章节正文
their adversary. The Poles are the only men in Europe who fight
for the pleasure of fighting; they cultivate the art for the art's
sake, and not for speculation.
Now hear me: kill Vandenesse, and your wife trembles, your mother-
in-law trembles, the public trembles, and you recover your
position, you prove your grand passion for your wife, you subdue
society, you subdue your wife, you become a hero. Such is France.
As for your embarrassments, I hold a hundred thousand francs for
you; you can pay your principal debts, and sell what property you
have left with a power of redemption, for you will soon obtain an
office which will enable you by degrees to pay off your creditors.
Then, as for your wife, once enlightened as to her character you
can rule her. When you loved her you had no power to manage her;
not loving her, you will have an unconquerable force. I will
undertake, myself, to make your mother-in-law as supple as a
glove; for you must recover the use of the hundred and fifty
thousand francs a year those two women have squeezed out of you.
Therefore, I say, renounce this expatriation which seems to me no
better than a pan of charcoal or a pistol to your head. To go away
is to justify all calumnies. The gambler who leaves the table to
get his money loses it when he returns; we must have our gold in
our pockets. Let us now, you and I, be two gamblers on the green
baize of politics; between us loans are in order. Therefore take
post-horses, come back instantly, and renew the game. You'll win
it with Henri de Marsay for your partner, for Henri de Marsay
knows how to will, and how to strike.
See how we stand politically. My father is in the British
ministry; we shall have close relations with Spain through the
Evangelistas, for, as soon as your mother-in-law and I have
measured claws she will find there is nothing to gain by fighting
the devil. Montriveau is our lieutenant-general; he will certainly
be minister of war before long, and his eloquence will give him
great ascendancy in the Chamber. Ronquerolles will be minister of
State and privy-councillor; Martial de la Roche-Hugon is minister
to Germany and peer of France; Serisy leads the Council of State,
to which he is indispensable; Granville holds the magistracy, to
which his sons belong; the Grandlieus stand well at court; Ferraud
is the soul of the Gondreville coterie,--low intriguers who are
always on the surface of things, I'm sure I don't know why. Thus
supported, what have we to fear? The money question is a mere
nothing when this great wheel of fortune rolls for us. What is a
woman?--you are not a schoolboy. What is life, my dear fellow, if
you let a woman be the whole of it? A boat you can't command,
without a rudder, but not without a magnet, and tossed by every
wind that blows. Pah!
The great secret of social alchemy, my dear Paul, is to get the
most we can out of each age of life through which we pass; to have
and to hold the buds of our spring, the flowers of our summer, the
fruits of our autumn. We amused ourselves once, a few good fellows
and I, for a dozen or more years, like mousquetaires, black, red,
and gray; we denied ourselves nothing, not even an occasional
filibustering here and there. Now we are going to shake down the
plums which age and experience have ripened. Be one of us; you
shall have your share in the PUDDING we are going to cook.
Come; you will find a friend all yours in the skin of
H. de Marsay.
As Paul de Manerville ended the reading of this letter, which fell
like the blows of a pickaxe on the edifice of his hopes, his
illusions, and his love, the vessel which bore him from France was
beyond the Azores. In the midst of this utter devastation a cold and
impotent anger laid hold of him.
"What had I done to them?" he said to himself.
That is the question of fools, of feeble beings, who, seeing nothing,
can nothing foresee. Then he cried aloud: "Henri! Henri!" to his loyal
friend. Many a man would have gone mad; Paul went to bed and slept
that heavy sleep which follows immense disasters,--the sleep that
seized Napoleon after Waterloo.
