“我不同意你們的觀點，”主人銀行家說，“我既沒有品嘗過死刑的滋味，也沒有体驗過無期徒刑的磨難，不過如果可以主觀評定的話，那么我以為 死刑比無期徒刑更合乎道德，更人道。死刑把人一下子處死，而無期徒刑卻慢慢地把人處死。究竟哪一個劊子手更人道？是那個几分鐘內處死您的人，還是在許多年 間把您慢慢折磨死的人？”
It was a dark autumn night. The old banker was walking up and down his study and remembering how, fifteen years before, he had given a party one autumn evening. There had been many clever men there, and there had been interesting conversations. Among other things they had talked of capital punishment. The majority of the guests, among whom were many journalists and intellectual men, disapproved of the death penalty. They considered that form of punishment out of date, immoral, and unsuitable for Christian States. In the opinion of some of them the death penalty ought to be replaced everywhere by imprisonment for life. "I don't agree with you," said their host the banker. "I have not tried either the death penalty or imprisonment for life, but if one may judge a priori, the death penalty is more moral and more humane than imprisonment for life. Capital punishment kills a man at once, but lifelong imprisonment kills him slowly. Which executioner is the more humane, he who kills you in a few minutes or he who drags the life out of you in the course of many years?"
“兩种刑罰同樣不道德，”有個客人說，“因為它們的目的是一致的--奪去人的生命。國家不是上帝。它沒有權利奪去它即使日后有心歸還卻無法歸還的生命。”
客人中間有一個二十五歲的年輕律師。別人問他的看法時，他說：
“不論死刑還是無期徒刑都是不道德的，不過如果要我在死刑和無期徒刑中作一選擇，那么我當然選擇后者。活著總比死了好。”
這下熱烈的爭論開始了。銀行家當時年輕气盛，一時性起，一拳捶到桌上，對著年輕的律師嚷道：
“這話不對！我用兩百万打賭，您在囚室里坐不了五年！”
“如果這話當真，”律師回答說，“那我也打賭，我不是坐五年，而是十五年。”
“十五年？行！”銀行家喊道，“諸位先生，我下兩百万賭注。”
“我同意！您下兩百万賭注，我用我的自由作賭注！”律師說。
就這樣，這個野蠻而荒唐的打賭算成立了！銀行家當時到底有几百万家財，連他自己也說不清，他嬌生慣養，輕浮魯莽，打完賭興高采烈。吃晚飯的時候，他取笑律師說：
“年輕人，清醒清醒吧，現在為時不晚。對我來說兩百万是小事一樁，而您卻在冒險，會喪失您一生中最美好的三四年時光。我說三四年，因為您不可 能坐得比這更久。不幸的人，您也不要忘了，自愿受監禁比強迫坐牢要難熬得多。您有權利隨時出去享受自由--這种想法會使您在囚室中的生活痛苦不堪。我可怜 您！”
此刻銀行家在書房里踱來踱去，想起這件往事，不禁問自己：
“何苦打這种賭呢？律師白白浪費了十五年大好光陰，我損失了兩百万，這有什么好處呢？這能否向人們證明，死刑比無期徒刑坏些或者好些？不能，不能。荒唐，毫無意義！在我這方面，完全是因為飽食終日，一時心血來潮，在律師方面，則純粹是貪圖錢財……”
隨后銀行家回想起上述晚會后的事。當時決定，律師必須搬到銀行家后花園里的一間小屋里住，在最嚴格的監視下過完他的監禁生活。規定在十五年間 他無權跨出門檻，看見活人，听見人聲，收到信件和報紙。允許他有一樣樂器，可以讀書、寫信、喝酒和抽煙。跟外界的聯系，根据契約，他只能通過一個為此特設 的小窗口進行，而且不許說話。他需要的東西，如書，樂譜，酒等等，他可以寫在紙條上，要多少給多少，但只能通過窗口。契約規定了种种條款和細節，保證監禁 做到嚴格的隔离，規定律師必須坐滿十五年，即從一八七０年十一月十四日十二時起至一八八五年十一月十四日十二時止。律師一方任何違反契約的企圖，哪怕在規 定期限之前早走兩分鐘，即可解除銀行家支付他兩百万的義務。
在監禁的第一年，根据律師的簡短便條來看，他又孤獨又煩悶，痛苦不堪。不論白天，還是夜晚，從他的小屋里經常傳出鋼琴的聲音！他拒絕喝酒抽 煙。他寫道：酒激起欲望，而欲望是囚徒的頭號敵人。再說，沒有比喝著美酒卻見不著人更煩悶的了。煙則熏坏他房間里的空气。第一年，律師索要的都是內容輕松 的讀物：情節复雜的愛情小說，偵探小說，神話故事，喜劇等等。
第二年，小屋里不再有樂曲聲，律師的紙條上只要求古典作品。第五年又傳出樂曲聲，囚徒要求送酒去。那些從小窗口監視他的人說，整整這一年他只 顧吃飯，喝酒，躺在床上，哈欠連連，憤憤不平地自言自語。他不讀書。有時夜里爬起來寫東西，寫得很久，一到清晨又把寫好的東西統統撕碎。他們不止一次听到 他在哭泣。
第六年的下半年，囚徒熱衷于研究語言、哲學和歷史。他如饑似渴地研究這些學問，弄得銀行家都來不及訂購到他所要的書。在后來的四年間，經他的要求，總計買了六百冊書。在律師陶醉于閱讀期間，銀行家還收到他的這樣一封信：
親愛的典獄長：我用六种文字給您寫信。請將信交有關專家審閱。如果他們找不出一個錯誤，那么我請求您讓人在花園里放一槍。槍聲將告訴 我，我的努力沒有付諸東流。各國歷代的天才盡管所操的語言不同，然而他們的心中都燃燒著同樣熱烈的激情。啊，但愿您能知道，由于我能了解他們，現在我的內 心体驗到多么巨大的非人間所有的幸福！
囚徒的愿望實現了。銀行家吩咐人在花園里放了兩槍。
十年之后，律師一動不動地坐在桌旁，只讀一本《福音書》。銀行家覺得奇怪，既然他在囚年里能讀完六百本深奧的著作，這么一本好懂的、不厚的書怎么要讀上一年工夫呢？讀完《福音書》，他接著讀宗教史和神學著作。
在監禁的最后兩年，囚徒不加選擇，讀了很多的書。有時他研究自然科學，有時要求拜倫和莎士比亞的作品。他的一些紙條上往往要求同時給他送 化學書，醫學書，長篇小說，某篇哲學論文，或者神學著作。他看書就好像他落水后在海中漂浮，為了救自己的命，急不可待地時而抓住沉船的這塊碎片，時而抓住 另一塊浮木！
