最疯狂最恶劣最危险的10个诗人 | 第8 John Wilmot, Earl Of Rochester

8.John Wilmot, Earl Of Rochester

8.约翰·威尔莫特·罗切斯特伯爵

Rochester's life was one long shambolic debauch before he died exhausted at age 33 in 1680. He was the greatest rakehell in the golden age of hell-raising that followed the Restoration of the monarchy under Charles II in 1665.

1680年33岁的罗切斯特筋疲力尽而死。在此之前，他一直过着混乱不堪，放荡堕落的生活。1665年查理二世复辟后，英国处于地狱般的大混乱中。他是那时最放荡的人。

Brought up by a Puritan mother, Rochester was introduced to drinking and whoring as a teenager at Oxford. Facing opposition from the parents of the girl he wanted to marry, Rochester simply kidnapped her from her coach one night at Charing Cross. He was sent to the Tower of London, but he married her on his release in 1667.

罗彻斯特的母亲是位清教徒，但他十几岁的时候就在牛津学会了喝酒和嫖娼。罗切斯特爱上了一个女孩并想娶她为妻，却遭到了女孩父母的反对。于是一天晚上他就在查林十字车站绑架了她。他因此被关进了伦敦塔，但是1667刑满释放后还是娶了她。

All noblemen took mistresses, but Rochester possessed an especially voracious appetite for whoring. His poetry is obsessed with liaisons, orgies, and drinking. He once confessed to having been continuously drunk for five years, amid complaints from his neighbors about his naked cavorting.

所有贵族都有情人，但是罗切斯特却对嫖娼情有独钟。他的诗歌中充满了对偷情，狂欢，饮酒的描述。他曾在面对邻居们对他赤裸狂欢抱怨时承认自己已经连续五年长醉不醒了。

Rochester fought a sword fight with French officers at the Paris Opera in 1669, challenged several enemies to duels and was involved in the death of a drinking companion after a heavy session in 1676 ended with his cronies attacking a constable. He spent the 1670s in disgrace after insulting the king's favorite mistress, drunkenly destroying the royal sundial, and mistakenly handing Charles II a poem lampooning him.

1669年，罗切斯特在巴黎歌剧院与法国军官以剑相搏，击败了几位对手。1676年，在一次重要会议结束时他的亲信攻击了一名王室总管，之后他也卷入了酒友的死亡事件。他侮辱了国王最喜爱的情妇，醉酒打坏了皇家日冕又错献给了查理二世一首讽刺他的诗。这些事故让他在17世纪70年代生活得很不容易。

Although an enthusiastic participant in the sybaritic culture of the Restoration, Rochester remained a sardonic observer of the mores of his age in his verse. His work was important in developing the rhymed couplet in iambic pentameter as a medium for satire and for his imitations of the Roman poets Horace and especially Lucretius.

尽管罗切斯特热衷复辟时期的奢侈逸乐，他在他的诗歌中不忘讽刺那个时代的道德观念。他的作品模仿古罗马诗人贺拉斯和卢克莱修，作为讽刺的媒介，在五音步抑扬格中双韵体的发展起着重要作用。

At his best, Rochester combines wit, bawdiness, satire, and the materialism of Thomas Hobbes. Try “A Satyr Against Mankind,” “Signior Dildo,” or “A Ramble in St. James's Park,” but you might not want to read them too openly.

罗切斯特尽其所能地综合了智慧，淫秽，讽刺和托马斯·霍布斯的唯物主义。你可以试读一下他的“危害人类的色情狂”，“老先生的假阳具”或“A漫步在圣詹姆斯公园”，不过最好不要在公共场合阅读。