Atlantis: The Antedeluvian World — Page 6

有一次，他引导他们谈论古代的事情，便开始讲述我们这个地方最古老的事物——讲述被称为'第一人'的福罗纽斯，以及尼俄柏的故事；

On one occasion, when he was drawing them on to speak of antiquity, he began to tell about the most ancient things in our part of the world--about Phoroneus, who is called 'the first,' and about Niobe;

然后又讲到大洪水之后，丢卡利翁和皮拉的生平；

and, after the Deluge, to tell of the lives of Deucalion and Pyrrha;

他追溯了他们后裔的族谱，并试图推算他所讲述的那些事件距今有多少年，以及这些事件发生的年代。

and he traced the genealogy of their descendants, and attempted to reckon how many years old were the events of which he was speaking, and to give the dates.

这时，一位年岁极大的祭司说道：'啊，梭伦，梭伦，你们希腊人不过是些孩子，希腊人中从来没有真正的老人。'

Thereupon, one of the priests, who was of very great age, said, 'O Solon, Solon, you Hellenes are but children, and there is never an old man who is an Hellene.'

梭伦听了这话，问道：'你这话是什么意思？'

Solon, bearing this, said, 'What do you mean?'

祭司回答说：'我的意思是，你们在思想上都还年轻；你们中间没有经由古老传统流传下来的古老见解，也没有任何因岁月而积淀的学问。'

'I mean to say,' he replied, 'that in mind you are all young; there is no old opinion handed down among you by ancient tradition, nor any science which is hoary with age.

'我来告诉你们其中的原因：人类曾经遭受过、将来也还会遭受许多次由各种原因引起的大规模毁灭。

And I will tell you the reason of this: there have been, and there will be again, many destructions of mankind arising out of many causes.

就连你们也保存着这样一个故事：从前，太阳神赫利俄斯之子法厄同驾着父亲马车上的骏马，

There is a story which even you have preserved, that once upon a time Phaëthon, the son of Helios, having yoked the steeds in his father's chariot,

因为他无法驾驭那些骏马沿着他父亲的轨道行驶，便烧毁了地球上的一切，而他自己也被一道雷霆所击毁。

because he was not able to drive them in the path of his father, burnt up all that was upon the earth, and was himself destroyed by a thunderbolt.