"Both are equally immoral," observed one of the guests, "for they both have the same object - to take away life. The State is not God. It has not the right to take away what it cannot restore when it wants to." Among the guests was a young lawyer, a young man of five-and-twenty. When he was asked his opinion, he said: "The death sentence and the life sentence are equally immoral, but if I had to choose between the death penalty and imprisonment for life, I would certainly choose the second. To live anyhow is better than not at all." A lively discussion arose. The banker, who was younger and more nervous in those days, was suddenly carried away by excitement; he struck the table with his fist and shouted at the young man: "It's not true! I'll bet you two million you wouldn't stay in solitary confinement for five years." "If you mean that in earnest," said the young man, "I'll take the bet, but I would stay not five but fifteen years." < 2 > "Fifteen? Done!" cried the banker. "Gentlemen, I stake two million!" "Agreed! You stake your millions and I stake my freedom!" said the young man. And this wild, senseless bet was carried out! The banker, spoilt and frivolous, with millions beyond his reckoning, was delighted at the bet. At supper he made fun of the young man, and said: "Think better of it, young man, while there is still time. To me two million is a trifle, but you are losing three or four of the best years of your life. I say three or four, because you won't stay longer. Don't forget either, you unhappy man, that voluntary confinement is a great deal harder to bear than compulsory. The thought that you have the right to step out in liberty at any moment will poison your whole existence in prison. I am sorry for you." And now the banker, walking to and fro, remembered all this, and asked himself: "What was the object of that bet? What is the good of that man's losing fifteen years of his life and my throwing away two million? Can it prove that the death penalty is better or worse than imprisonment for life? No, no. It was all nonsensical and meaningless. On my part it was the caprice of a pampered man, and on his part simple greed for money ..." Then he remembered what followed that evening. It was decided that the young man should spend the years of his captivity under the strictest supervision in one of the lodges in the banker's garden. It was agreed that for fifteen years he should not be free to cross the threshold of the lodge, to see human beings, to hear the human voice, or to receive letters and newspapers. He was allowed to have a musical instrument and books, and was allowed to write letters, to drink wine, and to smoke. By the terms of the agreement, the only relations he could have with the outer world were by a little window made purposely for that object. He might have anything he wanted - books, music, wine, and so on - in any quantity he desired by writing an order, but could only receive them through the window. The agreement provided for every detail and every trifle that would make his imprisonment strictly solitary, and bound the young man to stay there exactly fifteen years, beginning from twelve o'clock of November 14, 1870, and ending at twelve o'clock of November 14, 1885. The slightest