7
メラが金持ちの醸造家を断ったという話は、すぐに世間に知れ渡り、フランクの耳にも入った。いつかそのうちメラの心にある自分の位置に、誰か他の豊かな求婚者が取って代わるのではないかと気が気でなかったフランクは、そんな不安がすっかり払拭されて大喜びした。これで自分が何を望むべきかが解り、ブレーメンの賢い住人たちには不可解なままだった問題を簡単に解決することができた。愛が、この穀潰しを賢い音楽家に変えたのだ。しかし不運なことに、当時はその才能は求婚者にとって強力な推薦材料とはなりえず、現在ほど地位も報酬も高くはなかった。芸術は当時、豊かさと繁栄に仕えるものではなく、その従事者は貧困と欠乏から脱け出せなかった。旅の音楽家といったら当時は、豪奢な人々の門前に施しを求めて、騒々しいけたたましい交響曲をやる放浪学生くらいしか知られておらず。フランクはセレナーデを捧げるだけで精一杯、対して愛する乙女の払った犠牲は大きく、楽曲のみでお返しには覚束ない。このとき、来し方を思いやったフランクは、過去が返し矢になって己が胸を抉る思いだった。
The report of Mela's having refused the rich brewer, soon got abroad, and even reached the ears of Frank, who was overjoyed, for it took away all his fears, that at some time or other a rich suitor might supplant him in Mela's heart. He now knew what he had to hope, and could easily solve the problem which remained inexplicable to the wise inhabitants of Bremen. Love had converted the profligate youth into a clever musician, but unluckily, that character was not a very powerful recommendation for a suitor in those times, it being neither so much honoured, nor so well paid as at present. The fine arts were not then the handmaids of affluence and prosperity, but confined their votaries to poverty and want. No other travelling musicians were then known, but Bohemian students, whose noisy shrill symphonies solicited alms at the doors of the opulent. A serenade was all Frank had to give, and the beloved maiden had made too great a sacrifice, for him to be rewarded by it only. At this time the thought of his former behaviour became a thorn in his bosom.
かくて始める独白、山の如く、気違いじみた自身に対する非難を口に。
「ああ、メラ、メラ！」ため息をつく、「なぜ今まであなたを知らなかったのか。
あなたは守護天使であったのか、
破滅から此の身を救えもしようか。
思えば無駄に歳を重ねたものか、
もう一度、昔の自分に戻れるだろうか。
僕に狂気が憑いたとき、世界は僕のエデンとなった。
それをエデンのあなたの園にできたなら。
気高い乙女よ 哀れな乞食のために自分を犠牲にするのか？
財産も何もない、愛と絶望に満ちた心しか持たないのに、
あなたの美徳に見合った境遇を提供できる筈もないのに！」
Many a monologue he began, with execrations against his own madness.
"Oh Mela, Mela!" he sighed, "why did I not know you before,
you would have been my protecting angel,
and might have saved me from ruin.
Could I recall my lost years,
could I be once more what I was,
when I began my mad career, the world would be an Eden to me,
and I would make it an Eden to you.
Noble maiden! you sacrifice yourself for a wretch, a beggar,
who has no other patrimony, but a heart filled with love and despair,
because he cannot offer you a fate worthy of your virtues! "
かくなる不満の爆発で、彼は何度も額を打ち、自分を罵倒し「軽率な奴だ！愚か者だ！悔やんでも遅すぎる！」と。
A thousand times he struck his forehead during these fits of phrensied discontent, calling himself
"a thoughtless wretch! a fool! too late comes thy repentance!"
しかし、思索の成果は、絶望にとどまるものではなかった。彼の心の力が呼び覚まされ、努力と活動によって自分の現状を変えたいという熱い想いが生まれ、自分ができることをやってみようと思うようになった。自分の運勢を立て直すために考えた多くの手段の中で、最も成功が約束され、最も合理的に見えたのは、亡くなった父親の会計をすべて調べ、まだ父親に支払われるべき債権があることを突き止めることであった。かつての巨万の富の断片を集め、幸運にもそれを手に入れることができれば、失った財産ほどではないにせよ、人生のあらゆる目的に十分対応できる新たな財産の基礎を築くことが望める。彼の計画は、回収できる金額をすべて事業に使うことで、徐々に持ち船を増加させる。やがては想像力の及ぶ限り、世界のあらゆる場所を訪れるようになることを期待していた。このような債権の多くは、不幸にも遠方の通信員からのものであることがわかり、彼はすぐに、自分自身で請求に行けば、成功のチャンスがはるかに大きいことを確信した。そこで彼は、父親の遺産である金時計を売り払い、ブレーメンの商人という肩書で、旅に出るための馬を購入することができた。
Despair was not however, the only fruit of his reflections. The powers of his mind were roused; a warm desire arose to alter his present condition, by exertion and activity, and he was induced to try what he could effect. Among the many means he thought of as likely to mend his fortune, the one which promised most success, and which appeared most rational, was to look over all his late father's accounts, and find out what debts were still due to him. With these fragments of a once princely fortune; should he be fortunate enough to collect them, he hoped to lay the foundation of another; if not as large as that he had lost, yet sufficient for all the purposes of life. His project was to employ whatever sum he could collect, in business, which he expected would increase by degrees, till his imagination flattered him, his ships should visit every part of the world. Many of these debts he found were unfortunately due from correspondents at distant places, and he was soon convinced that he should have a much greater chance of success, if he were to go in person to claim his own. He accordingly sold his father's gold watch, the only remains of his inheritance to enable him to buy a horse which was to carry him into the world under the title of a Bremen merchant.
