世纪文学经典:《百年孤独》第5章Part 9

On the following day, at the urging of his friends, he went to see Dr. Alirio Noguera to be treated for a supposed pain in his liver. He did not even understand the meaning of the subterfuge. Dr. Alirio Noguera had arrived in Macondo a few years before with a medicine chest of tasteless pills and a medical motto that convinced no one: One nail draws another. In reality he was a charlatan. Behind his innocent fade of a doctor without prestige there was hidden a terrorist who with his short legged boots covered the scars that five years in the stocks had left on his legs. Taken prisoner during the first federalist adventure, he managed to escape to Curao disguised in the garment he detested most in this world: a cassock. At the end of a prolonged exile, stirred up by the exciting news that exiles from all over the Caribbean brought to Curao, he set out in a smuggler's schooner and appeared in Riohacha with the bottles of pills that were nothing but refined sugar and a diploma from the University of Leipzig thathe had forged himself. He wept with disappointment. The federalist fervor, which the exiles had pictured as a powder keg about to explode, had dissolved into a vague electoral illusion. Embittered by failure, yearning for a safe place where he could await old age, the false homeopath took refuge in Macondo. In the narrow bottle-crowded room that he rented on one side of the square, he lived several years off the hopelessly ill who, after having tried everything, consoled themselves with sugar pills. His instincts of an agitator remained dormant as long as Don Apolinar Moscote was a figurehead. He passed the time remembering and fighting against asthma. The approach of the elections was the thread that led him once more to the skein of subversion. He made contact with the young people in the town, who lacked political knowledge, and he embarked on a stealthy campaign of instigation. The numerous red ballots that appeared is the box and that were attributed by Don Apolinar Moscote to the curiosity that came from youth were part of his plan: he made his disciples vote in order to show them that elections were a farce. "The only effective thing," he would say, "is violence." The majority of Aureliano's friends were enthusiastic over the idea of liquidating the Conservative establishment, but no one had dared include him in the plans, not only because of his ties with the magistrate, but because of his solitary and elusive character. It was known, furthermore, that he had voted blue at his father-in-law's direction. So it was a simple matter of chance that he revealed his political sentiments, and it was purely a matter of curiosity, a caprice, that brought him to visit the doctor for the treatment of a pain that he did not have. In the den that smelled of camphorated cobwebs he found himself facing a kind of dusty iguana whose lungs whistled when he breathed. Before asking him any questions the doctor took him to the window and examined the inside of his lower eyelid. "It's not there," Aureliano said, following whatthey told him. He pushed the tips of his fingers into his liver and added: "Here's where I have the pain that won't let me sleep." Then Dr. Noguera closed the window with the pretext that there was too much sun, and explained to him in simple terms that it was a patriotic duty to assassinate Conservatives. For several days Aureliano carried a small bottle of pills in his shirt pocket. He would take it out every two hours, put three pills in the palm of his hand, and pop them into his mouth for them to be slowly dissolved on his tongue. Don Apolinar Moscote made fun of his faith in homeopathy, but those who were in on the plot recognized another one of their people in him. Almost all of the sons of the founders were implicated, although none of them knew concretely what action they were plotting. Nevertheless, the day the doctor revealed the secret to Aureliano, the latter elicited the whole plan of the conspiracy. Although he was convinced at that time of the urgency of liquidating the Conservative regime, theplot horrified him. Dr. Noguera had a mystique of personal assassination. His system was reduced to coordinating a series of individual actions which in one master stroke covering the whole nation would liquidate the functionaries of the regime along with their respective families, especially the children, in order to exterminate Conservatism at its roots. Don Apolinar Moscote, his wife, and his six daughters, needless to say, were on the list.
"You're no Liberal or anything else," Aureliano told him without getting excited. "You're nothing but a butcher."
"In that case," the doctor replied with equal calm, "give me back the bottle. You don't need it any more."