attempt on his part to break the conditions, if only two minutes before the end, released the banker from the obligation to pay him the two million. < 3 > For the first year of his confinement, as far as one could judge from his brief notes, the prisoner suffered severely from loneliness and depression. The sounds of the piano could be heard continually day and night from his lodge. He refused wine and tobacco. Wine, he wrote, excites the desires, and desires are the worst foes of the prisoner; and besides, nothing could be more dreary than drinking good wine and seeing no one. And tobacco spoilt the air of his room. In the first year the books he sent for were principally of a light character; novels with a complicated love plot, sensational and fantastic stories, and so on. In the second year the piano was silent in the lodge, and the prisoner asked only for the classics. In the fifth year music was audible again, and the prisoner asked for wine. Those who watched him through the window said that all that year he spent doing nothing but eating and drinking and lying on his bed, frequently yawning and angrily talking to himself. He did not read books. Sometimes at night he would sit down to write; he would spend hours writing, and in the morning tear up all that he had written. More than once he could be heard crying. In the second half of the sixth year the prisoner began zealously studying languages, philosophy, and history. He threw himself eagerly into these studies - so much so that the banker had enough to do to get him the books he ordered. In the course of four years some six hundred volumes were procured at his request. It was during this period that the banker received the following letter from his prisoner: "My dear Jailer, I write you these lines in six languages. Show them to people who know the languages. Let them read them. If they find not one mistake I implore you to fire a shot in the garden. That shot will show me that my efforts have not been thrown away. The geniuses of all ages and of all lands speak different languages, but the same flame burns in them all. Oh, if you only knew what unearthly happiness my soul feels now from being able to understand them!" The prisoner's desire was fulfilled. The banker ordered two shots to be fired in the garden. < 4 > Then after the tenth year, the prisoner sat immovably at the table and read nothing but the Gospel. It seemed strange to the banker that a man who in four years had mastered six hundred learned volumes should waste nearly a year over one thin book easy of comprehension. Theology and histories of religion followed the Gospels. In the last two years of his confinement the prisoner read an immense quantity of books quite indiscriminately. At one time he was busy with the natural sciences, then he would ask for Byron or Shakespeare. There were notes in which he demanded at the same time books on chemistry, and a manual of medicine, and a novel, and some treatise on philosophy or theology. His reading suggested a man swimming in the sea among the wreckage of his ship, and trying to save his life by greedily clutching first at one spar and then at another.