唯一の心残りは、愛するメラとの別離だった。
「突然居なくなったら、彼女はどう思うだろう？」自問自答して、「もう教会からの帰り道で会うことはなくなる。彼女は僕を不誠実な人間だと思い、心の中から僕を追い出さないだろうか？」
この考えから、彼は非常な不安に陥り、しばらくの間、自分の意図を知らせる方法を見出だせなかった。しかし、やがては思いついた。メラとその母親がいつも通っている教会で、彼の成功のために祈りを捧げて貰うことで、不在の原因を伝えようと。そこで神父に、国外に出なければならない若者へ向け、旅の無事と事業の成功を願う祈祷を毎日捧げて貰うため、お布施少々を渡した。この祈りは、彼が帰国するまで続けられ、その時には感謝の祈りを購入することになっていた。
The only regret he felt, was occasioned by the separation from his beloved Mela. " What will she think of my sudden disappearance? " he said to himself, " I shall meet her no longer on her way home from church: will she not think me faithless, and banish me from her heart? " This idea made him very uneasy, and, for some time, he could discover no means to inform her of his intentions. Inventive love, however, soon inspired him with the happy thought of communicating the cause of his absence to her, by having prayers put up for his success, in that church where Mela and her mother generally attended. For this purpose he gave the priest a small sum of money to offer up a daily prayer for a young man obliged to travel abroad, and for success in his undertaking. This prayer was to be continued till his return, when he was to purchase a thanksgiving.
最後にメラに会ったとき、旅の支度をしていた彼は、彼女のすぐそばを通り過ぎたが、その挨拶はいつもより気さくで意味有りげだった。彼女は顔を赤らめ、母ブリギッタは叱りつけ、この若者の不謹慎さに苛立ちを露わにしたのである。娘の評判を落とそうとする若者の不遜な態度に憤慨し、一日中そのことに恨み言を言い続けた。
しかし、フランクはブレーメンでは見かけなくなり、故郷の街で最も美しい瞳を持つ女性たちによく追いかけられたという。
The last time he met Mela he was dressed for his journey; he passed quite close by her and his salutation more open and inarked than usual, was as full of meaning as he could make it. She blushed, and mother Brigitta scolded, making many unpleasant remarks, and plainly expressed her vexation at the impudence of the young fellow who meant to ruin her danghter's reputation, which theme she animadverted on the whole day. Frank however, was not seen any longer in Bremen, and was often sought after by the most lovely eyes in his native city.
天国の門より自分の耳に向けられている祈りの朗読をよく聞いたメラだったが、恋人の失踪を悲しむあまり、彼女はそれを聞き流してしまった。それを説明してくれるかもしれない言葉が、彼女の耳には空しく響くばかりで、何を考えていいのかわからない。一、二ヶ月が過ぎ、悲しみが和らぎ、彼の不在が苦痛でなくなったとある日、説教の最中に彼のことを思い出していた。その時初めて、その祈りが彼の不在と、それに付随するすべての状況と結びつくや、一気にその意味が解った。それを見抜けずにいた自分の鈍さを不思議に思い、心の中でその独創的な仕掛けを賞賛し、褒め称える程だった。確かに、こうした祈りの効力はあまり高い評価を受けておらず、これに頼る敬虔な人々にとってはささやかな支援でしかない。一般的には、説教の終わりに帰依の熱は冷めるものだが、メラには、そのときこそが始まりだった。礼拝の終わりの祈りは、彼女の信心深さに新たな熱意を与えた。そして若い旅人を、彼と彼女両方の守護聖人へ特にお願いすることを決して忘れなかった。
Mela heard the prayer read very often, that was in fact directed more for her ears, than for the gates of heaven, but she paid no attention to it, so much was she grieved at the disappearance of her lover. The words which might have explained it, fell an empty sound on her ear, and she knew not what to think. At the expiration of a month or two, when her grief had become milder and his absence less tormenting, she one day had been thinking of him during the sermon, and for the first time connecting the prayer with him and his absence, and all the accompanying circumstances, she suddenly divined its meaning, wondered at her own stupidity in not before discovering it, and in her heart admired and praised the ingenious device. It is true that these prayers have no very high reputation for efficacy, and are but a weak support for those pious persons who rely upon them. The warmth of devotion is generally nealy exhausted at the end of the sermon, but in Mela it only then began; the prayers at the end of the service gave new ardour to her piety, and she never omitted to recommend the young traveller very particularly to both his and her patron saint.
Many a monologue he began, : 以下はセレナードの筈だが、英訳に詩心は窺えず、適宜補う。
travel abroad:神聖ローマ帝国が実権を失って後のドイツは統一国家ではなく、王国やら公国やらが並び立つ、戦国時代さながらの群雄割拠状態であった。同じドイツ語が通用しても、隣町が違う国だったりした訳で、「国外」というのは間違っていない。
