In the event, the inspector was visiting the rooms, cells and dungeons, one after the other. Several prisoners were questioned -- those who had earned the goodwill of the governors by their mild manner or sheer stupidity. The inspector asked them how they were fed and any demands that they might have to make.
巡察挨次地视察监房和黑牢，有几个囚徒，由于他们的行为良好或愚蠢获得了政府的怜悯。巡察问他们的伙食如何，有什么要求没有。
Dantès heard all the trundling and grinding of preparations from the depth of his cell: there was a great deal of commotion upstairs, but the noise would have been imperceptible below for any ear other than that of a prisoner who was accustomed to hearing, in the silence of night, the sound made by a spider spinning its web or the regular fall of a drop of water which took an hour to gather on the ceiling of his dungeon.
邓蒂斯从他那幽深的地牢里听到了准备迎接巡察吏的嘈杂的声音，——这种声音，在他所躺的那样深的地方，是只有听惯了蜘蛛在夜的静寂里织网，和每小时凝聚在黑牢顶上的水珠间歇的滴声的囚徒的耳朵才能听得出来。
He guessed that among the living something exceptional was taking place; he had lived so long in the tomb that he might justifiably have considered himself dead.
他猜想生活上大概要发生什么不平凡的事情了。他已有这么久没有和世界发生任何接触，以致他已把自己看作了死人了。
Approximately one year after the return of Louis XVIII, the Inspector General of Prisons paid a visit.
路易十八复位的一年以后，巡查监狱的巡察吏到伊夫堡来作了一次视察。
They replied unanimously that the food was execrable and that they demanded their freedom.
一般的回答是伙食太坏，他们要求自由。
The inspector then asked if they had anything else to say to him.
巡察问他们还有什么别的要求没有。
The inspector turned around with a smile and said to the governor: "I can't think why they oblige us to make these pointless visits. When you have seen one prisoner, you have seen a hundred; when you have heard one prisoner, you have heard a thousand. It's always the same old song: badly fed and innocent. Have you got any others?"
巡察微笑着转过来向堡长说：“我不知道政府为什么要作这些无用的视察，你见过一个犯人，就等于见到全体了，——总是老套，伙食坏啦，冤枉的啦。还有别的犯人吗？”
They shook their heads. What can any prisoner have to ask for, apart from his freedom?
他们摇摇头！他们除了自由以外还能希求什么别的呢？
"Yes, we have the mad or dangerous prisoners, whom we keep in the dungeons."
“有的，危险的犯人和疯犯都在黑牢里。”
"Very well," the inspector said, with an air of profound weariness. "We had better do the job properly. Let's go down to the dungeons."
“我们去看看，”巡察带着疲乏的神色说。“我必须完成我的使命。我们下去吧。”
They sent for two soldiers and began to go down a flight of stairs that was so foul-smelling, so filthy and so mildewed that even to pass through the place simultaneously offended one's sight, hampered one's breathing and assaulted one's nostrils.
于是就派了两个兵，巡察顺着一座这样污臭，这样潮湿，这样黑暗的楼梯往下走，单单在这样的地方走过就已使眼睛，鼻子和呼吸感到很难受。
"One moment," said the governor. "We should at least get a couple of men to go with us. Sometimes the prisoners, if only because they are sick of life and wish to be condemned to death, commit vain and desperate acts; you might be a victim of such an attempt."
“我们先派两个兵去，”堡长说。“那些犯人有时只为了活得不耐烦，想判个死刑，就会做出无用的暴行来，你或许可能做一个牺牲品。”
"Then take some precautions," said the inspector.
“必须采取一切必要的戒备。”巡察回答。
"Worse than that," said the turnkey. "He's a devil."
“他比疯子还坏，——他是一个恶鬼！”狱卒答道。
"Well, I never! Is the man mad?"
“他一定发疯了。”巡察说。
"He tried to kill a turnkey?"
“想杀死狱卒？”
"He is alone."
“就他一个人吗？”
"He did want to kill me for sure," the turnkey answered.
“对，他要杀我！”狱卒回答。
"For about a year."
“有一年了吧。”
"There is no need, Monsieur, he is being punished enough as it is. In any case, he is already close to madness and, judging by what we have observed, in another year he will be quite insane."
“噢，不必，这是没有用的。他已经罚得够了。而且，他现在差不多已疯了，再过一年，就会变成一个十足的疯子。”
"This same one who is holding the lamp. Isn't that so, Antoine?" the governor asked.
“是呀，就是替我们掌灯的这一个。对不对，安多尼？”
"How long has he been here?"
“他到这儿多久了？”
"Well, so much the better for him," said the inspector. "When he is altogether mad, he will suffer less." As you can see, this inspector was a man of the utmost humanity and altogether worthy of the philanthropic office with which he had been entrusted.
