纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 044辛顿圣玛丽肖像(6)

And what he did was to give tax privileges to Christian¹ priests, to intervene in Christian disputes, to declare Christianity a legal religion, to give money to Christian churches, to start building Christian churches. So all of those actions together gave a great sort of fillip to Christianity."

他给基督教的神职人员税收优惠，介入基督徒间的争端，宣布基督教合法，拨款给基督教会，修建基督教堂。所有这些行动极大地推动了基督教的发展。

And it was this fillip that must have given the owner of our villa² the confidence to show us Christ looking out at us, full face, unequivocally a man of power. He wears the rich robes and the stylish³ hairdo that might well have been sported by the villa owner himself, but this is no local ruler and indeed no local god. The Chi Rho monogram⁴ makes it clear that what we're being shown is Jesus Christ. And there's a further clue to this man's true nature. On either side of Christ's head the artist has put pomegranates. Now, to any educated visitor, this would recall at once the myth of Persephone, carried off to the underworld, rescued by her mother, and brought back to the land of the living as a great allegory of the cycle of the seasons, of death and rebirth, of descent into hell and return to the light. By the inclusion of this simple fruit, the artist links Jesus to the pagan gods who'd also been gods of dying and returning; to Orpheus, who went to the underworld in search of Eurydice and returned, and to Bacchus who was similarly associated with resurrection.

正是这种鼓励使得别墅主人敢于向我们展示基督图像。图像上的基督正面直视着我们，明白地显示出这是位强有力的人物。他所穿着的昂贵长袍和时髦的发型也许来自别墅主人，但这肯定不是一位当地统治者，也不是本土神祇。戈符号表明了他的基督身份。此外还有另一个线索：艺术家在他头两侧各创作了一个石榴。了解希腊神话的访客必然立刻就能 联想到神话中被带到冥府的珀耳塞福涅，她的母亲解救了她，让她重返人间。但由于她在冥府时吃了几粒石榴籽，因此每年都有一段时间必须在黑暗中度过。她的这个神话是关于四季循环、死亡与重生、落人地府又重返光明世界的寓言故事。艺术家用这一水果将耶稣与异教中同样死 而复生的神祇联系起来，比如曾往地府寻找欧律狄克的俄耳甫斯，以及同样与复活有关的酒神巴克科斯。

This Dorset Christ pulls together all the hopes of the ancient world, the deepest of all human hopes: that death is only part of a larger story that will culminate⁵ in abundance of life and even greater fruitfulness.

多塞特的基督汇聚了古代世界的所有希望，而这也是人类最深切的愿望：死亡不是终结，之后还会有更丰富的生活，更丰饶的收获。

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 villa   

n.别墅，城郊小屋

参考例句：

• We rented a villa in France for the summer holidays.我们在法国租了一幢别墅消夏。
• We are quartered in a beautiful villa.我们住在一栋漂亮的别墅里。

3 stylish   

adj.流行的，时髦的；漂亮的，气派的

参考例句：

• He's a stylish dresser.他是个穿着很有格调的人。
• What stylish women are wearing in Paris will be worn by women all over the world.巴黎女性时装往往会引导世界时装潮流。

4 monogram   

n.字母组合

参考例句：

• There was a monogram in the corner in which were the initials"R.K.B.".原来手帕角上有个图案，其中包含着RKB三个字母。
• When we get married I don't have to change the monogram on my luggage.当我们结婚后，我连皮箱上的字母也不用改。

5 culminate   

v.到绝顶，达于极点，达到高潮

参考例句：

• The celebration of the centenary will culminate with a dinner.百年庆典活动将以宴会作为高潮。
• Everyone feared that the boundary dispute between these two countries would culminate in a war.人人都担心,这两国间的边境争端将以一场战争到达顶点。