Chapter 4 rise and fall ivory white

one The biggest lyrical theme in traditional Chinese literature is not love or death, but nostalgia for the past and sighs of rise and fall.This feature is not only manifested in the number of works, but also vibrates in each author's thinking habits, search sensitivity and expression mode.In a certain place, if there was once a princely bell, a general’s barracks, or a tea house for celebrities, but now there are only ruins and ruins, grass and cold moon, most Chinese literati will look for it once they know it, and they will be moved like a demon.This kind of emotion often even has the same psychological process and vocabulary, which shows that it is a collective symptom.

Nostalgia for the past and sighs of rise and fall show that Chinese literati tend to experience history as a whole. They are fascinated by both the historical fantasy of empathy and the historical responsibility that everyone is responsible for. Unfortunately, the history is too long, the pace is too slow, and there are too many cycles. , Often synonymous, cannot be dissatisfied but sigh helplessly, full of clichés. The evolution of history in Europe is very different from that in China. There are not many slow-moving circles, and there is little opportunity for tautology. Therefore, although there are nostalgic works, they have not formed a mode of expression or a collective symptom.

Seeing the millennium-old buildings in the city of Rome, especially the ruins in the ancient Roman Forum area in the city center, the emotions of rise and fall that I thought had been erased burst out.I knew in my heart that it was inappropriate to repeat the old-fashioned chant of green shirts and books and swords in Europe. I threw it away several times but failed. I had to calm down and think about why Rome can make a Chinese feel the rise and fall of Rome more than other cities in Europe. . Some ruins in the world are magnificent, but I know little about their previous achievements; some former residences of famous people are very friendly, but the owner has little to do with the rise and fall of the dynasty.Only in Rome, it is the ruins that lead directly to the main line of history, and the emperors that have long been known to everyone, so every step and column will inspire a deep and vast sigh.

But I also believe that the emotions of the rise and fall that originated in Rome will not repeat the old-fashioned chants of Chinese literati, and will not end in white-haired fishermen, abandoned palaces and green moss, old moon and green mountains.The reason is in distance, in space, in the transformation of objects and our own transformation. two You see, as soon as I saw the ruins of the Senate, I thought of Caesar, who was assassinated here.He seemed to be giving a speech that day, right?He was stabbed twenty-three times, and finally fell in front of the statue of Pompey with many scars.

I looked down at my feet, guessing where he was bleeding.This place must be very small, the body of a fallen man, who could no longer be tall, curled up in a corner of the house sadly.But when he was not down, he really swallowed thousands of miles, not only ruling Italy, Spain, France, and Belgium, but also spreading to the Rhine Valley of Germany and southern England.He also rushed to Egypt to hunt down his political opponent Pompey, had a son with the Egyptian queen, and then swept across the Mediterranean coast.The opening and closing of the hero world is really limitless.The powerful life's swaying of space is simply unimaginable.

However, the result of indulgence can only be restraint, and the result of swaying can only be obedience.Even Caesar is no exception.After he completed the most thorough restraint and obedience with death, his successor and adopted son Octavian once again indulged and swayed. The Roman Empire spanned Europe, Asia, and Africa, and regarded the Mediterranean Sea as an inner lake. . I have had the good fortune to travel almost everywhere in Caesar and Octavian's vast Roman empire, whether in Europe, Asia or Africa.There, you can often see the ruins of ancient Rome that have been damaged for a long time. At first glance, they are extraordinary, elegant and magnificent, and even today they are enough to look down on all other buildings around them.I believe that, when the vast land was still in its savagery and barbarism, the conquests of Rome, though always preceded by cruelty, were to a great extent the conquests of civilization.

Standing in those places, I always reinterpret Rome again and again.A clean ivory white so confidently spread over such a vast space along with the iron hoof and the most advanced transportation network in the world at that time. After the iron hoof and the avenue have long since become relics, these ivory whites are still confident everywhere, so it is firmly established. took up time. All greatness is seen from the outside as an irresistible force, and from within it is an order of incomparable wisdom.Order has a strong ability to absorb and integrate surrounding disorder, but disorder also has a considerable ability to dispel and subvert order. Who wins depends mainly on the concentration of wisdom that order can contain.The concentration of Rome's wisdom is concentrated in its legal spirit, so when I saw the remains of the Emilia Synagogue, I stopped again.The function of this building has always been debated by archaeologists. Some say it is a court, and some say it is a commercial club. I hope it is a court, because the legal spirit of ancient Rome needs some decent relics for people to commemorate.

