世紀文學經典:《百年孤獨》第8章Part 7

Until that Moment, ever since his return. Colonel Aureli-ano Buendía had not given himself the opportunity to see him with his heart. He was startled to see how much he had aged, how his hands shook, and the rather punctilious conformity with which he awaited death, and then he felt a great disgust with himself, which he mingled with the beginnings of pity.
"You know better than I," he said, "that all courts--martial are farces and that you're really paying for the crimes of other people, because this time we're going to win the war at any price. Wouldn't you have done the same in my place?"
General , got up to clean his thick horn-rimmed glasses on his shirttail. "Probably," he said. "But what worries me is not your shooting me, because after all, for people like us it's a natural death." He laid his glasses on the bed and took off his watch and chain. "What worries me," he went on, "is that out of so much hatred for the military, out of fighting them so much and thinking about them so much, you've ended up as bad as they are. And no ideal in life is worth that much baseness." He took off his wedding ring and the medal of the Virgin of Help and put them alongside his glasses- and watch.
"At this rate," he concluded, "you'll not only be the most despotic and bloody dictator in our history, but you'll shoot my dear friend úrsula in an attempt to pacify your conscience."
Colonel Aureli-ano Buendía stood there impassively. General then gave him the glasses, medal, watch, and ring and he changed his tone.
"But I didn't send for you to scold you," he said. "I wanted to ask you the favor of sending these things to my wife."
Colonel Aureli-ano Buendía put them in his pockets.
"Is she still in Manaure?"
"She's still in Manaure," General Moncada confirmed, "in the same house behind the church where you sent the letter."
"I'll be glad to, José Raquel," Colonel Aureli-ano Buendía said.
When he went out into the blue air of the mist his face grew damp as on some other dawn in the past and only then did he realize that -he had ordered the sen-tence to be carried out in the courtyard and not at the cemetery wall. The firing squad, drawn up opposite the door, paid him the honors of a head of state.
"They can bring him out now," he ordered.

自從回來直到現在，奧雷連諾上校都不讓自己同情地望這個將軍一眼。現在，他驚異地看見將軍衰老的樣兒、顫抖的雙手以及等待死亡的順從態度，他就對自己感到深刻的鄙視。但他把這種鄙視跟剛剛出現的憐憫混到了一起。
“你比我更清楚，”他說，“任何軍事法庭都是鬼把戲，實際上，你是替別人的罪惡受到懲罰。這一次，我們決定不惜任何代價贏得戰爭。難道你處在我的地位不這麼千嗎？”
蒙卡達將軍站起來，用襯衣下襬擦了擦很厚的玳瑁眼鏡。“大概如此，”他說，“可我痛心的不是你打算槍斃我，國爲歸根到底，對於我們這樣的人來說，這是一種自然死亡。”他把眼鏡放在牀上，取下手錶和錶鏈。“使我傷心的是，”他繼續說，“你那麼憎恨軍閥，不斷跟他們戰鬥，經常咒罵他們，結果你象他們一樣壞。世界上任何理想都是不能爲這種卑劣行爲辯護的。”他摘下訂婚戒指和救命女神像，把它們跟眼鏡和手錶放在一起。
“如果這樣繼續下去，”他最後說，“你不但會成爲我國曆史上最專橫暴戾的獨裁者，而且會槍殺我敬愛的烏蘇娜，那樣你才安心。”
奧雷連諾上校無動於衷地站在那兒。於是，蒙卡達將軍把眼鏡、女神像、手錶和戒指交給他，用另一種聲調說：
“但我叫你來，不是爲了罵你，我想請你把這些東西交給我的妻子。”
奧雷連諾上校把東西都放進自己的衣兜。
“她還在馬諾爾嗎？”
“還在馬諾爾，”蒙卡達將軍回答。“就在教堂後面那座房子裏，你前次送信去的那個地方。”
“我很高興效勞，霍塞·拉凱爾，”奧雷連諾上校說。
當他走進街上淺藍色的霧藹裏時，他的面孔一下子就溼潤了，正象過去的那天黎明一樣；這時，他才明白自己爲什麼下令在兵營院子裏、而不在墓地牆邊執行判決。站在房門對面的行刑隊向他致敬， 猶如對待國家元首似的。
“現在，你們可以把他押出來了，”他下了命令。