第二天，根据朋友们的嘱咐，他去见阿里吕奥·诺格拉医生，借口是治肝病。奥雷连诺根本就不明白为什么需要这样撒谎。阿里吕奥·诺格拉医生是几年前来到马孔多的，随身带着一箱无味的药丸；他有一句谁也不懂的医学名言：“以毒攻毒。”其实，诺格拉只是个冒牌的医生。从平庸的外表看来，他是个不走运的医生，实际上是个恐怖分子。他那高高的护腿套遮住了五年苦役中脚镣留在脚踝上的伤疤。他在联邦主义者的第一次暴动之后被捕，但他穿上自己最讨厌的衣服——教士的长袍——逃到了库拉索岛（注：在西印度群岛）。在他长时间的流亡之后，加勒比海群岛的政治流亡者把一些愉快消息带到了库拉索岛，使他受到很大的鼓舞，他就坐上一条走私纵帆船，带着一些药瓶到了列奥阿察，瓶子里装的不过是用纯糖做成的药丸，而且他身上还有他亲手伪造的莱比锡大学毕业证书。在列奥阿察，由于绝望，他甚至痛哭了。流亡者们曾把联邦主义者描绘成就要爆炸的火药桶，但在选举之前模糊的幻想中，联邦主义者的热情冷却了。这个伪装的医生由于失败而感到沮丧，现在只想找到一个安全的地方宁静地度过余年，所以就隐居马孔多了。在市镇广场旁边的一座房子里，他租了一个狭小的房间，房间里摆满了小药瓶；他已在这儿住了几年，靠绝望的病人为生一－这些病人用尽了一切办法，只好在糖球里寻求安慰了。阿·摩斯柯特是个有名无实的镇长时，医生的煽动本领还没表现出来。他把一切时间用于回忆往事，并且跟气喘病进行斗争。对他来说，临近的选举是引路的线索，可以帮助他重新找到颠覆活动的纽结。他跟镇上缺乏政治经验的年轻人联系，并且展开了秘密的、不懈的挑唆活动。阿·摩斯柯特先生认为，选票箱里出现许多红色选票是出于年轻人特有的轻率，但这些选票却是诺格拉按照计划让自己的学生们去投的，想让他们自己看看选举不过是无耻的把戏。“有效的是暴力，”他向他们说。奥雷连诺的大多数朋友热衷于消灭保守制度，但他们不敢把自己的计划告诉奥雷连诺，担心的不仅是他跟镇长的亲戚关系，还有他那难以捉摸的孤僻性格。何况大家知道，奥雷连诺根据岳父的嘱咐投了蓝票。所以，只是在一种偶然情况下，他表露了他的政治观点，而且纯粹由于好奇，他才跨出了这疯狂的一步——去找医生治疗他没有的疾病。在猪圈一样肮脏的小房间里，蛛网密布，洋溢着樟脑气味，他看见了一个骸蜥似的衰朽老头儿，他的肺部呼吸时发出咝咝的声音。老医生什么也没问，就把奥雷连诺领到窗口，检查他的下眼皮内部。“不是这儿，”奥雷连诺依照别人给他的嘱咐说，然后用指尖按住肝脏，补充道：“我感到这儿痛，痛得睡不着觉。”于是，诺格拉医生借口室内阳光太强，关上了窗子，言简意赅地向他说明，爱国者的义务就是杀死保守党人。在几天之中，奥雷连诺都在衬衣口袋里带着一只小药瓶。每两小时，他都拿出药瓶来，把三枚药丸倾入手心，一下子将它们投到嘴里，然后在舌头上慢慢地溶化。阿·摩斯柯特先生笑他相信“顺势疗法”，而参加密谋的人却承认他是自己人。马孔多所有老居民的儿子几乎都卷入了阴谋，虽然其中没有一个人清楚地知道，他们面临的究竟是什么行动。然而，医生刚向奥雷连诺吐露了这个秘密，他立即退出了阴谋。尽管奥雷连诺当时相信消灭保守制度是必要的，但是医生的阴谋却使他不寒而栗。阿里吕奥·诺格拉是个人恐怖的信徒。他的计划就是在全国范围内协同一致地同时大肆谋杀，一下子消灭所有的政府官吏和他们的家庭，尤其是他们的男孩子，从而彻底铲除保守主义的根苗。阿·摩斯柯特先生、他的夫人和六个女儿当然都在名单之内。
“你不是什么自由党人，”奥雷连诺甚至面不改色，向他说道，“你只是一个屠夫。”
“那么，”医生同样平静地回答他，“把药瓶还我。你再也不需要它了。”