“疯了对他还好些，——他会少受一点苦。”巡察说。正如这句话所表示的，巡察是一个博爱为怀的人，而且处处都能适合他的职位。
"Was he thrown into this dungeon as soon as he arrived?"
“他一来就关在这儿的吗？”
"No, Monsieur, only after he had attempted to murder the turnkey who brought him his food."
“不，是他想杀死狱卒以后才关过来的。”
"Indeed he is."
“当然罗。”
"The most dangerous of conspirators, against whom we have been warned as a man capable of anything."
“一个最危险的叛徒，一个我们奉命要特别严加看守的人，这个家伙什么都干得出。”
"Who in hell's name can live here?" the inspector asked, stopping half-way.
“噢！”巡察走到中途停下来喊道，“是什么鬼东西住在这个地方呀？”
"Would you like me to make a complaint about him?" the inspector asked the governor.
“要不要我训斥他一顿？”巡察问。
"I'll see them both," replied the inspector. "We must be conscientious about our work." He was carrying out his very first tour of inspection and wanted to make a good impression on the authorities.
“两个我都要看，”巡察回答，“我一定得本着良心完成我的责任。”这是巡察的第一次视察，他想显一显他的权威。
"Let's go in here first," he added.
“我们先去看这一个。”他又说。
"You are right, Monsieur," said the governor. "Your remark proves that you have given the matter a good deal of thought. As it happens, in a dungeon not more than twenty feet away from this one which is reached by another staircase, we have an old abbé, a former leader of a faction in Italy, who has been here since 1811 and who lost his wits around the end of 1813. Since then, he has been physically unrecognizable: he used to weep, now he laughs; he was growing thin, now he is putting on weight. Would you like to see him instead of this one? His madness is entertaining; it won't depress you."
“您说得不错，阁下，”堡长回答说，“这句话证明您对这一行很有研究，现在，大约再走二十步，下一层楼梯，我们就可以在一间黑牢里看见一个长老，他是意大利一个政党的老领袖，自从一八一一年起他就在这儿了，一八一三年发了疯，从那时起，他就来了一个惊人的转变。他以前老是哭，他现在笑了。他以前愈来愈瘦，现在胖起来了。您最好还是去看看他，别去看那个，因为他疯得很有趣。”
"Certainly," said the governor, indicating to the turnkey that he should open the door.
“卑职奉陪。”堡长回答，于是他向狱卒示意，叫他开门。
Dantès was crouching in a corner of the dungeon where he had the unspeakable happiness of enjoying the thin ray of daylight that filtered through the bars of a narrow window; hearing the grating of the massive locks and the screech of the rusty doorpost turning in its socket, he looked up. At the sight of a stranger, lit by two turnkeys with torches, who was being addressed by the governor, hat in hand, together with two soldiers, Dantès guessed what was going on and, seeing at last an opportunity to petition a higher authority, leapt forward with his hands clasped.
听到钥匙在锁里的转动声和铰链的轧轧声，那本来踡伏在黑牢的一角，带着说不出的快乐在享受从铁栅里射进一线微光的邓蒂斯，就抬起头来。再看到一个生客，有两个狱卒掌着灯，还有两个兵陪着，而且堡长还脱了帽对他讲话，邓蒂斯就猜到是怎么一回事了，知道他向高级当局申诉的时机到了，于是抱住双手一跃向前。
The soldiers immediately crossed their bayonets, thinking that the prisoner was rushed towards the inspector with some evil intent. The inspector himself took a step backwards.
两个兵把他们的刺刀向前一挺，因为他们以为他要来伤害巡察，巡察也退后了两三步。
Dantès realized that he had been depicted as someone dangerous; so he summoned up a look that expressed the utmost leniency and humility and spoke with a kind of pious eloquence that astonished everyone, in an attempt to touch the heart of his visitor.
邓蒂斯看出他已被人认为是一个危险的犯人。于是，他脸上装出一个心地最温顺，最卑微的人所能有的全部表情，用一种震惊四座的虔敬的雄辩滔滔而言，想打动巡察的心。
"I want to know what crime I have committed, I am asking for judges to be appointed to my case and for a trial to be held; finally, I am asking to be shot, if I am guilty; but equally to be set free if I am innocent."
“我要求知道我犯了什么罪，我要求开庭审判，总而言之，我要求：假如我有罪，就枪毙我，假如是冤枉的，就放我自由。”
The inspector listened to what Dantès had to say until he had finished; then, turning to the governor, he whispered: "He has the makings of a religious devotee; already he is inclined to more benevolent feelings. You see, fear has had an effect on him. He recoiled from the bayonets, while a madman recoils at nothing: I have done some interesting research on the subject in Charenton."
