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diff --git a/1930-0.txt b/1930-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..822c00f --- /dev/null +++ b/1930-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9809 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Penguin Island, by Anatole France + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: Penguin Island + +Author: Anatole France + +Release Date: October, 1999 [eBook #1930] +[Most recently updated: January 21, 2021] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: Aaron Cannon and David Widger + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PENGUIN ISLAND *** + + + + +Penguin Island + +by Anatole France + + +Contents + + BOOK I. THE BEGINNINGS + I. LIFE OF SAINT MAËL + II. THE APOSTOLICAL VOCATION OF SAINT MAËL + III. THE TEMPTATION OF SAINT MAËL + IV. ST. MAËL’S NAVIGATION ON THE OCEAN OF ICE + V. THE BAPTISM OF THE PENGUINS + VI. AN ASSEMBLY IN PARADISE + VII. AN ASSEMBLY IN PARADISE (Continuation and End) + VIII. METAMORPHOSIS OF THE PENGUINS + + BOOK II. THE ANCIENT TIMES + I. THE FIRST CLOTHES + II. THE FIRST CLOTHES (Continuation and End) + III. SETTING BOUNDS TO THE FIELDS AND THE ORIGIN OF PROPERTY + IV. THE FIRST ASSEMBLY OF THE ESTATES OF PENGUINIA + V. THE MARRIAGE OF KRAKEN AND ORBEROSIA + VI. THE DRAGON OF ALCA + VII. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation) + VIII. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation) + IX. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation) + X. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation) + XI. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation) + XII. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation) + XIII. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation and End) + + BOOK III. THE MIDDLE AGES AND THE RENAISSANCE + I. BRIAN THE GOOD AND QUEEN GLAMORGAN + II. DRACO THE GREAT (Translation of the Relics of St. Orberosia) + III. QUEEN CRUCHA + IV. LETTERS: JOHANNES TALPA + V. THE ARTS: THE PRIMITIVES OF PENGUIN PAINTING + VI. MARBODIUS + VII. SIGNS IN THE MOON + + BOOK IV. MODERN TIMES: TRINCO + I. MOTHER ROUQUIN + II. TRINCO + III. THE JOURNEY OF DOCTOR OBNUBILE + + BOOK V. MODERN TIMES: CHATILLON + I. THE REVEREND FATHERS AGARIC AND CORNEMUSE + II. PRINCE CRUCHO + III. THE CABAL + IV. VISCOUNTESS OLIVE + V. THE PRINCE DES BOSCÉNOS + VI. THE EMIRAL’S FALL + VII. CONCLUSION + + BOOK VI. MODERN TIMES. + I. GENERAL GREATAUK, DUKE OF SKULL + II. PYROT + III. COUNT DE MAUBEC DE LA DENTDULYNX + IV. COLOMBAN + V. THE REVEREND FATHERS AGARIC AND CORNEMUSE + VI. THE SEVEN HUNDRED PYROTISTS + VII. BIDAULT-COQUILLE AND MANIFLORE, THE SOCIALISTS + VIII. THE COLOMBAN TRIAL + IX. FATHER DOUILLARD + X. MR. JUSTICE CHAUSSEPIED + XI. CONCLUSION + + BOOK VII. MODERN TIMES + I. MADAME CLARENCE’S DRAWING-ROOM + II. THE CHARITY OF ST. ORBEROSIA + III. HIPPOLYTE CÉRÈS + IV. A POLITICIAN’S MARRIAGE + V. THE VISIRE CABINET + VI. THE SOFA OF THE FAVOURITE + VII. THE FIRST CONSEQUENCES + VIII. FURTHER CONSEQUENCES + IX. THE FINAL CONSEQUENCES + + BOOK VIII. FUTURE TIMES + + + + +BOOK I. THE BEGINNINGS + + + + +I. LIFE OF SAINT MAËL + + +Maël, a scion of a royal family of Cambria, was sent in his ninth year +to the Abbey of Yvern so that he might there study both sacred and +profane learning. At the age of fourteen he renounced his patrimony and +took a vow to serve the Lord. His time was divided, according to the +rule, between the singing of hymns, the study of grammar, and the +meditation of eternal truths. + +A celestial perfume soon disclosed the virtues of the monk throughout +the cloister, and when the blessed Gal, the Abbot of Yvern, departed +from this world into the next, young Maël succeeded him in the +government of the monastery. He established therein a school, an +infirmary, a guest-house, a forge, work-shops of all kinds, and sheds +for building ships, and he compelled the monks to till the lands in the +neighbourhood. With his own hands he cultivated the garden of the +Abbey, he worked in metals, he instructed the novices, and his life was +gently gliding along like a stream that reflects the heaven and +fertilizes the fields. + +At the close of the day this servant of God was accustomed to seat +himself on the cliff, in the place that is to-day still called St. +Maël’s chair. At his feet the rocks bristling with green seaweed and +tawny wrack seemed like black dragons as they faced the foam of the +waves with their monstrous breasts. He watched the sun descending into +the ocean like a red Host whose glorious blood gave a purple tone to +the clouds and to the summits of the waves. And the holy man saw in +this the image of the mystery of the Cross, by which the divine blood +has clothed the earth with a royal purple. In the offing a line of dark +blue marked the shores of the island of Gad, where St. Bridget, who had +been given the veil by St. Malo, ruled over a convent of women. + +Now Bridget, knowing the merits of the venerable Maël, begged from him +some work of his hands as a rich present. Maël cast a hand-bell of +bronze for her and, when it was finished, he blessed it and threw it +into the sea. And the bell went ringing towards the coast of Gad, where +St. Bridget, warned by the sound of the bell upon the waves, received +it piously, and carried it in solemn procession with singing of psalms +into the chapel of the convent. + +Thus the holy Maël advanced from virtue to virtue. He had already +passed through two-thirds of the way of life, and he hoped peacefully +to reach his terrestrial end in the midst of his spiritual brethren, +when he knew by a certain sign that the Divine wisdom had decided +otherwise, and that the Lord was calling him to less peaceful but not +less meritorious labours. + + + + +II. THE APOSTOLICAL VOCATION OF SAINT MAËL + + +One day as he walked in meditation to the furthest point of a tranquil +beach, for which rocks jutting out into the sea formed a rugged dam, he +saw a trough of stone which floated like a boat upon the waters. + +It was in a vessel similar to this that St. Guirec, the great St. +Columba, and so many holy men from Scotland and from Ireland had gone +forth to evangelize Armorica. More recently still, St. Avoye having +come from England, ascended the river Auray in a mortar made of +rose-coloured granite into which children were afterwards placed in +order to make them strong; St. Vouga passed from Hibernia to Cornwall +on a rock whose fragments, preserved at Penmarch, will cure of fever +such pilgrims as place these splinters on their heads. St. Samson +entered the Bay of St. Michael’s Mount in a granite vessel which will +one day be called St. Samson’s basin. It is because of these facts that +when he saw the stone trough the holy Maël understood that the Lord +intended him for the apostolate of the pagans who still peopled the +coast and the Breton islands. + +He handed his ashen staff to the holy Budoc, thus investing him with +the government of the monastery. Then, furnished with bread, a barrel +of fresh water, and the book of the Holy Gospels, he entered the stone +trough which carried him gently to the island of Hœdic. + +This island is perpetually buffeted by the winds. In it some poor men +fished among the clefts of the rocks and labouriously cultivated +vegetables in gardens full of sand and pebbles that were sheltered from +the wind by walls of barren stone and hedges of tamarisk. A beautiful +fig-tree raised itself in a hollow of the island and thrust forth its +branches far and wide. The inhabitants of the island used to worship +it. + +And the holy Maël said to them: “You worship this tree because it is +beautiful. Therefore you are capable of feeling beauty. Now I come to +reveal to you the hidden beauty.” And he taught them the Gospel. And +after having instructed them, he baptized them with salt and water. + +The islands of Morbihan were more numerous in those times than they are +to-day. For since then many have been swallowed up by the sea. St. Maël +evangelized sixty of them. Then in his granite trough he ascended the +river Auray. And after sailing for three hours he landed before a Roman +house. A thin column of smoke went up from the roof. The holy man +crossed the threshold on which there was a mosaic representing a dog +with its hind legs outstretched and its lips drawn back. He was +welcomed by an old couple, Marcus Combabus and Valeria Moerens, who +lived there on the products of their lands. There was a portico round +the interior court the columns of which were painted red, half their +height upwards from the base. A fountain made of shells stood against +the wall and under the portico there rose an altar with a niche in +which the master of the house had placed some little idols made of +baked earth and whitened with whitewash. Some represented winged +children, others Apollo or Mercury, and several were in the form of a +naked woman twisting her hair. But the holy Maël, observing those +figures, discovered among them the image of a young mother holding a +child upon her knees. + +Immediately pointing to that image he said: + +“That is the Virgin, the mother of God. The poet Virgil foretold her in +Sibylline verses before she was born and, in angelical tones he sang +_Jam redit et virgo_. Throughout heathendom prophetic figures of her +have been made, like that which you, O Marcus, have placed upon this +altar. And without doubt it is she who has protected your modest +household. Thus it is that those who faithfully observe the natural law +prepare themselves for the knowledge of revealed truths.” + +Marcus Combabus and Valeria Moerens, having been instructed by this +speech, were converted to the Christian faith. They received baptism +together with their young freedwoman, Caelia Avitella, who was dearer +to them than the light of their eyes. All their tenants renounced +paganism and were baptized on the same day. + +Marcus Combabus, Valeria Moerens, and Caelia Avitella led thenceforth a +life full of merit. They died in the Lord and were admitted into the +canon of the saints. + +For thirty-seven years longer the blessed Maël evangelized the pagans +of the inner lands. He built two hundred and eighteen chapels and +seventy-four abbeys. + +Now on a certain day in the city of Vannes, when he was preaching the +Gospel, he learned that the monks of Yvern had in his absence declined +from the rule of St. Gal. Immediately, with the zeal of a hen who +gathers her brood, he repaired to his erring children. He was then +towards the end of his ninety-seventh year; his figure was bent, but +his arms were still strong, and his speech was poured forth abundantly +like winter snow in the depths of the valleys. + +Abbot Budoc restored the ashen staff to St. Maël and informed him of +the unhappy state into which the Abbey had fallen. The monks were in +disagreement as to the date on which the festival of Easter ought to be +celebrated. Some held for the Roman calendar, others for the Greek +calendar, and the horrors of a chronological schism distracted the +monastery. + +There also prevailed another cause of disorder. The nuns of the island +of Gad, sadly fallen from their former virtue, continually came in +boats to the coast of Yvern. The monks received them in the guesthouse +and from this there arose scandals which filled pious souls with +desolation. + +Having finished his faithful report, Abbot Budoc concluded in these +terms: + +“Since the coming of these nuns the innocence and peace of the monks +are at an end.” + +“I readily believe it,” answered the blessed Maël. “For woman is a +cleverly constructed snare by which we are taken even before we suspect +the trap. Alas! the delightful attraction of these creatures is exerted +with even greater force from a distance than when they are close at +hand. The less they satisfy desire the more they inspire it. This is +the reason why a poet wrote this verse to one of them: + +‘When present I avoid thee, but when away I find thee.’ + + +“Thus we see, my son, that the blandishments of carnal love have more +power over hermits and monks than over men who live in the world. All +through my life the demon of lust has tempted me in various ways, but +his strongest temptations did not come to me from meeting a woman, +however beautiful and fragrant she was. They came to me from the image +of an absent woman. Even now, though full of days and approaching my +ninety-eighth year, I am often led by the Enemy to sin against +chastity, at least in thought. At night when I am cold in my bed and my +frozen old bones rattle together with a dull sound I hear voices +reciting the second verse of the third Book of the Kings: ‘Wherefore +his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a +young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish +him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat,’ +and the devil shows me a girl in the bloom of youth who says to me: ‘I +am thy Abishag; I am thy Shunamite. Make, O my lord, room for me in thy +couch.’ + +“Believe me,” added the old man, “it is only by the special aid of +Heaven that a monk can keep his chastity in act and in intention.” + +Applying himself immediately to restore innocence and peace to the +monastery, he corrected the calendar according to the calculations of +chronology and astronomy and he compelled all the monks to accept his +decision; he sent the women who had declined from St. Bridget’s rule +back to their convent; but far from driving them away brutally, he +caused them to be led to their boat with singing of psalms and +litanies. + +“Let us respect in them,” he said, “the daughters of Bridget and the +betrothed of the Lord. Let us beware lest we imitate the Pharisees who +affect to despise sinners. The sin of these women and not their persons +should be abased, and they should be made ashamed of what they have +done and not of what they are, for they are all creatures of God.” + +And the holy man exhorted his monks to obey faithfully the rule of +their order. + +“When it does not yield to the rudder,” said he to them, “the ship +yields to the rock.” + + + + +III. THE TEMPTATION OF SAINT MAËL + + +The blessed Maël had scarcely restored order in the Abbey of Yvern +before he learned that the inhabitants of the island of Hœdic, his +first catechumens and the dearest of all to his heart, had returned to +paganism, and that they were hanging crowns of flowers and fillets of +wool to the branches of the sacred fig-tree. + +The boatman who brought this sad news expressed a fear that soon those +misguided men might violently destroy the chapel that had been built on +the shore of their island. + +The holy man resolved forthwith to visit his faithless children, so +that he might lead them back to the faith and prevent them from +yielding to such sacrilege. As he went down to the bay where his stone +trough was moored, he turned his eyes to the sheds, then filled with +the noise of saws and of hammers, which, thirty years before, he had +erected on the fringe of that bay for the purpose of building ships. + +At that moment, the Devil, who never tires, went out from the sheds +and, under the appearance of a monk called Samson, he approached the +holy man and tempted him thus: + +“Father, the inhabitants of the island of Hœdic commit sins +unceasingly. Every moment that passes removes them farther from God. +They are soon going to use violence towards the chapel that you have +raised with your own venerable hands on the shore of their island. Time +is pressing. Do you not think that your stone trough would carry you +more quickly towards them if it were rigged like a boat and furnished +with a rudder, a mast, and a sail, for then you would be driven by the +wind? Your arms are still strong and able to steer a small craft. It +would be a good thing, too, to put a sharp stem in front of your +apostolic trough. You are much too clear-sighted not to have thought of +it already.” + +“Truly time is pressing,” answered the holy man. “But to do as you say, +Samson, my son, would it not be to make myself like those men of little +faith who do not trust the Lord? Would it not be to despise the gifts +of Him who has sent me this stone vessel without rigging or sail?” + +This question, the Devil, who is a great theologian, answered by +another. + +“Father, is it praiseworthy to wait, with our arms folded, until help +comes from on high, and to ask everything from Him who can do all +things, instead of acting by human prudence and helping ourselves? + +“It certainly is not,” answered the holy Maël, “and to neglect to act +by human prudence is tempting God.” + +“Well,” urged the Devil, “is it not prudence in this case to rig the +vessel?” + +“It would be prudence if we could not attain our end in any other way.” + +“Is your vessel then so very speedy?” + +“It is as speedy as God pleases.” + +“What do you know about it? It goes like Abbot Budoc’s mule. It is a +regular old tub. Are you forbidden to make it speedier?” + +“My son, clearness adorns your words, but they are unduly +over-confident. Remember that this vessel is miraculous.” + +“It is, father. A granite trough that floats on the water like a cork +is a miraculous trough. There is not the slightest doubt about it. What +conclusion do you draw from that?” + +“I am greatly perplexed. Is it right to perfect so miraculous a machine +by human and natural means?” + +“Father, if you lost your right foot and God restored it to you, would +not that foot be miraculous?” + +“Without doubt, my son.” + +“Would you put a shoe on it?” + +“Assuredly.” + +“Well, then, if you believe that one may cover a miraculous foot with a +natural shoe, you should also believe that we can put natural rigging +on a miraculous boat. That is clear. Alas! Why must the holiest persons +have their moments of weakness and despondency? The most illustrious of +the apostles of Brittany could accomplish works worthy of eternal glory +. . . But his spirit is tardy and his hand is slothful. Farewell then, +father! Travel by short and slow stages and when at last you approach +the coast of Hœdic you will see the smoking ruins of the chapel that +was built and consecrated by your own hands. The pagans will have +burned it and with it the deacon you left there. He will be as +thoroughly roasted as a black pudding.” + +“My trouble is extreme,” said the servant of God, drying with his +sleeve the sweat that gathered upon his brow. “But tell me, Samson, my +son, would not rigging this stone trough be a difficult piece of work? +And if we undertook it might we not lose time instead of gaining it?” + +“Ah! father,” exclaimed the Devil, “in one turning of the hour-glass +the thing would be done. We shall find the necessary rigging in this +shed that you have formerly built here on the coast and in those +store-houses abundantly stocked through your care. I will myself +regulate all the ship’s fittings. Before being a monk I was a sailor +and a carpenter and I have worked at many other trades as well. Let us +to work.” + +Immediately he drew the holy man into an outhouse filled with all +things needful for fitting out a boat. + +“That for you, father!” + +And he placed on his shoulders the sail, the mast, the gaff, and the +boom. + +Then, himself bearing a stem and a rudder with its screw and tiller, +and seizing a carpenter’s bag full of tools, he ran to the shore, +dragging the holy man after him by his habit. The latter was bent, +sweating, and breathless, under the burden of canvas and wood. + + + + +IV. ST. MAËL’S NAVIGATION ON THE OCEAN OF ICE + + +The Devil, having tucked his clothes up to his arm-pits, dragged the +trough on the sand, and fitted the rigging in less than an hour. + +As soon as the holy Maël had embarked, the vessel, with all its sails +set, cleft through the waters with such speed that the coast was almost +immediately out of sight. The old man steered to the south so as to +double the Land’s End, but an irresistible current carried him to the +south-west. He went along the southern coast of Ireland and turned +sharply towards the north. In the evening the wind freshened. In vain +did Maël attempt to furl the sail. The vessel flew distractedly towards +the fabulous seas. + +By the light of the moon the immodest sirens of the North came around +him with their hempen-coloured hair, raising their white throats and +their rose-tinted limbs out of the sea; and beating the water into foam +with their emerald tails, they sang in cadence: + +Whither go’st thou, gentle Maël, +In thy trough distracted? +All distended is thy sail +Like the breast of Juno +When from it gushed the Milky Way. + + +For a moment their harmonious laughter followed him beneath the stars, +but the vessel fled on, a hundred times more swiftly than the red ship +of a Viking. And the petrels, surprised in their flight, clung with +their feet to the hair of the holy man. + +Soon a tempest arose full of darkness and groanings, and the trough, +driven by a furious wind, flew like a sea-mew through the mist and the +surge. + +After a night of three times twenty-four hours the darkness was +suddenly rent and the holy man discovered on the horizon a shore more +dazzling than diamond. The coast rapidly grew larger, and soon by the +glacial light of a torpid and sunken sun, Maël saw, rising above the +waves, the silent streets of a white city, which, vaster than Thebes +with its hundred gates, extended as far as the eye could see the ruins +of its forum built of snow, its palaces of frost, its crystal arches, +and its iridescent obelisks. + +The ocean was covered with floating ice-bergs around which swam men of +the sea of a wild yet gentle appearance. And Leviathan passed by +hurling a column of water up to the clouds. + +Moreover, on a block of ice which floated at the same rate as the stone +trough there was seated a white bear holding her little one in her +arms, and Maël heard her murmuring in a low voice this verse of Virgil, +_Incipe parve puer_. + +And full of sadness and trouble, the old man wept. + +The fresh water had frozen and burst the barrel that contained it. And +Maël was sucking pieces of ice to quench his thirst, and his food was +bread dipped in dirty water. His beard and his hair were broken like +glass. His habit was covered with a layer of ice and cut into him at +every movement of his limbs. Huge waves rose up and opened their +foaming jaws at the old man. Twenty times the boat was filled by masses +of sea. And the ocean swallowed up the book of the Holy Gospels which +the apostle guarded with extreme care in a purple cover marked with a +golden cross. + +Now on the thirtieth day the sea calmed. And lo! with a frightful +clamour of sky and waters a mountain of dazzling whiteness advanced +towards the stone vessel. Maël steered to avoid it, but the tiller +broke in his hands. To lessen the speed of his progress towards the +rock he attempted to reef the sails, but when he tried to knot the +reef-points the wind pulled them away from him and the rope seared his +hands. He saw three demons with wings of black skin having hooks at +their ends, who, hanging from the rigging, were puffing with their +breath against the sails. + +Understanding from this sight that the Enemy had governed him in all +these things, he guarded himself by making the sign of the Cross. +Immediately a furious gust of wind filled with the noise of sobs and +howls struck the stone trough, carried off the mast with all the sails, +and tore away the rudder and the stem. + +The trough was drifting on the sea, which had now grown calm. The holy +man knelt and gave thanks to the Lord who had delivered him from the +snares of the demon. Then he recognised, sitting on a block of ice, the +mother bear who had spoken during the storm. She pressed her beloved +child to her bosom, and in her hand she held a purple book marked with +a golden cross. Hailing the granite trough, she saluted the holy man +with these words: + +_“Pax tibi Maël.”_ + + +And she held out the book to him. + +The holy man recognised his evangelistary, and, full of astonishment, +he sang in the tepid air a hymn to the Creator and His creation. + + + + +V. THE BAPTISM OF THE PENGUINS + + +After having drifted for an hour the holy man approached a narrow +strand, shut in by steep mountains. He went along the coast for a whole +day and a night, passing around the reef which formed an insuperable +barrier. He discovered in this way that it was a round island in the +middle of which rose a mountain crowned with clouds. He joyfully +breathed the fresh breath of the moist air. Rain fell, and this rain +was so pleasant that the holy man said to the Lord: + +“Lord, this is the island of tears, the island of contrition.” + +The strand was deserted. Worn out with fatigue and hunger, he sat down +on a rock in the hollow of which there lay some yellow eggs, marked +with black spots, and about as large as those of a swan. But he did not +touch them, saying: + +“Birds are the living praises of God. I should not like a single one of +these praises to be lacking through me.” + +And he munched the lichens which he tore from the crannies of the +rocks. + +The holy man had gone almost entirely round the island without meeting +any inhabitants, when he came to a vast amphitheatre formed of black +and red rocks whose summits became tinged with blue as they rose +towards the clouds, and they were filled with sonorous cascades. + +The reflection from the polar ice had hurt the old man’s eyes, but a +feeble gleam of light still shone through his swollen eyelids. He +distinguished animated forms which filled the rocks, in stages, like a +crowd of men on the tiers of an amphitheatre. And at the same time, his +ears, deafened by the continual noises of the sea, heard a feeble sound +of voices. Thinking that what he saw were men living under the natural +law, and that the Lord had sent him to teach them the Divine law, he +preached the gospel to them. + +Mounted on a lofty stone in the midst of the wild circus: + +“Inhabitants of this island,” said he, “although you be of small +stature, you look less like a band of fishermen and mariners than like +the senate of a judicious republic. By your gravity, your silence, your +tranquil deportment, you form on this wild rock an assembly comparable +to the Conscript Fathers at Rome deliberating in the temple of Victory, +or rather, to the philosophers of Athens disputing on the benches of +the Areopagus. Doubtless you possess neither their science nor their +genius, but perhaps in the sight of God you are their superiors. I +believe that you are simple and good. As I went round your island I saw +no image of murder, no sign of carnage, no enemies’ heads or scalps +hung from a lofty pole or nailed to the doors of your villages. You +appear to me to have no arts and not to work in metals. But your hearts +are pure and your hands are innocent, and the truth will easily enter +into your souls.” + +Now what he had taken for men of small stature but of grave bearing +were penguins whom the spring had gathered together, and who were +ranged in couples on the natural steps of the rock, erect in the +majesty of their large white bellies. From moment to moment they moved +their winglets like arms, and uttered peaceful cries. They did not fear +men, for they did not know them, and had never received any harm from +them; and there was in the monk a certain gentleness that reassured the +most timid animals and that pleased these penguins extremely. With a +friendly curiosity they turned towards him their little round eyes +lengthened in front by a white oval spot that gave something odd and +human to their appearance. + +Touched by their attention, the holy man taught them the Gospel. + +“Inhabitants of this island, the earthly day that has just risen over +your rocks is the image of the heavenly day that rises in your souls. +For I bring you the inner light; I bring you the light and heat of the +soul. Just as the sun melts the ice of your mountains so Jesus Christ +will melt the ice of your hearts.” + +Thus the old man spoke. As everywhere throughout nature voice calls to +voice, as all which breathes in the light of day loves alternate +strains, these penguins answered the old man by the sounds of their +throats. And their voices were soft, for it was the season of their +loves. + +The holy man, persuaded that they belonged to some idolatrous people +and that in their own language they gave adherence to the Christian +faith, invited them to receive baptism. + +“I think,” said he to them, “that you bathe often, for all the hollows +of the rocks are full of pure water, and as I came to your assembly I +saw several of you plunging into these natural baths. Now purity of +body is the image of spiritual purity.” + +And he taught them the origin, the nature, and the effects of baptism. + +“Baptism,” said he to them, “is Adoption, New Birth, Regeneration, +Illumination.” + +And he explained each of these points to them in succession. + +Then, having previously blessed the water that fell from the cascades +and recited the exorcisms, he baptized those whom he had just taught, +pouring on each of their heads a drop of pure water and pronouncing the +sacred words. + +And thus for three days and three nights he baptized the birds. + + + + +VI. AN ASSEMBLY IN PARADISE + + +When the baptism of the penguins was known in Paradise, it caused +neither joy nor sorrow, but an extreme surprise. The Lord himself was +embarrassed. He gathered an assembly of clerics and doctors, and asked +them whether they regarded the baptism as valid. + +“It is void,” said St. Patrick. + +“Why is it void?” asked St. Gal, who had evangelized the people of +Cornwall and had trained the holy Maël for his apostolical labours. + +“The sacrament of baptism,” answered St. Patrick, “is void when it is +given to birds, just as the sacrament of marriage is void when it is +given to a eunuch.” + +But St. Gal replied: + +“What relation do you claim to establish between the baptism of a bird +and the marriage of a eunuch? There is none at all. Marriage is, if I +may say so, a conditional, a contingent sacrament. The priest blesses +an event beforehand; it is evident that if the act is not consummated +the benediction remains without effect. That is obvious. I have known +on earth, in the town of Antrim, a rich man named Sadoc, who, living in +concubinage with a woman, caused her to be the mother of nine children. +In his old age, yielding to my reproofs, he consented to marry her, and +I blessed their union. Unfortunately Sadoc’s great age prevented him +from consummating the marriage. A short time afterwards he lost all his +property, and Germaine (that was the name of the woman), not feeling +herself able to endure poverty, asked for the annulment of a marriage +which was no reality. The Pope granted her request, for it was just. So +much for marriage. But baptism is conferred without restrictions or +reserves of any kind. There is no doubt about it, what the penguins +have received is a sacrament.” + +Called to give his opinion, Pope St. Damascus expressed himself in +these terms: + +“In order to know if a baptism is valid and will produce its result, +that is to say, sanctification, it is necessary to consider who gives +it and not who receives it. In truth, the sanctifying virtue of this +sacrament results from the exterior act by which it is conferred, +without the baptized person cooperating in his own sanctification by +any personal act; if it were otherwise it would not be administered to +the newly born. And there is no need, in order to baptize, to fulfil +any special condition; it is not necessary to be in a state of grace; +it is sufficient to have the intention of doing what the Church does, +to pronounce the consecrated words and to observe the prescribed forms. +Now we cannot doubt that the venerable Maël has observed these +conditions. Therefore the penguins are baptized.” + +“Do you think so?” asked St. Guénolé. “And what then do you believe +that baptism really is? Baptism is the process of regeneration by which +man is born of water and of the spirit, for having entered the water +covered with crimes, he goes out of it a neophyte, a new creature, +abounding in the fruits of righteousness; baptism is the seed of +immortality; baptism is the pledge of the resurrection; baptism is the +burying with Christ in His death and participation in His departure +from the sepulchre. That is not a gift to bestow upon birds. Reverend +Fathers, let us consider. Baptism washes away original sin; now the +penguins were not conceived in sin. It removes the penalty of sin; now +the penguins have not sinned. It produces grace and the gift of +virtues, uniting Christians to Jesus Christ, as the members to the +body, and it is obvious to the senses that penguins cannot acquire the +virtues of confessors, of virgins, and of widows, or receive grace and +be united to—” + +St. Damascus did not allow him to finish. + +“That proves,” said he warmly, “that the baptism was useless; it does +not prove that it was not effective.” + +“But by this reasoning,” said St. Guénolé, “one might baptize in the +name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, by aspersion or +immersion, not only a bird or a quadruped, but also an inanimate +object, a statue, a table, a chair, etc. That animal would be +Christian, that idol, that table would be Christian! It is absurd!” + +St. Augustine began to speak. There was a great silence. + +“I am going,” said the ardent bishop of Hippo, “to show you, by an +example, the power of formulas. It deals, it is true, with a diabolical +operation. But if it be established that formulas taught by the Devil +have effect upon unintelligent animals or even on inanimate objects, +how can we longer doubt that the effect of the sacramental formulas +extends to the minds of beasts and even to inert matter? + +“This is the example. There was during my lifetime in the town of +Madaura, the birthplace of the philosopher Apuleius, a witch who was +able to attract men to her chamber by burning a few of their hairs +along with certain herbs upon her tripod, pronouncing at the same time +certain words. Now one day when she wished by this means to gain the +love of a young man, she was deceived by her maid, and instead of the +young man’s hairs, she burned some hairs pulled from a leather bottle, +made out of a goatskin that hung in a tavern. During the night the +leather bottle, full of wine, capered through the town up to the +witch’s door. This fact is undoubted. And in sacraments as in +enchantments it is the form which operates. The effect of a divine +formula cannot be less in power and extent than the effect of an +infernal formula.” + +Having spoken in this fashion the great St. Augustine sat down amidst +applause. + +One of the blessed, of an advanced age and having a melancholy +appearance, asked permission to speak. No one knew him. His name was +Probus, and he was not enrolled in the canon of the saints. + +“I beg the company’s pardon,” said he, “I have no halo, and I gained +eternal blessedness without any eminent distinction. But after what the +great St. Augustine has just told you I believe it right to impart a +cruel experience, which I had, relative to the conditions necessary for +the validity of a sacrament. The bishop of Hippo is indeed right in +what he said. A sacrament depends on the form; its virtue is in its +form; its vice is in its form. Listen, confessors and pontiffs, to my +woeful story. I was a priest in Rome under the rule of the Emperor +Gordianus. Without desiring to recommend myself to you for any special +merit, I may say that I exercised my priesthood with piety and zeal. +For forty years I served the church of St. Modestus-beyond-the-Walls. +My habits were regular. Every Saturday I went to a tavern-keeper called +Barjas, who dwelt with his wine-jars under the Porta Capena, and from +him I bought the wine that I consecrated daily throughout the week. +During that long space of time I never failed for a single morning to +consecrate the holy sacrifice of the mass. However, I had no joy, and +it was with a heart oppressed by sorrow that, on the steps of the altar +I used to ask, ‘Why art thou so heavy, O my soul, and why art thou so +disquieted within me?’ The faithful whom I invited to the holy table +gave me cause for affliction, for having, so to speak, the Host that I +administered still upon their tongues, they fell again into sin just as +if the sacrament had been without power or efficacy. At last I reached +the end of my earthly trials, and failing asleep in the Lord, I awoke +in this abode of the elect. I learned then from the mouth of the angel +who brought me here, that Barjas, the tavern-keeper of the Porta +Capena, had sold for wine a decoction of roots and barks in which there +was not a single drop of the juice of the grape. I had been unable to +transmute this vile brew into blood, for it was not wine, and wine +alone is changed into the blood of Jesus Christ. Therefore all my +consecrations were invalid, and unknown to us, my faithful and myself +had for forty years been deprived of the sacrament and were in fact in +a state of excommunication. This revelation threw me into a stupor +which overwhelms me even to-day in this abode of bliss. I go all +through Paradise without ever meeting a single one of those Christians +whom formerly I admitted to the holy table in the basilica of the +blessed Modestus. Deprived of the bread of angels, they easily gave way +to the most abominable vices, and they have all gone to hell. It gives +me some satisfaction to think that Barjas, the tavern-keeper, is +damned. There is in these things a logic worthy of the author of all +logic. Nevertheless my unhappy example proves that it is sometimes +inconvenient that form should prevail over essence in the sacraments, +and I humbly ask, Could not, eternal wisdom remedy this?” + +“No,” answered the Lord. “The remedy would be worse than the disease. +It would be the ruin of the priesthood if essence prevailed over form +in the laws of salvation.” + +“Alas! Lord,” sighed the humble Probus. “Be persuaded by my humble +experience; as long as you reduce your sacraments to formulas your +justice will meet with terrible obstacles.” + +“I know that better than you do,” replied the Lord. “I see in a single +glance both the actual problems which are difficult, and the future +problems which will not be less difficult. Thus I can foretell that +when the sun will have turned round the earth two hundred and forty +times more. + +“Sublime language,” exclaimed the angels. + +“And worthy of the creator of the world,” answered the pontiffs. + +“It is,” resumed the Lord, “a manner of speaking in accordance with my +old cosmogony and one which I cannot give up without losing my +immutability. . . . + +“After the sun, then, will have turned another two hundred and forty +times round the earth, there will not be a single cleric left in Rome +who knows Latin. When they sing their litanies in the churches people +will invoke Orichel, Roguel, and Totichel, and, as you know, these are +devils and not angels. Many robbers desiring to make their communions, +but fearing that before obtaining pardon they would be forced to give +up the things they had robbed to the Church, will make their +confessions to travelling priests, who, ignorant of both Italian and +Latin, and only speaking the _patois_ of their village, will go through +cities and towns selling the remission of sins for a base price, often +for a bottle of wine. Probably we shall not be inconvenienced by those +absolutions as they will want contrition to make them valid, but it may +be that their baptisms will cause us some embarrassment. The priests +will become so ignorant that they will baptize children _in nomine +patria et filia et spirita sancta_, as Louis de Potter will take a +pleasure in relating in the third volume of his ‘Philosophical, +Political, and Critical History of Christianity.’ It will be an arduous +question to decide on the validity of such baptisms; for even if in my +sacred writings I tolerate a Greek less elegant than Plato’s and a +scarcely Ciceronian Latin, I cannot possibly admit a piece of pure +_patois_ as a liturgical formula. And one shudders when one thinks that +millions of new-born babes will be baptized by this method. But let us +return to our penguins.” + +“Your divine words, Lord, have already led us back to them,” said St. +Gal. “In the signs of religion and the laws of salvation form +necessarily prevails over essence, and the validity of a sacrament +solely depends upon its form. The whole question is whether the +penguins have been baptized with the proper forms. Now there is no +doubt about the answer.” + +The fathers and the doctors agreed, and their perplexity became only +the more cruel. + +“The Christian state,” said St. Cornelius, “is not without serious +inconveniences for a penguin. In it the birds are obliged to work out +their own salvation. How can they succeed? The habits of birds are, in +many points, contrary to the commandments of the Church, and the +penguins have no reason for changing theirs. I mean that they are not +intelligent enough to give up their present habits and assume better.” + +“They cannot,” said the Lord; “my decrees prevent them.” + +“Nevertheless,” resumed St. Cornelius, “in virtue of their baptism +their actions no longer remain indifferent. Henceforth they will be +good or bad, susceptible of merit or of demerit.” + +“That is precisely the question we have to deal with,” said the Lord. + +“I see only one solution,” said St. Augustine. “The penguins will go to +hell.” + +“But they have no soul,” observed St. Irenaeus. + +“It is a pity,” sighed Tertullian. + +“It is indeed,” resumed St. Gal. “And I admit that my disciple, the +holy Maël, has, in his blind zeal, created great theological +difficulties for the Holy Spirit and introduced disorder into the +economy of mysteries.” + +“He is an old blunderer,” cried St. Adjutor of Alsace, shrugging his +shoulders. + +But the Lord cast a reproachful look on Adjutor. + +“Allow me to speak,” said he; “the holy Maël has not intuitive +knowledge like you, my blessed ones. He does not see me. He is an old +man burdened by infirmities; he is half deaf and three parts blind. You +are too severe on him. However, I recognise that the situation is an +embarrassing one.” + +“Luckily it is but a passing disorder,” said St. Irenaeus. “The +penguins are baptized, but their eggs are not, and the evil will stop +with the present generation.” + +“Do not speak thus, Irenaeus my son,” said the Lord. “There are +exceptions to the laws that men of science lay down on the earth +because they are imperfect and have not an exact application to nature. +But the laws that I establish are perfect and suffer no exception. We +must decide the fate of the baptized penguins without violating any +divine law, and in a manner conformable to the decalogue as well as to +the commandments of my Church.” + +“Lord,” said St. Gregory Nazianzen, “give them an immortal soul.” + +“Alas! Lord, what would they do with it,” sighed Lactantius. “They have +not tuneful voices to sing your praises. They would not be able to +celebrate your mysteries.” + +“Without doubt,” said St. Augustine, “they would not observe the divine +law.” + +“They could not,” said the Lord. + +“They could not,” continued St. Augustine. “And if, Lord, in your +wisdom, you pour an immortal soul into them, they will burn eternally +in hell in virtue of your adorable decrees. Thus will the transcendent +order, that this old Welshman has disturbed, be re-established.” + +“You propose a correct solution to me, son of Monica,” said the Lord, +“and one that accords with my wisdom. But it does not satisfy my mercy. +And, although in my essence I am immutable, the longer I endure, the +more I incline to mildness. This change of character is evident to +anyone who reads my two Testaments.” + +As the discussion continued without much light being thrown upon the +matter and as the blessed showed a disposition to keep repeating the +same thing, it was decided to consult St. Catherine of Alexandria. This +is what was usually done in such cases. St. Catherine while on earth +had confounded fifty very learned doctors. She knew Plato’s philosophy +in addition to the Holy Scriptures, and she also possessed a knowledge +of rhetoric. + + + + +VII. AN ASSEMBLY IN PARADISE +(_Continuation and End_) + + +St. Catherine entered the assembly, her head encircled by a crown of +emeralds, sapphires, and pearls, and she was clad in a robe of cloth of +gold. She carried at her side a blazing wheel, the image of the one +whose fragments had struck her persecutors. + +The Lord having invited her to speak, she expressed herself in these +terms: + +“Lord, in order to solve the problem you deign to submit to me I shall +not study the habits of animals in general nor those of birds in +particular. I shall only remark to the doctors, confessors, and +pontiffs gathered in this assembly that the separation between man and +animal is not complete since there are monsters who proceed from both. +Such are chimeras—half nymphs and half serpents; such are the three +Gorgons and the Capripeds; such are the Scyllas and the Sirens who sing +in the sea. These have a woman’s breast and a fish’s tail. Such also +are the Centaurs, men down to the waist and the remainder horses. They +are a noble race of monsters. One of them, as you know, was able, +guided by the light of reason alone, to direct his steps towards +eternal blessedness, and you sometimes see his heroic bosom prancing on +the clouds. Chiron, the Centaur, deserved for his works on the earth to +share the abode of the blessed; he it was who gave Achilles his +education; and that young hero, when he left the Centaur’s hands, lived +for two years, dressed as a young girl, among the daughters of King +Lycomedes. He shared their games and their bed without allowing any +suspicion to arise that he was not a young virgin like them. Chiron, +who taught him such good morals, is, with the Emperor Trajan, the only +righteous man who obtained celestial glory by following the law of +nature. And yet he was but half human. + +“I think I have proved by this example that, to reach eternal +blessedness, it is enough to possess some parts of humanity, always on +the condition that they are noble. And what Chiron, the Centaur, could +obtain without having been regenerated by baptism, would not the +penguins deserve too, if they became half penguins and half men? That +is why, Lord, I entreat you to give old Maël’s penguins a human head +and breast so that they can praise you worthily. And grant them also an +immortal soul—but one of small size.” + +Thus Catherine spoke, and the fathers, doctors, confessors, and +pontiffs heard her with a murmur of approbation. + +But St. Anthony, the Hermit, arose and stretching two red and knotty +arms towards the Most High: + +“Do not so, O Lord God,” he cried, “in the name of your holy Paraclete, +do not so!” + +He spoke with such vehemence that his long white beard shook on his +chin like the empty nose-bag of a hungry horse. + +“Lord, do not so. Birds with human heads exist already. St. Catherine +has told us nothing new.” + +“The imagination groups and compares; it never creates,” replied St. +Catherine drily. + +“They exist already,” continued St. Antony, who would listen to +nothing. “They are called harpies, and they are the most obscene +animals in creation. One day as I was having supper in the desert with +the Abbot St. Paul, I placed the table outside my cabin under an old +sycamore tree. The harpies came and sat in its branches; they deafened +us with their shrill cries and cast their excrement over all our food. +The clamour of the monsters prevented me from listening to the teaching +of the Abbot St. Paul, and we ate birds’ dung with our bread and +lettuces. Lord, it is impossible to believe that harpies could give +thee worthy praise. + +“Truly in my temptations I have seen many hybrid beings, not only +women-serpents and women-fishes, but beings still more confusedly +formed such as men whose bodies were made out of a pot, a bell, a +clock, a cupboard full of food and crockery, or even out of a house +with doors and windows through which people engaged in their domestic +tasks could be seen. Eternity would not suffice were I to describe all +the monsters that assailed me in my solitude, from whales rigged like +ships to a shower of red insects which changed the water of my fountain +into blood. But none were as disgusting as the harpies whose offal +polluted the leaves of my sycamore.” + +“Harpies,” observed Lactantius, “are female Monsters with birds’ +bodies. They have a woman’s head and breast. Their forwardness, their +shamelessness, and their obscenity proceed from their female nature as +the poet Virgil demonstrated in his ‘Æneid.’ They share the curse of +Eve.” + +“Let us not speak of the curse of Eve,” said the Lord. “The second Eve +has redeemed the first.” + +Paul Orosius, the author of a universal history that Bossuet was to +imitate in later years, arose and prayed to the Lord: + +“Lord, hear my prayer and Anthony’s. Do not make any more monsters like +the Centaurs, Sirens, and Fauns, whom the Greeks, those collectors of +fables, loved. You will derive no satisfaction from them. Those species +of monsters have pagan inclinations and their double nature does not +dispose them to purity of morals.” + +The bland Lactantius replied in these terms: + +“He who has just spoken is assuredly the best historian in Paradise, +for Herodotus, Thucydides, Polybius, Livy, Velleius Paterculus, +Cornelius Nepos, Suetonius, Manetho, Diodorus Siculus, Dion Cassius, +and Lampridius are deprived of the sight of God, and Tacitus suffers in +hell the torments that are reserved for blasphemers. But Paul Orosius +does not know heaven as well as he knows the earth, for he does not +seem to bear in mind that the angels, who proceed from man and bird, +are purity itself.” + +“We are wandering,” said the Eternal. “What have we to do with all +those centaurs, harpies, and angels? We have to deal with penguins.” + +“You have spoken to the point, Lord,” said the chief of the fifty +doctors, who, during their mortal life had been confounded by the +Virgin of Alexandria, “and I dare express the opinion that, in order to +put an end to the scandal by which heaven is now stirred, old Maël’s +penguins should, as St. Catherine who confounded us has proposed, be +given half of a human body with an eternal soul proportioned to that +half.” + +At this speech there arose in the assembly a great noise of private +conversations and disputes of the doctors. The Greek fathers argued +with the Latins concerning the substance, nature, and dimensions of the +soul that should be given to the penguins. + +“Confessors and pontiffs,” exclaimed the Lord, “do not imitate the +conclaves and synods of the earth. And do not bring into the Church +Triumphant those violences that trouble the Church Militant. For it is +but too true that in all the councils held under the inspiration of my +spirit, in Europe, in Asia, and in Africa, fathers have torn the beards +and scratched the eyes of other fathers. Nevertheless they were +infallible, for I was with them.” + +Order being restored, old Hermas arose and slowly uttered these words: + +“I will praise you, Lord, for that you caused my mother, Saphira, to be +born amidst your people, in the days when the dew of heaven refreshed +the earth which was in travail with its Saviour. And will praise you, +Lord, for having granted to me to see with my mortal eyes the Apostles +of your divine Son. And I will speak in this illustrious assembly +because you have willed that truth should proceed out of the mouths of +the humble, and I will say: ‘Change these penguins to men. It is the +only determination conformable to your justice and your mercy.’” + +Several doctors asked permission to speak, others began to do so. No +one listened, and all the confessors were tumultuously shaking their +palms and their crowns. + +The Lord, by a gesture of his right hand, appeased the quarrels of his +elect. + +“Let us not deliberate any longer,” said he. “The opinion broached by +gentle old Hermas is the only one conformable to my eternal designs. +These birds will be changed into men. I foresee in this several +disadvantages. Many of those men will commit sins they would not have +committed as penguins. Truly their fate through this change will be far +less enviable than if they had been without this baptism and this +incorporation into the family of Abraham. But my foreknowledge must not +encroach upon their free will. + +“In order not to impair human liberty, I will be ignorant of what I +know, I will thicken upon my eyes the veils I have pierced, and in my +blind clearsightedness I will let myself be surprised by what I have +foreseen.” + +And immediately calling the archangel Raphael: + +“Go and find the holy Maël,” said he to him; “inform him of his mistake +and tell him, armed with my Name, to change these penguins into men.” + + + + +VIII. METAMORPHOSIS OF THE PENGUINS + + +The archangel, having gone down into the Island of the Penguins, found +the holy man asleep in the hollow of a rock surrounded by his new +disciples. He laid his hand on his shoulder and, having waked him, said +in a gentle voice: + +“Maël, fear not!” + +The holy man, dazzled by a vivid light, inebriated by a delicious +odour, recognised the angel of the Lord, and prostrated himself with +his forehead on the ground. + +The angel continued: + +“Maël, know thy error, believing that thou wert baptizing children of +Adam thou hast baptized birds; and it is, through thee that penguins +have entered into the Church of God.” + +At these words the old man remained stupefied. + +And the angel resumed: + +“Arise, Maël, arm thyself with the mighty Name of the Lord, and say to +these birds, ‘Be ye men!’” + +And the holy Maël, having wept and prayed, armed himself with the +mighty Name of the Lord and said to the birds: + +“Be ye men!” + +Immediately the penguins were transformed. Their foreheads enlarged and +their heads grew round like the dome of St. Maria Rotunda in Rome. +Their oval eyes opened more widely on the universe; a fleshy nose +clothed the two clefts of their nostrils; their beaks were changed into +mouths, and from their mouths went forth speech; their necks grew short +and thick; their wings became arms and their claws legs; a restless +soul dwelt within the breast of each of them. + +However, there remained with them some traces of their first nature. +They were inclined to look sideways; they balanced themselves on their +short thighs; their bodies were covered with fine down. + +And Maël gave thanks to the Lord, because he had incorporated these +penguins into the family of Abraham. + +But he grieved at the thought that he would soon leave the island to +come back no more, and that perhaps when he was far away the faith of +the penguins would perish for want of care like a young and tender +plant. + +And he formed the idea of transporting their island to the coasts of +Armorica. + +“I know not the designs of eternal Wisdom,” said he to himself. “But if +God wills that this island be transported, who could prevent it?” + +And the holy man made a very fine cord about forty feet long out of the +flax of his stole. He fastened one end of the cord round a point of +rock that jutted up through the sand of the shore and, holding the +other end of the cord in his hand, he entered the stone trough. + +The trough glided over the sea and towed Penguin Island behind it; +after nine days’ sailing it approached the Breton coast, bringing the +island with it. + + + + +BOOK II. THE ANCIENT TIMES + + + + +I. THE FIRST CLOTHES + + +One day St. Maël was sitting by the seashore on a warm stone that he +found. He thought it had been warmed by the sun and he gave thanks to +God for it, not knowing that the Devil had been resting on it. The +apostle was waiting for the monks of Yvern who had been commissioned to +bring a freight of skins and fabrics to clothe the inhabitants of the +island of Alca. + +Soon he saw a monk called Magis coming ashore and carrying a chest upon +his back. This monk enjoyed a great reputation for holiness. + +When he had drawn near to the old man he laid the chest on the ground +and wiping his forehead with the back of his sleeve, he said: + +“Well, father, you wish then to clothe these penguins?” + +“Nothing is more needful, my son,” said the old man. “Since they have +been incorporated into the family of Abraham these penguins share the +curse of Eve, and they know that they are naked, a thing of which they +were ignorant before. And it is high time to clothe them, for they are +losing the down that remained on them after their metamorphosis.” + +“It is true,” said Magis as he cast his eyes over the coast where the +penguins were to be seen looking for shrimps, gathering mussels, +singing, or sleeping, “they are naked. But do you not think, father, +that it would be better to leave them naked? Why clothe them? When they +wear clothes and are under the moral law they will assume an immense +pride, a vile hypocrisy, and an excessive cruelty.” + +“Is it possible, my son,” sighed the old man, “that you understand so +badly the effects of the moral law to which even the heathen submit?” + +“The moral law,” answered Magis, “forces men who are beasts to live +otherwise than beasts, a thing that doubtless puts a constraint upon +them, but that also flatters and reassures them; and as they are proud, +cowardly, and covetous of pleasure, they willingly submit to restraints +that tickle their vanity and on which they found both their present +security and the hope of their future happiness. That is the principle +of all morality. . . . But let us not mislead ourselves. My companions +are unloading their cargo of stuffs and skins on the island. Think, +father, while there is still time! To clothe the penguins is a very +serious business. At present when a penguin desires a penguin he knows +precisely what he desires and his lust is limited by an exact knowledge +of its object. At this moment two or three couples of penguins are +making love on the beach. See with what simplicity! No one pays any +attention and the actors themselves do not seem to be greatly +preoccupied. But when the female penguins are clothed, the male penguin +will not form so exact a notion of what it is that attracts him to +them. His indeterminate desires will fly out into all sorts of dreams +and illusions; in short, father, he will know love and its mad +torments. And all the time the female penguins will cast down their +eyes and bite their lips, and take on airs as if they kept a treasure +under their clothes! . . . what a pity! + +“The evil will be endurable as long as these people remain rude and +poor; but only wait for a thousand years and you will see, father, with +what powerful weapons you have endowed the daughters of Alca. If you +will allow me, I can give you some idea of it beforehand. I have some +old clothes in this chest. Let us take at hazard one of these female +penguins to whom the male penguins give such little thought, and let us +dress her as well as we can. + +“Here is one coming towards us. She is neither more beautiful nor +uglier than the others; she is young. No one looks at her. She strolls +indolently along the shore, scratching her back and with her finger at +her nose as she walks. You cannot help seeing, father, that she has +narrow shoulders, clumsy breasts, a stout figure, and short legs. Her +reddish knees pucker at every step she takes, and there is, at each of +her joints, what looks like a little monkey’s head. Her broad and +sinewy feet cling to the rock with their four crooked toes, while the +great toes stick up like the heads of two cunning serpents. She begins +to walk, all her muscles are engaged in the task, and, when we see them +working, we think of her as a machine intended for walking rather than +as a machine intended for making love, although visibly she is both, +and contains within herself several other pieces of machinery, besides. +Well, venerable apostle, you will see what I am going to make of her.” + +With these words the monk, Magis, reached the female penguin in three +bounds, lifted her up, carried her in his arms with her hair trailing +behind her, and threw her, overcome with fright, at the feet of the +holy Maël. + +And whilst she wept and begged him to do her no harm, he took a pair of +sandals out of his chest and commanded her to put them on. + +“Her feet,” observed the old man, “will appear smaller when squeezed in +by the woollen cords. The soles, being two fingers high, will give an +elegant length to her legs and the weight they bear will seem +magnified.” + +As the penguin tied on her sandals she threw a curious look towards the +open coffer, and seeing that it was full of jewels and finery, she +smiled through her tears. + +The monk twisted her hair on the back of her head and covered it with a +chaplet of flowers. He encircled her wrist with golden bracelets and +making her stand upright, he passed a large linen band beneath her +breasts, alleging that her bosom would thereby derive a new dignity and +that her sides would be compressed to the greater glory of her hips. + +He fixed this band with pins, taking them one by one out of his mouth. + +“You can tighten it still more,” said the penguin. + +When he had, with much care and study, enclosed the soft parts of her +bust in this way, he covered her whole body with a rose-coloured tunic +which gently followed the lines of her figure. + +“Does it hang well?” asked the penguin. + +And bending forward with her head on one side and her chin on her +shoulder, she kept looking attentively at the appearance of her toilet. + +Magis asked her if she did not think the dress a little long, but she +answered with assurance that it was not—she would hold it up. + +Immediately, taking the back of her skirt in her left hand, she drew it +obliquely across her hips, taking care to disclose a glimpse of her +heels. Then she went away, walking with short steps and swinging her +hips. + +She did not turn her head, but as she passed near a stream she glanced +out of the corner of her eye at her own reflection. + +A male penguin, who met her by chance, stopped in surprise, and +retracing his steps began to follow her. As she went along the shore, +others coming back from fishing, went up to her, and after looking at +her, walked behind her. Those who were lying on the sand got up and +joined the rest. + +Unceasingly, as she advanced, fresh penguins, descending from the paths +of the mountain, coming out of clefts of the rocks, and emerging from +the water, added to the size of her retinue. + +And all of them, men of ripe age with vigorous shoulders and hairy +breasts, agile youths, old men shaking the multitudinous wrinkles of +their rosy, and white-haired skins, or dragging their legs thinner and +drier than the juniper staff that served them as a third leg, hurried +on, panting and emitting an acrid odour and hoarse gasps. Yet she went +on peacefully and seemed to see nothing. + +“Father,” cried Magis, “notice how each one advances with his nose +pointed towards the centre of gravity of that young damsel now that the +centre is covered by a garment. The sphere inspires the meditations of +geometers by the number of its properties. When it proceeds from a +physical and living nature it acquires new qualities, and in order that +the interest of that figure might be fully revealed to the penguins it +was necessary that, ceasing to see it distinctly with their eyes, they +should be led to represent it to themselves in their minds. I myself +feel at this moment irresistibly attracted towards that penguin. +Whether it be because her skirt gives more importance to her hips, and +that in its simple magnificence it invests them with a synthetic and +general character and allows only the pure idea, the divine principle, +of them to be seen, whether this be the cause I cannot say, but I feel +that if I embraced her I would hold in my hands the heaven of human +pleasure. It is certain that modesty communicates an invincible +attraction to women. My uneasiness is so great that it would be vain +for me to try to conceal it.” + +He spoke, and, gathering up his habit, he rushed among the crowd of +penguins, pushing, jostling, trampling, and crushing, until he reached +the daughter of Alca, whom he seized and suddenly carried in his arms +into a cave that had been hollowed out by the sea. + +Then the penguins felt as if the sun had gone out. And the holy Maël +knew that the Devil had taken the features of the monk, Magis, in order +that he might give clothes to the daughter of Alca. He was troubled in +spirit, and his soul was sad. As with slow steps he went towards his +hermitage he saw the little penguins of six and seven years of age +tightening their waists with belts made of sea-weed and walking along +the shore to see if anybody would follow them. + + + + +II. THE FIRST CLOTHES +(_Continuation and End_) + + +The holy Maël felt a profound sadness that the first clothes put upon a +daughter of Alca should have betrayed the penguin modesty instead of +helping it. He persisted, none the less, in his design of giving +clothes to the inhabitants of the miraculous island. Assembling them on +the shore, he distributed to them the garments that the monks of Yvern +had brought. The male penguins received short tunics and breeches, the +female penguins long robes. But these robes were far from creating the +effect that the former one had produced. They were not so beautiful, +their shape was uncouth and without art, and no attention was paid to +them since every woman bad one. As they prepared the meals and worked +in the fields they soon had nothing but slovenly bodices and soiled +petticoats. + +The male penguins loaded their unfortunate consorts with work until +they looked like beasts of burden. They knew nothing of the troubles of +the heart and the disorders of passion. Their habits were innocent. +Incest, though frequent, was a sign of rustic simplicity and if +drunkenness led a youth to commit some such crime he thought nothing +more about it the day afterwards. + + + + +III. SETTING BOUNDS TO THE FIELDS AND THE ORIGIN OF PROPERTY + + +The island did not preserve the rugged appearance that it had formerly, +when, in the midst of floating icebergs it sheltered a population of +birds within its rocky amphitheatre. Its snow-clad peak had sunk down +into a hill from the summit of which one could see the coasts of +Armorica eternally covered with mist, and the ocean strewn with sullen +reefs like monsters half raised out of its depths. + +Its coasts were now very extensive and clearly defined and its shape +reminded one of a mulberry leaf. It was suddenly covered with coarse +grass, pleasing to the flocks, and with willows, ancient figtrees, and +mighty oaks. This fact is attested by the Venerable Bede and several +other authors worthy of credence. + +To the north the shore formed a deep bay that in after years became one +of the most famous ports in the universe. To the east, along a rocky +coast beaten by a foaming sea, there stretched a deserted and fragrant +heath. It was the Beach of Shadows, and the inhabitants of the island +never ventured on it for fear of the serpents that lodged in the +hollows of the rocks and lest they might encounter the souls of the +dead who resembled livid flames. To the south, orchards and woods +bounded the languid Bay of Divers. On this fortunate shore old Maël +built a wooden church and a monastery. To the west, two streams, the +Clange and the Surelle, watered the fertile valleys of Dalles and +Dombes. + +Now one autumn morning, as the blessed Maël was walking in the valley +of Clange in company with a monk of Yvern called Bulloch, he saw bands +of fierce-looking men loaded with stones passing along the roads. At +the same time he heard in all directions cries and complaints mounting +up from the valley towards the tranquil sky. + +And he said to Bulloch: + +“I notice with sadness, my son, that since they became men the +inhabitants of this island act with less wisdom than formerly. When +they were birds they only quarrelled during the season of their love +affairs. But now they dispute all the time; they pick quarrels with +each other in summer as well as in winter. How greatly have they fallen +from that peaceful majesty which made the assembly of the penguins look +like the Senate of a wise republic! + +“Look towards Surelle, Bulloch, my son. In yonder pleasant valley a +dozen men penguins are busy knocking each other down with the spades +and picks that they might employ better in tilling the ground. The +women, still more cruel than the men, are tearing their opponents’ +faces with their nails. Alas! Bulloch, my son, why are they murdering +each other in this way?” + +“From a spirit of fellowship, father, and through forethought for the +future,” answered Bulloch. “For man is essentially provident and +sociable. Such is his character and it is impossible to imagine it +apart from a certain appropriation of things. Those penguins whom you +see are dividing the ground among themselves.” + +“Could they not divide it with less violence?” asked the aged man. “As +they fight they exchange invectives and threats. I do not distinguish +their words, but they are angry ones, judging from the tone.” + +“They are accusing one another of theft and encroachment,” answered +Bulloch. “That is the general sense of their speech.” + +At that moment the holy Maël clasped his hands and sighed deeply. + +“Do you see, my son,” he exclaimed, “that madman who with his teeth is +biting the nose of the adversary he has overthrown and that other one +who is pounding a woman’s head with a huge stone?” + +“I see them,” said Bulloch. “They are creating law; they are founding +property; they are establishing the principles of civilization, the +basis of society, and the foundations of the State.” + +“How is that?” asked old Maël. + +“By setting bounds to their fields. That is the origin of all +government. Your penguins, O Master, are performing the most august of +functions. Throughout the ages their work will be consecrated by +lawyers, and magistrates will confirm it.” + +Whilst the monk, Bulloch, was pronouncing these words a big penguin +with a fair skin and red hair went down into the valley carrying a +trunk of a tree upon his shoulder. He went up to a little penguin who +was watering his vegetables in the heat of the sun, and shouted to him: + +“Your field is mine!” + +And having delivered himself of this stout utterance he brought down +his club on the head of the little penguin, who fell dead upon the +field that his own hands had tilled. + +At this sight the holy Maël shuddered through his whole body and poured +forth a flood of tears. + +And in a voice stifled by horror and fear he addressed this prayer to +heaven: + +“O Lord, my God, O thou who didst receive young Abel’s sacrifices, thou +who didst curse Cain, avenge, O Lord, this innocent penguin sacrificed +upon his own field and make the murderer feel the weight of thy arm. Is +there a more odious crime, is there a graver offence against thy +justice, O Lord, than this murder and this robbery?” + +“Take care, father,” said Bulloch gently, “that what you call murder +and robbery may not really be war and conquest, those sacred +foundations of empires, those sources of all human virtues and all +human greatness. Reflect, above all, that in blaming the big penguin +you are attacking property in its origin and in its source. I shall +have no trouble in showing you how. To till the land is one thing, to +possess it is another, and these two things must not be confused; as +regards ownership the right of the first occupier is uncertain and +badly founded. The right of conquest, on the other hand, rests on more +solid foundations. It is the only right that receives respect since it +is the only one that makes itself respected. The sole and proud origin +of property is force. It is born and preserved by force. In that it is +august and yields only to a greater force. This is why it is correct to +say that he who possesses is noble. And that big red man, when he +knocked down a labourer to get possession of his field, founded at that +moment a very noble house upon this earth. I congratulate him upon it.” + +Having thus spoken, Bulloch approached the big penguin, who was leaning +upon his club as he stood in the blood-stained furrow: + +“Lord Greatauk, dreaded Prince,” said he, bowing to the ground, “I come +to pay you the homage due to the founder of legitimate power and +hereditary wealth. The skull of the vile Penguin you have overthrown +will, buried in your field, attest for ever the sacred rights of your +posterity over this soil that you have ennobled. Blessed be your sons +and your sons’ sons! They shall be Greatauks, Dukes of Skull, and they +shall rule over this island of Alca.” + +Then raising his voice and turning towards the holy Maël: + +“Bless Greatauk, father, for all power comes from God.” + +Maël remained silent and motionless, with his eyes raised towards +heaven; he felt a painful uncertainty in judging the monk Bulloch’s +doctrine. It was, however, the doctrine destined to prevail in epochs +of advanced civilization. Bulloch can be considered as the creator of +civil law in Penguinia. + + + + +IV. THE FIRST ASSEMBLY OF THE ESTATES OF PENGUINIA + + +“Bulloch, my son,” said old Maël, “we ought to make a census of the +Penguins and inscribe each of their names in a book.” + +“It is a most urgent matter,” answered Bulloch, “there can be no good +government without it.” + +Forthwith, the apostle, with the help of twelve monks, proceeded to +make a census of the people. + +And old Maël then said: + +“Now that we keep a register of all the inhabitants, we ought, Bulloch, +my son, to levy a just tax so as to provide for public expenses and the +maintenance of the Abbey. Each ought to contribute according to his +means. For this reason, my son, call together the Elders of Alca, and +in agreement with them we shall establish the tax.” + +The Elders, being called together, assembled to the number of thirty +under the great sycamore in the courtyard of the wooden monastery. They +were the first Estates of Penguinia. Three-fourths of them were +substantial peasants of Surelle and Clange. Greatauk, as the noblest of +the Penguins, sat upon the highest stone. + +The venerable Maël took his place in the midst of his monks and uttered +these words: + +“Children, the Lord when he pleases grants riches to men and he takes +them away from them. Now I have called you together to levy +contributions from the people so as to provide for public expenses and +the maintenance of the monks. I consider that these contributions ought +to be in proportion to the wealth of each. Therefore he who has a +hundred oxen will give ten; he who has ten will give one.” + +When the holy man had spoken, Morio, a labourer at Anis-on-the-Clange, +one of the richest of the Penguins, rose up and said: + +“O Father Maël, I think it right that each should contribute to the +public expenses and to the support of the Church. For my part I am +ready to give up all that I possess in the interest of my brother +Penguins, and if it were necessary I would even cheerfully part with my +shirt. All the elders of the people are ready, like me, to sacrifice +their goods, and no one can doubt their absolute devotion to their +country and their creed. We have, then, only to consider the public +interest and to do what it requires. Now, Father, what it requires, +what it demands, is not to ask much from those who possess much, for +then the rich would be less rich and the poor still poorer. The poor +live on the wealth of the rich and that is the reason why that wealth +is sacred. Do not touch it, to do so would be an uncalled for evil. You +will get no great profit by taking from the rich, for they are very few +in number; on the contrary you will strip yourself of all your +resources and plunge the country into misery. Whereas if you ask a +little from each inhabitant without regard to his wealth, you will +collect enough for the public necessities and you will have no need to +enquire into each citizen’s resources, a thing that would be regarded +by all as a most vexatious measure. By taxing all equally and easily +you will spare the poor, for you will leave them the wealth of the +rich. And how could you possibly proportion taxes to wealth? Yesterday +I had two hundred oxen, to-day I have sixty, to-morrow I shall have a +hundred. Clunic has three cows, but they are thin; Nicclu has only two, +but they are fat. Which is the richer, Clunic or Nicclu? The signs of +opulence are deceitful. What is certain is that everyone eats and +drinks. Tax people according to what they consume. That would be wisdom +and it would be justice.” + +Thus spoke Morio amid the applause of the Elders. + +“I ask that this speech be graven on bronze,” cried the monk, Bulloch. +“It is spoken for the future; in fifteen hundred years the best of the +Penguins will not speak otherwise.” + +The Elders were still applauding when Greatauk, his hand on the pommel +of his sword, made this brief declaration: + +“Being noble, I shall not contribute; for to contribute is ignoble. It +is for the rabble to pay.” + +After this warning the Elders separated in silence. + +As in Rome, a new census was taken every five years; and by this means +it was observed that the population increased rapidly. Although +children died in marvellous abundance and plagues and famines came with +perfect regularity to devastate entire villages, new Penguins, in +continually greater numbers, contributed by their private misery to the +public prosperity. + + + + +V. THE MARRIAGE OF KRAKEN AND ORBEROSIA + + +During these times there lived in the island of Alca a Penguin whose +arm was strong and whose mind was subtle. He was called Kraken, and had +his dwelling on the Beach of Shadows whither the inhabitants never +ventured for fear of serpents that lodged in the hollows of the rocks +and lest they might encounter the souls of Penguins that had died +without baptism. These, in appearance like livid flames, and uttering +doleful groans, wandered night and day along the deserted beach. For it +was generally believed, though without proof, that among the Penguins +that had been changed into men at the blessed Maël’s prayer, several +had not received baptism and returned after their death to lament amid +the tempests. Kraken dwelt on this savage coast in an inaccessible +cavern. The only way to it was through a natural tunnel a hundred feet +long, the entrance of which was concealed by a thick wood. One evening +as Kraken was walking through this deserted plain he happened to meet a +young and charming woman Penguin. She was the one that the monk Magis +had clothed with his own hands and thus was the first to have worn the +garments of chastity. In remembrance of the day when the astonished +crowd of Penguins had seen her moving gloriously in her robe tinted +like the dawn, this maiden had received the name of Orberosia.[1] + + [1] “Orb, poetically, a globe when speaking of the heavenly bodies. By + extension any species of globular body.”—_Littré_ + + +At the sight of Kraken she uttered a cry of alarm and darted forward to +escape from him. But the hero seized her by the garments that floated +behind her, and addressed her in these words: + +“Damsel, tell me thy name, thy family and thy country.” + +But Orberosia kept looking at Kraken with alarm. + +“Is it you, I see, sir,” she asked him, trembling, “or is it not rather +your troubled spirit?” + +She spoke in this way because the inhabitants of Alca, having no news +of Kraken since he went to live on the Beach of Shadows, believed that +he had died and descended among the demons of night. + +“Cease to fear, daughter of Alca,” answered Kraken. “He who speaks to +thee is not a wandering spirit, but a man full of strength and might. I +shall soon possess great riches.” + +And young Orberosia asked: + +“How dost thou think of acquiring great riches, O Kraken, since thou +art a child of Penguins?” + +“By my intelligence,” answered Kraken. + +“I know,” said Orberosia, “that in the time that thou dwelt among us +thou wert renowned for thy skill in hunting and fishing. No one +equalled thee in taking fishes in a net or in piercing with thy arrows +the swift-flying birds.” + +“It was but a vulgar and laborious industry, O maiden. I have found a +means of gaining much wealth for myself without fatigue. But tell me +who thou art?” + +“I am called Orberosia,” answered the young girl. + +“Why art thou so far away from thy dwelling and in the night?” + +“Kraken, it was not without the will of Heaven.” + +“What meanest thou, Orberosia?” + +“That Heaven, O Kraken, placed me in thy path, for what reason I know +not.” + +Kraken beheld her for a long time in silence. + +Then he said with gentleness: + +“Orberosia, come into my house; it is that of the bravest and most +ingenious of the sons of the Penguins. If thou art willing to follow +me, I will make thee my companion.” + +Then casting down her eyes, she murmured: + +“I will follow thee, master.” + +It is thus that the fair Orberosia became the consort of the hero +Kraken. This marriage was not celebrated with songs and torches because +Kraken did not consent to show himself to the people of the Penguins; +but hidden in his cave he planned great designs. + + + + +VI. THE DRAGON OF ALCA + + +“We afterwards went to visit the cabinet of natural history. . . . The +care-taker showed us a sort of packet bound in straw that he told us +contained the skeleton of a dragon; a proof, added he, that the dragon +is not a fabulous animal.”—_Memoirs of Jacques Casanova_, Paris, 1843. +Vol. IV., pp. 404, 405 + + +In the meantime the inhabitants of Alca practised the labours of peace. +Those of the northern coast went in boats to fish or to search for +shell-fish. The labourers of Dombes cultivated oats, rye, and wheat. +The rich Penguins of the valley of Dalles reared domestic animals, +while those of the Bay of Divers cultivated their orchards. Merchants +of Port-Alca carried on a trade in salt fish with Armorica and the gold +of the two Britains, which began to be introduced into the island, +facilitated exchange. The Penguin people were enjoying the fruit of +their labours in perfect tranquillity when suddenly a sinister rumour +ran from village to village. It was said everywhere that a frightful +dragon had ravaged two farms in the Bay of Divers. + +A few days before, the maiden Orberosia had disappeared. Her absence +had at first caused no uneasiness because on several occasions she had +been carried off by violent men who were consumed with love. And +thoughtful people were not astonished at this, reflecting that the +maiden was the most beautiful of the Penguins. It was even remarked +that she sometimes went to meet her ravishers, for none of us can +escape his destiny. But this time, as she did not return, it was feared +that the dragon had devoured her. The more so as the inhabitants of the +valley of Dalles soon knew that the dragon was not a fable told by the +women around the fountains. For one night the monster devoured out of +the village of Anis six hens, a sheep, and a young orphan child called +little Elo. The next morning nothing was to be found either of the +animals or of the child. + +Immediately the Elders of the village assembled in the public place and +seated themselves on the stone bench to take counsel concerning what it +was expedient to do in these terrible circumstances. + +Having called all those Penguins who had seen the dragon during the +disastrous night, they asked them: + +“Have you not noticed his form and his behaviour?” + +And each answered in his turn: + +“He has the claws of a lion, the wings of an eagle, and the tail of a +serpent.” + +“His back bristles with thorny crests.” + +“His whole body is covered with yellow scales.” + +“His look fascinates and confounds. He vomits flames.” + +“He poisons the air with his breath.” + +“He has the head of a dragon, the claws of a lion, and the tail of a +fish.” + +And a woman of Anis, who was regarded as intelligent and of sound +judgment and from whom the dragon had taken three hens, deposed as +follows: + +“He is formed like a man. The proof is that I thought he was my +husband, and I said to him, ‘Come to bed, you old fool.’” + +Others said: + +“He is formed like a cloud.” + +“He looks like a mountain.” + +And a little child came and said: + +“I saw the dragon taking off his head in the barn so that he might give +a kiss to my sister Minnie.” + +And the Elders also asked the inhabitants: + +“How big is the dragon?” + +And it was answered: + +“As big as an ox.” + +“Like the big merchant ships of the Bretons.” + +“He is the height of a man.” + +“He is higher than the fig-tree under which you are sitting.” + +“He is as large as a dog.” + +Questioned finally on his colour, the inhabitants said: + +“Red.” + +“Green.” + +“Blue.” + +“Yellow.” + +“His head is bright green, his wings are brilliant orange tinged with +pink, his limbs are silver grey, his hind-quarters and his tail are +striped with brown and pink bands, his belly bright yellow spotted with +black.” + +“His colour? He has no colour.” + +“He is the colour of a dragon.” + +After hearing this evidence the Elders remained uncertain as to what +should be done. Some advised to watch for him, to surprise him and +overthrow him by a multitude of arrows. Others, thinking it vain to +oppose so powerful a monster by force, counselled that he should be +appeased by offerings. + +“Pay him tribute,” said one of them who passed for a wise man. “We can +render him propitious to us by giving him agreeable presents, fruits, +wine, lambs, a young virgin.” + +Others held for poisoning the fountains where he was accustomed to +drink or for smoking him out of his cavern. + +But none of these counsels prevailed. The dispute was lengthy and the +Elders dispersed without coming to any resolution. + + + + +VII. THE DRAGON OF ALCA +(_Continuation_) + + +During all the month dedicated by the Romans to their false god Mars or +Mavors, the dragon ravaged the farms of Dalles and Dombes. He carried +off fifty sheep, twelve pigs, and three young boys. Every family was in +mourning and the island was full of lamentations. In order to remove +the scourge, the Elders of the unfortunate villages watered by the +Clange and the Surelle resolved to assemble and together go and ask the +help of the blessed Maël. + +On the fifth day of the month whose name among the Latins signifies +opening, because it opens the year, they went in procession to the +wooden monastery that had been built on the southern coast of the +island. When they were introduced into the cloister they filled it with +their sobs and groans. Moved by their lamentations, old Maël left the +room in which he devoted himself to the study of astronomy and the +meditation of the Scriptures, and went down to them, leaning on his +pastoral staff. At his approach, the Elders, prostrating themselves, +held out to him green branches of trees and some of them burnt aromatic +herbs. + +And the holy man, seating himself beside the cloistral fountain under +an ancient fig-tree, uttered these words: + +“O my sons, offspring of the Penguins, why do you weep and groan? Why +do you hold out those suppliant boughs towards me? Why do you raise +towards heaven the smoke of those herbs? What calamity do you expect +that I can avert from your heads? Why do you beseech me? I am ready to +give my life for you. Only tell your father what it is you hope from +him.” + +To these questions the chief of the Elders answered: + +“O Maël, father of the sons of Alca, I will speak for all. A horrible +dragon is laying waste our lands, depopulating our cattle-sheds, and +carrying off the flower of our youth. He has devoured the child Elo and +seven young boys; he has mangled the maiden Orberosia, the fairest of +the Penguins, with his teeth. There is not a village in which he does +not emit his poisoned breath and which he has not filled with +desolation. A prey to this terrible scourge, we come, O Maël, to pray +thee, as the wisest, to advise us concerning the safety of the +inhabitants of this island lest the ancient race of Penguins be +extinguished.” + +“O chief of the Elders of Alca,” replied Maël, “thy words fill me with +profound grief, and I groan at the thought that this island is the prey +of a terrible dragon. But such an occurrence is not unique, for we find +in books several tales of very fierce dragons. The monsters are +oftenest found in caverns, by the brinks of waters, and, in preference, +among pagan peoples. Perhaps there are some among you who, although +they have received holy baptism and been incorporated into the family +of Abraham, have yet worshipped idols, like the ancient Romans, or hung +up images, votive tablets, fillets of wool, and garlands of flowers on +the branches of some sacred tree. Or perhaps some of the women Penguins +have danced round a magic stone and drunk water from the fountains +where the nymphs dwell. If it be so, believe, O Penguins, that the Lord +has sent this dragon to punish all for the crimes of some, and to lead +you, O children of the Penguins, to exterminate blasphemy, +superstition, and impiety from amongst you. For this reason I advise, +as a remedy against the great evil from which you suffer, that you +carefully search your dwellings for idolatry, and extirpate it from +them. I think it would be also efficacious to pray and do penance.” + +Thus spoke the holy Maël. And the Elders of the Penguin people kissed +his feet and returned to their villages with renewed hope. + + + + +VIII. THE DRAGON OF ALCA +(_Continuation_) + + +Following the counsel of the holy Maël the inhabitants of Alca +endeavoured to uproot the superstitions that had sprung up amongst +them. They took care to prevent the girls from dancing with +incantations round the fairy tree. Young mothers were sternly forbidden +to rub their children against the stones that stood upright in the +fields so as to make them strong. An old man of Dombes who foretold the +future by shaking grains of barley on a sieve, was thrown into a well. + +However, each night the monster still raided the poultry-yards and the +cattle-sheds. The frightened peasants barricaded themselves in their +houses. A woman with child who saw the shadow of a dragon on the road +through a window in the moonlight, was so terrified that she was +brought to bed before her time. + +In those days of trial, the holy Maël meditated unceasingly on the +nature of dragons and the means of combating them. After six months of +study and prayer he thought he had found what he sought. One evening as +he was walking by the sea with a young monk called Samuel, he expressed +his thought to him in these terms: + +“I have studied at length the history and habits of dragons, not to +satisfy a vain curiosity, but to discover examples to follow in the +present circumstances. For such, Samuel, my son, is the use of history. + +“It is an invariable fact that dragons are extremely vigilant. They +never sleep, and for this reason we often find them employed in +guarding treasures. A dragon guarded at Colchis the golden fleece that +Jason conquered from him. A dragon watched over the golden apples in +the garden of the Hesperides. He was killed by Hercules and transformed +into a star by Juno. This fact is related in some books, and if it be +true, it was done by magic, for the gods of the pagans are in reality +demons. A dragon prevented barbarous and ignorant men from drinking at +the fountain of Castalia. We must also remember the dragon of +Andromeda, which was slain by Perseus. But let us turn from these pagan +fables, in which error is always mixed with truth. We meet dragons in +the histories of the glorious archangel Michael, of St. George, St. +Philip, St. James the Great, St. Patrick, St. Martha, and St. Margaret. +And it is in such writings, since they are worthy of full credence, +that we ought to look for comfort and counsel. + +“The story of the dragon of Silena affords us particularly precious +examples. You must know, my son, that on the banks of a vast pool close +to that town there dwelt a dragon who sometimes approached the walls +and poisoned with his breath all who dwelt in the suburbs. And that +they might not be devoured by the monster, the inhabitants of Silena +delivered up to him one of their number every morning. The victim was +chosen by lot, and after a hundred others, the lot fell upon the king’s +daughter. + +“Now St. George, who was a military tribune, as he passed through the +town of Silena, learned that the king’s daughter had just been given to +the fierce beast. He immediately mounted his horse, and, armed with his +lance, rushed to encounter the dragon, whom he reached just as the +monster was about to devour the royal virgin. And when St. George had +overthrown the dragon, the king’s daughter fastened her girdle round +the beast’s neck and he followed her like a dog led on a leash. + +“That is an example for us of the power of virgins over dragons. The +history of St. Martha furnishes us with a still more certain proof. Do +you know the story, Samuel, my son?” + +“Yes, father,” answered Samuel. + +And the blessed Maël went on: + +“There was in a forest on the banks of the Rhone, between Arles and +Avignon, a dragon half quadruped and half fish, larger than an ox, with +sharp teeth like horns and huge wings at his shoulders. He sank the +boats and devoured their passengers. Now St. Martha, at the entreaty of +the people, approached this dragon, whom she found devouring a man. She +put her girdle round his neck and led him easily into the town. + +“These two examples lead me to think that we should have recourse to +the power of some virgin so as to conquer the dragon who scatters +terror and death through the island of Alca. + +“For this reason, Samuel my son, gird up thy loins and go, I pray thee, +with two of thy companions, into all the villages of this island, and +proclaim everywhere that a virgin alone shall be able to deliver the +island from the monster that devastates it. + +“Thou shalt sing psalms and canticles and thou shalt say: + +“‘O sons of the Penguins, if there be among you a pure virgin, let her +arise and go, armed with the sign of the cross, to combat the dragon!’” + +Thus the old man spake, and Samuel promised to obey him. The next day +he girded up his loins and set out with two of his companions to +proclaim to the inhabitants of Alca that a virgin alone would be able +to deliver the Penguins from the rage of the dragon. + + + + +IX. THE DRAGON OF ALCA +(_Continuation_) + + +Orberosia loved her husband, but she did not love him alone. At the +hour when Venus lightens in the pale sky, whilst Kraken scattered +terror through the villages, she used to visit in his moving hut, a +young shepherd of Dalles called Marcel, whose pleasing form was +invested with inexhaustible vigour. The fair Orberosia shared the +shepherd’s aromatic couch with delight, but far from making herself +known to him, she took the name of Bridget, and said that she was the +daughter of a gardener in the Bay of Divers. When regretfully she left +his arms she walked across the smoking fields towards the Coast of +Shadows, and if she happened to meet some belated peasant she +immediately spread out her garments like great wings and cried: + +“Passer by, lower your eyes, that you may not have to say, ‘Alas! alas! +woe is me, for I have seen the angel of the Lord.’” + +The villagers tremblingly knelt with their faces to the round. And +several of them used to say that angels, whom it would be death to see, +passed along the roads of the island in the night time. + +Kraken did not know of the loves of Orberosia and Marcel, for he was a +hero, and heroes never discover the secrets of their wives. But though +he did not know of these loves, he reaped the benefit of them. Every +night he found his companion more good-humoured and more beautiful, +exhaling pleasure and perfuming the nuptial bed with a delicious odour +of fennel and vervain. She loved Kraken with a love that never became +importunate or anxious, because she did not rest its whole weight on +him alone. + +This lucky infidelity of Orberosia was destined soon to save the hero +from a great peril and to assure his fortune and his glory for ever. +For it happened that she saw passing in the twilight a neatherd from +Belmont, who was goading on his oxen, and she fell more deeply in love +with him than she had ever been with the shepherd Marcel. He was +hunch-backed; his shoulders were higher than his ears; his body was +supported by legs of different lengths; his rolling eyes flashed, from +beneath his matted hair. From his throat issued a hoarse voice and +strident laughter; he smelt of the cow-shed. However, to her he was +beautiful. “A plant,” as Gnatho says, “has been loved by one, a stream +by another, a beast by a third.” + +Now, one day, as she was sighing within the neatherd’s arms in a +village barn, suddenly the blasts of a trumpet, with sounds and +footsteps, fell upon her ears; she looked through the window and saw +the inhabitants collected in the marketplace round a young monk, who, +standing upon a rock, uttered these words in a distinct voice: + +“Inhabitants of Belmont, Abbot Maël, our venerable father, informs you +through my mouth that neither by strength nor skill in arms shall you +prevail against the dragon; but the beast shall be overcome by a +virgin. If, then, there be among you a perfectly pure virgin, let her +arise and go towards the monster; and when she meets him let her tie +her girdle round his neck and she shall lead him as easily as if he +were a little dog.” + +And the young monk, replacing his hood upon his head, departed to carry +the proclamation of the blessed Maël to other villages. + +Orberosia sat in the amorous straw, resting her head in her hand and +supporting her elbow upon her knee, meditating on what she had just +heard. + +Although, so far as Kraken was concerned, she feared the power of a +virgin much less than the strength of armed men, she did not feel +reassured by the proclamation of the blessed Maël. A vague but sure +instinct ruled her mind and warned her that Kraken could not henceforth +be a dragon with safety. + +She said to the neatherd: + +“My own heart, what do you think about the dragon?” + +The rustic shook his head. + +“It is certain that dragons laid waste the earth in ancient times and +some have been seen as large as mountains. But they come no longer, and +I believe that what has been taken for a dragon is not one at all, but +pirates or merchants who have carried off the fair Orberosia and the +best of the children of Alca in their ships. But if one of those +brigands attempts to rob me of my oxen, I will either by force or craft +find a way to prevent him from doing me any harm.” + +This remark of the neatherd increased Orberosia’s apprehensions and +added to her solicitude for the husband whom she loved. + + + + +X. THE DRAGON OF ALCA +(_Continuation_) + + +The days passed by and no maiden arose in the island to combat the +monster. And in the wooden monastery old Maël, seated on a bench in the +shade of an old fig-tree, accompanied by a pious monk called +Regimental, kept asking himself anxiously and sadly how it was that +there was not in Alca a single virgin fit to overthrow the monster. + +He sighed and brother Regimental sighed too. At that moment old Maël +called young Samuel, who happened to pass through the garden, and said +to him: + +“I have meditated anew, my son, on the means of destroying the dragon +who devours the flower of our youth, our flocks, and our harvests. In +this respect the story of the dragons of St. Riok and of St. Pol de +Leon seems to me particularly instructive. The dragon of St. Riok was +six fathoms long; his head was derived from the cock and the basilisk, +his body from the ox and the serpent; he ravaged the banks of the Elorn +in the time of King Bristocus. St. Riok, then aged two years, led him +by a leash to the sea, in which the monster drowned himself of his own +accord. St. Pol’s dragon was sixty feet long and not less terrible. The +blessed apostle of Leon bound him with his stole and allowed a young +noble of great purity of life to lead him. These examples prove that in +the eyes of God a chaste young man is as agreeable as a chaste girl. +Heaven makes no distinction between them. For this reason, my son, if +you believe what I say, we will both go to the Coast of Shadows; when +we reach the dragon’s cavern we will call the monster in a loud voice, +and when he comes forth I will tie my stole round his neck and you will +lead him to the sea, where he will not fail to drown himself.” + +At the old man’s words Samuel cast down his head and did not answer. + +“You seem to hesitate, my son,” said Maël. + +Brother Regimental, contrary to his custom, spoke without being +addressed. + +“There is at least cause for some hesitation,” said he. “St. Riok was +only two years old when he overcame the dragon. Who says that nine or +ten years later he could have done as much? Remember, father, that the +dragon who is devastating our island has devoured little Elo and four +or five other young boys. Brother Samuel is not go presumptuous as to +believe that at nineteen years of age he is more innocent than they +were at twelve and fourteen. + +“Alas!” added the monk, with a groan, “who can boast of being chaste in +this world, where everything gives the example and model of love, where +all things in nature, animals, and plants, show us the caresses of love +and advise us to share them? Animals are eager to unite in their own +fashion, but the various marriages of quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and +reptiles are far from equalling in lust the nuptials of the trees. The +greatest extremes of lewdness that the pagans have imagined in their +fables are outstripped by the simple flowers of the field, and, if you +knew the irregularities of lilies and roses you would take those +chalices of impurity, those vases of scandal, away from your altars.” + +“Do not speak in this way, Brother Regimental,” answered old Maël. +“Since they are subject to the law of nature, animals and plants are +always innocent. They have no souls to save, whilst man—” + +“You are right,” replied Brother Regimental, “it is quite a different +thing. But do not send young Samuel to the dragon—the dragon might +devour him. For the last five years Samuel is not in a state to show +his innocence to monsters. In the year of the comet, the Devil in order +to seduce him, put in his path a milkmaid, who was lifting up her +petticoat to cross a ford. Samuel was tempted, but he overcame the +temptation. The Devil, who never tires, sent him the image of that +young girl in a dream. The shade did what the reality was unable to +accomplish, and Samuel yielded. When he awoke be moistened his couch +with his tears, but alas! repentance did not give him back his +innocence.” + +As he listened to this story Samuel asked himself how his secret could +be known, for he was ignorant that the Devil had borrowed the +appearance of Brother Regimental, so as to trouble the hearts of the +monks of Alca. + +And old Maël remained deep in thought and kept asking himself in grief: + +“Who will deliver us from the dragon’s tooth? Who will preserve us from +his breath? Who will save us from his look?” + +However, the inhabitants of Alca began to take courage. The labourers +of Dombes and the neatherds of Belmont swore that they themselves would +be of more avail than a girl against the ferocious beast, and they +exclaimed as they stroked the muscles on their arms, “Let the dragon +come!” Many men and women had seen him. They did not agree about his +form and his figure, but all now united in saying that he was not as +big as they had thought, and that his height was not much greater than +a man’s. The defence was organised; towards nightfall watches were +stationed at the entrances of the villages ready to give the alarm; and +during the night companies armed with pitchforks and scythes protected +the paddocks in which the animals were shut up. Indeed, once in the +village of Anis some plucky labourers surprised him as he was scaling +Morio’s wall, and, as they had flails, scythes, and pitchforks, they +fell upon him and pressed him hard. One of them, a very quick and +courageous man, thought to have run him through with his pitchfork; but +he slipped in a pool and so let him escape. The others would certainly +have caught him had they not waited to pick up the rabbits and fowls +that he dropped in his flight. + +Those labourers declared to the Elders of the village that the +monster’s form and proportions appeared to them human enough except for +his head and his tail, which were, in truth, terrifying. + + + + +XI. THE DRAGON OF ALCA +(_Continuation_) + + +On that day Kraken came back to his cavern sooner than usual. He took +from his head his sealskin helmet with its two bull’s horns and its +visor trimmed with terrible hooks. He threw on the table his gloves +that ended in horrible claws—they were the beaks of sea-birds. He +unhooked his belt from which hung a long green tail twisted into many +folds. Then he ordered his page, Elo, to help him off with his boots +and, as the child did not succeed in doing this very quickly, he gave +him a kick that sent him to the other end of the grotto. + +Without looking at the fair Orberosia, who was spinning, he seated +himself in front of the fireplace, on which a sheep was roasting, and +he muttered: + +“Ignoble Penguins. . . . There is no worse trade than a dragon’s.” + +“What does my master say?” asked the fair Orberosia. + +“They fear me no longer,” continued Kraken. “Formerly everyone fled at +my approach. I carried away hens and rabbits in my bag; I drove sheep +and pigs, cows, and oxen before me. To-day these clod-hoppers keep a +good guard; they sit up at night. Just now I was pursued in the village +of Anis by doughty labourers armed with flails and scythes and +pitchforks. I had to drop the hens and rabbits, put my tail under my +arm, and run as fast as I could. Now I ask you, is it seemly for a +dragon of Cappadocia to run away like a robber with his tail under his +arm? Further, incommoded as I was by crests, horns, hooks, claws, and +scales, I barely escaped a brute who ran half an inch of his pitchfork +into my left thigh.” + +As he said this he carefully ran his hand over the insulted part, and, +after giving himself up for a few moments to bitter meditation: + +“What idiots those Penguins are! I am tired of blowing flames in the +faces of such imbeciles. Orberosia, do you hear me?” + +Having thus spoken the hero raised his terrible helmet in his hands and +gazed at it for a long time in gloomy silence. Then he pronounced these +rapid words: + +“I have made this helmet with my own hands in the shape of a fish’s +head, covering it with the skin of a seal. To make it more terrible I +have put on it the horns of a bull and I have given it a boar’s jaws; I +have hung from it a horse’s tail dyed vermilion. When in the gloomy +twilight I threw it over my shoulders no inhabitant of this island had +courage to withstand its sight. Women and children, young men and old +men fled distracted at its approach, and I carried terror among the +whole race of Penguins. By what advice does that insolent people lose +its earlier fears and dare to-day to behold these horrible jaws and to +attack this terrible crest?” + +And throwing his helmet on the rocky soil: + +“Perish, deceitful helmet!” cried Kraken. “I swear by all the demons of +Armor that I will never bear you upon my head again.” + +And having uttered this oath he stamped upon his helmet, his gloves, +his boots, and upon his tail with its twisted folds. + +“Kraken,” said the fair Orberosia, “will you allow your servant to +employ artifice to save your reputation and your goods? Do not despise +a woman’s help. You need it, for all men are imbeciles.” + +“Woman,” asked Kraken, “what are your plans?” + +And the fair Orberosia informed her husband that the monks were going +through the villages teaching the inhabitants the best way of combating +the dragon; that, according to their instructions, the beast would be +overcome by a virgin, and that if a maid placed her girdle around the +dragon’s neck she could lead him as easily as if he were a little dog. + +“How do you know that the monks teach this?” asked Kraken. + +“My friend,” answered Orberosia, “do not interrupt a serious subject by +frivolous questions. . . . ‘If, then,’ added the monks, ‘there be in +Alca a pure virgin, let her arise!’ Now, Kraken, I have determined to +answer their call. I will go and find the holy Maël and I will say to +him: ‘I am the virgin destined by Heaven to overthrow the dragon.’” + +At these words Kraken exclaimed: “How can you be that pure virgin? And +why do you want to overthrow me, Orberosia? Have you lost your reason? +Be sure that I will not allow myself to be conquered by you!” + +“Can you not try and understand me before you get angry?” sighed the +fair Orberosia with deep though gentle contempt. + +And she explained the cunning designs that she had formed. + +As he listened, the hero remained pensive. And when she ceased +speaking: + +“Orberosia, your cunning, is deep,” said he, “And if your plans are +carried out according to your intentions I shall derive great +advantages from them. But how can you be the virgin destined by +heaven?” + +“Don’t bother about that,” she replied, “and come to bed.” + +The next day in the grease-laden atmosphere of the cavern, Kraken +plaited a deformed skeleton out of osier rods and covered it with +bristling, scaly, and filthy skins. To one extremity of the skeleton +Orberosia sewed the fierce crest and the hideous mask that Kraken used +to wear in his plundering expeditions, and to the other end she +fastened the tail with twisted folds which the hero was wont to trail +behind him. And when the work was finished they showed little Elo and +the other five children who waited on them how to get inside this +machine, how to make it walk, how to blow horns and burn tow in it so +as to send forth smoke and flames through the dragon’s mouth. + + + + +XII. THE DRAGON OF ALCA +(_Continuation_) + + +Orberosia, having clothed herself in a robe made of coarse stuff and +girt herself with a thick cord, went to the monastery and asked to +speak to the blessed Maël. And because women were forbidden to enter +the enclosure of the monastery the old man advanced outside the gates, +holding his pastoral cross in his right hand and resting his left on +the shoulder of Brother Samuel, the youngest of his disciples. + +He asked: + +“Woman, who art thou?” + +“I am the maiden Orberosia.” + +At this reply Maël raised his trembling arms to heaven. + +“Do you speak truth, woman? It is a certain fact that Orberosia was +devoured by the dragon. And yet I see Orberosia and hear her. Did you +not, O my daughter, while within the dragon’s bowels arm yourself with +the sign of the cross and come uninjured out of his throat? That is +what seems to me the most credible explanation.” + +“You are not deceived, father,” answered Orberosia. “That is precisely +what happened to me. Immediately I came out of the creature’s bowels I +took refuge in a hermitage on the Coast of Shadows. I lived there in +solitude, giving myself up to prayer and meditation, and performing +unheard of austerities, until I learnt by a revelation from heaven that +a maid alone could overcome the dragon, and that I was that maid.” + +“Show me a sign of your mission,” said the old man. + +“I myself am the sign,” answered Orberosia. + +“I am not ignorant of the power of those who have placed a seal upon +their flesh,” replied the apostle of the Penguins. “But are you indeed +such as you say?” + +“You will see by the result,” answered Orberosia. + +The monk Regimental drew near: + +“That will,” said he, “be the best proof. King Solomon has said: ‘Three +things are hard to understand and a fourth is impossible: they are the +way of a serpent on the earth, the way of a bird in the air, the way of +a ship in the sea, and the way of a man with a maid!’ I regard such +matrons as nothing less than presumptuous who claim to compare +themselves in these matters with the wisest of kings. Father, if you +are led by me you will not consult them in regard to the pious +Orberosia. When they have given their opinion you will not be a bit +farther on than before. Virginity is not less difficult to prove than +to keep. Pliny tells us in his history that its signs are either +imaginary or very uncertain.[2] One who bears upon her the fourteen +signs of corruption may yet be pure in the eyes of the angels, and, on +the contrary, another who has been pronounced pure by the matrons who +inspected her may know that her good appearance is due to the artifices +of a cunning perversity. As for the purity of this holy girl here, I +would put my hand in the fire in witness of it.” + + [2] We have vainly sought for this phrase in Pliny’s “Natural + History.”—_Editor_. + + +He spoke thus because he was the Devil. But old Maël did not know it. +He asked the pious Orberosia: + +“My daughter, how, would you proceed to conquer so fierce an animal as +he who devoured you?” + +The virgin answered: + +“To-morrow at sunrise, O Maël, you will summon the people together on +the hill in front of the desolate moor that extends to the Coast of +Shadows, and you will take care that no man of the Penguins remains +less than five hundred paces from those rocks so that he may not be +poisoned by the monster’s breath. And the dragon will come out of the +rocks and I will put my girdle round his neck and lead him like an +obedient dog.” + +“Ought you not to be accompanied by a courageous and pious man who will +kill the dragon?” asked Maël. + +“It will be as thou sayest, venerable father. I shall deliver the +monster to Kraken, who will stay him with his flashing sword. For I +tell thee that the noble Kraken, who was believed to be dead, will +return among the Penguins and he shall slay the dragon. And from the +creature’s belly will come forth the little children whom he has +devoured.” + +“What you declare to me, O virgin,” cried the apostle, “seems wonderful +and beyond human power.” + +“It is,” answered the virgin Orberosia. “But learn, O Maël, that I have +had a revelation that as a reward for their deliverance, the Penguin +people will pay to the knight Kraken an annual tribute of three hundred +fowls, twelve sheep, two oxen, three pigs, one thousand eight hundred +bushels of corn, and vegetables according to their season; and that, +moreover, the children who will come out of the dragon’s belly will be +given and committed to the said Kraken to serve him and obey him in all +things. If the Penguin people fail to keep their engagements a new +dragon will come upon the island more terrible than the first. I have +spoken.” + + + + +XIII. THE DRAGON OF ALCA +(_Continuation and End_) + + +The people of the Penguins were assembled by Maël and they spent the +night on the Coast of Shadows within the bounds which the holy man had +prescribed in order that none among the Penguins should be poisoned by +the monster’s breath. + +The veil of night still covered the earth when, preceded by a hoarse +bellowing, the dragon showed his indistinct and monstrous form upon the +rocky coast. He crawled like a serpent and his writhing body seemed +about fifteen feet long. At his appearance the crowd drew back in +terror. But soon all eyes were turned towards the Virgin Orberosia, +who, in the first light of the dawn, clothed in white, advanced over +the purple heather. With an intrepid though modest gait she walked +towards the beast, who, uttering awful bellowings, opened his flaming +throat. An immense cry of terror and pity arose from the midst of the +Penguins. But the virgin, unloosing her linen girdle, put it round the +dragon’s neck and led him on the leash like a faithful dog amid the +acclamations of the spectators. + +She had walked over a long stretch of the heath when Kraken appeared +armed with a flashing sword. The people, who believed him dead, uttered +cries of joy and surprise. The hero rushed towards the beast, turned +him over on his back, and with his sword cut open his belly, from +whence came forth in their shirts, with curling hair and folded hands, +little Elo and the five other children whom the monster had devoured. + +Immediately they threw themselves on their knees before the virgin +Orberosia, who took them in her arms and whispered into their ears: + +“You will go through the villages saying: ‘We are the poor little +children who were devoured by the dragon, and we came out of his belly +in our shirts.’ The inhabitants will give you abundance of all that you +can desire. But if you say anything else you will get nothing but cuffs +and whippings. Go!” + +Several Penguins, seeing the dragon disembowelled, rushed forward to +cut him to pieces, some from a feeling of rage and vengeance, others to +get the magic stone called dragonite, that is engendered in his head. +The mothers of the children who had come back to life ran to embrace +their little ones. But the holy Maël kept them back, saying that none +of them were holy enough to approach a dragon without dying. + +And soon little Elo, and the five other children came towards the +people and said: + +“We are the poor little children who were devoured by the dragon and we +came out of his belly in our shirts.” + +And all who heard them kissed them and said: + +“Blessed children, we will give you abundance of all that you can +desire.” + +And the crowd of people dispersed, full of joy, singing hymns and +canticles. + +To commemorate this day on which Providence delivered the people from a +cruel scourge, processions were established in which the effigy of a +chained dragon was led about. + +Kraken levied the tribute and became the richest and most powerful of +the Penguins. As a sign of his victory and so as to inspire a salutary +terror, he wore a dragon’s crest upon his head and he had a habit of +saying to the people: + +“Now that the monster is dead I am the dragon.” + +For many years Orberosia bestowed her favours upon neatherds and +shepherds, whom she thought equal to the gods. But when she was no +longer beautiful she consecrated herself to the Lord. + +At her death she became the object of public veneration, and was +admitted into the calendar of the saints and adopted as the patron +saint of Penguinia. + +Kraken left a son, who, like his father, wore a dragon’s crest, and he +was for this reason surnamed Draco. He was the founder of the first +royal dynasty of the Penguins. + + + + +BOOK III. +THE MIDDLE AGES AND THE RENAISSANCE + + + + +I. BRIAN THE GOOD AND QUEEN GLAMORGAN + + +The kings of Alca were descended from Draco, the son of Kraken, and +they wore on their heads a terrible dragon’s crest, as a sacred badge +whose appearance alone inspired the people with veneration, terror, and +love. They were perpetually in conflict either with their own vassals +and subjects or with the princes of the adjoining islands and +continents. + +The most ancient of these kings has left but a name. We do not even +know how to pronounce or write it. The first of the Draconides whose +history is known was Brian the Good, renowned for his skill and courage +in war and in the chase. + +He was a Christian and loved learning. He also favoured men who had +vowed themselves to the monastic life. In the hall of his palace where, +under the sooty rafters, there hung the heads, pelts, and horns of wild +beasts, he held feasts to which all the harpers of Alca and of the +neighbouring islands were invited, and he himself used to join in +singing the praises of the heroes. He was just and magnanimous, but +inflamed by so ardent a love of glory that he could not restrain +himself from putting to death those who had sung better than himself. + +The monks of Yvern having been driven out by the pagans who ravaged +Brittany, King Brian summoned them into his kingdom and built a wooden +monastery for them near his palace. Every day he went with Queen +Glamorgan, his wife, into the monastery chapel and was present at the +religious ceremonies and joined in the hymns. + +Now among these monks there was a brother called Oddoul, who, while +still in the flower of his youth, had adorned himself with knowledge +and virtue. The devil entertained a great grudge against him, and +attempted several times to lead him into temptation. He took several +shapes and appeared to him in turn as a war-horse, a young maiden, and +a cup of mead. Then he rattled two dice in a dicebox and said to him: + +“Will you play with me for the kingdoms of, the world against one of +the hairs of your head?” + +But the man of the Lord, armed with the sign of the Cross, repulsed the +enemy. Perceiving that he could not seduce him, the devil thought of an +artful plan to ruin him. One summer night he approached the queen, who +slept upon her couch, showed her an image of the young monk whom she +saw every day in the wooden monastery, and upon this image he placed a +spell. Forthwith, like a subtle poison, love flowed into Glamorgan’s +veins, and she burned with an ardent desire to do as she listed with +Oddoul. She found unceasing pretexts to have him near her. Several +times she asked him to teach reading and singing to her children. + +“I entrust them to you,” said she to him. “And will follow the lessons +you will give them so that I myself may learn also. You will teach both +mother and sons at the same time.” + +But the young monk kept making excuses. At times he would say that he +was not a learned enough teacher, and on other occasions that his state +forbade him all intercourse with women. This refusal inflamed +Glamorgan’s passion. One day as she lay pining upon her couch, her +malady having become intolerable, she summoned Oddoul to her chamber. +He came in obedience to her orders, but remained with his eyes cast +down towards the threshold of the door. With impatience and grief she +resented his not looking at her. + +“See,” said she to him, “I have no more strength, a shadow is on my +eyes. My body is both burning and freezing.” + +And as he kept silence and made no movement, she called him in a voice +of entreaty: + +“Come to me, come!” + +With outstretched arms to which passion gave more length, she +endeavoured to seize him and draw him towards her. + +But he fled away, reproaching her for her wantonness. + +Then, incensed with rage and fearing that Oddoul might divulge the +shame into which she had fallen, she determined to ruin him so that he +might not ruin her. + +In a voice of lamentation that resounded throughout all the palace she +called for help, as if, in truth, she were in some great danger. Her +servants rushed up and saw the young monk fleeing and the queen pulling +back the sheets upon her couch. They all cried out together. And when +King Brian, attracted by the noise, entered the chamber, Glamorgan, +showing him her dishevelled hair, her eyes flooded with tears, and her +bosom that in the fury of her love she had torn with her nails, said: + +“My lord and husband, behold the traces of the insults I have +undergone. Driven by an infamous desire Oddoul has approached me and +attempted to do me violence.” + +When he heard these complaints and saw the blood, the king, transported +with fury, ordered his guards to seize the young monk and burn him +alive before the palace under the queen’s eyes. + +Being told of the affair, the Abbot of Yvern went to the king and said +to him: + +“King Brian, know by this example the difference between a Christian +woman and a pagan. Roman Lucretia was the most virtuous of idolatrous +princesses, yet she had not the strength to defend herself against the +attacks of an effeminate youth, and, ashamed of her weakness, she gave +way to despair, whilst Glamorgan has successfully withstood the +assaults of a criminal filled with rage, and possessed by the most +terrible of demons.” Meanwhile Oddoul, in the prison of the palace, was +waiting for the moment when he should be burned alive. But God did not +suffer an innocent to perish. He sent to him an angel, who, taking the +form of one of the queen’s servants called Gudrune, took him out of his +prison and led him into the very room where the woman whose appearance +he had taken dwelt. + +And the angel said to young Oddoul: + +“I love thee because thou art daring.” + +And young Oddoul, believing that it was Gudrune herself, answered with +downcast looks: + +“It is by the grace of the Lord that I have resisted the violence of +the queen and braved the anger of that powerful woman.” + +And the angel asked: + +“What? Hast thou not done what the queen accuses thee of?” + +“In truth no, I have not done it,” answered Oddoul, his hand on his +heart. + +“Thou hast not done it?” + +“No, I have not done it. The very thought of such an action fills me +with horror.” + +“Then,” cried the angel, “what art thou doing here, thou impotent +creature?”[3] + + [3] The Penguin chronicler who relates the fact employs the + expression, _Species inductilis_. I have endeavoured to translate it + literally. + + +And she opened the door to facilitate the young man’s escape. Oddoul +felt himself pushed violently out. Scarcely had he gone down into the +street than a chamber-pot was poured over his head; and he thought: + +“Mysterious are thy designs, O Lord, and thy ways past finding out.” + + + + +II. DRACO THE GREAT +(_Translation of the Relics of St. Orberosia_) + + +The direct posterity of Brian the Good was extinguished about the year +900 in the person of Collic of the Short Nose. A cousin of that prince, +Bosco the Magnanimous, succeeded him, and took care, in order to assure +himself of the throne, to put to death all his relations. There issued +from him a long line of powerful kings. + +One of them, Draco the Great, attained great renown as a man of war. He +was defeated more frequently than the others. It is by this constancy +in defeat that great captains are recognized. In twenty years he burned +down more than a hundred thousand hamlets, market towns, unwalled +towns, villages, walled towns, cities, and universities. He set fire +impartially to his enemies’ territory and to his own domains. And he +used to explain his conduct by saying: + +“War without fire is like tripe without mustard: it is an insipid +thing.” + +His justice was rigorous. When the peasants whom he made prisoners were +unable to raise the money for their ransoms he had them hanged from a +tree, and if any unhappy woman came to plead for her destitute husband +he dragged her by the hair at his horse’s tail. He lived like a soldier +without effeminacy. It is satisfactory to relate that his manner of +life was pure. Not only did he not allow his kingdom to decline from +its hereditary glory, but, even in his reverses he valiantly supported +the honour of the Penguin people. + +Draco the Great caused the relics of St. Orberosia to be transferred to +Alca. + +The body of the blessed saint had been buried in a grotto on the Coast +of Shadows at the end of a scented heath. The first pilgrims who went +to visit it were the boys and girls from the neighbouring villages. +They used to go there in the evening, by preference in couples, as if +their pious desires naturally sought satisfaction in darkness and +solitude. They worshipped the saint with a fervent and discreet worship +whose mystery they seemed jealously to guard, for they did not like to +publish too openly the experiences they felt. But they were heard to +murmur one to another words of love, delight, and rapture with which +they mingled the name of Orberosia. Some would sigh that there they +forgot the world; others would say that they came out of the grotto in +peace and calm; the young girls among them used to recall to each other +the joy with which they had been filled in it. + +Such were the marvels that the virgin of Alca performed in the morning +of her glorious eternity; they had the sweetness and indefiniteness of +the dawn. Soon the mystery of the grotto spread like a perfume +throughout the land; it was a ground of joy and edification for pious +souls, and corrupt men endeavoured, though in vain, by falsehood and +calumny, to divert the faithful from the springs of grace that flowed +from the saint’s tomb. The Church took measures so that these graces +should not remain reserved for a few children, but should be diffused +throughout all Penguin Christianity. Monks took up their quarters in +the grotto, they built a monastery, a chapel, and a hostelry on the +coast, and pilgrims began to flock thither. + +As if strengthened by a longer sojourn in heaven, the blessed Orberosia +now performed still greater miracles for those who came to lay their +offerings on her tomb. She gave hopes to women who had been hitherto +barren, she sent dreams to reassure jealous old men concerning the +fidelity of the young wives whom they had suspected without cause, and +she protected the country from plagues, murrains, famines, tempests, +and dragons of Cappadocia. + +But during the troubles that desolated the kingdom in the time of King +Collic and his successors, the tomb of St. Orberosia was plundered of +its wealth, the monastery burned down, and the monks dispersed. The +road that had been so long trodden by devout pilgrims was overgrown +with furze and heather, and the blue thistles of the sands. For a +hundred years the miraculous tomb had been visited by none save vipers, +weasels, and bats, when, one day the saint appeared to a peasant of the +neighbourhood, Momordic by name. + +“I am the virgin Orberosia,” said she to him; “I have chosen thee to +restore my sanctuary. Warn the inhabitants of the country that if they +allow my memory to be blotted out, and leave my tomb without honour and +wealth, a new dragon will come and devastate Penguinia.” + +Learned churchmen held an inquiry concerning this apparition, and +pronounced it genuine, and not diabolical but truly heavenly, and in +later years it was remarked that in France, in like circumstances, St. +Foy and St. Catherine had acted in the same way and made use of similar +language. + +The monastery was restored and pilgrims flocked to it anew. The virgin +Orberosia worked greater and greater miracles. She cured divers hurtful +maladies, particularly club-foot, dropsy, paralysis, and St. Guy’s +disease. The monks who kept the tomb were enjoying an enviable +opulence, when the saint, appearing to King Draco the Great, ordered +him to recognise her as the heavenly patron of the kingdom and to +transfer her precious remains to the cathedral of Alca. + +In consequence, the odoriferous relics of that virgin were carried with +great pomp to the metropolitan church and placed in the middle of the +choir in a shrine made of gold and enamel and ornamented with precious +stones. + +The chapter kept a record of the miracles wrought by the blessed +Orberosia. + +Draco the Great, who had never ceased to defend and exalt the Christian +faith, died fulfilled with the most pious sentiments and bequeathed his +great possessions to the Church. + + + + +III. QUEEN CRUCHA + + +Terrible disorders followed the death of Draco the Great. That prince’s +successors have often been accused of weakness, and it is true that +none of them followed, even from afar, the example of their valiant +ancestor. + +His son, Chum, who was lame, failed to increase the territory of the +Penguins. Bolo, the son of Chum, was assassinated by the palace guards +at the age of nine, just as he was ascending the throne. His brother +Gun succeeded him. He was only seven years old and allowed himself to +be governed by his mother, Queen Crucha. + +Crucha was beautiful, learned, and intelligent; but she was unable to +curb her own passions. + +These are the terms in which the venerable Talpa expresses himself in +his chronicle regarding that illustrious queen: + +“In beauty of face and symmetry of figure Queen Crucha yields neither +to Semiramis of Babylon nor to Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons; nor +to Salome, the daughter of Herodias. But she offers in her person +certain singularities that will appear beautiful or uncomely according +to the contradictory opinions of men and the varying judgments of the +world. She has on her forehead two small horns which she conceals in +the abundant folds of her golden hair; one of her eyes is blue and one +is black; her neck is bent towards the left side; and, like Alexander +of Macedon, she has six fingers on her right hand, and a stain like a +little monkey’s head upon her skin. + +“Her gait is majestic and her manner affable. She is magnificent in her +expenses, but she is not always able to rule desire by reason. + +“One day, having noticed in the palace stables, a young groom of great +beauty, she immediately fell violently in love with him, and entrusted +to him the command of her armies. What one must praise unreservedly in +this great queen is the abundance of gifts that she makes to the +churches, monasteries, and chapels in her kingdom, and especially to +the holy house of Beargarden, where, by the grace of the Lord, I made +my profession in my fourteenth year. She has founded masses for the +repose of her soul in such great numbers that every priest in the +Penguin Church is, so to speak, transformed into a taper lighted in the +sight of heaven to draw down the divine mercy upon the august Crucha.” + +From these lines and from some others with which have enriched my text +the reader can judge of the historical and literary value of the “Gesta +Penguinorum.” Unhappily, that chronicle suddenly comes suddenly to an +end at the third year of Draco the Simple, the successor of Gun the +Weak. Having reached that point of my history, I deplore the loss of an +agreeable and trustworthy guide. + +During the two centuries that followed, the Penguins remained plunged +in blood-stained disorder. All the arts perished. In the midst of the +general ignorance, the monks in the shadow of their cloister devoted +themselves to study, and copied the Holy Scriptures with indefatigable +zeal. As parchment was scarce, they scraped the writing off old +manuscripts in order to transcribe upon them the divine word. Thus +throughout the breadth of Penguinia Bibles blossomed forth like roses +on a bush. + +A monk of the order of St. Benedict, Ermold the Penguin, had himself +alone defaced four thousand Greek and Latin manuscripts so as to copy +out the Gospel of St. John four thousand times. Thus the masterpieces +of ancient poetry and eloquence were destroyed in great numbers. +Historians are unanimous in recognising that the Penguin convents were +the refuge of learning during the Middle Ages. + +Unending wars between the Penguins and the Porpoises filled the close +of this period. It is extremely difficult to know the truth concerning +these wars, not because accounts are wanting, but because there are so +many of them. The Porpoise Chronicles contradict the Penguin Chronicles +at every point. And, moreover, the Penguins contradict each other as +well as the Porpoises. I have discovered two chronicles that are in +agreement, but one has copied from the other. A single fact is certain, +namely, that massacres, rapes, conflagrations, and plunder succeeded +one another without interruption. + +Under the unhappy prince Bosco IX. the kingdom was at the verge of +ruin. On the news that the Porpoise fleet, composed of six hundred +great ships, was in sight of Alca, the bishop ordered a solemn +procession. The cathedral chapter, the elected magistrates, the members +of Parliament, and the clerics of the University entered the Cathedral +and, taking up St. Orberosia’s shrine, led it in procession through the +town, followed by the entire people singing hymns. The holy patron of +Penguinia was not invoked in vain. Nevertheless, the Porpoises besieged +the town both by land and sea, took it by assault, and for three days +and three nights killed, plundered, violated, and burned, with all the +indifference that habit produces. + +Our astonishment cannot be too great at the fact that, during those +iron ages, the faith was preserved intact among the Penguins. The +splendour of the truth in those times illumined all souls that had not +been corrupted by sophisms. This is the explanation of the unity of +belief. A constant practice of the Church doubtless contributed also to +maintain this happy communion of the faithful—every Penguin who thought +differently from the others was immediately burned at the stake. + + + + +IV. LETTERS: JOHANNES TALPA + + +During the minority of King Gun, Johannes Talpa, in the monastery of +Beargarden, where at the age of fourteen he had made his profession and +from which he never departed for a single day throughout his life, +composed his celebrated Latin chronicle in twelve books called “De +Gestis Penguinorum.” + +The monastery of Beargarden lifts its high walls on the summit of an +inaccessible peak. One sees around it only the blue tops of mountains, +divided by the clouds. + +When he began to write his “Gesta Penguinorum,” Johannes Talpa was +already old. The good monk has taken care to tell us this in his book: +“My head has long since lost,” he says, “its adornment of fair hair, +and my scalp resembles those convex mirrors of metal which the Penguin +ladies consult with so much care and zeal. My stature, naturally small, +has with years become diminished and bent. My white beard gives warmth +to my breast.” + +With a charming simplicity, Talpa informs us of certain circumstances +in his life and some features in his character. “Descended,” he tells +us, “from a noble family, and destined from childhood for the +ecclesiastical state, I was taught grammar and music. I learnt to read +under the guidance of a master who was called Amicus, and who would +have been better named Inimicus. As I did not easily attain to a +knowledge of my letters, he beat me violently with rods so that I can +say that he printed the alphabet in strokes upon my back.” + +In another passage Talpa confesses his natural inclination towards +pleasure. These are his expressive words: “In my youth the ardour of my +senses was such that in the shadow of the woods I experienced a +sensation of boiling in a pot rather than of breathing the fresh air. I +fled from women, but in vain, for every object recalled them to me.” + +While he was writing his chronicle, a terrible war, at once foreign and +domestic, laid waste the Penguin land. The soldiers of Crucha came to +defend the monastery of Beargarden against the Penguin barbarians and +established themselves strongly within its walls. In order to render it +impregnable they pierced loop-holes through the walls and they took the +lead off the church roof to make balls for their slings. At night they +lighted huge fires in the courts and cloisters and on them they roasted +whole oxen which they spitted upon the ancient pine-trees of the +mountain. Sitting around the flames, amid smoke filled with a mingled +odour of resin and fat, they broached huge casks of wine and beer. +Their songs, their blasphemies, and the noise of their quarrels drowned +the sound of the morning bells. + +At last the Porpoises, having crossed the defiles, laid siege to the +monastery. They were warriors from the North, clad in copper armour. +They fastened ladders a hundred and fifty fathoms long to the sides of +the cliffs and sometimes in the darkness and storm these broke beneath +the weight of men and arms, and bunches of the besiegers were hurled +into the ravines and precipices. A prolonged wail would be heard going +down into the darkness, and the assault would begin again. The Penguins +poured streams of burning wax upon their assailants, which made them +blaze like torches. Sixty times the enraged Porpoises attempted to +scale the monastery and sixty times they were repulsed. + +For six months they had closely invested the monastery, when, on the +day of the Epiphany, a shepherd of the valley showed them a hidden path +by which they climbed the mountain, penetrated into the vaults of the +abbey, ran through the cloisters, the kitchens, the church, the chapter +halls, the library, the laundry, the cells, the refectories, and the +dormitories, and burned the buildings, killing and violating without +distinction of age or sex. The Penguins, awakened unexpectedly, ran to +arms, but in the darkness and alarm they struck at one another, whilst +the Porpoises with blows of their axes disputed the sacred vessels, the +censers, the candlesticks, dalmatics, reliquaries, golden crosses, and +precious stones. + +The air was filled with an acrid odour of burnt flesh. Groans and +death-cries arose in the midst of the flames, and on the edges of the +crumbling roofs monks ran in thousands like ants, and fell into the +valley. Yet Johannes Talpa kept on writing his Chronicle. The soldiers +of Crucha retreated speedily and filled up all the issues from the +monastery with pieces of rock so as to shut up the Porpoises in the +burning buildings. And to crush the enemy beneath the ruin they +employed the trunks of old oaks as battering-rams. The burning timbers +fell in with a noise like thunder and the lofty arches of the naves +crumbled beneath the shock of these giant trees when moved by six +hundred men together. Soon there was left nothing of the rich and +extensive abbey but the cell of Johannes Talpa, which, by a marvellous +chance, hung from the ruin of a smoking gable. The old chronicler still +kept writing. + +This admirable intensity of thought may seem excessive in the case of +an annalist who applies himself to relate the events of his own time. +However abstracted and detached we may be from surrounding things, we +nevertheless resent their influence. I have consulted the original +manuscript of Johannes Talpa in the National Library, where it is +preserved (_Monumenta Peng_., _K_. _L_6., 12390 _four_). It is a +parchment manuscript of 628 leaves. The writing is extremely confused, +the letters instead of being in a straight line, stray in all +directions and are mingled together in great disorder, or, more +correctly speaking, in absolute confusion. They are so badly formed +that for the most part it is impossible not merely to say what they +are, but even to distinguish them from the splashes of ink with which +they are plentifully interspersed. Those inestimable pages bear witness +in this way to the troubles amid which they were written. To read them +is difficult. On the other hand, the monk of Beargarden’s style shows +no trace of emotion. The tone of the “Gesta Penguinorum” never departs +from simplicity. The narration is rapid and of a conciseness that +sometimes approaches dryness. The reflections are rare and, as a rule, +judicious. + + + + +V. THE ARTS: THE PRIMITIVES OF PENGUIN PAINTING + + +The Penguin critics vie with one another in affirming that Penguin art +has from its origin been distinguished by a powerful and pleasing +originality, and that we may look elsewhere in vain for the qualities +of grace and reason that characterise its earliest works. But the +Porpoises claim that their artists were undoubtedly the instructors and +masters of the Penguins. It is difficult to form an opinion on the +matter, because the Penguins, before they began to admire their +primitive painters, destroyed all their works. + +We cannot be too sorry for this loss. For my own part I feel it +cruelly, for I venerate the Penguin antiquities and I adore the +primitives. They are delightful. I do not say the are all alike, for +that would be untrue, but they have common characters that are found in +all schools—I mean formulas from which they never depart—and there is +besides something finished in their work, for what they know they know +well. Luckily we can form a notion of the Penguin primitives from the +Italian, Flemish, and Dutch primitives, and from the French primitives, +who are superior to all the rest; as M. Gruyer tells us they are more +logical, logic being a peculiarly French quality. Even if this is +denied it must at least be admitted that to France belongs the credit +of having kept primitives when the other nations knew them no longer. +The Exhibition of French Primitives at the Pavilion Marsan in 1904 +contained several little panels contemporary with the later Valois +kings and with Henry IV. + +I have made many journeys to see the pictures of the brothers Van Eyck, +of Memling, of Roger van der Weyden, of the painter of the death of +Mary, of Ambrogio Lorenzetti, and of the old Umbrian masters. It was, +however, neither Bruges, nor Cologne, nor Sienna, nor Perugia, that +completed my initiation; it was in the little town of Arezzo that I +became a conscious adept in primitive painting. That was ten years ago +or even longer. At that period of indigence and simplicity, the +municipal museums, though usually kept shut, were always opened to +foreigners. One evening an old woman with a candle showed me, for half +a lira, the sordid museum of Arezzo, and in it I discovered a painting +by Margaritone, a “St. Francis,” the pious sadness of which moved me to +tears. I was deeply touched, and Margaritone, of Arezzo became from +that day my dearest primitive. + +I picture to myself the Penguin primitives in conformity with the works +of that master. It will not therefore be thought superfluous if in this +place I consider his works with some attention, if not in detail, at +least under their more general and, if I dare say so, most +representative aspect. + +We possess five or six pictures signed with his hand. His masterpiece, +preserved in the National Gallery of London, represents the Virgin +seated on a throne and holding the infant Jesus in her arms. What +strikes one first when one looks at this figure is the proportion. The +body from the neck to the feet is only twice as long as the head, so +that it appears extremely short and podgy. This work is not less +remarkable for its painting than for its drawing. The great Margaritone +had but a limited number of colours in his possession, and he used them +in all their purity without ever modifying the tones. From this it +follows that his colouring has more vivacity than harmony. The cheeks +of the Virgin and those of the Child are of a bright vermilion which +the old master, from a naïve preference for clear definitions, has +placed on each face in two circumferences as exact as if they had been +traced out by a pair of compasses. + +A learned critic of the eighteenth century, the Abbé Lanzi, has treated +Margaritone’s works with profound disdain. “They are,” he says, “merely +crude daubs. In those unfortunate times people could neither draw nor +paint.” Such was the common opinion of the connoisseurs of the days of +powdered wigs. But the great Margaritone and his contemporaries were +soon to be avenged for this cruel contempt. There was born in the +nineteenth century, in the biblical villages and reformed cottages of +pious England, a multitude of little Samuels and little St. Johns, with +hair curling like lambs, who, about 1840, and 1850, became spectacled +professors and founded the cult of the primitives. + +That eminent theorist of Pre-Raphaelitism, Sir James Tuckett, does not +shrink from placing the Madonna of the National Gallery on a level with +the masterpieces of Christian art. “By giving to the Virgin’s head,” +says Sir James Tuckett, “a third of the total height of the figure, the +old master attracts the spectator’s attention and keeps it directed +towards the more sublime parts of the human figure, and in particular +the eyes, which we ordinarily describe as the spiritual organs. In this +picture, colouring and design conspire to produce an ideal and mystical +impression. The vermilion of the cheeks does not recall the natural +appearance of the skin; it rather seems as if the old master has +applied the roses of Paradise to the faces of the Mother and the +Child.” + +We see, in such a criticism as this, a shining reflection, so to speak, +of the work which it exalts; yet MacSilly, the seraphic aesthete of +Edinburgh, has expressed in a still more moving and penetrating fashion +the impression produced upon his mind by the sight of this primitive +painting. “The Madonna of Margaritone,” says the revered MacSilly, +“attains the transcendent end of art. It inspires its beholders with +feelings of innocence and purity; it makes them like little children. +And so true is this, that at the age of sixty-six, after having had the +joy of contemplating it closely for three hours, I felt myself suddenly +transformed into a little child. While my cab was taking me through +Trafalgar Square I kept laughing and prattling and shaking my +spectacle-case as if it were a rattle. And when the maid in my +boarding-house had served my meal I kept pouring spoonfuls of soup into +my ear with all the artlessness of childhood.” + +“It is by such results,” adds MacSilly, “that the excellence of a work +of art is proved.” + +Margaritone, according to Vasari, died at the age of seventy-seven, +“regretting that he had lived to see a new form of art arising and the +new artists crowned with fame.” + +These lines, which I translate literally, have inspired Sir James +Tuckett with what are perhaps the finest pages in his work. They form +part of his “Breviary for Æsthetes”; all the Pre-Raphaelites know them +by heart. I place them here as the most precious ornament of this book. +You will agree that nothing more sublime has been written since the +days of the Hebrew prophets. + +MARGARITONE’S VISION + + +Margaritone, full of years and labours, went one day to visit the +studio of a young painter who had lately settled in the town. He +noticed in the studio a freshly painted Madonna, which, although severe +and rigid, nevertheless, by a certain exactness in the proportions and +a devilish mingling of light and shade, assumed an appearance of relief +and life. At this sight the artless and sublime worker of Arezzo +perceived with horror what the future of painting would be. With his +brow clasped in his hands he exclaimed: + +“What things of shame does not this figure show forth! I discern in it +the end of that Christian art which paints the soul and inspires the +beholder with an ardent desire for heaven. Future painters will not +restrain themselves as does this one to portraying on the side of a +wall or on a wooden panel the cursed matter of which our bodies are +formed; they will celebrate and glorify it. They will clothe their +figures with dangerous appearances of flesh, and these figures will +seem like real persons. Their bodies will be seen; their forms will +appear through their clothing. St. Magdalen will have a bosom. St. +Martha a belly, St. Barbara hips, St. Agnes buttocks; St. Sebastian +will unveil his youthful beauty, and St. George will display beneath +his armour the muscular wealth of a robust virility; apostles, +confessors, doctors, and God the Father himself will appear as ordinary +beings like you and me; the angels will affect an equivocal, ambiguous, +mysterious beauty which will trouble hearts. What desire for heaven +will these representations impart? None; but from them you will learn +to take pleasure in the forms of terrestrial life. Where will painters +stop in their indiscreet inquiries? They will stop nowhere. They will +go so far as to show men and women naked like the idols of the Romans. +There will be a sacred art and a profane art, and the sacred art will +not be less profane than the other.” + +“Get ye behind me, demons,” exclaimed the old master. For in prophetic +vision he saw the righteous and the saints assuming the appearance of +melancholy athletes. He saw Apollos playing the lute on a flowery hill, +in the midst of the Muses wearing light tunics. He saw Venuses lying +under shady myrtles and the Danae exposing their charming sides to the +golden rain. He saw pictures of Jesus under the pillars of the temple +amidst patricians, fair ladies, musicians, pages, negroes, dogs, and +parrots. He saw in an inextricable confusion of human limbs, outspread +wings, and flying draperies, crowds of tumultuous Nativities, opulent +Holy Families, emphatic Crucifixions. He saw St. Catherines, St. +Barbaras, St. Agneses humiliating patricians by the sumptuousness of +their velvets, their brocades, and their pearls, and by the splendour +of their breasts. He saw Auroras scattering roses, and a multitude of +naked Dianas and Nymphs surprised on the banks of retired streams. And +the great Margaritone died, strangled by so horrible a presentiment of +the Renaissance and the Bolognese School. + + + + +VI. MARBODIUS + + +We possess a precious monument of the Penguin literature of the +fifteenth century. It is a narrative of a journey to hell undertaken by +the monk Marbodius, of the order of St. Benedict, who professed a +fervent admiration for the poet Virgil. This narrative, written in +fairly good Latin, has been published by M. du Clos des Limes. It is +here translated for the first time. I believe that I am doing a service +to my fellow-countrymen in making them acquainted with these pages, +though doubtless they are far from forming a unique example of this +class of mediaeval Latin literature. Among the fictions that may be +compared with them we may mention “The Voyage of St. Brendan,” “The +Vision of Albericus,” and “St. Patrick’s Purgatory,” imaginary +descriptions, like Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy,” of the supposed +abode of the dead. The narrative of Marbodius is one of the latest +works dealing with this theme, but it is not the least singular. + +THE DESCENT OF MARBODIUS INTO HELL + + +In the fourteen hundred and fifty-third year of the incarnation of the +Son of God, a few days before the enemies of the Cross entered the city +of Helena and the great Constantine, it was given to me, Brother +Marbodius, an unworthy monk, to see and to hear what none had hitherto +seen or heard. I have composed a faithful narrative of those things so +that their memory may not perish with me, for man’s time is short. + +On the first day of May in the aforesaid year, at the hour of vespers, +I was seated in the Abbey of Corrigan on a stone in the cloisters and, +as my custom was, I read the verses of the poet whom I love best of +all, Virgil, who has sung of the labours: of the field, of shepherds, +and of heroes. Evening was hanging its purple folds from the arches of +the cloisters and in a voice of emotion I was murmuring the verses +which describe how Dido, the Phœnician queen, wanders with her +ever-bleeding wound beneath the myrtles of hell. At that moment Brother +Hilary happened to pass by, followed by Brother Jacinth, the porter. + +Brought up in the barbarous ages before the resurrection of the Muses, +Brother Hilary has not been initiated into the wisdom of the ancients; +nevertheless, the poetry of the Mantuan has, like a subtle torch, shed +some gleams of light into his understanding. + +“Brother Marbodius,” he asked me, “do those verses that you utter with +swelling breast and sparkling eyes—do they belong to that great ‘Æneid’ +from which morning or evening your glances are never withheld?” + +I answered that I was reading in Virgil how the son of Anchises +perceived Dido like a moon behind the foliage.[4] + + [4] The text runs + +. . . qualem primo qui syrgere mense +Aut videt aut vidisse putat per nubila lunam. +Brother Marbodius, by a strange misunderstanding, substitutes an +entirely different image for the one created by the poet. + + +“Brother Marbodius,” he replied, “I am certain that on all occasions +Virgil gives expression to wise maxims and profound thoughts. But the +songs that he modulates on his Syracusan flute hold such a lofty +meaning and such exalted doctrine that I am continually puzzled by +them.” + +“Take care, father,” cried Brother Jacinth, in an agitated voice. +“Virgil was a magician who wrought marvels by the help of demons. It is +thus he pierced through a mountain near Naples and fashioned a bronze +horse that had power to heal all the diseases of horses. He was a +necromancer, and there is still shown, in a certain town in Italy, the +mirror in which he made the dead appear. And yet a woman deceived this +great sorcerer. A Neapolitan courtesan invited him to hoist himself up +to her window in the basket that was used to bring the provisions, and +she left him all night suspended between two storeys.” + +Brother Hilary did not appear to hear these observations. + +“Virgil is a prophet,” he replied, “and a prophet who leaves far behind +him the sibyls with their sacred verses as well as the daughter of King +Priam, and that great diviner of future things, Plato of Athens. You +will find in the fourth of his Syracusan cantos the birth of our Lord +foretold in a lancune that seems of heaven rather than of earth.[5] In +the time of my early studies, when I read for the first time JAM REDIT +ET VIRGO, I felt myself bathed in an infinite delight, but I +immediately experienced intense grief at the thought that, for ever +deprived of the presence of God, the author of this prophetic verse, +the noblest that has come from human lips, was pining among the heathen +in eternal darkness. This cruel thought did not leave me. It pursued me +even in my studies, my prayers, my meditations, and my ascetic labours. +Thinkin that Virgil was deprived of the sight of God and that possibly +he might even be suffering the fate of the reprobate in hell, I could +neither enjoy peace nor rest, and I went so far as to exclaim several +times a day with my arms outstretched to heaven: + + + [5] Three centuries before the epoch in which our Marbodius lived the + words— + +Maro, vates gentilium +Da Christo testimonium. + +Were sung in the churches on Christmas Day. + + +“‘Reveal to me, O Lord, the lot thou hast assigned to him who sang on +earth as the angels sing in heaven!’ + +“After some years my anguish ceased when I read in an old book that the +great apostle St. Paul, who called the Gentiles into the Church of +Christ, went to Naples and sanctified with his tears the tomb of the +prince of poets.