The Sweet and Fragrant Love
拿破仑致约瑟芬
Napoleon Bonaparte to Josephine
拿破仑·波拿巴（1769—1821），法国军事领袖，法兰西帝国皇帝。1796年3月9日，拿破仑与约瑟芬结婚。他们认识时，拿破仑是个不名一文的小军官，约瑟芬则是一位仪态万方的寡妇。婚后不久，拿破仑奉命指挥意大利军摆脱奥地利统治，约瑟芬则留在巴黎。拿破仑不断写信请约瑟芬前来相聚，她总是拒绝，甚至极少回信。直到拿破仑到了米兰，她才应允相聚。
I don't love you, not at all, on the contrary, I detest you—You're a naughty, gawky, foolish Cinderella. You never write me, you don't love your husband; you know what pleasure your letters give him, and yet you haven't written him six lines, dashed off casually!
What do you do all day, Madam? What is the affair so important as to leave you no time to write to your devoted lover? What affection stifles and puts to one side the love, the tender and constant love you promised him? Of what sort can be that marvelous being, that new lover who absorbs every moment, tyrannizes over your days, and prevents your giving any attention to your husband? Josephine, take care! Some fine night, the doors will be broken open, and there I'll be.
Indeed, I am very uneasy, my love, at receiving no news of you; write me quickly four pages, pages full of agreeable things which shall fill my heart with the pleasantest feelings.
I hope before long to crush you in my arms and cover you with a million kisses burning as though beneath the equator.
Bonaparte
Verona
November 13th, 1796
我不爱你，一点儿也不爱你；相反，我讨厌你——你是个固执、笨拙、愚蠢的妇人。你从不写信给我，你不爱你的丈夫；你明明知道你的信能带给他何等的快乐，但却不肯草草地写上六行字给他，哪怕是很随便地写上六行。
你整天都在做些什么呢，女士？有什么事情如此重要，以至于让你腾不出一点儿时间写信给你忠诚的爱人？你曾答应过给我温柔而忠诚的爱情，如今它被什么样的感情压制和排挤在一边了呢？你那位出类拔萃的新情人，究竟是何等人物，竟然占去了你的每一分钟，占据了你所有的时间，以至于你没有时间对你的丈夫略表关心呢？约瑟芬，当心些！说不定我会在某个美丽的夜晚破门而入。
事实上，我的爱人，我因为没有你的音信而坐立不安。请尽快给我写四页信寄来吧，四页充满柔情蜜意的信，我的心中将充满快乐。
我多希望能立刻将你紧紧拥入怀中，并用如同赤道下骄阳般燃烧的热情千万次地亲吻你。
波拿巴
1796年11月13日于维罗纳
naughty [n:ti] adj. 顽皮的；淘气的；撒野的
Naughty boys sometimes make good men.
淘气的男孩有时会成为争气的孩子。
stifle [staifl] v. 压制；扼杀；（使）窒息
She tried hard to stifle her laughter.
她强忍住笑。
absorb [bs:b] v. 吸收；使并入；同化
Absorb the essence and reject the dross.
取其精华，去其糟粕
tyrannize [tirnaiz] v. 对……施行暴政；专横地对待
Can one tyrannize over nature.
有人能欺压大自然吗？
有什么事情如此重要，以至于让你腾不出一点儿时间写信给你忠诚的爱人？
你曾答应过给我温柔而忠诚的爱情，如今它被什么样的感情压制和排挤在一边了呢？
我多希望能立刻将你紧紧拥入怀中，并用如同赤道下骄阳般燃烧的热情千万次地亲吻你。
You never write me, you don' t love your husband; you know what pleasure your letters give him, and yet you haven' t written him six lines, dashed off casually.
dash off：迅速写（或画）；迅速完成；匆忙离去
...that new lover who absorbs every moment, tyrannizes over your days, and prevents your giving any attention to your husband?
