Perhaps we can gain a starting point for this inquiry by claiming that the satyr, that fictive nature sprite, stands to cultured man in the same relation as Dionysian music does to civilization.
我试提出这样的命题,这种假设的自然生灵萨提儿之于有教养的人,正如酒神祭音乐之于希腊文明那样;我们也许从这里找到研究的起点。
Richard Wagner has said of the latter that it is absorbed by music as lamplight by daylight.
关于希腊文明,理查·瓦格纳(RichardWagnner)曾说过:音乐夺去了它的光辉,正如太阳之下爝火无光。
In the same manner, I believe, the cultured Greek felt himself absorbed into the satyr chorus, and in the next development of Greek tragedy state and society, in fact all that separated man from man, gave way before an overwhelming sense of unity which led back into the heart of nature.
同样,我相信,有教养的希腊人在萨提儿歌队面前会自惭形秽,而且,在酒神祭悲剧的直接影响下,城邦与社会,总之,人与人之间的隔阂,都消除了,让给一种溯源于性灵的强烈的万众一心之感来统治。
The metaphysical solace (with which, I wish to say at once, all true tragedy sends us away) that, despite every phenomenal change life is at bottom indestructibly joyful and powerful, was expressed most concretely in the chorus of satyrs, nature beings who dwell behind all civilization and preserve their identity through every change of generations and historical movement.
在这里,我已经指出了,每部真正的悲剧总留给我们一种超脱的慰藉,使我们感到,尽管万象流动不居,生活本身到底是牢不可破,而且可喜可爱。这点慰藉明明白白地体现为萨提儿歌队,为自然人歌队,他们仿佛根深蒂固地生存在每个民族文化的背景中,尽管时代迁移,民族更替,他们还是亘古长存,始终不变。