[6] This was some ground for believing that Virgil, +like the Emperor Trajan, was admitted to Paradise because even in error +he had a presentiment of the truth. We are not compelled to believe it, +but I can easily persuade myself that it is true.” + + [6] Ad maronis mausoleum +Ductus, fudit super eum +Piae rorem lacrymæ. + +Quem te, intuit, reddidissem, +Si te vivum invenissem +Poetarum maxime! + + +Having thus spoken, old Hilary wished me the peace of a holy night and +went away with Brother Jacinth. + +I resumed the delightful study of my poet. Book in hand, I meditated +upon the way in which those whom Love destroys with its cruel malady +wander through the secret paths in the depth of the myrtle forest, and, +as I meditated, the quivering reflections of the stars came and mingled +with those of the leafless eglantines in the waters of the cloister +fountain. Suddenly the lights and the perfumes and the stillness of the +sky were overwhelmed, a fierce Northwind charged with storm and +darkness burst roaring upon me. It lifted me up and carried me like a +wisp of straw over fields, cities, rivers, and mountains, and through +the midst of thunder-clouds, during a long night composed of a whole +series of nights and days. And when, after this prolonged and cruel +rage, the hurricane was at last stilled, I found myself far from my +native land at the bottom of a valley bordered by cypress trees. Then a +woman of wild beauty, trailing long garments behind her, approached me. +She placed her left hand on my shoulder, and, pointing her right arm to +an oak with thick foliage: + +“Look!” said she to me. + +Immediately I recognised the Sibyl who guards the sacred wood of +Avernus, and I discerned the fair Proserpine’s beautiful golden twig +amongst the tufted boughs of the tree to which her finger pointed. + +“O prophetic Virgin,” I exclaimed, “thou hast comprehended my desire +and thou hast satisfied it in this way. Thou hast revealed to me the +tree that bears the shining twig without which none can enter alive +into the dwelling-place of the dead. And in truth, eagerly did I long +to converse with the shade of Virgil.” + +Having said this, I snatched the golden branch from its ancient trunk +and I advanced without fear into the smoking gulf that leads to the +miry banks of the Styx, upon which the shades are tossed about like +dead leaves. At sight of the branch dedicated to Proserpine, Charon +took me in his bark, which groaned beneath my weight, and I alighted on +the shores of the dead, and was greeted by the mute baying of the +threefold Cerberus. I pretended to throw the shade of a stone at him, +and the vain monster fled into his cave. There, amidst the rushes, +wandered the souls of those children whose eyes had but opened and shut +to the kindly light of day, and there in a gloomy cavern Minos judges +men. I penetrated into the myrtle wood in which the victims of love +wander languishing, Phaedra, Procris, the sad Eriphyle, Evadne, +Pasiphaë Laodamia, and Cenis, and the Phœnician Dido. Then I went +through the dusty plains reserved for famous warriors. Beyond them open +two ways. That to the left leads to Tartarus, the abode of the wicked. +I took that to the right, which leads to Elysium and to the dwellings +of Dis. Having hung the sacred branch at the goddess’s door, I reached +pleasant fields flooded with purple light. The shades of philosophers +and poets hold grave converse there. The Graces and the Muses formed +sprightly choirs upon the grass. Old Homer sang, accompanying himself +upon his rustic lyre. His eyes were closed, but divine images shone +upon his lips. I saw Solon, Democritus, and Pythagoras watching the +games of the young men in the meadow, and, through the foliage of an +ancient laurel, I perceived also Hesiod, Orpheus, the melancholy +Euripides, and the masculine Sappho. I passed and recognised, as they +sat on the bank of a fresh rivulet, the poet Horace, Varius, Gallus, +and Lycoris. A little apart, leaning against the trunk of a dark +holm-oak, Virgil was gazing pensively at the grove. Of lofty stature, +though spare, he still preserved that swarthy complexion, that rustic +air, that negligent bearing, and unpolished appearance which during his +lifetime concealed his genius. I saluted him piously and remained for a +long time without speech. + +At last when my halting voice could proceed out of my throat: + +“O thou, so dear to the Ausonian Muses, thou honour of the Latin name, +Virgil,” cried I, “it is through thee I have known what beauty is, it +is through thee I have known what the tables of the gods and the beds +of the goddesses are like. Suffer the praises of the humblest of thy +adorers.” + +“Arise, stranger,” answered the divine poet. “I perceive that thou art +a living being among the shades, and that thy body treads down the +grass in this eternal evening. Thou art not the first man who has +descended before his death into these dwellings, although all +intercourse between us and the living is difficult. But cease from +praise; I do not like eulogies and the confused sounds of glory have +always offended my ears. That is why I fled from Rome, where I was +known to the idle and curious, and laboured in the solitude of my +beloved Parthenope. And then I am not so convinced that the men of thy +generation understand my verses that should be gratified by thy +praises. Who art thou?” + +“I am called Marbodius of the Kingdom of Alca. I made my profession in +the Abbey of Corrigan. I read thy poems by day and I read them by +night. It is thee whom I have come to see in Hell; I was impatient to +know what thy fate was. On earth the learned often dispute about it. +Some hold it probable that, having lived under the power of demons, +thou art now burning in inextinguishable flames; others, more cautious, +pronounce no opinion, believing that all which is said concerning the +dead is uncertain and full of lies; several, though not in truth the +ablest, maintain that, because thou didst elevate the tone of the +Sicilian Muses and foretell that a new progeny would descend from +heaven, thou wert admitted, like the Emperor Trajan, to enjoy eternal +blessedness in the Christian heaven.” + +“Thou seest that such is not the case,” answered the shade, smiling. + +“I meet thee in truth, O Virgil, among the heroes and sages in those +Elysian Fields which thou thyself hast described. Thus, contrary to +what several on earth believe, no one has come to seek thee on the part +of Him who reigns on high?” + +After a rather long silence: + +“I will conceal nought from thee. He sent for me; one of his +messengers, a simple man, came to say that I was expected, and that, +although I had not been initiated into their mysteries, in +consideration of my prophetic verses, a place had been reserved for me +among those of the new sect. But I refused to accept that invitation; I +had no desire to change my place. I did so not because I share the +admiration of the Greeks for the Elysian fields, or because I taste +here those joys which caused Proserpine to lose the remembrance of her +mother. I never believed much myself in what I say about these things +in the ‘Æneid.’ I was instructed by philosophers and men of science and +I had a correct foreboding of the truth. Life in hell is extremely +attenuated; we feel neither pleasure nor pain; we are as if we were +not. The dead have no existence here except such as the living lend +them. Nevertheless I prefer to remain here.” + +“But what reason didst thou give, O Virgil, for so strange a refusal?” + +“I gave excellent ones. I said to the messenger of the god that I did +not deserve the honour he brought me, and that a meaning had been given +to my verses which they did not bear. In truth I have not in my fourth +Eclogue betrayed the faith of my ancestors. Some ignorant Jews alone +have interpreted in favour of a barbarian god a verse which celebrates +the return of the golden age predicted by the Sibylline oracles. I +excused myself then on the ground that I could not occupy a place which +was destined for me in error and to which I recognised that I had no +right. Then I alleged my disposition and my tastes, which do not accord +with the customs of the new heavens. + +“‘I am not unsociable,’ said I to this man. ‘I have shown in life a +complaisant and easy disposition, although the extreme simplicity of my +habits caused me to be suspected of avarice. I kept nothing for myself +alone. My library was open to all and I have conformed my conduct to +that fine saying of Euripides, “all ought to be common among friends.” +Those praises that seemed obtrusive when I myself received them became +agreeable to me when addressed to Varius or to Macer. But at bottom I +am rustic and uncultivated. I take pleasure in the society of animals; +I was so zealous in observing them and took so much care of them that I +was regarded, not altogether wrongly, as a good veterinary surgeon. I +am told that the people of thy sect claim an immortal soul for +themselves, but refuse one to the animals. That is a piece of nonsense +that makes me doubt their judgment. Perhaps I love the flocks and the +shepherds a little too much. That would not seem right amongst you. +There is a maxim to which I endeavour to conform my actions, “Nothing +too much.” More even than my feeble health my philosophy teaches me to +use things with measure. I am sober; a lettuce and some olives with a +drop of Falernian wine form all my meals. I have, indeed, to some +extent gone with strange women, but I have not delayed over long in +taverns to watch the young Syrians dance to the sound of the +_crotalum_.[7] But if I have restrained my desires it was for my own +satisfaction and for the sake of good discipline. To fear pleasure and +to fly from joy appears to me the worst insult that one can offer to +nature. I am assured that during their lives certain of the elect of +thy god abstained from food and avoided women through love of +asceticism, and voluntarily exposed themselves to useless sufferings. I +should be afraid of meeting those, criminals whose frenzy horrifies me. +A poet must not be asked to attach himself too strictly to any +scientific or moral doctrine. Moreover, I am a Roman, and the Romans, +unlike the Greeks, are unable to pursue profound speculations in a +subtle manner. If they adopt a philosophy it is above all in order to +derive some practical advantages from it. Siro, who enjoyed great +renown among us, taught me the system of Epicurus and thus freed me +from vain terrors and turned me aside from the cruelties to which +religion persuades ignorant men. I have embraced the views of +Pythagoras concerning the souls of men and animals, both of which are +of divine essence; this invites us to look upon ourselves without pride +and without shame. I have learnt from the Alexandrines how the earth, +at first soft and without form, hardened in proportion as Nereus +withdrew himself from it to dig his humid dwellings; I have learned how +things were formed insensibly; in what manner the rains, falling from +the burdened clouds, nourished the silent forests, and by what progress +a few animals at last began to wander over the nameless mountains. I +could not accustom myself to your cosmogony either, for it seems to me +fitter for a camel-driver on the Syrian sands than for a disciple of +Aristarchus of Samos. And what would become of me in the abode of your +beatitude if I did not find there my friends, my ancestors, my masters, +and my gods, and if it is not given to me to see Rhea’s noble son, or +Venus, mother of Æneas, with her winning smile, or Pan, or the young +Dryads, or the Sylvans, or old Silenus, with his face stained by Ægle’s +purple mulberries.’ These are the reasons which I begged that simple +man to plead before the successor of Jupiter.” + + [7] This phrase seems to indicate that, if one is to believe + Macrobius, the “Copa” is by Virgil. + + +“And since then, O great shade, thou hast received no other messages?” + +“I have received none.” + +“To console themselves for thy absence, O Virgil, they have three +poets, Commodianus, Prudentius, and Fortunatus, who were all three born +in those dark plays when neither prosody nor grammar were known. But +tell me, O Mantuan, hast thou never received other intelligence of the +God whose company thou didst so deliberately refuse?” + +“Never that I remember.” + +“Hast thou not told me that I am not the first who descended alive into +these abodes and presented himself before thee?” + +“Thou dost remind me of it. A century and a half ago, or so it seems to +me (it is difficult to reckon days and years amid the shades), my +profound peace was intruded upon by a strange visitor. As I was +wandering beneath the gloomy foliage that borders the Styx, I saw +rising before me a human form more opaque and darker than that of the +inhabitants of these shores. I recognised a living person. He was of +high stature, thin, with an aquiline nose, sharp chin, and hollow +cheeks. His dark eyes shot forth fire; a red hood girt with a crown of +laurels bound his lean brows. His bones pierced through the tight brown +cloak that descended to his heels. He saluted me with deference, +tempered by a sort of fierce pride, and addressed me in a speech more +obscure and incorrect than that of those Gauls with whom the divine +Julius filled both his legions and the Curia. At last I understood that +he had been born near Fiesole, in an ancient Etruscan colony that Sulla +had founded on the banks of the Arno, and which had prospered; that he +had obtained municipal honours, but that he had thrown himself +vehemently into the sanguinary quarrels which arose between the senate, +the knights, and the people, that he had been defeated and banished, +and now he wandered in exile throughout the world. He described Italy +to me as distracted by more wars and discords than in the time of my +youth, and as sighing anew for a second Augustus. I pitied his +misfortune, remembering what I myself had formerly endured. + +“An audacious spirit unceasingly disquieted him, and his mind harboured +great thoughts, but alas! his rudeness and ignorance displayed the +triumph of barbarism. He knew neither poetry, nor science, nor even the +tongue of the Greeks, and he was ignorant, too, of the ancient +traditions concerning the origin of the world and the nature of the +gods. He bravely repeated fables which in my time would have brought +smiles to the little children who were not yet old enough to pay for +admission at the baths. The vulgar easily believe in monsters. The +Etruscans especially peopled hell with demons, hideous as a sick man’s +dreams. That they have not abandoned their childish imaginings after so +many centuries is explained by the continuation and progress of +ignorance and misery, but that one of their magistrates whose mind is +raised above the common level should share these popular illusions and +should be frightened by the hideous demons that the inhabitants of that +country painted on the walls of their tombs in the time of Porsena—that +is something which might sadden even a sage. My Etruscan visitor +repeated verses to me which he had composed in a new dialect, called by +him the vulgar tongue, the sense of which I could not understand. My +ears were more surprised than charmed as I heard him repeat the same +sound three or four times at regular intervals in his efforts to mark +the rhythm. That artifice did not seem ingenious to me; but it is not +for the dead to judge of novelties. + +“But I do not reproach this colonist of Sulla, born in an unhappy time, +for making inharmonious verses or for being, if it be possible, as bad +a poet as Bavius or Maevius. I have grievances against him which touch +me more closely. The thing is monstrous and scarcely credible, but when +this man returned to earth he disseminated the most odious lies about +me. He affirmed in several passages of his barbarous poems that I had +served him as a guide in the modern Tartarus, a place I know nothing +of. He insolently proclaimed that I had spoken of the gods of Rome as +false and lying gods, and that I held as the true God the present +successor of Jupiter. Friend, when thou art restored to the kindly +light of day and beholdest again thy native land, contradict those +abominable falsehoods. Say to thy people that the singer of the pious +Æneas has never worshipped the god of the Jews. I am assured that his +power is declining and that his approaching fall is manifested by +undoubted indications. This news would give me some pleasure if one +could rejoice in these abodes where we feel neither fears nor desires.” + +He spoke, and with a gesture of farewell he went away. I beheld his. +shade gliding over the asphodels without bending their stalks. I saw +that it became fainter and vaguer as it receded farther from me, and it +vanished before it reached the wood of evergreen laurels. Then I +understood the meaning of the words, “The dead have no life, but that +which the living lend them,” and I walked slowly through the pale +meadow to the gate of horn. + +I affirm that all in this writing is true.[8] + + [8] There is in Marbodius’s narrative a passage very worthy of notice, + viz., that in which the monk of Corrigan describes Dante Alighieri + such as we picture him to ourselves to-day. The miniatures in a very + old manuscript of the “Divine Comedy,” the “Codex Venetianus,” + represent the poet as a little fat man clad in a short tunic, the + skirts of which fall above his knees. As for Virgil, he still wears + the philosophical beard, in the wood-engravings of the sixteenth + century. + One would not have thought either that Marbodius, or even Virgil, + could have known the Etruscan tombs of Chiusi and Corneto, where, + in fact, there are horrible and burlesque devils closely resembling + those of Orcagna. Nevertheless, the authenticity of the “Descent of + Marbodius into Hell” is indisputable. M. du Clos des Lunes has + firmly established it. To doubt it would be to doubt palaeography + itself. + + + + +VII. SIGNS IN THE MOON + + +At that time, whilst Penguinia was still plunged in ignorance and +barbarism, Giles Bird-catcher, a Franciscan monk, known by his writings +under the name Ægidius Aucupis, devoted himself with indefatigable zeal +to the study of letters and the sciences. He gave his nights to +mathematics and music, which he called the two adorable sisters, the +harmonious daughters of Number and Imagination. He was versed in +medicine and astrology. He was suspected of practising magic, and it +seemed true that he wrought metamorphoses and discovered hidden things. + +The monks of his convent, finding in his cell Greek books which they +could not read, imagined them to be conjuring-books, and denounced +their too learned brother as a wizard. Ægidius Aucupis fled, and +reached the island of Ireland, where he lived for thirty studious +years. He went from monastery to monastery, searching for and copying +the Greek and Latin manuscripts which they contained. He also studied +physics and alchemy. He acquired a universal knowledge and discovered +notable secrets concerning animals, plants, and stones. He was found +one day in the company of a very beautiful woman who sang to her own +accompaniment on the lute, and who was afterwards discovered to be a +machine which he had himself constructed. + +He often crossed the Irish Sea to go into the land of Wales and to +visit the libraries of the monasteries there. During one of these +crossings, as he remained during the night on the bridge of the ship, +he saw beneath the waters two sturgeons swimming side by side. He had +very good hearing and he knew the language of fishes. Now he heard one +of the sturgeons say to the other: + +“The man in the moon, whom we have often seen carrying fagots on his +shoulders, has fallen into the sea.” + +And the other sturgeon said in its turn: + +“And in the silver disc there will be seen the image of two lovers +kissing each other on the mouth.” + +Some years later, having returned to his native country, Ægidius +Aucupis found that ancient learning had been restored. Manners had +softened. Men no longer pursued the nymphs of the fountains, of the +woods, and of the mountains with their insults. They placed images of +the Muses and of the modest Graces in their gardens, and they rendered +her former honours to the Goddess with ambrosial lips, the joy of men +and gods. They were becoming reconciled to nature. They trampled vain +terrors beneath their feet and raised their eyes to heaven without +fearing, as they formerly did, to read signs of anger and threats of +damnation in the skies. + +At this spectacle Ægidius Aucupis remembered what the two sturgeons of +the sea of Erin had foretold. + + + + +BOOK IV. MODERN TIMES: TRINCO + + + + +I. MOTHER ROUQUIN + + +Ægidius Aucupis, the Erasmus of the Penguins, was not mistaken; his age +was an age of free inquiry. But that great man mistook the elegances of +the humanists for softness of manners, and he did not foresee the +effects that the awaking of intelligence would have amongst the +Penguins. It brought about the religious Reformation; Catholics +massacred Protestants and Protestants massacred Catholics. Such were +the first results of liberty of thought. The Catholics prevailed in +Penguinia. But the spirit of inquiry had penetrated among them without +their knowing it. They joined reason to faith, and claimed that +religion had been divested of the superstitious practices that +dishonoured it, just as in later days the booths that the cobblers, +hucksters, and dealers in old clothes had built against the walls of +the cathedrals were cleared away. The word, legend, which at first +indicated what the faithful ought to read, soon suggested the idea of +pious fables and childish tales. + +The saints had to suffer from this state of mind. An obscure canon +called Princeteau, a very austere and crabbed man, designated so great +a number of them as not worthy of having their days observed, that he +was surnamed the exposer of the saints. He did not think, for instance, +that if St. Margaret’s prayer were applied as a poultice to a woman in +travail that the pains of childbirth would be softened. + +Even the venerable patron saint of Penguinia did not escape his rigid +criticism. This is what he says of her in his “Antiquities of Alca”: + +“Nothing is more uncertain than the history, or even the existence, of +St. Orberosia. An ancient anonymous annalist, a monk of Dombes, relates +that a woman called Orberosia was possessed by the devil in a cavern +where, even down to his own days, the little boys and girls of the +village used to play at a sort of game representing the devil and the +fair Orberosia. He adds that this woman became the concubine of a +horrible dragon, who ravaged the country. Such a statement is hardly +credible, but the history of Orberosia, as it has since been related, +seems hardly more worthy of belief. The life of that saint by the Abbot +Simplicissimus is three hundred years later than the pretended events +which it relates and that author shows himself excessively credulous +and devoid of all critical faculty.” + +Suspicion attacked even the supernatural origin of the Penguins. The +historian Ovidius Capito went so far as to deny the miracle of their +transformation. He thus begins his “Annals of Penguinia”: + +“A dense obscurity envelopes this history, and it would be no +exaggeration to say that it is a tissue of puerile fables and popular +tales. The Penguins claim that they are descended from birds who were +baptized by St. Maël and whom God changed into men at the intercession +of that glorious apostle. They hold that, situated at first in the +frozen ocean, their island, floating like Delos, was brought to anchor +in these heaven-favoured seas, of which it is to-day the queen. I +conclude that this myth is a reminiscence of the ancient migrations of +the Penguins.” + +In the following century, which was that of the philosophers, +scepticism became still more acute. No further evidence of it is needed +than the following celebrated passage from the “Moral Essay”: + +“Arriving we know not from whence (for indeed their origins are not +very clear), and successively invaded and conquered by four or five +peoples from the north, south, east, and west, miscegenated, interbred, +amalgamated, and commingled, the Penguins boast of the purity of their +race, and with justice, for they have become a pure race. This mixture +of all mankind, red, black, yellow, and white, round-headed and +long-headed, as formed in the course of ages a fairly homogeneous human +family, and one which is recognisable by certain features due to a +community of life and customs. + +“This idea that they belong to the best race in the world, and that +they are its finest family, inspires them with noble pride, indomitable +courage, and a hatred for the human race. + +“The life of a people is but a succession of miseries, crimes, and +follies. This is true of the Penguin nation, as of all other nations. +Save for this exception its history is admirable from beginning to +end.” + +The two classic ages of the Penguins are too well-known for me to lay +stress upon them. But what has not been sufficiently noticed is the way +in which the rationalist theologians such as Canon Princeteau called +into existence the unbelievers of the succeeding age. The former +employed their reason to destroy what did not seem to them, essential +to their religion; they only left untouched the most rigid article of +faith. Their intellectual successors, being taught by them how to make +use of science and reason, employed them against whatever beliefs +remained. Thus rational theology engendered natural philosophy. + +That is why (if I may turn from the Penguins of former days to the +Sovereign Pontiff, who, to-day governs the universal Church) we cannot +admire too greatly the wisdom of Pope Pius X. in condemning the study +of exegesis as contrary to revealed truth, fatal to sound theological +doctrine, and deadly to the faith. Those clerics who maintain the +rights of science in opposition to him are pernicious doctors and +pestilent teachers, and the faithful who approve of them are lacking in +either mental or moral ballast. + +At the end of the age of philosophers, the ancient kingdom of Penguinia +was utterly destroyed, the king put to death, the privileges of the +nobles abolished, and a Republic proclaimed in the midst of public +misfortunes and while a terrible war was raging. The assembly which +then governed Penguinia ordered all the metal articles contained in the +churches to be melted down. The patriots even desecrated the tombs of +the kings. It is said that when the tomb of Draco the Great was opened, +that king presented an appearance as black as ebony and so majestic +that those who profaned his corpse fled in terror. According to other +accounts, these churlish men insulted him by putting a pipe in his +mouth and derisively offering him a glass of wine. + +On the seventeenth day of the month of Mayflowers, the shrine of St. +Orberosia, which had for five hundred years been exposed to the +veneration of the faithful in the Church of St. Maël, was transported +into the town-hall and submitted to the examination of a jury of +experts appointed by the municipality. It was made of gilded copper in +shape like the nave of a church, entirely covered with enamels and +decorated with precious stones, which latter were perceived to be +false. The chapter in its foresight had removed the rubies, sapphires, +emeralds, and great balls of rock-crystal, and had substituted pieces +of glass in their place. It contained only a little dust and a piece of +old linen, which were thrown into a great fire that had been lighted on +the Place de Grève to burn the relics of the saints. The people danced +around it singing patriotic songs. + +From the threshold of their booth, which leant against the town-hall, a +man called Rouquin and his wife were watching this group of madmen. +Rouquin clipped dogs and gelded cats; he also frequented the inns. His +wife was a ragpicker and a bawd, but she had plenty of shrewdness. + +“You see, Rouquin,” said she to her man, “they are committing a +sacrilege. They will repent of it.” + +“You know nothing about it, wife,” answered Rouquin; “they, have become +philosophers, and when one is once a philosopher he is a philosopher +for ever.” + +“I tell you, Rouquin, that sooner or later they will regret what they +are doing to-day. They ill-treat the saints because they have not +helped them enough, but for all that the quails won’t fall ready cooked +into their mouths. They will soon find themselves as badly off as +before, and when they have put out their tongues for enough they will +become pious again. Sooner than people think the day will come when +Penguinia will again begin to honour her blessed patron. Rouquin, it +would be a good thing, in readiness for that day, if we kept a handful +of ashes and some rags and bones in an old pot in our lodgings. We will +say that they are the relics of St. Orberosia and that we have saved +them from the flames at the peril of our lives. I am greatly mistaken +if we don’t get honour and profit out of them. That good action might +be worth a place from the Curé to sell tapers and hire chairs in the +chapel of St. Orberosia.” + +On that same day Mother Rouquin took home with her a little ashes and +some bones, and put them in an old jam-pot in her cupboard. + + + + +II. TRINCO + + +The sovereign Nation had taken possession of the lands of the nobility +and clergy to sell them at a low price to the middle classes and the +peasants. The middle classes and the peasants thought that the +revolution was a good thing for acquiring lands and a bad one for +retaining them. + +The legislators of the Republic made terrible laws for the defence of +property, and decreed death to anyone who should propose a division of +wealth. But that did not avail the Republic. The peasants who had +become proprietors bethought themselves that though it had made them +rich, the Republic had nevertheless caused a disturbance to wealth, and +they desired a system more respectful of private property and more +capable of assuring the permanence of the new institutions. + +They had not long to wait. The Republic, like Agrippina, bore her +destroyer in her bosom. + +Having great wars to carry on, it created military forces, and these +were destined both to save it and to destroy it. Its legislators +thought they could restrain their generals by the fear of punishment, +but if they sometimes cut off the heads of unlucky soldiers they could +not do the same to the fortunate soldiers who obtained over it the +advantages of having saved its existence. + +In the enthusiasm of victory the renovated Penguins delivered +themselves up to a dragon, more terrible than that of their fables, +who, like a stork amongst frogs, devoured them for fourteen years with +his insatiable beak. + +Half a century after the reign of the new dragon a young Maharajah of +Malay, called Djambi, desirous, like the Scythian Anacharsis, of +instructing himself by travel, visited Penguinia and wrote an +interesting account of his travels. I transcribe the first page of his +account: + +ACCOUNT OF THE TRAVELS OF YOUNG DJAMBI IN PENGUINIA + +After a voyage of ninety days I landed at the vast and deserted port of +the Penguins and travelled over untilled fields to their ruined +capital. Surrounded by ramparts and full of barracks and arsenals it +had a martial though desolate appearance. Feeble and crippled men +wandered proudly through the streets, wearing old uniforms and carrying +rusty weapons. + +“What do you want?” I was rudely asked at the gate of the city by a +soldier whose moustaches pointed to the skies. + +“Sir,” I answered, “I come as an inquirer to visit this island.” + +“It is not an island,” replied the soldier. + +“What!” I exclaimed, “Penguin Island is not an island?” + +“No, sir, it is an insula. It was formerly called an island, but for a +century it has been decreed that it shall bear the name of insula. It +is the only insula in the whole universe. Have you a passport?” + +“Here it is.” + +“Go and get it signed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” + +A lame guide who conducted me came to a pause in a vast square. + +“The insula,” said he, “has given birth, as you know, to Trinco, the +greatest genius of the universe, whose statue you see before you. That +obelisk standing to your right commemorates Trinco’s birth; the column +that rises to your left has Trinco crowned with a diadem upon its +summit. You see here the triumphal arch dedicated to the glory of +Trinco and his family.” + +“What extraordinary feat has Trinco performed?” I asked. + +“War.” + +“That is nothing extraordinary. We Malayans make war constantly.” + +“That may be, but Trinco is the greatest warrior of all countries and +all times. There never existed a greater conqueror than he. As you +anchored in our port you saw to the east a volcanic island called +Ampelophoria, shaped like a cone, and of small size, but renowned for +its wines. And to the west a larger island which raises to the sky a +long range of sharp teeth; for this reason it is called the Dog’s Jaws. +It is rich in copper mines. We possessed both before Trinco’s reign and +they were the boundaries of our empire. Trinco extended the Penguin +dominion over the Archipelago of the Turquoises and the Green +Continent, subdued the gloomy Porpoises, and planted his flag amid the +icebergs of the Pole and on the burning sands of the African deserts. +He raised troops in all the countries he conquered, and when his armies +marched past in the wake of our own light infantry, our island +grenadiers, our hussars, our dragoons, our artillery, and our engineers +there were to be seen yellow soldiers looking in their blue armour like +crayfish standing on their tails; red men with parrots’ plumes, +tattooed with solar and Phallic emblems, and with quivers of poisoned +arrows resounding on their backs; naked blacks armed only with their +teeth and nails; pygmies riding on cranes; gorillas carrying trunks of +trees and led by an old ape who wore upon his hairy breast the cross of +the Legion of Honour. And all those troops, led to Trinco’s banner by +the most ardent patriotism, flew on from victory to victory, and in +thirty years of war Trinco conquered half the known world.” + +“What!” cried I, “you possess half of the world.” + +“Trinco conquered it for us, and Trinco lost it to us. As great in his +defeats as in his victories he surrendered all that he had conquered. +He even allowed those two islands we possessed before his time, +Ampelophoria and the Dog’s Jaws, to be taken from us. He left Penguinia +impoverished and depopulated. The flower of the insula perished in his +wars. At the time of his fall there were left in our country none but +the hunchbacks and cripples from whom we are descended. But he gave us +glory.” + +“He made you pay dearly for it!” + +“Glory never costs too much,” replied my guide. + + + + +III. THE JOURNEY OF DOCTOR OBNUBILE + + +After a succession of amazing vicissitudes, the memory of which is in +great part lost by the wrongs of time and the bad style of historians, +the Penguins established the government of the Penguins by themselves. +They elected a diet or assembly, and invested it with the privilege of +naming the Head of the State. The latter, chosen from among the simple +Penguins, wore no formidable monster’s crest upon his head and +exercised no absolute authority over the people. He was himself subject +to the laws of the nation. He was not given the title of king, and no +ordinal number followed his name. He bore such names as Paturle, +Janvion, Traffaldin, Coquenhot, and Bredouille. These magistrates did +not make war. They were not suited for that. + +The new state received the name of Public Thing or Republic. Its +partisans were called republicanists or republicans. They were also +named Thingmongers and sometimes Scamps, but this latter name was taken +in ill part. + +The Penguin democracy did not itself govern. It obeyed a financial +oligarchy which formed opinion by means of the newspapers, and held in +its hands the representatives, the ministers, and the president. It +controlled the finances of the republic, and directed the foreign +affairs of the country as if it were possessed of sovereign power. + +Empires and kingdoms in those days kept up enormous fleets. Penguinia, +compelled to do as they did, sank under the pressure of her armaments. +Everybody deplored or pretended to deplore so grievous a necessity. +However, the rich, and those engaged in business or affairs, submitted +to it with a good heart through a spirit of patriotism, and because +they counted on the soldiers and sailors to defend their goods at home +and to acquire markets and territories abroad. The great manufacturers +encouraged the making of cannons and ships through a zeal for the +national defence and in order to obtain orders. Among the citizens of +middle rank and of the liberal professions some resigned themselves to +this state of affairs without complaining, believing that it would last +for ever; others waited impatiently for its end and thought they might +be able to lead the powers to a simultaneous disarmament. + +The illustrious Professor Obnubile belonged to this latter class. + +“War,” said he, “is a barbarity to which the progress of civilization +will put an end. The great democracies are pacific and will soon impose +their will upon the aristocrats.” + +Professor Obnubile, who had for sixty years led a solitary and retired +life in his laboratory, whither external noises did not penetrate, +resolved to observe the spirit of the peoples for himself. He began his +studies with the greatest of all democracies and set sail for New +Atlantis. + +After a voyage of fifteen days his steamer entered, during the night, +the harbour of Titanport, where thousands of ships were anchored. An +iron bridge thrown across the water and shining with lights, stretched +between two piers so far apart that Professor Obnubile imagined he was +sailing on the seas of Saturn and that he saw the marvellous ring which +girds the planet of the Old Man. And this immense conduit bore upon it +more than a quarter of the wealth of the world. The learned Penguin, +having disembarked, was waited on by automatons in a hotel forty-eight +stories high. Then he took the great railway that led to Gigantopolis, +the capital of New Atlantis. In the train there were restaurants, +gaming-rooms, athletic arenas, telegraphic, commercial, and financial +offices, a Protestant Church, and the printing-office of a great +newspaper, which latter the doctor was unable to read, as he did not +know the language of the New Atlantans. The train passed along the +banks of great rivers, through manufacturing cities which concealed the +sky with the smoke from their chimneys, towns black in the day, towns +red at night, full of noise by day and full of noise also by night. + +“Here,” thought the doctor, “is a people far too much engaged in +industry and trade to make war. I am already certain that the New +Atlantans pursue a policy of peace. For it is an axiom admitted by all +economists that peace without and peace within are necessary for the +progress of commerce and industry.” + +As he surveyed Gigantopolis, he was confirmed in this opinion. People +went through the streets so swiftly propelled by hurry that they +knocked down all who were in their way. Obnubile was thrown down +several times, but soon succeeded in learning how to demean himself +better; after an hour’s walking he himself knocked down an Atlantan. + +Having reached a great square he saw the portico of a palace in the +Classic style, whose Corinthian columns reared their capitals of +arborescent acanthus seventy metres above the stylobate. + +As he stood with his head thrown back admiring the building, a man of +modest appearance approached him and said in Penguin: + +“I see by your dress that you are from Penguinia. I know your language; +I am a sworn interpreter. This is the Parliament palace. At the present +moment the representatives of the States are in deliberation. Would you +like to be present at the sitting?” + +The doctor was brought into the hall and cast his looks upon the crowd +of legislators who were sitting on cane chairs with their feet upon +their desks. + +The president arose and, in the midst of general inattention, muttered +rather than spoke the following formulas which the interpreter +immediately translated to the doctor. + +“The war for the opening of the Mongol markets being ended to the +satisfaction of the States, I propose that the accounts be laid before +the finance committee . . . .” + +“Is there any opposition? . . .” + +“The proposal is carried.” + +“The war for the opening of the markets of Third-Zealand being ended to +the satisfaction of the States, I propose that the accounts be laid +before the finance committee. . . .” + +“Is there any opposition? . . .” + +“The proposal is carried.” + +“Have I heard aright?” asked Professor Obnubile. “What? you an +industrial people and engaged in all these wars!” + +“Certainly,” answered the interpreter, “these are industrial wars. +Peoples who have neither commerce nor industry are not obliged to make +war, but a business people is forced to adopt a policy of conquest. The +number of wars necessarily increases with our productive activity. As +soon as one of our industries fails to find a market for its products a +war is necessary to open new outlets. It is in this way we have had a +coal war, a copper war, and a cotton war. In Third-Zealand we have +killed two-thirds of the inhabitants in order to compel the remainder +to buy our umbrellas and braces.” + +At that moment a fat man who was sitting in the middle of the assembly +ascended the tribune. + +“I claim,” said he, “a war against the Emerald Republic, which +insolently contends with our pigs for the hegemony of hams and sauces +in all the markets of the universe.” + +“Who is that legislator?” asked Doctor Obnubile. + +“He is a pig merchant.” + +“Is there any opposition?” said the President. “I put the proposition +to the vote.” + +The war against the Emerald Republic was voted with uplifted hands by a +very large majority. + +“What?” said Obnubile to the interpreter; “you have voted a war with +that rapidity and that indifference!” + +“Oh! it is an unimportant war which will hardly cost eight million +dollars.” + +“And men . . .” + +“The men are included in the eight million dollars.” + +Then Doctor Obnubile bent his head in bitter reflection. + +“Since wealth and civilization admit of as many causes of wars as +poverty and barbarism, since the folly and wickedness of men are +incurable, there remains but one good action to be done. The wise man +will collect enough dynamite to blow up this planet. When its fragments +fly through space an imperceptible amelioration will be accomplished in +the universe and a satisfaction will be given to the universal +conscience. Moreover, this universal conscience does not exist.” + + + + +BOOK V. MODERN TIMES: CHATILLON + + + + +I. THE REVEREND FATHERS AGARIC AND CORNEMUSE + + +Every system of government produces people who are dissatisfied. The +Republic or Public Thing produced them at first from among the nobles +who had been despoiled of their ancient privileges. These looked with +regret and hope to Prince Crucho, the last of the Draconides, a prince +adorned both with the grace of youth and the melancholy of exile. It +also produced them from among the smaller traders, who, owing to +profound economic causes, no longer gained a livelihood. They believed +that this was the fault of the republic which they had at first adored +and from which each day they were now becoming more detached. The +financiers, both Christians and Jews, became by their insolence and +their cupidity the scourge of the country, which they plundered and +degraded, as well as the scandal of a government which they never +troubled either to destroy or preserve, so confident were they that +they could operate without hindrance under all governments. +Nevertheless, their sympathies inclined to absolute power as the best +protection against the socialists, their puny but ardent adversaries. +And just as they imitated the habits of the aristocrats, so they +imitated their political and religious sentiments. Their women, in +particular, loved the Prince and had dreams of appearing one day at his +Court. + +However, the Republic retained some partisans and defenders. If it was +not in a position to believe in the fidelity of its own officials it +could at least still count on the devotion of the manual labourers, +although it had never relieved their misery. These came forth in crowds +from their quarries and their factories to defend it, and marched in +long processions, gloomy, emaciated, and sinister. They would have died +for it because it had given them hope. + +Now, under the Presidency of Theodore Formose, there lived in a +peaceable suburb of Alca a monk called Agaric, who kept a school and +assisted in arranging marriages. In his school he taught fencing and +riding to the sons of old families, illustrious by their birth, but now +as destitute of wealth as of privilege. And as soon as they were old +enough he married them to the daughters of the opulent and despised +caste of financiers. + +Tall, thin, and dark, Agaric used to walk in deep thought, with his +breviary in his hand and his brow loaded with care, through the +corridors of the school and the alleys of the garden. His care was not +limited to inculcating in his pupils abstruse doctrines and mechanical +precepts and to endowing them afterwards with legitimate and rich +wives. He entertained political designs and pursued the realisation of +a gigantic plan. His thought of thoughts and labour of labours was to +overthrow the Republic. He was not moved to this by any personal +interest. He believed that a democratic state was opposed to the holy +society to which body and soul he belonged. And all the other monks, +his brethren, thought the same. The Republic was perpetually at strife +with the congregation of monks and the assembly of the faithful. True, +to plot the death of the new government was a difficult and perilous +enterprise. Still, Agaric was in a position to carry on a formidable +conspiracy. At that epoch, when the clergy guided the superior classes +of the Penguins, this monk exercised a tremendous influence over the +aristocracy of Alca. + +All the young men whom he had brought up waited only for a favourable +moment to march against the popular power. The sons of the ancient +families did not practise the arts or engage in business. They were +almost all soldiers and served the Republic. They served it, but they +did not love it; they regretted the dragon’s crest. And the fair +Jewesses shared in these regrets in order that they might be taken for +Christians. + +One July as he was walking in a suburban street which ended in some +dusty fields, Agaric heard groans coming from a moss-grown well that +had been abandoned by the gardeners. And almost immediately he was told +by a cobbler of the neighbourhood that a ragged man who had shouted out +“Hurrah for the Republic!” had been thrown into the well by some +cavalry officers who were passing, and had sunk up to his ears in the +mud. Agaric was quite ready to see a general significance in this +particular fact. He inferred a great fermentation in the whole +aristocratic and military caste, and concluded that it was the moment +to act. + +The next day he went to the end of the Wood of Conils to visit the good +Father Cornemuse. He found the monk in his laboratory pouring a +golden-coloured liquor into a still. He was a short, fat, little man, +with vermilion-tinted cheeks and an elaborately polished bald head. His +eyes had ruby-coloured pupils like a guinea-pig’s. He graciously +saluted his visitor and offered him a glass of the St. Orberosian +_liqueur_, which he manufactured, and from the sale of which he gained +immense wealth. + +Agaric made a gesture of refusal. Then, standing on his long feet and +pressing his melancholy hat against his stomach, he remained silent. + +“Take a seat,” said Cornemuse to him. + +Agaric sat down on a rickety stool, but continued mute. + +Then the monk of Conils inquired: + +“Tell me some news of your young pupils. Have the dear children sound +views?” + +“I am very satisfied with them,” answered the teacher. “It is +everything to be nurtured in sound principles. It is necessary to have +sound views before having any views at all, for afterwards it is too +late. . . . Yes, I have great grounds for comfort. But we live in a sad +age.” + +“Alas!” sighed Cornemuse. + +“We are passing through evil days. . . .” + +“Times of trial.” + +“Yet, Cornemuse, the mind of the public is not so entirely corrupted as +it seems.” + +“Perhaps you are right.” + +“The people are tired of a government that ruins them and does nothing +for them. Every day fresh scandals spring up. The Republic is sunk in +shame. It is ruined.” + +“May God grant it!” + +“Cornemuse, what do you think of Prince Crucho?” + +“He is an amiable young man and, I dare say, a worthy scion of an +august stock. I pity him for having to endure the pains of exile at so +early an age. Spring has no flowers for the exile, and autumn no +fruits. Prince Crucho has sound views; he respects the clergy; he +practises our religion; besides, he consumes a good deal of my little +products.” + +“Cornemuse, in many homes, both rich and poor, his return is hoped for. +Believe me, he will come back.” + +“May I live to throw my mantle beneath his feet!” sighed Cornemuse. + +Seeing that he held these sentiments, Agaric depicted to him the state +of people’s minds such as he himself imagined them. He showed him the +nobles and the rich exasperated against the popular government; the +army refusing to endure fresh insults; the officials willing to betray +their chiefs; the people discontented, riot ready to burst forth, and +the enemies of the monks, the agents of the constituted authority, +thrown into the wells of Alca. He concluded that it was the moment to +strike a great blow. + +“We can,” he cried, “save the Penguin people, we can deliver it from +its tyrants, deliver it from itself, restore the Dragon’s crest, +re-establish the ancient State, the good State, for the honour of the +faith and the exaltation of the Church. We can do this if we will. We +possess great wealth and we exert secret influences; by our +evangelistic and outspoken journals we communicate with all the +ecclesiastics in towns and county alike, and we inspire them with our +own eager enthusiasm and our own burning faith. They will kindle their +penitents and their congregations. I can dispose of the chiefs of the +army; I have an understanding with the men of the people. Unknown to +them I sway the minds of umbrella sellers, publicans, shopmen, gutter +merchants, newspaper boys, women of the streets, and police agents. We +have more people on our side than we need. What are we waiting for? Let +us act!” + +“What do you think of doing?” asked Cornemuse. + +“Of forming a vast conspiracy and overthrowing the Republic, of +re-establishing Crucho on the throne of the Draconides.” + +Cornemuse moistened his lips with his tongue several times. Then he +said with unction: + +“Certainly the restoration of the Draconides is desirable; it is +eminently desirable; and for my part, desire it with all my heart. As +for the Republic, you know what I think of it. . . . But would it not +be better to abandon it to its fate and let it die of the vices of its +own constitution? Doubtless, Agaric, what you propose is noble and +generous. It would be a fine thing to save this great and unhappy +country, to re-establish it in its ancient splendour. But reflect on +it, we are Christians before we are Penguins. And we must take heed not +to compromise religion in political enterprises.” + +Agaric replied eagerly: + +“Fear nothing. We shall hold all the threads of the plot, but we +ourselves shall remain in the background. We shall not be seen.” + +“Like flies in milk,” murmured the monk of Conils. + +And turning his keen ruby-coloured eyes towards his brother monk: + +“Take care. Perhaps the Republic is stronger than it seems. Possibly, +too, by dragging it out of the nerveless inertia in which it now rests +we may only consolidate its forces. Its malice is great; if we attack +it, it will defend itself. It makes bad laws which hardly affect us; if +it is frightened it will make terrible ones against us. Let us not +lightly engage in an adventure in which we may get fleeced. You think +the opportunity a good one. I don’t, and I am going to tell you why. +The present government is not yet known by everybody, that is to say, +it is known by nobody. It proclaims that it is the Public Thing, the +common thing. The populace believes it and remains democratic and +Republican. But patience! This same people will one day demand that the +public thing be the people’s thing. I need not tell you how insolent, +unregulated, and contrary to Scriptural polity such claims seem to me. +But the people will make them, and enforce them, and then there will be +an end of the present government. The moment cannot now be far distant; +and it is then that we ought to act in the interests of our august +body. Let us wait. What hurries us? Our existence is not in peril. It +has not been rendered absolutely intolerable to us. The Republic fails +in respect and submission to us; it does not give the priests the +honours it owes them. But it lets us live. And such is the excellence +of our position that with us to live is to prosper. The Republic is +hostile to us, but women revere us. President Formose does not assist +at the celebration of our mysteries, but I have seen his wife and +daughters at my feet. They buy my phials by the gross. I have no better +clients even among the aristocracy. Let us say what there is to be said +for it. There is no country in the world as good for priests and monks +as Penguinia. In what other country would you find our virgin wax, our +virile incense, our rosaries, our scapulars, our holy water, and our +St. Orberosian liqueur sold in such great quantities? What other people +would, like the Penguins, give a hundred golden crowns for a wave of +our hands, a sound from our mouths, a movement of our lips? For my +part, I gain a thousand times more, in this pleasant, faithful, and +docile Penguinia, by extracting the essence from a bundle of thyme, +than