Speaking of which, ancient Greece also had good legal concepts, but it is a pity that too many elements of ethics and aesthetics were mixed in, and it was not pure.Roman law tried to coordinate human affairs in accordance with the simplest and simplest natural laws, draw clear commandments, and establish the basis of justice.Of course, due to the expansion of the privileges of slave owners, the brutal events that happened every day in Rome were appalling, which made this legal spirit very narrow or ideal, but even so, from Roman emperors to a large number of pioneering masters of law For the purpose of imperial unification and social order, he made extensive contributions to the construction of the legal system.In particular, several major judicial systems based on classical humanistic thinking can skip the Middle Ages and be directly used by modern capitalist society.Even today, it can be said that the litigation scene of every court in the world more or less reflects the classic glimmer of ancient Rome.

Greatness is better than space, it is momentum; greatness is better than time, it is charm.In addition to its grandeur, ancient Rome has enough charm to make its grandeur also soaked in water and fog, and it will not be dry for thousands of years.You see, Caesar, who traveled thousands of miles, actually left eight volumes of "Gallic Wars", seven of which were written by him himself, and the last volume was supplemented by a general.This work was a good start to the literature of the Commander-in-chief's class, and it will be remembered far into the twentieth century when Churchill's World War II memoirs are read.

Caesar let us see that those perilous legends that even the imagination of the most daring literati cannot reach are narrated calmly and fluently because of personal experience; The strokes under the torch make up for it and become more elegant. Once a great historical fact is simply narrated, it is already majestic, not to mention adding this charming fluency and elegance!I think that the chivalry behind the best European prose has evolved from that of Caesar.Contrary to what people usually misunderstand, this branch originating from commander literature is not exaggerated, heroic and manic.Since the great cause has been forged, the hero is himself, and the writing must be light and serene.

