袞）是洛夫克拉夫特正式發表的第一部作品（在此之前的大部分作品都被他自己銷燬），創作於1917年，1919年刊登於《漂泊者》雜誌。此時27歲的洛夫克拉夫特正處於隱居狀態，不喜歡與人接觸，寫作風格正處於開始模仿鄧錫尼爵士和大師愛倫·坡的階段，不過，偏愛粘膩、腥臭的海底生物這一特色已經開始顯現。

因爲這個階段影響洛夫克拉夫特想要創作自己神話宇宙的主要人物是鄧錫尼爵士，他嘗試着將神話故事中的神放置在現實世界當中。《聖經》中記載的達貢，原本是古代閃族的農耕之神，後來被菲利士人崇拜後，海神的神格加強，成爲半人半魚的形態。到了耶穌時期，菲利士人將約櫃（代表與上帝同在）和達貢神像放在一起祭拜，達貢神像竟然段首匍匐在約櫃前，菲利士人便得知，原來信仰的神達貢連自己都救不了，從此不再信奉達貢。此後被基督教標記爲邪惡之神，在《失樂園》中首次被描寫爲居住在海中的半人半魚的惡魔。

正文

I am writing this under an appreciable mental strain, since by tonight I shall be no more. Penniless, and at the end of my supply of the drug which alone makes life endurable, I can bear the torture no longer; and shall cast myself from this garret window into the squalid street below. Do not think from my slavery to morphine that I am a weakling or a degenerate. When you have read these hastily scrawled pages you may guess, though never fully realise, why it is that I must have forgetfulness or death.

我在極大的精神壓力之下寫出了這些文字，今晚我將不復存在。身無分文，而那唯一能讓我苟延殘喘的藥物也消耗殆盡，我再也忍受不了這份痛苦的折磨；也許應該直接把自己扔出這閣樓的窗戶，扔到下面那骯髒的街道上去。請不要因爲我臣服於嗎啡，就認爲我是個軟蛋或是墮落者。讀完這倉促寫下的潦草幾頁，你也許無法完全理解，但至少能猜到爲什麼我一定要渴求遺忘甚至是選擇死亡。

It was in one of the most open and least frequented parts of the broad Pacific that the packet of which I was supercargo fell a victim to the German sea-raider. The great war was then at its very beginning, and the ocean forces of the Hun had not completely sunk to their later degradation; so that our vessel was made a legitimate prize, whilst we of her crew were treated with all the fairness and consideration due us as naval prisoners. So liberal, indeed, was the discipline of our captors, that five days after we were taken I managed to escape alone in a small boat with water and provisions for a good length of time.

在那片廣闊太平洋上最開闊、最鮮有人至的海域，我押運的貨輪淪爲了德軍突擊艇的受害者。世界大戰剛剛開始，德國佬的海軍還尚未完全完全沉沒在後來的那種墮落當中；因此我們的貨輪成爲了他們合法的戰利品，同時我們這些船員也作爲海軍俘虜被公正且周到地對待。德國海軍的軍紀是非常自由散漫，以至於被俘五天後，我就想辦法偷到了一艘小艇，帶着足以維生很久的補給，獨自一人逃脫了。

When I finally found myself adrift and free, I had but little idea of my surroundings. Never a competent navigator, I could only guess vaguely by the sun and stars that I was somewhat south of the equator. Of the longitude I knew nothing, and no island or coast-line was in sight. The weather kept fair, and for uncounted days I drifted aimlessly beneath the scorching sun; waiting either for some passing ship, or to be cast on the shores of some habitable land. But neither ship nor land appeared, and I began to despair in my solitude upon the heaving vastnesses of unbroken blue.

當我終於確信自己正自由地漂泊着，我卻不知自己身在何方了。從來都不是一個合格領航員的我，只能靠太陽和星星模糊地估計自己大概正處在赤道以南的某地。我對經度一無所知，也看不到任何島嶼或海岸線。天氣一直都很晴朗，我在這炎炎烈日下漫無目的地不知漂流了多久；等待着路過的船隻或是被海浪衝上能生存的陸地。但無論是船還是陸地都沒有出現，而我也開始對在這無邊無際的蔚藍大海中無盡的孤獨感到絕望。

The change happened whilst I slept. Its details I shall never know; for my slumber, though troubled and dream-infested, was continuous. When at last I awaked, it was to discover myself half sucked into a slimy expanse of hellish black mire which extended about me in monotonous undulations as far as I could see, and in which my boat lay grounded some distance away.

