羊飼いのメロスは、激しく怒った。必ず、あの残虐で身勝手な王を除かなければならないと決意した。彼は妹の結婚式の支度を整えるべく、はるばるシラクスの市まで出てきた、まことに素朴な若者だった。
The shepherd Melos was enraged. He resolved that he must, without fail, do away with that wickedly tyrannical king. He had come all the way to the city of Syracuse, the most guileless of young men, only to prepare for his sister's wedding.
メロスは市を歩き回り、買い物を済ませようとした。しかし、夜の都の様子は、二年前に来た時とはまるで違っていた。家々の戸は固く閉ざされ、人々の顔には何かおびえたような色が浮かんでいた。
Melos walked about the city, intending to finish his errands. But the streets at night bore no resemblance to what he had seen two years before. The doors of the houses were shut tight, and on the faces of those he passed there hung a look of dread.
メロスはひとりの老人をつかまえて、その理由を尋ねた。老人は声をひそめて告げた。「王様は、人を殺すのでございます。ご自身の妃も、王子も、それから親類や家臣に至るまで、信頼に値する者は誰一人いないと、片端から処刑しておられるのです」と。
Melos seized hold of an old man and asked the reason. In a hushed voice the old man answered. "His Majesty has been killing people. Even his own queen, even his own son, and on through his kin and ministers — anyone not worthy of his trust, he has been putting to death, one after another."
メロスはこれを聞いて、激しい怒りに身を震わせた。「そのような王を、生かしてはおけない」と、彼はその場で剣を手にし、まっすぐ王城へと向かった。市の人々は、彼の振る舞いを止めるすべもなく、ただ呆然と見送るばかりだった。
Hearing this, Melos shook with violent anger. "A king like that cannot be allowed to live," he declared, and with sword in hand he made straight for the palace. The townspeople had no means to stop him, and could only watch him go in stunned silence.
王城に踏み入ったメロスは、ただちに衛兵に捕らえられた。王ディオニスの前に引き出された彼は、いささかも恐れることなく、王の暴政を激しく非難した。「人を信じることを忘れた者には、もはや王である資格はない」と、彼は鋭く言い放った。
Once inside the palace, Melos was at once seized by the guards. Brought before King Dionysius, he showed not the faintest fear, but denounced the king's tyranny in the harshest of terms. "He who has forgotten how to trust another man has no right at all to be a king," he said sharply.
ディオニス王は、青ざめた顔で薄笑いを浮かべながら答えた。「人の心とは、いつわりばかりだ。信じるなど、愚か者のすることだ」と。そして、彼はメロスを翌日処刑することに決めた。
King Dionysius, pale-faced, answered with a thin smile. "The hearts of men are only deceit. To trust is the act of a fool." And so he sentenced Melos to be executed the following day.
メロスは静かに、しかし毅然として、王に願い出た。「妹がおります。三日後に式を挙げる予定でしたので、どうか三日だけ命をのばしていただきたい。式を済ませた後、必ずここに戻ってまいります」と。
Melos quietly, yet without flinching, made his plea to the king. "I have a sister. Her wedding was set for three days hence. I beg of you, grant me three days more of life. As soon as the ceremony is over, I shall return without fail."
王は嘲笑い、「逃げる気だろう、人など信じられるものか」と切り捨てた。しかしメロスは退かず、「身代わりに友のセリヌンティウスを人質として残します。友が裏切ったならば友を殺せばよい、私は必ず戻る」と誓った。
The king laughed him off. "You mean to flee. There is nothing in any man to be trusted," he snapped. But Melos did not yield, vowing: "In my place I will leave my friend Selinuntius as hostage. If I should betray him, kill him in my stead. I shall return without fail."
王はその提案を受け入れた。これでメロスも逃げ、人と人との信頼など空しい幻にすぎないことを証明できると、ひそかに確信したのである。セリヌンティウスは、何も言わずに深くうなずいて、人質となることを引き受けた。
The king accepted the proposal. By this — he secretly believed — he would prove that Melos too would flee, and that trust between men is nothing but an empty illusion. Selinuntius, without a word, nodded deeply and consented to be the hostage.
メロスは夜を徹して走り、村に戻った。妹に事情を告げ、急いで式の支度を進めた。妹もまた、兄の覚悟を察し、涙をこらえて式の支度に取りかかった。
Melos ran through the night and returned to his village. He told his sister all that had happened, and the preparations for the wedding were hurried forward. His sister, too, sensing her brother's resolve, swallowed her tears and set about the preparations.