ADDENDUM
The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
Casa-Real, Duc de
The Quest of the Absolute
Claes, Josephine de Temninck, Madame
The Quest of the Absolute
Magus, Elie
The Vendetta
A Bachelor's Establishment
Pierre Grassou
Cousin Pons
Manerville, Paul Francois-Joseph, Comte de
The Thirteen
The Ball at Sceaux
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Manerville, Comtesse Paul de
The Lily of the Valley
A Daughter of Eve
Marsay, Henri de
The Thirteen
The Unconscious Humorists
Another Study of Woman
The Lily of the Valley
Father Goriot
Jealousies of a Country Town
Ursule Mirouet
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Letters of Two Brides
The Ball at Sceaux
Modeste Mignon
The Secrets of a Princess
The Gondreville Mystery
A Daughter of Eve
Maulincour, Baronne de
The Thirteen
Stevens, Dinah
Cousin Pons
Vandenesse, Comte Felix de
The Lily of the Valley
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Cesar Birotteau
Letters of Two Brides
A Start in Life
The Secrets of a Princess
Another Study of Woman
The Gondreville Mystery
A Daughter of Eve
End
for the pleasure of fighting; they cultivate the art for the art's
sake, and not for speculation.
Now hear me: kill Vandenesse, and your wife trembles, your mother-
in-law trembles, the public trembles, and you recover your
position, you prove your grand passion for your wife, you subdue
society, you subdue your wife, you become a hero. Such is France.
As for your embarrassments, I hold a hundred thousand francs for
you; you can pay your principal debts, and sell what property you
have left with a power of redemption, for you will soon obtain an
office which will enable you by degrees to pay off your creditors.
Then, as for your wife, once enlightened as to her character you
can rule her. When you loved her you had no power to manage her;
not loving her, you will have an unconquerable force. I will
undertake, myself, to make your mother-in-law as supple as a
glove; for you must recover the use of the hundred and fifty
thousand francs a year those two women have squeezed out of you.
Therefore, I say, renounce this expatriation which seems to me no
better than a pan of charcoal or a pistol to your head. To go away
is to justify all calumnies. The gambler who leaves the table to
get his money loses it when he returns; we must have our gold in
our pockets. Let us now, you and I, be two gamblers on the green
baize of politics; between us loans are in order. Therefore take
post-horses, come back instantly, and renew the game. You'll win
it with Henri de Marsay for your partner, for Henri de Marsay
knows how to will, and how to strike.
See how we stand politically. My father is in the British
ministry; we shall have close relations with Spain through the
Evangelistas, for, as soon as your mother-in-law and I have
measured claws she will find there is nothing to gain by fighting
the devil. Montriveau is our lieutenant-general; he will certainly
be minister of war before long, and his eloquence will give him
great ascendancy in the Chamber. Ronquerolles will be minister of
State and privy-councillor; Martial de la Roche-Hugon is minister
to Germany and peer of France; Serisy leads the Council of State,
to which he is indispensable; Granville holds the magistracy, to
which his sons belong; the Grandlieus stand well at court; Ferraud
is the soul of the Gondreville coterie,--low intriguers who are
always on the surface of things, I'm sure I don't know why. Thus
supported, what have we to fear? The money question is a mere
nothing when this great wheel of fortune rolls for us. What is a
woman?--you are not a schoolboy. What is life, my dear fellow, if
you let a woman be the whole of it? A boat you can't command,
without a rudder, but not without a magnet, and tossed by every
wind that blows. Pah!
The great secret of social alchemy, my dear Paul, is to get the
most we can out of each age of life through which we pass; to have
and to hold the buds of our spring, the flowers of our summer, the
fruits of our autumn. We amused ourselves once, a few good fellows
and I, for a dozen or more years, like mousquetaires, black, red,
and gray; we denied ourselves nothing, not even an occasional
filibustering here and there. Now we are going to shake down the
plums which age and experience have ripened. Be one of us; you
shall have your share in the PUDDING we are going to cook.
Come; you will find a friend all yours in the skin of
H. de Marsay.
As Paul de Manerville ended the reading of this letter, which fell
like the blows of a pickaxe on the edifice of his hopes, his
illusions, and his love, the vessel which bore him from France was
beyond the Azores. In the midst of this utter devastation a cold and
impotent anger laid hold of him.
"What had I done to them?" he said to himself.
That is the question of fools, of feeble beings, who, seeing nothing,
can nothing foresee. Then he cried aloud: "Henri! Henri!" to his loyal
friend. Many a man would have gone mad; Paul went to bed and slept
that heavy sleep which follows immense disasters,--the sleep that
seized Napoleon after Waterloo.
