The man who dwelt within it came that very evening to dine at the Squire4's, and was what you will call obviously a gentleman. He was not a gentleman in any cryptic5 or mystical sense; he was not the Adumbration6 of a gentleman; he was not the Platonic7 Idea of a gentleman; he was not the Gentleman used loosely as a term for a good man; he was not rich; he spoke8 perfectly9; he was very stupid. Much more than this, he was a Prophet.
The learned have observed (or at least the only[Pg 64] ones among them who count have persistently10 observed) that it is in the nature of barbaric peoples to accept whatever is told them with sufficient assurance, conviction and simplicity11, but especially if it regard the future. On this account (the learned say) he who will prophesy12 with flame shall certainly among barbarians13 become a founder14. Now it is sufficiently15 certain that this type of man, so successful among the primitive16, and perhaps also among the decayed, continues through all ages and in all societies, though varying perhaps in proportion, and certainly varying enormously in the source of his information according to the generation in which he lives, is here to-day; and this man was one of him.
At first I did not know in what a Presence I stood—or rather sat—for he was very modest, if indeed it be modest to make no noise in the eating of soup, to frown heavily, and never to speak a word. There were but three of us there, the Squire, myself, et Rex Meus the Prophet. Having seen little of the world I much desired to hear what he would say; although he was still what politicians call young he seemed old to me, because he had a full beard, and because life had already wearied him, a thing incomprehensible to boys. The Squire watched him with a good deal of admiration17 and of fear, until at last he said, "There won't be any war." Here let me tell you that these words were pronounced in the year 1888, and a little before the bursting of the spring upon the Kentish Weald.
[Pg 65]
Nor was there one. There was no war about that time.
Those who read these lines, I am quite certain, will find them a shock. We live in a time when war is so struck with doom18 that it is putting on speed, as it were, to make a fine ending. War is out of our manners; we can tolerate it no more. Every year is a new reconciliation19, and a new treaty in the federation20 of all mankind except those who have neglected their armament, and in general we are forgetting war. But there have been wars, and of some calibre—hefty and noisy wars since you and I were boys. Now in 1888 there was no war. So the Prophet was right.
The Squire was interested and humble21, and being a plain man he asked why there would be no war, for it was imagined at that moment by eight or nine newspaper men that some war or other was going to break out; but what war I forget after such a lapse22 of time. The Prophet was a true prophet, by which I do not mean that he prophesied23 truth, but only that he was in keeping with all that I have ever read of his breed; he shook his doormat of a head and wagged his beard, smiling, as bearded men do, with the eyes only, and would give no reasons; and, indeed, there was no war. But as the dinner went on he talked of other things; he prophesied a Parliament in Dublin "within ten years," and, new as I was to the world, I could but note how much of his conversation worked within fixed24 frames and limits,[Pg 66] as should beseem a prophet. Some things were going to happen "within five years," some "within twenty years," some—and the leap was indeed splendid—"within fifty years." Among these last I dimly remember was the spread of a universal language, which I think he called "Anglo-Saxon"; and there was something or other about the birth-rate which escapes me now, but which I can remember to have appalled25 me at the time, for it was a destruction of all I loved and revered26 in Europe.
The dinner went on, and as he got more food and wine into him he prophesied less—for fasting is the mother of prophecy. He was still assertive27, he was still sure; his talk was still of public men, of continents, of armies, of battle and of sudden death, but the future entered less into it, and the present more. He became not so much a prophet, but, if I may use the word quite gently, more of a liar28. I can remember vividly29 now, after so many years, how he stood in the hall of that great house, all wrapped up to go through the park to "The Hollies." I looked at his large frame and masterful demeanour. I remembered all that he had said, both of things distant from me and of things to come, and I admired such eyes in the brain.