巡察留神倾听，然后转向堡长，发表意见说：“他会皈依宗教的，他已经比较驯服了。他很怕，看见刺刀就后退，疯子是什么都不怕的。这一点我在夏朗东①曾为好奇心所驱使而观察过几次。”【注：①法国的一所疯人院。】
Then, turning back to the prisoner, he said: "Tell me briefly, what do you want?"
然后转向犯人，“你有什么要求？”他说。
"Are you well fed?" asked the inspector.
“你的伙食好不好？”巡察说。
"You are very submissive today," said the governor. "You were not always like this. You spoke in quite a different manner, my good friend, the day when you tried to beat the life out of your warder."
“你今天倒非常卑恭，”堡长说。“你一向不是这样的呀，譬如说，那一天，你就要想杀狱卒。”
"That is true, Monsieur," Dantès said, "and I humbly ask the forgiveness of this man, who has always been kind to me. But what do you expect? I was mad, I was raging."
“不错，先生，我请他原谅，因为他一向对我非常好，我那时非常恼怒，我那时是疯啦。”
"Yes, I think so, I don't know. It is of little importance. What is important, not only for me, a wretched prisoner, but also for all those officials who administer justice and for the king who rules us, is that an innocent man should not be the victim of an infamous denunciation and die behind bars, cursing his tormentors."
“还可以，我也不知道，但那没有关系。真正有关系的是，一个清白无辜的人，不能被一次卑鄙的告密所牺牲，不能咒骂着他的刽子手而老死在狱中，这不但关系着我这个不幸的囚犯，还关系着主持司法的老爷，更关系着统治我们的国王。”
"Not any longer?"
“你现在不怒不疯了吗？”
"It is now July the thirtieth, 1816. So what do you mean? You have been a prisoner for only seventeen months."
“今天是一八一六年七月三十。咦，才十七个月呀。”
"On the twenty-eighth of February, 1815, at two in the afternoon."
“一八一五年二月二十八日，下午两点半钟。”
The inspector made a calculation.
巡察员做了一个计算。
"No, Monsieur, captivity has bowed me, broken me, demolished me. I have been here for so long!"
“不了，监狱生活已经使我低头屈膝，俯首帖耳了。我来这儿已经这么久啦。”
"So long? When were you arrested?" asked the inspector.
“这么久？那末你是什么时候被捕的？”巡察问。
"Only seventeen months!" Dantès repeated. "Oh, Monsieur, you do not know what seventeen months are in prison: seventeen years, seventeen centuries; above all for a man like myself, who was on the brink of happiness, for a man like myself, who was about to marry a woman whom he loved, for a man who could see an honourable career ahead of him and who was deprived of it all in a moment; who, from the most glorious day, was plunged into the deepest night, who saw his career destroyed, who does not know if the woman who loved him does so still, who cannot tell if his old father is alive or dead. Seventeen months of prison, for a man accustomed to the sea air, to a sailor's independence, to space, immensity, infinity! Monsieur, seventeen months of prison is more than enough punishment for all the crimes reviled by the most odious names known to the tongues of men. Have pity on me, Monsieur, and beg for me, not indulgence, but firmness; not a pardon, but a verdict. A judge, Monsieur, I ask only for a judge: an accused man cannot be refused a judge."
“才十七个月！”邓蒂斯答道。“噢，您不知道监牢里的十七个月是什么样的滋味！还是不如说十七个世纪吧，尤其是象我这样一个快要取得幸福，将和他所喜欢的女子结婚的人，他看到光荣的前途在等待着他，而一霎间完全丧失，——他从最欢乐的白天堕入了漫无穷尽的黑夜。他看到他的远景毁灭了，他不知道他未婚妻的命运，也不知道他年老的父亲究竟是否还活着！十七个月的监狱生活对一个嗅惯了海上的空气，过惯了水手的独立生活，看惯了海阔天空，无拘无束的人是太难过了！先生，即使犯了人类史上一切最令人发指的罪行，十七个月的禁闭也是罚得太重了。可怜可怜我吧，我不求赦罪，只求审判。先生，我只要求见一见法官，他们是不能拒绝审问嫌疑犯的。”
"Very well," the inspector said, "we shall see." Then, turning to the governor: "Truly, I feel sorry for the poor devil. When we go back upstairs, you must show me his detention order."
“我们瞧吧，”巡察说，然后转向堡长，“凭良心说，这个可怜虫真使我有点感动了。你一定得把档案给我看看。”
"Certainly," said the governor, "but I think that you will find some dreadful charges against him."
“当然可以，但您只会看到对他不利的可怕的记录。”
"Enlighten me," said the inspector.
“你说明一下。”巡察说。
"Monsieur," Dantès continued, "I know that you cannot yourself make the decision to have me released, but you can pass on my request to the authorities, you can start an enquiry, you can have me brought to judgement: all I ask is to be judged; let me be told what crime I have committed and what sentence I have been given; because, you understand, uncertainty is the worst of torments."
