I had made little acquaintance with the history of my ancestors. Almost the only thing I knew concerning them was, that a notable number of them had been given to study.
Scottish writer for children and adults, whose novels David Elginbrod (1863) and Robert Falconer (1868) helped to found the ‘Kailyard school’ of fiction. His two allegorical fantasies for adults, Phantastes (1858) and Lilith (1895), were influenced by his study of Novalis and E. T. A. Hoffmann and, with his children's books, strongly influenced C. S. Lewis, Frances Hodgson Burnett, and Maurice Sendak. MacDonald is primarily remembered for his fantasies for children, notably At the Back of the North Wind (1871) and The Princess and the Goblin (1872), both deeply symbolic, with elements of Christian mysticism.
(The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature (4 ed.), 2012)
A female demon (Isa. 34: 14) borrowed from Babylonian speculation. There was a late tradition, mentioned in the early medieval work Alphabet of Ben Sira, that she was the first wife of Adam and far more assertive than the domesticated Eve.
[A Dictionary of the Bible (2 ed.); W. R. F. Browning, 2009]
I had myself so far inherited the tendency as to devote a good deal of my time, though, I confess, after a somewhat desultory fashion, to the physical sciences. It was chiefly the wonder they woke that drew me.
I was constantly seeing, and on the outlook to see, strange analogies, not only between the facts of different sciences of the same order, or between physical and metaphysical facts, but between physical hypotheses and suggestions glimmering out of the metaphysical dreams into which I was in the habit of falling.
I was at the same time much given to a premature indulgence of the impulse to turn hypothesis into theory. Of my mental peculiarities there is no occasion to say more.
>>15 (1) I was constantly seeing, and on the outlook to see, strange analogies,
(2) not only between the facts of different sciences of the same order, 同じ次元の各種の科学で発見された事実の数々のあいだや、
(3) or between physical and metaphysical facts, 形而下の事実と形而上の事実のあいだだけでなく、
(4) but between physical hypotheses and suggestions glimmering out of the metaphysical dreams into which I was in the habit of falling. 私がついつい陥ってしまっていた形而上の夢の中で微かに光っている形而下の仮説と示唆とのあいだに、
(1) I was constantly seeing, and on the outlook to see, strange analogies,
この on the lookout to see [strange analogies] を 「不思議と似通ったもの(アナロジー)を見張っていた」と訳してるけど、具体的にどういう意味だと 思う?「似通ったもの(点)を見張る」って、そもそも日本語らしくないだけでなく、どういう意味なのか わかりにくくない?「似通ったもの」が変な挙動を示さないかどうかを「見張る」っていう意味として 理解してるのかな?
僕には、ここの on the lookout to see [strange things] は、 always trying to find [strange things] という意味だろうと考えてる。 ===============
(4) but between physical hypotheses and suggestions glimmering out of the metaphysical dreams into which I was in the habit of falling.
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do. Once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?"
So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.
There was nothing so very remarkable in that, nor did Alice think it so [Pg 4]very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself その様子には格別変なところもなく、アリスはうさぎが独り言をいうのをそんなにひどく異常なことだとも思わなかった。
"Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" But when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket and looked at it and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it,
(1) FOR the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, 私が今から書こうとしている最高に突飛でありながらも最高にありふれた話については、 I neither expect nor solicit belief. 信じてもらえるとも思っていないし、信じてくれとも言わない。
(2) Mad indeed would I be to expect it, 信じてくれるだろうなんて思ったら、 in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. 私の五感そのものが物事をはっきりさせることを拒んでいる場合には、私は本当に気が狂っているということになろう。
