来源：《卫报》
原文刊登日期：2022年6月16日
The British Museum chairman, George Osborne, has mooted the possible return of the Parthenon marbles to Greece. This is thoroughly good news. He is not the first to suggest a “marbles deal”, but he is the first to suggest that “seeing them in their splendour in Athens” is a virtue to be sought. It concerns the context in which we best display these glories of European civilisation.
大英博物馆主席乔治·奥斯本提出了将帕台农神庙大理石归还希腊的可能性。这绝对是个好消息。他不是第一个提出“大理石交易”的人，但他是第一个提出“在雅典看到它们的辉煌”是一种美德的人。这关系到我们如何最好地展示欧洲文明的辉煌。
One thing is clear. Having half the marbles under the shadow of the Acropolis in Athens and the other half in a cold London chamber is wrong. It is not sharing a work of art; it is splitting one. This cavalcade of masterpieces should be properly shown together, and that means at the site of their creation, in Athens. Loaned, swapped, sold or whatever, they should go back to Greece. It is understandable that the Greeks have never ceased begging for their return.
有一点是明确的。把一半的大理石放在雅典卫城的阴影下，另一半放在伦敦冰冷的房间里是错误的。这不是分享一件艺术品；而是在分裂一件艺术品。这一系列杰作应该恰当地一起展出，这意味着在它们的创作地点——雅典。不管出借、交换、出售还是其他什么方式，它们都应该回到希腊。希腊人从未停止过对它们回归的乞求，这是可以理解的。
The only issue is whether something can be done to appease the overweening pride and hoarding instinct of the staff of the British Museum, who have come to regard the marbles as their personal property. There is now a clear answer to this: 3D printers are currently reproducing several of the BM carvings. The replicas will reputedly be indistinguishable from the originals.
唯一的问题是，能否做些什么来安抚大英博物馆工作人员的傲慢和囤积本能，他们已经把这些大理石视为自己的私人财产。现在有了一个明确的答案：3D打印机目前正在复制一些大英博物馆雕刻。据说，复制品与原作无法区分。
This surely meets the museum’s aesthetic demand that the marbles be seen “among the splendours of other civilisations” in London. Europe’s museums are filled with replicas, good and bad, and the British Museum has plenty. The issue thus ceases to be aesthetic.
这无疑满足了博物馆的审美要求，即在伦敦“其他文明的辉煌中”可以看到这些大理石雕塑。欧洲的博物馆里到处都是复制品，有好的有坏的，大英博物馆就有很多。因此，这个问题不再是审美问题。
The issue is therefore reduced to politics. Greece desperately wants its authentic “crown jewels” to join the rest. This would not necessarily “open the door” to the return of every pot and picture in Europe to places of origin, though the question of restitution is nowadays everywhere in play. The Greeks are passionate about these statues; and, frankly, the British are not. The copies can be in London, not Athens.
因此，这个问题被归结为政治问题。希腊迫切希望自己真正的“皇冠上的明珠”能与剩余部分合在一起。这并不一定会“打开大门”，让欧洲的每一件陶器和画作都回到原产地，尽管现在到处都在讨论归还的问题。希腊人对这些雕像充满热情；坦白说，英国人不是。复制品可以在伦敦，而不是在雅典。
Greece can pay. It can offer statues in return or formulate some ingenious co-ownership agreement. This will allow the museum some degree of face-saving, and it should take it. If it can be resolved – and it is absurd it has gone on so long – then Greece will surely confer on Osborne the Byron award for saintly philhellenism. He would deserve it.
希腊有能力支付。它可以提供其他雕塑作为回报，或者制定一些巧妙的共同所有权协议。这将在一定程度上挽回博物馆的面子，大英博物馆应该接受这样的交易。如果这个问题能够得到解决——这种问题拖了这么久实在是荒谬——那么希腊肯定会将拜伦奖授予奥斯本，以表彰其圣洁的希腊主义。这是他应得的。