“先生，”邓蒂斯又说，“我知道您是没有权力释放我的，但您可以代我请求，您可以使我受审，我所要求的只是如此。”
"Monsieur," Dantès exclaimed, "I can see from the sound of your voice that you feel for me. Please tell me to hope."
“先生，”邓蒂斯喊道，“我可以从您的声音里听出您已经被怜悯心所感动了，请告诉我，至少让我希望吧。”
"That I cannot do," the inspector replied. "All I can promise is that I shall examine your dossier."
“我不能对你那样说，”巡察答道，“我只能答应调查调查你的案子。”
"Who ordered your arrest?" the inspector asked.
“是谁逮捕你的？”
"Oh! In that case, Monsieur, I am free, I am saved."
“噢，那末我自由了！我得救了！”
"Ah, that does not surprise me now," Dantès murmured. "My sole protector has left."
“怪不得我迟迟不放，”邓蒂斯喃喃地说，“原来我惟一的保护人调走了。”
"So I can rely on any notes he may have left on your case, or which he may give me?"
“那末，关于你的事，我可以信赖他所留下来的记录或他给我的意见了？”
"Did Monsieur de Villefort have any reason to hate you?" the inspector asked.
“他对你有没有什么私人的恶感？”
"None at all, Monsieur; he was well-disposed towards me."
“一点没有，正相反，他对我非常好。”
"Fully."
“绝对可信。”
"Monsieur de Villefort has not been in Marseille for the past year, but in Toulouse."
“维尔福先生已不在马赛了，他现在在图卢兹。”
"Very well. Be patient."
“那很好，那末，耐心等着吧。”
"Do you wish to see the committal records straightaway," the governor asked, "or to go on to the abbé's dungeon?"
“您还是马上要看那档案呢，还是先去看看别的房间？”堡长问。
"Let's have done with the dungeons at once," the inspector replied. "If I were to go back into daylight, I might lose the resolve to carry on with this dreary task."
“我们先把他们视察完了再说吧，”巡察说。“假如我一旦上了楼，就绝不会再有勇气下来了。”
"Monsieur de Villefort," Dantès replied. "You may see him and consult with him."
“是维尔福先生。请去看看他，听他说些什么。”
Dantès fell to his knees, raising his hands to heaven and asking God to protect this man who had descended into his prison like Our Saviour going down to deliver the damned from hell. The door closed, but the hope that the inspector had brought with him remained locked in Dantès' dungeon.
邓蒂斯跪下，喃喃地祷告，他祈祷上帝赐福于这个象救世主去拯救地狱里的灵魂一样到他狱中来的这个人。门关了，但现在邓蒂斯已有了一个新来的同居者——希望。
"What kind of folly is it?"
“他有什么傻念头？”
"Well, well, that certainly is curious," said the inspector. "What is the name of this millionaire?"
“哦，那倒的确很有趣。这位大富翁叫什么名字？”
"Number twenty-seven!" said the inspector.
“二十七号。”巡察说。
"Abbé Faria."
“法利亚长老。”
"This is it. Open up, Antoine."
“这儿就是了，下锁开门，安多尼。”
"A rare one, indeed: he believes himself to be the owner of a vast fortune. In the first year of his imprisonment, he made the government an offer of a million francs, if they would set him free; the second year, it was two million; the third, three, and so on upwards. He is now in his fifth year of imprisonment, so he will ask to speak to you privately and offer you five million."
“他信以为他有着一个极大的宝藏。第一年，他提议献给政府一百万放他自由，第二年，两百万，第三年，三百万，不断地这样加上去。现在他入牢已到第五年了，他会要求和您密谈，给您五百万。”
The turnkey obeyed and the inspector strained to see into the dungeon of the "mad abbé", as the prisoner was usually known.
狱卒遵命开门，于是巡察好奇地向“疯长老”的房间里凝视。
A man was lying in the middle of the room, in a circle drawn on the ground with a piece of plaster from the wall, almost naked, his clothes having fallen into tatters. He was drawing very precise geometrical lines in the circle and appeared as absorbed in solving his problem as Archimedes when he was killed by one of Marcellus' soldiers. He did not even look up at the noise made by the opening of the cell door, but only appeared to become aware of something when the beams of the torches cast an unfamiliar light on the damp ground where he was working. Then he turned around and was astonished to see that a group of people had just come down into his dungeon. He immediately leapt to his feet, took a blanket from the foot of his miserable bed and hurriedly wrapped it round him, to appear more decently dressed in front of these strangers.
