The Song of Roland

The Death of Roland

CLXXXIX

Roland feeleth his death is near,

His brain is oozing by either ear.

For his peers he prayed — God keep them well;

Invoked the angel Gabriel.

That none reproach him,

his horn he clasped;

His other hand Durindana grasped;

Then, far as quarrel from crossbow sent,

Across the march of Spain he went,

Where, on a mound, two trees between,

Four flights of marble steps were seen;

Backward he fell, on the field to lie;

And he swooned anon,

For the end was nigh.

CXC

High were the mountains and high the trees,

Bright shone the marble terraces;

On the green grass Roland hath swooned away.

A Saracen spied him where he lay:

Stretched with the rest he had feigned him dead,

His face and body with blood bespread.

To his feet he sprang, and in haste he hied,

He was fair and strong and of courage tried,

In pride and wrath he was overbold, And on Roland,

Body and arms, laid hold.

“The nephew of Karl is overthrown!

To Araby bear I this sword, mine own”.

He stooped to grasp it,

But as he drew,

Roland returned to his sense anew.

CXCI

He saw the Saracen seize his sword;

His eyes he oped,

And he spake one word

“Thou art not one of our band, I trow”,

And he clutched the horn he would ne'er forego;

On the golden crest he smote him full,

Shattering steel and bone and skull,

Forth from his head his eyes he beat,

And cast him lifeless before his feet.

“Miscreant, makest thou then so free,

As, right or wrong, to lay hold on me?

Who hears it will deem thee a madman born;

Behold the mouth of mine ivory horn Broken for thee,

And the gems and gold Around its rim to earth are rolled”.

CXCII

Roland feeleth his eyesight reft,

Yet he stands erect with what strength is left;

From his bloodless cheek is the hue dispelled,

But his Durindana all bare he held.

In front a dark brown rock arose

He smote upon it ten grievous blows.

Grated the steel as it struck the flint,

Yet it brake not,

Nor bore its edge one dint.

“Mary, Mother, be thou mine aid!

Ah, Durindana, my ill-starred blade,

I may no longer thy guardian be!

What fields of battle I won with thee!

What realms and regions was ours to gain,

Now the lordship of Carlemaine!

Never shalt thou possessor know

Who would turn from face of mortal foe;

A gallant vassal so long thee bore,

Such as France the free shall know no more”.

CXCIII

He smote anew on the marble stair.

It grated,

But breach nor notch was there.

When Roland found that it would not break,

Thus began he his plaint to make.

“Ah, Durindana,

How fair and bright Thou sparklest,

Flaming against the light!

When Karl in Maurienne valley lay,

God sent his angel from heaven to say

‘This sword shall a valorous captain's be, ’

And he girt it, the gentle king, on me.

With it I vanquished Poitou and Maine,

Provence I conquered and Aquitaine;

I conquered Normandy the free,

Anjou, and the marches of Brittany;

Romagna I won, and Lombardy, Bavaria,

Flanders from side to side,

And Burgundy, and Poland wide;

Constantinople affiance vowed,

And the Saxon soil to his bidding bowed;

Scotia, and Wales, and Ireland's plain,

Of England made he his own domain.

What might, regions I won of old,

For the hoary-headed Karl to hold!

But there presses on me a grievous pain,

Lest thou in heathen hands remain.

O God our Father,

Keep France from stain”!

CXCIV

His strokes once more on the brown rock fell,

And the steel was bent past words to tell;

Yet it brake not, nor was notched the grain,

Erect it leaped to the sky again.

When he failed at the last to break his blade,

His lamentation he inly made.

“Oh, fair and holy, my peerless sword,

What relics lie in thy pommel stored!

Tooth of Saint Peter,

Saint Basil's blood,

Hair of Saint Denis beside them strewed,

Fragment of holy Mary's vest.

Twere shame that thou with the heathen rest;

Thee should the hand of a Christian

Serve One who would never in battle swerve.

What regions won I with thee of yore,

The empire now of Karl the hoar!

Rich and mighty is he therefore.

CXCV

That death was on him he knew full well,

Down from his head to his heart it fell.

On the grass beneath a pinetree's shade,

With face to earth, his form he laid,

Beneath him placed he his horn and sword,

And turned his face to the heathen horde.

Thus hath he done the sooth to show,

That Karl and his warriors all may know,

That the gentle count a conqueror died.

Mea Culpa full oft he cried; And,

for all his sins, unto God above,

In sign of penance, he raised his glove.

CXCVI

Roland feeleth his hour at hand;

On a knoll he lies towards the Spanish land.

With one hand beats he upon his breast:

“In thy sight, O God, be my sins confessed.

From my hour of birth, both the great and small,

Down to this day, I repent of all”.

As his glove he raises to God on high,

Angels of heaven descend him nigh.

