評(píng)論
打印
Chapter 17
第十七章
The Greek Theater
古希臘的戲劇
The Origins of the theater, the first form of public amusement
人類第一種公共娛樂形式---戲劇的起源
At a very early stage of their history the Greeks had begun to collect the poems, which had been written in honor of their brave ancestors who had driven the Pelasgians out of Hellas and had destroyed the power of Troy. These poems were recited in public and everybody came to listen to them. But the theatre, the form of entertainment which has become almost a necessary part of our own lives, did not grow out of these recited heroic tales. It had such a curious origin that I must tell you something about it in a separate chapter.
從很早開始，古希臘人便開始采集歌頌其英勇先祖的詩歌。這些詩歌講述了他們的先祖把皮拉斯基人逐出希臘半島以及摧毀特洛伊城的豐功偉績(jī)。行吟詩人走村串戶，當(dāng)眾朗誦這些詩歌，每個(gè)人都出來聆聽。可是，作為我們當(dāng)代日常生活中必不可少的娛樂形式之一的戲劇，卻不是起源于這些當(dāng)眾吟誦的史詩。它的起源奇妙無比，因此我想單獨(dú)用一章的篇幅來給你講述這個(gè)故事。
The Greeks had always been fond of parades. Every year they held solemn processions in honor of Dionysos the God of the wine. As everybody in Greece drank wine (the Greeks thought water only useful for the purpose of swimming and sailing) this particular Divinity was as popular as a God of the Soda-Fountain would be in our own land.
古希臘人向來喜歡游行。每年他們都會(huì)舉行盛大游行來贊美與敬奉酒神狄俄尼索斯。希臘人好飲葡萄酒（他們認(rèn)為水的用處僅止于游泳與航海），因此這位酒神大受歡迎。我想，如果我們這個(gè)時(shí)代有汽水飲料之神，他也會(huì)受到同樣的待遇。
And because the Wine-God was supposed to live in the vineyards, amidst a merry mob of Satyrs (strange creatures who were half man and half goat), the crowd that joined the procession used to wear goat-skins and to hee-haw like real billy-goats. The Greek word for goat is "tragos" and the Greek word for singer is "oidos."
希臘人認(rèn)為這位酒神是住在葡萄園里的，終日與一群名為薩堤羅斯的半人半羊的怪物一起，過著快樂而放縱的生活。因此，參加游行的人們慣常披著羊皮，發(fā)出咩咩的叫聲，像真正的公羊。在希臘語里，山羊?qū)懛?quot;tragos"，而歌手則拼作"oidos"。