有一人在这个地牢的中央，有一道用从墙壁上挖下来的石灰所画成的圆圈，圆圈里坐着一个衣服东一块西一块，简直遮不住身体的人。他正在这个圆圈里划几何线，而且好象阿基米德①当马赛鲁斯的兵来杀他时的那样全神贯注于他的问题。他并没有因开门的声音而动一动身体，只是继续演算他的问题，直到火炬的光以稀有的闪耀照亮了地牢阴暗的墙壁，他才抬起头来，很惊奇地发现他的地牢里竟会来了这么多人。他急忙在他的床上抓过被单，把他自己裹了起来。【注：①阿基米德（公元前287－212），古希腊数学家。】
"This prisoner is not like the last one: you will find his folly makes you less melancholy than the other's reason."
“嗯，这一个，不象那一个。他疯得跟他邻居不一样，也没有那么动人。”
"What requests do you have?" the inspector asked, not varying his set question.
“你有什么要求？”巡察问。
"You see," the governor whispered. "Isn't it just as I predicted?"
“来了，”堡长低声说，“就象我告诉您的，他要开始讲了。”
"Ah! In that case, it's another matter," the abbé exclaimed, livening up. "I hope we shall come to some understanding."
“哦，那就不同了，”长老喊道，“我希望我们大家能互相谅解。”
"I, Monsieur?" the abbé replied in astonishment. "I have no requests."
“我吗，先生！”长老带着一种惊愕的神气答道，“我什么都不要求。”
"You do not understand," the inspector continued. "I am a representative of the government with responsibility for visiting prisons and listening to the prisoners' demands."
“你不明白，”巡察又说，“我是政府派来视察监狱，听取犯人的要求的。”
"Monsieur," the prisoner continued, "I am Abbé Faria, born in Rome, twenty years secretary to Cardinal Rospigliosi. I was arrested early in 1811, I'm not quite sure why, and since then I have demanded my freedom from the Italian and French authorities."
“先生，”犯人继续说，“我是法利亚长老，是罗马人。我曾给红衣主教斯巴达当过二十年秘书。我是在一八一一年被捕的，为了什么原因我却不知道；自从那时起，我就在向意法两国政府要求我的自由。”
"Why from the French authorities?" the governor asked.
“为什么要向法国政府要求呢？”
The inspector and the governor looked at one another and laughed.
巡察和堡长互相对看了一眼，并相对一笑。
"Because I was arrested in Piombino and I assume that, like Milan and Florence, Piombino is now the capital of some French département."
“因为我是在皮昂比诺被捕的，而据我推测，象米兰和佛罗伦萨一样，皮昂比诺已成为某一个法国属国的首都了。”
"Fortunately," the inspector said, "providence has somewhat modified that ambitious plan, though you appear to me to support it quite enthusiastically."
“阁下，”巡察回答说，“上天已经把你这样热情拥护的大计划改变过了。”
"It dates from the day of my arrest. But since His Majesty the Emperor had just created the kingdom of Rome for the son that heaven had sent him, I assume that he has pursued his conquests to realize the dream of Machiavelli and Cesare Borgia, and united the whole of Italy in one single kingdom."
“这是根据我被捕那一天的消息推测的，”法利亚长老答道。“既然皇帝要为他的婴儿建立罗马王国，我想他大概也已实现了马基维里和凯撒·布琪亚①的梦想，把意大利造成一个统一的王国了。”【注：①马基维里（1469－1527），意大利政治家。凯撒·布琪亚（1475－1507），意大利暴君。】
"It is the only means by which Italy can become a strong, independent and prosperous state," the abbé replied.
“这是使意大利获得幸福和独立的惟一方法呀。”
"Perhaps so," said the inspector. "But I have not come to debate ultramontane politics with you. I am here to ask, as I have already done, whether you have any complaints about your food and conditions."
“可能是这样，但我不是来和你讨论意大利政治的，我是来问你，你对于吃和住有什么要求没有。”
"Well, I never!" the inspector said. "My friend, your news of Italy is rather stale."
“见鬼！我的好人哪，”巡察说，“你从意大利得来的新闻已经不新鲜啦！”
"The food is like that in all prisons," the abbé answered. "In other words, vile. As for my lodging, you can see for yourself: it is damp and unhealthy, but nonetheless quite acceptable for a dungeon. However, all that is beside the point; I have something of the greatest significance and the most vital importance to reveal to the government."
“吃的东西和其他监狱一样，——那就是说，坏极了，住的地方非常不合卫生，但既然是黑牢，也就总算还过得去。那都没有什么关系。我要讲的是一个秘密，我所要揭露的秘密，是极其重要的。”
"That is why I am pleased to see you," the abbé went on, "even though you have disturbed me in a most important calculation which, if it were to succeed, might alter the Newtonian system. Could you grant me the favour of a private interview?"