This is the flavor of Rome. The charm of Rome has fascinated countless descendants from near and far.For example, Shakespeare wrote historical dramas such as "Julius Caesar" and "Antony and Cleopatra", which portrayed some important figures in the golden age of ancient Rome one by one, which are unforgettable.Especially the latter one, almost writes the love tragedy with the most spatial span and the most historical weight in the world. The cold iron blood crimes are mixed with absurd and gorgeous human nature, and even the ruins have a permanent quality of life. Now that Antony has been mentioned, I will say that one thing that displeases me about this infatuated general, whom I have seen so many times on stage, is that he is so cruel to Cicero.Cicero was his political enemy, he made many speeches against him, and he himself had cruel opinions, and he was arrested and killed. This is a political grievance, and we can put it aside; An excellent essayist, he gathered the essence of ancient Greek prose masters in his flowing writing. How could Anthony have the heart to cut off his head and take it home to appreciate, and then hung it for a long time in the place where he usually gave speeches, so that the People visit.Because of this move, I don't have much regret for Anthony's ending after losing love, friends, and war and having to kill himself. three There are always good and bad emperors in the history of any country, and there is no need to deliberately beautify and cover them up, but there are also very few emperors who are so bad that people don't want to mention them again. I have paid attention to the name Nero Clandius Caesar for a long time, but when I arrived in Rome, I was wrapped up in a good mood. I was afraid of being spoiled by this name, so I kept avoiding it.Going to the Colosseum today, I heard that the ruins of Nero's Golden Palace are in front of me, and I thought I finally didn't avoid it. I used to pay attention to him, and it was related to lectures.In the "Audience Psychology" I taught, there is a difficult topic: Nero kills people without blinking an eye in his daily life, but when he sees a tragedy in the theater, he is moved to tears. Why is this?It is easy to speculate that he is deceiving the public with hypocrisy, but his supremacy and behavior trajectory negate the need for him to deceive.This topic is related to the exploration of the deep psychological structure of human beings, and my previous students will never forget it. To say that Nero kills without batting an eye is an understatement, because it would confuse him with an ordinary tyrant.He killed his own mother, wife, brother and teacher, which sounds horrific.Of course, this kind of killing is related to the palace conspiracy. For example, his mother is indeed not a good thing, let’s not go into details; what makes me angry is that in 64 AD, a fire that lasted for many days burned most of the city of Rome , The emperor actually watched it happily, and even sang loudly to the fire.After the fire, in order to suppress public anger, some suspects were randomly arrested and executed, and the method of execution was so cruel that people do not know how to describe it.For example, the suspects were slowly lit as living torches, or covered with animal skins to be torn apart by the dogs. Such a person was so fascinated by Greek culture that he performed on stage in person.He even spent a year performing professionally in Greece when he found out that the Romans didn't appreciate his performance enough!This phenomenon really puts a big question mark on the correspondence between art culture and personality. I have noticed that some people in the European historical circles have long discovered certain positive aspects of Nero, and some scholars have tried to find the genetic and acquired education reasons for his various evil behaviors.The larger question I am interested in is: Was the presence of Nero inevitable for Rome?Does his coming and going have little impact on the historical destiny of Rome or is it just the opposite? If it is said that the greatest disaster of a country is the personality disaster, then Nero's more than ten years of rule is also like the fire that burned in front of his eyes that year, which did great damage to Rome.The resulting sense of disillusionment, disintegration, and falsehood toward Rome is tantamount to the partial destruction of a country and family.Astonishing brilliance and astonishing shamelessness are born from the same root, and strong fragrance and strong stench live next to each other. Nero made Rome have its own shadow, thus becoming more three-dimensional and more textured.Fortunately, it was not Nero that digested Rome, but Rome that digested Nero. Four The Roman Empire finally fell in AD 476, and the last emperor was Romulus Augustus.The contemporary Swiss-born playwright Dylan Matter has written a wonderful Romulus the Great.A few years ago some journalists asked me to comment on the best play of the twentieth century, and I ordered it. Dürrenmatt called this play a non-historical historical play, which shows that the plot is far from historical facts, but in the basic spirit, he wrote about the inevitability of the fall of the Roman Empire, and thus led to universal philosophy. In Dylan Matter's writing, Romulus raises chickens leisurely without panic when facing the German soldiers approaching the city.He tolerated ministers fleeing with treasury belongings, and shameless people deceiving his own family. He had no personality strength at all and was annoying.But the more I saw it, the more I realized that he was actually a wise man with insight into history.If the big cart is bound to fall, trying to support it is a kind of harassment; if history has no intention of being in Rome, it is a kind of reaction to make every effort to govern.Therefore, he complied with history by contributing to the fall of the Roman Empire, and let his own life style and personality structure fall together.The reason why he sticks to the throne is that he is afraid that others will turn the tide according to the general logic.He knew Rome too well to know that all was lost.It is the greatest tragedy in the world to desperately rescue people without help. However, the German kings who were victors had more difficulties.He had come to attack Rome to get out of his own predicament: he had no son, and traditionally he had to be succeeded by a nephew, a young careerist and hypocrite.The king had seen through it and had no choice but to attack Rome to seek refuge with Romulus, to see if there was another way to pass the throne. Therefore, there is no doubt that Rome will surely lose, and Germany will surely win, but behind these two inevitability, there is another article to the contrary.The loser becomes the judge of the world because he knows that he must lose, and the winner is helpless because of other reasons.From this, it is associated with many victories and defeats in human history, which conceals a lot of profound connotations. I think it's comedy at the highest level, and historical drama at the highest level. Jumping away from art and returning to reality, I looked down at my feet again. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the center of Rome was very bleak. Originally, the Roman market in the city center prospered together with the free regime. It once declined during the dictatorship of Augustus. Later, the land occupied by the Roman Empire became larger and larger, and the wealth was abnormally gathered, and the Roman market became lively again.As soon as the Roman Empire fell, the place was immediately desolate, and soon even the shadows of people could not be seen, and it became a complete ruin. Only the wild grass, the cold moon, and the broken pillars and rocks accompanied it, and it was forgotten except for oblivion. During the Renaissance, people became interested in Greece and Rome again, but they did not take seriously the actual sites of Greece and Rome. At that time, there was no empirical awareness and nostalgia.The Renaissance required the construction of various buildings, and there was a lack of building materials. A large number of ancient ivory white stones were piled up here, so they were moved and excavated again and again, and the buildings that did not collapse were demolished for materials.In fact, this place has long been a field for grazing cattle and sheep. When excavating stone materials, the cattle and sheep are driven away. After digging, the cattle and sheep are allowed to eat wild grass. Archaeological excavations began after the eighteenth century. It is rare that this ruin, having gone through such hardships, is still proud and mighty. It can be seen that in the secret conversation with the weeds and the cold moon for more than a thousand years, they have not lowered their status or told their stories wrongly. five Today's Rome is still a large area of ​​ivory white.It's just that the ivory is old and no longer pure, and it is mottled and mottled, revealing its frightening seniority.Of course, there are quite a few new buildings of the descendants, but they all stepped aside respectfully, trying to maintain the same posture as the predecessors.Others can see at a glance that they are strong and strong, but they have given up all their honor to age.As a result, in the silent confrontation, a kind of traditional strength that people dare not underestimate, this is the atmosphere in Rome today. Just three hours before writing this note, in the evening, I was sitting on a gentle slope covered with Roman pines overlooking the whole city.It should be time to turn on the lights, but there are not many lights in the city of Rome, and it is a bit bleak.Just as I was looking for the reason, an elder walking on the left came. Just as Parisian women outdo men in overall bearing, Roman men are generally more handsome than Roman women, especially gray-haired men who are not yet old, like sculptures.I like their unrestrained enthusiasm even more. Even greeting strangers is like meeting old friends again, hearty and cheerful.At this moment, I chatted with this elder, and I immediately asked him, why can't Rome be a little brighter at night? In which city does the husband usually live?he asks. Shanghai.I said. He laughed as soon as he heard it, and seemed to have found the source of my problem.He said: Ha, I was just there.The changes in Shanghai over the past few years are rare in the world, but he hesitated a little, and said it out: don't be too American. After careful questioning, I realized that he was mainly referring to the style of the new building and the lighting at night, so that answered my question. He turned his head to Rome, where the lights were dim, and said: Since a city has the glory of history, there is no need to use lights to create brightness. I don't completely agree, but I admit in my heart that this statement is very generous.Unfortunately, it was this statement that dispelled his criticism of the United States and Shanghai just now and turned it into a contradiction.Because in front of Rome, the United States and Shanghai have no history. They cannot embrace the peace of thousands of years and dream in the dark. They must light up the lights and write today's history day and night. I was unwilling to say that Shanghai has no history, and the ivory and taupe of the Bund came to mind.It is a century-old mark of European civilization landing in China. Because of the collision and intersection of two great civilizations, there is also a lot of dramatic joy and sorrow.At that time, Italy was no longer the vanguard of collision and rendezvous, although it sent Marco Polo and Matteo Ricci early.The United Kingdom and France, who were the pioneers of the collision, and the United States and Germany that followed, traced back to the root, and the common root of their civilization is still inseparable from the ivory white of Rome.The whole piece of old and classic colors were divided into a small group of carts and boats, set on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean, and set in Shanghai.The oriental colors that confront it are everywhere, but if we want to determine the source that is roughly equivalent to Rome, it seems to be Chang'an in the past. In this way, Shanghai is where two long histories collide.The collision will happen sooner or later, but when and where the collision occurs is a bit accidental.But since they collided, it constituted a short history, although compared with the history understood by the two colliding subjects, it was just a flash of light.Ten years ago, I found that people despise Shanghai as a collision place so much that even the locals felt inferior, so I sorted out the short history and wrote a little article.Unexpectedly, looking at it after a few years, it seems that the obsession with that part of history has not been shallow.Indulging in the sporadic days between the raging wars, indulging in the thin layer of ivory white on the edge of the impoverished land, exaggerating this point of time into an important era, and exaggerating this thin layer into an independent world , It seems that there are really many noble sentiments and resentful souls spinning there.In fact, there will always be some stories when some Western wanderers and Eastern refugees meet on the riverside beach, but there are not many hidden things that can be excavated for a long time.Fortunately, most Shanghai people do not indulge in this kind of indulgence. The new building they have rated the most over the years is the Shanghai Museum. The cultural relics exhibited there span thousands of years and are not limited by the city at all.If these Shanghainese go to Rome, they will understand more clearly what the status of the legacy of their city's early years is.It takes hundreds of years to build a church in Europe. Shanghai actually invested in a construction project that lasted for a hundred years, and the major civil works were completed in recent years.If Shanghainese do not have such a time perception, how can they go to Xi'an or Rome in the future? Roman ivory, then, has become an ancient revelation, a silent admonition.A country with a long history of civilization always has too many small details worth rubbing, but the overall charm cannot be lost in this kind of rubbing.The overall charm needs enough time and space to carry it, and what can cut it the most is not disaster, but regional excitement and time-period fascination.Once cut, it is very difficult to restore.