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ドーバー海峡を渡り、遂にグランドツアーを始めたラッスェン卿一行。道連れになったオーブリーは、変人の行動原理を知り驚愕。
ラッスェン卿という人物をよく知る機会がこれまでなかったオーブリーが、その振舞いを多く目にするようになった今になって解ったのは。卿の行動が齎す結果は、その明白な動機から導かれる結論とは異なるものだった。
集ってきたのは遠慮を知らない連中ばかり……無職に宿無しに物乞いが、差し迫った必要以上に引ったくっていった。
Hitherto, Aubrey had had no opportunity of studying Lord Ruthven's character, and now he found, that, though many more of his actions were exposed to his view, the results offered different conclusions from the apparent motives to his conduct.
His companion was profuse in his liberality;—the idle, the vagabond, and the beggar, received from his hand more than enough to relieve their immediate wants.
オーブリーも気付かざるを得なかった事に、施しを授けたのは、有徳でありながら不運にも貧乏に転落した人への徳行ではなかった。そんな人達は隠しもしない冷笑を以て門前払いされた。対して放蕩者が何か求めに来たときには、その欲求を窘めるどころか、ますます欲望に浸れるように、あるいはその不義に更に深く沈めるように、惜しみない支援を得て帰された。
But Aubrey could not avoid remarking, that it was not upon the virtuous, reduced to indigence by the misfortunes attendant even upon virtue, that he bestowed his alms;—these were sent from the door with hardly suppressed sneers; but when the profligate came to ask something, not to relieve his wants, but to allow him to wallow in his lust, or to sink him still deeper in his iniquity, he was sent away with rich charity.
これは、しかし。高潔な貧しい人々の廉恥よりも、一般に優勢である悪徳こそが、ずっと面白がられたに過ぎない。閣下の慈善には一種の決まり事があって、それがなおのこと心に来るのだった。施しが授けられた者全てが必ずや、呪いを受けたと気づくのだ。というのは漏れなく、断頭台に上るか、艱難辛苦に喘ぐ羽目になったからである。
This was, however, attributed by him to the greater importunity of the vicious, which generally prevails over the retiring bashfulness of the virtuous indigent. There was one circumstance about the charity of his Lordship, which was still more impressed upon his mind: all those upon whom it was bestowed, inevitably found that there was a curse upon it, for they were all either led to the scaffold, or sunk to the lowest and the most abject misery.
通りすがりのブリュッセルやら他の町やらで、オーブリーが驚いた事に。彼の連れはそれはもう熱心に、悪徳の栄えるど真ん中へと突っ込んで行きたがったのだ。全身全霊でカード賭博の席に臨んだとでもいうか。賭けをして常勝。流石に、より鋭い敵には取りこぼしもあり、勝ちより負けが嵩んだけれど。周りを見やる顔つきは、いつも変わらぬ無表情。ところが必ずしもそうでもないのは、軽率な青二才や、子沢山の不運な父親に出くわした途端、運命の掟にでも化したかのよう……関心を持たない様子でありながら、その目ばかりは、半死半生のネズミを弄ぶ猫よりも、火と輝くのであった。
At Brussels and other towns through which they passed, Aubrey was surprized at the apparent eagerness with which his companion sought for the centres of all fashionable vice; there he entered into all the spirit of the faro table: he betted, and always gambled with success, except where the known sharper was his antagonist, and then he lost even more than he gained; but it was always with the same unchanging face, with which he generally watched the society around: it was not, however, so when he encountered the rash youthful novice, or the luckless father of a numerous family; then his very wish seemed fortune's law—this apparent abstractedness of mind was laid aside, and his eyes sparkled with more fire than that of the cat whilst dallying with the half-dead mouse.
街という街で、裕福だった若者を、いい気にさせた連中から引き離し放り出した。牢獄の孤独にあっては、この悪鬼の手の届くところに引きずり込んだ運命を呪うばかり。はたまた、雁首揃えて居座る親父ども多数。つい最近までの莫大な富から、今や餓えた腹を満たすにも足りない鐚銭1つも残らず、空きっ腹抱えて無言な子供たちの視線を浴びて必死な。
In every town, he left the formerly affluent youth, torn from the circle he adorned, cursing, in the solitude of a dungeon, the fate that had drawn him within the reach of this fiend; whilst many a father sat frantic, amidst the speaking looks of mute hungry children, without a single farthing of his late immense wealth, wherewith to buy even sufficient to satisfy their present craving.
賭け事の卓に出された金を一々取るまでもなく、負け犬多数から有り金残らず巻き上げた。罪のない子が握りしめた、震える手から奪ったばかりの最後の1ギルダまでも。これなどはある程度、無知の然らしむる結果でもあろうが、ただ知っているくらいでは所詮、海千山千の狡猾に対抗できるものでは無い。
Yet he took no money from the gambling table; but immediately lost, to the ruiner of many, the last gilder he had just snatched from the convulsive grasp of the innocent: this might but be the result of a certain degree of knowledge, which was not, however, capable of combating the cunning of the more experienced.
オーブリー悩める事しばしば、この事を友人に言ってやろうか、そしてまた人を破滅させるばかりで、自身に利がある訳でもなかった慈善事業で遊ぶのは辞めるように頼もうかと。……考えて、先送りしていた。毎日のように、率直に開放的に話せるような機会を友人がくれないかと待ち受け。決してそうはならなかった。
Aubrey often wished to represent this to his friend, and beg him to resign that charity and pleasure which proved the ruin of all, and did not tend to his own profit;—but he delayed it—for each day he hoped his friend would give him some opportunity of speaking frankly and openly to him; however, this never occurred.
車中のラッスェン卿は、野生の豊かな自然が見せる風景の移り変わる中にあって、一切変わる事がなく。その目は唇よりも話さず。オーブリーは好奇心の対象に迫りながら、その謎を解き明かそうとの虚しい望みに空回りしてばかり、捗々しい結果は得られずじまい。掻き立てられた想像力は、その謎に何か超常的なものの容貌をすら纏わせ始めた。
Lord Ruthven in his carriage, and amidst the various wild and rich scenes of nature, was always the same: his eye spoke less than his lip; and though Aubrey was near the object of his curiosity, he obtained no greater gratification from it than the constant excitement of vainly wishing to break that mystery, which to his exalted imagination began to assume the appearance of something supernatural.
the lowest and the most abject misery:面倒臭い書き方の割に漠然としているので、纏める。
Brussels:ベルギーの首都。ドーバー海峡の対岸はフランスのカレーであるが、バイロン卿一行はフランス入国を断られた。そのため『チャイルド・ハロルドの巡礼』第3巻ではベルギーからライン川を遡上しており、これを踏まえた書き方。
faro:カード賭博の1種。
a single farthing: farthing は、当時存在した1/4ペニーに当たる銅貨。鐚銭と由来は異なるものの同様の意味になる。
