HAT day, convoked2 by Arcade3 and Zita, the rebellious4 angels met together on the banks of the Seine at La Jonchère, in a deserted5 and tumble-down entertainment-hall that Prince Istar had hired from a pot-house keeper called Barattan. Three hundred angels crowded together in the stalls and boxes. A table, an arm-chair, and a collection of small chairs were arranged on the stage, where hung the tattered6 remnants of a piece of rustic7 scenery. The walls, coloured in distemper with flowers and fruit, were cracked and stained with damp, and were crumbling8 away in flakes9. The vulgar and poverty-stricken appearance of the place rendered the grandeur10 of the passions exhibited therein all the more striking.
When Prince Istar asked the assembly to form its Committee, and first of all to elect a President, the name that was renowned11 throughout the world entered the minds of all present, but a religious respect sealed their lips; and after a moment's[247] silence, the absent Nectaire was elected by acclamation. Having been invited to take the chair between Zita and an angel of Japan, Arcade immediately began as follows:
"Sons of Heaven! My comrades! You have freed yourselves from the bonds of celestial12 servitude—you have shaken off the thrall13 of him called Iahveh, but to whom we should here accord his veritable name of Ialdabaoth, for he is not the creator of the worlds, but merely an ignorant and barbarous demiurge, who having obtained possession of a minute portion of the Universe has therein sown suffering and death. Sons of Heaven, tell me, I charge you, whether you will combat and destroy Ialdabaoth?"
All with one voice made answer:
"We will!"
And many speaking all together swore they would scale the mountain of Ialdabaoth, and hurl14 down the walls of jasper and porphyry, and plunge15 the tyrant16 of Heaven into eternal darkness.
"Tremble, ye impious, sacrilegious madmen! The Lord hath already lifted his dread19 arm to smite20 you!"
It was a loyal angel who, with an impulse of faith and love, envying the glory of confessors and martyrs21, jealous and eager, like his God himself, to[248] emulate22 man in the beauty of sacrifice, had flung himself in the midst of the blasphemers, to brave them, to confound them, and to fall beneath their blows. The assembly turned upon him with furious unanimity23. Those nearest to him overwhelmed him with blows. He continued to cry, in a clear, ringing voice, "Glory to God! Glory to God! Glory to God!"
A rebel seized him by the neck and strangled his praises of the Almighty24 in his throat. He was thrown to the ground, trampled25 underfoot. Prince Istar picked him up, took him by the wings between his fingers, then rising like a column of smoke, opened a ventilator, which no one else could have reached, and passed the faithful angel through it. Order was immediately restored.
"Comrades," continued Arcade, "now that we have affirmed our stern resolve, we must examine the possible plans of campaign, and choose the best. You will therefore have to consider if we should attack the enemy in full force, or whether it were better, by a lengthy26 and assiduous propaganda, to win the inhabitants of Heaven to our cause."
"War! War!" shouted the assembled host.
Théophile, whom Prince Istar had dragged to the meeting, rose, pale and unstrung, and, speaking with emotion, said:[249]
"Brethren, do not take ill what I am about to say; for it is the friendship I have for you that inspires me. I am but a poor musician. But, believe me, all your plans will come to naught28 before the Divine Wisdom which has foreseen everything."
"Ialdabaoth foresees everything. I do not contest it. He foresees everything, but in order to leave us our free will he acts towards us absolutely as if he foresaw nothing. Every instant he is surprised, disconcerted; the most probable events take him unawares. The obligation which he has undertaken, to reconcile with his prescience the liberty of both men and angels, throws him constantly into inextricable difficulties and terrible dilemmas30. He never sees further than the end of his nose. He did not expect Adam's disobedience, and so little did he anticipate the wickedness of men that he repented32 having made them, and drowned them in the waters of the Flood, and all the animals as well, though he had no fault to find with the animals. For blindness he is only to be compared with Charles X, his favourite king. If we are prudent33 it will be easy to take him by surprise. I think that these observations will be calculated to reassure34 my brother."
Théophile made no reply. He loved God, but[250] he was fearful of sharing the fate of the faithful angel.
One of the best-informed Spirits of the assembly, Mammon, was not altogether reassured35 by the remarks of his brother Arcade.
"Bethink you," said this Spirit, "Ialdabaoth has little general culture, but he is a soldier—to the marrow36 of his bones. The organisation37 of Paradise is a thoroughly38 military organisation. It is founded on hierarchy39 and discipline. Passive obedience31 is imposed there as a fundamental law. The angels form an army. Compare this spot with the Elysian Fields which Virgil depicts40 for you. In the Elysian Fields reign41 liberty, reason, and wisdom. The happy shades hold converse42 together in the groves43 of myrtle. In the Heaven of Ialdabaoth there is no civil population. Everyone is enrolled44, numbered, registered. It is a barracks and a field for man?uvres. Remember that."