變化在我沉睡之時發生了。儘管內心充滿不安，夢境也綿綿不絕，我的沉睡卻未曾間斷，因此我永遠也會不知道那些變化的細節。當我終於醒來時，卻發現自己半身都陷在一片彷彿來自地獄的粘膩黑泥之中，放眼望去這黑泥連綿起伏，無邊無際；我的小艇就擱淺在不遠處。

Though one might well imagine that my first sensation would be of wonder at so prodigious and unexpected a transformation of scenery, I was in reality more horrified than astonished; for there was in the air and in the rotting soil a sinister quality which chilled me to the very core. The region was putrid with the carcasses of decaying fish, and of other less describable things which I saw protruding from the nasty mud of the unending plain. Perhaps I should not hope to convey in mere words the unutterable hideousness that can dwell in absolute silence and barren immensity. There was nothing within hearing, and nothing in sight save a vast reach of black slime; yet the very completeness of the stillness and the homogeneity of the landscape oppressed me with a nauseating fear.

儘管有人可能會想象，我的第一感覺會是對場景如此出人預料的巨大變化而感到驚奇，但事實上，我更感到驚恐而非驚訝；因爲空氣和腐敗的土壤中充斥着一種不祥的品質，讓我感到從內而外的戰慄。這片區域到處都是腐爛的魚的屍體，以及其他不可名狀的東西，從那片無盡平原的骯髒泥濘中凸起。也許我不該寄希望於用寥寥幾句話就能描述。那棲身於絕對的靜寂和貧瘠的無垠平原中難以形容的醜陋。耳朵聽不見任何聲音，眼裏除了大片大片的黑色泥漿也看不見任何其他事物；完全的靜謐和景觀的同質性用一種令人作嘔的恐懼壓抑着我。

The sun was blazing down from a sky which seemed to me almost black in its cloudless cruelty; as though reflecting the inky marsh beneath my feet. As I crawled into the stranded boat I realised that only one theory could explain my position. Through some unprecedented volcanic upheaval, a portion of the ocean floor must have been thrown to the surface, exposing regions which for innumerable millions of years had lain hidden under unfathomable watery depths. So great was the extent of the new land which had risen beneath me, that I could not detect the faintest noise of the surging ocean, strain my ears as I might. Nor were there any sea-fowl to prey upon the dead things.

太陽從天空向下耀射，在我看來，這份無雲的殘酷幾乎是漆黑的；彷彿映射着我腳底這片如墨的沼澤。當我爬上擱淺的小船時，我意識到只有一種假設能夠解釋我的處境。通過一些史無前例的火山劇變，一定有一部分海底被拋至海平面以上，暴露出那些無數年來潛藏在深不可測的水下區域。我腳下這片新崛起的陸地如此廣闊，以至於無論我多努力地豎起耳朵聆聽，也無法捕捉到來自洶湧大海中哪怕是一絲的微弱聲音。也沒有任何前來掠奪那些腐屍的海鳥。

For several hours I sat thinking or brooding in the boat, which lay upon its side and afforded a slight shade as the sun moved across the heavens. As the day progressed, the ground lost some of its stickiness, and seemed likely to dry sufficiently for travelling purposes in a short time. That night I slept but little, and the next day I made for myself a pack containing food and water, preparatory to an overland journey in search of the vanished sea and possible rescue.

我在側臥的小船籠罩下沉思或是焦慮了好幾個小時，當太陽在天空中移動時，它能爲我提供一點點陰影。隨着時光推移，地面變得不那麼黏了，並且看起來似乎短時間內就能幹燥得足以用於旅行。那天晚上我睡得很少，第二天，我整理了一包水和食物，準備來一次陸上旅行，尋找消失的海洋或可能的救援。

On the third morning I found the soil dry enough to walk upon with ease. The odour of the fish was maddening; but I was too much concerned with graver things to mind so slight an evil, and set out boldly for an unknown goal. All day I forged steadily westward, guided by a far-away hummock which rose higher than any other elevation on the rolling desert. That night I encamped, and on the following day still travelled toward the hummock, though that object seemed scarcely nearer than when I had first espied it. By the fourth evening I attained the base of the mound, which turned out to be much higher than it had appeared from a distance; an intervening valley setting it out in sharper relief from the general surface. Too weary to ascend, I slept in the shadow of the hill.

