卷一（二）　宇宙的秩序与黄道十二星座

The Order of the Frame

［世界的秩序］

What 'twas at first, and whence the All began / Is doubted, and the Doubt too deep for Man; / And let it be, but whencesoe'er it came / Its Face is certain, 'tis an order'd Frame.

世界最初是什么，万物从何开始，都还存疑，这疑问对人来说太深了；那就随它去吧，但不论它从何而来，它的面貌是确定的：这是一个有秩序的框架。

Upward the Flame on active Pinions fled, / To Heaven's high Arch it rais'd its shining Head, / There stopt as weary grown, and round the Frame / For Nature's Bullwark roll'd a Wall of Flame.

火焰展开活跃的羽翼向上飞去，在天穹高处抬起它闪光的头，仿佛倦了，就停在那里，绕着这个框架滚成一道火墙，作为自然的壁垒。

Then liquid Air spread through the empty space / Less light and active took the second place.

接着，流动的气散布在空旷之处，它不如火那样轻、那样活跃，便占了第二位。

But next the Flame the lightest parts aspire / To waste themselves, and feed the greedy Fire.

而紧挨着火焰的那些最轻的部分向上升去，消耗自己，喂养贪婪的火。

The heavyer Water makes an humbler Claim, / And lies the third in order in the Frame; / That Vapours rising may, like Seed, repair / What Fire destroys, and feed decaying Air: / Weight sank round Earth to the remotest place, / And floating Sand in clinging Mud's embrace / Stuck fast, whilst Seas squeez'd out flow'd o'er the Mass:

较重的水要求的位置低一些，在框架中排第三；好让升起的蒸气像种子一样，补回火所毁坏的，喂养衰减的气：重量向下沉降，聚成大地，落到最远的地方，漂浮的沙被黏着的泥裹住，牢牢粘在一起，海水被挤出来，漫过这一团物质：

As those grew limpid, and diffus'd the Waves, / Through spacious Hollows and descending Caves / Rocks started forth, their Heads the Mountains rear'd.

海水渐渐澄清，波浪向四处散开，流进宽阔的洼地与下陷的洞穴，岩石突兀而出，山岳抬起了头。

And Earth surrounded by the Floud appear'd. / Lowest of all, and in the midst it lies / Compass'd by Seas, and cover'd by the Skies.

大地被洪水环绕着显露出来。它在最低处，也在正中，四周有海洋环抱，上面有诸天覆盖。

The Place doth fix it, for still rising higher / The other Elements equally retire, / And that by falling stops its farther fall, / And hangs the midst and lowest of them all, / Its parts to one fixt point press jointly down, / And meet, and stop each other from moving on. / For did not Earth hang midst the airy space.

是位置把它固定住了：因为其他元素不断升高，均匀地向外退开，大地却因下落而止住了继续下落，悬在一切的正中、最低之处；它的各部分一齐向一个固定的点压下来，彼此相遇，互相阻止对方继续移动。要是大地不悬在空中的正中，

The Earth lies in the midst of the World

［大地居于世界的中央］

How could the Sun perform his constant race? / Drive on the Day, fall headlong down the West, / Force up the Stars, and rise again at East?

太阳怎能完成他恒常的行程？怎能驱赶白昼前进，一头栽向西方，催起群星，又在东方重新升起？

How could the Moon her usual Round maintain, / Rise, set, and rise near the same point again?

月亮怎能保持她惯常的轮转，升起、沉落，又在几乎同一点上再度升起？

Or He that leads the Stars at Night return / To East again, and usher forth the Morn?

那在夜里引领群星的星，又怎能回到东方，引出清晨？

But since Earth did not to a Bottom fall, / But hangs, and yielding Air surrounds the Ball, / The way is open, and no stop to force / The Stars return, or to impede their course.

但既然大地没有落到一个底上，而是悬着，有柔顺的气环绕这个球，路就敞开着，没有阻碍去逼停群星的回返，或妨碍它们的运行。

For who can think that when the Sun doth rise / He's born anew, or when He sets He dies?

谁会认为太阳升起时是重新诞生，落下时就死去了？

That when one Day He hath display'd his Light / His Race is finisht, and goes out at Night?

认为他展示了一天的光，行程就结束，到夜里就熄灭了？

Since He the same doth every Morn appear, / And as He drives a Day He whirls a Year.

