第8章　石膏雕塑

小的时候，我经常去一家博物馆，那里有用石膏制作出来的、古希腊所有伟大雕塑作品的复制品；这些复制品，被称为石膏雕塑。后来我得知，人们觉得，其中我最喜欢的那些雕塑，并不像我在上一章已经跟你们提及的那些雕塑作品一样好。孩子们似乎就是这样的。他们小的时候会喜欢某些东西，而长大成人之后，喜欢的却是不同的东西了。我最喜欢的是一尊雕塑，上面贴着一张标签，写着“垂死的角斗士”。

“角斗士是什么人？”我问道。

有人告诉我说，角斗士就是一名武士；很多角斗士都是囚犯或者奴隶，被迫去彼此格斗，或者搏击野兽，直到其中的一个被对方杀死。之所以如此，仅仅是为了娱乐观众；当时，一大群观众会聚集到一个四周都有座位的、像是如今的体育馆的圆形场地里，去观看这项搏击运动呢。

直到后来我才知道，那座雕塑上的标签标错了。它应当是“垂死的高卢人”，而不是“垂死的角斗士”。高卢人是古时一个野蛮的、未开化的民族，生活在如今的法国。当时，高卢人正与希腊人打仗，而这个高卢人则在战斗中阵亡了。他的脖子上戴着一个扭曲了的项饰，或者说项链，称作“项圈”。这正是我们知道他是一个高卢人的原因：因为只有高卢人，才会佩戴这种特别的项圈。

The statue showed a wound made by a sword in the Gaul's side and the stony blood flowing from it. A sign on the statue read Don't Touch but I could hardly keep from touching the sword wound from which the blood flowed.It seemed so very natural.

“Come away，”said my mother.“It's dreadful-a man dying. Let's go see the Apollo Belvedere.It is one of the most beautiful statues of a man ever made.”

“Is that a man?”I exclaimed.“He looks like a woman.”

“That's just because he has long hair and it is piled on top of his head in the way many Greek men wore their hair.”

Apollo, as I've told you, was the Sun god and the handsomest of all the Greek gods. We don't know what he is supposed to be doing in this statue.Some say he was holding a bow in his left hand and that he had just pulled the bowstring with his right hand and shot a dreadful dragon-like serpent called a Python, which had killed everyone who had come near it.Others say Apollo was holding the head of Medusa in his left hand to turn his enemy into stone.Apollo, Minerva, and Perseus all had copies of Medusa's head to kill their enemies with.

Belvedere means beautiful to see, but the Apollo

雕像中的高卢人身体一侧有一处剑伤，还有石制的鲜血从伤口中流淌出来。雕像上挂着一块标牌，写着“请勿触摸”的字样；可我实在没有忍住，还是摸了摸那处流淌着鲜血的剑伤。那处伤口，看上去非常的自然、逼真。

“走吧，”我母亲说。“太可怕了，一个垂死的人。我们还是去看看《贝尔维德勒的阿波罗》吧。那可是人类雕刻出来的最美丽的雕塑作品之一呢。”

“那是个男的吗？”我大声问道，“他看上去很像个女的啊。”

“那只是因为他的头发很长，并且像许多古希腊人一样，将头发盘在头顶上罢了。”

我在前面已经跟你们说过，阿波罗是太阳神，也是希腊诸神中最英俊的一位。我们不清楚这尊雕像里的阿波罗正在干什么。有的人说，他的左手持着一把弓，而右手则拉着弓弦，射出一条可怕的龙形巨蟒；那条巨蟒叫作“皮同”，任何靠近它的人都会被它杀死。还有些人则称，阿波罗的左手提着美杜莎的脑袋，正准备把他的敌人变成石头。阿波罗、密涅瓦和珀耳修斯这三位神灵，都曾经用复制的美杜莎脑袋杀过敌呢。

“贝尔维德勒”的意思，是指看上去很美丽；不过，这尊阿波罗雕像被称为

Laocöönis called Belvedere not because he was beautiful to see but because the room in which the statue now stands in the Vatican Museum in Rome is called the Belvedere Room.

But I was more interested in the statues that told a story, especially if the story seemed to be something terrible. There was a big statue of three men caught in the coils of two huge serpents called Laocöön and His Two Sons.Laocöön was a Trojan priest who told his people that the Greeks were pulling a trick on them.Just then two huge snakes attacked Laocöön’s sons.He went to help them, and all three were killed by the serpents.The people believed this was a sign that Laocöön was not telling the truth about their enemy, although later it turned out-too late-that he was right.Not one but three sculptors are said to have made this statue.