(3) Yet, mad am I not とはいえ、私は気など狂ってはいない。 ―and very surely do I not dream. さらに、間違いなく夢を見ているわけでもない。
(4) But to-morrow I die, and to-day I would unburthen my soul. しかし明日になれば、私は死ぬのだ。そして今日、胸の内を告白するのだ。
(5) My immediate purpose is to place before the world, 私が今すぐやろうとしていることは、世間に対して、 plainly, succinctly, and without comment, わかりやすく、簡潔に、そして意見など言わずに、 a series of mere household events. 家庭内で起こった一連のことを打ち明けることなのだ。
(6) In their consequences, these events have terrified―have tortured―have destroyed me. 結果としては、これらの出来事によって、私は脅え、苦しみ、つぶれた。
(7) Yet I will not attempt to expound them. とはいえ、それについて詳しく話そうなどとはしないつもりだ。
(8) To me, they have presented little but Horror 私は、これらの出来事によって「恐怖」以外のものはほとんど感じなかった。 ―to many they will seem less terrible than barroques. そんなものは、バロック美術よりもマシだと感じる人もたくさんいるだろう。
(9) Hereafter, perhaps, some intellect may be found which will reduce my phantasm to the common-place このあとを読むとき、知性を働かせることによって、私の幻想が陳腐なものに見えるかもしれない。 ―some intellect more calm, more logical, and far less excitable than my own, そういう知性を備えた人は、私よりも冷静で、論理的で、はるかに興奮しにくく、 which will perceive, in the circumstances I detail with awe, 畏怖を感じながら私が話すいろいろな事情の中に、 nothing more than an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects. ごく自然な原因と結果が平凡に続いているだけだということに気づいてくれるだろう。
> A.A adj. Irregularly shaped; whimsical, grotesque, odd. (‘Originally a jeweller's term, > soon much extended in sense.’ Brachet.) Applied spec. to a florid style of architectural > decoration which arose in Italy in the late Renaissance and became prevalent in Europe > during the 18th century. Also absol. as n. and transf. in reference to other arts. (OED)
The house as well as the family was of some antiquity, but no description of it is necessary to the understanding of my narrative. It contained a fine library, whose growth began before the invention of printing, and had continued to my own time, greatly influenced, of course, by changes of taste and pursuit.
Nothing surely can more impress upon a man the transitory nature of possession than his succeeding to an ancient property! Like a moving panorama mine has passed from before many eyes, and is now slowly flitting from before my own.
The library, although duly considered in many alterations of the house and additions to it, had nevertheless, like an encroaching state, absorbed one room after another until it occupied the greater part of the ground floor.
(9) From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. 幼少時代から、私は素直で人間らしいということで知られていた。
(10) My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous 心の優しさがあまりに目立つため、 as to make me the jest of my companions. 仲間たちの物笑いの種になっていたほどだ。
(11) I was especially fond of animals, 特に動物が好きで、 and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets. 両親から実にいろいろなペットを与えられていた。
(12) With these I spent most of my time, そのペットたちとたいていの時間を過ごしていて、 and never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them. ペットたちに餌をあげたり愛撫したりしているときが最高に幸せだった。
(13) This peculiarity of character grew with my growth, このように変わった性格は成長と共にひどくなり、 and in my manhood, 大人になってからは、 I derived from it one of my principal sources of pleasure. 主な楽しみのうちの一つはそこから得るようになった。
(14) To those who have cherished an affection for a faithful and sagacious dog, 忠実で利口な犬に愛情を持っている人には、 I need hardly be at the trouble of explaining the nature or the intensity of the gratification thus derivable. その満足がどういうものか、どれくらい大きなものかをわざわざ説明する必要がほとんどない。
(15) There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, 利己心なく自己犠牲的に獣を愛する心には、 which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man. ただの「人間」のつまらない友情や希薄な忠誠心を試す機会に何度も出会ってきた者の心に直接に響くのだ。
(16) I married early, and was happy to find in my wife a disposition not uncongenial with my own. 私は早めに結婚し、妻とは性格の相性がまあまあよかったので、幸せだった。
(17) Observing my partiality for domestic pets, ペットが大好きな私の様子を見て、 she lost no opportunity of procuring those of the most agreeable kind. 妻は一番かわいいものをすぐに用意してくれた。