因为每天早晨出现的都是同一个他，他驱赶一天，也就转动一年。

From the same East He comes with equal pace, / To the same West He still directs his Race; / And not one Change is seen in Nature's Face.

他从同一个东方以同样的步伐而来，始终朝着同一个西方奔去；自然的面貌上看不出一点变化。

The same Moon shines, and at a certain Day, / Her light encreases, and Her Horns decay.

照耀的是同一个月亮，到了一定的日子，她的光就增长，她的角就消退。

The track she made Nature doth still pursue, / Nor like a Novice wanders in a new.

她走过的轨迹，自然始终沿着走，不像生手那样在新路上乱闯。

Phoebus still warms those signs where first he shone, / And Day goes round with one eternal Sun.

福玻斯总是温暖他最初照耀的那些星座，白昼由同一个永恒的太阳带着绕行一周。

Thus prov'd: because by just Degrees the Hours / In different Countries are the same with Ours.

可以这样证明：不同国度的时辰按一定的度数先后推移，计法却与我们的相同。

The Eastern Nations view the rising Fires / Whilst Night shades us, and lazily retires.

东方的民族看见升起的火光时，我们这里仍被黑夜遮着，夜正懒懒地退去。

And as to distant West we nimbly run, / That still removes, nor can we reach the Sun.

而我们若敏捷地向遥远的西方奔去，西方也始终在后退，我们追不上太阳。

No East begins, no West his race doth bound, / But he drives on in one continued Round.

没有哪个东方是他的起点，也没有哪个西方是他行程的终界，他只是绕着一个连续的圆圈不停地驱驰。

Nor is it wondrous that one single Ball / Should hang, since 'tis the Nature of the All.

一个孤零零的球竟能悬着，这也不足为奇，因为整个宇宙本来就是这样。

No prop supports, but as their motions prove, / The whole World hangs, and all that whirls above.

没有支柱撑着，而是如它们的运动所证明的，整个世界都悬着，在上面旋转的一切也都悬着。

The Sun doth drive his Race through yielding Skies, / Wheel round the liquid Bound, and set and rise.

太阳穿过柔顺的天空驱驰，绕着流动的界限旋转，落下又升起。

Through Aether, Moon and Stars direct their Race, / Like these Earth unsupported keeps its place, / Though no fixt Bottom props the weighty Mass.

月亮与群星穿过以太奔行；大地也像它们一样，没有支撑而保持着自己的位置，虽然并没有固定的底来托住这沉重的一团。

The Earth is round

［大地是圆的］

Well then, the Earth hangs midst the yielding Air / Not stretcht into a Plain, but every where / It rises and declines into a Sphere.

那么，大地悬在柔顺的空气中间，不是伸展成一块平面，而是处处隆起又下降，成为一个球体。

In other Parts this Figure Nature drew, / The Sun and Stars, if we exactly view, / Seem round, the Moon is vary'd every Night, / Nor with an equal Face receives her Brother's Light.

在别处，自然也画出了这个形状：太阳和群星，若仔细看，都显得是圆的；月亮每夜变化，并不以同样的面容接受她兄长的光。

This proves her round since different rays adorn, / Now shape, now bend, now fill her borrow'd Horn.

这证明她是圆的，因为照在她身上的光线各不相同，时而使她借来的角成形，时而使它弯曲，时而使它盈满。

This Form's Eternal and may justly claim / A Godlike Nature, all its parts the same; / Alike and equal to its self 'tis found, / No End's and no Beginning in a Round.

这个形状是永恒的，配得上神性：它的各部分都相同，处处与自身相似、相等，圆里没有终点，也没有起点。

Nought can molest its Being nought controul, / And this enobles and confines the Whole.

没有什么能扰乱它的存在，没有什么能管束它；正是这个形状使整个宇宙高贵，又把它包容在内。

First Argument

［第一个论证］

Hence every Countrey sees not every Sign, / What Sailer views the bright Canopus shine / O'er Egypt's Shores, and when its Rays appear / Who sees the little Circles of the Bear?

因此不是每个国度都看得见每个星座：哪个水手看得见明亮的老人星在埃及海岸上空闪耀？而当它的光出现时，谁又看得见大熊那些小小的圆圈？

For Earth still rising to a Round denies, / A larger Scene, and bounds our feeble Eyes. / This Truth the Moon confirms when deep in Night

因为大地始终向上隆成圆形，挡住了更大的景象，限住了我们微弱的目光。月亮在深夜里也证实了这个道理，

Second Argument

［第二个论证］

Earth interposes, and diverts her Light, / She doth not all the World at once surprize, / But now seems dark to these, now other Eyes.

