登陆注册
15326000000043

第43章

The natures of those two winds that share the dominions of the great oceans are fundamentally different.It is strange that the winds which men are prone to style capricious remain true to their character in all the various regions of the earth.To us here, for instance, the East Wind comes across a great continent, sweeping over the greatest body of solid land upon this earth.For the Australian east coast the East Wind is the wind of the ocean, coming across the greatest body of water upon the globe; and yet here and there its characteristics remain the same with a strange consistency in everything that is vile and base.The members of the West Wind's dynasty are modified in a way by the regions they rule, as a Hohenzollern, without ceasing to be himself, becomes a Roumanian by virtue of his throne, or a Saxe-Coburg learns to put the dress of Bulgarian phrases upon his particular thoughts, whatever they are.

The autocratic sway of the West Wind, whether forty north or forty south of the Equator, is characterized by an open, generous, frank, barbarous recklessness.For he is a great autocrat, and to be a great autocrat you must be a great barbarian.I have been too much moulded to his sway to nurse now any idea of rebellion in my heart.

Moreover, what is a rebellion within the four walls of a room against the tempestuous rule of the West Wind? I remain faithful to the memory of the mighty King with a double-edged sword in one hand, and in the other holding out rewards of great daily runs and famously quick passages to those of his courtiers who knew how to wait watchfully for every sign of his secret mood.As we deep-water men always reckoned, he made one year in three fairly lively for anybody having business upon the Atlantic or down there along the "forties" of the Southern Ocean.You had to take the bitter with the sweet; and it cannot be denied he played carelessly with our lives and fortunes.But, then, he was always a great king, fit to rule over the great waters where, strictly speaking, a man would have no business whatever but for his audacity.

The audacious should not complain.A mere trader ought not to grumble at the tolls levied by a mighty king.His mightiness was sometimes very overwhelming; but even when you had to defy him openly, as on the banks of the Agulhas homeward bound from the East Indies, or on the outward passage round the Horn, he struck at you fairly his stinging blows (full in the face, too), and it was your business not to get too much staggered.And, after all, if you showed anything of a countenance, the good-natured barbarian would let you fight your way past the very steps of his throne.It was only now and then that the sword descended and a head fell; but if you fell you were sure of impressive obsequies and of a roomy, generous grave.

Such is the king to whom Viking chieftains bowed their heads, and whom the modern and palatial steamship defies with impunity seven times a week.And yet it is but defiance, not victory.The magnificent barbarian sits enthroned in a mantle of gold-lined clouds looking from on high on great ships gliding like mechanical toys upon his sea and on men who, armed with fire and iron, no longer need to watch anxiously for the slightest sign of his royal mood.He is disregarded; but he has kept all his strength, all his splendour, and a great part of his power.Time itself, that shakes all the thrones, is on the side of that king.The sword in his hand remains as sharp as ever upon both its edges; and he may well go on playing his royal game of quoits with hurricanes, tossing them over from the continent of republics to the continent of kingdoms, in the assurance that both the new republics and the old kingdoms, the heat of fire and the strength of iron, with the untold generations of audacious men, shall crumble to dust at the steps of his throne, and pass away, and be forgotten before his own rule comes to an end.

同类推荐
  • 伤寒捷诀

    伤寒捷诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 佛祖正传古今捷录并拈颂

    佛祖正传古今捷录并拈颂

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 续修台湾县志

    续修台湾县志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 忠志

    忠志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 易图通变

    易图通变

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 校花穿越:拐个皇上回现代

    校花穿越:拐个皇上回现代

    她是全校有名的校花,却每天疯的像个小子。一天被嫉妒她的校花从楼梯上推落,从此穿越到那个时空……经过一系列麻烦事,她发现,校草和校花也穿了过来。结果,校花穿过来是皇后,冤家路窄啊!校花整,皇上虐,我受够了!一口气大家都穿回去喽!结果,真正的故事才拉开帷幕。一切,都是阴谋?
  • 余子童

    余子童

    修真界分为三大境界,其中下境界是炼气期,筑基期,金丹期,元婴期和化神期,中境界是炼虚,合体,大乘和渡劫飞升,上境界是天仙,真仙,仙王,仙帝和始祖,帅B余子童,无意中穿越,手中持神器,绝天龙牙枪,破世间万法,一念破苍穹,一念建世界。
  • 小丑日记

    小丑日记

    一本日记,一半明媚,一半凄凉!一副面具,一半阴暗,一半阳光!一支佣兵小队,偶然间得到了一本日记,一段尘封已久的故事就此展开...
  • 天师后裔

    天师后裔

    命运,因果,轮回前世,今生,来世我们总以为摆脱了命运的安排,其实我们只不过走上了命运安排的另一条路。我们从不相信这世上有因果循环,只是我们忘记那句不是不报时候未到。轮回是否存在?前世是否已注定了今生,来世我们还会不会相遇?神秘的养尸地,诡异的千年古墓。苗疆蛊术,赶尸秘术,等一切常人无法接触的事,我们的主角张三山却因为命运的推动,走上了这诡秘之路。
  • 天亮了

    天亮了

    妮妮的第一本完结小说推荐,感兴趣的可以看一下哦!吼吼~地址:【http://novel.hongxiu.com/a/241208/《在错的时间遇上对的你》】新文文推荐:【http://novel.hongxiu.com/a/609592/《原来你也在这里》】爱是一场莫名的劫,情是一座迷宫,爱情就像一座在劫难逃的迷宫,有缘的人得而穿越,无缘的人深陷迷途……也许,对于世界而言,你是一个人,但对于我而言,你却是整个世界。你在时,你是一切,你不在时,一切是你。其实,我想要的并不多,只想你能珍惜我。所以亲爱的,请不要把我对你的爱当成你伤害我的理由,不要把我对你的宽容当成你欺负我的借口!
  • 篮球我来主宰

    篮球我来主宰

    本部小说纯属虚构讲述一个少年从农村考入大学然后将自己的篮球推向全国的事迹
  • 元代野史

    元代野史

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 真梦寰宇

    真梦寰宇

    仰望星空,在繁星点点的宇宙深处潜藏着什么秘密?是否也存在着无尽的传奇?爱恨情仇到底是不是永恒的演绎?让我们一起打开想象的翅膀品味下梦里寰宇。
  • 孤独的我,高冷的我,要哪个

    孤独的我,高冷的我,要哪个

    她,「冷丽琪」(冷丽琪另一个名字叫冷氏,没人知道冷氏其实叫冷丽琪)集团总裁。因为他们和她们有一个天大的误会,造成了有情人终不成眷属;昔日的亲密,变成了现在的擦肩而过。她被孤独包围,十分高冷,成立了「冷丽琪」(冷氏),成了全国首富。他的“背叛”,她们的不辞而别,她不再相信爱情,友情。后来,误会解除,她们回来了,恢复了过去的时光,但好景不长,他们遭人陷害,消失了。他们五年没见,五年后,他们回来了。再也没分开过……
  • 拯救男神:男神趣味有点怪

    拯救男神:男神趣味有点怪

    【王俊凯系列文】谁能告诉她,这是怎么回事?为什么好不容易看一次男神演唱会,却演唱会变求婚现场?重点是对象是个大妈……男神,你确定你的趣味不怪?呵呵呵……