第三天早晨，我發現地表已經乾燥得可以輕鬆行走。腐魚的腥臭味簡直令人抓狂；但我太關心更重要的事情了，這點小事可以忽略不計，我大膽地動身前往一個未知的目的地。一整天我都在遠處一座高於這片起伏荒漠的山丘的指引下一路向西。那天晚上我席地而臥，並在第四天繼續向着山丘前進，夜晚前，我到達了山丘底部，結果發現比我在遠處發現它時要大得多；橫在面前的一條凹谷使山丘顯得更加陡峭。我太累了，爬不上去，便直接睡在了山丘的陰影裏。

I know not why my dreams were so wild that night; but ere the waning and fantastically gibbous moon had risen far above the eastern plain, I was awake in a cold perspiration, determined to sleep no more. Such visions as I had experienced were too much for me to endure again. And in the glow of the moon I saw how unwise I had been to travel by day. Without the glare of the parching sun, my journey would have cost me less energy; indeed, I now felt quite able to perform the ascent which had deterred me at sunset. Picking up my pack, I started for the crest of the eminence.

我不知道爲何我那一晚的夢境如此狂野，但當那詭異盈凸的皎月從平原東部升起時，我就被一身冷汗驚醒了，我決心不再睡了。我看到的幻想多得再一次難以忍受。沐浴在月光之下，我突然明白在白天旅行是多麼不明智。如果沒有灼熱的陽光，我就能消耗更少的體力了；事實上，我覺得自己現在就能爬上那座日落時阻礙着我的山丘。收拾妥當後，我便開始向着山頂出發。

I have said that the unbroken monotony of the rolling plain was a source of vague horror to me; but I think my horror was greater when I gained the summit of the mound and looked down the other side into an immeasurable pit or canyon, whose black recesses the moon had not yet soared high enough to illumine. I felt myself on the edge of the world; peering over the rim into a fathomless chaos of eternal night. Through my terror ran curious reminiscences of Paradise Lost, and of Satan’s hideous climb through the unfashioned realms of darkness.

我之前曾說過，那高低起伏的無際平原對我來說是那種模糊恐懼的源泉；但那份恐懼在我登上山頂時更強烈了——我從另一邊向下望去，看到的是一個無法丈量的深淵，月亮甚至沒有升到能夠照亮它的高度。我感到自己處於世界的邊緣；正站在邊沿窺視着這永恆之夜中無法理解的混沌。我在這恐懼中竟開始回憶《失樂園》，以及描寫撒旦邪惡地爬過未成形的黑暗領域那段。

As the moon climbed higher in the sky, I began to see that the slopes of the valley were not quite so perpendicular as I had imagined. Ledges and outcroppings of rock afforded fairly easy foot-holds for a descent, whilst after a drop of a few hundred feet, the declivity became very gradual. Urged on by an impulse which I cannot definitely analyse, I scrambled with difficulty down the rocks and stood on the gentler slope beneath, gazing into the Stygian deeps where no light had yet penetrated.

隨着月亮升的更高了些，我開始看清山谷的斜坡並不像我想象的那麼陡峭，巖壁和突出的石塊爲下坡提供了相當合適的立足點，而且再下降幾百英尺後，坡度變得非常平緩。在一種我自己都無法明析的衝動驅使之下，我艱難地順着岩石爬了下去，站在下面較爲平坦的緩坡上，凝視着光線無法穿透的至暗深淵。

All at once my attention was captured by a vast and singular object on the opposite slope, which rose steeply about an hundred yards ahead of me; an object that gleamed whitely in the newly bestowed rays of the ascending moon. That it was merely a gigantic piece of stone, I soon assured myself; but I was conscious of a distinct impression that its contour and position were not altogether the work of Nature. A closer scrutiny filled me with sensations I cannot express; for despite its enormous magnitude, and its position in an abyss which had yawned at the bottom of the sea since the world was young, I perceived beyond a doubt that the strange object was a well-shaped monolith whose massive bulk had known the workmanship and perhaps the worship of living and thinking creatures.

突然，我的注意力被對面斜坡上一個巨大而怪異的物體吸引住了，它在我面前大約一百碼的位置陡然升起；在升起的月亮新賦的月光照耀下隱隱映射出白色的光芒。我很快就確信，那僅僅是一塊巨大的石頭；但我有一個確定的印象，那就是它的輪廓和位置絕不完全是大自然的手筆。更仔細地觀察過後，我被一種難以表達的感覺填滿；因爲其不但規模宏大，而且自世界的早期就已經坐落在這海底深淵當中，毫無疑問，我注意到這個奇怪的物體是一塊精細雕磨的石柱，從巨大的體積可得知其建造工藝，並且可能受到智慧生物的崇拜和信仰。

Dazed and frightened, yet not without a certain thrill of the scientist’s or archaeologist’s delight, I examined my surroundings more closely. The moon, now near the zenith, shone weirdly and vividly above the towering steeps that hemmed in the chasm, and revealed the fact that a far-flung body of water flowed at the bottom, winding out of sight in both directions, and almost lapping my feet as I stood on the slope. Across the chasm, the wavelets washed the base of the Cyclopean monolith; on whose surface I could now trace both inscriptions and crude sculptures. The writing was in a system of hieroglyphics unknown to me, and unlike anything I had ever seen in books; consisting for the most part of conventionalised aquatic symbols such as fishes, eels, octopi, crustaceans, molluscs, whales, and the like. Several characters obviously represented marine things which are unknown to the modern world, but whose decomposing forms I had observed on the ocean-risen plain.