I could make by tiring my lungs with preaching the remission of +sins in the most populous states of Europe and America. Honestly, would +Penguinia be better off if a police officer came to take me away from +here and put me on a steamboat bound for the Islands of Night?” + +Having thus spoken, the monk of Conils got up and led his guest into a +huge shed where hundreds of orphans clothed in blue were packing +bottles, nailing up cases, and gumming tickets. The ear was deafened by +the noise of hammers mingled with the dull rumbling of bales being +placed upon the rails. + +“It is from here that consignments are forwarded,” said Cornemuse. “I +have obtained from the government a railway through the Wood and a +station at my door. Every three days I fill a truck with my own +products. You see that the Republic has not killed all beliefs.” + +Agaric made a last effort to engage the wise distiller in his +enterprise. He pointed him to a prompt, certain, dazzling success. + +“Don’t you wish to share in it?” he added. “Don’t you wish to bring +back your king from exile?” + +“Exile is pleasant to men of good will,” answered the monk of Conils. +“If you are guided by me, my dear Brother Agaric, you will give up your +project for the present. For my own part I have no illusions. Whether +or not I belong to your party, if you lose, I shall have to pay like +you.” + +Father Agaric took leave of his friend and went back satisfied to his +school. “Cornemuse,” thought he, “not being able to prevent the plot, +would like to make it succeed and he will give money.” Agaric was not +deceived. Such, indeed, was the solidarity among priests and monks that +the acts of a single one bound them all. That was at once both their +strength and their weakness. + + + + +II. PRINCE CRUCHO + + +Agaric resolved to proceed without delay to Prince Crucho, who honoured +him with his familiarity. In the dusk of the evening he went out of his +school by the side door, disguised as a cattle merchant and took +passage on board the St. Maël. + +The next day he landed in Porpoisea, for it was at Chitterlings Castle +on this hospitable soil that Crucho ate the bitter bread of exile. + +Agaric met the Prince on the road driving in a motor-car with two young +ladies at the rate of a hundred miles an hour. When the monk saw him he +shook his red umbrella and the prince stopped his car. + +“Is it you, Agaric? Get in! There are already three of us, but we can +make room for you. You can take one of these young ladies on your +knee.” + +The pious Agaric got in. + +“What news, worthy father?” asked the young prince. + +“Great news,” answered Agaric. “Can I speak?” + +“You can. I have nothing secret from these two ladies.” + +“Sire, Penguinia claims you. You will not be deaf to her call.” + +Agaric described the state of feeling and outlined a vast plot. + +“On my first signal,” said he, “all your partisans will rise at once. +With cross in hand and habits girded up, your venerable clergy will +lead the armed crowd into Formose’s palace. We shall carry terror and +death among your enemies. For a reward of our efforts we only ask of +you, Sire, that you will not render them useless. We entreat you to +come and seat yourself on the throne that we shall prepare.” + +The prince returned a simple answer: + +“I shall enter Alca on a green horse.” + +Agaric declared that he accepted this manly response. Although, +contrary to his custom, he had a lady on his knee, he adjured the young +prince, with a sublime loftiness of soul, to be faithful to his royal +duties. + +“Sire,” he cried, with tears in his eyes, “you will live to remember +the day on which you have been restored from exile, given back to your +people, reestablished on the throne of your ancestors by the hands of +your monks, and crowned by them with the august crest of the Dragon. +King Crucho, may you equal the glory of your ancestor Draco the Great!” + +The young prince threw himself with emotion on his restorer and +attempted to embrace him, but he was prevented from reaching him by the +girth of the two ladies, so tightly packed were they all in that +historic carriage. + +“Worthy father,” said he, “I would like all Penguinia to witness this +embrace.” + +“It would be a cheering spectacle,” said Agaric. + +In the mean time the motor-car rushed like a tornado through hamlets +and villages, crushing hens, geese, turkeys, ducks, guinea-fowls, cats, +dogs, pigs, children, labourers, and women beneath its insatiable +tyres. And the pious Agaric turned over his great designs in his mind. +His voice, coming from behind one of the ladies, expressed this +thought: + +“We must have money, a great deal of money.” + +“That is your business,” answered the prince. + +But already the park gates were opening to the formidable motor-car. + +The dinner was sumptuous. They toasted the Dragon’s crest. Everybody +knows that a closed goblet is a sign of sovereignty; so Prince Crucho +and Princess Gudrune, his wife, drank out of goblets that were +covered-over like ciboriums. The prince had his filled several times +with the wines of Penguinia, both white and red. + +Crucho had received a truly princely education, and he excelled in +motoring, but was not ignorant of history either. He was said to be +well versed in the antiquities and famous deeds of his family; and, +indeed, he gave a notable proof of his knowledge in this respect. As +they were speaking of the various remarkable peculiarities that had +been noticed in famous women. + +“It is perfectly true,” said he, “that Queen Crucha, whose name I bear, +had the mark of a little monkey’s head upon her body.” + +During the evening Agaric had a decisive interview with three of the +prince’s oldest councillors. It was decided to ask for funds from +Crucho’s father-in-law, as he was anxious to have a king for +son-in-law, from several Jewish ladies, who were impatient to become +ennobled, and, finally, from the Prince Regent of the Porpoises, who +had promised his aid to the Draconides, thinking that by Crucho’s +restoration he would weaken the Penguins, the hereditary enemies of his +people. The three old councillors divided among themselves the three +chief offices of the Court, those of Chamberlain, Seneschal, and High +Steward, and authorised the monk to distribute the other places to the +prince’s best advantage. + +“Devotion has to be rewarded,” said the three old councillors. + +“And treachery also,” said Agaric. + +“It is but too true,” replied one of them, the Marquis of Sevenwounds, +who had experience of revolutions. + +There was dancing, and after the ball Princess Gudrune tore up her +green robe to make cockades. With her own hands she sewed a piece of it +on the monk’s breast, upon which he shed tears of sensibility and +gratitude. + +M. de Plume, the prince’s equerry, set out the same evening to look for +a green horse. + + + + +III. THE CABAL + + +After his return to the capital of Penguinia, the Reverend Father +Agaric disclosed his projects to Prince Adélestan des Boscénos, of +whose Draconian sentiments he was well aware. + +The prince belonged to the highest nobility. The Torticol des Boscénos +went back to Brian the Good, and under the Draconides had held the +highest offices in the kingdom. In 1179, Philip Torticol, High Admiral +of Penguinia, a brave, faithful, and generous, but vindictive man, +delivered over the port of La Crique and the Penguin fleet to the +enemies of the kingdom, because he suspected that Queen Crucha, whose +lover he was, had been unfaithful to him and loved a stable-boy. It was +that great queen who gave to the Boscénos the silver warming-pan which +they bear in their arms. As for their motto, it only goes back to the +sixteenth century. The story of its origin is as follows: One gala +night, as he mingled with the crowd of courtiers who were watching the +fire-works in the king’s garden, Duke John des Boscénos approached the +Duchess of Skull and put his hand under the petticoat of that lady, who +made no complaint at the gesture. The king, happening to pass, +surprised them and contented himself with saying, “And thus I find +you.” These four words became the motto of the Boscénos. + +Prince Adélestan had not degenerated from his ancestors. He preserved +an unalterable fidelity for the race of the Draconides and desired +nothing so much as the restoration of Prince Crucho, an event which was +in his eyes to be the fore-runner of the restoration of his own +fortune. He therefore readily entered into the Reverend Father Agaric’s +plans. He joined himself at once to the monk’s projects, and hastened +to put him into communication with the most loyal Royalists of his +acquaintance, Count Cléna, M. de La Trumelle, Viscount Olive, and M. +Bigourd. They met together one night in the Duke of Ampoule’s country +house, six miles eastward of Alca, to consider ways and means. + +M. de La Trumelle was in favour of legal action. + +“We ought to keep within the law,” said he in substance. “We are for +order. It is by an untiring propaganda that we shall best pursue the +realisation of our hopes. We must change the feeling of the country. +Our cause will conquer because it is just.” + +The Prince des Boscénos expressed a contrary opinion. He thought that, +in order to triumph, just causes need force quite as much and even more +than unjust causes require it. + +“In the present situation,” said he tranquilly, “three methods of +action present themselves: to hire the butcher boys, to corrupt the +ministers, and to kidnap President Formose.” + +“It would be a mistake to kidnap Formose,” objected M. de La Trumelle. +“The President is on our side.” + +The attitude and sentiments of the President of the Republic are +explained by the fact that one Dracophil proposed to seize Formose +while another Dracophil regarded him as a friend. Formose showed +himself favourable to the Royalists, whose habits he admired and +imitated. If he smiled at the mention of the Dragon’s crest it was at +the thought of putting it on his own head. He was envious of sovereign +power, not because he felt himself capable of exercising it, but +because he loved to appear so. According to the expression of a Penguin +chronicler, “he was a goose.” + +Prince des Boscénos maintained his proposal to march against Formose’s +palace and the House of Parliament. + +Count Cléna was even still more energetic. + +“Let us begin,” said he, “by slaughtering, disembowelling, and braining +the Republicans and all partisans of the government. Afterwards we +shall see what more need be done.” + +M. de La Trumelle was a moderate, and moderates are always moderately +opposed to violence. He recognised that Count Cléna’s policy was +inspired by a noble feeling and that it was high-minded, but he timidly +objected that perhaps it was not conformable to principle, and that it +presented certain dangers. At last he consented to discuss it. + +“I propose,” added he, “to draw up an appeal to the people. Let us show +who we are. For my own part I can assure you that I shall not hide my +flag in my pocket.” + +M. Bigourd began to speak. + +“Gentlemen, the Penguins are dissatisfied with the new order because it +exists, and it is natural for men to complain of their condition. But +at the same time the Penguins are afraid to change their government +because new things alarm them. They have not known the Dragon’s crest +and, although they sometimes say that they regret it, we must not +believe them. It is easy to see that they speak in this way either +without thought or because they are in an ill-temper. Let us not have +any illusions about their feelings towards ourselves. They do not like +us. They hate the aristocracy both from a base envy and from a generous +love of equality. And these two united feelings are very strong in a +people. Public opinion is not against us, because it knows nothing +about us. But when it knows what we want it will not follow us. If we +let it be seen that we wish to destroy democratic government and +restore the Dragon’s crest, who will be our partisans? Only the +butcher-boys and the little shopkeepers of Alca. And could we even +count on them to the end? They are dissatisfied, but at the bottom of +their hearts they are Republicans. They are more anxious to sell their +cursed wares than to see Crucho again. If we act openly we shall only +cause alarm. + +“To make people sympathise with us and follow us we must make them +believe that we want, not to overthrow the Republic, but, on the +contrary, to restore it, to cleanse, to purify, to embellish, to adorn, +to beautify, and to ornament it, to render it, in a word, glorious and +attractive. Therefore, we ought not to act openly ourselves. It is +known that we are not favourable to the present order. We must have +recourse to a friend of the Republic, and, if we are to do what is +best, to a defender of this government. We have plenty to choose from. +It would be well to prefer the most popular and, if I dare say so, the +most republican of them. We shall win him over to us by flattery, by +presents, and above all by promises. Promises cost less than presents, +and are worth more. No one gives as much as he who gives hopes. It is +not necessary for the man we choose to be of brilliant intellect. I +would even prefer him to be of no great ability. Stupid people show an +inimitable grace in roguery. Be guided by me, gentlemen, and overthrow +the Republic by the agency of a Republican. Let us be prudent. But +prudence does not exclude energy. If you need me you will find me at +your disposal.” + +This speech made a great impression upon those who heard it. The mind +of the pious Agaric was particularly impressed. But each of them was +anxious to appoint himself to a position of honour and profit. A secret +government was organised of which all those present were elected active +members. The Duke of Ampoule, who was the great financier of the party, +was chosen treasurer and charged with organising funds for the +propaganda. + +The meeting was on the point of coming to an end when a rough voice was +heard singing an old air: + +Boscénos est un gros cochon; +On en va faire des andouilles +Des saucisses et du jambon +Pour le réveillon des pauv’ bougres. + + +It had, for two hundred years, been a well-known song in the slums of +Alca. Prince Boscénos did not like to hear it. He went down into the +street, and, perceiving that the singer was a workman who was placing +some slates on the roof of a church, he politely asked him to sing +something else. + +“I will sing what I like,” answered the man. + +“My friend, to please me. . . .” + +“I don’t want to please you.” + +Prince Boscénos was as a rule good-tempered, but he was easily angered +and a man of great strength. + +“Fellow, come down or I will go up to you,” cried he, in a terrible +voice. + +As the workman, astride on his coping, showed no sign of budging, the +prince climbed quickly up the staircase of the tower and attacked the +singer. He gave him a blow that broke his jaw-bone and sent him rolling +into a water-spout. At that moment seven or eight carpenters, who were +working on the rafters, heard their companion’s cry and looked through +the window. Seeing the prince on the coping they climbed along a ladder +that was leaning on the slates and reached him just as he was slipping +into the tower. They sent him, head foremost, down the one hundred and +thirty-seven steps of the spiral staircase. + + + + +IV. VISCOUNTESS OLIVE + + +The Penguins had the finest army in the world. So had the Porpoises. +And it was the same with the other nations of Europe. The smallest +amount of thought will prevent any surprise at this. For all armies are +the finest in the world. The second finest army, if one could exist, +would be in a notoriously inferior position; it would be certain to be +beaten. It ought to be disbanded at once. Therefore, all armies are the +finest in the world. In France the illustrious Colonel Marchand +understood this when, before the passage of the Yalou, being questioned +by some journalists about the Russo-Japanese war, he did not hesitate +to describe the Russian army as the finest in the world, and also the +Japanese. And it should be noticed that even after suffering the most +terrible reverses an army does not fall from its position of being the +finest in the world. For if nations ascribe their victories to the +ability of their generals and the courage of their soldiers, they +always attribute their defeats to an inexplicable fatality. On the +other hand, navies are classed according to the number of their ships. +There is a first, a second, a third, and so on. So that there exists no +doubt as to the result of naval wars. + +The Penguins had the finest army and the second navy in the world. This +navy was commanded by the famous Chatillon, who bore the title of +Emiralbahr, and by abbreviation Emiral. It is the same word which, +unfortunately in a corrupt form, is used to-day among several European +nations to designate the highest grade in the naval service. But as +there was but one Emiral among the Penguins, a singular prestige, if I +dare say so, was attached to that rank. + +The Emiral did not belong to the nobility. A child of the people, he +was loved by the people. They were flattered to see a man who sprang +from their own ranks holding a position of honour. Chatillon was +good-looking and fortune favoured him. He was not over-addicted to +thought. No event ever disturbed his serene outlook. + +The Reverend Father Agaric, surrendering to M. Bigourd’s reasons and +recognising that the existing government could only be destroyed by one +of its defenders, cast his eyes upon Emiral Chatillon. He asked a large +sum of money from his friend, the Reverend Father Cornemuse, which the +latter handed him with a sigh. And with this sum he hired six hundred +butcher boys of Alca to run behind Chatillon’s horse and shout, “Hurrah +for the Emiral!” Henceforth Chatillon could not take a single step +without being cheered. + +Viscountess Olive asked him for a private interview. He received her at +the Admiralty[9] in a room decorated with anchors, shells, and +grenades. + + [9] Or better, _Emiralty_. + + +She was discreetly dressed in greyish blue. A hat trimmed with roses +covered her pretty, fair hair. Behind her veil her eyes shone like +sapphires. Although she came of Jewish origin there was no more +fashionable woman in the whole nobility. She was tall and well shaped; +her form was that of the year, her figure that of the season. + +“Emiral,” said she, in a delightful voice, “I cannot conceal my emotion +from you. . . . It is very natural . . . before a hero.” + +“You are too kind. But tell me, Viscountess, what brings me the honour +of your visit.” + +“For a long time I have been anxious to see you, to speak to you. . . . +So I very willingly undertook to convey a message to you.” + +“Please take a seat.” + +“How still it is here.” + +“Yes, it is quiet enough.” + +“You can hear the birds singing.” + +“Sit down, then, dear lady.” + +And he drew up an arm-chair for her. + +She took a seat with her back to the light. + +“Emiral, I came to bring you a very important message, a message. . .” + +“Explain.” + +“Emiral, have you ever seen Prince Crucho?” + +“Never.” + +She sighed. + +“It is a great pity. He would be so delighted to see you! He esteems +and appreciates you. He has your portrait on his desk beside his +mother’s. What a pity it is he is not better known! He is a charming +prince and so grateful for what is done for him! He will be a great +king. For he will be king without doubt. He will come back and sooner +than people think. . . . What I have to tell you, the message with +which I am entrusted, refers precisely to. . .” + +The Emiral stood up. + +“Not a word more, dear lady. I have the esteem, the confidence of the +Republic. I will not betray it. And why should I betray it? I am loaded +honours and dignities.” + +“Allow me to tell you, my dear Emiral, that your honours and dignities +are far from equalling what you deserve. If your services were properly +rewarded, you would be Emiralissimo and Generalissimo, +Commander-in-chief of the troops both on land and sea. The Republic is +very ungrateful to you.” + +“All governments are more or less ungrateful.” + +“Yes, but the Republicans are jealous of you. That class of person is +always afraid of his superiors. They cannot endure the Services. +Everything that has to do with the navy and the army is odious to them. +They are afraid of you.” + +“That is possible.” + +“They are wretches; they are ruining the country. Don’t you wish to +save Penguinia? + +“In what way?” + +“By sweeping away all the rascals of the Republic, all the +Republicans.” + +“What a proposal to make to me, dear lady!” + +“It is what will certainly be done, if not by you, then by some one +else. The Generalissimo, to mention him alone, is ready to throw all +the ministers, deputies, and senators into the sea, and to recall +Prince Crucho.” + +“Oh, the rascal, the scoundrel,” exclaimed the Emiral. + +“Do to him what he would do to you. The prince will know how to +recognise your services, He will give you the Constable’s sword and a +magnificent grant. I am commissioned, in the mean time, to hand you a +pledge of his royal friendship.” + +As she said these words she drew a green cockade from her bosom. + +“What is that?” asked the Emiral. + +“It is his colours which Crucho sends you.” + +“Be good enough to take them back.” + +“So that they may be offered to the Generalissimo who will accept them! +. . . No, Emiral, let me place them on your glorious breast.” + +Chatillon gently repelled the lady. But for some minutes he thought her +extremely pretty, and he felt this impression still more when two bare +arms and the rosy palms of two delicate hands touched him lightly. He +yielded almost immediately. Olive was slow in fastening the ribbon. +Then when it was done she made a low courtesy and saluted Chatillon +with the title of Constable. + +“I have been ambitious like my comrades,” answered the sailor, “I don’t +hide it, and perhaps I am so still; but upon my word of honour, when I +look at you, the only, desire I feel is for a cottage and a heart.” + +She turned upon him the charming sapphire glances that flashed from +under her eyelids. + +“That is to be had also . . . what are you doing, Emiral?” + +“I am looking for the heart.” + +When she left the Admiralty, the Viscountess went immediately to the +Reverend Father Agaric to give an account of her visit. + +“You must go to him again, dear lady,” said that austere monk. + + + + +V. THE PRINCE DES BOSCÉNOS + + +Morning and evening the newspapers that had been bought by the +Dracophils proclaimed Chatillon’s praises and hurled shame and +opprobrium upon the Ministers of the Republic. Chatillon’s portrait was +sold through the streets of Alca. Those young descendants of Remus who +carry plaster figures on their heads, offered busts of Chatillon for +sale upon the bridges. + +Every evening Chatillon rode upon his white horse round the Queen’s +Meadow, a place frequented by the people of fashion. The Dracophils +posted along the Emiral’s route a crowd of needy Penguins who kept +shouting: “It is Chatillon we want.” The middle classes of Alca +conceived a profound admiration for the Emiral. Shopwomen murmured: “He +is good-looking.” Women of fashion slackened the speed of their +motor-cars and kissed hands to him as they passed, amidst the hurrahs +of an enthusiastic populace. + +One day, as he went into a tobacco shop, two Penguins who were putting +letters in the box recognized Chatillon and cried at the top of their +voices: “Hurrah for the Emiral! Down with the Republicans.” All those +who were passing stopped in front of the shop. Chatillon lighted his +cigar before the eyes of a dense crowd of frenzied citizens who waved +their hats and cheered. The crowd kept increasing, and the whole town, +singing and marching behind its hero, went back with him to the +Admiralty. + +The Emiral had an old comrade in arms, Under-Emiral Vulcanmould, who +had served with great distinction, a man as true as gold and as loyal +as his sword. Vulcanmould plumed himself on his thoroughgoing +independence and he went among the partisans of Crucho and the Minister +of the Republic telling both parties what he thought of them. M. +Bigourd maliciously declared that he told each party what the other +party thought of it. In truth he had on several occasions been guilty +of regrettable indiscretions, which were overlooked as being the +freedoms of a soldier who knew nothing of intrigue. Every morning he +went to see Chatillon, whom he treated with the cordial roughness of a +brother in arms. + +“Well, old buffer, so you are popular,” said he to him. “Your phiz is +sold on the heads of pipes and on liqueur bottles and every drunkard in +Alca spits out your name as he rolls in the gutter. . . . Chatillon, +the hero of the Penguins! Chatillon, defender of the Penguin glory! . . +. Who would have said it? Who would have thought it?” + +And he laughed with his harsh laugh. Then changing his tone: “But, +joking aside, are you not a bit surprised at what is happening to you?” + +“No, indeed,” answered Chatillon. + +And out went the honest Vulcanmould, banging the door behind him. + +In the mean time Chatillon had taken a little flat at number 18 +Johannes-Talpa Street, so that he might receive Viscountess Olive. They +met there every day. He was desperately in love with her. During his +martial and neptunian life he had loved crowds of women, red, black, +yellow, and white, and some of them had been very beautiful. But before +he met the Viscountess he did not know what a woman really was. When +the Viscountess Olive called him her darling, her dear darling, he felt +in heaven and it seemed to him that the stars shone in her hair. + +She would come a little late, and, as she put her bag on the table, she +would ask pensively: + +“Let me sit on your knee.” + +And then she would talk of subjects suggested by the pious Agaric, +interrupting the conversation with sighs and kisses. She would ask him +to dismiss such and such an officer, to give a command to another, to +send the squadron here or there. And at the right moment she would +exclaim: + +“How young you are, my dear!” + +And he did whatever she wished, for he was simple, he was anxious to +wear the Constable’s sword, and to receive a large grant; he did not +dislike playing a double part, he had a vague idea of saving Penguinia, +and he was in love. + +This delightful woman induced him to remove the troops that were at La +Cirque, the port where Crucho was to land. By this means it was made +certain that there would be no obstacle to prevent the prince from +entering Penguinia. + +The pious Agaric organised public meetings so as to keep up the +agitation. The Dracophils held one or two every day in some of the +thirty-six districts of Alca, and preferably in the poorer quarters. +They desired to win over the poor, for they are the most numerous. On +the fourth of May a particularly fine meeting was held in an old +cattle-market, situated in the centre of a populous suburb filled with +housewives sitting on the doorsteps and children playing in the +gutters. There were present about two thousand people, in the opinion +of the Republicans, and six thousand according to the reckoning of the +Dracophils. In the audience was to be seen the flower of Penguin +society, including Prince and Princess des Boscénos, Count Cléna, M. de +La Trumelle, M. Bigourd, and several rich Jewish ladies. + +The Generalissimo of the national army had come in uniform. He was +cheered. + +The committee had been carefully formed. A man of the people, a +workman, but a man of sound principles, M. Rauchin, the secretary of +the yellow syndicate, was asked to preside, supported by Count Cléna +and M. Michaud, a butcher. + +The government which Penguinia had freely given itself was called by +such names as cesspool and drain in several eloquent speeches. But +President Formose was spared and no mention was made of Crucho or the +priests. + +The meeting was not unanimous. A defender of the modern State and of +the Republic, a manual labourer, stood up. + +“Gentlemen,” said M. Rauchin, the chairman, “we have told you that this +meeting would not be unanimous. We are not like our opponents, we are +honest men. I allow our opponent to speak. Heaven knows what you are +going to hear. Gentlemen, I beg of you to restrain as long as you can +the expression of your contempt, your disgust, and your indignation.” + +“Gentlemen,” said the opponent. . . . + +Immediately he was knocked down, trampled beneath the feet of the +indignant crowd, and his unrecognisable remains thrown out of the hall. + +The tumult was still resounding when Count Cléna ascended the tribune. +Cheers took the place of groans and when silence was restored the +orator uttered these words: + +“Comrades, we are going to see whether you have blood in your veins. +What we have got to do is to slaughter, disembowel, and brain all the +Republicans.” + +This speech let loose such a thunder of applause that the old shed +rocked with it, and a cloud of acrid and thick dust fell from its +filthy walls and worm-eaten beams and enveloped the audience. + +A resolution was carried vilifying the government and acclaiming +Chatillon. And the audience departed singing the hymn of the liberator: +“It is Chatillon we want.” + +The only way out of the old market was through a muddy alley shut in by +omnibus stables and coal sheds. There was no moon and a cold drizzle +was coming down. The police, who were assembled in great numbers, +blocked the alley and compelled the Dracophils to disperse in little +groups. These were the instructions they had received from their chief, +who was anxious to check the enthusiasm of the excited crowd. + +The Dracophils who were detained in the alley kept marking time and +singing, “It is Chatillon we want.” Soon, becoming impatient of the +delay, the cause of which they did not know, they began to push those +in front of them. This movement, propagated along the alley, threw +those in front against the broad chests of the police. The latter had +no hatred for the Dracophils. In the bottom of their hearts they liked +Chatillon. But it is natural to resist aggression and strong men are +inclined to make use of their strength. For these reasons the police +kicked the Dracophils with their hob-nailed boots. As a result there +were sudden rushes backwards and forwards. Threats and cries mingled +with the songs. + +“Murder! Murder! . . . It is Chatillon we want! Murder! Murder!” + +And in the gloomy alley the more prudent kept saying, “Don’t push.” +Among these latter, in the darkness, his lofty figure rising above the +moving crowd, his broad shoulders and robust body noticeable among the +trampled limbs and crushed sides of the rest, stood the Prince des +Boscénos, calm, immovable, and placid. Serenely and indulgently he +waited. In the mean time, as the exit was opened at regular intervals +between the ranks of the police, the pressure of elbows against the +chests of those around the prince diminished and people began to +breathe again. + +“You see we shall soon be able to go out,” said that kindly giant, with +a pleasant smile. “Time and patience . . .” + +He took a cigar from his case, raised it to his lips and struck a +match. Suddenly, in the light of the match, he saw Princess Anne, his +wife, clasped in Count Cléna’s arms. At this sight he rushed towards +them, striking both them and those around with his cane. He was +disarmed, though not without difficulty, but he could not be separated +from his opponent. And whilst the fainting princess was lifted from arm +to arm to her carriage over the excited and curious crowd, the two men +still fought furiously. Prince des Boscénos lost his hat, his +eye-glass, his cigar, his necktie, and his portfolio full of private +letters and political correspondence; he even lost the miraculous +medals that he had received from the good Father Cornemuse. But he gave +his opponent so terrible a kick in the stomach that the unfortunate +Count was knocked through an iron grating and went, head foremost, +through a glass door and into a coal-shed. + +Attracted by the struggle and the cries of those around, the police +rushed towards the prince, who furiously resisted them. He stretched +three of them gasping at his feet and put seven others to flight, with, +respectively, a broken jaw, a split lip, a nose pouring blood, a +fractured skull, a torn ear, a dislocated collar-bone, and broken ribs. +He fell, however, and was dragged bleeding and disfigured, with his +clothes in rags, to the nearest police-station, where, jumping about +and bellowing, he spent the night. + +At daybreak groups of demonstrators went about the town singing, “It is +Chatillon we want,” and breaking the windows of the houses in which the +Ministers of the Republic lived. + + + + +VI. THE EMIRAL’S FALL + + +That night marked the culmination of the Dracophil movement. The +Royalists had no longer any doubt of its triumph. Their chiefs sent +congratulations to Prince Crucho by wireless telegraphy. Their ladies +embroidered scarves and slippers for him. M. de Plume had found the +green horse. + +The pious Agaric shared the common hope. But he still worked to win +partisans for the Pretender. They ought, he said, to lay their +foundations upon the bed-rock. + +With this design he had an interview with three Trade Union workmen. + +In these times the artisans no longer lived, as in the days of the +Draconides, under the government of corporations. They were free, but +they had no assured pay. After having remained isolated from each other +for a long time, without help and without support, they had formed +themselves into unions. The coffers of the unions were empty, as it was +not the habit of the unionists to pay their subscriptions. There were +unions numbering thirty thousand members, others with a thousand, five +hundred, two hundred, and so forth. Several numbered two or three +members only, or even a few less. But as the lists of adherents were +not published, it was not easy to distinguish the great unions from the +small ones. + +After some dark and indirect steps the pious Agaric was put into +communication in a room in the Moulin de la Galette, with comrades +Dagobert, Tronc, and Balafille, the secretaries of three unions of +which the first numbered fourteen members, the second twenty-four, and +the third only one. Agaric showed extreme cleverness at this interview. + +“Gentlemen,” said he, “you and I have not, in most respects, the same +political and social views, but there are points in which we may come +to an understanding. We have a common enemy. The government exploits +you and despises us. Help us to overthrow it; we will supply you with +the means so far as we are able, and you can in addition count on our +gratitude.” + +“Fork out the tin,” said Dagobert. + +The Reverend Father placed on the table a bag which the distiller of +Conils had given him with tears in his eyes. + +“Done!” said the three companions. + +Thus was the solemn compact sealed. + +As soon as the monk had departed, carrying with him the joy of having +won over the masses to his cause, Dagobert, Tronc, and Balafille +whistled to their wives, Amelia, Queenie, and Matilda, who were waiting +in the street for the signal, and all six holding each other’s hands, +danced around the bag, singing: + +J’ai du bon pognon, +Tu n’l’auras pas Chatillon! +Hou! Hou! la calotte! + + +And they ordered a salad-bowl full of warm wine. + +In the evening all six went through the street from stall to stall +singing their new song. The song became popular, for the detectives +reported that every day showed an increase of the number of workpeople +who sang through the slums: + +J’ai du bon pognon; +Tu n’l’auras pas Chatillon! +Hou! Hou! la calotte! + + +The Dracophil agitation made no progress in the provinces. The pious +Agaric sought to find the cause of this, but was unable to discover it +until old Cornemuse revealed it to him. + +“I have proofs,” sighed the monk of Conils, “that the Duke of Ampoule, +the treasurer of the Dracophils, has brought property in Porpoisia with +the funds that he received for the propaganda.” + +The party wanted money. Prince des Boscénos had lost his portfolio in a +brawl and he was reduced to painful expedients which were repugnant to +his impetuous character. The Viscountess Olive was expensive. Cornemuse +advised that the monthly allowance of that lady should be diminished. + +“She is very useful to us,” objected the pious Agaric. + +“Undoubtedly,” answered Cornemuse, “but she does us an injury by +ruining us.” + +A schism divided the Dracophils. Misunderstandings reigned in their +councils. Some wished that in accordance with the policy of M. Bigourd +and the pious Agaric, they should carry on the design of reforming the +Republic. Others, wearied by their long constraint, had resolved to +proclaim the Dragon’s crest and swore to conquer beneath that sign. + +The latter urged the advantage of a clear situation and the +impossibility of making a pretence much longer, and in truth, the +public began to see whither the agitation was tending and that the +Emiral’s partisans wanted to destroy the very foundations of the +Republic. + +A report was spread that the prince was to land at La Cirque and make +his entry into Alca on a green horse. + +These rumours excited the fanatical monks, delighted the poor nobles, +satisfied the rich Jewish ladies, and put hope in the hearts of the +small traders. But very few of them were inclined to purchase these +benefits at the price of a social catastrophe and the overthrow of the +public credit; and there were fewer still who would have risked their +money, their peace, their liberty, or a single hour from their +pleasures in the business. On the other hand, the workmen held +themselves ready, as ever, to give a day’s work to the Republic, and a +strong resistance was being formed in the suburbs. + +“The people are with us,” the pious Agaric used to say. + +However, men, women, and children, when leaving their factories, used +to shout with one voice: + +A bas Chatillon! +Hou! Hou! la calotte! + + +As for the government, it showed the weakness, indecision, flabbiness, +and heedlessness common to all governments, and from which none has +ever departed without falling into arbitrariness and violence. In three +words it knew nothing, wanted nothing, and would do nothing. Formose, +shut in his presidential palace, remained blind, dumb, deaf, huge, +invisible, wrapped up in his pride as in an eider-down. + +Count Olive advised the Dracophils to make a last appeal for funds and +to attempt a great stroke while Alca was still in a ferment. + +An executive committee, which he himself had chosen, decided to kidnap +the members of the Chamber of Deputies, and considered ways and means. + +The affair was fixed for the twenty-eighth of July. On that day the sun +rose radiantly over the city. In front of the legislative palace women +passed to market with their baskets; hawkers cried their peaches, +pears, and grapes; cab horses with their noses in their bags munched +their hay. Nobody expected anything, not because the secret had been +kept but because it met with nothing but unbelievers. Nobody believed +in a revolution, and from this fact we may conclude that nobody desired +one. About two o’clock the deputies began to pass, few and unnoticed, +through the side-door of the palace. At three o’clock a few groups of +badly dressed men had formed. At half past three black masses coming +from the adjacent streets spread over Revolution Square. This vast +expanse was soon covered by an ocean of soft hats, and the crowd of +demonstrators, continually increased by sight-seers, having crossed the +bridge, struck its dark wave against the walls of the legislative +enclosure. Cries, murmurs, and songs went up to the impassive sky. “It +is Chatillon we want!” “Down with the Deputies!” “Down with the +Republicans!” “Death to the Republicans!” The devoted band of +Dracophils, led by Prince des Boscénos, struck up the august canticle: + +Vive Crucho, +Vaillant et sage, +Plein de courage +Des le berceau! + + +Behind the wall silence alone replied. + +This silence and the absence of guards encouraged and at the same time +frightened the crowd. Suddenly a formidable voice cried out: + +“Attack!” + +And Prince des Boscénos was seen raising his gigantic form to the top +of the wall, which was covered with barbs and iron spikes. Behind him +rushed his companions, and the people followed. Some hammered against +the wall to make holes in it; others endeavoured to tear down the +spikes and to pull out the barbs. These defences had given way in +places and some of the invaders had stripped the wall and were sitting +astride on the top. Prince des Boscénos was waving an immense green +flag. Suddenly the crowd wavered and from it came a long cry of terror. +The police and the Republican carabineers issuing out of all the +entrances of the palace formed themselves into a column beneath the +wall and in a moment it was cleared of its besiegers. After a long +moment of suspense the noise of arms was heard, and the police charged +the crowd with fixed bayonets. An instant afterwards and on the +deserted square strewn with hats and walking-sticks there reigned a +sinister silence. Twice again the Dracophils attempted to form, twice +they were repulsed. The rising was conquered. But Prince des Boscénos, +standing on the wall of the hostile palace, his flag in his hand, still +repelled the attack of a whole brigade. He knocked down all who +approached him. At last he, too, was thrown down, and fell on an iron +spike, to which he remained hooked, still clasping the standard of the +Draconides. + +On the following day the Ministers of the Republic and the Members of +Parliament determined to take energetic measures. In vain, this time, +did President Formose attempt to evade his responsibilities. The +government discussed the question of depriving Chatillon of his rank +and dignities and of indicting him before the High Court as a +conspirator, an enemy of the public good, a traitor, etc. + +At this news the Emiral’s old companions in arms, who the very evening +before had beset him with their adulations, made no effort to conceal +their joy. But Chatillon remained popular with the middle classes of +Alca and one still heard the hymn of the liberator sounding in the +streets, “It is Chatillon we want.” + +The Ministers were embarrassed. They intended to indict Chatillon +before the High Court. But they knew nothing; they remained in that +total ignorance reserved for those who govern men. They were incapable +of advancing any grave charges against Chatillon. They could supply the +prosecution with nothing but the ridiculous lies of their spies. +Chatillon’s share in the plot and his relations with Prince Crucho +remained the secret of the thirty thousand Dracophils. The Ministers +and the Deputies had suspicions and even certainties, but they had no +proofs. The Public Prosecutor said to the Minister of justice: “Very +little is needed for a political prosecution! but I have nothing at all +and that is not enough.” The affair made no progress. The enemies of +the Republic were triumphant. + +On the eighteenth of September the news ran in Alca that Chatillon had +taken flight. Everywhere there was surprise and astonishment. People +doubted, for they could not understand. + +This is what had happened: One day as the brave Under-Emiral +Vulcanmould happened, as if by chance, to go into the office of M. +Barbotan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he remarked with his usual +frankness: + +“M. Barbotan, your colleagues do not seem to me to be up to much; it is +evident that they have never commanded a ship. That fool Chatillon +gives them a deuced bad fit of the shivers.” + +The Minister, in sign of denial, waved his paper-knife in the air above +his desk. + +“Don’t deny it,” answered Vulcanmould. “You don’t know how to get rid +of Chatillon. You do not dare to indict him before the High Court +because you are not sure of being able to bring forward a strong enough +charge. Bigourd will defend him, and Bigourd is a clever advocate. . . +. You are right, M. Barbotan, you are right. It would be a dangerous +trial.” + +“Ah! my friend,” said the Minister, in a careless tone, “if you knew +how satisfied we are. . . . I receive the most reassuring news from my +prefects. The good sense of the Penguins will do justice to the +intrigues of this mutinous soldier. Can you suppose for a moment that a +great people, an intelligent, laborious people, devoted to liberal +institutions which. . .” + +Vulcanmould interrupted with a great sigh: + +“Ah! If I had time to do it I would relieve you of your difficulty. I +would juggle away my Chatillon like a nutmeg out of a thimble. I would +fillip him off to Porpoisia.” + +The Minister paid close attention. + +“It would not take long,” continued the sailor. “I would rid you in a +trice of the creature. . . . But just now I have other fish to fry. . . +. I am in a bad hole. I must find a pretty big sum. But, deuce take it, +honour before everything.” + +The Minister and the Under-Emiral looked at each other for a moment in +silence. Then Barbotan said with authority: + +“Under-Emiral Vulcanmould, get rid of this seditious soldier. You will +render a great service to Penguinia, and the Minister of Home Affairs +will see that your gambling debts are paid.” + +The same evening Vulcanmould called on Chatillon and looked at him for +some time with an expression of grief and mystery. + +“My do you look like that?” asked the Emiral in an uneasy tone. + +Vulcanmould said to him sadly: + +“Old brother in arms, all is discovered. For the past half-hour the +government knows everything.” + +At these words Chatillon sank down overwhelmed. + +Vulcanmould continued: + +“You may be arrested any moment. I advise you to make off.” + +And drawing out his watch: + +“Not a minute to lose.” + +“Have I time to call on the Viscountess Olive?” + +“It would be mad,” said Vulcanmould, handing him a passport and a pair +of blue spectacles, and telling him to have courage. + +“I will,” said Chatillon. + +“Good-bye! old chum.” + +“Good-bye and thanks! You have saved my life.” + +“That is the least I could do.” + +A quarter of an hour later the brave Emiral had left the city of Alca. + +He embarked at night on an old cutter at La Cirque and set sail for +Porpoisia. But eight miles from the coast he was captured by a +despatch-boat which was sailing without lights and which was under, the +flag of the Queen of the Black Islands. That Queen had for a long time +nourished a fatal passion for Chatillon. + + + + +VII. CONCLUSION + + +_Nunc est bibendum_. Delivered from its fears and pleased at having +escaped from so great a danger, the government resolved to celebrate +the anniversary of the Penguin regeneration and the establishment of +the Republic by holding a general holiday. + +President Formose, the Ministers, and the members of the Chamber and of +the Senate were present at the ceremony. + +The Generalissimo of the Penguin army was present in uniform. He was +cheered. + +Preceded by the black flag of misery and the red flag of revolt, +deputations of workmen walked in the procession, their aspect one of +grim protection. + +President, Ministers, Deputies, officials, heads of the magistracy and +of the army, each, in their own names and in the name of the sovereign +people, renewed the ancient oath to live in freedom or to die. It was +an alternative upon which they were resolutely determined. But they +preferred to live in freedom. There were games, speeches, and songs. + +After the departure of the representatives of the State the crowd of +citizens separated slowly and peaceably, shouting out, “Hurrah for the +Republic!” “Hurrah for liberty!” “Down with the shaven pates!” + +The newspapers mentioned only one regrettable incident that happened on +that wonderful day. Prince des Boscénos was quietly smoking a cigar in +the Queen’s Meadow when the State procession passed by. The prince +approached the Minister’s carriage and said in a loud voice: “Death to +the Republicans!” He was immediately apprehended by the police, to whom +he offered a most desperate resistance. He knocked them down in crowds, +but he was conquered by numbers, and, bruised, scratched, swollen, and +unrecognisable even to the eyes of his wife, he was dragged through the +joyous streets into an obscure prison. + +The magistrates carried on the case against Chatillon in a peculiar +style. Letters were found at the Admiralty which revealed the +complicity of the Reverend Father Agaric in the plot. Immediately +public opinion was inflamed against the monks, and Parliament voted, +one after the other, a dozen laws which restrained, diminished, +limited, prescribed, suppressed, determined, and curtailed, their +rights, immunities, exemptions, privileges, and benefits, and created +many invalidating disqualifications against them. + +The Reverend Father Agaric steadfastly endured the rigour of the laws +which struck himself personally, as well as the terrible fall of the +Emiral of which he was the chief cause. Far from yielding to evil +fortune, he regarded it as but a bird of passage. He was planning new +political designs more audacious than the first. + +When his projects were sufficiently ripe he went one day to the Wood of +Conils. A thrush sang in a tree and a little hedgehog crossed the stony +path in front of him with awkward steps. Agaric walked with great +strides, muttering fragments of sentences to himself. + +When he reached the door of the laboratory in which, for so many years, +the pious manufacturer had distilled the golden liqueur of St. +Orberosia, he found the place deserted and the door shut. Having walked +around the building he saw in the backyard the venerable Cornemuse, +who, with his habit pinned up, was climbing a ladder that leant against +the wall. + +“Is that you, my dear friend?” said he to him. “What are you doing +there?” + +“You can see for yourself,” answered the monk of Conils in a feeble +voice, turning a sorrowful look upon Agaric. “I am going into my +house.” + +The red pupils of his eyes no longer imitated the triumph and +brilliance of the ruby, they flashed mournful and troubled glances. His +countenance had lost its happy fulness. His shining head was no longer +pleasant to the sight; perspiration and inflamed blotches bad altered +its inestimable perfection. + +“I don’t understand,” said Agaric. + +“It is easy enough to understand. You see the consequences of your +plot. Although a multitude of laws are directed against me I have +managed to elude the greater number of them. Some, however, have struck +me. These vindictive men have closed my laboratories and my shops, and +confiscated my bottles, my stills, and my retorts. They have put seals +on my doors and now I am compelled to go in through the window. I am +barely able to extract in secret and from time to time the juice of a +few plants and that with an apparatus which the humblest labourer would +despise.” + +“You suffer from the persecution,” said Agaric. “It strikes us all.” + +The monk of Conils passed his hand over his afflicted brow: + +“I told you so, Brother Agaric; I told you that your enterprise would +turn against ourselves.” + +“Our defeat is only momentary,” replied Agaric eagerly. “It is due to +purely accidental causes; it results from mere contingencies. Chatillon +was a fool; he has drowned himself in his own ineptitude. Listen to me, +Brother Cornemuse. We have not a moment to lose. We must free the +Penguin people, we must deliver them from their tyrants, save them from +themselves, restore the Dragon’s crest, reestablish the ancient State, +the good State, for the honour of religion and the exaltation of the +Catholic faith. Chatillon was a bad instrument; he broke in our hands. +Let us take a better instrument to replace him. I have the man who will +destroy this impious democracy. He is a civil official; his name is +Gomoru. The Penguins worship him, He has already betrayed his party for +a plate of rice. There’s the man we want!” + +At the beginning of this speech the monk of Conils had climbed into his +window and pulled up the ladder. + +“I foresee,” answered he, with his nose through the sash, “that you +will not stop until you have us all expelled from this pleasant, +agreeable, and sweet land of Penguinia. Good night; God keep you!” + +Agaric, standing before the wall, entreated his dearest brother to +listen to him for a moment: + +“Understand your own interest better, Cornemuse! Penguinia is ours. +What do we need to conquer it? just one effort more . . . one more +little sacrifice of money and . . .” + +But without listening further, the monk of Conils drew in his head and +closed his window. + + + + +BOOK VI. MODERN TIMES: THE AFFAIR OF THE EIGHTY THOUSAND TRUSSES OF HAY + + +Ζεῦ πάτερ ἀλλὰ σὺ ρῦσαι ὑπ᾽ ἠέρος υἷας Αχαιῶν, +ποίησον δ᾽αἴθρην, δὸς δ᾽ὀφθαλμοῖ σιν ἰδέσθαι· +ἐν δὲ φάιει καὶ ὄλεσσον ἐπεί νύ τοι εὔαδεν οὕτως.