Erde mag zuruck in Erde stauben;
Fliegt der Geist doch aus dem morschen Haus.
Seine Asche mag der Sturmwind treiben,
Sein Leben dauert ewig aus!
Elegie.
(Earth may crumble1 back into earth; the Spirit will still escape from its frail2 tenement3. The wind of the storm may scatter4 his ashes; his being endures forever.)
To-morrow!— and it is already twilight5. One after one, the gentle stars come smiling through the heaven. The Seine, in its slow waters, yet trembles with the last kiss of the rosy6 day; and still in the blue sky gleams the spire7 of Notre Dame8; and still in the blue sky looms9 the guillotine by the Barriere du Trone. Turn to that time-worn building, once the church and the convent of the Freres–Precheurs, known by the then holy name of Jacobins; there the new Jacobins hold their club. There, in that oblong hall, once the library of the peaceful monks10, assemble the idolaters of St. Robespierre. Two immense tribunes, raised at either end, contain the lees and dregs of the atrocious populace,— the majority of that audience consisting of the furies of the guillotine (furies de guillotine). In the midst of the hall are the bureau and chair of the president,— the chair long preserved by the piety11 of the monks as the relic12 of St. Thomas Aquinas! Above this seat scowls13 the harsh bust14 of Brutus. An iron lamp and two branches scatter over the vast room a murky15, fuliginous ray, beneath the light of which the fierce faces of that Pandemonium16 seem more grim and haggard. There, from the orator’s tribune, shrieks18 the shrill19 wrath20 of Robespierre!
Meanwhile all is chaos21, disorder22, half daring and half cowardice23, in the Committee of his foes24. Rumours26 fly from street to street, from haunt to haunt, from house to house. The swallows flit low, and the cattle group together before the storm. And above this roar of the lives and things of the little hour, alone in his chamber27 stood he on whose starry28 youth — symbol of the imperishable bloom of the calm Ideal amidst the mouldering29 Actual — the clouds of ages had rolled in vain.
All those exertions30 which ordinary wit and courage could suggest had been tried in vain. All such exertions WERE in vain, where, in that Saturnalia of death, a life was the object. Nothing but the fall of Robespierre could have saved his victims; now, too late, that fall would only serve to avenge31.
Once more, in that last agony of excitement and despair, the seer had plunged32 into solitude33, to invoke34 again the aid or counsel of those mysterious intermediates between earth and heaven who had renounced35 the intercourse36 of the spirit when subjected to the common bondage37 of the mortal. In the intense desire and anguish38 of his heart, perhaps, lay a power not yet called forth39; for who has not felt that the sharpness of extreme grief cuts and grinds away many of those strongest bonds of infirmity and doubt which bind40 down the souls of men to the cabined darkness of the hour; and that from the cloud and thunderstorm often swoops41 the Olympian eagle that can ravish us aloft!
And the invocation was heard,— the bondage of sense was rent away from the visual mind. He looked, and saw,— no, not the being he had called, with its limbs of light and unutterably tranquil42 smile — not his familiar, Adon–Ai, the Son of Glory and the Star, but the Evil Omen43, the dark Chimera44, the implacable Foe25, with exultation45 and malice46 burning in its hell-lit eyes. The Spectre, no longer cowering47 and retreating into shadow, rose before him, gigantic and erect48; the face, whose veil no mortal hand had ever raised, was still concealed49, but the form was more distinct, corporeal50, and cast from it, as an atmosphere, horror and rage and awe51. As an iceberg52, the breath of that presence froze the air; as a cloud, it filled the chamber and blackened the stars from heaven.
“Lo!” said its voice, “I am here once more. Thou hast robbed me of a meaner prey53. Now exorcise THYSELF from my power! Thy life has left thee, to live in the heart of a daughter of the charnel and the worm. In that life I come to thee with my inexorable tread. Thou art returned to the Threshold,— thou, whose steps have trodden the verges54 of the Infinite! And as the goblin of its fantasy seizes on a child in the dark,— mighty55 one, who wouldst conquer Death,— I seize on thee!”
“Back to thy thraldom56, slave! If thou art come to the voice that called thee not, it is again not to command, but to obey! Thou, from whose whisper I gained the boons58 of the lives lovelier and dearer than my own; thou — I command thee, not by spell and charm, but by the force of a soul mightier59 than the malice of thy being,— thou serve me yet, and speak again the secret that can rescue the lives thou hast, by permission of the Universal Master, permitted me to retain awhile in the temple of the clay!”