我感到頭暈目眩和恐懼，但也並非沒有科學家或考古學家獨有的那種激動的喜悅，我更加仔細地審視着周遭的環境。現在已然接近穹頂的月亮，怪異又生動地在裂谷峭壁之上閃爍着；它照亮了谷底一條流向遠方的水體，水流朝着兩個方向蜿蜒而出，並且幾乎是在拍打着我站在斜坡上的雙腳。水流穿過裂谷，細小的水波沖刷着巨大石柱的底部；使我現在得以看清石柱表面的銘文和粗糙的雕刻。銘文是由一種我不知道的象形文字體系書寫，和任何我在書中見過的都毫不相似；其內容大部分是由諸如魚類、鰻魚、章魚、貝類、軟體動物、鯨魚等傳統水生符號組成。有一些符號很顯然代表着一些現代世界沒有的海洋生物，不過我倒是已經在那片粘膩平原上見識過它們腐爛分解後的形體了。

It was the pictorial carving, however, that did most to hold me spellbound. Plainly visible across the intervening water on account of their enormous size, were an array of bas-reliefs whose subjects would have excited the envy of a Doré. I think that these things were supposed to depict men—at least, a certain sort of men; though the creatures were shewn disporting like fishes in the waters of some marine grotto, or paying homage at some monolithic shrine which appeared to be under the waves as well. Of their faces and forms I dare not speak in detail; for the mere remembrance makes me grow faint. Grotesque beyond the imagination of a Poe or a Bulwer, they were damnably human in general outline despite webbed hands and feet, shockingly wide and flabby lips, glassy, bulging eyes, and other features less pleasant to recall. Curiously enough, they seemed to have been chiselled badly out of proportion with their scenic background; for one of the creatures was shewn in the act of killing a whale represented as but little larger than himself. I remarked, as I say, their grotesqueness and strange size; but in a moment decided that they were merely the imaginary gods of some primitive fishing or seafaring tribe; some tribe whose last descendant had perished eras before the first ancestor of the Piltdown or Neanderthal Man was born. Awestruck at this unexpected glimpse into a past beyond the conception of the most daring anthropologist, I stood musing whilst the moon cast queer reflections on the silent channel before me.

然而，最讓我着迷的是那些雕刻在石柱上的圖畫。得益於巨大的尺寸，那些雕刻畫哪怕是隔着這溪流依然能夠清晰可見：一系列連畫家多雷都會對其主題嫉妒不已的浮雕。我認爲這些浮雕描繪的應該是人類——至少是某種人類；儘管那些生物看起來正在某種海洋洞穴內嬉戲，或是在某個明顯建在海底的巨大神殿中做着敬拜的動作。我不敢詳細描述它們的面容和形態，僅僅是回想起來都令我幾近昏厥。它們的怪異外形遠遠超出愛倫坡或布爾沃的想象，從整體輪廓來講勉強算是種扭曲的人類，如果忽略它們長着蹼的手腳、寬大鬆弛得駭人的嘴脣、像玻璃一樣的凸眼球以及其他回憶起來會令人不快的特徵的話。古怪的是，它們和背景的比例被鑿刻得極爲離譜，比如有一隻生物甚至被描繪成正在殺死一隻比自己大不了多少的鯨魚。當注意到上述的的奇怪尺寸和怪誕外表後，我第一反應就是：它們僅僅是某些捕魚或航海原始部落虛構的神而已，在皮爾唐人和尼安德特人的祖先誕生前，這些部落的最後一代就已經滅絕了。驚歎於自己竟然在無意中窺視到連最大膽的人類學家都不敢想象的悠久歷史，我不禁陷入了沉思，同時月光在我面前寂靜的河道投下了一個奇怪的倒影。

Then suddenly I saw it. With only a slight churning to mark its rise to the surface, the thing slid into view above the dark waters. Vast, Polyphemus-like, and loathsome, it darted like a stupendous monster of nightmares to the monolith, about which it flung its gigantic scaly arms, the while it bowed its hideous head and gave vent to certain measured sounds. I think I went mad then.