(18) We had birds, gold-fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a cat. 鳥、金魚、立派な犬、うさぎ、小さな猿、そして猫を飼っていた。
(19) This latter was a remarkably large and beautiful animal, この猫はかなり大きくて美しく、 entirely black, and sagacious to an astonishing degree. 全身が黒く、びっくりするほど利口だった。
(20) In speaking of his intelligence, この猫の賢さについて話をするとき、 my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, 妻は、迷信を少なからず信じるタイプなので、 made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise. 黒猫はみんな魔女が猫に化けているという古くから広く伝わっている考えをよく引き合いに出した。
(21) Not that she was ever serious upon this point もっとも、これを妻が本気で信じていたわけでは決してない。 ―and I mention the matter at all for no better reason than that it happens, just now, to be remembered. 私も、今たまたま思い出したことだから、ついでに書いているだけだ。
(22) Pluto―this was the cat's name― プルートというのが猫の名前だったが、 was my favorite pet and playmate. 私のお気に入りのペットで、遊び友達だった。
(23) I alone fed him, 猫に餌をあげたのは私だけだったし、 and he attended me wherever I went about the house. 私が家の中のどこに行っても、常についてきた。
(24) It was even with difficulty that I could prevent him from following me through the streets. 外にまでついてくるのを止めるのが大変だったくらいだ。
(25) Our friendship lasted, in this manner, for several years, 私とプルートは、このように数年にわたって仲よく暮らしたが、 during which my general temperament and character その間、私の全般的な気質と性格は、 ―through the instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance― 「暴飲という悪魔」の力により、 had (I blush to confess it) experienced a radical alteration for the worse. (打ち明けるのも恥ずかしいが)劇的に悪化したのだ。
(26) I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others. 私は日に日に、さらにふさぎ込み、さらに苛立ちやすく、他人の気持ちをさらに考えないようになっていった。
(27) I suffered myself to use intemperate language to my wife. 妻を罵ることに甘んじるようになった。
(28) At length, I even offered her personal violence. ついには、暴力さえ振るうようになった。
(29) My pets, of course, were made to feel the change in my disposition. ペットたちはもちろん、私の性格の変化を感じないわけにはいかなかった。
(30) I not only neglected, but ill-used them. 私がペットたちを無視しただけでなく、乱暴に扱ったのだ。
(31) For Pluto, however, I still retained sufficient regard to restrain me from maltreating him, しかしプルートに対しては、まだ一目を置いていたので、ひどい扱いはしなくてすんだ。
as I made no scruple of maltreating the rabbits, the monkey, or even the dog, when by accident, or through affection, they came in my way. 一方、うさぎや猿や、さらには犬に対してまで、偶然に近づいてきたりなついてきたりしたときに、ひどい扱いをしても私は平気だったのだ。
(32) But my disease grew upon me それでも私の病気はひどくなっていった。 ―for what disease is like Alcohol!― 「アルコール」という病気の恐ろしさ。 and at length even Pluto, who was now becoming old, and consequently somewhat peevish― ついには、歳を取りかけていたため少し気難しくなっていたプルートでさえ、 even Pluto began to experience the effects of my ill temper. 私のかんしゃくの犠牲になり始めたのだ。
Prison Break S4 Ep4 で、サラが And I remember feeling like I was floating like I was the only person in the whole world. と言うんだが、>>2と類似してる。 こういう表現が日常会話でサラっと(やべぇw)出てくるあたり、慣用的表現であろうか。
(2) thus derivable は、確かにきちんと訳すべきだったね。いや、訳したつもりだったけど、 淡泊すぎた。the gratification thus derivable は "the gratification derivable from feeding and caressing one's pets" ということだから、次のように訂正する。
I need hardly be at the trouble of explaining the nature or the intensity of the gratification thus derivable. そこから得られる満足がどういうものか、どれくらい大きなものかをわざわざ説明する必要がほとんどない。
(3) 訳文 (15) の主語は、確かに欠如してるね。訂正する。
(15) There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, 利己心なく自己犠牲的に獣を愛する心には、 which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man. ただの「人間」のつまらない友情や希薄な忠誠心を試す機会に何度も出会ってきた者の心に直接に響くものがある。
Its chief room was large, and the walls of it were covered with books almost to the ceiling; the rooms into which it overflowed were of various sizes and shapes, and communicated in modes as various?by doors, by open arches, by short passages, by steps up and steps down.
In the great room I mainly spent my time, reading books of science, old as well as new; for the history of the human mind in relation to supposed knowledge was what most of all interested me.