Arcade replied that they must look at their adversary45 in his true colours, and that the military organisation of Paradise was far more reminiscent of the villages of King Koffee than of the Prussia of Frederick the Great.
"Already," said he, "at the time of the first revolt, before the beginning of Time, the conflict raged for two days, and Ialdabaoth's throne was made to totter46. Nevertheless, the demiurge gained the victory. But to what did he owe it? To the[251] thunderstorm which happened to come on during the conflict. The thunderbolts falling on Lucifer and his angels struck them down, bruised47 and blackened, and Ialdabaoth owed his victory to the thunderbolts. Thunder is his sole weapon. He abuses its power. In the midst of thunder and lightning he promulgates48 his laws. 'Fire goeth before him,' says the Prophet. Now Seneca, the philosopher, said that the thunderbolt in its fall brings peril49 to very few, but fear to all. This remark was true enough for men of the first century of the Christian50 era; it is no longer so for the angels of the twentieth; all of which goes to prove that, in spite of his thunder, he is not very powerful; it was acute terror that made men rear him a tower of unbaked brick and bitumen51. When myriads52 of celestial spirits, furnished with machines which modern science puts at their disposal, make an assault upon the heavens, think you, comrades, that the old master of the solar system surrounded with his angels, armed as in the time of Abraham, will be able to resist them? To this day the warriors53 of the demiurge wear helmets of gold and shields of diamond. Michael, his best captain, knows no other tactics than the hand-to-hand combat. To him Pharaoh's chariots are still the latest thing, and he has never heard of the Macedonian phalanx."
And young Arcade lengthily54 prolonged the parallel[252] between the armed herds55 of Ialdabaoth and the intelligent fighting men of the rebel army. Then the question of pecuniary56 resources arose.
Zita asserted that there was enough money to commence war, that the electrophores were in order, that an initial victory would obtain them credit.
The discussion continued, amid turbulence57 and confusion. In this parliament of angels, as in the synods of men, empty words flowed in abundance. Disturbances58 grew more violent and more frequent as the time for putting the resolution drew near. It was beyond question that supreme59 command would be entrusted60 to him who had first raised the flag of revolt. But as everyone aspired61 to act as Lucifer's Lieutenant62, each in describing the kind of fighting man to be preferred drew a portrait of himself. Thus Alcor, the youngest of the rebellious angels, arose and spoke63 rapidly as follows:
"In Ialdabaoth's army, happily for us, the officers obtain their posts by seniority. This being the case, there is little likelihood of the command falling into the hands of a military genius, for men are not made leaders by prolonged habits of obedience, and close attention to minuti? is not a good apprenticeship64 for the evolution of vast plans of campaign. If we consult ancient and modern history, we shall see that the greatest leaders were kings like Alexander and Frederick, aristocrats65 like C?sar and Turenne, or men im[253]patient of red-tape like Bonaparte. A routine man will always be poor or second-rate. Comrades, let us appoint intelligent leaders, men in the prime of life, to command us. An old man may retain the habit of winning victories, but only a young man can acquire it!"
Alcor then gave place to an angel of the philosophic66 order, who mounted the rostrum and spoke thus:
"War never was an exact science, a clearly defined art. The genius of the race, or the brain of the individual, has ever modified it. Now how are we to define the qualities necessary for a general in command in the war of the future, where one must consider greater masses and a larger number of movements than the intelligence of man can conceive? The multiplication67 of technical means, by infinitely68 multiplying the opportunities for mistake, paralyses the genius of those in command. At a certain stage in the progress of military science, a stage which our models, the Europeans, are about to reach, the cleverest leader and the most ignorant become equalized by reason of their incapacity. Another result of great modern armaments is, that the law of numbers tends to rule with inflexible69 rigour. It is of course true that ten angels in revolt are worth more than ten angels of Ialdabaoth; it is not at all certain that a million rebellious angels are worth more than a million of Ialdabaoth's[254] angels. Great numbers, in war as elsewhere, annihilate70 intelligence and individual superiority in favour of a sort of exceedingly rudimentary collective soul."
A buzz of conversation drowned the voice of the philosophic angel, and he concluded his speech in an atmosphere of general indifference71.
The tribune then resounded72 with calls to arms and promises of victory. The sword was held up to praise, the sword which defends the right. The triumph of the angels in revolt was celebrated73 twenty times beforehand, to the plaudits of a delirious74 crowd.
