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希腊神话:ENDYMION'S SLEEP-恩底弥翁的沉睡

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2018年07月30日

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When the plains below were parched and brown and dusty with the heat of summer,on Mount Latmus all was so still and cool,so fresh and green,that one seemed to be in another world. The mountain was most beautiful of all at night,when the moon drove her chariot overhead,and flooded every tree and all the grassy slopes with her pale light.
Endymion was a young shepherd who led his flocks high up on the sides of this mountain and let them browse on the rich pasturagealong the margins of its snow-fedstreams. He loved the pure mountain air,and the stillness of the higher slopes,which was broken only by the tinkle of his sheep-bells,or the song of birds. There he dreamed his days away while his sheep and goats were feeding;or,at night,he leaned his head on a log or a mossystone and slept with the flock.
Selene,the moon-goddess,loved to visit Mount Latmus;in fact, the mountain belonged,in some sense,to her. It was her influence that made everything there so quiet and beautiful. One night,when she had stolen down from her place in the sky for a walk through one of the flowery meadowsof Mount Latmus,she found Endymion there asleep.
The shepherd looked as beautiful as any flower on the mountain, or as the swans which were floating in the lake nearby,with their heads tuckedunder their wings. If it had not been for his regular breathing, Selene would have believed that she stood looking at a marblestatue. There,at a little distance,lay his sheep and goats,unguarded,and liable to be attacked by wild beasts. Oh,Endymion was a very careless shepherd! That was the effect of the air on Mount Latmus.
Selene knew that it was the wonderful air of her mountain which had made the shepherd heedless,as well as beautiful,therefore she stayed by his flock all night and watched it herself.
She came the next night and the next and for many nights,to gazeat the sleeper,and to watch the unguarded flock. One morning,when she returned to the sky,she looked so pale from her watching that Jupiter asked her where she had been,and she describedthe beautiful shepherd she had found on her mountain,and confessedthat she had been guarding his sheep.
Then she begged of Jupiter that since Endymion was so very,very beautiful he might always look as she had seen him in his sleep,instead of growing old as other mortals must. Jupiter answered,"Even the gods cannot give to mortals everlasting youth and beauty without giving them also everlasting sleep;but Endymion shall sleep forever and be forever young."
So there,in a cave,on Mount Latmus,Endymion sleeps on to this day;and his wonderful beauty has not faded in the smallest degree, but is a joy still to all who can climb those lofty heights.





当人间的平原被夏日的酷热烤成褐色、灰色的时候,拉都玛斯山上的万物却仍旧静谧凉爽,放眼望去尽是清新的绿色,让人仿佛置身世外桃源。到了夜晚,山上的每样东西都变得更加美好。夜晚,月亮从人们的头顶上驱车而过,把她的清辉洒在每棵树以及所有青草如茵的斜坡上。
恩底弥翁是个年轻的牧羊人,他赶着羊群来到高处的山坡上,让羊群在沿着融雪而成的水流旁的肥沃牧场上吃草。他喜欢山中干净的空气与高山斜坡上的宁静,只有他的牧羊铃发出丁丁当当的铃声与鸟儿们宛转的鸣唱打破这片沉寂。当他的绵羊和山羊在吃草时,他就用做梦来消磨时间;晚上他把头枕在圆木或长着青苔的石头上,与羊群一起入眠。
月亮女神塞勒涅喜欢到拉都玛斯山来玩;事实上,那座山在某种意义上是属于她的,是她使山里的一切都变得那般静谧美丽。有个晚上,她从天空中她的居所偷偷下来散步,经过拉都玛斯山中一处开满花朵的草地时,发现恩底弥翁在那里睡觉。
牧羊人看起来美得就像山上的花,或者像附近湖上那些把头藏在翅膀下浮在水面的白天鹅。如果他不是很规律地呼吸着,塞勒涅会认为自己见到的是一尊大理石雕像。他的绵羊和山羊离他有一段距离,没有人看管,很有可能被野兽攻击。哦!恩底弥翁是多么粗心的牧羊人啊!那都是受了拉都玛斯山新鲜空气的影响。
塞勒涅察觉到是她的山中美好的气息让这个牧羊人变美,也使他变得粗心大意。所以她整个晚上就待在他的羊群旁边,亲自看守。
第二夜、第三夜、连续好几个夜晚,她都来探望这个沉睡的人,照顾没人看管的羊群。有一天清晨,她回到天空时,由于看守羊群的原因让她看起来很憔悴,朱庇特因此问她到哪里去了。于是她告诉他在自己的山上发现那个英俊的牧羊人,并且坦白还帮他看管了羊群。
接着,她对朱庇特央求道:"既然恩底弥翁是如此的俊美,不能任由他如凡人那样逐渐地老去,请让他永远保持着我在他酣睡中所见的容貌。"朱庇特回答道:"神若不让人类永久地沉睡下去,就无法使他保持永恒的青春与美貌;不过,恩底弥翁将永远沉睡,永远年轻。"
所以,直到现在,恩底弥翁依然在拉都玛斯山的洞穴中沉睡着,他那令人赞叹的俊美一点儿也没有减退。这对能攀登到如此巍峨的高山而看到他的人而言,仍然是一件赏心悦目的事情。
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