Ptolemy, Dante, the two Bacons, and Boyle were even more to me than Darwin or Maxwell, as so much nearer the vanished van breaking into the dark of ignorance.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1640/1640-h/1640-h.htm#link2HCH0001 ************************************************************** the two Bacons : スコラ学者 Roger Bacon(1214/20-92/94)と、 哲学者 Francis Bacon(1561-1626) Boyle : Robert Boyle(1627-91)、物理学者 Maxwel : James Clerk Maxwell(1831-79)、物理学者
>>62 Its chief room was large, その長(おさ)の部屋は大きく、 =============
この "its" は "of the library" っていう意味だと思うけど、 「長(おさ)の部屋」っていうのは、"main room"(主たる、主な部屋)という 意味なのかな?もしそうならそれでいいんだけど。一応、確認しておきたいんだけど、 its chief room = the main room of the library という意味だよね?僕はそのように解釈してる。英太郎さんもそのように解釈して 訳したんだよね?
(33) One night, returning home, much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about town, ある日の夜、私の入り浸る町中の飲み屋のうちの一軒から泥酔して帰宅したとき、 I fancied that the cat avoided my presence. 猫が私を避けているような気がした。
(34) I seized him; 私は猫を捕まえ、 when, in his fright at my violence, 私が暴力をふるうのではないかと恐れたとき、 he inflicted a slight wound upon my hand with his teeth. 猫は、歯で私の手を少し傷つけた。
(35) The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. 私は、瞬時にして悪魔のように逆上した。
(36) I knew myself no longer. もう正気ではなかった。
(37) My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body 本来の魂は、すぐに体から逃げていくように思え、 and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame. 魔性を超える悪意が、酒によって勢いを増し、体のあらゆる繊維を震わせたのだ。
(38) I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, 私はチョッキのポケットからペンナイフを取り出し、 opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, それを開き、憐れな獣の喉をつかみ、 and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket! わざと一方の目を抉(えぐ)り取ってしまった !
(39) I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity. 私はこの呪うべき残虐な行為について書きながら、赤面し、体が燃え、ふるえる。
(40) When reason returned with the morning―when I had slept off the fumes of the night's debauch 朝が来て理性が戻ってきたときには、眠っているあいだにその前の夜の放蕩の煙が消えてしまって、 ―I experienced a sentiment half of horror, half of remorse, for the crime of which I had been guilty; 私の犯した犯罪のため、恐ろしさ半分、後悔が半分の思いだった。
(41) but it was, at best, a feeble and equivocal feeling, しかしそれは、せいぜい、かすかでぼんやりした感情であり、 and the soul remained untouched. 魂は無傷のままだった。
(42) I again plunged into excess, 私はまたも飲み過ぎてしまい、 and soon drowned in wine all memory of the deed. まもなく、やってしまったことを酒ですべて忘れさってしまった。
>>65 直前に (...) like an encroaching state, absorbed one room after another until it occupied the greater part of the ground floor. のように半擬人化してるので、chief の部分も擬人化が続いてると解釈したヨ。
このように書いてある。もし chief が名詞なのであれば、 Its chief's room was large または The room of its chief was large でないといけなくなる。もし chief が形容詞なら、「その(その library の)長の部屋」 という意味にはならないと思うけど、どうかな?
(43) In the meantime the cat slowly recovered. そのあいだに、猫はゆっくりと回復していった。
(44) The socket of the lost eye presented, it is true, a frightful appearance, 目をなくした傷跡は、確かに、恐ろしいものだが、
but he no longer appeared to suffer any pain. 猫の方はまるで痛みを感じなくなっているようだった。
(45) He went about the house as usual, 猫はいつものように家の中を歩き回ったが、
but, as might be expected, fled in extreme terror at my approach. 無理もないことだが、私が近づくとひどく脅えて逃げていった。
(46) I had so much of my old heart left, 私としては、もとの優しい心がまだかなり残っていたので、
as to be at first grieved by this evident dislike on the part of a creature which had once so loved me. 昔はあんなに私になついてくれていた猫がこんなにあからさまに嫌ってくることに、最初は悲しく思った。
(47) But this feeling soon gave place to irritation. しかしこのような思いは、すぐに苛立ちに変わった。
(48) And then came, as if to my final and irrevocable overthrow, the spirit of PERVERSENESS. そして、最終的かつ変更不可能な形で私を打倒するためであるかのように、「邪悪」の心がとりついてきたのだ。
(49) Of this spirit philosophy takes no account. この心については、哲学では無視されている。
(50) Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives, とはいえ私は、私の魂は生きていないかもしれないと思う。
than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart 同様に、邪悪というものが人間の心の原始的な衝動、
―one of the indivisible primary faculties, or sentiments, which give direction to the character of Man. つまり、「人間」の性格を決める不可分の主な能力あるいは感情ではないかもしれない。
(50) Who has not, a hundred times, found himself committing a vile or a silly action, for no other reason than because he knows he should not? 悪いことや馬鹿げたことをしてはいけないとわかっているからこそ、そういうことを何回も何回もしてしまったという経験は、誰にでもあるではないか。
(51) Have we not a perpetual inclination, in the teeth of our best judgment, to violate that which is Law, merely because we understand it to be such? 善悪の判断ができるのに、「掟」となっているものがそういうものだとわかっているからこそ、 その掟を破ってしまうという傾向が常にありはしないか?