那时大地挡在中间，转走了她的光；她并不一下子使全世界的人都看见，而是先在这些人眼里显得昏暗，再轮到别处的人。

The Eastern Parts first view her darkned Face, / Then o'er the South she rolls her broken Rays; / And then still prest by the obscuring shade, / She hears the Western Brass resounding to her Aid.

东方各地最先看见她暗下来的脸，接着她在南方洒下残缺的光；然后，她仍被遮蔽的阴影紧压着，听见西方敲响铜器来救助她。

Now if the Earth were flat the darkned Moon / Would seem to all Eclypst as well as one.

要是大地是平的，昏暗的月亮就会在所有人眼里同时被食，就像在一处人的眼里一样，

At once presenting to the common view / Her gloomy looks, and prove this fancy true.

同时向众人的目光呈现她阴沉的面容，证明这种想法是对的。

But since its Figure's round, dim Cynthia's beams / By just degrees must visit the Extremes; / Not all at once; she must divide the Skies, / And while she sets to some, to others rise.

但既然大地的形状是圆的，昏暗的辛西娅的光就必定按一定的度数先后到达两端；不是同时；她必定分割天空，在对一些人落下的时候，对另一些人升起。

For in the mighty Concave whirl'd above / She rising must, and must declining move; / Now climb this rising, and her Glories show, / Then sink again, and scatter Beams below.

因为在头顶旋转的巨大穹窿中，她必定升起，也必定下沉；时而爬上这一边，展示她的光辉，时而又沉下去，把光洒向下方。

This proves (nor shall the subtlest Wits escape / These twining Reasons) the disputed Shape.

这就证明了（即使最精明的头脑也逃不过这些环环相扣的理由）那个争议中的形状。

By various Animals this Globe's possest, / The Common House of Man, of Bird, and Beast; / The Northern parts rise high, the Southern fall / Beneath our Fee, the Adverse of the Ball.

这个球上住着各种动物，是人、鸟、兽共同的家；北部高高隆起，南部落在我们的脚下，是球的另一面。

Yet as it lies its surface seems a Flat. / Though false, its bigness doth improve the Cheat, / And take the Roundness off, though every where / It riseth and declines into a Sphere.

可是照它躺着的样子，表面看上去是平的。这是假象，它的巨大加强了这种错觉，抹去了圆的样子，其实它处处隆起又下降，成为一个球体。

Hence when with setting Beams the Sun withdrawn / Beholds our East, they see the Morning dawn; / And when their Toils He with his Light restores, / Sleep sits on Us, and gently easeth Ours. / The Sea runs round, and with its circling Waves

因此，当太阳带着西沉的光芒离开我们，去照我们的东方时，那里的人正看见晨曦；当他用光把那里的人唤回劳作时，睡眠正坐在我们身上，温柔地使我们安歇。海洋环流而行，以它环绕的波涛

God the Soul of the World

［神是世界之魂］

The Floud at once divides, and joyns the Halves. / To this vast Frame in which four parts conspire / Of different form, Air, Water, Earth and Fire, / United God the World's Almighty Soul / By secret methods rules and guides the Whole;

同时把大地分开，又把两半连起来。这个浩大的框架由四个形态不同的部分合成：气、水、土、火；统一它们的是神，世界全能的灵魂，他以隐秘的方式统治、引导整体；

By unseen passes He himself conveys / Through all the Mass, and every part obeys.

他经由看不见的通道，把自己输送到整团物质之中，每一部分都服从他。

To proper Patients He kind Agents brings / In various Leagues binds disagreeing Things.

他把合宜的施动者带给合宜的受动者，以种种盟约把不相合的东西结合起来。

Makes some Powers act, and some receive their Force; / And thus whilst Nature keeps her Vital Course, / Though different Powers the several Things divide, / The World seems One, and all its parts ally'd. / Now Constellations, Muse, and Signs rehearse,

他使一些力量施加作用，另一些力量承受作用；这样，当自然保持着她生命的进程时，虽然不同的力量分属各种事物，世界仍显得是一体，它的各部分彼此结盟。现在，诗神啊，来述说星群与星座吧，

The Signs of the Zodiack

［黄道十二星座］

In order, let them sparkle in thy Verse. / Those which obliquely bound the burning Zone, / And bear the Summer and the Winter Sun, / Those first: then those which roll a different way / From West: nor Heaven's Diurnal whirl obey: / Which Nights serene disclose, and which create / The steddy Rules, and fix the Laws of Fate.