[10] +(Iliad, xvii. 645 _et seq_.) + + + [10] O Father Zeus, only save thou the sons of the Acheans from the + darkness, and make clear sky and vouchsafe sight to our eyes, and + then, so it be but light, slay us, since such is thy good pleasure. + + + + +I. GENERAL GREATAUK, DUKE OF SKULL + + +A short time after the flight of the Emiral, a middle-class Jew called +Pyrot, desirous of associating with the aristocracy and wishing to +serve his country, entered the Penguin army. The Minister of War, who +at the time was Greatauk, Duke of Skull, could not endure him. He +blamed him for his zeal, his hooked nose, his vanity, his fondness for +study, his thick lips, and his exemplary conduct. Every time the author +of any misdeed was looked for, Greatauk used to say: + +“It must be Pyrot!” + +One morning General Panther, the Chief of the Staff, informed Greatauk +of a serious matter. Eighty thousand trusses of hay intended for the +cavalry had disappeared and not a trace of them was to be found. + +Greatauk exclaimed at once: + +“It must be Pyrot who has stolen them!” + +He remained in thought for some time and said: “The more I think of it +the more I am convinced that Pyrot has stolen those eighty thousand +trusses of hay. And I know it by this: he stole them in order that he +might sell them to our bitter enemies the Porpoises. What an infamous +piece of treachery! + +“There is no doubt about it,” answered Panther; “it only remains to +prove it.” + +The same day, as he passed by a cavalry barracks, Prince des Boscénos +heard the troopers as they were sweeping out the yard, singing: + +Boscénos est un gros cochon; +On en va faire des andouilles, +Des saucisses et du jambon +Pour le réveillon des pauv’ bougres. + + +It seemed to him contrary to all discipline that soldiers should sing +this domestic and revolutionary refrain which on days of riot had been +uttered by the lips of jeering workmen. On this occasion he deplored +the moral degeneration of the army, and thought with a bitter smile +that his old comrade Greatauk, the head of this degenerate army, basely +exposed him to the malice of an unpatriotic government. And he promised +himself that he would make an improvement before long. + +“That scoundrel Greatauk,” said he to himself, “will, not remain long a +Minister.” + +Prince des Boscénos was the most irreconcilable of the opponents of +modern democracy, free thought, and the government which the Penguins +had voluntarily given themselves. He had a vigorous and undisguised +hatred for the Jews, and he worked in public and in private, night and +day, for the restoration of the line of the Draconides. His ardent +royalism was still further excited by the thought of his private +affairs, which were in a bad way and were hourly growing worse. He had +no hope of seeing an end to his pecuniary embarrassments until the heir +of Draco the Great entered the city of Alca. + +When he returned to his house, the prince took out of his safe a bundle +of old letters consisting of a private correspondence of the most +secret nature, which he had obtained from a treacherous secretary. They +proved that his old comrade Greatauk, the Duke of Skull, had been +guilty of jobbery regarding the military stores and had received a +present of no great value from a manufacturer called Maloury. The very +smallness of this present deprived the Minister who had accepted it of +all excuse. + +The prince re-read the letters with a bitter satisfaction, put them +carefully back into his safe, and dashed to the Minister of War. He was +a man of resolute character. On being told that the Minister could see +no one he knocked down the ushers, swept aside the orderlies, trampled +under foot the civil and military clerks, burst through the doors, and +entered the room of the astonished Greatauk. + +“I will not say much,” said he to him, “but I will speak to the point. +You are a confounded cad. I have asked you to put a flea in the ear of +General Mouchin, the tool of those Republicans, and you would not do +it. I have asked you to give a command to General des Clapiers, who +works for the Dracophils, and who has obliged me personally, and you +would not do it. I have asked you to dismiss General Tandem, the +commander of Port Alca, who robbed me of fifty louis at cards, and who +had me handcuffed when I was brought before the High Court as Emiral +Chatillon’s accomplice. You would not do it. I asked you for the hay +and bran stores. You would not give them. I asked you to send me on a +secret mission to Porpoisia. You refused. And not satisfied with these +repeated refusals you have designated me to your Government colleagues +as a dangerous person, who ought to be watched, and it is owing to you +that I have been shadowed by the police. You old traitor! I ask nothing +more from you and I have but one word to say to you: Clear out; you +have bothered us too long. Besides, we will force the vile Republic to +replace you by one of our own party. You know that I am a man of my +word. If in twenty-four hours you have not handed in your resignation I +will publish the Maloury _dossier_ in the newspapers.” + +But Greatauk calmly and serenely replied: + +“Be quiet, you fool. I am just having a Jew transported. I am handing +over Pyrot to justice as guilty of having stolen eighty thousand +trusses of hay.” + +Prince Boscénos, whose anger vanished like a dream, smiled. + +“Is that true?” + +“You will see.” + +“My congratulations, Greatauk. But as one always needs to take +precautions with you I shall immediately publish the good news. People +will read this evening about Pyrot’s arrest in every newspaper in Alca +. . . .” + +And he went away muttering: + +“That Pyrot! I suspected he would come to a bad end.” + +A moment later General Panther appeared before Greatauk. + +“Sir,” said he, “I have just examined the business of the eighty +thousand trusses of hay. There is no evidence against Pyrot.” + +“Let it be found,” answered Greatauk. “Justice requires it. Have Pyrot +arrested at once.” + + + + +II. PYROT + + +All Penguinia heard with horror of Pyrot’s crime; at the same time +there was a sort of satisfaction that this embezzlement combined with +treachery and even bordering on sacrilege, had been committed by a Jew. +In order to understand this feeling it is necessary to be acquainted +with the state of public opinion regarding the Jews both great and +small. As we have had occasion to say in this history, the universally +detested and all powerful financial caste was composed of Christians +and of Jews. The Jews who formed part of it and on whom the people +poured all their hatred were the upper-class Jews. They possessed +immense riches and, it was said, held more than a fifth part of the +total property of Penguinia. Outside this formidable caste there was a +multitude of Jews of a mediocre condition, who were not more loved than +the others and who were feared much less. In every ordered State, +wealth is a sacred thing: in democracies it is the only sacred thing. +Now the Penguin State was democratic. Three or four financial companies +exercised a more extensive, and above all, more effective and +continuous power, than that of the Ministers of the Republic. The +latter were puppets whom the companies ruled in secret, whom they +compelled by intimidation or corruption to favour themselves at the +expense of the State, and whom they ruined by calumnies in the press if +they remained honest. In spite of the secrecy of the Exchequer, enough +appeared to make the country indignant, but the middle-class Penguins +had, from the greatest to the least of them, been brought up to hold +money in great reverence, and as they all had property, either much or +little, they were strongly impressed with the solidarity of capital and +understood that a small fortune is not safe unless a big one is +protected. For these reasons they conceived a religious respect for the +Jews’ millions, and self-interest being stronger with them than +aversion, they were as much afraid as they were of death to touch a +single hair of one of the rich Jews whom they detested. Towards the +poorer Jews they felt less ceremonious and when they saw any of them +down they trampled on them. That is why the entire nation learnt with +thorough satisfaction that the traitor was a Jew. They could take +vengeance on all Israel in his person without any fear of compromising +the public credit. + +That Pyrot had stolen the eighty thousand trusses of hay nobody +hesitated for a moment to believe. No one doubted because the general +ignorance in which everybody was concerning the affair did not allow of +doubt, for doubt is a thing that demands motives. People do not doubt +without reasons in the same way that people believe without reasons. +The thing was not doubted because it was repeated everywhere and, with +the public, to repeat is to prove. It was not doubted because people +wished to believe Pyrot guilty and one believes what one wishes to +believe. Finally, it was not doubted because the faculty of doubt is +rare amongst men; very few minds carry in them its germs and these are +not developed without cultivation. Doubt is singular, exquisite, +philosophic, immoral, transcendent, monstrous, full of malignity, +injurious to persons and to property, contrary to the good order of +governments, and to the prosperity of empires, fatal to humanity, +destructive of the gods, held in horror by heaven and earth. The mass +of the Penguins were ignorant of doubt: it believed in Pyrot’s guilt +and this conviction immediately became one of its chief national +beliefs and an essential truth in its patriotic creed. + +Pyrot was tried secretly and condemned. + +General Panther immediately went to the Minister of War to tell him the +result. + +“Luckily,” said he, “the judges were certain, for they had no proofs.” + +“Proofs,” muttered Greatauk, “Proofs, what do they prove? There is only +one certain, irrefragable proof—the confession of the guilty person. +Has Pyrot confessed?” + +“No, General.” + +“He will confess, he ought to. Panther, we must induce him; tell him it +is to his interest. Promise him that, if he confesses, he will obtain +favours, a reduction of his sentence, full pardon; promise him that if +he confesses his innocence will be admitted, that he will be decorated. +Appeal to his good feelings. Let him confess from patriotism, for the +flag, for the sake of order, from respect for the hierarchy, at the +special command of the Minister of War militarily. . . . But tell me, +Panther, has he not confessed already? There are tacit confessions; +silence is a confession.” + +“But, General, he is not silent; he keeps on squealing like a pig that +he is innocent.” + +“Panther, the confessions of a guilty man sometimes result from the +vehemence of his denials. To deny desperately is to confess. Pyrot has +confessed; we must have witnesses of his confessions, justice requires +them.” + +There was in Western Penguinia a seaport called La Cirque, formed of +three small bays and formerly greatly frequented by ships, but now +solitary and deserted. Gloomy lagoons stretched along its low coasts +exhaling a pestilent odour, while fever hovered over its sleepy waters. +Here, on the borders of the sea, there was built a high square tower, +like the old Campanile at Venice, from the side of which, close to the +summit hung an open cage which was fastened by a chain to a transverse +beam. In the times of the Draconides the Inquisitors of Alca used to +put heretical clergy into this cage. It had been empty for three +hundred years, but now Pyrot was imprisoned in it under the guard of +sixty warders, who lived in the tower and did not lose sight of him +night or day, spying on him for confessions that they might afterwards +report to the Minister of War. For Greatauk, careful and prudent, +desired confessions and still further confessions. Greatauk, who was +looked upon as a fool, was in reality a man of great ability and full +of rare foresight. + +In the mean time Pyrot, burnt by the sun, eaten by mosquitoes, soaked +in the rain, hail and snow, frozen by the cold, tossed about terribly +by the wind, beset by the sinister croaking of the ravens that perched +upon his cage, kept writing down his innocence on pieces torn off his +shirt with a tooth-pick dipped in blood. These rags were lost in the +sea or fell into the hands of the gaolers. But Pyrot’s protests moved +nobody because his confessions had been published. + + + + +III. COUNT DE MAUBEC DE LA DENTDULYNX + + +The morals of the Jews were not always pure; in most cases they were +averse from none of the vices of Christian civilization, but they +retained from the Patriarchal age a recognition of family, ties and an +attachment to the interests of the tribe. Pyrot’s brothers, +half-brothers, uncles, great-uncles, first, second, and third cousins, +nephews and great-nephews, relations by blood and relations by +marriage, and all who were related to him to the number of about seven +hundred, were at first overwhelmed by the blow that had struck their +relative, and they shut themselves up in their houses, covering +themselves with ashes and blessing the hand that had chastised them. +For forty days they kept a strict fast. Then they bathed themselves and +resolved to search, without rest, at the cost of any toil and at the +risk of every danger, for the demonstration of an innocence which they +did not doubt. And how could they have doubted? Pyrot’s innocence had +been revealed to them in the same way that his guilt had been revealed +to Christian Penguinia’s; for these things, being hidden, assume a +mystic character and take on the authority of religious truths. The +seven hundred Pyrotists set to work with as much zeal as prudence, and +made the most thorough inquiries in secret. They were everywhere; they +were seen nowhere. One would have said that, like the pilot of Ulysses, +they wandered freely over the earth. They penetrated into the War +Office and approached, under different disguises, the judges, the +registrars, and the witnesses of the affair. Then Greatauk’s cleverness +was seen. The witnesses knew nothing; the judges and registrars knew +nothing. Emissaries reached even Pyrot and anxiously questioned him in +his cage amid the prolonged moanings of the sea and the hoarse croaks +of the ravens. It was in vain; the prisoner knew nothing. The seven +hundred Pyrotists could not subvert the proofs of the accusation +because they could not know what they were, and they could not know +what they were because there were none. Pyrot’s guilt was indefeasible +through its very nullity. And it was with a legitimate pride that +Greatauk, expressing himself as a true artist, said one day to General +Panther: “This case is a master-piece: it is made out of nothing.” The +seven hundred Pyrotists despaired of ever clearing up this dark +business, when suddenly they discovered, from a stolen letter, that the +eighty thousand trusses of hay had never existed, that a most +distinguished nobleman, Count de Maubec, had sold them to the State, +that he had received the price but had never delivered them. Indeed +seeing that he was descended from the richest landed proprietors of +ancient Penguinia, the heir of the Maubecs of Dentdulynx, once the +possessors of four duchies, sixty counties, and six hundred and twelve +marquisates, baronies, and viscounties, he did not possess as much land +as he could cover with his hand, and would not have been able to cut a +single day’s mowing of forage off his own domains. As to his getting a +single rush from a land-owner or a merchant, that would have been quite +impossible, for everybody except the Ministers of State and the +Government officials knew that it would be easier to get blood from a +stone than a farthing from a Maubec. + +The seven hundred Pyrotists made a minute inquiry concerning the Count +Maubec de la Dentdulynx’s financial resources, and they proved that +that nobleman was chiefly supported by a house in which some generous +ladies were ready to furnish all comers with the most lavish +hospitality. They publicly proclaimed that he was guilty of the theft +of the eighty thousand trusses of straw for which an innocent man had +been condemned and was now imprisoned in the cage. + +Maubec belonged to an illustrious family which was allied to the +Draconides. There is nothing that a democracy esteems more highly than +noble birth. Maubec had also served in the Penguin army, and since the +Penguins were all soldiers, they loved their army to idolatry. Maubec, +on the field of battle, had received the Cross, which is a sign of +honour among the Penguins and which they valued even more highly than +the embraces of their wives. All Penguinia declared for Maubec, and the +voice of the people which began to assume a threatening tone, demanded +severe punishments for the seven hundred calumniating Pyrotists. + +Maubec was a nobleman; he challenged the seven hundred Pyrotists to +combat with either sword, sabre, pistols, carabines, or sticks. + +“Vile dogs,” he wrote to them in a famous letter, “you have crucified +my God and you want my life too; I warn you that I will not be such a +duffer as He was and that I will cut off your fourteen hundred ears. +Accept my boot on your seven hundred behinds.” + +The Chief of the Government at the time was a peasant called Robin +Mielleux, a man pleasant to the rich and powerful, but hard towards the +poor, a man of small courage and ignorant of his own interests. In a +public declaration he guaranteed Maubec’s innocence and honour, and +presented the seven hundred Pyrotists to the criminal courts where they +were condemned, as libellers, to imprisonment, to enormous fines, and +to all the damages that were claimed by their innocent victim. + +It seemed as if Pyrot was destined to remain for ever shut in the cage +on which the ravens perched. But all the Penguins being anxious to know +and prove that this Jew was guilty, all the proofs brought forward were +found not to be good, while some of them were also contradictory. The +officers of the Staff showed zeal but lacked prudence. Whilst Greatauk +kept an admirable silence, General Panther made inexhaustible speeches +and every morning demonstrated in the newspapers that the condemned man +was guilty. He would have done better, perhaps, if he had said nothing. +The guilt was evident and what is evident cannot be demonstrated. So +much reasoning disturbed people’s minds; their faith, though still +alive, became less serene. The more proofs one gives a crowd the more +they ask for. + +Nevertheless the danger of proving too much would not have been great +if there had not been in Penguinia, as there are, indeed, everywhere, +minds framed for free inquiry, capable of studying a difficult +question, and inclined to philosophic doubt. They were few; they were +not all inclined to speak, and the public was by no means inclined to +listen to them. Still, they did not always meet with deaf ears. The +great Jews, all the Israelite millionaires of Alca, when spoken to of +Pyrot, said: “We do not know the man”; but they thought of saving him. +They preserved the prudence to which their wealth inclined them and +wished that others would be less timid. Their wish was to be gratified. + + + + +IV. COLOMBAN + + +Some weeks after the conviction of the seven hundred Pyrotists, a +little, gruff, hairy, short-sighted man left his house one morning with +a paste-pot, a ladder, and a bundle of posters and went about the +streets pasting placards to the walls on which might be read in large +letters: _Pyrot is innocent, Maubec is guilty_. He was not a +bill-poster; his name was Colomban, and as the author of sixty volumes +on Penguin sociology he was numbered among the most laborious and +respected writers in Alca. Having given sufficient thought to the +matter and no longer doubting Pyrot’s innocence, he proclaimed it in +the manner which he thought would be most sensational. He met with no +hindrance while posting his bills in the quiet streets, but when he +came to the populous quarters, every time he mounted his ladder, +inquisitive people crowded round him and, dumbfounded with surprise and +indignation, threw at him threatening looks which he received with the +calm that comes from courage and short-sightedness. Whilst caretakers +and tradespeople tore down the bills he had posted, he kept on +zealously placarding, carrying his tools and followed by little boys +who, with their baskets under their arms or their satchels on their +backs, were in no hurry to reach school. To the mute indignation +against him, protests and murmurs were now added. But Colomban did not +condescend to see or hear anything. As, at the entrance to the Rue St. +Orberosia, he was posting one of his squares of paper bearing the +words: _Pyrot is innocent, Maubec is guilty_, the riotous crowd showed +signs of the most violent anger. They called after him, “Traitor, +thief, rascal, scoundrel.” A woman opened a window and emptied a vase +full of filth over his head, a cabby sent his hat flying from one end +of the street to the other by a blow of his whip amid the cheers of the +crowd who now felt themselves avenged. A butcher’s boy knocked Colomban +with his paste-pot, his brush, and his posters, from the top of his +ladder into the gutter, and the proud Penguins then felt the greatness +of their country. Colomban stood up, covered with filth, lame, and with +his elbow injured, but tranquil and resolute. + +“Low brutes,” he muttered, shrugging his shoulders. + +Then he went down on all-fours in the gutter to look for his glasses +which he had lost in his fall. It was then seen that his coat was split +from the collar to the tails and that his trousers were in rags. The +rancour of the crowd grew stronger. + +On the other side of the street stretched the big St. Orberosian +Stores. The patriots seized whatever they could lay their hands on from +the shop front, and hurled at Colomban oranges, lemons, pots of jam, +pieces of chocolate, bottles of liqueurs, boxes of sardines, pots of +_foie gras_, hams, fowls, flasks of oil, and bags of haricots. Covered +with the débris of the food, bruised, tattered, lame, and blind, he +took to flight, followed by the shop-boys, bakers, loafers, citizens, +and hooligans whose number increased each moment and who kept shouting: +“Duck him! Death to the traitor! Duck him!” This torrent of vulgar +humanity swept along the streets and rushed into the Rue St. Maël. The +police did their duty. From all the adjacent streets constables +proceeded and, holding their scabbards with their left hands, they went +at full speed in front of the pursuers. They were on the point of +grabbing Colomban in their huge hands when he suddenly escaped them by +falling through an open man-hole to the bottom of a sewer. + +He spent the night there in the darkness, sitting close by the dirty +water amidst the fat and slimy rats. He thought of his task, and his +swelling heart filled with courage and pity. And when the dawn threw a +pale ray of light into the air-hole he got up and said, speaking to +himself: + +“I see that the fight will be a stiff one.” + +Forthwith he composed a memorandum in which he clearly showed that +Pyrot could not have stolen from the Ministry of War the eighty +thousand trusses of hay which it had never received, for the reason +that Maubec had never delivered them, though he had received the money. +Colomban caused this statement to be distributed in the streets of +Alca. The people refused to read it and tore it up in anger. The +shop-keepers shook their fists at the distributers, who made off, +chased by angry women armed with brooms. Feelings grew warm and the +ferment lasted the whole day. In the evening bands of wild and ragged +men went about the streets yelling: “Death to Colomban!” The patriots +snatched whole bundles of the memorandum from the newsboys and burned +them in the public squares, dancing wildly round these bon-fires with +girls whose petticoats were tied up to their waists. + +Some of the more enthusiastic among them went and broke the windows of +the house in which Colomban had lived in perfect tranquillity during +his forty years of work. + +Parliament was roused and asked the Chief of the Government what +measures he proposed to take in order to repel the odious attacks made +by Colomban upon the honour of the National Arm and the safety of +Penguinia. Robin Mielleux denounced Colomban’s impious audacity and +proclaimed amid the cheers of the legislators that the man would be +summoned before the Courts to answer for his infamous libel. + +The Minister of War was called to the tribune and appeared in it +transfigured. He had no longer the air, as in former days, of one of +the sacred geese of the Penguin citadels. Now, bristling, with +outstretched neck and hooked beak, he seemed the symbolical vulture +fastened to the livers of his country’s enemies. + +In the august silence of the assembly he pronounced these words only: + +“I swear that Pyrot is a rascal.” + +This speech of Greatauk was reported all over Penguinia and satisfied +the public conscience. + + + + +V. THE REVEREND FATHERS AGARIC AND CORNEMUSE + + +Colomban bore with meekness and surprise the weight of the general +reprobation. He could not go out without being stoned, so he did not go +out. He remained in his study with a superb obstinacy, writing new +memoranda in favour of the encaged innocent. In the mean time among the +few readers that he found, some, about a dozen, were struck by his +reasons and began to doubt Pyrot’s guilt. They broached the subject to +their friends and endeavoured to spread the light that had arisen in +their minds. One of them was a friend of Robin Mielleux and confided to +him his perplexities, with the result that he was no longer received by +that Minister. Another demanded explanations in an open letter to the +Minister of War. A third published a terrible pamphlet. The latter, +whose name was Kerdanic, was a formidable controversialist. The public +was unmoved. It was said that these defenders of the traitor had been +bribed by the rich Jews; they were stigmatized by the name of Pyrotists +and the patriots swore to exterminate them. There were only a thousand +or twelve hundred Pyrotists in the whole vast Republic, but it was +believed that they were everywhere. People were afraid of finding them +in the promenades, at meetings, at receptions, in fashionable +drawing-rooms, at the dinner-table, even in the conjugal couch. One +half of the population was suspected by the other half. The discord set +all Alca on fire. + +In the mean time Father Agaric, who managed his big school for young +nobles, followed events with anxious attention. The misfortunes of the +Penguin Church had not disheartened him. He remained faithful to Prince +Crucho and preserved the hope of restoring the heir of the Draconides +to the Penguin throne. It appeared to him that the events that were +happening or about to happen in the country, the state of mind of which +they were at once the effect and the cause, and the troubles that +necessarily resulted from them might—if they were directed, guided, and +led by the profound wisdom of a monk—overthrow the Republic and incline +the Penguins to restore Prince Crucho, from whose piety the faithful +hoped for so much solace. Wearing his huge black hat, the brims of +which looked like the wings of Night, he walked through the Wood of +Conils towards the factory where his venerable friend, Father +Cornemuse, distilled the hygienic St. Orberosian liqueur. The good +monk’s industry, so cruelly affected in the time of Emiral Chatillon, +was being restored from its ruins. One heard goods trains rumbling +through the Wood and one saw in the sheds hundreds of orphans clothed +in blue, packing bottles and nailing up cases. + +Agaric found the venerable Cornemuse standing before his stoves and +surrounded by his retorts. The shining pupils of the old man’s eyes had +again become as rubies, his skull shone with its former elaborate and +careful polish. + +Agaric first congratulated the pious distiller on the restored activity +of his laboratories and workshops. + +“Business is recovering. I thank God for it,” answered the old man of +Conils. “Alas! it had fallen into a bad state, Brother Agaric. You saw +the desolation of this establishment. I need say no more.” + +Agaric turned away his head. + +“The St. Orberosian liqueur,” continued Cornemuse, “is making fresh +conquests. But none the less my industry remains uncertain and +precarious. The laws of ruin and desolation that struck it have not +been abrogated, they have only been suspended.” + +And the monk of Conils lifted his ruby eyes to heaven. + +Agaric put his hand on his shoulder. + +“What a sight, Cornemuse, does unhappy Penguinia present to us! +Everywhere disobedience, independence, liberty! We see the proud, the +haughty, the men of revolt rising up. After having braved the Divine +laws they now rear themselves against human laws, so true is it that in +order to be a good citizen a man must be a good Christian. Colomban is +trying to imitate Satan. Numerous criminals are following his fatal +example. They want, in their rage, to put aside all checks, to throw +off all yokes, to free themselves from the most sacred bonds, to escape +from the most salutary restraints. They strike their country to make it +obey them. But they will be overcome by the weight of public +animadversion, vituperation, indignation, fury, execration, and +abomination. That is the abyss to which they have been led by atheism, +free thought, and the monstrous claim to judge for themselves and to +form their own opinions.” + +“Doubtless, doubtless,” replied Father Cornemuse, shaking his head, +“but I confess that the care of distilling these simples has prevented +me from following public affairs. I only know that people are talking a +great deal about a man called Pyrot. Some maintain that he is guilty, +others affirm that he is innocent, but I do not clearly understand the +motives that drive both parties to mix themselves up in a business that +concerns neither of them.” + +The pious Agaric asked eagerly: + +“You do not doubt Pyrot’s guilt?” + +“I cannot doubt it, dear Agaric,” answered the monk of Conils. “That +would be contrary to the laws of my country which we ought to respect +as long as they are not opposed to the Divine laws. Pyrot is guilty, +for he has been convicted. As to saying more for or against his guilt, +that would be to erect my own authority against that of the judges, a +thing which I will take good care not to do. Besides, it is useless, +for Pyrot has been convicted. If he has not been convicted because he +is guilty, he is guilty because he has been convicted; it comes to the +same thing. I believe in his guilt as every good citizen ought to +believe in it; and I will believe in it as long as the established +jurisdiction will order me to believe in it, for it is not for a +private person but for a judge to proclaim the innocence of a convicted +person. Human justice is venerable even in the errors inherent in its +fallible and limited nature. These errors are never irreparable; if the +judges do not repair them on earth, God will repair them in Heaven. +Besides I have great confidence in general Greatauk, who, though he +certainly does not look it, seems to me to be an abler man than all +those who are attacking him.” + +“Dearest Cornemuse,” cried the pious Agaric, “the Pyrot affair, if +pushed to the point whither we can lead it by the help of God and the +necessary funds, will produce the greatest benefits. It will lay bare +the vices of this Anti-Christian Republic and will incline the Penguins +to restore the throne of the Draconides and the prerogatives of the +Church. But to do that it is necessary for the people to see the clergy +in the front rank of its defenders. Let us march against the enemies of +the army, against those who insult our heroes, and everybody will +follow us.” + +“Everybody will be too many,” murmured the monk of Conils, shaking his +head. “I see that the Penguins want to quarrel. If we mix ourselves up +in their quarrel they will become reconciled at our expense and we +shall have to pay the cost of the war. That is why, if you are guided +by me, dear Agaric, you will not engage the Church in this adventure.” + +“You know my energy; you know my prudence. I will compromise nothing. . +. . Dear Cornemuse, I only want from you the funds necessary for us to +begin the campaign.” + +For a long time Cornemuse refused to bear the expenses of what he +thought was a fatal enterprise. Agaric was in turn pathetic and +terrible. At last, yielding to his prayers and threats, Cornemuse, with +banging head and swinging arms, went to the austere cell that concealed +his evangelical poverty. In the whitewashed wall under a branch of +blessed box, there was fixed a safe. He opened it, and with a sigh took +out a bundle of bills which, with hesitating hands, he gave to the +pious Agaric. + +“Do not doubt it, dear Cornemuse,” said the latter, thrusting the +papers into the pocket of his overcoat, “this Pyrot affair has been +sent us by God for the glory and exaltation of the Church of +Penguinia.” + +“I pray that you may be right!” sighed the monk of Conils. + +And, left alone in his laboratory, he gazed, through his exquisite +eyes, with an ineffable sadness at his stoves and his retorts. + + + + +VI. THE SEVEN HUNDRED PYROTISTS + + +The seven hundred Pyrotists inspired the public with an increasing +aversion. Every day two or three of them were beaten to death in the +streets. One of them was publicly whipped, another thrown into the +river, a third tarred and feathered and led through a laughing crowd, a +fourth had his nose cut off by a captain of dragoons. They did not dare +to show themselves at their clubs, at tennis, or at the races; they put +on a disguise when they went to the Stock Exchange. In these +circumstances the Prince des Boscénos thought it urgent to curb their +audacity and repress their insolence. For this purpose he joined with +Count Cléna, M. de La Trumelle, Viscount Olive, and M. Bigourd in +founding a great anti-Pyrotist association to which citizens in +hundreds of thousands, soldiers in companies, regiments, brigades, +divisions, and army corps, towns, districts, and provinces, all gave +their adhesion. + +About this time the Minister of War happening to visit one day his +Chief of Staff, saw with surprise that the large room where General +Panther worked, which was formerly quite bare, had now along each wall +from floor to ceiling in sets of deep pigeon-holes, triple and +quadruple rows of paper bundles of every as form and colour. These +sudden and monstrous records had in a few days reached the dimensions +of a pile of archives such as it takes centuries to accumulate. + +“What is this?” asked the astonished minister. + +“Proofs against Pyrot,” answered General Panther with patriotic +satisfaction. “We had not got them when we convicted him, but we have +plenty of them now.” + +The door was open, and Greatauk saw coming up the stair-case a long +file of porters who were unloading heavy bales of papers in the hall, +and he saw the lift slowly rising heavily loaded with paper packets. + +“What are those others?” said he. + +“They are fresh proofs against Pyrot that are now reaching us,” said +Panther. “I have asked for them in every county of Penguinia, in every +Staff Office and in every Court in Europe. I have ordered them in every +town in America and in Australia, and in every factory in Africa, and I +am expecting bales of them from Bremen and a ship-load from Melbourne.” +And Panther turned towards the Minister of War the tranquil and radiant +look of a hero. However, Greatauk, his eye-glass in his eye, was +looking at the formidable pile of papers with less satisfaction than +uneasiness. + +“Very good,” said he, “very good! but I am afraid that this Pyrot +business may lose its beautiful simplicity. It was limpid; like a +rock-crystal its value lay in its transparency. You could have searched +it in vain with a magnifying-glass for a straw, a bend, a blot, for the +least fault. When it left my hands it was as pure as the light. Indeed +it was the light. I give you a pearl and you make a mountain out of it. +To tell you the truth I am afraid that by wishing to do too well you +have done less well. Proofs! of course it is good to have proofs, but +perhaps it is better to have none at all. I have already told you, +Panther, there is only one irrefutable proof, the confession of the +guilty person (or if the innocent what matter!). The Pyrot affair, as I +arranged it, left no room for criticism; there was no spot where it +could be touched. It defied assault. It was invulnerable because it was +invisible. Now it gives an enormous handle for discussion. I advise +you, Panther, to use your paper packets with great reserve. I should be +particularly grateful if you would be more sparing of your +communications to journalists. You speak well, but you say too much. +Tell me, Panther, are there any forged documents among these?” + +“There are some adapted ones.” + +“That is what I meant. There are some adapted ones. So much the better. +As proofs, forged documents, in general, are better than genuine ones, +first of all because they have been expressly made to suit the needs of +the case, to order and measure, and therefore they are fitting and +exact. They are also preferable because they carry the mind into an +ideal world and turn it aside from the reality which, alas! in this +world is never without some alloy. . . . Nevertheless, I think I should +have preferred, Panther, that we had no proofs at all.” + +The first act of the Anti-Pyrotist Association was to ask the +Government immediately to summon the seven hundred Pyrotists and their +accomplices before the High Court of Justice as guilty of high treason. +Prince des Boscénos was charged to speak on behalf of the Association +and presented himself before the Council which had assembled to hear +him. He expressed a hope that the vigilance and firmness of the +Government would rise to the height of the occasion. He shook hands +with each of the ministers and as he passed General Greatauk he +whispered in his ear: + +“Behave properly, you ruffian, or I will publish the Maloury +_dossier!_” + +Some days later by a unanimous vote of both Houses, on a motion +proposed by the Government, the Anti-Pyrotist Association was granted a +charter recognising it as beneficial to the public interest. + +The Association immediately sent a deputation to Chitterlings Castle in +Porpoisia, where Crucho was eating the bitter bread of exile, to assure +the prince of the love and devotion of the Anti-Pyrotist members. + +However, the Pyrotists grew in numbers, and now counted ten thousand. +They had their regular cafés on the boulevards. The patriots had theirs +also, richer and bigger, and every evening glasses of beer, saucers, +match-stands, jugs, chairs, and tables were hurled from one to the +other. Mirrors were smashed to bits, and the police ended the struggles +by impartially trampling the combatants of both parties under their +hob-nailed shoes. + +On one of these glorious nights, as Prince des Boscénos was leaving a +fashionable café in the company of some patriots, M. de La Trumelle +pointed out to him a little, bearded man with glasses, hatless, and +having only one sleeve to his coat, who was painfully dragging himself +along the rubbish-strewn pavement. + +“Look!” said he, “there is Colomban!” + +The prince had gentleness as well as strength; he was exceedingly mild; +but at the name of Colomban his blood boiled. He rushed at the little +spectacled man, and knocked him down with one blow of his fist on the +nose. + +M. de La Trumelle then perceived that, misled by an undeserved +resemblance, he had mistaken for Colomban, M. Bazile, a retired lawyer, +the secretary of the Anti-pyrotist Association, and an ardent and +generous patriot. Prince des Boscénos was one of those antique souls +who never bend. However, he knew how to recognise his faults. + +“M. Bazile,” said he, raising his hat, “if I have touched your face +with my hand you will excuse me and you will understand me, you will +approve of me, nay, you will compliment me, you will congratulate me +and felicitate me, when you know the cause of that act. I took you for +Colomban.” + +M. Bazile, wiping his bleeding nostrils with his handkerchief and +displaying an elbow laid bare by the absence of his sleeve: + +“No, sir,” answered he drily, “I shall not felicitate you, I shall not +congratulate you, I shall not compliment you, for your action was, at +the very least, superfluous; it was, I will even say, supererogatory. +Already this evening I have been three times mistaken for Colomban and +received a sufficient amount of the treatment he deserves. The patriots +have knocked in my ribs and broken my back, and, sir, I was of opinion +that that was enough.” + +Scarcely had he finished this speech than a band of Pyrotists appeared, +and misled in their turn by that insidious resemblance, they believed +that the patriots were killing Colomban. They fell on Prince des +Boscénos and his companions with loaded canes and leather thongs, and +left them for dead. Then seizing Bazile they carried him in triumph, +and in spite of his protests, along the boulevards, amid cries of: +“Hurrah for Colomban! Hurrah for Pyrot!” At last the police, who had +been sent after them, attacked and defeated them and dragged them +ignominiously to the station, where Bazile, under the name of Colomban, +was trampled on by an innumerable quantity of thick, hob-nailed shoes. + + + + +VII. BIDAULT-COQUILLE AND MANIFLORE, THE SOCIALISTS + + +Whilst the wind of anger and hatred blew in Alca, Eugine +Bidault-Coquille, poorest and happiest of astronomers, installed in an +old steam-engine of the time of the Draconides, was observing the +heavens through a bad telescope, and photographing the paths of the +meteors upon some damaged photographic plates. His genius corrected the +errors of his instruments and his love of science triumphed over the +worthlessness of his apparatus. With an inextinguishable ardour he +observed aerolites, meteors, and fire-balls, and all the glowing ruins +and blazing sparks which pass through the terrestrial atmosphere with +prodigious speed, and as a reward for is studious vigils he received +the indifference of the public, the ingratitude of the State and the +blame of the learned societies. Engulfed in the celestial spaces he +knew not what occurred upon the surface of the earth. He never read the +newspapers, and when he walked through the town his mind was occupied +with the November asteroids, and more than once he found himself at the +bottom of a pond in one of the public parks or beneath the wheels of a +motor omnibus. + +Elevated in stature as in thought he respected himself and others. This +was shown by his cold politeness as well as by a very thin black frock +coat and a tall hat which gave to his person an appearance at once +emaciated and sublime. He took his meals in a little restaurant from +which all customers less intellectual than himself had fled, and +thenceforth his napkin bound by its wooden ring rested alone in the +abandoned rack. + +In this cook-shop his eyes fell one evening upon Colomban’s memorandum +in favour of Pyrot. He read it as he was cracking some bad nuts and +suddenly, exalted with astonishment, admiration, horror, and pity, he +forgot all about falling meteors and shooting stars and saw nothing but +the innocent man hanging in his cage exposed to the winds of heaven and +the ravens perching upon it. + +That image did not leave him. For a week he had been obsessed by the +innocent convict, when, as he was leaving his cook-shop, he saw a crowd +of citizens entering a public-house in which a public meeting was going +on. He went in. The meeting was disorderly; they were yelling, abusing +one another and knocking one another down in the smoke-laden hall. The +Pyrotists and the Anti-Pyrotists spoke in turn and were alternately +cheered and hissed at. An obscure and confused enthusiasm moved the +audience. With the audacity of a timid and retired man Bidault-Coquille +leaped upon the platform and spoke for three-quarters of an hour. He +spoke very quickly, without order, but with vehemence, and with all the +conviction of a mathematical mystic. He was cheered. When he got down +from the platform a big woman of uncertain age, dressed in red, and +wearing an immense hat trimmed with heroic feathers, throwing herself +into his arms, embraced him, and said to him: + +“You are splendid!” + +He thought in his simplicity that there was some truth in the +statement. + +She declared to him that henceforth she would live but for Pyrot’s +defence and Colomban’s glory. He thought her sublime and beautiful. She +was Maniflore, a poor old courtesan, now forgotten and discarded, who +had suddenly become a vehement politician. + +She never left him. They spent glorious hours together in doss-houses +and in lodgings beautified by their love, in newspaper offices, in +meeting-halls and in lecture-halls. As he was an idealist, he persisted +in thinking her beautiful, although she gave him abundant opportunity +of seeing that she had preserved no charm of any kind. From her past +beauty she only retained a confidence in her capacity for pleasing and +a lofty assurance in demanding homage. Still, it must be admitted that +this Pyrot affair, so fruitful in prodigies, invested Maniflore with a +sort of civic majesty, and transformed her, at public meetings, into an +august symbol of justice and truth. + +Bidault-Coquille and Maniflore did not kindle the least spark of irony +or amusement in a single Anti-Pyrotist, a single defender of Greatauk, +or a single supporter of the army. The gods, in their anger, had +refused to those men the precious gift of humour. They gravely accused +the courtesan and the astronomer of being spies, of treachery, and of +plotting against their country. Bidault-Coquille and Maniflore grew +visibly greater beneath insult, abuse, and calumny. + +For long months Penguinia had been divided into two camps and, though +at first sight it may appear strange, hitherto the socialists had taken +no part in the contest. Their groups comprised almost all the manual +workers in the country, necessarily scattered, confused, broken up, and +divided, but formidable. The Pyrot affair threw the group leaders into +a singular embarrassment. They did not wish to place themselves either +on the side of the financiers or on the side of the army. They regarded +the Jews, both great and small, as their uncompromising opponents. +Their principles were not at stake, nor were their interests concerned +in the affair. Still the greater number felt how difficult it was +growing for them to remain aloof from struggles in which all Penguinia +was engaged. + +Their leaders called a sitting of their federation at the Rue de la +Queue-du-diable-St. Maël, to take into consideration the conduct they +ought to adopt in the present circumstances and in future +eventualities. + +Comrade Phœnix was the first to speak. + +“A crime,” said he, “the most odious and cowardly of crimes, a judicial +crime, has been committed. Military judges, coerced or misled by their +superior officers, have condemned an innocent man to an infamous and +cruel punishment. Let us not say that the victim is not one of our own +party, that he belongs to a caste which was, and always will be, our +enemy. Our party is the party of social justice; it can look upon no +iniquity with indifference. + +“It would be a shame for us if we left it to Kerdanic, a radical, to +Colomban, a member of the middle classes, and to a few moderate +Republicans, alone to proceed against the crimes of the army. If the +victim is not one of us, his executioners are our brothers’ +executioners, and before Greatauk struck down this soldier he shot our +comrades who were on strike. + +“Comrades, by an intellectual, moral and material effort you must +rescue Pyrot from his torment, and in performing this generous act you +are not turning aside from the liberating and revolutionary task you +have undertaken, for Pyrot his become the symbol of the oppressed and +of all the social iniquities that now exist; by destroying one you make +all the others tremble.” + +When Phœnix ended, comrade Sapor spoke in these terms: + +“You are advised to abandon your task in order to do something with +which you have no concern. Why throw yourselves into a conflict where, +on whatever side you turn, you will find none but your natural, +uncompromising, even necessary opponents? Are the financiers to be less +hated by us than the army? What inept and criminal generosity is it +that hurries you to save those seven hundred Pyrotists whom you will +always find confronting you in the social war? + +“It is proposed that you act the part of the police for your enemies, +and that you are to re-establish for them the order which their own +crimes have disturbed. Magnanimity pushed to this degree changes its +name. + +“Comrades, there is a point at which infamy becomes fatal to a society. +Penguin society is being strangled by its infamy, and you are requested +to save it, to give it air that it can breathe. This is simply turning +you into ridicule. + +“Leave it to smother itself and let us gaze at its last convulsions +with joyful contempt, only regretting that it has so entirely corrupted +the soil on which it has been built that we shall find nothing but +poisoned mud on which to lay the foundations of a new society.” + +When Sapor had ended his speech comrade Lapersonne pronounced these few +words: + +“Phœnix calls us to Pyrot’s help for the reason that Pyrot is innocent. +It seems to me that that is a very bad reason. If Pyrot is innocent he +has behaved like a good soldier and has always conscientiously worked +at his trade, which principally consists in shooting the people. That +is not a motive to make the people brave all dangers in his defence. +When it is demonstrated to me that Pyrot is guilty and that he stole +the army hay, I shall be on his side.” + +Comrade Larrivée afterwards spoke. + +“I am not of my friend, Phœnix’s opinion but I am not with my friend +Sapor either. I do not believe that the party is bound to embrace a +cause as soon as we are told that that cause is just. That, I am +afraid, is a grievous abuse of words and a dangerous equivocation. For +social justice is not revolutionary justice. They are both in perpetual +antagonism: to serve the one is to oppose the other. As for me, my +choice is made. I am for revolutionary justice as against social +justice. Still, in the present case I am against abstention. I say that +when a lucky chance brings us an affair like this we should be fools +not to profit by it. + +“How? We are given an opportunity of striking terrible, perhaps fatal, +blows against militarism. And am I to fold my arms? I tell you, +comrades, I am not a fakir, I have never been a fakir, and if there are +fakirs here let them not count on me. To sit in meditation is a policy +without results and one which I shall never adopt. + +“A party like ours ought to be continually asserting itself. It ought +to prove its existence by continual action. We will intervene in the +Pyrot affair but we will intervene in it in a revolutionary manner; we +will adopt violent action. . . . Perhaps you think that violence is +old-fashioned and superannuated, to be scrapped along with diligences, +hand-presses and aerial telegraphy. You are mistaken. To-day as +yesterday nothing is obtained except by violence; it is the one +efficient instrument. The only thing necessary is to know how to use +it. You ask what will our action be? I will tell you: it will be to +stir up the governing classes against one another, to put the army in +conflict with the capitalists, the government with the magistracy, the +nobility and clergy with the Jews, and if possible to drive them all to +destroy one another. To do this would be to carry on an agitation which +would weaken government in the same way that fever wears out the sick. + +“The Pyrot affair, little as we know how to turn it to advantage, will +put forward by ten years the growth of the Social party and the +emancipation of the proletariat, by disarmament, the general strike, +and revolution.” + +The leaders of the party having each expressed a different opinion, the +discussion was continued, not without vivacity. The orators, as always +happens in such a case, reproduced the arguments they had already +brought forward, though with less order and moderation than before. The +dispute was prolonged and none changed his opinion. These opinions, in +the final analysis, were reduced to two: that of Sapor and Lapersonne +who advised abstention, and that of Phœnix and Larrivée, who wanted +intervention. Even these two contrary opinions were united in a common +hatred of the heads of the army and of their justice, and in a common +belief in Pyrot’s innocence. So that public opinion was hardly mistaken +in regarding all the Socialist leaders as pernicious Anti-Pyrotists. + +As for the vast masses in whose name they spoke and whom they +represented as far as speech can express the impossible—as for the +proletarians whose thought is difficult to know and who do not know it +themselves, it seemed that the Pyrot affair did not interest them. It +was too literary for them, it was in too classical a style, and had an +upper-middle-class and high-finance tone about it that did not please +them much. + + + + +VIII. THE COLOMBAN TRIAL + + +When the Colomban trial began, the Pyrotists were not many more than +thirty thousand, but they were every where and might be found even +among the priests and millionaires. What injured them most was the +sympathy of the rich Jews. On the other hand they derived valuable +advantages from their feeble number. In the first place there were +among them fewer fools than among their opponents, who were +over-burdened with them. Comprising but a feeble minority, they +co-operated easily, acted with harmony, and had no temptation to divide +and thus counteract one another’s efforts. Each of them felt the +necessity of doing the best possible and was the more careful of his +conduct as he found himself more in the public eye. Finally, they had +every reason to hope that they would gain fresh adherents, while their +opponents, having had everybody with them at the beginning, could only +decrease. + +Summoned before the judges at a public sitting, Colomban immediately +perceived that his judges were not anxious to discover the truth. As +soon as he opened his mouth the President ordered him to be silent in +the superior interests of the State. For the same reason, which is the +supreme reason, the witnesses for the defence were not heard. General +Panther, the Chief of the Staff, appeared in the witness-box, in full +uniform and decorated with all his orders. He deposed as follows: + +“The infamous Colomban states that we have no proofs against Pyrot. He +lies; we have them. I have in my archives seven hundred and thirty-two +square yards of them which at five hundred pounds each make three +hundred and sixty-six thousand pounds.” + +That superior officer afterwards gave, with elegance and ease, a +summary of those proofs. + +“They are of all colours and all shades,” said he in substance, “they +are of every form—pot, crown, sovereign, grape, dove-cot, grand eagle, +etc. The smallest is less than the hundredth part of a square inch, the +largest measures seventy yards long by ninety yards broad.” + +At this revelation the audience shuddered with horror. + +Greatauk came to give evidence in his turn. Simpler, and perhaps +greater, he wore a grey tunic and held his hands joined behind his +back. + +“I leave,” said he calmly and in a slightly raised voice, “I leave to +M. Colomban the responsibility for an act that has brought our country +to the brink of ruin. The Pyrot affair is secret; it ought to remain +secret. If it were divulged the cruelest ills, wars, pillages, +depredations, fires, massacres, and epidemics would immediately burst +upon Penguinia. I should consider myself guilty of high treason if I +uttered another word.” + +Some persons known for their political experience, among others M. +Bigourd, considered the evidence of the Minister of War as abler and of +greater weight than that of his Chief of Staff. + +The evidence of Colonel de Boisjoli made a great impression. + +“One evening at the Ministry of War,” said that officer, “the attaché +of a neighbouring Power told me that while visiting his sovereign’s +stables he had once admired some soft and fragrant hay, of a pretty +green colour, the finest hay he had ever seen! ‘Where did it come +from?’ I asked him. He did not answer, but there seemed to me no doubt +about its origin. It was the hay Pyrot had stolen. Those qualities of +verdure, softness, and aroma, are those of our national hay. The forage +of the neighbouring Power is grey and brittle; it sounds under the fork +and smells of dust. One can draw one own conclusions.” + +Lieutenant-Colonel Hastaing said in the witness-box, amid hisses, that +he did not believe Pyrot guilty. He was immediately seized by the +police and thrown into the bottom of a dungeon where, amid vipers, +toads, and broken glass, he remained insensible both to promises and +threats. + +The usher called: + +“Count Pierre Maubec de la Dentdulynx.” + +There was deep silence, and a stately but ill-dressed nobleman, whose +moustaches pointed to the skies and whose dark eyes shot forth flashing +glances, was seen advancing toward the witness-box. + +He approached Colomban and casting upon him a look of ineffable +disdain: + +“My evidence,” said he, “here it is: you excrement!” + +At these words the entire hall burst into enthusiastic applause and +jumped up, moved by one of those transports that stir men’s hearts and +rouse them to extraordinary actions. Without another word Count Maubec +de la Dentdulynx withdrew. + +All those present left the Court and formed a procession behind him. +Prostrate at his feet, Princess des Boscénos held his legs in a close +embrace, but he went on, stern and impassive, beneath a shower of +handkerchiefs and flowers. Viscountess Olive, clinging to his neck, +could not be removed, and the calm hero bore her along with him, +floating on his breast like a light scarf. + +When the court resumed its sitting, which it had been compelled to +suspend, the President called the experts. + +Vermillard, the famous expert in handwriting, gave the results of his +researches. + +“Having carefully studied,” said he, “the papers found in Pyrot’s +house, in particular his account book and his laundry books, I noticed +that, though apparently not out of the common, they formed an +impenetrable cryptogram, the key to which, however, I discovered. The +traitor’s infamy is to be seen in every line. In this system of writing +the words ‘Three glasses of beer and twenty francs for Adèle’ mean ‘I +have delivered thirty thousand trusses of hay to a neighbouring Power.’ +From these documents I have even been able to establish the composition +of the hay delivered by this officer. The words waistcoat, drawers, +pocket handkerchief, collars, drink, tobacco, cigars, mean clover, +meadowgrass, lucern, burnet, oats, rye-grass, vernal-grass, and common +cat’s tail grass. And these are precisely the constituents of the hay +furnished by Count Maubec to the Penguin cavalry. In this way Pyrot +mentioned his crimes in a language that he believed would always remain +indecipherable. One is confounded by so much astuteness and so great a +want of conscience.” + +Colomban, pronounced guilty without any extenuating circumstances, was +condemned to the severest penalty. The judges immediately signed a +warrant consuming him to solitary confinement. + +In the Place du Palais on the sides of a river whose banks had during +the course of twelve centuries seen so great a history, fifty thousand +persons were tumultuously awaiting the result of the trial. Here were +the heads of the Anti-Pyrotist Association, among whom might be seen +Prince des Boscénos, Count Cléna, Viscount Olive, and M. de La +Trumelle; here crowded the Reverend Father Agaric and the teachers of +St. Maël College with their pupils; here the monk Douillard and General +Caraguel, embracing each other, formed a sublime group. The market +women and laundry women with spits, shovels, tongs, beetles, and +kettles full of water might be seen running across the Pont-Vieux. On +the steps in front of the bronze gates were assembled all the defenders +of Pyrot in Alca, professors, publicists, workmen, some conservatives, +others Radicals or Revolutionaries, and by their negligent dress and +fierce aspect could be recognised comrades Phœnix, Larrivée, +Lapersonne, Dagobert, and Varambille. Squeezed in his funereal +frock-coat and wearing his hat of ceremony, Bidault-Coquille invoked +the sentimental mathematics on behalf of Colomban and Colonel Hastaing. +Maniflore shone smiling and resplendent on the topmost step, anxious, +like Leaena, to deserve a glorious monument, or to be given, like +Epicharis, the praises of history. + +The seven hundred Pyrotists disguised as lemonade sellers, +gutter-merchants, collectors of odds and ends, or anti-Pyrotists, +wandered round the vast building. + +When Colomban appeared, so great an uproar burst forth that, struck by +the commotion of air and water, birds fell from the trees and fishes +floated on the surface of the stream. + +On all sides there were yells: + +“Duck Colomban, duck him, duck him!” + +There were some cries of “Justice and truth!” and a voice was even +heard shouting: + +“Down with the Army!” + +This was the signal for a terrible struggle. The combatants fell in +thousands, and their bodies formed howling and moving mounds on top of +which fresh champions gripped each other by the throats. Women, eager, +pale, and dishevelled, with clenched teeth and frantic nails, rushed on +the man, in transports that, in the brilliant light of the public +square, gave to their faces expressions unsurpassed even in the shade +of curtains and in the hollows of pillows. They were going to seize +Colomban, to bite him, to strangle, dismember and rend him, when +Maniflore, tall and dignified in her red tunic, stood forth, serene and +terrible, confronting these furies who recoiled from before her in +terror. Colomban seemed to be saved; his partisans succeeded in +clearing a passage for him through the Place du Palais and in putting +him into a cab stationed at the corner of the Pont-Vieux. The horse was +already in full trot when Prince des Boscénos, Count Cléna, and M. de +La Trumelle knocked the driver off his seat. Then, making the animal +back and pushing the spokes of the wheels, they ran the vehicle on to +the parapet of the bridge, whence they overturned it into the river +amid the cheers of the delirious crowd. With a resounding splash a jet +of water rose upwards, and then nothing but a slight eddy was to be +seen on the surface of the stream. + +Almost immediately comrades Dagobert and Varambille, with the help of +the seven hundred disguised Pyrotists, sent Prince des Boscénos head +foremost into a river-laundry in which he was lamentably swallowed up. + +Serene night descended over the Place du Palais and shed silence and +peace upon the frightful ruins with which it was strewed. In the mean +time, Colomban, three thousand yards down the stream, cowering beside a +lame old horse on a bridge, was meditating on the ignorance and +injustice of crowds. + +“The business,” said he to himself, “is even more troublesome than I +believed. I foresee fresh difficulties.” + +He got up and approached the unhappy animal. + +“What have you, poor friend, done to them?” said he. “It is on my +account they have used you so cruelly.” + +He embraced the unfortunate beast and kissed the white star on his +forehead. Then he took him by the bridle and led him, both of them +limping, trough the sleeping city to his house, where sleep soon +allowed them to forget mankind. + + + + +IX. FATHER DOUILLARD + + +In their infinite gentleness and at the suggestion of the common father +of the faithful, the bishops, canons, vicars, curates, abbots, and +friars of Penguinia resolved to hold a solemn service in the cathedral +of Alca, and to pray that Divine mercy would deign to put an end to the +troubles that distracted one of the noblest countries in Christendom, +and grant to repentant Penguinia pardon for its crimes against God and +the ministers of religion. + +The ceremony took place on the fifteenth of June. General Caraguel, +surrounded by his staff, occupied the churchwarden’s pew. The +congregation was numerous and brilliant. According to M. Bigourd’s +expression it was both crowded and select. In the front rank was to be +seen M. de la Bertheoseille, Chamberlain to his Highness Prince Crucho. +Near the pulpit, which was to be ascended by the Reverend Father +Douillard, of the Order of St. Francis, were gathered, in an attitude +of attention with their hands crossed upon their wands of office, the +great dignitaries of the Anti-Pyrotist association, Viscount Olive, M. +de La Trumelle, Count Cléna, the Duke d’Ampoule, and Prince des +Boscénos. Father Agaric was in the apse with the teachers and pupils of +St. Maël College. The right-hand transept and aisle were reserved for +officers and soldiers in uniform, this side being thought the more +honourable, since the Lord leaned his head to the right when he died on +the Cross. The ladies of the aristocracy, and among them Countess +Cléna, Viscountess Olive, and Princess des Boscénos, occupied reserved +seats. In the immense building and in the square outside were gathered +twenty thousand clergy of all sorts, as well as thirty thousand of the +laity. + +After the expiatory and propitiatory ceremony the Reverend Father +Douillard ascended the pulpit. The sermon had at first been entrusted +to the Reverend Father Agaric, but, in spite of his merits, he was +thought unequal to the occasion in zeal and doctrine, and the eloquent +Capuchin friar, who for six months had gone through the barracks +preaching against the enemies of God and authority, had been chosen in +his place. + +The Reverend Father Douillard, taking as his text, “He hath put down +the mighty from their seat,” established that all temporal power has +God as its principle and its end, and that it is ruined and destroyed +when it turns aside from the path that Providence has traced out for it +and from the end to which He has directed it. + +Applying these sacred rules to the government of Penguinia, he drew a +terrible picture of the evils that the country’s rulers had been unable +either to prevent or to foresee. + +“The first author of all these miseries and degradations, my brethren,” +said he, “is only too well known to you. He is a monster whose destiny +is providentially proclaimed by his name, for it is derived from the +Greek word, _pyros_, which means fire. Eternal wisdom warns us by this +etymology that a Jew was to set ablaze the country that had welcomed +him.” + +He depicted the country, persecuted by the persecutors of the Church, +and crying in its agony: + +“O woe! O glory! Those who have crucified my God are crucifying me!” + +At these words a prolonged shudder passed through the assembly. + +The powerful orator excited still greater indignation when he described +the proud and crime-stained Colomban, plunged into the stream, all the +waters of which could not cleanse him. He gathered up all the +humiliations and all the perils of the Penguins in order to reproach +the President of the Republic and his Prime Minister with them. + +“That Minister,” said he, “having been guilty of degrading cowardice in +not exterminating the seven hundred Pyrotists with their allies and +defenders, as Saul exterminated the Philistines at Gibeah, has rendered +himself unworthy of exercising the power that God delegated to him, and +every good citizen ought henceforth to insult his contemptible +government. Heaven will look favourably on those who despise him. ‘He +hath put down the mighty from their seat.’ God will depose these +pusillanimous chiefs and will put in their place strong men who will +call upon Him. I tell you, gentlemen, I tell you officers, +non-commissioned officers, and soldiers who listen to me, I tell you +General of the Penguin armies, the hour has come! If you do not obey +God’s orders, if in His name you do not depose those now in authority, +if you do not establish a religious and strong government in Penguinia, +God will none the less destroy what He has condemned, He will none the +less save His people. He will save them, but, if you are wanting, He +will do so by means of a humble artisan or a simple corporal. Hasten! +The hour will soon be past.” + +Excited by this ardent exhortation, the sixty thousand people present +rose up trembling and shouting: “To arms! To arms! Death to the +Pyrotists! Hurrah for Crucho!” and all of them, monks, women, soldiers, +noblemen, citizens, and loafers, who were gathered beneath the +superhuman arm uplifted in the pulpit, struck up the hymn, “Let us save +Penguinia!” They rushed impetuously from the basilica and marched along +the quays to the Chamber of Deputies. + +Left alone in the deserted nave, the wise Cornemuse, lifting his arms +to heaven, murmured in broken accents: + +“Agnosco fortunam ecclesiæ penguicanæ! I see but too well whither this +will lead us.” + +The attack which the crowd made upon the legislative palace was +repulsed. Vigorously charged by the police and Alcan guards, the +assailants were already fleeing in disorder, when the Socialists, +running from the slums and led by comrades Phœnix, Dagobert, +Lapersonne, and Varambille, threw themselves upon them and completed +their discomfiture. MM. de La Trumelle and d’Ampoule were taken to the +police station. Prince des Boscénos, after a valiant struggle, fell +upon the bloody pavement with a fractured skull. + +In the enthusiasm of victory, the comrades, mingled with an innumerable +crowd of paper-sellers and gutter-merchants, ran through the boulevards +all night, carrying, Maniflore in triumph, and breaking the mirrors of +the cafés and the glasses of the street lamps amid cries of “Down with +Crucho! Hurrah for the Social Revolution!” The Anti-Pyrotists in their +turn upset the newspaper kiosks and tore down the hoardings. + +These were spectacles of which cool reason cannot approve and they were +fit causes for grief to the municipal authorities, who desired to +preserve the good order of the roads and streets. But, what was sadder +for a man of heart was the sight or the canting humbugs, who, from fear +of blows, kept at an equal distance from the two camps, and who, +although they allowed their selfishness and cowardice to be visible, +claimed admiration for the generosity of their sentiments and the +nobility of their souls. They rubbed their eyes with onions, gaped like +whitings, blew violently into their handkerchiefs, and, bringing their +voices out of the depths of their stomachs, groaned forth: “O Penguins, +cease these fratricidal struggles; cease to rend your mother’s bosom!” +As if men could live in society without disputes and without quarrels, +and as if civil discords were not the necessary conditions of national +life and progress. They showed themselves hypocritical cowards by +proposing a compromise between the just and the unjust, offending the +just in his rectitude and the unjust in his courage. One of these +creatures, the rich and powerful Machimel, a champion coward, rose upon +the town like a colossus of grief; his tears formed poisonous lakes at +his feet and his sighs capsized the boats of the fishermen. + +During these stormy nights Bidault-Coquille at the top of his old +steam-engine, under the serene sky, boasted in his heart, while the +shooting stars registered themselves upon his photographic plates. He +was fighting for justice. He loved and was loved with a sublime +passion. Insult and calumny raised him to the clouds. A caricature of +him in company with those of Colomban, Kerdanic, and Colonel Hastaing +was to be seen in the newspaper kiosks. The Anti-Pyrotists proclaimed +that he had received fifty thousand francs from the big Jewish +financiers. The reporters of the militarist sheets held interviews +regarding his scientific knowledge with official scholars, who declared +he had no knowledge of the stars, disputed his most solid observations, +denied his most certain discoveries, and condemned his most ingenious +and most fruitful hypotheses. He exulted under these flattering blows +of hatred and envy. + +He contemplated the black immensity pierced by a multitude of lights, +without giving a thought to all the heavy slumbers, cruel insomnias, +vain dreams, spoilt pleasures, and infinitely diverse miseries that a +great city contains. + +“It is in this enormous city,” said he to himself, “that the just and +the unjust are joining battle.” + +And substituting a simple and magnificent poetry for the multiple and +vulgar reality, he represented to himself the Pyrot affair as a +struggle between good and bad angels. He awaited the eternal triumph of +the Sons of Light and congratulated himself on being a Child of the Day +confounding the Children of Night. + + + + +X. MR. JUSTICE CHAUSSEPIED + + +Hitherto blinded by fear, incautious and stupid before the bands of +Friar Douillard and the partisans of Prince Crucho, the Republicans at +last opened their eyes and grasped the real meaning of the Pyrot +affair. The deputies who had for two years turned pale at the shouts of +the patriotic crowds became, not indeed more courageous, but altered +their cowardice and blamed Robin Mielleux for disorders which their own +compliance had encouraged, and the instigators of which they had +several times slavishly congratulated. They reproached him for having +imperilled the Republic by a weakness which was really theirs and a +timidity which they themselves had imposed upon him. Some of them began +to doubt whether it was not to their interest to believe in Pyrot’s +innocence rather than in his guilt, and thenceforward they felt a +bitter anguish at the thought that the unhappy man might have been +wrongly convicted and that in his aerial cage he might be expiating +another man’s crimes. “I cannot sleep on account of it!” was what +several members of Minister Guillaumette’s majority used to say. But +these were ambitious to replace their chief. + +These generous legislators overthrew the cabinet, and the President of +the Republic put in Robin Mielleux’s place, a patriarchal Republican +with a flowing beard, La Trinité by name, who, like most of the +Penguins, understood nothing about the affair, but thought that too +many monks were mixed up in it. + +General Greatauk before leaving the Ministry of War, gave his final +advice to Pariler, the Chief of the Staff. + +“I go and you remain,” said he, as he shook hands with him. “The Pyrot +affair is my daughter; I confide her to you, she is worthy of your love +and your care; she is beautiful. Do not forget that her beauty loves +the shade, is leased with mystery, and likes to remain veiled. Great +her modesty with gentleness. Too many indiscreet looks have already +profaned her charms. . . . Panther, you desired proofs and you obtained +them. You have many, perhaps too many, in your possession. I see that +there will be many tiresome interventions and much dangerous curiosity. +If I were in your place I would tear up all those documents. Believe +me, the best of proofs is none at all. That is the only one which +nobody discusses.” + +Alas! General Panther did not realise the wisdom of this advice. The +future was only too thoroughly to justify Greatauk’s perspicacity. La +Trinité demanded the documents belonging, to the Pyrot affair. Péniche, +his Minister of War, refused them in the superior interests of the +national defence, telling him that the documents under General +Panther’s care formed the hugest mass of archives in the world. La +Trinité studied the case as well as he could, and, without penetrating +to the bottom of the matter, suspected it of irregularity. Conformably +to his rights and prerogatives he then ordered a fresh trial to be +held. Immediately, Péniche, his Minister of War, accused him of +insulting the army and betraying the country and flung his portfolio at +his head. He was replaced by a second, who did the same. To him +succeeded a third, who imitated these examples, and those after him to +the number of seventy acted like their predecessors, until the +venerable La Trinité groaned beneath the weight of bellicose +portfolios. The seventy-first Minister of War, van Julep, retained +office. Not that he was in disagreement with so many and such noble +colleagues, but he had been commissioned by them generously to betray +his Prime Minister, to cover him with shame and opprobrium, and to +convert the new trial to the glory of Greatauk, the satisfaction of the +Anti-Pyrotists, the profit of the monks, and the restoration of Prince +Crucho. + +General van Julep, though endowed with high military virtues, was not +intelligent enough to employ the subtle conduct and exquisite methods +of Greatauk. He thought, like General Panther, that tangible proofs +against Pyrot were necessary, that they could never ave too many of +them, that they could never have even enough. He expressed these’ +sentiments to his Chief of Staff, who was only too inclined to agree +with them. + +“Panther,” said he, “we are at the moment when we need abundant and +superabundant proofs.” + +“You have said enough, General,” answered Panther, “I will complete my +piles of documents.” + +Six months later the proofs against Pyrot filled two storeys of the +Ministry of War. The ceiling fell in beneath the weight of the bundles, +and the avalanche of falling documents crushed two head clerks, +fourteen second clerks, and sixty copying clerks, who were at work upon +the ground floor arranging a change in the fashion of the cavalry +gaiters. The walls of the huge edifice had to be propped. Passers-by +saw with amazement enormous beams and monstrous stanchions which reared +themselves obliquely against the noble front of the building, now +tottering and disjointed, and blocked up the streets, stopped the +carriages, and presented to the motor-omnibuses an obstacle against +which they dashed with their loads of passengers. + +The judges who had condemned Pyrot were not, properly speaking, judges +but soldiers. The judges who had condemned Colomban were real judges, +but of inferior rank, wearing seedy black clothes like church vergers, +unlucky wretches of judges, miserable judgelings. Above them were the +superior judges who wore ermine robes over their black gowns. These, +renowned for their knowledge and doctrine, formed a court whose +terrible name expressed power. It was called the Court of Appeal +(Cassation) so as to make it clear that it was the hammer suspended +over the judgments and decrees of all other jurisdictions. + +One of these superior red Judges of the Supreme Court, called +Chaussepied, led a modest and tranquil life in a suburb of Alca. His +soul was pure, his heart honest, his spirit just. When he had finished +studying his documents he used to play the violin and cultivate +hyacinths. Every Sunday he dined with his neighbours the Mesdemoiselles +Helbivore. His old age was cheerful and robust and his friends often +praised the amenity of his character. + +For some months, however, he had been irritable and touchy, and when he +opened a newspaper his broad and ruddy face would become covered with +dolorous wrinkles and darkened with an angry purple. Pyrot was the +cause of it. Justice Chaussepied could not understand how an officer +could have committed so black a crime as to hand over eighty thousand +trusses of military hay to a neighbouring and hostile Power. And he +could still less conceive how a scoundrel should have found official +defenders in Penguinia. The thought that there existed in his country a +Pyrot, a Colonel Hastaing, a Colomban, a Kerdanic, a Phœnix, spoilt his +hyacinths, his violin, his heaven, and his earth, all nature, and even +his dinner with the Mesdemoiselles Helbivore! + +In the mean time the Pyrot case, having been presented to the Supreme +Court by the Keeper of Seals, it fell to Chaussepied to examine it and +cover its defects, in case any existed. Although as upright and honest +as a man can be, and trained by long habit to exercise his magistracy +without fear or favour, he expected to find in the documents he +submitted to him proofs of certain guilt and obvious criminality. After +lengthened difficulties and repeated refusals on the part of General +Julep, Justice Chaussepied was allowed to examine the documents. +Numbered and initialed they ran to the number of fourteen millions six +hundred and twenty-six thousand three hundred and twelve. As he studied +them the judge was at first surprised, then astonished, then stupefied, +amazed, and, if I dare say so, flabbergasted. He found among the +documents prospectuses of new fancy shops, newspapers, fashion-plates, +paper bags, old business letters, exercise books, brown paper, green +paper for rubbing parquet floors, playing cards, diagrams, six thousand +copies of the “Key to Dreams,” but not a single document in which any +mention was made of Pyrot. + + + + +XI. CONCLUSION + + +The appeal was allowed, and Pyrot was brought down from his cage. But +the Anti-Pyrotists did not regard themselves as beaten. The military +judges re-tried Pyrot. Greatauk, in this second affair, surpassed +himself. He obtained a second conviction; he obtained it by declaring +that the proofs communicated to the Supreme Court were worth nothing, +and that great care had been taken to keep back the good ones, since +they ought to remain secret. In the opinion of connoisseurs he had +never shown so much address. On leaving the court, as he passed through +the vestibule with a tranquil step, and his hands behind his back, +amidst a crowd of sight-seers, a woman dressed in red and with her face +covered by a black veil rushed at him, brandishing a kitchen knife. + +“Die, scoundrel!” she cried. It was Maniflore. Before those present +could understand what was happening, the general seized her by the +wrist, and with apparent gentleness, squeezed it so forcibly that the +knife fell from her aching hand. + +Then he picked it up and handed it to Maniflore. + +“Madam,” said he with a bow, “you have dropped a household utensil.” + +He could not prevent the heroine from being taken to the +police-station; but he had her immediately released and afterwards he +employed all his influence to stop the prosecution. + +The second conviction of Pyrot was Greatauk’s last victory. + +Justice Chaussepied, who had formerly liked soldiers so much, and +esteemed their justice so highly, being now enraged with the military +judges, quashed their judgments as a monkey cracks nuts. He +rehabilitated Pyrot a second time; he would, if necessary, have +rehabilitated him five hundred times. + +Furious at having been cowards and at having allowed themselves to be +deceived and made game of, the Republicans turned against the monks and +clergy. The deputies passed laws of expulsion, separation, and +spoliation against them. What Father Cornemuse had foreseen took place. +That good monk was driven from the Wood of Conils. Treasury officers +confiscated his retorts and his stills, and the liquidators divided +amongst them his bottles of St. Oberosian liqueur. The pious distiller +lost the annual income of three million five hundred thousand francs +that his products procured for him. Father Agaric went into exile, +abandoning his school into the hands of laymen, who soon allowed it to +fall into decay. Separated from its foster-mother, the State, the +Church of Penguinia withered like a plucked flower. + +The victorious defenders of the innocent man now abused each other and +overwhelmed each other reciprocally with insults and calumnies. The +vehement Kerdanic hurled himself upon Phœnix as if ready to devour him. +The wealthy Jews and the seven hundred Pyrotists turned away with +disdain from the socialist comrades whose aid they had humbly implored +in the past. + +“We know you no longer,” said they. “To the devil with you and your +social justice. Social justice is the defence of property.” + +Having been elected a Deputy and chosen to be the leader of the new +majority, comrade Larrivée was appointed by the Chamber and public +opinion to the Premiership. He showed himself an energetic defender of +the military tribunals that had condemned Pyrot. When his former +socialist comrades claimed a little more justice and liberty for the +employés of the State as well as for manual workers, he opposed their +proposals in an eloquent speech. + +“Liberty,” said he, “is not licence. Between order and disorder my +choice is made: revolution is impotence. Progress has no more +formidable enemy than violence. Gentlemen, those who, as I am, are +anxious for reform, ought to apply themselves before everything else to +cure this agitation which enfeebles government just as fever exhausts +those who are ill. It is time to reassure honest people.” + +This speech was received with applause. The government of the Republic +remained in subjection to the great financial companies, the army was +exclusively devoted to the defence of capital, while the fleet was +designed solely to procure fresh orders for the mine-owners. Since the +rich refused to pay their just share of the taxes, the poor, as in the +past, paid for them. + +In the mean time from the height of his old steamline, beneath the +crowded stars of night, Bidault-Coquille gazed sadly at the sleeping +city. Maniflore had left him. Consumed with a desire for fresh +devotions and fresh sacrifices, she had gone in company with a young +Bulgarian to bear justice and vengeance to Sofia. He did not regret +her, having perceived after the Affair, that she was less beautiful in +form and in thought than he had at first imagined. His impressions had +been modified in the same direction concerning many other forms and +many other thoughts. And what was cruelest of all to him, he regarded +himself as not so great, not so splendid, as he had believed. + +And he reflected: + +“You considered yourself sublime when you had but candour and +good-will. Of what were you proud, Bidault-Coquille? Of having been one +of the first to know that Pyrot was innocent and Greatauk a scoundrel. +But three-fourths of those who defended Greatauk against the attacks of +the seven hundred Pyrotists knew that better than you. Of what then did +you show yourself so proud? Of having dared to say what you thought? +That is civic courage, and, like military courage, it is a mere result +of imprudence. You have been imprudent. So far so good, but that is no +reason for praising yourself beyond measure. Your imprudence was +trifling; it exposed you to trifling perils; you did not risk your head +by it. The Penguins have lost that cruel and sanguinary pride which +formerly gave a tragic grandeur to their revolutions; it is the fatal +result of the weakening of beliefs and character. Ought one to look +upon oneself as a superior spirit for having shown a little more +clear-sightedness than the vulgar? I am very much afraid, on the +contrary, Bidault-Coquille, that you have given proof of a gross +misunderstanding of the conditions of the moral and intellectual +development of a people. You imagined that social injustices were +threaded together like pearls and that it would be enough to pull off +one in order to unfasten the whole necklace. That is a very ingenuous +conception. You flattered yourself that at one stroke you were +establishing justice in your own country and in the universe. You were +a brave man, an honest idealist, though without much experimental +philosophy. But go home to your own heart and you will recognise that +you had in you a spice of malice and that our ingenuousness was not +without cunning. You believed you were performing a fine moral action. +You said to yourself: ‘Here am I, just and courageous once for all. I +can henceforth repose in the public esteem and the praise of +historians.’ And now that you have lost your illusions, now that you +know how hard it is to redress wrongs, and that the task must ever be +begun afresh, you are going back to your asteroids. You are right; but +go back to them with modesty, Bidault-Coquille!” + + + + +BOOK VII. MODERN TIMES + + +MADAME CÉRÈS + + +“Only extreme things are tolerable.” +Count Robert de Montesquiou. + + + + +I. MADAME CLARENCE’S DRAWING-ROOM + + +Madame Clarence, the widow of an exalted functionary of the Republic, +loved to entertain. Every Thursday she collected together some friends +of modest condition who took pleasure in conversation. The ladies who +went to see her, very different in age and rank, were all without +money, and had all suffered much. There was a duchess who looked like a +fortune-teller and a fortune-teller who looked like a duchess. Madame +Clarence was pretty enough to maintain some old _liaisons_, but not to +form new ones, and she generally inspired a quiet esteem. She had a +very pretty daughter, who, since she had no dower, caused some alarm +among the male guests; for the Penguins were as much afraid of +portionless girls as they were of the devil himself. Eveline Clarence, +noticing their reserve and perceiving its cause, used to hand them +their tea with an air of disdain. Moreover, she seldom appeared at the +parties and talked only to the ladies or the very young people. Her +discreet and retiring presence put no restraint upon the conversation, +since those who took part in it thought either that as she was a young +girl she would not understand it, or that, being twenty-five years old, +she might listen to everything. + +One Thursday therefore, in Madame Clarence’s drawing-room, the +conversation turned upon love. The ladies spoke of it with pride, +delicacy, and mystery, the men with discretion and fatuity; everyone +took an interest in the conversation, for each one was interested in +what he or she said. A great deal of wit flowed; brilliant apostrophes +were launched forth and keen repartees were returned. But when +Professor Haddock began to speak he overwhelmed everybody. + +“It is the same with our ideas on love as with our ideas on everything +else,” said he, “they rest upon anterior habits whose very memory has +been effaced. In morals, the limitations that have lost their grounds +for existing, the most useless obligations, the cruelest and most +injurious restraints, are because of their profound antiquity and the +mystery of their origin, the least disputed and the least disputable as +well as the most respected, and they are those that cannot be violated +without incurring the most severe blame. All morality relative to the +relations of the sexes is founded on this principle: that a woman once +obtained belongs to the man, that she is his property like his horse or +his weapons. And this having ceased to be true, absurdities result from +it, such as the marriage or contract of sale of a woman to a man, with +clauses restricting the right of ownership introduced as a consequence +of the gradual diminution of the claims of the possessor. + +“The obligation imposed on a girl that she should bring her virginity +to her husband comes from the times when girls were married immediately +they were of a marriageable age. It is ridiculous that a girl who +marries at twenty-five or thirty should be subject to that obligation. +You will, perhaps, say that it is a present with which her husband, if +she gets one at last, will be gratified; but every moment we see men +wooing married women and showing themselves perfectly satisfied to take +them as they find them. + +“Still, even in our own day, the duty of girls is determined in +religious morality by the old belief that God, the most powerful of +warriors, is polygamous, that he has reserved all maidens for himself, +and that men can only take those whom he has left. This belief, +although traces of it exist in several metaphors of mysticism, is +abandoned to-day, by most civilised peoples. However, it still +dominates the education of girls not only among our believers, but even +among our free-thinkers, who, as a rule, think freely for the reason +that they do not think at all. + +“Discretion means ability to separate and discern. We say that a girl +is discreet when she knows nothing at all. We cultivate her ignorance. +In spite of all our care the most discreet know something, for we +cannot conceal from them their own nature and their own sensations. But +they know badly, they know in a wrong way. That is all we obtain by our +careful education. . . .” + +“Sir,” suddenly said Joseph Boutourlé, the High Treasurer of Alca, +“believe me, there are innocent girls, perfectly innocent girls, and it +is a great pity. I have known three. They married, and the result was +tragical.” + +“I have noticed,” Professor Haddock went on, “that Europeans in general +and Penguins in particular occupy themselves, after sport and motoring, +with nothing so much as with love. It is giving a great deal of +importance to a matter that has very little weight.” + +“Then, Professor,” exclaimed Madame Crémeur in a choking voice, “when a +woman has completely surrendered herself to you, you think it is a +matter of no importance?” + +“No, Madame; it can have its importance,” answered Professor Haddock, +“but it is necessary to examine if when she surrenders herself to us +she offers us a delicious fruit-garden or a plot of thistles and +dandelions. And then, do we not misuse words? In love, a woman lends +herself rather than gives herself. Look at the pretty Madame Pensée. . +. .” + +“She is my mother,” said a tall, fair young man. + +“Sir, I have the greatest respect for her,” replied Professor Haddock; +“do not be afraid that I intend to say anything in the least offensive +about her. But allow me to tell you that, as a rule, the opinions of +sons about their mothers are not to be relied on. They do not bear +enough in mind that a mother is a mother only because she loved, and +that she can still love. That, however, is the case, and it would be +deplorable were it otherwise. I have noticed, on the contrary, that +daughters do not deceive themselves about their mothers’ faculty for +loving or about the use they make of it; they are rivals; they have +their eyes upon them.” + +The insupportable Professor spoke a great deal longer, adding indecorum +to awkwardness, and impertinence to incivility, accumulating +incongruities, despising what is respectable, respecting what is +despicable; but no one listened to him further. + +During this time in a room that was simple without grace, a room sad +for the want of love, a room which, like all young girls’ rooms, had +something of the cold atmosphere of a place of waiting about it, +Eveline Clarence turned over the pages of club annuals and prospectuses +of charities in order to obtain from them some acquaintance with +society. Being convinced that her mother, shut up in her own +intellectual but poor world, could neither bring her out or push her +into prominence, she decided that she herself would seek the best means +of winning a husband. At once calm and obstinate, without dreams or +illusions, and regarding marriage as but a ticket of admission or a +passport, she kept before her mind a clear notion of the hazards, +difficulties, and chances of her enterprise. She had the art of +pleasing and a coldness of temperament that enabled her to turn it to +its fullest advantage. Her weakness lay in the fact that she was +dazzled by anything that had an aristocratic air. + +When she was alone with her mother she said: + +“Mamma, we will go to-morrow to Father Douillard’s retreat.” + + + + +II. THE CHARITY OF ST. ORBEROSIA + + +Every Friday evening at nine o’clock the choicest of Alcan society +assembled in the aristocratic church of St. Maël for the Reverend +Father Douillard’s retreat. Prince and Princess des Boscénos, Viscount +and Viscountess Olive, M. and Madame Bigourd, Monsieur and Madame de La +Trumelle were never absent. The flower of the aristocracy might be seen +there, and fair Jewish baronesses also adorned it by their presence, +for the Jewish baronesses of Alca were Christians. + +This retreat, like all religious retreats, had for its object to +procure for those living in the world opportunities for recollection so +that they might think of their eternal salvation. It was also intended +to draw down upon so man noble and illustrious families the benediction +of L. Orberosia, who loves the Penguins. The Reverend Father Douillard +strove for the completion of his task with a truly apostolical zeal. He +hoped to restore the prerogatives of St. Orberosia as the patron saint +of Penguinia and to dedicate to her a monumental church on one of the +hills that dominate the city. His efforts had been crowned with great +success, and for the accomplishing of this national enterprise he had +already united more than a hundred thousand adherents and collected +more than twenty millions of francs. + +It was in the choir of St. Maël’s that St. Orberosia’s new shrine, +shining with gold, sparkling with precious stones, and surrounded by +tapers and flowers, had been erected. + +The following account may be read in the “History of the Miracles of +the Patron Saint of Alca” by the Abbé Plantain: + +“The ancient shrine had been melted down during the Terror and the +precious relics of the saint thrown into a fire that had been lit on +the Place de Grève; but a poor woman of great piety, named Rouquin, +went by night at the peril of her life to gather up the calcined bones +and the ashes of the blessed saint. She preserved them in a jam-pot, +and when religion was again restored, brought them to the venerable +Curé of St. Maëls. The woman ended her days piously as a vendor of +tapers and custodian of seats in the saint’s chapel.” + +It is certain that in the time of Father Douillard, although faith was +declining, the cult of St. Orberosia, which for three hundred years had +fallen under the criticism of Canon Princeteau and the silence of the +Doctors of the Church, recovered, and was surrounded with more pomp, +more splendour, and more fervour than ever. The theologians did not now +subtract a single iota from the legend. They held as certainly +established all the facts related by Abbot Simplicissimus, and in +particular declared, on the testimony of that monk, that the devil, +assuming a monk’s form had carried off the saint to a cave and had +there striven with her until she overcame him. Neither places nor dates +caused them any embarrassment. They paid no heed to exegesis and took +good care not to grant as much to science as Canon Princeteau had +formerly conceded. They knew too well whither that would lead. + +The church shone with lights and flowers. An operatic tenor sang the +famous canticle of St. Orberosia: + +Virgin of Paradise +Come, come in the dusky night +And on us shed +Thy beams of light. + + +Mademoiselle Clarence sat beside her mother and in front of Viscount +Cléna. She remained kneeling during a considerable time, for the +attitude of prayer is natural to discreet virgins and it shows off +their figures. + +The Reverend Father Douillard ascended the pulpit. He was a powerful +orator and could, at once melt, surprise, and rouse his hearers. Women +complained only that he fulminated against vice with excessive +harshness and in crude terms that made them blush. But they liked him +none the less for it. + +He treated in his sermon of the seventh trial of St. Orberosia, who was +tempted by the dragon which she went forth to combat. But she did not +yield, and she disarmed the monster. The orator demonstrated without +difficulty that we, also, by the aid of St. Orberosia, and strong in +the virtue which she inspires, can in our turn overthrow the dragons +that dart upon us and are waiting to devour us, the dragon of doubt, +the dragon of impiety, the dragon of forgetfulness of religious duties. +He proved that the charity of St. Orberosia was a work of social +regeneration, and he concluded by an ardent appeal to the faithful “to +become instruments of the Divine mercy, eager upholders and supporters +of the charity of St. Orberosia, and to furnish it with all the means +which it required to take its flight and bear its salutary fruits.”