Why is it that some people like to see pictures and statues of suffering and dying?I used to but now I wouldn't have a picture or a statue of such a thing in my house. It is too unpleasant to have around.But in ancient times people were bloodthirsty and loved to see killings as well as statues of killing and suffering.They went to fights and took their lunches along to eat while they watched and gloated over the fighting-especially those that ended in death.There are still people who like to see bullfights in which the bull is killed.

“贝尔维德勒”，却并不是因为阿波罗看上去很漂亮，而是因为如今这尊雕塑存放在罗马梵蒂冈博物馆里一间被称为“贝尔维德勒宫”的屋子里。

不过，我对那些讲述了某个故事的雕塑更感兴趣；而倘若雕塑作品讲述的是个恐怖故事，那就尤其如此了。有一座巨大的雕像，描绘了三个人被两条巨蟒紧紧缠住的情形，叫作《拉奥孔和他的两个儿子》。拉奥孔是特洛伊的一位祭司，他曾经提醒过特洛伊人，说希腊人正在对他们耍花招。就在那时，两条巨蟒袭击了拉奥孔的两个儿子。他跑过去帮助儿子，可最终三人都被巨蟒杀死了。特洛伊人认为这是一种预兆，说明拉奥孔对敌人情况的分析是错误的；虽说结果表明他说得对，可为时已晚了。据说，这尊雕像不是由一位雕塑家完成的，而是三位雕塑家共同创作出来的。

为什么有些人喜欢看描绘人们受苦或者临死时情形的绘画和雕塑作品呢？虽说以前我也喜欢这样，可如今我却不会再在家里保存这样的绘画或者雕塑作品了。看着这样的东西，太让人不舒服了。但在古时，人们却残忍嗜杀，喜欢看到杀戮的场景，喜欢看那些描绘杀戮和苦难的雕塑作品。他们经常打仗，并且会带上午餐，边吃边心满意足地观看战斗场景，尤其是观看那些以死亡告终的场景。如今，仍然有一些人很喜欢观看斗牛比赛呢；在这种比赛中，公牛最终也会被人杀死。

But there was one little statue I've always liked. It is not a statue of a god or a mythical person-not even of a grown-up.It is of a boy pulling a thorn out of his bare foot, and it shows us that boys who go barefooted today are very much like boys who went barefooted two thousand years ago.

Have you ever noticed how people balance when sitting on a stool?They curve this way and that. And if they were sitting there trying to get a splinter out of the bottom of their foot, they would almost fall over.Remember how much trouble sculptors had making statues that were walking forward instead of standing straight up?Well, it's just as hard to make a boy pulling a thorn out of his foot while sitting on a stool without falling off！

Another statue called the Colossus of Rhodes was made around 290 B. C.It was so huge that there was no plaster cast of it.It was a giant bronze statue of the Sun god, about one hundred feet high.According to legend, it was placed so that the god's legs straddled the entrance to the harbor on the island of Rhodes and ships passed between its legs.But in reality, it stood on a pedestal near the harbor.It was one of the Seven Wonders of the World.For some reason, perhaps in an earthquake, the Colossus fell and the broken pieces were sold for junk.

不过，我一向都很喜欢一座小雕像。它既不是哪位神灵的雕像，不是什么神话人物的雕像，甚至也不是一位成年人的雕像。那是一个小男孩，正在把一根小刺从自己的光脚丫上拔出来。这座雕像向我们表明，如今光着脚走路的小男孩，与两千多年前那些光着脚丫的小男孩是很相像的。

你们有没有注意过，人们坐在凳子上的时候，是怎样保持平衡的呢？他们总是会这样或那样地弓着腰。倘若坐在凳子上时，想要弯下腰将脚掌上的碎片拔出来的话，那么他们几乎就会摔上一跤。还记得雕塑家们是如何费尽心思，才制作出向前走的雕像，而不是直直地站立着的雕像吗？好吧，制作出描绘一个小男孩坐在凳子上将脚掌上的刺拔出来，而不让他摔倒的雕像，也同样麻烦得很呢！

还有一尊名叫《罗得岛巨像》的雕塑，是公元前290年左右制作出来的。这座雕像极其巨大，因此没有任何石膏模型。它是一尊用青铜制成的太阳神巨像，约有一百英尺高哩。根据神话传说，这座雕像的位置很特别：神像的双腿正好跨过罗得岛港的入口，而进出的船只则在其双腿之下驶过。可实际上，它却坐落在港口附近的一个基座上。它也属于世界“七大奇迹”之一。由于某种原因，没准是因为一次地震，这尊巨像倒塌下来，摔成了碎片，然后就被人们当成废品卖掉了。