In a Lyric Way
O liberty! O sounds delightful to every Roman ear! O sacred privilege of Roman citizenship! Once sacred, ─now trampled on! Is it come to this? Shall an inferior magistrate, a governor, who holds his whole power of the Roman People, in Roman province within sight of Italy, bind, scourge, torture, and put to an infamous death, a Roman citizen? Shall neither the cries of innocence expiring in agony, the tears of pitying spectators, the majesty of the Roman Commonwealth nor the fear of justice of his country restrain the merciless monster, who, in the confidence of his riches, strikes at the very root of liberty, and sets mankind at defiance? And shall this man escape? Fathers, it must not be! It must not be, unless you would undermine the very foundations of social safety, strangle justice, and call down anarchy, massacre, and ruin, on the Commonwealth!
But, whatever may be our fate, be assured, be assured, that this Declaration will stand. It may cost treasure; and it may cost blood; but it will stand, and it will richly compensate for both. Through the thick gloom of the present I see the brightness of the future as the sun in heaven. We shall make this a glorious and immortal day. When we are in our graves, our children will honor it. They will celebrate it with thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires, and illuminations. On its annual return they will shed tears, copious, gushing tears, not of anguish or sorrow, but of exultation, of gratitude, and of joy. Sir, before God, I believe the hour has come. My judgment approves this measure, and my whole heart is in it. All that I have, and all that I am, and all that I hope, in this life, I am now ready here to stake upon it; and I leave off as I began, that, live or die, survive or perish, I am for the Declaration. It is my living sentiment, and, by the blessing of God, it shall be my dying sentiment; independence now, and independence forever.
但是，無論我們個人的命運是禍?zhǔn)歉�，請堅信，堅信宣言必將巍然屹立。為達(dá)成宣言，我們可能耗費錢財，可能流血犧牲;但是，宣言必將屹立，并加倍償還所耗的錢財和生命。透過面前的陰沉的形勢，我看到了光明的遠(yuǎn)景，有如昭昭天日。今天將作為光榮不朽的日子載入史冊。當(dāng)我們長眠地下之時，我們的子孫將紀(jì)念這個日子。他們將感激滿懷、載歌載舞、高燃篝火、張燈結(jié)彩慶此佳節(jié)。年年此日，他們將痛灑熱淚、濕袖沾襟。這眼淚，不再是被奴役的屈辱之淚，不再是痛苦憂傷之淚，而是歡欣鼓舞、感恩戴德與喜慶歡樂的熱淚。主席先生，我對上帝發(fā)誓，我深信這時刻已經(jīng)到來。我斷定這宣言是頂呱呱的，我全心全意擁護它。我將所有的一切，我的全部稟性、我一生的希望都傾注在這宣言上。我要重復(fù)我開始時說的話：無論生、死、成功、失敗，我堅決支持獨立宣言。這是我的生平愿望，愿上帝賜福于我，使它也成為我臨終時的遺志吧。爭取立刻獨立!永遠(yuǎn)保持獨立!
The memory of Burns─I am afraid heaven and earth have taken too good care of it to leave us anything to say. The west winds are murmuring it. Open the windows behind you, and hearken for the incoming tide, what the waves say of it. The doves, perching always on the eaves of the Stone Chapel opposite, may know something about it. Every home in broad Scotland keeps his fame bright. The memory of Burns─every man's and boy's, and girl's head carried snatches of his songs, and can say them by heart, and, what is strangest of all, never learned them from a book, but from mouth to mouth. The wind whispers them the birds whistle them, the corn, barley, and bulrushes brassily rustle them; nay, the music boxes at Geneva are framed and toothed to play them; the hand organs of the Sao yards in all cities repeat them, and the chimes of bells ring them in the spires. They are they property and the solace of mankind.
憶彭斯──恐怕天地萬物完美地保存了這些記憶，以致沒有給我們留下訴說余地。陣陣西風(fēng)正在傾訴。打開身后的窗子，聽聽涌來的浪潮在說些什么。常在對面王國教堂檐下棲息的鴿子也許略知一二。在遼闊的蘇格蘭大地上，家家戶戶都在使彭斯的美名大放異彩。憶彭斯──男女老少都記得他的詩歌的某些片段，都能憑記憶脫口而出，而最奇妙的是，人民從來不是通過書本，而是通過口口相傳學(xué)到這些詩歌的。風(fēng)兒在哼著這些詩歌，鳥兒在唱著這些歌，谷物、大麥及蘆葦在大聲吟唱這些詩歌。不僅如此，設(shè)計精妙的日內(nèi)瓦音樂盒在演奏這些詩歌，各城市薩瓦人的手風(fēng)琴在不停地演奏這些詩歌，塔頂排鐘在和諧地吟唱這些詩歌。他的詩歌是人類的財富和慰藉。