依着次序，让它们在你的诗里闪耀。先说那些斜着环绕炎热地带、承载夏日与冬日太阳的星座；然后是那些从西方向另一方向转动、不服从诸天每日旋转的星；说哪些是晴朗的夜晚显露的，哪些创立稳定的规则，定下命运的法则。

First Aries, glorious in his Golden Wool, / Looks back, and wonders at the mighty Bull, / Whose back-parts first appear: He bending lies / With threatning Head, and calls the Twins to rise, / They clasp for fear, and mutually embrace; / And next the Twins with an unsteady pace / Bright Cancer rolls: Then Leo shakes his Mane:

首先是白羊，以金色的羊毛而荣耀，他回头惊望雄壮的金牛；金牛先露出后半身，弯身伏着，低着威胁的头，召唤双子升起；双子因为害怕而互相紧抱；双子之后，明亮的巨蟹迈着不稳的步子滚滚而来：然后狮子抖动他的鬃毛：

And following Virgo calms his Rage again: / Then Day and Night are weigh'd in Libra's Scales, / Equal a while, at last the Night prevails, / And longer grown the heavyer Scale inclines / And draws bright Scorpio from the Winter Signs: / Him Centaur follows with an aiming Eye / His Bow full drawn and ready to let fly:

随后的处女又平息他的怒气：然后白昼与黑夜在天秤的秤盘里称量，一时相等，最后黑夜占了上风，变得更长，较重的秤盘倾斜下去，从冬天的星座中引出明亮的天蝎：跟在他后面的是射手，那半人马目光瞄准，弓已拉满，箭在弦上：

Next narrow Horns the twisted Caper shows, / And from Aquarius Urn a floud o'erflows.

接着，扭曲的摩羯露出窄小的角，水瓶的瓮里流出一股洪水。

Near their lov'd Waves cold Pisces take their Seat, / With Aries joyn and make the Round compleat. / Now view the point where turn the shining Bears,

冷冷的双鱼在它们喜爱的水波旁就座，与白羊相接，使这一圈圆满。现在来看那闪亮的两熊转动的那一点，

The axis

［天轴］

And from their height look down on other Stars. / Which never set but onely change their Sites / To the same point; and whirl the meaner Lights; / Thither the Axis runs, whose adverse Poles / Bears the poiz'd World, and Heaven about it rolls;

它们从高处俯视其他的星。它们从不沉落，只是绕着同一点改变位置，并带着较小的星光一同旋转；天轴就伸向那里，它相对的两极承担着平衡的世界，诸天绕着它旋转；

No solid substance that the weight might bear / But an imagin'd Line stretcht through the Air; / Begun from either Pole the Line extends / Earth's Centre through, and in the other ends.

它不是能承受重量的实体，而只是一条在空中拉开的想象之线；这条线从任一极开始，穿过大地的中心，到另一极结束。

For since the frame turns round, that fancy'd Line / Which cuts the middle, too minutely thin / By turning round it self to measure space, / But still consin'd to one imagin'd place, / Is call'd the Axis; cause unapt to move / It sees Stars whirl, the shining Planets rove, / And swiftly measure the vast space above. / Fixt near the Pole appear those friendly Stars

因为整个框架在旋转，那条想象之线穿过中央，细到极点，它绕着自身转动，并不量度空间，始终被限在一个想象的位置上，于是被称为天轴；因为它不能移动，只看着群星旋转、明亮的行星漫游，迅速地量过上方广阔的空间。靠近天极固定着那些友善的星，

The great Bear

［大熊座］

Well known to wretched greedy Mariners; / Which guide their Sails, and which direct their Oars, / When mad for gain they fly to foreign Shores.

可怜而贪婪的水手们都熟悉它们；当水手们为利欲所狂、飞往异国海岸时，是它们引导船帆，指引船桨。

(Whilst Heaven it self befriends their Avarice, / What Pleas may wretched Mortals make for Vice?)

（既然上天本身都助长他们的贪婪，可怜的凡人还能为恶行找什么借口？）

Seven equal Stars adorn the greater Bear, / Which measure larger Circles of the Sphere, / And teach the Grecian Sailers how to steer.

七颗相等的星装点着大熊，它们画出天球上较大的圆圈，教希腊的水手怎样掌舵。