“为了那个理由，我很高兴见到您，”长老继续说，“虽然您打断了我一次最重要的演算，要是那个演算成功，可能把牛顿学说都改变过。您能允许和我私下谈几句话吗？”
"There! What did I tell you?" the governor asked the inspector.
“我对您说的话如何？”堡长说。
"You know your man," the latter answered, smiling. Then, turning to Faria, he said: "Monsieur, what you ask is impossible."
“你很清楚他。”巡察回答。“你所要求的事是不可能的，阁下。”他又对法利亚说。
"Well, well!" the inspector said, turning to the governor. "You even guessed the amount!"
“正是你所说的那个数目。”这次是巡察对堡长耳语了。
"Here it comes," the governor whispered to the inspector.
“讲到那话题上来了。”堡长耳语说。
"One moment," the abbé went on, seeing the inspector make a movement towards the door. "It is not necessary for us to be entirely alone. The governor could hear what I have to say."
“但是，”法利亚看到巡察已想走开，就继续说，“我们也并非绝对要单独谈话，堡长先生也可以列席。”
"Even so, Monsieur," the abbé insisted, "what if it were a matter of the government gaining a huge sum of money; a sum of five million francs, for example?"
“可是，”长老说，“我要和您说到一笔大数目，达五百万之巨呢。”
"My dear friend," the governor said, "unfortunately we already know by heart what you will tell us. You are thinking of your treasure, aren't you?"
“我亲爱的朋友，”堡长说，“不幸的是，我早已知道你要说的是什么了，是关于你的宝藏，是不是？”
"Monsieur," the inspector said, "the government is rich and, thank heavens, has no need of your money. Keep it for the day when you get out of prison."
“政府不需要你的宝藏，”巡察回答说，“留着吧，等你释放以后自己享用好了。”
"That only goes to show, governor," the abbé said, "that you are like those men in the Scriptures who have eyes, but see not, and who have ears, but will not hear."
“那就证明，”长老答道。“你是象《圣经》里所说的那些人，有眼不能视，有耳不能听。”
"My dear inspector," the governor continued, "I can tell you the story as well as the abbé himself, after hearing it over and over during the past four or five years."
“巡察阁下，”堡长又说，“那个故事我也可以告诉您，因为它已经在我耳边喋喋不休了四五年啦。”
The abbé's eyes dilated and he grasped the inspector's hand: "But if I don't get out of prison… Suppose that, contrary to all notions of justice, they should keep me in this dungeon and I should die here without bequeathing my secret to anyone, then the treasure will be lost! Isn't it better for the government to profit by it, and for me to do so? I shall go up to six million, Monsieur. Yes, I would give away six million and be satisfied with the remainder, if they would set me free."
长老的眼睛闪闪发光，他一把抓住巡察的手。“但假如我没有放出来呢，”他喊道。“假如，偏偏违天逆理，我被老关在这间黑牢里，假如我死在这儿而不曾向任何人宣布我的秘密，则那个宝藏就要白白的丧失啦！倒不如由政府享一点利益，我自己也享受一点，那不更好吗？我情愿出到六百万，先生，是的，我愿意放弃六百万，余下的那些我也就满足了，只要能得到我的自由。”
Faria looked at the scornful man with eyes in which any disinterested observer would surely have seen the light of reason and truth. "Of course," he said. "What else should I talk about, if not that?"
法利亚眼睛盯住他，那种表情足使任何人都相信他是神志清楚的。“当然罗，”他说，“此外我还有什么可说的呢？”
The governor burst out laughing. "Is it a long way to your treasure?" he asked.
堡长大笑。“那个地点离这儿远不远？”
"About a hundred leagues from here," Faria said.
“离这儿大约一百里远，”法利亚说。
"I swear that if one did not know this man was mad," the inspector said, under his breath, "he speaks with such conviction that you would believe he was telling the truth."
“老实说，”巡察低声说，“要不是早告诉我这个人是疯子，我倒会相信他所说的话了。”
"It's a clever idea," said the governor. "If every prisoner was to take his warders on a wild-goose chase for a hundred leagues, supposing the warders agreed to it, there is a good chance that the prisoner would manage to take to his heels as soon as he had the opportunity, which would no doubt occur in the course of such a journey."
“这个想头倒不坏，”堡长说。“假如每一个犯人都想作一次三百哩的旅行，而他们的解差又答应陪他们去，他们倒有了一个很妙的逃走机会了。”
"I am not mad, Monsieur, and I am telling the truth," Faria replied, having picked up every word that the governor said, with that acuteness of hearing that is peculiar to prisoners. "The treasure I mention really does exist and I am ready to sign an agreement with you, under which you will take me to a place that I shall designate, have the earth dug up in our presence and, if I am lying, if nothing is found, if I am mad, as you say, then you can bring me back to this same dungeon where I shall remain for ever, and die without asking for anything further from you or from anyone else."