Brighter and more devouringly60 burned the glare from those lurid61 eyes; more visible and colossal62 yet rose the dilating63 shape; a yet fiercer and more disdainful hate spoke64 in the voice that answered, “Didst thou think that my boon57 would be other than thy curse? Happy for thee hadst thou mourned over the deaths which come by the gentle hand of Nature,— hadst thou never known how the name of mother consecrates65 the face of Beauty, and never, bending over thy first-born, felt the imperishable sweetness of a father’s love! They are saved, for what?— the mother, for the death of violence and shame and blood, for the doomsman’s hand to put aside that shining hair which has entangled66 thy bridegroom kisses; the child, first and last of thine offspring, in whom thou didst hope to found a race that should hear with thee the music of celestial67 harps68, and float, by the side of thy familiar, Adon–Ai, through the azure69 rivers of joy,— the child, to live on a few days as a fungus70 in a burial-vault, a thing of the loathsome71 dungeon72, dying of cruelty and neglect and famine. Ha! ha! thou who wouldst baffle Death, learn how the deathless die if they dare to love the mortal. Now, Chaldean, behold73 my boons! Now I seize and wrap thee with the pestilence74 of my presence; now, evermore, till thy long race is run, mine eyes shall glow into thy brain, and mine arms shall clasp thee, when thou wouldst take the wings of the Morning and flee from the embrace of Night!”
“I tell thee, no! And again I compel thee, speak and answer to the lord who can command his slave. I know, though my lore75 fails me, and the reeds on which I leaned pierce my side,— I know yet that it is written that the life of which I question can be saved from the headsman. Thou wrappest her future in the darkness of thy shadow, but thou canst not shape it. Thou mayest foreshow the antidote76; thou canst not effect the bane. From thee I wring77 the secret, though it torture thee to name it. I approach thee,— I look dauntless into thine eyes. The soul that loves can dare all things. Shadow, I defy thee, and compel!”
The spectre waned78 and recoiled79. Like a vapour that lessens80 as the sun pierces and pervades81 it, the form shrank cowering and dwarfed82 in the dimmer distance, and through the casement83 again rushed the stars.
“Yes,” said the Voice, with a faint and hollow accent, “thou CANST save her from the headsman; for it is written, that sacrifice can save. Ha! ha!” And the shape again suddenly dilated84 into the gloom of its giant stature85, and its ghastly laugh exulted86, as if the Foe, a moment baffled, had regained87 its might. “Ha! ha!— thou canst save her life, if thou wilt88 sacrifice thine own! Is it for this thou hast lived on through crumbling89 empires and countless90 generations of thy race? At last shall Death reclaim91 thee? Wouldst thou save her?— DIE FOR HER! Fall, O stately column, over which stars yet unformed may gleam,— fall, that the herb at thy base may drink a few hours longer the sunlight and the dews! Silent! Art thou ready for the sacrifice? See, the moon moves up through heaven. Beautiful and wise one, wilt thou bid her smile tomorrow on thy headless clay?”
“Back! for my soul, in answering thee from depths where thou canst not hear it, has regained its glory; and I hear the wings of Adon–Ai gliding92 musical through the air.”
He spoke; and, with a low shriek17 of baffled rage and hate, the Thing was gone, and through the room rushed, luminous93 and sudden, the Presence of silvery light.
As the heavenly visitor stood in the atmosphere of his own lustre94, and looked upon the face of the Theurgist with an aspect of ineffable95 tenderness and love, all space seemed lighted from his smile. Along the blue air without, from that chamber in which his wings had halted, to the farthest star in the azure distance, it seemed as if the track of his flight were visible, by a lengthened96 splendour in the air, like the column of moonlight on the sea. Like the flower that diffuses97 perfume as the very breath of its life, so the emanation of that presence was joy. Over the world, as a million times swifter than light, than electricity, the Son of Glory had sped his way to the side of love, his wings had scattered98 delight as the morning scatters99 dew. For that brief moment, Poverty had ceased to mourn, Disease fled from its prey, and Hope breathed a dream of Heaven into the darkness of Despair.
“Thou art right,” said the melodious100 Voice. “Thy courage has restored thy power. Once more, in the haunts of earth, thy soul charms me to thy side. Wiser now, in the moment when thou comprehendest Death, than when thy unfettered spirit learned the solemn mystery of Life; the human affections that thralled and humbled101 thee awhile bring to thee, in these last hours of thy mortality, the sublimest102 heritage of thy race,— the eternity103 that commences from the grave.”
“O Adon–Ai,” said the Chaldean, as, circumfused in the splendour of the visitant, a glory more radiant than human beauty settled round his form, and seemed already to belong to the eternity of which the Bright One spoke, “as men, before they die, see and comprehend the enigmas104 hidden from them before (The greatest poet, and one of the noblest thinkers, of the last age, said, on his deathbed, “Many things obscure to me before, now clear up, and become visible.”— See the ‘Life of Schiller.’), “so in this hour, when the sacrifice of self to another brings the course of ages to its goal, I see the littleness of Life, compared to the majesty105 of Death; but oh, Divine Consoler, even here, even in thy presence, the affections that inspire me, sadden. To leave behind me in this bad world, unaided, unprotected, those for whom I die! the wife! the child!— oh, speak comfort to me in this!”
