Passer le texte de l’article
But even Solomon , he says , “ the man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain ” ( i . e . , even while living ) “ in the congregation of the dead . ” Give not thyself up , then , to fire , lest it invert thee , deaden thee ; as for the time it did me . There is a wisdom that is woe ; but there is a woe that is madness . And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges , and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces . And even if he for ever flies within the gorge , that gorge is in the mountains ; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain , even though they soar . CHAPTER 97 . The Lamp . Had you descended from the Pequod’s try - works to the Pequod’s forecastle , where the off duty watch were sleeping , for one single moment you would have almost thought you were standing in some illuminated shrine of canonized kings and counsellors . There they lay in their triangular oaken vaults , each mariner a chiselled muteness ; a score of lamps flashing upon his hooded eyes . In merchantmen , oil for the sailor is more scarce than the milk of queens . To dress in the dark , and eat in the dark , and stumble in darkness to his pallet , this is his usual lot . But the whaleman , as he seeks the food of light , so he lives in light . He makes his berth an Aladdin’s lamp , and lays him down in it ; so that in the pitchiest night the ship’s black hull still houses an illumination . See with what entire freedom the whaleman takes his handful of lamps — often but old bottles and vials , though — to the copper cooler at the try - works , and replenishes them there , as mugs of ale at a vat . He burns , too , the purest of oil , in its unmanufactured , and , therefore , unvitiated state ; a fluid unknown to solar , lunar , or astral contrivances ashore . It is sweet as early grass butter in April . He goes and hunts for his oil , so as to be sure of its freshness and genuineness , even as the traveller on the prairie hunts up his own supper of game . CHAPTER 98 . Stowing Down and Clearing Up . Already has it been related how the great leviathan is afar off descried from the mast - head ; how he is chased over the watery moors , and slaughtered in the valleys of the deep ; how he is then towed alongside and beheaded ; and how ( on the principle which entitled the headsman of old to the garments in which the beheaded was killed ) his great padded surtout becomes the property of his executioner ; how , in due time , he is condemned to the pots , and , like Shadrach , Meshach , and Abednego , his spermaceti , oil , and bone pass unscathed through the fire ; — but now it remains to conclude the last chapter of this part of the description by rehearsing — singing , if I may — the romantic proceeding of decanting off his oil into the casks and striking them down into the hold , where once again leviathan returns to his native profundities , sliding along beneath the surface as before ; but , alas ! never more to rise and blow .
Précédent Page 324 sur 430 Page 324 sur 430 Suivant Continuez à lire avec les traductions Créez un compte gratuit : 7 jours de Pro, puis 20 traductions de mots par jour ou une formule payante.
