"Failure to rise in the morning at the prescribed hour, thirty strokes with the whip (for it is almost always with whipping we are punished; it were perfectly¹ to be expected that an episode in these libertines²' pleasures would have become their preferred mode of correction). The presentation during the pleasurable act, either through misunderstanding or for whatsoever⁴ may be the reason, of one part of the body instead of some other which was desired, fifty strokes; improper⁵ dress or an unsuitable coiffure, twenty strokes; failure to have given prior notice of incapacitation due to menstruation, sixty strokes; upon the day the surgeon confirms the existence of a pregnancy⁶, one hundred strokes are administered; negligence⁷, incompetence⁸, or refusal in connection with luxurious⁹ proposals, two hundred strokes. And how often their infernal wickedness finds us wanting on that head, without our having made the least mistake! How frequently it happens that one of them will suddenly demand what he very well knows we have just accorded another and cannot immediately do again! One undergoes the punishment nonetheless; our remonstrances¹⁰, our pleadings are never heeded¹¹; one must either comply or suffer the consequences. Imperfect behavior in the chamber¹², or disobedience shown the superintendent¹³, sixty strokes; the appearance of tears, chagrin¹⁴, sorrow, remorse¹⁵, even the look of the slightest return to Religion, two hundred strokes. If a monk¹⁶ selects you as his partner when he wishes to taste the last crisis of pleasure and if he is unable to achieve it, whether the fault be his, which is most common, or whether it be yours, upon the spot, three hundred strokes; the least hint of revulsion at the monks¹⁷' propositions, of whatever nature these propositions may be, two hundred strokes; an attempted or concerted escape or revolt, nine days' confinement¹⁸ in a dungeon¹⁹, entirely²⁰ naked, and three hundred lashes²¹ each day; caballing, the instigation of plots, the sowing of unrest, etc., immediately upon discovery, three hundred strokes; projected suicide, refusal to eat the stipulated²² food or the proper quantity, two hundred strokes; disrespect shown toward the monks, one hundred eighty strokes. Those only are crimes; beyond what is mentioned there, we can do whatever we please, sleep together, quarrel, fight, carry drunkenness, riot and gourmandizing to their furthest extremes, swear, blaspheme: none of that makes the faintest difference, we may commit those faults and never a word will be said to us; we are rated for none but those I have just mentioned. But if they wish, the superintendents²³ can spare us many of these unpleasantnesses; however, this protection, unfortunately, can be purchased only by complacencies frequently more disagreeable than the sufferings for which they are substitutes; these women, in both chambers²⁴, have the same taste, and it is only by according them one's favors that one enters into their good graces. Spurn²⁵ one of them, and she needs no additional motive²⁶ to exaggerate her report of your misdeeds, the monks the superintendents serve double their powers, and far from reprimanding them for their injustice²⁷, unceasingly encourage it in them; they are themselves bound by all those regulations and are the more severely²⁸ chastised²⁹ if they are suspected of leniency³⁰: not that the libertines need all that in order to vent³¹ their fury upon us, but they welcome excuses; the look of legitimacy³² that may be given to a piece of viciousness renders it more agreeable in their eyes, adds to its piquancy³³, its charm. Upon arriving here each of us is provided with a little store of linen³⁴; we are given everything by the half-dozen, and our supplies are renewed every year, but we are obliged to surrender what we bring here with us; we are not permitted to keep the least thing. The complaints of the four friars I spoke³⁵ of are heard just as are the superintendents'; their mere³⁶ delation is sufficient to procure³⁷ our punishment; but they at least ask nothing from us and there is less to be feared from that quarter than from the superintendents who, when vengeance³⁸ informs their maneuvers³⁹, are very demanding and very dangerous. Our food is excellent and always copious⁴⁰; were it not that their lust⁴¹ derives⁴² benefits thence, this article might not be so satisfactory, but as their filthy⁴⁴ debauches profit thereby⁴⁵, they spare themselves no pains to stuff us with food: those who have a bent⁴⁶ for flogging seek to fatten⁴⁷ us, and those, as Jerome phrased it yesterday, who like to see the hen lay, are assured by means of abundant feeding, of a greater yield of eggs. Consequently, we eat four times a day; at breakfast, between nine and ten o'clock we are regularly given volaille au riz, fresh fruit or compotes, tea, coffee, or chocolate; at one o'clock, dinner is served; each table of eight is served alike; a very good soup, four entrees⁴⁸, a roast of some kind, four second courses, dessert in every season. At five-thirty an afternoon lunch of pastries⁴⁹ and fruit arrives. There can be no doubt of the evening meal's excellence⁵⁰ if it is taken with the monks; when we do not join them at table, as often happens, since but four of us from each chamber are allowed to go, we are given three roast plates and four entremets; each of us has a daily ration⁵¹ of one bottle of white wine, one of red, and an half-bottle of brandy; they who do not drink that much are at liberty to distribute their quota⁵² to the others; among us are some great gourmands⁵³ who drink astonishing amounts, who get regularly drunk, all of which they do without fear of reprimand; and there are, as well, some for whom these four meals still do not suffice; they have but to ring, and what they ask for will be brought them at once.#p#分页标题#e#

 