“And what,” said the visitor, with a slight accent of reproof106 in the tone of celestial pity,—“what, with all thy wisdom and thy starry secrets, with all thy empire of the past, and thy visions of the future; what art thou to the All–Directing and Omniscient107? Canst thou yet imagine that thy presence on earth can give to the hearts thou lovest the shelter which the humblest take from the wings of the Presence that lives in heaven? Fear not thou for their future. Whether thou live or die, their future is the care of the Most High! In the dungeon and on the scaffold looks everlasting108 the Eye of HIM, tenderer than thou to love, wiser than thou to guide, mightier than thou to save!”
Zanoni bowed his head; and when he looked up again, the last shadow had left his brow. The visitor was gone; but still the glory of his presence seemed to shine upon the spot, still the solitary109 air seemed to murmur110 with tremulous delight. And thus ever shall it be with those who have once, detaching themselves utterly111 from life, received the visit of the Angel FAITH. Solitude and space retain the splendour, and it settles like a halo round their graves.
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1
crumble
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| vi.碎裂，崩溃；vt.弄碎，摧毁 | |
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2
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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tenement
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| n.公寓；房屋 | |
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scatter
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| vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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spire
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| n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点 | |
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dame
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| n.女士 | |
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looms
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| n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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relic
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| n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物 | |
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scowls
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| 不悦之色，怒容( scowl的名词复数 ) | |
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bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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murky
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| adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗 | |
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pandemonium
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| n.喧嚣，大混乱 | |
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shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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24
foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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rumours
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| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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28
starry
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| adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的 | |
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29
mouldering
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| v.腐朽( moulder的现在分词 )；腐烂，崩塌 | |
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30
exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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31
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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invoke
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| v.求助于(神、法律)；恳求，乞求 | |
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35
renounced
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| v.声明放弃( renounce的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布放弃；宣布与…决裂；宣布摒弃 | |
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intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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bondage
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| n.奴役，束缚 | |
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38
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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39
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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40
bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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swoops
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| 猛扑，突然下降( swoop的名词复数 ) | |
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tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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omen
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| n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示 | |
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chimera
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| n.神话怪物；梦幻 | |
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exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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cowering
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| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的现在分词 ) | |
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48
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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49
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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50
corporeal
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| adj.肉体的，身体的；物质的 | |
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51
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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iceberg
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| n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人 | |
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53
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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verges
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| 边，边缘，界线( verge的名词复数 ) | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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thraldom
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| n.奴隶的身份，奴役，束缚 | |
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boon
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| n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠 | |
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boons
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| n.恩惠( boon的名词复数 )；福利；非常有用的东西；益处 | |
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mightier
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| adj. 强有力的，强大的，巨大的 adv. 很，极其 | |
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devouringly
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| 贪婪地，贪食地 | |
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lurid
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| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
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colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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dilating
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| v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的现在分词 ) | |
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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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consecrates
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| n.把…奉为神圣，给…祝圣( consecrate的名词复数 )；奉献v.把…奉为神圣，给…祝圣( consecrate的第三人称单数 )；奉献 | |
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entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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harps
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| abbr.harpsichord 拨弦古钢琴n.竖琴( harp的名词复数 ) | |
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azure
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| adj.天蓝色的，蔚蓝色的 | |
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fungus
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| n.真菌，真菌类植物 | |
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loathsome
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| adj.讨厌的，令人厌恶的 | |
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dungeon
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| n.地牢，土牢 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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pestilence
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| n.瘟疫 | |
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lore
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| n.传说；学问，经验，知识 | |
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76
antidote
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| n.解毒药，解毒剂 | |
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77
wring
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| n.扭绞；v.拧，绞出，扭 | |
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waned
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| v.衰落( wane的过去式和过去分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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recoiled
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| v.畏缩( recoil的过去式和过去分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
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lessens
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| 变少( lessen的第三人称单数 )； 减少（某事物） | |
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pervades
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的第三人称单数 ) | |
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dwarfed
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| vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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casement
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| n.竖铰链窗；窗扉 | |
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dilated
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| adj.加宽的，扩大的v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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exulted
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| 狂喜，欢跃( exult的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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wilt
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| v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱 | |
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crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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reclaim
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| v.要求归还，收回；开垦 | |
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gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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lustre
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| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
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ineffable
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| adj.无法表达的，不可言喻的 | |
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lengthened
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| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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diffuses
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| （使光）模糊，漫射，漫散( diffuse的第三人称单数 )； （使）扩散； （使）弥漫； （使）传播 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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scatters
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| v.（使）散开， （使）分散，驱散( scatter的第三人称单数 )；撒 | |
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melodious
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| adj.旋律美妙的，调子优美的，音乐性的 | |
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humbled
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| adj. 卑下的，谦逊的，粗陋的 vt. 使 ... 卑下，贬低 | |
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sublimest
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| 伟大的( sublime的最高级 )； 令人赞叹的； 极端的； 不顾后果的 | |
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eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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enigmas
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| n.难于理解的问题、人、物、情况等，奥秘( enigma的名词复数 ) | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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reproof
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| n.斥责，责备 | |
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omniscient
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| adj.无所不知的；博识的 | |
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everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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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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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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