| 阿格麗皮娜致尼祿 Agrippina to Nero |
| 羅馬帝國克勞狄烏斯王朝最後一任皇帝尼祿(公元37-68)是一位有名的暴君。他憑母親阿格麗皮娜之助，于公元54年繼位為羅馬帝國皇帝。後來，阿格麗皮娜與尼祿產坐矛盾，被尼祿監禁。這是阿格麗皮娜被監禁後的自辯書。尼祿看後絲毫不為之所劫，于公元59年將阿格麗皮娜絞死。 |
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從未生育的絲莉娜一點也不懂母愛，我對此絲毫不覺得奇怪。一個未生育過的女人當然不會明白如何去𠄘受失子之痛。對于沒有親身經歷過的事物，人們總是覺得討厭，或�芮z不關心，這是很自然的事......但讓我感到震驚的是那惡毒狡猾的妖言，竟使你做出這種野蠻殘忍的事情來...... 我的兒啊，你難道還不知道每位母親對自己的兒女都有一種出于天性的愛嗎？我們的愛是博大無邊的，并且不斷得到只有我們自己才能領悟到的那種感情的滋養。對于身為人母的人來說，世上沒有什么比我們冒着生命危險換取來的孩子更親的了；沒有什么比我們受苦受怕而後獲得的東西更寶貴了。我們的擔心知痛苦非常劇烈，几乎無法忍受，如果不昰懷着生產成功的希望(它可以讓我們忘卻痛苦)，繁衍後代的事就會馬上停上。 我九月懷胎，用自己的血液滋養了你，這些難道你都不記得了嗎？有人說我會害死自己歷盡磨難才生出來的兒子，這樣的事可能嗎？那或許是我對你太溺愛了，公正的神明因此勃然大怒，才通過這樣的途徑來懲罰我吧。 不幸的阿格麗皮娜啊！你被懷疑犯了一種罪，一種沒有人會真正相信你犯的罪......如果我被指控犯下了這種連最卑鄙的女人�m深惡痛絕的罪，那么皇太后的名分對我而言又有什么意義呢？在宮廷裡苟且偷生的人是多么不幸！即使昰最明智的人也不能避免這海港中的風暴。在那裡，連風平浪靜的時刻都充滿危險。然而，何必要埋怨宮廷呢？難道昰因為它我才被懷疑犯下了弒君之罪嗎？ 請告訴我，我為什么要密謀殺害你呢？為了使我自己遭受厄運嗎？可能性不大吧！我又能在你駕崩後得到什么好處呢？我明白篡位的野心往往會使人做出傷天害理的事，律法又常常對這類罪犯無能為力，而且野心家會不擇手段地達到目的......但昰，倘若我犯下了這種昧良心的罪惡，我又能到哪個神靈面前去請求赦免呢？ ...... 為了使你登基稱王，什么苦我沒有吃過？我提醒你記得我曾為你所做的一切，是否會玷辱了你的感恩之心。我的清白不應該自己去申辯，而應該完全仰仗你內心的公正。 再見 |
| I do not
wonder that barren Silana has no sense of maternal affection. One who has
never borne a son naturally would not know how to bear the loss of
one.Nature renders either hateful or in-different those objects that we do
not ourselves experience...I am amazed that even the most skillful sorcery
of words could make you pay the least attention to such barbarous
inhumanity... Don't you know, my son, the affection all mothers naturally bear their children? Our love is unbounded, incessantly fed by that tenderness unknown to all but ourselves. Nothing should be more dear to us than what we have bought with the risk of our lives; nothing more precious than what we have endured such grief and pain to procure. These are so acute and unbearable that if it were not for the vision of a successful birth, which makes us forget our agonies, generation would soon cease. Do you forget that nine full months I carried you in my womb and nourished you with my blood? How likely is it, then, that I would destroy the dear child who cost me so much anguish to bring into the world? It may be that the just gods were angry at my excessive love of you, and used this way to punish me. Unhappy Agrippina! You are suspected of a crime of which nobody could really think you guilty...What does the title of empress mean to me, if I am accused of a crime that even the basest of women would abhor? Unhappy are those who breathe the air of the court. The wisest of people are not secure from storms in that harbor. There even a calm is dangerous. But why blame the court? Can that be the cause of my being suspected of parricide?... Tell me, why should I plot against your life? To plunge myself into a worse fate? That's not likely. What hopes could induce me to build upon your downfall? I know that the lust for empire often corrupts the laws of nature; that justice has no sword to punish those who offend in this way; and that ambition disregards wrong so long as it succeeds in its aim...Nay, to what deity could I turn for absolution after I had committed so black a deed? ... What difficulties have I not surmounted to crown your brow with laurels? But I insult your gratitude by reminding you of my services. My innocence ought not to defend itself but to rely wholly on hour justice. Farewell |