老銀行家回憶這些事后想道：
“明天十二點他就要獲得自由。按契約我應當付他兩百万。如果我付清款子，我就徹底破產，一切都完了……”
十五年前他不知道自己到底有多少個一百万，如今卻害怕問自己：他的財產多還是債務多？交易所里全憑僥幸的賭博，冒險的投机買賣，直到老年都改 不了的急躁脾气，漸漸地使他的事業一落千丈。這個無所畏懼、過分自信的、傲慢的富翁現在變成一個中產的銀行家，證券的一起一落總讓他膽戰心惊。
“該詛咒的打賭！”老人嘟噥著，絕望地抱住頭，“這個人怎么不死呢？他還只有四十歲。不久他會拿走我最后的錢，然后結婚，享受生活的樂趣，搞 證券投机。我呢，變成了乞丐，只能嫉妒地看著他，每天听他那句表白：‘多虧您，我才得到幸福，讓我來幫助您。’不，這太過分了！擺脫破產和恥辱的唯一辦法 就是這個人的死！”
時鐘敲了三下。銀行家側耳細听：房子里的人都睡了，只听見窗外的樹木凍得嗚嗚作響。他竭力不弄出響聲，從保險柜里取出十五年來從未用過的房門鑰匙，穿上大衣，走出房去。
花園里又黑又冷。下著雨。潮濕而刺骨的寒風呼嘯著刮過花園，不容樹木安靜。銀行家集中注意力，仍然看不見土地，看不見白色雕像，看不見那座小屋，看不見樹木。他摸到小屋附近，叫了兩次看守人。沒人回答。顯然，看守人躲風雨去了，此刻正睡在廚房里或者花房里。
“如果我有足夠的勇气實現我的意圖，”老人想，“那么嫌疑首先會落在看門人身上。”
他在黑暗中摸索著台階和門，進了小屋的前室，隨后摸黑進了不大的過道，划了一根火柴。這里一個人也沒有。有一張床，但床上沒有被子，角落里有個黑糊糊的鐵爐。囚徒房門上的封條完整無缺。
火柴熄滅了，老人心慌得渾身發抖，摸到小窗口往里張望。
囚徒室內點著一支昏黃的蜡燭。他本人坐在桌前。從這里只能看到他的背、頭發和兩條胳膊。在桌子上，在兩個圈椅里，在桌子旁的地毯上，到處放著攤開的書。
五分鐘過去了，囚徒始終沒有動一下。十五年的監禁教會了他靜坐不動。銀行家彎起一個手指敲敲小窗，囚徒對此毫無反應。這時銀行家才小心翼翼地 撕去封條，把鑰匙插進鎖孔里。生銹的鎖一聲悶響，房門吱嘎一聲開了。銀行家預料會立即發出惊叫聲和腳步聲，可是過去了兩三分鐘，門里卻像原先一樣寂靜。他 決定走進房間里。
桌子后面一動不動坐著一個沒有人樣的人。這是一具皮包骨頭的骷髏，一頭長長的女人那樣的鬈發，胡子亂蓬蓬的。他的臉呈土黃色，臉頰凹陷，背部 狹長，胳膊又細又瘦，一只手托著長發蓬亂的頭，那模樣看上去真叫嚇人。他的頭發早已灰白，瞧他那張像老人般枯瘦的臉，誰也不會相信他只有四十歲。他入睡 了……桌子上，在他垂下的頭前有一張紙，上面寫著密密麻麻的字。
“可怜的人！”銀行家想道，“他睡著了，大概正夢見那兩百万呢！只要我抱起這個半死不活的人，把他扔到床上，用枕頭悶住他的頭，稍稍壓一下，那么事后連最仔細的醫檢也找不出橫死的跡象。不過，讓我先來看看他寫了什么……”
銀行家拿起桌上的紙，讀到下面的文字：
明天十二點我將獲得自由，獲得跟人交往的權利。不過，在我离開這個房間、見到太陽之前，我認為有必要對您說几句話。憑著清白的良心，面對注視我的上帝，我向您聲明：我蔑視自由、生命、健康，蔑視你們的書里稱之為人間幸福的一切。
十五年來，我潛心研究人間的生活。的确，我看不見天地和人們，但在你們的書里我喝著香醇的美酒，我唱歌，在樹林里追逐鹿群和野豬，和女人談情 說愛……由你們天才的詩人憑借神來之筆創造出的無數美女，輕盈得猶如臼云，夜里常常來探訪我，對我小聲講述著神奇的故事，听得我神迷心醉。在你們的書里， 我攀登上艾爾布魯士１和勃朗峰２的頂巔，從那里觀看早晨的日出，觀看如血的晚霞如何染紅了天空、海洋和林立的山峰。我站在那里，看到在我的上空雷電如何劈 開烏云，像人蛇般游弋；我看到綠色的森林、原野、河流、湖泊、城市，听到塞王３的歌唱和牧笛的吹奏；我甚至触摸過美麗的魔鬼的翅膀，它們飛來居然跟我談論 上帝……在你們的書里我也墜入過無底的深淵，我創造奇跡，行凶殺人，燒毀城市，宣揚新的宗教，征服了無數王國……
The old banker remembered all this, and thought: "To-morrow at twelve o'clock he will regain his freedom. By our agreement I ought to pay him two million. If I do pay him, it is all over with me: I shall be utterly ruined." Fifteen years before, his millions had been beyond his reckoning; now he was afraid to ask himself which were greater, his debts or his assets. Desperate gambling on the Stock Exchange, wild speculation and the excitability whic h he could not get over even in advancing years, had by degrees led to the decline of his fortune and the proud, fearless, self-confident millionaire had become a banker of middling rank, trembling at every rise and fall in his investments. "Cursed bet!" muttered the old man, clutching his head in despair "Why didn't the man die? He is only forty now. He will take my last penny from me, he will marry, will enjoy life, will gamble on the Exchange; while I shall look at him with envy like a beggar, and hear from him every day the same sentence: 'I am indebted to you for the happiness of my life, let me help you!' No, it is too much! The one means of being saved from bankruptcy and disgrace is the death of that man!" < 5 > It struck three o'clock, the banker listened; everyone was asleep in the house and nothing could be heard outside but the rustling of the chilled trees. Trying to make no noise, he took from a fireproof safe the key of the door which had not been opened for fifteen years, put on his overcoat, and went out of the house. It was dark and cold in the garden. Rain was falling. A damp cutting wind was racing about the garden, howling and giving the trees no rest. The banker strained his eyes, but could see neither the earth nor the white statues, nor the lodge, nor the trees. Going to the spot where the lodge stood, he twice called the watchman. No answer followed. Evidently the watchman had sought shelter from the weather, and was now asleep somewhere either in the kitchen or in the greenhouse. "If I had the pluck to carry out my intention," thought the old man, "Suspicion would fall first upon the