ADDENDUM
The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
Casa-Real, Duc de
The Quest of the Absolute
Claes, Josephine de Temninck, Madame
The Quest of the Absolute
Magus, Elie
The Vendetta
A Bachelor's Establishment
Pierre Grassou
Cousin Pons
Manerville, Paul Francois-Joseph, Comte de
The Thirteen
The Ball at Sceaux
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Manerville, Comtesse Paul de
The Lily of the Valley
A Daughter of Eve
Marsay, Henri de
The Thirteen
The Unconscious Humorists
Another Study of Woman
The Lily of the Valley
Father Goriot
Jealousies of a Country Town
Ursule Mirouet
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Letters of Two Brides
The Ball at Sceaux
Modeste Mignon
The Secrets of a Princess
The Gondreville Mystery
A Daughter of Eve
Maulincour, Baronne de
The Thirteen
Stevens, Dinah
Cousin Pons
Vandenesse, Comte Felix de
The Lily of the Valley
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Cesar Birotteau
Letters of Two Brides
A Start in Life
The Secrets of a Princess
Another Study of Woman
The Gondreville Mystery
A Daughter of Eve
End
- cultivate [´kʌltiveit]
vt.耕作；培植；培养 (初中英语单词) - passion [´pæʃən] n.激情；激怒；恋爱 (初中英语单词)
- principal [´prinsəpəl] a.主要的 n.负责人 (初中英语单词)
- obtain [əb´tein] v.获得；买到；得到承认 (初中英语单词)
- enable [i´neibəl] vt.使能够；赋予权力 (初中英语单词)
- character [´kæriktə] n.特性；性质；人物；字 (初中英语单词)
- pistol [´pistl] n.手枪 vt.用手枪射击 (初中英语单词)
- politics [´pɔlitiks] n.政治(学)；政治活动 (初中英语单词)
- therefore [´ðeəfɔ:] ad.&conj.因此；所以 (初中英语单词)
- instantly [´instəntli] ad.立即，立刻 (初中英语单词)
- partner [´pɑ:tnə] n.伙伴 v.同....合作 (初中英语单词)
- minister [´ministə] n.部长；大臣 v.伺候 (初中英语单词)
- reading [´ri:diŋ] n.(阅)读；朗读；读物 (初中英语单词)
- vessel [´vesəl] n.容器；船；脉管 (初中英语单词)
- feeble [´fi:bəl] a.虚弱的，无力的 (初中英语单词)
- immense [i´mens] a.广大的，无限的 (初中英语单词)
- subdue [səb´dju:] vt.征服；克制；减弱 (高中英语单词)
- loving [´lʌviŋ] a.爱的，有爱情的 (高中英语单词)
- charcoal [´tʃɑ:kəul] n.木炭；炭笔 (高中英语单词)
- chamber [´tʃeimbə] n.房间；议院；会议室 (高中英语单词)
- indispensable [,indi´spensəbəl] a.绝对必要的 (高中英语单词)
- pudding [´pudiŋ] n.布丁 (高中英语单词)
- seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
- napoleon [nə´pəuljən] n.拿破仑 (高中英语单词)
- distinguished [di´stiŋgwiʃt] a.卓越的，著名的 (高中英语单词)
- unconscious [ʌn´kɔnʃəs] a.无意识的；不觉察的 (高中英语单词)
- adversary [´ædvəsəri] n.敌手，对手 (英语四级单词)
- renounce [ri´nauns] v.拒绝 n.放弃权力 (英语四级单词)
- eloquence [´eləkwəns] n.雄辩；口才 (英语四级单词)
- martial [´mɑ:ʃəl] a.战争的；象军人的 (英语四级单词)
- magnet [´mægnit] n.磁体；磁石；磁铁 (英语四级单词)
- edifice [´edifis] n.大厦；(知识的)体系 (英语四级单词)
- foresee [fɔ:´si:] vt.预见，预知 (英语四级单词)
- provincial [prə´vinʃəl] a.省的 n.外省人 (英语四级单词)
- gambler [´gæmblə] n.赌徒 (英语六级单词)
- rudder [´rʌdə] n.(方向)舵；指导原则 (英语六级单词)
- azores [ə´zɔ:z] n.亚速尔群岛 (英语六级单词)
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章节正文
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