“我没有疯！”法利亚回答，他具有囚徒所特有的那种敏锐的听觉，把巡察所说的每一个字都听得清清楚楚。“我所说的宝藏真是有的，我提议来签订一个条约，约内载明，我答应领你们到那个地点，由你们掘，假如我欺骗你们，把我再带回到这儿来，——我不求别的。”
"Monsieur," Faria replied, "swear to me in Christ's name to set me free if what I have told you is the truth, and I shall tell you the place where the treasure is buried."
“请对我发个誓，”法利亚答道，“假如我所告诉您的话证明是确实的，就一定放我自由，那末你们到那儿去，我留在这儿等。”
"It's an old trick," said the inspector, "and this gentleman cannot even claim to have invented it for himself." Then he turned back to the abbé. "I asked you if you were well fed?"
“这种计划是大家都知道的，”巡察说，“长老阁下还不能享受发明的美名哩。”然后转向法利亚，“我问你伙食吃得好不好？”他说。
"Are you well fed?" the inspector insisted.
“你伙食吃得好不好？”巡察又问一遍。
"You haven't replied to my question," the inspector repeated impatiently.
“你没有回答我的问题。”巡察不耐烦地答道。
"But in this way, you take no risk: you can see that it is not in order to contrive some opportunity to escape, since I shall remain in prison while the journey is made."
“先生，你们是毫无危险的呀，因为，如我所说的，我愿意在这儿等，那我就不会有逃走的机会啦。”
"And you haven't replied to my request!" cried the abbé. "Then be damned, like the other idiots who refused to believe me. You don't want my gold, then I shall keep it. You deny me my freedom, then God will give it to me. Go, I have nothing more to say."
“你也没有回答我的呀，”长老喊道。“那末，愿上帝降祸于你！象其他那些不肯相信我的傻瓜一样。你不愿意接受我的金子，我就留着给自己。你不肯给我自由，上帝会给我的。走吧！我再没有多的话说了。”
Throwing off his blanket, he picked up his scrap of plaster and once more sat down in the middle of his circle, where he went back to his lines and his sums.
于是长老抛开他的床单，坐回到老地方，继续作他的演算。
"Counting his treasure," the governor answered.
“在计算他的宝藏呀。”堡长回答。
"Or dreamed about it," the governor replied, "and woke up the next morning, mad."
“或是做梦发了财，而醒来就疯了。”
"What is he doing?" the inspector asked, at the door.
“他在那儿干什么？”
Faria's reply to this sarcastic remark was a look of the most sovereign contempt. They went out and the jailer locked the door behind them.
法利亚以极其轻蔑的一瞥答复这句讽刺话。他们走出去，狱卒在他们身后把门锁上。
"Perhaps he did have some treasure, after all," the inspector said, on his way up the stairs.
“或许他以前是一度有过钱的。”巡察说。
For Abbé Faria, that was the end of the adventure. He remained a prisoner and, following the inspector's visit, his reputation as an entertaining imbecile was greater than ever.
法利亚长老的冒险就这样结束了。他依旧还是住在他的地牢里，这次访问只是更加使人相信他的颠狂而已。
Those great treasure-hunters, Caligula and Nero, searchers after the unattainable, would have listened to the poor man's words and given him the opportunity that he wanted, the space that he valued so highly and the freedom for which he was ready to pay so great a price. But kings today, confined within the limits of probability, no longer possess the audacity of willpower. They are afraid of the ears that listen to their orders and the eyes that watch whatever they do. They no longer have any sense of the superiority of their divine being: they are men who wear crowns, nothing more. At one time they would have believed themselves (or, at least, have claimed to be) the sons of Jupiter, and their manners would somehow have reflected those of their father, the god: what happens beyond the clouds is not so easily controlled, but nowadays kings are well within reach.
假如是那些热心寻找珍宝的人，那些以为天下无办不到之事的狂想者，如凯力球拉王或尼罗王①，则就会答应这个可怜虫，允许他以他的财富来换取他所这样迫切地祈求的自由和空气。但近代的国王，他们生活的天地是这样狭窄，已不再有勇气作狂想了。在以前，国王都相信他们是天神的儿子，或至少如此自称，而且多少还带着点他们父亲天神的风度。到现在，云层后面的变幻虽尚无法控制，但国王却已都自视为常人了。【注：①两人都是古罗马帝国的皇帝。】
"Of course," the inspector remarked, with the naïvety of the corrupt, "if he had really been rich, he would not be in prison."
“总而言之，”巡察说，“假如他有钱，他就不会到这儿来。”这句话坦白地道出了当时的腐败情形。
And, as despotic governments have always been loath to exhibit the effects of prison and torture in broad daylight -- just as there are few instances of a victim of the Inquisition emerging with broken bones and bleeding wounds -- so folly, that ulcer conceived in the mire of dungeons as a result of moral torture, almost always remains carefully hidden in the place of its birth, or else, if it should emerge, does so only to be buried once more in some dark hospital whose doctors can recognize neither the man nor his ideas in the shapeless wreck entrusted to them by its tired jailer.