watchman." He felt in the darkness for the steps and the door, and went into the entry of the lodge. Then he groped his way into a little passage and lighted a match. There was not a soul there. There was a bedstead with no bedding on it, and in the corner there was a dark cast-iron stove. The seals on the door leading to the prisoner's rooms were intact. When the match went out the old man, trembling with emotion, peeped through the little window. A candle was burning dimly in the prisoner's room. He was sitting at the table. Nothing could be seen but his back, the hair on his head, and his hands. Open books were lying on the table, on the two easy-chairs, and on the carpet near the table. Five minutes passed and the prisoner did not once stir. Fifteen years' imprisonment had taught him to sit still. The banker tapped at the window with his finger, and the prisoner made no movement whatever in response. Then the banker cautiously broke the seals off the door and put the key in the keyhole. The rusty lock gave a grating sound and the door creaked. The banker expected to hear at once footsteps and a cry of astonishment, but three minutes passed and it was as quiet as ever in the room. He made up his mind to go in. < 6 > At the table a man unlike ordinary people was sitting motionless. He was a skeleton with the skin drawn tight over his bones, with long curls like a woman's and a shaggy beard. His face was yellow with an earthy tint in it, his cheeks were hollow, his back long and narrow, and the hand on which his shaggy head was propped was so thin and delicate that it was dreadful to look at it. His hair was already streaked with silver, and seeing his emaciated, aged-looking face, no one would have believed that he was only forty. He was asleep ... In front of his bowed head there lay on the table a sheet of paper on which there was something written in fine handwriting. "Poor creature!" thought the banker, "he is asleep and most likely dreaming of the millions. And I have only to take this half-dead man, throw him on the bed, stifle him a little with the pillow, and the most conscientious expert would find no sign of a violent death. But let us first read what he has written here ... " The banker took the page from the table and read as follows: "To-morrow at twelve o'clock I regain my freedom and the right to associate with other men, but before I leave this room and see the sunshine, I think it necessary to say a few words to you. With a clear conscience I tell you, as before God, who beholds me, that I despise freedom and life and health, and all that in your books is called the good things of the world. "For fifteen years I have been intently studying earthly life. It is true I have not seen the earth nor men, but in your books I have drunk fragrant wine, I have sung songs, I have hunted stags and wild boars in the forests, have loved women ... Beauties as ethereal as clouds, created by the magic of your poets and geniuses, have visited me at night, and have whispered in my ears wonderful tales that have set my brain in a whirl. In your books I have climbed to the peaks of Elburz and Mont Blanc, and from there I have seen the sun rise and have watched it at evening flood the sky, the ocean, and the mountain-tops with gold and crimson. I have watched from there the lightning flashing over my head and cleaving the storm-clouds. I have seen green forests, fields, rivers, lakes, towns. I have heard the singing of the sirens, and the strains of the shepherds' pipes; I have touched the wings of comely devils who flew down to converse with me of God ... In your books I have flung myself into the bottomless pit, performed miracles, slain, burned towns, preached new religions, conquered whole kingdoms ...
