3.里士满伯爵亨利被逐出英格兰已经有很长时间了,这次他从法国出海起航,在威尔士的米尔福德港登陆,率领的军队人数大约两千人。为了讨好威尔士人,他将帅旗做成一个红龙的标志,因为这是威尔士人祖先的图腾。里士满伯爵从威尔士向东北行军,一路上不断有沿途的山地居民加入他的队伍。如此民心所向,自然让他大为高兴,因此行军步伐也加快不少。理查德也在诺丁汉郡带领着一支涣散的军队准备迎战,最终在靠近博斯沃思的一处四面环山的平原地带驻扎下来。
4.理查德骑上爱驾--一匹名叫“白驹”的军马,来到阵前巡视,这时他看到了德高望重的将军斯坦利勋爵带着三千人马归顺了里士满伯爵,这一幕场景让理查德彻底崩溃了。因为他知道,长久以来他得以倚重的力量,也是这次战斗唯一仰仗的筹码,彻底失去了。事已至此,他也下定决心,既然天命难违,那就来个鱼死网破,以自己的生命为代价来全力投入战斗。理查德于是在头盔上戴上了一顶金王冠,这也让两边军队的每一位士兵都知道了他是谁。理查德骑着白马,在战场上横冲直撞,见人就怒吼“叛徒”,并将长矛指着亨利·都铎身边的一帮将军。
5.战斗的过程很简短,但却干净利落。理查德先发制人,用长矛刺死了兰开斯特一方的旗手,又用他的宝剑发动突袭,将另一位骑士砍下马来。就在他即将接触到他所憎恨的敌军主帅时,他被敌军从马上拉了下来,无数的刀锋向他袭来,刀刀致命。他的王冠最后在战场边的一丛山楂树旁边找到。斯坦利勋爵将它拾起,戴在了亨利的头上。
6.博斯沃思原野之战是英国历史的重要转折点,这不仅是因为它结束了从诺曼征服以来的法国皇族系统,更重要的是它给我们民族文化传统叙事中所称的骑士时代画上了句号。但这个时候我们还没有看见任何迹象显示不久之后不列颠国运的突变,她将成为海上的霸主,把货船停泊到全世界所有的海岸,并且在每一个大洋上与她的敌人进行激烈的海战。
83
THE CROWNING OF RICHMOND
里士满伯爵加冕
acquit,behaved.
cast,throw of the dice.conjunction,union.enacts,performs;does.enmity,hatred.exeunt,they go out.
hazard,chance;risk.ordinance,law.proclaim,declare.submission,yielding.succeeders,heirs.victorious,successful.
SCENE-Bosworth Field.
Enter NORFOLK and forces;to him CATESBY.
Cate.Rescue,my Lord of Norfolk,rescue,rescue!The King enacts more wonders than a man,Daring an opposite to every danger:
His horse is slain,and all on foot he fights,Seeking for Richmond in the throat of death;Rescue,fair lord,or else the day is lost!
Enter KING RICHARD.
K.Rich.A horse!a horse!my kingdom for a horse!
Cate.Withdraw,my lord;I’ll help you to a horse.
K.Rich.Slave,I have set my life upon a cast,And I will stand the hazard of the die:-I think there be six Richmonds in the field;Five have I slain to-day instead of him.-A horse!a horse!my kingdom for a horse![Exeunt.
Enter KING RICHARD and RICHMOND,and exeunt,fighting.Retreat and flourish.Then enter RICHMOND STANLEY bearing the crown,and other Lords and forces.
Richm.God,and your arms,be praised,victorious friends;aThe day is ours;the bloody dogis dead.
Stan.Courageous Richmond,well hast thou acquit thee!Lo,here,this long-usurped royalty,From the dead temples of this bloody wretchHave I plucked off,to grace thy brows withal:Wear it,enjoy it,and make much of it.
Richm.Great God of heaven,say Amen to all!-But tell me first,is young George Stanley living?Stan.He is,my lord,and safe in Leicester town;Whither,if it please you,we may now withdraw us.Richm.What men of name are slain on either side?
Stan.John Duke of Norfolk,Walter Lord Ferrers,Sir Robert Brakenbury,and Sir William Brandon.Richm.Inter their bodies as becomes their births.Proclaim a pardon to the soldiers fledThat in submission will return to us;CROWNING OF HENRY VII.ON BOSWORTH FIELD.
a The bloody dog.-Richard III.So called because he was believed to have ordered the death of the two Princes in the Tower,and to have put to death Lord Hastings and other sup porter of theirs.But it should be remembered that Shakespeare wrote in the time of the Tudors,and adopted the view of Richard‘s character current in their day.
b This long-usurped royalty.-The Crown,which had been held by the House of York for twenty-four years (since 1461).