翌朝、雨もよいの中、式は無事に執り行われた。村人たちはメロスの帰還を喜び、彼を引き止めようと躍起になった。しかし、メロスは友のために、再び旅立たなければならなかった。
The next morning, in the threatening rain, the ceremony was carried out without incident. The villagers rejoiced at Melos's return and worked themselves to a frenzy to make him stay. Yet Melos, for the sake of his friend, must set out again.
妹に別れを告げたメロスは、シラクスへの帰路についた。途中、激しい豪雨に見舞われ、橋は流され、川は荒れ狂って、もはや渡るすべもないかと見えた。しかし彼はためらうことなく、激流に身を投じ、流されながらも対岸へとたどり着いた。
Bidding his sister farewell, Melos set off on the road back to Syracuse. Along the way he was caught in a violent storm; the bridge had been washed away, and the river roared so wildly that there seemed no way to cross. But without a moment's hesitation Melos threw himself into the rapids, and battered by the current, he reached the far bank.
山道に差しかかると、待ち伏せていた山賊どもが、彼の前に立ちふさがった。「命が惜しければ、その身につけたものをすべて置いていけ」と、賊どもは口々に叫んだ。
As he reached the mountain road, bandits who had been lying in wait stood in his way. "If you value your life, lay down everything you carry," they shouted, one after another.
「俺はただ、友を救うために走っている。お前たちに渡す金など持ち合わせていない」とメロスは言い放つとすぐに、剣を抜き、襲いかかる賊どもをなぎ倒した。三人を退けたところで、残りの賊は恐れをなして逃げ散った。
"I run only to save a friend. I have no money to hand over to the likes of you," Melos shot back, and the words were no sooner out of his mouth than he drew his sword and cut down the bandits as they leapt at him. After he had felled three, the rest took fright and fled.
しかし、夏の太陽は容赦なく照りつけ、メロスの力はみるみる失われていった。喉は渇き、四肢は鉛のように重く、ついに彼は道端の草むらに倒れ込んだ。「もう、間に合わないのではないか」という暗い思いが、心の底にかすかに芽生え始めた。
But the summer sun beat down without mercy, and Melos's strength ebbed away before his eyes. His throat was parched, his limbs grew heavy as lead, and at last he collapsed into the grass at the roadside. "Perhaps I shall not make it in time after all" — a dark thought began to take root somewhere in the depths of his heart.
「俺は走り続けて、友を救おうとした。だが、これほどまでに尽くしても、なお間に合わないのなら、それは天の定めにほかならない」と、彼は弱々しくつぶやき、一瞬すべてを諦めかけた。
"I have run on and on, trying to save my friend. If I have given this much and still cannot arrive in time, then it is the will of heaven, nothing more," he muttered weakly, and for an instant he came near to giving up everything.
その時、近くの草陰から、清らかな泉のせせらぐ音が聞こえてきた。メロスは這うようにしてその泉に近づき、両手でひとすくいの水を飲んだ。すると、不思議なことに、彼の中に再び力がよみがえり、立ち上がる気力が湧き上がってきた。
At that moment, from a thicket nearby, came the clear sound of a spring bubbling. Melos crawled to it and drank a single handful of water from his cupped hands. Strange to say, strength returned to him at once, and the will to rise rose up within him again.
「もう一度、走ろう。たとえ間に合わなくても、友のもとに、この身を捧げよう」とメロスは決意し、再び全力で駆け出した。日が沈み始めた頃、彼は遠くにシラクスの城門を望むに至った。
"I shall run once more. Even if I do not arrive in time, I shall offer up this body at my friend's side," Melos resolved, and dashed off with all his strength. As the sun began to set, he came within sight of the gates of Syracuse, far in the distance.
城門に駆け込んだメロスは、まさに刑場で吊り上げられようとするセリヌンティウスを目にした。「待ってくれ、間に合った」と叫び、群衆の中をかき分けて、友のもとへとたどり着いた。
Bursting through the gate, Melos saw Selinuntius about to be hoisted up on the scaffold. "Wait! I have made it in time!" he cried, pushing his way through the crowd to reach his friend.
二人の友は、抱き合って涙を流した。ディオニス王はこれを目の当たりにして、しばし呆然と立ち尽くしていたが、やがて二人の前にひざをつき、「どうか、私も君たちの仲間に加えてはくれないか」と頼んだのである。一人の少女が、ぼろぼろになったメロスに、一枚の赤いマントを差し出した。
The two friends embraced and wept. King Dionysius, witnessing it, stood dumbstruck for some time. At length he knelt before them and asked, his voice shaking, "I beg of you — will you not let me too be counted among your friends?" A young maiden, seeing Melos in tatters, came forward and held out to him a single crimson cloak.