要专制政府允许那些牺牲在他们的政权之下的人重新露面，一向是和他们的政策相违背的。犯人被毒打得四肢脱节，血肉横飞，法庭当然不要他再被人看见，疯子老是被藏在地牢里，假如让他出狱，也是往某一个阴气沉沉的医院里一送，狱卒送他到那儿时往往只是一具走了样的人体的残骸了，连医生也认不得这是一个人，也辨不出他还留有一点思想。
As for Dantès, the inspector was as good as his word. On returning to the governor's lodgings, he asked to be shown the committal order. The note on the prisoner was couched in the following terms:
巡察实践了他对邓蒂斯的诺言。他检查档案，找到了下面这张关于他的条子：
Abbé Faria had gone mad in prison and was condemned, by his very madness, to perpetual confinement.
法利亚长老是在监狱里发疯的，单凭他的发疯就足以判他无期徒刑。
Fanatical Bonapartist. Played an active role in the return from Elba.
拿破仑党暴徒，曾负责协助逆贼自爱尔巴
EDMOND DANTES:
爱德蒙·邓蒂斯：
To be kept in solitary confinement, under the closest supervision.
应严加看守，小心戒备。
The accusation was too precise to allow any latitude for discussion, so above the words, which were bracketed together, the inspector wrote: "No action."
巡察不能和这种罪名抗争，他只是批上一句，“无可设法。”
The visit had in a sense revived Dantès. Since his arrival at the prison he had forgotten to count the days, but the inspector had given him a new date, which Dantès had not forgotten. Behind him, with a piece of plaster that had fallen from his ceiling, he wrote on the wall: July 30, 1816. From that time on, he made a mark every day, so that he would no longer lose track of the passage of time.
那次访问又唤醒了邓蒂斯的生命。自从入狱以来，他已忘记计算日期。但巡察给了他一个新的日期，他没有忘记。他用一块从屋顶上掉下来的石灰在墙上写道，“一八一六年七月三十日”，从那时起，他每天做一个记号，以免再把日子忘掉。
This note was in a different handwriting and ink from the rest of the order, proving that it had been added after Dantès' imprisonment.
这张条子的笔迹和其余的不同，证明是在他入狱以后所附加的。
The days went by, then weeks, then months. Dantès waited. He had begun by setting a limit of a fortnight on his release: if the inspector were to devote half the concern that he had appeared to feel to pursuing the matter, then a fortnight should be enough. When that time had expired, he decided that it had been ridiculous of him to think that the inspector would have taken up his case before returning to Paris. Since he could not return to Paris until the end of his tour of inspection, which might last a month or two, he gave himself three months instead of a fortnight. When the three months had passed, he found consolation in a different argument, with the result that he allowed six months; but when the six months were over, adding up all the days, it appeared that he had waited for ten and a half months. Nothing, in these ten months, had changed in the conditions of his imprisonment; he had received no encouraging news and when he questioned his jailer the man remained silent, as usual. Dantès began to doubt the evidence of his senses -- to think that what he had taken for a memory was nothing more than a hallucination and that the ministering angel who had appeared to him in his prison had flown in on the wings of a dream.
日子一天又一天，一星期又一星期的过去，后来是一月又一月的过去，邓蒂斯依旧期待着。他最初预期可在两星期以内释放，这两星期过去了。他然后想到，巡察在回到巴黎以前是不会有所行动的，而他要在巡查完毕以后才能到那儿，所以他定期为三个月。三个月过去了，三个月之后又过了六个月。在这许多日期间，并没有发生什么有利的转变。于是邓蒂斯开始幻想，认为巡察的视察只是一个梦，只是脑子里的一个幻想。
A year later, the governor was transferred: he had been appointed to manage the fort at Ham, and took with him several of his subordinates, including Dantès' jailer. A new governor arrived. It would have taken him too long to learn the names of his prisoners, so he asked only to be told their numbers. There were fifty furnished rooms in this frightful lodging-house. Its inhabitants were called by the number of the one that they occupied, and the unfortunate young man was no longer called by his first name, Edmond, or his family name, Dantès. He became Number 34.
一年以后，堡长被调任汉姆市长。他带了几个下属同去，邓蒂斯的狱卒也在其中。新堡长到任了。要记得犯人的姓名实在太麻烦，所以他用他们的号码来代替。这个可怕的地方一共有五十个房间，其中的囚徒就以他们的房间号码来命名。那不幸的青年已不再叫爱德蒙·邓蒂斯，他现在是“三十四号”了。