And then,as we have ta’en the sacrament,We will unite the white rose with the red;-Smile heaven upon this fair conjunction,That long hath frowned upon their enmity!-What traitor hears me,and says not Amen?England hath long been mad,and scarred herself;The brother blindly shed the brother‘s blood,The father rashly slaughtered his own son,The son,compelled,been butcher to the sire:All this divided York and Lancaster,Divided,in their dire division-Oh,now,let Richmond and Elizabeth,The true succeeders of each royal house,By God’s fair ordinance conjoin together!And let their heirs,(God,if thy will be so,)Enrich the time to come with smooth-faced peace,With smiling plenty,and fair prosperous days!
-SHAKESPEARE
中文阅读
场景--博斯沃思原野
(诺福克及士兵们上盖茨比赶上前来)
盖茨比:救命啊,诺福克大人!快,快来救救我们!国王战斗力超群,非同凡人,他的敌手们都快招架不住了;他心爱的战马在死了,他现在徒步作战,到处寻找里士满伯爵,要将他置于死地。快去救驾,仁慈的大人,否则今天要打败仗!
(理查德王上)理查德王:一匹马!一匹马!我愿用我的王位换一匹马!盖茨比:请移尊步,我的君王;我来扶您上马。
理查德王:你这个奴才!我已经把我这条命置之度外,决定孤注一掷,跟他们拼个鱼死网破。我还以为战场上共有六个里士满呢;今天已斩杀了五个,却没有杀死他。一匹马!一匹马!我愿用我的王位换一匹马!(退场)(理查德王及里士满伯爵由两边上,相互打斗后退场。军号声消退又再升起。里士满伯爵重上,斯坦利持王冠及众公侯、士卒上。)里士满:颂赞上帝和你们的队伍,胜利的朋友们;今天我们战胜了,吃人的野兽a已经死了。
斯坦利:英勇的里士满,您已经功成名就,也是您天命所归!请看!这一顶长久被篡夺的王冠b,被我从那死贼的头上摘了下来,现在要加上您的额头;请您戴上它吧,愿您好好享用,让它发扬光大。
里士满:天上伟大的神,万民同呼阿门!可是,请问年轻的乔治·斯坦利如今依然安好?
斯坦利:回禀我王,他还好,就住在莱斯特;你若高兴,我们不妨暂去那里歇脚。
里士满:双方死亡的著名人士有哪些?
斯坦利:有诺福克公爵约翰、沃尔特·弗列斯勋爵、罗伯特·布拉肯伯里爵士,还有威廉·勃兰顿爵士。
里士满:将他们按其身份爵位依礼入葬;大赦天下,对逃亡的士兵既往不咎,以让他们前来归顺;我们已就地起誓,从此红、白玫瑰两大阵营合为一家。两王室久结冤仇,有忤神意,苍天在上,愿您慈悲为怀喜开天颜,嘉许良盟!我这些话,纵有叛徒听见,谁能不说声“阿门”以示赞同?我国人颠沛连年生灵涂炭,国土疮痍满目到处断壁残垣;民众兄弟阋墙,闯下流血惨祸,为父者在一怒之下杀死亲生子,为子者也毫无顾忌挥刀弑父;凡此种种,不忍卒念,使得约克与兰开斯特两王族彼此叛离,结下世代仇怨。如今这两个王室家族的正统后嗣,我本人里士满伯爵与伊丽莎白,凭着上帝的旨意喜结连理;上帝啊,如蒙您圣恩,愿我两人的后裔子孙永享太平,国泰民安,愿天时顺和,昌盛万年!仁慈的上帝,求您莫让叛逆再度肆虐,莫让残酷岁月再次降临,莫让我国国土血泪重流!愿您永远莫让叛国之徒得享天年!从今之后,国内干戈平息,人民安居乐业;共同欢呼和平万岁,上帝惠赐万福!
(莎士比亚)
a 吃人的野兽:即理查德三世,他被人如此称呼是因为,人们都认为是他下令处死了囚禁在伦敦塔里的两个小王子,并且处决了支持他们的黑斯廷斯勋爵等人。但我们也要知道,莎士比亚写作的时代是都铎王朝时期,对理查德性格的描写自然会带上他那个时代的思想印记。
b 长久被篡夺的王冠:这顶王冠,被约克家族占据了整整二十四年(始于1461年)。
84
SOCIAL CONDITION-HOUSES OF YORK AND LANCASTER约克与兰开斯特两朝的社会状况abolished,done away with.consequences,results.decorated,adorned.dramatic,theatrical.extinction,putting down.
hereditary,descending from father to eldest son.
personated,acted the parts of.
prevailed,existed.
profane,not reverent;wicked.responsible,answerable.sympathy,fellow-feeling.
tapestry,hangings of woven sewed work.