世紀文學經典:《百年孤獨》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，根據朋友們的囑咐，他去見阿里呂奧·諾格拉醫生，藉口是治肝病。奧雷連諾根本就不明白爲什麼需要這樣撒謊。阿里呂奧·諾格拉醫生是幾年前來到馬孔多的，隨身帶着一箱無味的藥丸；他有一句誰也不懂的醫學名言：“以毒攻毒。”其實，諾格拉只是個冒牌的醫生。從平庸的外表看來，他是個不走運的醫生，實際上是個恐怖分子。他那高高的護腿套遮住了五年苦役中腳鐐留在腳踝上的傷疤。他在聯邦主義者的第一次暴動之後被捕，但他穿上自己最討厭的衣服——教士的長袍——逃到了庫拉索島（注：在西印度羣島）。在他長時間的流亡之後，加勒比海羣島的政治流亡者把一些愉快消息帶到了庫拉索島，使他受到很大的鼓舞，他就坐上一條走私縱帆船，帶着一些藥瓶到了列奧阿察，瓶子裏裝的不過是用純糖做成的藥丸，而且他身上還有他親手僞造的萊比錫大學畢業證書。在列奧阿察，由於絕望，他甚至痛哭了。流亡者們曾把聯邦主義者描繪成就要爆炸的火藥桶，但在選舉之前模糊的幻想中，聯邦主義者的熱情冷卻了。這個僞裝的醫生由於失敗而感到沮喪，現在只想找到一個安全的地方寧靜地度過餘年，所以就隱居馬孔多了。在市鎮廣場旁邊的一座房子裏，他租了一個狹小的房間，房間裏擺滿了小藥瓶；他已在這兒住了幾年，靠絕望的病人爲生一－這些病人用盡了一切辦法，只好在糖球裏尋求安慰了。阿·摩斯柯特是個有名無實的鎮長時，醫生的煽動本領還沒表現出來。他把一切時間用於回憶往事，並且跟氣喘病進行鬥爭。對他來說，臨近的選舉是引路的線索，可以幫助他重新找到顛覆活動的紐結。他跟鎮上缺乏政治經驗的年輕人聯繫，並且展開了祕密的、不懈的挑唆活動。阿·摩斯柯特先生認爲，選票箱裏出現許多紅色選票是出於年輕人特有的輕率，但這些選票卻是諾格拉按照計劃讓自己的學生們去投的，想讓他們自己看看選舉不過是無恥的把戲。“有效的是暴力，”他向他們說。奧雷連諾的大多數朋友熱衷於消滅保守制度，但他們不敢把自己的計劃告訴奧雷連諾，擔心的不僅是他跟鎮長的親戚關係，還有他那難以捉摸的孤僻性格。何況大家知道，奧雷連諾根據岳父的囑咐投了藍票。所以，只是在一種偶然情況下，他表露了他的政治觀點，而且純粹由於好奇，他才跨出了這瘋狂的一步——去找醫生治療他沒有的疾病。在豬圈一樣骯髒的小房間裏，蛛網密佈，洋溢着樟腦氣味，他看見了一個骸蜥似的衰朽老頭兒，他的肺部呼吸時發出噝噝的聲音。老醫生什麼也沒問，就把奧雷連諾領到窗口，檢查他的下眼皮內部。“不是這兒，”奧雷連諾依照別人給他的囑咐說，然後用指尖按住肝臟，補充道：“我感到這兒痛，痛得睡不着覺。”於是，諾格拉醫生藉口室內陽光太強，關上了窗子，言簡意賅地向他說明，愛國者的義務就是殺死保守黨人。在幾天之中，奧雷連諾都在襯衣口袋裏帶着一隻小藥瓶。每兩小時，他都拿出藥瓶來，把三枚藥丸傾入手心，一下子將它們投到嘴裏，然後在舌頭上慢慢地溶化。阿·摩斯柯特先生笑他相信“順勢療法”，而參加密謀的人卻承認他是自己人。馬孔多所有老居民的兒子幾乎都捲入了陰謀，雖然其中沒有一個人清楚地知道，他們面臨的究竟是什麼行動。然而，醫生剛向奧雷連諾吐露了這個祕密，他立即退出了陰謀。儘管奧雷連諾當時相信消滅保守制度是必要的，但是醫生的陰謀卻使他不寒而慄。阿里呂奧·諾格拉是個人恐怖的信徒。他的計劃就是在全國範圍內協同一致地同時大肆謀殺，一下子消滅所有的政府官吏和他們的家庭，尤其是他們的男孩子，從而徹底剷除保守主義的根苗。阿·摩斯柯特先生、他的夫人和六個女兒當然都在名單之內。
“你不是什麼自由黨人，”奧雷連諾甚至面不改色，向他說道，“你只是一個屠夫。”
“那麼，”醫生同樣平靜地回答他，“把藥瓶還我。你再也不需要它了。”