It was ten years before I met him again. I am wrong—it was nine. I met him upon a steamboat in the North Sea, and he remembered me. We looked over the side of the ship and talked about[Pg 67] America and Spain. As to the chance of war he waved it all away with his hand. It might come or it might not [the truth was, it was too near for his type of vision], but what would come after, whether the war was fought or not, was quite clear. "America," he said, "would learn that she could fight a European Power." It seems that having learnt this, all sorts of things would happen, and there would be banging and bingeing to some tune30. The earning of one's living, the weight and dullness which come upon the mind from seeing too many places and knowing too many men, left my impression less vivid. For, as it says in the song—
Ki moulte y resve mainte a vu:
Ki pleure trop a trop vescu.
But anyhow there remains31 to me the impression of that conflict between the Old World and the New which I was destined32 to experience, and which I in no way desired. He had been following French politics also, and he told me—not by way of prophecy, but as a revelation of inner truth—why it was that Germany had not declared war upon France and taken Paris in the autumn of the preceding year. I talked to him, therefore, of the 75mm. gun. He did not shirk it. He talked of it as one who knew; and as I heard him my mind grew aged33. I left him in a port of Holland after luncheon34, and the last I remember of him on that occasion was a slight gesture of his from the wrist only (for he was a[Pg 68] dignified35 man) explaining how all that I saw, the port, the shipping36, the docks, everything, would be German "within ten years."
I met him again several times in the succeeding waves of our century. I met him just before the Boer War, and a little after Colenso. He prophesied only upon one matter upon these occasions, and that was the length of the conflict, which, with an exact discrimination, he invariably placed within "six months" of the day upon which he addressed me, and the third time he assured me of this thing was in the month of February 1902, and that time he was right.
Since then I have met him continually, for he knows less people than he used to do, and he has fallen into a routine of old friends. The Squire is dead, and he only goes down to "The Hollies" now and again. It is his pleasure still to foresee. The war over, he bought Consols. He was careful to explain that he was no fool. They were at 97. They would fall, of course; he was not buying for immediate37 rise. In part of this anticipation38 he was not disappointed, but in another part he was. He was in a fume39 for some little time about an approaching war with Russia upon the frontiers of India, and again he would return to that recurrent theme of his life, the destruction of all limitrophous civilisations by the organised might of Germany. But his chief concern was the march of China upon Europe, which, as he clearly foresaw, could not be long delayed.[Pg 69] "That," he said, with a sort of Christian40 enthusiasm, "would bind41 us all together once more!"
Whether it be a labour to prophesy or no, his hair had certainly grown white in the pursuit of his vocation42, and when I last saw him (which was a little after the Epiphany in Rugby Station, waiting for the train to Carlisle) we spent ten minutes together, and he told me with unabated gladness that war would break out in the Balkans "when the snow melted." I asked him at what time this change came about in the Balkans, but he did not know.
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1
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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2
hollies
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| n.冬青（常绿灌木，叶尖而硬，有光泽，冬季结红色浆果）( holly的名词复数 )；（用作圣诞节饰物的）冬青树枝 | |
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3
slate
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| n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订 | |
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4
squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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5
cryptic
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| adj.秘密的，神秘的，含义模糊的 | |
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6
adumbration
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| n.预示，预兆 | |
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7
platonic
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| adj.精神的；柏拉图（哲学）的 | |
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8
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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9
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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10
persistently
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| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
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11
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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12
prophesy
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| v.预言；预示 | |
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13
barbarians
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| n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人 | |
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14
Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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15
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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16
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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17
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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18
doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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19
reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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20
federation
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| n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会 | |
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21
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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22
lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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23
prophesied
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| v.预告，预言( prophesy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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25
appalled
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| v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的 | |
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26
revered
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| v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27
assertive
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| adj.果断的，自信的，有冲劲的 | |
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28
liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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30
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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31
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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32
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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33
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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34
luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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35
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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36
shipping
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| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
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37
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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38
anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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39
fume
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| n.(usu pl.)(浓烈或难闻的)烟，气，汽 | |
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40
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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41
bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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42
vocation
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| n.职业，行业 | |
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