English Original
It was the night before his coronation, and the young King sat alone in his chamber. His courtiers had taken their leave, bowing ceremoniously, and retired to the Great Hall for final lessons in etiquette from the Professor; some still possessed natural manners, a grave offence for a courtier.
The lad—only sixteen—was not sorry to see them go. With a sigh of relief, he flung himself back on the soft cushions of his embroidered couch, lying there wild-eyed and open-mouthed, like a woodland Faun or a young forest animal newly snared.
Indeed, it was hunters who had found him. They came upon him by chance as he followed the flock of the poor goatherd who had raised him, a boy who always fancied himself the goatherd's son. He was, in truth, the child of the old King's only daughter, born of a secret marriage to a man far beneath her station—a stranger, some said, whose lute-playing magic won the Princess's love; others spoke of an artist from Rimini, whom the Princess honored too much, and who vanished suddenly, leaving his cathedral work unfinished. When just a week old, the infant was stolen from his sleeping mother's side and given to a childless peasant couple living deep in the forest.
Grief, plague, or a swift Italian poison in spiced wine—as the court physician or rumors suggested—slew the young mother within an hour of her waking. As the trusty messenger bearing the child across his saddle knocked at the goatherd's rude door, the Princess's body was being lowered into an open grave in a deserted churchyard beyond the city gates. It was said another body lay there too: a young man of marvellous foreign beauty, his hands bound, his breast stabbed with many red wounds.
Such was the story whispered among men. What was certain was that the dying old King, moved perhaps by remorse or a desire to keep the kingdom in his line, had sent for the lad and, before the Council, acknowledged him as heir.
From the first moment of recognition, he showed a strange passion for beauty, destined to greatly influence his life. Those who accompanied him to his suite often spoke of his cry of pleasure upon seeing the delicate raiment and rich jewels prepared for him, and the fierce joy with which he cast aside his rough leather tunic and coarse sheepskin cloak. He did at times miss the fine freedom of his forest life and chafed at the tedious daily court ceremonies, but the wonderful palace—Joyeuse, as it was called—seemed a new world fashioned for his delight. Whenever he could escape council or audience, he would run down the great staircase, with its gilt bronze lions and bright porphyry steps, and wander from room to room, from corridor to corridor, as if seeking in beauty an anodyne for pain, a restoration from sickness.
On these journeys of discovery—which were to him real voyages through a marvellous land—he was sometimes accompanied by slim, fair-haired court pages in floating mantles and gay fluttering ribbons; but more often he went alone, feeling through a quick instinct, almost a divination, that the secrets of art are best learned in secret, and that Beauty, like Wisdom, loves the lonely worshipper.
Many curious stories were told of him then. It was said a stout Burgomaster, come to deliver a florid oratorical address, once saw him kneeling in real adoration before a great new picture from Venice, which seemed to herald the worship of new gods. Another time, he was missed for hours and, after a lengthy search, was found in a little chamber in a northern turret, gazing as if in a trance at a Greek gem carved with the figure of Adonis. He was seen, so the tale went, pressing warm lips to the marble brow of an antique statue discovered in a riverbed during the building of a stone bridge, a statue inscribed with the name of Hadrian's Bithynian slave. He once passed a whole night noting the effect of moonlight on a silver image of Endymion.
中文翻译
加冕礼前夜，少年国王独自坐在寝宫中。他的朝臣们已按当日礼仪躬身告退，前往宫殿大厅接受礼仪教授的最后指导；他们中有些人仍举止自然，这对朝臣而言，无疑是严重的过失。
这位少年——年仅十六——并不为他们的离开感到遗憾。他如释重负地长叹一声，向后倒在绣花软榻的垫子上，躺在那儿，眼神狂野，嘴巴微张，宛如林间的农牧神，或像被猎人新捕获的幼兽。
事实上，正是猎人发现了他。他们偶然遇见他时，他正赤着脚、手持牧笛，跟随着那位抚养他长大的贫穷牧羊人的羊群，他一直以为自己就是牧羊人的儿子。他其实是老国王独生女的儿子，母亲与一位地位远低于自己的人秘密成婚——有人说那是个陌生人，靠弹奏鲁特琴的奇妙魔力赢得了公主的芳心；也有人说是位来自里米尼的艺术家，公主对他礼遇有加，或许太过，而他突然从城中消失，留下未完成的大教堂作品。婴儿刚满一周时，被人从熟睡的母亲身边偷走，交给了一对住在森林深处、膝下无子的普通农民夫妇。
悲伤、瘟疫，或是一杯加香料葡萄酒中的剧毒意大利毒药——正如御医所言或流言所传——在他母亲醒来后一小时内便夺去了她的生命。当那位忠实的信使驮着孩子，俯身敲响牧羊人简陋的屋门时，公主的遗体正被放入城外荒废教堂墓地中一个敞开的坟墓。据说墓中还躺着另一具尸体：一位拥有惊人异域美貌的年轻男子，双手被绳索反绑，胸膛被刺出多处红色伤口。
至少，人们私下流传的故事是这样的。可以确定的是，垂死的老国王，或许是出于对自身罪孽的悔恨，抑或仅仅希望王国不落入旁系，派人找回了少年，并在枢密院面前，承认他为继承人。
从被承认的那一刻起，他就显露出对美的一种奇异热情，这注定将极大地影响他的一生。那些陪他前往专用套房的人常说起，他看到为他准备的精致华服和贵重珠宝时，唇边迸发出的喜悦惊呼，以及他近乎狂喜地扔开粗糙皮束腰外衣和粗劣羊皮斗篷的样子。他确实时常怀念森林生活的无拘无束，也总是对占据每日大量时间的繁琐宫廷礼仪感到烦躁，但这座被称为“欢愉宫”的奇妙宫殿，在他看来，仿佛是为取悦他而全新打造的世界。只要能从议事厅或接见室脱身，他就会跑下那座饰有镀金青铜狮子和明亮斑岩台阶的宏伟楼梯，从一个房间逛到另一个房间，从一条走廊游荡到另一条走廊，仿佛在美中寻求痛苦的解药，一种病后的康复。
在这些他称之为“发现之旅”的漫游中——对他而言，这确实是在奇妙国度中的真实航行——他有时会由身着飘逸斗篷、系着鲜艳飘带的纤瘦金发宫廷侍童陪同；但更多时候他独自一人，凭着一种近乎预感的敏锐直觉，认为艺术的奥秘最好在隐秘中习得，而美，如同智慧，钟爱孤独的崇拜者。
那时流传着许多关于他的奇闻。据说，一位前来代表市民发表华丽演说的胖市长，曾瞥见他虔诚地跪在一幅刚从威尼斯运来的巨画前，那幅画仿佛预示着对新神的崇拜。另一次，他失踪了好几个小时，经过长时间搜寻，才在宫殿北角塔楼的一个小房间里找到他，他正出神地凝视着一枚刻有阿多尼斯形象的希腊宝石。还有传言说，有人看见他将温热的双唇贴在一尊古雕像的大理石额头上，那雕像是在修建石桥时从河床中发现的，上面刻着哈德良皇帝的比提尼亚奴隶的名字。他曾用一整夜时间，观察月光照在一尊恩底弥翁银像上的效果。