(52) This spirit of perverseness, I say, came to my final overthrow. この邪悪の心が、私を決定的に打倒しようと取りついてきたのだ。
(53) It was this unfathomable longing of the soul to vex itself 自らを悩ませたい、
―to offer violence to its own nature 自らを痛めつけたい、
―to do wrong for the wrong's sake only 悪いことを悪いことそれ自体のためにのみ行いたいという魂のこの不可解な思いに急き立てられて、
―that urged me to continue and finally to consummate the injury I had inflicted upon the unoffending brute. 私は大人しい動物に与えた傷を継続し、ついには完成させてしまったのだ。
I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to the limb of a tree; 私は猫の首に輪をつけて木の枝に吊った。
―hung it with the tears streaming from my eyes, 目から涙を流しながら、
and with the bitterest remorse at my heart; 最高に辛い良心の呵責を感じながらも、吊ってしまった。
―hung it because I knew that it had loved me, 猫が私になついてくれていたと知っていたからこそ、
and because I felt it had given me no reason of offence; 猫の方から何の攻撃もかけてこなかったからこそ、吊ったのだ。
―hung it because I knew that in so doing I was committing a sin そんなことをすれば罪になるんだと、
―a deadly sin that would so jeopardize my immortal soul as to place it ―if such a thing wore possible ―even beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of the Most Merciful and Most Terrible God. 「最高に情け深く最高に恐ろしい神」の無限の恵みさえも届くことのないようなところに 私の不死の魂が置かれるなどということが仮にあるとしたら、そんなことになりそうなくらいに 危険な恐ろしい罪を犯しているとわかっていたからこそ、吊ってしまったのだ。
(60) My entire worldly wealth was swallowed up, 私の物質的な財産は、すべて呑み込まれてしまい、
and I resigned myself thenceforward to despair. そのあとは絶望しかないと諦めた。
(61) I am above the weakness of seeking to establish a sequence of cause and effect, between the disaster and the atrocity. この災難と私の残虐な行為との因果関係を突き止めようとするほど、私は弱くない。
(62) But I am detailing a chain of facts しかし私は、つながった事実の数々を詳しく話している。
―and wish not to leave even a possible link imperfect. その中で、つながりのあるものは一つたりとも不完全なままで放っておきたくはない。
(63) On the day succeeding the fire, I visited the ruins. 火事の翌日、私は焼け跡を見に行った。
(64) The walls, with one exception, had fallen in. 壁は、一つを残し、あとはすべて崩れていた。
(65) This exception was found in a compartment wall, not very thick, 一つだけ残ったこの壁は、仕切り壁の一部であり、あまり分厚くはなく、
which stood about the middle of the house, 家の中央あたりにあるもので、
and against which had rested the head of my bed. 私のベッドの頭側のところにあったものだった。
"Ego sum qui sum." ? An axiom of Hermetic Philosophy.
"We commenced research where modern conjecture closes its faithless wings. And with us, those were the common elements of science which the sages of to-day disdain as wild chimeras, or despair of as unfathomable mysteries." ? BULWER'S "ZANONI."
THERE exists somewhere in this wide world an old Book ? so very old that our modern antiquarians might ponder over its pages an indefinite time, and still not quite agree as to the nature of the fabric upon which it is written. It is the only original copy now in existence.
