悲剧的诞生The Birth Of Tragedy 第54期:阻碍文明的拦路石

Once again, we may see the artist's buoyancy and creative joy as a luminous cloud shape reflected upon the dark surface of a lake of sorrow.

艺术家喜爱发展，艺术创作喜爱反抗灾难，这毋宁是在黑暗苦海中反映的星光云影而已。

The legend of Prometheus is indigenous to the entire community of Aryan races and attests to their prevailing talent for profound and tragic vision.

普罗密修斯的故事是全亚利安族的原始财产，是该族的深刻悲壮的方华之佐证。

In fact, it is not improbable that this myth has the same characteristic importance for the Aryan mind as the myth of the Fall has for the Semitic,

真的，普罗密修斯的神话之于亚利安天才，实含有特殊的意义，正如人类堕落的神话之于闪族那样，

and that the two myths are related as brother and sister.

这两者之间有着兄妹的亲属关系，这点决不是没有可能的。

The presupposition of the Prometheus myth is primitive man's belief in the supreme value of fire as the true palladium of every rising civilization.

普罗密修斯神话的前提，是天真的先民对火的过高估价，以为火是一切新兴文化的真正护守神。

But for man to dispose of fire freely, and not receive it as a gift from heaven in the kindling thunderbolt and the warming sunlight,

然而，若果人类要自由自主地控制火，而不是仅仅依靠皇天的赐予，例如靠雷电燃烧或者靠阳光生热，而取得火，

seemed a crime to thoughtful primitive man, a despoiling of divine nature.

那在沉思的原始人看来便是亵渎神明，是盗取神物。

Thus this original philosophical problem poses at once an insoluble conflict between men and the gods,

所以，这第一个哲学问题便立刻引起神与人之间痛苦的、不可调和的矛盾，

which lies like a huge boulder at the gateway to every culture.

仿佛在一切文明的门前放置一块拦路石。