你們的書給了我智慧。不倦的人類思想千百年來所創造的一切，如今濃縮成一團，藏在我的頭顱里。我知道我比你們所有的人都聰明。
我也蔑視你們的書，蔑視人間的各种幸福和智慧。一切都微不足道，轉瞬即逝，虛幻莫測，不足為信，有如海市蜃樓。雖然你們驕傲、聰明而美麗，然 而死亡會把你們徹底消滅，就降消滅地窖里的耗子一樣，而你們的子孫后代，你們的歷史，你們的不朽天才，將隨著地球一起或者凍結成冰，或者燒毀。
你們喪失理智，走上邪道。你們把謊言當成真理，把丑看作美，如果由于某种環境，苹果樹和橙樹上不結果實，卻忽然長出蛤蟆和晰蜴，或者玫瑰花發出馬的汗味，你們會感到奇怪；同樣，我對你們這些宁愿舍棄天國來換取人世的人也味到奇怪。我不想了解你們。
為了用行動向你們表明我蔑視你們賴以生活的一切，我放棄那兩百万，雖說我曾經對它像對天堂一樣夢寐以求，可是現在我蔑視它。為了放棄這一權利，我決定在規定期限之前五個時离開這里，從而違反契約……
銀行家讀到這里，把紙放回桌上，在這個怪人頭上親了一下，含淚走出小屋。他一生中任何時候，哪怕在交易所輸光之后，也下曾像現在這樣深深地蔑視自己。回到家里，他倒在床上，然而激動的眼淚使他久久不能入睡……
第二大早晨，嚇白了臉的看守人跑來告訴他，說他們看到住在小屋里的人爬出窗子，進了花園，往大門走去，后來就不知去向了。銀行家帶領仆人立即赶到小屋，證實囚徒确實跑掉了。為了杜絕無謂的流言，他取走桌上那份放棄權利的聲明，回到房間，把它鎖進保險柜里。
一八八九年一月一日
"Your books have given me wisdom. All that the unresting thought of man has created in the ages is compressed into a small compass in my brain. I know that I am wiser than all of you.
"And I despise your books, I despise wisdom and the blessings of this world. It is all worthless, fleeting, illusory, and deceptive, like a mirage. You may be proud, wise, and fine, but death will wipe you off the face of the earth as though you were no more than mice burrowing under the floor, and your posterity, your history, your immortal geniuses will burn or freeze together with the earthly globe.
"You have lost your reason and taken the wrong path. You have taken lies for truth, and hideousness for beauty. You would marvel if, owing to strange events of some sorts, frogs and lizards suddenly grew on apple
and orange trees instead of fruit, or if roses began to smell like a
sweating horse; so I marvel at you who exchange heaven for earth. I
don't want to understand you. "To prove to you in action how I despise all that you live by, I renounce the two million of which I once dreamed as of paradise and which now I despise. To deprive myself of the right to the money
I shall go out from here five hours before the time fixed, and so break the compact ..." When the banker had read this he laid the page on the table, kissed the strange man on the head, and went out of the lodge, weeping. At no other time, even when he had lost heavily on the Stock Exchange
,
had he felt so great a contempt for himself. When he got home he lay on
his bed, but his tears and emotion kept him for hours from sleeping. Next morning the watchmen ran in with pale faces, and told him they had seen the man who lived in the lodge climb out of the window
into the garden, go to the gate, and disappear. The banker went at once
with the servants to the lodge and made sure of the flight of his
prisoner. To avoid arousing unnecessary talk, he took from the table the
writing in which the millions were renounced, and when he got home
locked it up in the fireproof safe.
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