give attention to：注意；关心；处理
罗伯特·勃朗宁致伊丽莎白·芭蕾特
Robert Browning to Elizabeth Barrett
罗伯特·勃朗宁（1812－1889），19世纪英国著名诗人。他一生写了大量戏剧和诗歌，代表作有《巴拉塞尔士》《斯特拉福》《比芭走过》等诗剧。女诗人伊丽莎白·芭蕾特于1844年出版第一本诗集，勃朗宁读后很欣赏，随即写了本篇书信，两人在通信中逐渐产生爱情，并最终成为世界文坛永远传诵的佳话，《葡萄牙人十四行诗集》就是他们爱情的结晶。后来，伊丽莎白·芭蕾特变成了世界文学史上著名的伊丽莎白·勃朗宁夫人。更使人激动的是，两人之间那坚定、执著、一往情深的爱，竟使瘫痪多年的伊丽莎白·芭蕾特奇迹般地站了起来。
Dear Miss Barrett,
I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett, —and this is no off-hand complimentary letter that I shall write, —whatever else, no prompt matter-of-course recognition of your genius, and there a graceful and natural end of the thing.
Since the day last week when I first read your poems, I quite laugh to remember how I have been turning and turning again in my mind what I should be able to tell you of their effect upon me, for in the first flush of delight I thought I would this once get out of my habit of purely passive enjoyment, when I do really enjoy, and thoroughly justify my admiration—perhaps even, as a loyal fellow-craftsman should, try and find fault and do you some little good to be proud of hereafter!—but nothing comes of it all—so into me has it gone, and part of me has it become, this great living poetry of yours, not a flower of which but took root and grew—Oh, how different that is from lying to be dried and pressed flat, and prized highly, and put in a book with a proper account at top and bottom, and shut up and put away... and the book called a Flora, besides!
After all, I need not give up the thought of doing that, too, in time, because even now, talking with whoever is worthy, I can give a reason for my faith in one and another excellence, the fresh strange music, the affluent language, the exquisite pathos and true new brave thought; but in this addressing myself to you—your ownself, and for the first time, my feeling rises altogether.
I do, as I say, love these books with my heart and I love you too. Do you know I was once not very far from seeing—really seeing you? Mr. Kenyon said to me one morning "Would you like to see Miss Barrett?" then he went to announce me—then he returned... you were too unwell, and now it is years ago, and I feel as at some untoward passage in my travels, as if I had been close, so close, to some world's—wonder in chapel or crypt, only a screen to push and I might have entered, but there was some slight, so it now seems, slight and just sufficient bar to admission, and the half-opened door shut, and I went home my thousands of miles, and the sight was never to be?
Well, these Poems were to be, and this true thankful joy and pride with which I feel myself,
Yours ever faithfully,
Robert Browning
New Cross, Hatcham, Surrey.
(January 10th, 1845)
亲爱的芭蕾特小姐：
我真是从内心深处喜欢你的诗。亲爱的芭蕾特小姐，我现在绝不是在给你写一封随随便便的恭维信，它绝非为了敷衍，也绝非顺口夸耀你的才华，它的确是我心悦诚服的自然流露。
一个星期前的今天，我第一次读到你的诗篇，然后就一直在反复琢磨，能对你谈点什么感受，现在想起这件事，仍不免哑然失笑。当时，我心里感到一阵狂喜，我想：这次我要打破以前的旧习，不能像平时真正欣赏一首诗那样，只是单纯而被动地享受，而要清楚地说出自己欣赏的理由来。我也许该像一个忠实的同行应做的那样，试着挑出些毛病来，以期对你有所裨益，尽到一个忠实的同行应尽的责任，日后我也好脸上有光啊！结果却是一无所得。于是，你那些生机勃勃而格调高雅的诗，就被我吸收和消化了，就像一朵鲜花在我心田扎根、生长。啊，这样的一朵花，放在那里被晾干、压扁，受到人们的珍爱，夹在书本里，书页的两头还有说明性的文字，然后，被合上珍藏起来……而且，那本书还被人称做《花苑》呢！这将是多么不可思议的一件事啊！