這時我突然看見了它。只有一陣輕微的波瀾標誌着它浮出水面，那生物從幽暗的水面潛入了我的視野。那像是波呂斐摩斯一樣巨大而醜惡的身體如同夢魘怪一般衝向石柱，揮動它那佈滿鱗片的粗壯手臂，同時低下醜陋的頭顱，發出一些有節奏的聲音。我想我那時已經瘋了。

Of my frantic ascent of the slope and cliff, and of my delirious journey back to the stranded boat, I remember little. I believe I sang a great deal, and laughed oddly when I was unable to sing. I have indistinct recollections of a great storm some time after I reached the boat; at any rate, I know that I heard peals of thunder and other tones which Nature utters only in her wildest moods.

我幾乎完全不記得自己是怎樣瘋狂地爬上斜坡和峭壁，並精神錯亂地回到擱淺小船上的。我肯定是唱了很久，而當我不能唱了的時候，便開始怪異地大笑。隱約記得當我回到小船後，經歷了一場風暴；無論如何，我知道自己聽到了轟轟作響的雷聲，還有其他一些大自然最狂暴的狀態下才會發出的聲音。

When I came out of the shadows I was in a San Francisco hospital; brought thither by the captain of the American ship which had picked up my boat in mid-ocean. In my delirium I had said much, but found that my words had been given scant attention. Of any land upheaval in the Pacific, my rescuers knew nothing; nor did I deem it necessary to insist upon a thing which I knew they could not believe. Once I sought out a celebrated ethnologist, and amused him with peculiar questions regarding the ancient Philistine legend of Dagon, the Fish-God; but soon perceiving that he was hopelessly conventional, I did not press my inquiries.

當我恢復意識時，已經身處舊金山的一家醫院中了；把我送來的是一艘美國船的船長，他在大海中央發現了我的小艇。在精神錯亂的狀態下我說了很多話，但基本沒有人在意。至於太平洋中有一塊上升的陸地這件事，救我的人也一無所知。我並不認爲需要堅持一件我知道他們不會相信的事情。有一次，我找到了一位著名的民族學家，半開玩笑地向他提出了一些古代菲利士傳說中魚神達貢的問題，但很快我便發現他的思維保守得無藥可救，因此沒再追問下去。

It is at night, especially when the moon is gibbous and waning, that I see the thing. I tried morphine; but the drug has given only transient surcease, and has drawn me into its clutches as a hopeless slave. So now I am to end it all, having written a full account for the information or the contemptuous amusement of my fellow-men. Often I ask myself if it could not all have been a pure phantasm—a mere freak of fever as I lay sun-stricken and raving in the open boat after my escape from the German man-of-war. This I ask myself, but ever does there come before me a hideously vivid vision in reply. I cannot think of the deep sea without shuddering at the nameless things that may at this very moment be crawling and floundering on its slimy bed, worshipping their ancient stone idols and carving their own detestable likenesses on submarine obelisks of water-soaked granite. I dream of a day when they may rise above the billows to drag down in their reeking talons the remnants of puny, war-exhausted mankind—of a day when the land shall sink, and the dark ocean floor shall ascend amidst universal pandemonium.

每當夜晚來臨，特別是詭月盈凸時我都會看到那怪物。嘗試過嗎啡，但這東西只會在提供短暫的安逸之後讓我成爲一個絕望的奴隸。因此在原原本本地寫下這篇供同胞們參考或嘲笑的記錄之後，我就要徹底結束這一切。我常常問自己，有沒有一種可能這一切都是純粹的幻覺——在逃離德軍後，當我躺在露天的船上曬太陽、精神錯亂時，由於高燒看到的一些列幻覺？我這樣問自己，但從來都沒有一個具體的景象來回答我這個問題。一想到深海，我就會感到不寒而慄，因爲可能就在此時此刻，一些無名的生物正在它粘膩的溫牀上爬行和掙扎，崇拜它們古老的石像，並在潮溼的花崗岩石碑上雕刻它們自己那令人憎惡的肖像。我在夢中看到，它們終有一天會隨着巨浪遊上海面，用惡臭的爪子把被戰爭搞得衰弱不堪的弱小的人類倖存者拖進海里；終有一天，陸地會沉沒，而黑暗的海底會在世界的混亂中緩緩升起。

The end is near. I hear a noise at the door, as of some immense slippery body lumbering against it. It shall not find me. God, that hand! The window! The window!

末日即將來臨。我聽到了門口的聲響，像是有什麼巨大的、滑膩的身軀正緩緩地撞擊着房門。它不會找到我的。天啊，那隻手！窗口！窗口！