Cries of "War!" rose to the silent heavens; "Give us war!"
In the midst of these transports Prince Istar hoisted75 himself on to the platform, and the floor creaked under his weight.
"Comrades," said he, "you wish for victory, and it is a very natural desire, but you must be mouldy with literature and poetry if you expect to obtain it from war. The idea of making war can nowadays only enter the brain of a sottish bourgeois76 or a belated romantic. What is war? A burlesque77 masquerade in the midst of which fatuous78 patriots79 sing their stupid dithyrambs. Had Napoleon possessed80 a practical mind he would not have made war; but he was a dreamer, intoxicated81 with Ossian. You cry, 'Give us war!' You are[255] visionaries. When will you become thinkers? The thinkers do not look for power and strength from any of the dreams which constitute military art: tactics, strategy, fortifications, artillery82, and all that rubbish. They do not believe in war, which is a phantasy; they believe in chemistry, which is a science. They know the way to put victory into an algebraic formula."
And drawing from his pocket a small bottle, which he held up to the meeting, Prince Istar exclaimed:
"Victory—it is here!"
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1
conclave
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| n.秘密会议，红衣主教团 | |
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convoked
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| v.召集，召开（会议）( convoke的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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3
arcade
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| n.拱廊；(一侧或两侧有商店的)通道 | |
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4
rebellious
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| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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6
tattered
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| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
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7
rustic
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| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
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8
crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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flakes
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| 小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人 | |
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10
grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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renowned
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| adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的 | |
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celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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thrall
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| n.奴隶；奴隶制 | |
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14
hurl
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| vt.猛投，力掷，声叫骂 | |
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15
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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smite
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| v.重击；彻底击败；n.打；尝试；一点儿 | |
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21
martyrs
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| n.martyr的复数形式；烈士( martyr的名词复数 )；殉道者；殉教者；乞怜者（向人诉苦以博取同情） | |
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22
emulate
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| v.努力赶上或超越，与…竞争；效仿 | |
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23
unanimity
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| n.全体一致，一致同意 | |
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almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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25
trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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27
trumpets
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| 喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 )； 小号； 喇叭形物； （尤指）绽开的水仙花 | |
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28
naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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hisses
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| 嘶嘶声( hiss的名词复数 ) | |
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dilemmas
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| n.左右为难( dilemma的名词复数 )；窘境，困境 | |
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31
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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repented
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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33
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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reassure
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| v.使放心，使消除疑虑 | |
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reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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36
marrow
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| n.骨髓；精华；活力 | |
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37
organisation
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| n.组织，安排，团体，有机休 | |
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38
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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39
hierarchy
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| n.等级制度；统治集团，领导层 | |
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40
depicts
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| 描绘，描画( depict的第三人称单数 )； 描述 | |
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41
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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42
converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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43
groves
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| 树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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44
enrolled
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| adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起 | |
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45
adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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46
totter
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| v.蹒跚， 摇摇欲坠；n.蹒跚的步子 | |
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47
bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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48
promulgates
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| v.宣扬（某事物）( promulgate的第三人称单数 )；传播；公布；颁布（法令、新法律等） | |
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49
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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50
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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51
bitumen
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| n.沥青 | |
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52
myriads
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| n.无数，极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
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53
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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54
lengthily
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| adv.长，冗长地 | |
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55
herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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56
pecuniary
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| adj.金钱的；金钱上的 | |
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57
turbulence
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| n.喧嚣，狂暴，骚乱，湍流 | |
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58
disturbances
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| n.骚乱( disturbance的名词复数 )；打扰；困扰；障碍 | |
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59
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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60
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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61
aspired
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| v.渴望，追求( aspire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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62
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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63
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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64
apprenticeship
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| n.学徒身份；学徒期 | |
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65
aristocrats
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| n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 ) | |
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66
philosophic
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| adj.哲学的，贤明的 | |
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67
multiplication
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| n.增加，增多，倍增；增殖，繁殖；乘法 | |
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68
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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69
inflexible
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| adj.不可改变的，不受影响的，不屈服的 | |
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70
annihilate
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| v.使无效；毁灭；取消 | |
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71
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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72
resounded
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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73
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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delirious
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| adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的 | |
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75
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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76
bourgeois
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| adj./n.追求物质享受的(人)；中产阶级分子 | |
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burlesque
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| v.嘲弄，戏仿；n.嘲弄，取笑，滑稽模仿 | |
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fatuous
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| adj.愚昧的；昏庸的 | |
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patriots
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| 爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 ) | |
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80
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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81
intoxicated
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| 喝醉的，极其兴奋的 | |
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82
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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