"The superintendents require that the food be consumed, and if someone persists in not wishing to eat, for whatever reason, upon the third infraction⁵⁴ that person will be severely punished; the monks' supper is composed of three roast dishes, six entrees followed by a cold plate and eight entremets, fruit, three kinds of wine, coffee and liqueurs: sometimes all eight of us are at table with them, sometimes they oblige four of us to wait upon them, and these four dine afterward⁵⁵; it also happens from time to time that they take only four girls for supper; they are, ordinarily, an entire class; when our number is eight, there are always two from each class. I need hardly tell you that no one ever visits us; under no circumstances is any outsider ever admitted into this pavilion. If we fall ill, we are entrusted⁵⁶ to the surgeon friar only, and if we die, we leave this world without any religious ministrations; our bodies are flung into one of the spaces between the circumvallations, and that's an end to it; but, and the cruelty is signal, if the sick one's condition becomes too grave or if there is fear of contagion⁵⁷, they do not wait until we are dead to dispose of us; though still alive, we are carried out and dropped in the place I mentioned; During the eighteen years I have been here I have seen more than ten instances of this unexampled ferocity; concerning which they declare it is better to lose one than endanger sixteen; the loss of a girl, they continue, is of very modest import, and it may be so easily repaired there is scant⁵⁸ cause to regret it. Let us move on to the arrangements concerning the monks' pleasures and to all of what pertains⁵⁹ to the subject.

 

"We rise at exactly nine every morning, and in every season; we retire at a later or an earlier hour, depending upon the monks' supper. Immediately we are up, the Officer of the Day comes on his rounds; he seats himself in a large armchair and each of us is obliged to advance, stand before him with our skirts raised upon the side he prefers; he touches, he kisses, he examines, and when everyone has carried out this duty, he identifies those who are to participate at the evening's exercises: he prescribes the state in which they must be, he listens to the superintendent's report, and the punishments are imposed. Rarely does the officer leave without a luxurious scene in which all eight usually find roles. The superintendent directs these libidinous⁶⁰ activities, and the most entire submission⁶¹ on our part reigns⁶² during them. Before breakfast it often occurs that one of the Reverend Fathers has one of us called from bed; the jailer friar brings a card bearing the name of the person desired, the Officer of the Day sees to it she is sent, not even he has the right to withhold⁶³ her, she leaves and returns when dismissed. This first ceremony concluded, we breakfast; from this moment till evening we have no more to do; but at seven o'clock in summer, at six in winter, they come for those who have been designated; the jailer friar himself escorts them, and after the supper they who have not been retained for the night come back to the seraglio. Often, all return; other girls have been selected for the night, and they are advised several hours in advance in what costume they must make their appearance; sometimes only the Girls of the Watch sleep out of the chamber."

 

"Girls of the Watch?" I interrupted. "What function this?" "I will tell you," my historian replied. "Upon the first day of every month each monk adopts a girl who must serve a term as his servant and as the target of his shameful⁶⁴ desires; only the superintendents are exempted⁶⁵, for they have the task of governing their chambers. The monks can neither exchange girls during the month, nor make them serve two months in succession; there is nothing more cruel, more taxing than this drudgery⁶⁶, and I have no idea how you will bear up under it. When five o'clock strikes, the Girl of the Watch promptly⁶⁷ descends⁶⁸ to the monk she serves and does not leave his side until the next day, at the hour he sets off for the monastery⁶⁹. She rejoins him when he comes back; she employs these few hours to eat and rest, for she must remain awake all night throughout the whole of the term she spends with her master; I repeat to you, the wretch⁷⁰ remains⁷¹ constantly on hand to serve as the object of every caprice which may enter the libertine's head; cuffs⁷², slaps, beatings, whippings, hard language, amusements, she has got to endure all of it; she must remain standing³ all night long in her patron'.c bedroom, at any instant ready to offer herself to the passions which may stir that tyrant⁷³; but the cruelest, the most ignominious⁷⁴ aspect of this servitude is the terrible obligation she is under to provide her mouth or her breast for the relief of the one and the other of the monster's needs: he never uses any other vase: she has got to be the willing recipient⁷⁵ of everything and the least hesitation⁷⁶ or recalcitrance⁷⁷ is straightway punished by the most savage⁷⁸ reprisals⁷⁹. During all the scenes of lust these are the girls who guarantee pleasure's success, who guide and manage the monks' joys, who tidy up whoever has become covered with filth⁴³: for example, a monk dirties himself while enjoying a woman: it is his aide's duty to repair the disorder⁸⁰; he wishes to be excited? the task of rousing him falls to the wretch who accompanies him everywhere, dresses him, undresses him, is ever at his elbow, who is always wrong, always at fault, always beaten; at the suppers her place is behind her master's chair or, like a dog, at his feet under the table, or upon her knees, between his thighs⁸¹, exciting him with her mouth; sometimes she serves as his cushion, his seat, his torch; at other times all four of them will be grouped around the table in the most lecherous⁸², but, at the same time, the most fatiguing⁸³ attitudes. "If they lose their balance, they risk either falling upon the thorns placed near by, or breaking a limb, or being killed, such cases have been known; and meanwhile the villains⁸⁴ make merry, enact⁸⁵ debauches, peacefully get drunk upon meats, wines, lust, and upon cruelty."#p#分页标题#e#

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