CXCVII

Beneath a pine was his resting-place,

To the land of Spain hath he turned his face,

On his memory rose full many a thought

Of the lands he won and the fields he fought;

Of his gentle France,

Of his kin and line;

Of his nursing father,

King Karl benign;

He may not the tear and sob control,

Nor yet forgets he his parting soul.

To God's compassion he makes his cry:

“O Father true, who canst not lie,

Who didst Lazarus raise unto life agen,

And Daniel shield in the lions' den;

Shield my soul from its peril,

Due For the sins I sinned my lifetime through”.

He did his right-hand glove uplift

Saint Gabriel took from his hand the gift;

Then drooped his head upon his breast,

And with clasped hands he went to rest.

God from on high sent down to him

One of his angel Cherubim Saint Michael of Peril of the sea,

Saint Gabriel in company From heaven

they came for that soul of price,

And they bore it with them to Paradise.

一 文献出处

Brian Tierney,ed.,Sources of Medieval History,Volume 1,New York,1973, pp. 173-175.

二 文献导读

《罗兰之歌》是中世纪西欧的英雄史诗或武功歌（chansons de geste）的代表作，是法国最古老的文学经典样本，“罗兰之死”是其中的一部分。

作为封建贵族的世俗文学作品，英雄史诗或武功歌是封建西欧特有的“骑士精神”所酝酿的。骑士精神是整个封建贵族阶级所推崇的一种基本精神素质与生活准则。骑士精神的勃发与流变经历了一个较长的过程。中古初期，战乱频繁，社会混乱，勇敢忠诚就成了日耳曼骑士的座右铭。封建等级确立后，各级封臣都须恪守封建效忠原则，向封君履行提供军役等义务，尚武忠君之风逐渐蔓延。为了限制骑士劫掠杀戮的行为，不久教会又为骑士晋封仪式增加了一种宗教仪式，即让其在礼拜堂守夜做弥撒，并宣誓要保护教士、朝圣者、寡妇和孤儿。这样，鄙弃懦弱胆怯、背信弃义与恃强凌弱而崇尚勇敢、忠诚、荣誉与祛邪扶正的骑士精神开始形成。以骑士精神为思想底蕴的武功歌或英雄史诗，在11、12世纪的西欧各地相继问世，如西班牙的《熙德之歌》、英国的《贝奥武甫》、德国的《尼伯龙根之歌》等。而法国的《罗兰之歌》则是这类作品的杰出代表。

《罗兰之歌》（Chanson de Roland）记叙的是在查理曼征讨阿拉伯人（即其中所说的撒拉森人或摩尔人）的过程中罗兰伯爵英勇战死的故事。778年初秋，查理大帝率军从对西班牙的阿拉伯人的远征中返回，当他的军队行进至比利牛斯山时，其后卫部队在龙塞斯瓦山谷（Valley of Roncesvaux）遭到了山区巴斯克人（Basque inhabitants）的袭击并被歼灭。有关这一惨剧有很多民间歌谣，其中不少歌颂的是布列塔尼边区（the Marches of Brittany）的罗兰伯爵（Count of Roland）。这些歌谣为吟游诗人在深宅大院、通衢大道吟唱，很快传播到缅因、安茹和诺曼底。大约在11世纪晚期，《罗兰之歌》出现了最初的抄本，其创作年代不详，故事内容与史实颇不一致。到了12世纪，才有人在民间传说的基础上，用地方语言罗曼语将其编写成书，但作者的身份很难弄清楚。

在《罗兰之歌》成书的时代，西欧各国封建主正在罗马教会的号召下对中近东地区的穆斯林进行旷日持久的“十字军”东征。正是适应了这一东征的新形势和需要，《罗兰之歌》不仅将造成这次悲剧的袭击者变成了穆斯林“异教徒”的阿拉伯人，而且将事件发生时未满36岁的查理大帝描述成为白发苍苍的老皇帝，并将失败描述成是由内奸的阴谋所致。罗兰伯爵也被说成是查理大帝的侄子，他的英勇战死也被渲染为基督教骑士与异教徒圣战中的可歌可泣的英雄事迹。

《罗兰之歌》全诗共分为291节，长4002行，描述了罗兰伯爵在征讨异教徒的战争中英勇阵亡的悲壮故事，歌颂了骑士忠君爱国的情操与勇敢无畏的精神。它不仅可以让人从中看到当时封建贵族的内心世界与行为取向，而且其笔调简朴流畅，叙事质朴浑厚，诉说回肠荡气，具有很高的文学价值。

三 延伸阅读

Crosland.J.,The Old French Epic,New York,1951.

Holmes,U.T.Jr.,A History of Old French Literature from the Origins to 1300,New York,1938.

Keen,M.,Chivalry,New Haven,2005.

Robards,B.,The Medieval Knight at War,London,1997.