(72) When I first beheld this apparition―for I could scarcely regard it as less 私はこれを幽霊としか思えなかったが、それを始めて見たとき、 ―my wonder and my terror were extreme. 驚きと恐ろしさはこの上もなかった。
(73) But at length reflection came to my aid. しかしついに、きちんと考えられるようになった。
(74) The cat, I remembered, had been hung in a garden adjacent to the house. 私の記憶では、猫の首を吊ったのは、家の近くの庭でのことだった。
(75) Upon the alarm of fire, this garden had been immediately filled by the crowd 火事を知らせる叫びが出た直後に、この庭には人だかりができて、
―by some one of whom the animal must have been cut from the tree and thrown, through an open window, into my chamber. そのうちの一人が、木に吊るされている猫の綱を切って、開いた窓から私の部屋に投げ込んだに違いない。
(76) This had probably been done with the view of arousing me from sleep. これは、私を起こすための行動だったのだろう。
(77) The falling of other walls had compressed the victim of my cruelty into the substance of the freshly-spread plaster; 他の壁が崩れ落ちて、残虐な私の犠牲になった猫が、新たに塗られた漆喰の中に押し込まれたのだった。
(78) the lime of which, with the flames, and the ammonia from the carcass, had then accomplished the portraiture as I saw it. 漆喰に含まれている石灰が、炎や死骸から出るアンモニアと作用して、私が見たあの猫の姿を描き出したのだ。
(79) Although I thus readily accounted to my reason, if not altogether to my conscience, for the startling fact just detailed, 今さっき説明した驚くべき事実について、完全に私の良心に対してでないとしても私の理性に対してこのように説明したとはいえ、
it did not the less fail to make a deep impression upon my fancy. 私の思いに対して深い印象を及ぼさないなどということはまったくなかった。
(80) For months I could not rid myself of the phantasm of the cat; 何か月も、私は猫の幻影から逃れられなかった。
(81) and, during this period, there came back into my spirit a half-sentiment that seemed, but was not, remorse. そしてこのとき、後悔のように見えたけれども実際にはそうではないような感情に近いものが、私の心に戻ってきた。
(82) I went so far as to regret the loss of the animal, 私は猫を失ったことを残念に思うようにまでなり、
and to look about me, among the vile haunts which I now habitually frequented, for another pet of the same species, and of somewhat similar appearance, with which to supply its place. そして、私が頻繁に通うようになったいくつもの邪悪な溜まり場で、死んだ猫の代わりになるような、同じ種類の動物で、見かけがいくらか似たペットを探し回るようにまでなった。
The most ancient Hebrew document on occult learning ? the Siphra Dzeniouta ? was compiled from it, and that at a time when the former was already considered in the light of a literary relic.
One of its illustrations represents the Divine Essence emanating from ADAM* like a luminous arc proceeding to form a circle; and then, having attained the highest point of its circumference, the ineffable Glory bends back again, and returns to earth, bringing a higher type of humanity in its vortex.
> There is a similar tradition relating to the Vilna Gaon (1720?1797). Rabbi > Chaim Volozhin (Lithuania 1749?1821) reports in an introduction to Siphra > Dzeniouta (1818) that he once presented to his teacher, the Vilna Gaon, > ten different versions of a certain passage in the Sefer Yetzira and asked > the Gaon to determine the correct text. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golem#The_Golem_of_Vilna
One of its illustrations represents the Divine Essence emanating from ADAM* like a luminous arc proceeding to form a circle; and then, having attained the highest point of its circumference, the ineffable Glory bends back again, and returns to earth, bringing a higher type of humanity in its vortex.
*************************************************************** In the evening of a gloomy day of August I was sitting in my usual place, my back to one of the windows, reading. It had rained the greater part of the morning and afternoon, but just as the sun was setting, the clouds parted in front of him, and he shone into the room.
I rose and looked out of the window. In the centre of the great lawn the feathering top of the fountain column was filled with his red glory. I turned to resume my seat, when my eye was caught by the same glory on the one picture in the room?a portrait, in a sort of niche or little shrine sunk for it in the expanse of book-filled shelves. I knew it as the likeness of one of my ancestors, but had never even wondered why it hung there alone, and not in the gallery, or one of the great rooms, among the other family portraits.
The direct sunlight brought out the painting wonderfully; for the first time I seemed to see it, and for the first time it seemed to respond to my look. With my eyes full of the light reflected from it, something, I cannot tell what, made me turn and cast a glance to the farther end of the room, when I saw, or seemed to see, a tall figure reaching up a hand to a bookshelf.