評論
打印
Centaur World for the Athenians would have meant not just the Persian Empire, but other competing Greek city states, and above all, Sparta, with whom Athens was frequently at war.
對雅典人而言，“半人馬”的世界還不只是波斯帝國，也包括了其他敵對的希臘域邦，尤其是斯巴達，他們與雅典頻繁開戰。
The struggle against the Centaurs that we see on the metopes becomes an emblem of the perpetual battle that, for the Athenians, every civilised state has to fight.
排檔間飾上與半人馬的戰爭成為一種永恒的戰斗的象征。對雅典人而言，每個文明的城邦都需要戰斗。
Rational man has to keep struggling against brute irrationality.
理智的人們需要不斷抗爭野蠻的非理性。
Dehumanising your enemy like this takes you down a dangerous path, but it's a magnificent rallying call if you're waging war.
將對手非人化是條危險的路，但如果你要發動戰爭，這會成為極佳的民眾動員令。
If chaos is to be kept at bay, so the message goes, reason will have to fight un-reason again and again.
它所傳達的信息是：要想避免混亂，就一直要用理性去戰勝非理性。
But I chose this particular sculpture because it gives us the bitter insight that, in the short-term, reason does not always prevail.
而我之所以挑選了這幅浮雕，是因為它傳達了一個令人痛苦的信息，即以短期而論，理性并非總能獲勝。
The defence of the rationally ordered state will cost some of its citizens their lives.
為保衛理性規范的城邦，有的公民會獻出自己的生命。
And yet - and this is why this sculpture is such a supreme achievement - the dying human body is shown with such pathos, the fierce struggle depicted with such balance, that the victory goes not to the strutting half-beast, but to the Athenian artist who can turn conflict into beauty.
然而，雕像上垂死的人形表現得如此苦痛，劇烈的戰斗被刻畫得如此協調——這也正是雕像具有如此高的藝術價值的原因所在一以至于取得最后勝利的并非趾高氣揚的半人，而是能把沖突轉化為趨的雅典藝術家。
In the long-run of things, this sculpture seems to say, intellect and reason alone can create things that endure.
這件雕像仿佛在告訴我們，從長遠來看，智慧與理性二者本身便能創造出經得起時間考驗的事物。
The victory is not just political: it is artistic and intellectual.
這不僅是政治上的勝利，也是藝術與智慧的勝利。
This is all very high-minded stuff, but what did the Parthenon look like if you came from one of the other Greek cities?
這是雅典人的視角。那希臘其他城邦的居民又是如何看待帕臺農神廟的呢？