[11] + + [11] Cf. J. Ernest Charles in the “Censeur,” May-August, 1907, p. 562, + col. 2. + + +After the ceremony, the Reverend Father Douillard remained in the +sacristy at the disposal of those of the faithful who desired +information concerning the charity, or who wished to bring their +contributions. Mademoiselle Clarence wished to speak to Father +Douillard, so did Viscount Cléna. The crowd was large, and a queue was +formed. By chance Viscount Cléna and Mademoiselle Clarence were side by +side and possibly they were squeezed a little closely to each other by +the crowd. Eveline had noticed this fashionable young man, who was +almost as well known as his father in the world of sport. Cléna had +noticed her, and, as he thought her pretty, he bowed to her, then +apologised and pretended to believe that he had been introduced to the +ladies, but could not remember where. They pretended to believe it +also. + +He presented himself the following week at Madame Clarence’s, thinking +that her house was a bit fast—a thing not likely to displease him—and +when he saw Eveline again he felt he had not been mistaken and that she +was an extremely pretty girl. + +Viscount Cléna had the finest motor-car in Europe. For three months he +drove the Clarences every day over hills and plains, through woods and +valleys; they visited famous sites and went over celebrated castles. He +said to Eveline all that could be said and did all that could be done +to overcome her resistance. She did not conceal from him that she loved +him, that she would always love him, and love no one but him. She +remained grave and trembling by his side. To his devouring passion she +opposed the invincible defence of a virtue conscious of its danger. At +the end of three months, after having gone uphill and down hill, turned +sharp corners, and negotiated level crossings, and experienced +innumerable break-downs, he knew her as well as he knew the fly-wheel +of his car, but not much better. He employed surprises, adventures, +sudden stoppages in the depths of forests and before hotels, but he had +advanced no farther. He said to himself that it was absurd; then, +taking her again in his car he set off at fifty miles an hour quite +prepared to upset her in a ditch or to smash himself and her against a +tree. + +One day, having come to take her on some excursion, he found her more +charming than ever, and more provoking. He darted upon her as a storm +falls upon the reeds that border a lake. She bent with adorable +weakness beneath the breath of the storm, and twenty times was almost +carried away by its strength, but twenty times she arose, supple and, +bowing to the wind. After all these shocks one would have said that a +light breeze had barely touched her charming stem; she smiled as if +ready to be plucked by a bold hand. Then her unhappy aggressor, +desperate, enraged, and three parts mad, fled so as not to kill her, +mistook the door, went into the bedroom of Madame Clarence, whom he +found putting on her hat in front of a wardrobe, seized her, flung her +on the bed, and possessed her before she knew what had happened. + +The same day Eveline, who had been making inquiries, learned that +Viscount Cléna had nothing but debts, lived on money given him by an +elderly lady, and promoted the sale of the latest models of a motor-car +manufacturer. They separated with common accord and Eveline began again +disdainfully to serve tea to her mother’s guests. + + + + +III. HIPPOLYTE CÉRÈS + + +In Madame Clarence’s drawing-room the conversation turned upon love, +and many charming things were said about it. + +“Love is a sacrifice,” sighed Madame Crémeur. + +“I agree with you,” replied M. Boutourlé with animation. + +But Professor Haddock soon displayed his fastidious insolence. + +“It seems to me,” said he, “that the Penguin ladies have made a great +fuss since, through St. Maël’s agency, they became viviparous. But +there is nothing to be particularly proud of in that, for it is a state +they share in common with cows and pigs, and even with orange and lemon +trees, for the seeds of these plants germinate in the pericarp.” + +“The self-importance which the Penguin ladies give themselves does not +go so far back as that,” answered M. Boutourlé. “It dates from the day +when the holy apostle gave them clothes. But this self-importance was +long kept in restraint, and displayed itself fully only with increased +luxury of dress and in a small section of society. For go only two +leagues from Alca into the country at harvest time, and you will see +whether women are over-precise or self-important.” + +On that day M. Hippolyte Cérès paid his first call. He was a Deputy of +Alca, and one of the youngest members of the House. His father was said +to have kept a dram shop, but he himself was a lawyer of robust +physique, a good though prolix speaker, with a self-important air and a +reputation for ability. + +“M. Cérès,” said the mistress of the house, “your constituency is one +of the finest in Alca.” + +“And there are fresh improvements made in it every day, Madame.” + +“Unfortunately, it is impossible to take a stroll through it any +longer,” said M. Boutourlé. + +“Why?” asked M. Cérès. + +“On account of the motors, of course.” + +“Do not give them a bad name,” answered the Deputy. “They are our great +national industry.” + +“I know. The Penguins of to-day make me think of the ancient Egyptians. +According to Clement of Alexandria, Taine tells us—though he misquotes +the text—the Egyptians worshipped the crocodiles that devoured them. +The Penguins to-day worship the motors that crush them. Without a doubt +the future belongs to the metal beast. We are no more likely to go back +to cabs than we are to go back to the diligence. And the long martyrdom +of the horse will come to an end. The motor, which the frenzied +cupidity of manufacturers hurls like a juggernaut’s car upon the +bewildered people and of which the idle and fashionable make a foolish +though fatal elegance, will soon begin to perform its true function, +and putting its strength at the service of the entire people, will +behave like a docile, toiling monster. But in order that the motor may +cease to be injurious and become beneficent we must build roads suited +to its speed, roads which it cannot tear up with its ferocious tyres, +and from which it will send no clouds of poisonous dust into human +lungs. We ought not to allow slower vehicles or mere animals to go upon +those roads, and we should establish garages upon them and foot-bridges +over them, and so create order and harmony among the means of +communication of the future. That is the wish of every good citizen.” + +Madame Clarence led the conversation back to the improvements in M. +Cérès’ constituency. M. Cérès showed his enthusiasm for demolitions, +tunnelings, constructions, reconstructions, and all other fruitful +operations. + +“We build to-day in an admirable style,” said he; “everywhere majestic +avenues are being reared. Was ever anything as fine as our arcaded +bridges and our domed hotels!” + +“You are forgetting that big palace surmounted an immense melon-shaped +dome,” grumbled by M. Daniset, an old art amateur, in a voice of +restrained rage. “I am amazed at the degree of ugliness which a modern +city can attain. Alca is becoming Americanised. Everywhere we are +destroying all that is free, unexpected, measured, restrained, human, +or traditional among the things that are left us. Everywhere we are +destroying that charming object, a piece of an old wall that bears up +the branches of a tree. Everywhere we are suppressing some fragment of +light and air, some fragment of nature, some fragment of the +associations that still remain with us, some fragment of our fathers, +some fragment of ourselves. And we are putting up frightful, enormous, +infamous houses, surmounted in Viennese style by ridiculous domes, or +fashioned after the models of the ‘new art’ without mouldings, or +having profiles with sinister corbels and burlesque pinnacles, and such +monsters as these shamelessly peer over the surrounding buildings. We +see bulbous protuberances stuck on the fronts of buildings and we are +told they are ‘new art’ motives. I have seen the ‘new art’ in other +countries, but it is not so ugly as with us; it has fancy and it has +simplicity. It is only in our own country that by a sad privilege we +may behold the newest and most diverse styles of architectural +ugliness. Not an enviable privilege!” + +“Are you not afraid,” asked M. Cérès severely, “are you not afraid that +these bitter criticisms tend to keep out of our capital the foreigners +who flow into it from all arts of the world and who leave millions +behind them?” + +“You may set your mind at rest about that,” answered M. Daniset. +“Foreigners do not come to admire our buildings; they come to see our +courtesans, our dressmakers, and our dancing saloons.” + +“We have one bad habit,” sighed M. Cérès, “it is that we calumniate +ourselves.” + +Madame Clarence as an accomplished hostess thought it was time to +return to the subject of love and asked M. Jumel his opinion of M. Leon +Blum’s recent book in which the author complained. . . . + +“. . . That an irrational custom,” went on Professor Haddock, “prevents +respectable young ladies from making love, a thing they would enjoy +doing, whilst mercenary girls do it too much and without getting any +enjoyment out of it. It is indeed deplorable. But M. Leon Blum need not +fret too much. If the evil exists, as he says it does, in our +middle-class society, I can assure him that everywhere else he would +see a consoling spectacle. Among the people, the mass of the people +through town and country, girls do not deny themselves that pleasure.” + +“It is depravity!” said Madame Crémeur. + +And she praised the innocence of young girls in terms full of modesty +and grace. It was charming to hear her. + +Professor Haddock’s views on the same subject were, on the contrary, +painful to listen to. + +“Respectable young girls,” said he, “are guarded and watched over. +Besides, men do not, as a rule, pursue them much, either through +probity, or from a fear of grave responsibilities, or because the +seduction of a young girl would not be to their credit. Even then we do +not know what really takes place, for the reason that what is hidden is +not seen. This is a condition necessary to the existence of all +society. The scruples of respectable young girls could be more easily +overcome than those of married women if the same pressure were brought +to bear on them, and for this there are two reasons: they have more +illusions, and their curiosity has not been satisfied. Women, for the +most part, have been so disappointed by their husbands that they have +not courage enough to begin again with somebody else. I myself have +been met by this obstacle several times in my attempts at seduction.” + +At the moment when Professor Haddock ended his unpleasant remarks, +Mademoiselle Eveline Clarence entered the drawing-room and listlessly +handed about tea with that expression of boredom which gave an oriental +charm to her beauty. + +“For my part,” said Hippolyte Cérès, looking at her, “I declare myself +the young ladies’ champion.” + +“He must be a fool,” thought the girl. + +Hippolyte Cérès, who had never set foot outside of his political world +of electors and elected, thought Madame Clarence’s drawing-room most +select, its mistress exquisite, and her daughter amazingly beautiful. +His visits became frequent and he paid court to both of them. Madame +Clarence, who now liked attention, thought him agreeable. Eveline +showed no friendliness towards him, and treated him with a hauteur and +disdain that he took for aristocratic behaviour and fashionable +manners, and he thought all the more of her on that account. This busy +man taxed his ingenuity to please them, and he sometimes succeeded. He +got them cards for fashionable functions and boxes at the Opera. He +furnished Mademoiselle Clarence with several opportunities of appearing +to great advantage and in particular at a garden party which, although +given by a Minister, was regarded as really fashionable, and gained its +first success in society circles for the Republic. + +At that party Eveline had been much noticed and had attracted the +special attention of a young diplomat called Roger Lambilly who, +imagining that she belonged to a rather fast set, invited her to his +bachelor’s flat. She thought him handsome and believed him rich, and +she accepted. A little moved, almost disquieted, she very nearly became +the victim of her daring, and only avoided defeat by an offensive +measure audaciously carried out. This was the most foolish escapade in +her unmarried life. + +Being now on friendly terms with Ministers and with the President, +Eveline continued to wear her aristocratic and pious affectations, and +these won for her the sympathy of the chief personages in the +anti-clerical and democratic Republic. M. Hippolyte Cérès, seeing that +she was succeeding and doing him credit, liked her still more. He even +went so far as to fall madly in love with her. + +Henceforth, in spite of everything, she began to observe him with +interest, being curious to see if his passion would increase. He +appeared to her without elegance or grace, and not well bred, but +active, clear-sighted, full of resource, and not too great a bore. She +still made fun of him, but he had now won her interest. + +One day she wished to test him. It was during the elections, when +members of Parliament were, as the phrase runs, requesting a renewal of +their mandates. He had an opponent, who, though not dangerous at first +and not much of an orator, was rich and was reported to be gaining +votes every day. Hippolyte Cérès, banishing both dull security and +foolish alarm from his mind, redoubled his care. His chief method of +action was by public meetings at which he spoke vehemently against the +rival candidate. His committee held huge meetings on Saturday evenings +and at three o’clock on Sunday afternoons. One Sunday, as he called on +the Clarences, he found Eveline alone in the drawing-room. He had been +chatting for about twenty or twenty-five minutes, when, taking out his +watch, he saw that it was a quarter to three. The young girl showed +herself amiable, engaging, attractive, and full of promises. Cérès was +fascinated, but he stood up to go. + +“Stay a little longer,” said she in a pressing and agreeable voice +which made him promptly sit down again. + +She was full of interest, of abandon, curiosity, and weakness. He +blushed, turned pale, and again got up. + +Then, in order to keep him still longer, she looked at him out of two +grey and melting eyes, and though her bosom was heaving, she did not +say another word. He fell at her feet in distraction, but once more +looking at his watch, he jumped up with a terrible oath. + +“D—! a quarter to four! I must be off.” + +And immediately he rushed down the stairs. + +From that time onwards she had a certain amount of esteem for him. + + + + +IV. A POLITICIAN’S MARRIAGE + + +She was not quite in love with him, but she wished him to be in love +with her. She was, moreover, very reserved with him, and that not +solely from any want of inclination to be otherwise, since in affairs +of love some things are due to indifference, to inattention, to woman’s +instinct, to traditional custom and feeling, to a desire to try one’s +power, and to satisfaction at seeing its results. The reason of her +prudence was that she knew him to be very much infatuated and capable +of taking advantage of any familiarities she allowed as well as of +reproaching her coarsely afterwards if she discontinued them. + +As he was a professed anti-clerical and free-thinker, she thought it a +good plan to affect an appearance of piety in his presence and to be +seen with prayer-books bound in red morocco, such as Queen Marie +Leczinska’s or the Dauphiness Marie Josephine’s “The Last Two Weeks of +Lent.” She lost no opportunity, either, of showing him the +subscriptions that she collected for the endowment of the national cult +of St. Orberosia. Eveline did not act in this way because she wished to +tease him. Nor did it spring from a young girl’s archness, or a spirit +of constraint, or even from snobbishness, though there was more than a +suspicion of this latter in her behaviour. It was but her way of +asserting herself, of stamping herself with a definite character, of +increasing her value. To rouse the Deputy’s courage she wrapped herself +up in religion, just as Brunhild surrounded herself with flames so as +to attract Sigurd. Her audacity was successful. He thought her still +more beautiful thus. Clericalism was in his eyes a sign of good form. + +Cérès was re-elected by an enormous majority and returned to a House +which showed itself more inclined to the Left, more advanced, and, as +it seemed, more eager for reform than its predecessor. Perceiving at +once that so much zeal was but intended to hide a fear of change, and a +sincere desire to do nothing, he determined to adopt a policy that +would satisfy these aspirations. At the beginning of the session he +made a great speech, cleverly thought out and well arranged, dealing +with the idea that all reform ought to be put off for a long time. He +showed himself heated, even fervid; holding the principle that an +orator should recommend moderation with extreme vehemence. He was +applauded by the entire assembly. The Clarences listened to him from +the President’s box and Eveline trembled in spite of herself at the +solemn sound of the applause. On the same bench the fair Madame Pensée +shivered at the intonations of his virile voice. + +As soon as he descended from the tribune, Cérès, even while the +audience were still clapping, went without a moment’s delay to salute +the Clarences in their box. Eveline saw in him the beauty of success, +and as he leaned towards the ladies, wiping his neck with his +handkerchief and receiving their congratulations with an air of modesty +though not without a tinge of self-conceit, the young girl glanced +towards Madame Pensée and saw her, palpitating and breathless, drinking +in the hero’s applause with her head thrown backwards. It seemed as if +she were on the point of fainting. Eveline immediately smiled tenderly +on M. Cérès. + +The Alcan deputy’s speech had a great vogue. In political “spheres” it +was regarded as extremely able. “We have at last heard an honest +pronouncement,” said the chief Moderate journal. “It is a regular +programme!” they said in the House. It was agreed that he was a man of +immense talent. + +Hippolyte Cérès had now established himself as leader of the radicals, +socialists, and anti-clericals, and they appointed him President of +their group, which was then the most considerable in the House. He thus +found himself marked out for office in the next ministerial +combination. + +After a long hesitation Eveline Clarence accepted the idea of marrying +M. Hippolyte Cérès. The great man was a little common for her taste. +Nothing had yet proved that he would one day reach the point where +politics bring in large sums of money. But she was entering her +twenty-seventh year and knew enough of life to see that she must not be +too fastidious or show herself too difficult to please. + +Hippolyte Cérès was celebrated; Hippolyte Cérès was happy. He was no +longer recognisable; the elegance of his clothes and deportment had +increased tremendously. He wore an undue number of white gloves. Now +that he was too much of a society man, Eveline began to doubt if it was +not worse than being too little of one. Madame Clarence regarded the +engagement with favour. She was reassured concerning her daughter’s +future and pleased to have flowers given her every Thursday for her +drawing-room. + +The celebration of the marriage raised some difficulties. Eveline was +pious and wished to receive the benediction of the Church. Hippolyte +Cérès, tolerant but a free-thinker, wanted only a civil marriage. There +were many discussions and even some violent scenes upon the subject. +The last took place in the young girl’s room at the moment when the +invitations were being written. Eveline declared that if she did not go +to church she would not believe herself married. She spoke of breaking +off the engagement, and of going abroad with her mother, or of retiring +into a convent. Then she became tender, weak, suppliant. She sighed, +and everything in her virginal chamber sighed in chorus, the holy-water +font, the palm-branch above her white bed, the books of devotion on +their little shelves, and the blue and white statuette of St. Orberosia +chaining the dragon of Cappadocia, that stood upon the marble +mantelpiece. Hippolyte Cérès was moved, softened, melted. + +Beautiful in her grief, her eyes shining with tears, her wrists girt by +a rosary of lapis lazuli and, so to speak, chained by her faith, she +suddenly flung herself at Hippolyte’s feet, and dishevelled, almost +dying, she embraced his knees. + +He nearly yielded. + +“A religious marriage,” he muttered, “a marriage in church, I could +make my constituents stand that, but my committee would not swallow the +matter so easily. . . . Still I’ll explain it to them . . . toleration, +social necessities . . . . They all send their daughters to Sunday +school . . . . But as for office, my dear I am afraid we are going to +drown all hope of that in your holy water.” + +At these words she stood up grave, generous, resigned, conquered also +in her turn. + +“My dear, I insist no longer.” + +“Then we won’t have a religious marriage. It will be better, much +better not.” + +“Very well, but be guided by me. I am going to try and arrange +everything both to your satisfaction and mine.” + +She sought the Reverend Father Douillard and explained the situation. +He showed himself even more accommodating and yielding than she had +hoped. + +“Your husband is an intelligent man, a man of order and reason; he will +come over to us. You will sanctify him. It is not in vain that God has +granted him the blessing of a Christian wife. The Church needs no pomp +and ceremonial display for her benedictions. Now that she is +persecuted, the shadow of the crypts and the recesses of the catacombs +are in better accord with her festivals. Mademoiselle, when you have +performed the civil formalities come here to my private chapel in +costume with M. Cérès. I will marry you, a observe the most absolute +discretion. I will obtain the necessary dispensations from the +Archbishop as well as all facilities regarding the banns, +confession-tickets, etc.” + +Hippolyte, although he thought the combination a little dangerous, +agreed to it, a good deal flattered, at bottom. + +“I will go in a short coat,” he said. + +He went in a frock coat with white gloves and varnished shoes, and he +genuflected. + +“Politeness demands. . . .” + + + + +V. THE VISIRE CABINET + + +The Cérès household was established with modest decency in a pretty +flat situated in a new building. Cérès loved his wife in a calm and +tranquil fashion. He was often kept late from home by the Commission on +the Budget and he worked more than three nights a week at a report on +the postal finances of which he hoped to make a masterpiece. Eveline +thought she could twist him round her finger, and this did not +displease him. The bad side of their situation was that they had not +much money; in truth they had very little. The servants of the Republic +do not grow rich in her service as easily as people think. Since the +sovereign is no longer there to distribute favours, each of them takes +what he can, and his depredations, limited by the depredations of all +the others, are reduced to modest proportions. Hence that austerity of +morals that is noticed in democratic leaders. They can only grow rich +during periods of great business activity and then they find themselves +exposed to the envy of their less favoured colleagues. Hippolyte Cérès +had for a long time foreseen such a period. He was one of those who had +made preparations for its arrival. Whilst waiting for it he endured his +poverty with dignity, and Eveline shared that poverty without suffering +as much as one might have thought. She was in close intimacy with the +Reverend Father Douillard and frequented the chapel of St. Orberosia, +where she met with serious society and people in a position to render +her useful services. She knew how to choose among them and gave her +confidence to none but those who deserved it. She had gained experience +since her motor excursions with Viscount Cléna, and above all she had +now acquired the value of a married woman. + +The deputy was at first uneasy about these pious practices, which were +ridiculed by the demagogic newspapers, but he was soon reassured, for +he saw all around him democratic leaders joyfully becoming reconciled +to the aristocracy and the Church. + +They found that they had reached one of those periods (which often +recur) when advance had been carried a little too far. Hippolyte Cérès +gave a moderate support to this view. His policy was not a policy of +persecution but a policy of tolerance. He had laid its foundations in +his splendid speech on the preparations for reform. The Prime Minister +was looked upon as too advanced. He proposed schemes which were +admitted to be dangerous to capital, and the great financial companies +were opposed to him. Of course it followed that the papers of all views +supported the companies. Seeing the danger increasing, the Cabinet +abandoned its schemes, its programme, and its opinions, but it was too +late. A new administration was already ready. An insidious question by +Paul Visire which was immediately made the subject of a resolution, and +a fine speech by Hippolyte Cérès, overthrew the Cabinet. + +The President of the Republic entrusted the formation of a new Cabinet +to this same Paul Visire, who, though still very young, had been a +Minister twice. He was a charming man, spending much of his time in the +green-rooms of theatres, very artistic, a great society man, of amazing +ability and industry. Paul Visire formed a temporary ministry intended +to reassure public feeling which had taken alarm, and Hippolyte Cérès +was invited to hold office in it. + +The new ministry, belonging to all the groups in the majority, +represented the most diverse and contrary opinions, but they were all +moderate and convinced conservatives.[12] The Minister of Foreign +Affairs was retained from the former cabinet. He was a little dark man +called Crombile, who worked fourteen hours a day with the conviction +that he dealt with tremendous questions. He refused to see even his own +diplomatic agents, and was terribly uneasy, though he did not disturb +anybody else, for the want of foresight of peoples is infinite and that +of governments is just as great. + + [12] As this ministry exercised considerable influence upon the + destinies of the country and of the world, we think it well to give + its composition: Minister of the Interior and Prime Minister, Paul + Visire; Minister of Justice, Pierre Bouc; Foreign Affairs, Victor + Crombile; Finance, Terrasson; Education, Labillette; Commerce, Posts + and Telegraphs, Hippolyte Cérès; Agriculture, Aulac; Public Works, + Lapersonne; War, General Débonnaire; Admiralty, Admiral Vivier des + Murènes. + + +The office of Public Works was given to a Socialist, Fortuné +Lapersonne. It was then a political custom and one of the most solemn, +most severe, most rigorous, and if I may dare say so, the most terrible +and cruel of all political customs, to include a member of the +Socialist party in each ministry intended to oppose Socialism, so that +the enemies of wealth and property should suffer the shame of being +attacked by one of their own party, and so that they could not unite +against these forces without turning to some one who might possibly +attack themselves in the future. Nothing but a profound ignorance of +the human heart would permit the belief that it was difficult to find a +Socialist to occupy these functions. Citizen Fortuné Lapersonne entered +the Visire cabinet of his own free will and without any constraint; and +he found those who approved of his action even among his former +friends, so great was the fascination that power exercised over the +Penguins! + +General Débonnaire went to the War Office. He was looked upon as one of +the ablest generals in the army, but he was ruled by a woman, the +Baroness Bildermann, who, though she had reached the age of intrigue, +was still beautiful. She was in the pay of a neighbouring and hostile +Power. + +The new Minister of Marine, the worthy Admiral Vivier des Murènes, was +generally regarded as an excellent seaman. He displayed a piety that +would have seemed excessive in an anti-clerical minister, if the +Republic had not recognised that religion was of great maritime +utility. Acting on the instruction of his spiritual director, the +Reverend Father Douillard, the worthy Admiral had dedicated his fleet +to St. Orberosia and directed canticles in honour of the Alcan Virgin +to be composed by Christian bards. These replaced the national hymn in +the music played by the navy. + +Prime Minister Visire declared himself to be distinctly anticlerical +but ready to respect all creeds; he asserted that he was a sober-minded +reformer. Paul Visire and his colleagues desired reforms, and it was in +order not to compromise reform that they proposed none; for they were +true politicians and knew that reforms are compromised the moment they +are proposed. The government was well received, respectable people were +reassured, and the funds rose. + +The administration announced that four new ironclads would be put into +commission, that prosecutions would be undertaken against the +Socialists, and it formally declared its intention to have nothing to +do with any inquisitorial income-tax. The choice of Terrasson as +Minister of Finance was warmly approved by the press. Terrasson, an old +minister famous for his financial operations, gave warrant to all the +hopes of the financiers and shadowed forth a period of great business +activity. Soon those three udders of modern nations, monopolies, bill +discounting, and fraudulent speculation, were swollen with the milk of +wealth. Already whispers were heard of distant enterprises, and of +planting colonies, and the boldest put forward in the newspapers the +project of a military and financial protectorate over Nigritia. + +Without having yet shown what he was capable of, Hippolyte Cérès was +considered a man of weight. Business people thought highly of him. He +was congratulated on all sides for having broken with the extreme +sections, the dangerous men, and for having realised the +responsibilities of government. + +Madame Cérès shone alone amid the Ministers’ wives. Crombile withered +away in bachelordom. Paul Visire had married money in the person of +Mademoiselle Blampignon, an accomplished, estimable, and simple lady +who was always ill, and whose feeble health compelled her to stay with +her mother in the depths of a remote province. The other Ministers’ +wives were not born to charm the sight, and people smiled when they +read that Madame Labillette had appeared at the Presidency Ball wearing +a headdress of birds of paradise. Madame Vivier des Murènes, a woman of +good family, was stout rather than tall, had a face like a beef-steak +and the voice of a newspaper-seller. Madame Débonnaire, tall, dry, and +florid, was devoted to young officers. She ruined herself by her +escapades and crimes and only regained consideration by dint of +ugliness and insolence. + +Madame Cérès was the charm of the Ministry and its tide to +consideration. Young, beautiful, and irreproachable, she charmed alike +society and the masses by her combination of elegant costumes and +pleasant smiles. + +Her receptions were thronged by the great Jewish financiers. She gave +the most fashionable garden parties in the Republic. The newspapers +described her dresses and the milliners did not ask her to pay for +them. She went to Mass; she protected the chapel of St. Orberosia from +the ill-will of the people; and she aroused in aristocratic hearts the +hope of a fresh Concordat. + +With her golden hair, grey eyes, and supple and slight though rounded +figure, she was indeed pretty. She enjoyed an excellent reputation and +she was so adroit, and calm, so much mistress of herself, that she +would have preserved it intact even if she had been discovered in the +very act of ruining it. + +The session ended with a victory for the cabinet which, amid the almost +unanimous applause of the House, defeated a proposal for an +inquisitorial tax, and with a triumph for Madame Cérès who gave parties +in honour of three kings who were at the moment passing through Alca. + + + + +VI. THE SOFA OF THE FAVOURITE + + +The Prime Minister invited Monsieur and Madame Cérès to spend a couple +of weeks of the holidays in a little villa that he had taken in the +mountains, and in which he lived alone. The deplorable health of Madame +Paul Visire did not allow her to accompany her husband, and she +remained with her relatives in one of the southern provinces. + +The villa had belonged to the mistress of one of the last Kings of +Alca: the drawing-room retained its old furniture, and in it was still +to be found the Sofa of the Favourite. The country was charming; a +pretty blue stream, the Aiselle, flowed at the foot of the hill that +dominated the villa. Hippolyte Cérès loved fishing; when engaged at +this monotonous occupation he often formed his best Parliamentary +combinations, and his happiest oratorical inspirations. Trout swarmed +in the Aiselle; he fished it from morning till evening in a boat that +the Prime Minister readily placed at is disposal. + +In the mean time, Eveline and Paul Visire sometimes took a turn +together in the garden, or had a little chat in the drawing-room. +Eveline, although she recognised the attraction that Visire had for +women, had hitherto displayed towards him only an intermittent and +superficial coquetry, without any deep intentions or settled design. He +was a connoisseur and saw that she was pretty. The House and the Opera +had deprived him of all leisure, but, in a little villa, the grey eyes +and rounded figure of Eveline took on a value in his eyes. One day as +Hippolyte Cérès was fishing in the Aiselle, he made her sit beside him +on the Sofa of the Favourite. Long rays of gold struck Eveline like +arrows from a hidden Cupid through the chinks of the curtains which +protected her from the heat and glare of a brilliant day. Beneath her +white muslin dress her rounded yet slender form was outlined in its +grace and youth. Her skin was cool and fresh, and had the fragrance of +freshly mown hay. Paul Visire behaved as the occasion warranted, and +for her part, she was opposed neither to the games of chance or of +society. She believed it would be nothing or a trifle; she was +mistaken. + +“There was,” says the famous German ballad, “on the sunny side of the +town square, beside a wall whereon the creeper grew, a pretty little +letter-box, as blue as the corn-flowers, smiling and tranquil. + +“All day long there came to it, in their heavy shoes, small +shop-keepers, rich farmers, citizens, the tax-collector and the +policeman, and they put into it their business letters, their invoices, +their summonses their notices to pay taxes, the judges’ returns, and +orders for the recruits to assemble. It remained smiling and tranquil. + +“With joy, or in anxiety, there advanced towards it workmen and farm +servants, maids and nursemaids, accountants, clerks, and women carrying +their little children in their arms; they put into it notifications of +births, marriages, and deaths, letters between engaged couples, between +husbands and wives, from mothers to their sons, and from sons to their +mothers. It remained smiling and tranquil. + +“At twilight, young lads and young girls slipped furtively to it, and +put in love-letters, some moistened with tears that blotted the ink, +others with a little circle to show the place to kiss, all of them very +long. It remained smiling and tranquil. + +“Rich merchants came themselves through excess of carefulness at the +hour of daybreak, and put into it registered letters, and letters with +five red seals, full of bank notes or cheques on the great financial +establishments of the Empire. It remained smiling and tranquil. + +“But one day, Gaspar, whom it had never seen, and whom it did not know +from Adam, came to put in a letter, of which nothing is known but that +it was folded like a little hat. Immediately the pretty letter-box fell +into a swoon. Henceforth it remains no longer in its place; it runs +through streets, fields, and woods, girdled with ivy, and crowned with +roses. It keeps running up hill and down dale; the country policeman +surprises it sometimes, amidst the corn, in Gaspar’s arms kissing him +upon the mouth.” + +Paul Visire had recovered all his customary nonchalance. Eveline +remained stretched on the Divan of the Favourite in an attitude of +delicious astonishment. + +The Reverend Father Douillard, an excellent moral theologian, and a man +who in the decadence of the Church has preserved his principles, was +very right to teach, in conformity with the doctrine of the Fathers, +that while a woman commits a great sin by giving herself for money, she +commits a much greater one by giving herself for nothing. For, in the +first case she acts to support her life, and that is sometimes not +merely excusable but pardonable, and even worthy of the Divine Grace, +for God forbids suicide, and is unwilling that his creatures should +destroy themselves. Besides, in giving herself in order to live, she +remains humble, and derives no pleasure from it a thing which +diminishes the sin. But a woman who gives herself for nothing sins with +pleasure and exults in her fault. The pride and delight with which she +burdens her crime increase its load of moral guilt. + +Madame Hippolyte Cérès’ example shows the profundity of these moral +truths. She perceived that she had senses. A second was enough to bring +about this discovery, to change her soul, to alter her whole life. To +have learned to know herself was at first a delight. The γυῶθί σεαυτὸν +of the ancient philosophy is not a precept the moral fulfilment of +which procures any pleasure, since one enjoys little satisfaction from +knowing one’s soul. It is not the same with the flesh, for in it +sources of pleasure may be revealed to us. Eveline immediately felt an +obligation to her revealer equal to the benefit she had received, and +she imagined that he who had discovered these heavenly depths was the +sole possessor of the key to them. Was this an error, and might she not +be able to find others who also had the golden key? It is difficult to +decide; and Professor Haddock, when the facts were divulged (which +happened without much delay as we shall see), treated the matter from +an experimental point of view, in a scientific review, and concluded +that the chances Madame C— would have of finding the exact equivalent +of M. V— were in the proportion of 305 to 975008. This is as much as to +say that she would never find it. Doubtless her instinct told her the +same, for she attached herself distractedly to him. + +I have related these facts with all the circumstances which seemed to +me worthy of attracting the attention of meditative and philosophic +minds. The Sofa of the Favourite is worthy of the majesty of history; +on it were decided the destinies of a great people; nay, on it was +accomplished an act whose renown was to extend over the neighbouring +nations both friendly and hostile, and even over all humanity. Too +often events of this nature escape the superficial minds and shallow +spirits who inconsiderately assume the task of writing history. Thus +the secret springs of events remain hidden from us. The fall of Empires +and the transmission of dominions astonish us and remain +incomprehensible to us, because we have not discovered the +imperceptible point, or touched the secret spring which when put in +movement has destroyed and overthrown everything. The author of this +great history knows better than anyone else his faults and his +weaknesses, but he can do himself this justice—that he has always kept +the moderation, the seriousness, the austerity, which an account of +affairs of State demands, and that he has never departed from the +gravity which is suitable to a recital of human actions. + + + + +VII. THE FIRST CONSEQUENCES + + +When Eveline confided to Paul Visire that she had never experienced +anything similar, he did not believe her. He had had a good deal to do +with women and knew that they readily say these things to men in order +to make them more in love with them. Thus his experience, as sometimes +happens, made him disregard the truth. Incredulous, but gratified all +the same, he soon felt love and something more for her. This state at +first seemed favourable to his intellectual faculties. Visire delivered +in the chief town of his constituency a speech full of grace, brilliant +and happy, which was considered to be a masterpiece. + +The re-opening of Parliament was serene. A few isolated jealousies, a +few timid ambitions raised their heads in the House, and that was all. +A smile from the Prime Minister was enough to dissipate these shadows. +She and he saw each other twice a day, and wrote to each other in the +interval. He was accustomed to intimate relationships, was adroit, and +knew how to dissimulate; but Eveline displayed a foolish imprudence: +she made herself conspicuous with him in drawing-rooms, at the theatre, +in the House, and at the Embassies; she wore her love upon her face, +upon her whole person, in her moist glances, in the languishing smile +of her lips, in the heaving of her breast, in all her heightened, +agitated, and distracted beauty. Soon the entire country knew of their +intimacy. Foreign Courts were informed of it. The President of the +Republic and Eveline’s husband alone remained in ignorance. The +President became acquainted with it in the country, through a misplaced +police report which found its way, it is not known how, into his +portmanteau. + +Hippolyte Cérès, without being either very subtle, or very +perspicacious, noticed that there was something different in his home. +Eveline, who quite lately had interested herself in his affairs, and +shown, if not tenderness, at least affection, towards him, displayed +henceforth nothing but indifference and repulsion. She had always had +periods of absence, and made prolonged visits to the Charity of St. +Orberosia; now, she went out in the morning, remained out all day, and +sat down to dinner at nine o’clock in the evening with the face of a +somnambulist. Her husband thought it absurd; however, he might perhaps +have never known the reason for this; a profound ignorance of women, a +crass confidence in his own merit, and in his own fortune, might +perhaps have always hidden the truth from him, if the two lovers had +not, so to speak, compelled him to discover it. + +When Paul Visire went to Eveline’s house and found her alone, they used +to say, as they embraced each other; “Not here! not here!” and +immediately they affected an extreme reserve. That was their invariable +rule. Now, one day, Paul Visire went to the house of his colleague +Cérès, with whom he had an engagement. It was Eveline who received him, +the Minister of Commerce being delayed by a commission. + +“Not here!” said the lovers, smiling. + +They said it, mouth to mouth, embracing, and clasping each other. They +were still saying it, when Hippolyte Cérès entered the drawing-room. + +Paul Visire did not lose his presence of mind. He declared to Madame +Cérès that he would give up his attempt to take the dust out of her +eye. By this attitude he did not deceive the husband, but he was able +to leave the room with some dignity. + +Hippolyte Cérès was thunderstruck. Eveline’s conduct appeared +incomprehensible to him; he asked her what reasons she had for it. + +“Why? why?” he kept repeating continually, “why?” + +She denied everything, not to convince him, for he had seen them, but +from expediency and good taste, and to avoid painful explanations. +Hippolyte Cérès suffered all the tortures of jealousy. He admitted it +to himself, he kept saying inwardly, “I am a strong man; I am clad in +armour; but the wound is underneath, it is in my heart,” and turning +towards his wife, who looked beautiful in her guilt, he would say: + +“It ought not to have been with him.” + +He was right—Eveline ought not to have loved in government circles. + +He suffered so much that he took up his revolver, exclaiming: “I will +go and kill him!” But he remembered that a Minister of Commerce cannot +kill his own Prime Minister, and he put his revolver back into his +drawer. + +The weeks passed without calming his sufferings. Each morning he +buckled his strong man’s armour over his wound and sought in work and +fame the peace that fled from him. Every Sunday he inaugurated busts, +statues, fountains, artesian wells, hospitals, dispensaries, railways, +canals, public markets, drainage systems, triumphal arches, and +slaughter houses, and delivered moving speeches on each of these +occasions. His fervid activity devoured whole piles of documents; he +changed the colours of the postage stamps fourteen times in one week. +Nevertheless, he gave vent to outbursts of grief and rage that drove +him insane; for whole days his reason abandoned him. If he had been in +the employment of a private administration this would have been noticed +immediately, but it is much more difficult to discover insanity or +frenzy in the conduct of affairs of State. At that moment the +government employees were forming themselves into associations and +federations amid a ferment that was giving alarm both to the Parliament +and to public feeling. The postmen were especially prominent in their +enthusiasm for trade unions. + +Hippolyte Cérès informed them in a circular that their action was +strictly legal. The following day he sent out a second circular +forbidding all associations of government employees as illegal. He +dismissed one hundred and eighty postmen, reinstated them, reprimanded +them—and awarded them gratuities. At Cabinet councils he was always on +the point of bursting forth. The presence of the Head of the State +scarcely restrained him within the limits of the decencies, and as he +did not dare to attack his rival he consoled himself by heaping +invectives upon General Débonnaire, the respected Minister of War. The +General did not hear them, for he was deaf and occupied himself in +composing verses for the Baroness Bildermann. Hippolyte Cérès offered +an indistinct opposition to everything the Prime Minister proposed. In +a word, he was a madman. One faculty alone escaped the ruin of his +intellect: he retained his Parliamentary sense, his consciousness of +the temper of majorities, his thorough knowledge of groups, and his +certainty of the direction in which affairs were moving. + + + + +VIII. FURTHER CONSEQUENCES + + +The session ended calmly, and the Ministry saw no dangerous signs upon +the benches where the majority sat. It was visible, however, from +certain articles in the Moderate journals, that the demands of the +Jewish and Christian financiers were increasing daily, that the +patriotism of the banks required a civilizing expedition to Nigritia, +and that the steel trusts, eager in the defence of our coasts and +colonies, were crying out for armoured cruisers and still more armoured +cruisers. Rumours of war began to be heard. Such rumours sprang up +every year as regularly as the trade winds; serious people paid no heed +to them and the government usually let them die away from their own +weakness unless they grew stronger and spread. For in that case the +country would be alarmed. The financiers only wanted colonial wars and +the people did not want any wars at all. It loved to see its government +proud and even insolent, but at the least suspicion that a European war +was brewing, its violent emotion would quickly have reached the House. +Paul Visire was not uneasy. The European situation was in his view +completely reassuring. He was only irritated by the maniacal silence of +his Minister of Foreign Affairs. That gnome went to the Cabinet +meetings with a portfolio bigger than himself stuffed full of papers, +said nothing, refused to answer all questions, even those asked him by +the respected President of the Republic, and, exhausted by his +obstinate labours, took a few moments’ sleep in his arm-chair in which +nothing but the top of his little black head was to be seen above the +green tablecloth. + +In the mean time Hippolyte Cérès became a strong man again. In company +with his colleague Lapersonne he formed numerous intimacies with ladies +of the theatre. They were both to be seen at night entering fashionable +restaurants in the company of ladies whom they over-topped by their +lofty stature and their new hats, and they were soon reckoned amongst +the most sympathetic frequenters of the boulevards. Fortuné Lapersonne +had his own wound beneath his armour. His wife, a young milliner whom +he carried off from a marquis, had gone to live with a chauffeur. He +loved her still, and could not console himself for her loss, so that +very often in the private room of a restaurant, in the midst of a group +of girls who laughed and ate crayfish, the two ministers exchanged a +look full of their common sorrow and wiped away an unbidden tear. + +Hippolyte Cérès, although wounded to the heart, did not allow himself +to be beaten. He swore that he would be avenged. + +Madame Paul Visire, whose deplorable health forced her to live with her +relatives in a distant province, received an anonymous letter +specifying that M. Paul Visire, who had not a half-penny when he +married her, was spending her dowry on a married woman, E— C—, that he +gave this woman thirty-thousand-franc motor-cars, and pearl necklaces +costing twenty-five thousand francs, and that he was going straight to +dishonour and ruin. Madame Paul Visire read the letter, fell into +hysterics, and handed it to her father. + +“I am going to box your husband’s ears,” said M. Blampignon; “he is a +blackguard who will land you both in the workhouse unless we look out. +He may be Prime Minister, but he won’t frighten me.” + +When he stepped off the train M. Blampignon presented himself at the +Ministry of the Interior, and was immediately received. He entered the +Prime Minister’s room in a fury. + +“I have something to say to you, sir!” And he waved the anonymous +letter. + +Paul Visire welcomed him smiling. + +“You are welcome, my dear father. I was going to write to you. . . . +Yes, to tell you of your nomination to the rank of officer of the +Legion of Honour. I signed the patent this morning.” + +M. Blampignon thanked his son-in-law warmly and threw the anonymous +letter into the fire. + +He returned to his provincial house and found his daughter fretting and +agitated. + +“Well! I saw your husband. He is a delightful fellow. But then, you +don’t understand how to deal with him.” + +About this time Hippolyte Cérès learned through a little scandalous +newspaper (it is always through the newspapers that ministers are +informed of the affairs of State) that the Prime Minister dined every +evening with Mademoiselle Lysiane of the Folies Dramatiques, whose +charm seemed to have made a great impression on him. Thenceforth Cérès +took a gloomy joy in watching his wife. She came in every evening to +dine or dress with an air of agreeable fatigue and the serenity that +comes from enjoyment. + +Thinking that she knew nothing, he sent her anonymous communications. +She read them at the table before him and remained still listless and +smiling. + +He then persuaded himself that she gave no heed to these vague reports, +and that in order to disturb her it would be necessary to enable her to +verify her lover’s infidelity and treason for herself. There were at +the Ministry a number of trustworthy agents charged with secret +inquiries regarding the national defence. They were then employed in +watching the spies of a neighbouring and hostile Power who had +succeeded in entering the Postal and Telegraphic service. M. Cérès +ordered them to suspend their work for the present and to inquire +where, when, and how, the Minister of the Interior saw Mademoiselle +Lysiane. The agents performed their missions faithfully and told the +minister that they had several times seen the Prime Minister with a +woman, but that she was not Mademoiselle Lysiane. Hippolyte Cérès asked +them nothing further. He was right; the loves of Paul Visire and +Lysiane were but an alibi invented by Paul Visire himself, with +Eveline’s approval, for his fame was rather inconvenient to her, and +she sighed for secrecy and mystery. + +They were not shadowed by the agents of the Ministry of Commerce alone. +They were also followed by those of the Prefect of Police, and even by +those of the Minister of the Interior, who disputed with each other the +honour of protecting their chief. Then there were the emissaries of +several royalist, imperialist, and clerical organisations, those of +eight or ten blackmailers, several amateur detectives, a multitude of +reporters, and a crowd of photographers, who all made their appearance +wherever these two took refuge in their perambulating love affairs, at +big hotels, small hotels, town houses, country houses, private +apartments, villas, museums, palaces, hovels. They kept watch in the +streets, from neighbouring houses, trees, walls, stair-cases, landings, +roofs, adjoining rooms, and even chimneys. The Minister and his friend +saw with alarm all round their bed room, gimlets boring through doors +and shutters, and drills making holes in the walls. A photograph of +Madame Cérès in night attire buttoning her boots was the utmost that +had been obtained. + +Paul Visire grew impatient and irritable, and often lost his good +humour and agreeableness. He came to the cabinet meetings in a rage and +he, too, poured invectives upon General Débonnaire—a brave man under +fire but a lax disciplinarian—and launched his sarcasms at against the +venerable admiral Vivier des Murènes whose ships went to the bottom +without any apparent reason. + +Fortuné Lapersonne listened open-eyed, and grumbled scoffingly between +his teeth: + +“He is not satisfied with robbing Hippolyte Cérès of his wife, but he +must go and rob him of his catchwords too.” + +These storms were made known by the indiscretion of some ministers and +by the complaints of the two old warriors, who declared their intention +of flinging their portfolios at the beggar’s head, but who did nothing +of the sort. These outbursts, far from injuring the lucky Prime +Minister, had an excellent effect on Parliament and public opinion, who +looked on them as signs of a keen solicitude for the welfare of the +national army and navy. The Prime Minister was the recipient of general +approbation. + +To the congratulations of the various groups and of notable personages, +he replied with simple firmness: “Those are my principles!” and he had +seven or eight Socialists put in prison. + +The session ended, and Paul Visire, very exhausted, went to take the +waters. Hippolyte Cérès refused to leave his Ministry, where the trade +union of telephone girls was in tumultuous agitation. He opposed it +with an unheard of violence, for he had now become a woman-hater. On +Sundays he went into the suburbs to fish along with his colleague +Lapersonne, wearing the tall hat that never left him since he had +become a Minister. And both of them, forgetting the fish, complained of +the inconstancy of women and mingled their griefs. + +Hippolyte still loved Eveline and he still suffered. However, hope had +slipped into his heart. She was now separated from her lover, and, +thinking to win her back, he directed all his efforts to that end. He +put forth all his skill, showed himself sincere, adaptable, +affectionate, devoted, even discreet; his heart taught him the +delicacies of feeling. He said charming and touching things to the +faithless one, and, to soften her, he told her all that he had +suffered. + +Crossing the band of his trousers upon his stomach. + +“See,” said he, “how thin I have got.” + +He promised her everything he thought could gratify a woman, country +parties, hats, jewels. + +Sometimes he thought she would take pity on him. + +She no longer displayed an insolently happy countenance. Being +separated from Paul, her sadness had an air of gentleness. But the +moment he made a gesture to recover her she turned away fiercely and +gloomily, girt with her fault as if with a golden girdle. + +He did not give up, making himself humble, suppliant, lamentable. + +One day he went to Lapersonne and said to him with tears in his eyes: + +“Will you speak to her?” + +Lapersonne excused himself, thinking that his intervention would be +useless, but he gave some advice to his friend. + +“Make her think that you don’t care about her, that you love another, +and she will come back to you.” + +Hippolyte, adopting this method, inserted in the newspapers that he was +always to be found in the company of Mademoiselle Guinaud of the Opera. +He came home late or did not come home at all, assumed in Eveline’s +presence an appearance of inward joy impossible to restrain, took out +of his pocket, at dinner, a letter on scented paper which he pretended +to read with delight, and his lips seemed as in a dream to kiss +invisible lips. Nothing happened. Eveline did not even notice the +change. Insensible to all around her, she only came out of her lethargy +to ask for some louis from her husband, and if he did not give them she +threw him a look of contempt, ready to upbraid him with the shame which +she poured upon him in the sight of the whole world. Since she had +loved she spent a great deal on dress. She needed money, and she had +only her husband to secure it for her; she was so far faithful to him. + +He lost patience, became furious, and threatened her with his revolver. +He said one day before her to Madame Clarence: + +“I congratulate you, Madame; you have brought up your daughter to be a +wanton hussy.” + +“Take me away, Mamma,” exclaimed Eveline. “I will get a divorce!” + +He loved her more ardently than ever. In his jealous rage, suspecting +her, not without probability, of sending and receiving letters, he +swore that he would intercept them, re-established a censorship over +the post, threw private correspondence into confusion, delayed +stock-exchange quotations, prevented assignations, brought about +bankruptcies, thwarted passions, and caused suicides. The independent +press gave utterance to the complaints of the public and indignantly +supported them. To justify these arbitrary measures, the ministerial +journals spoke darkly of plots and public dangers, and promoted a +belief in a monarchical conspiracy. The less well-informed sheets gave +more precise information, told of the seizure of fifty thousand guns, +and the landing of Prince Crucho. Feeling grew throughout the country, +and the republican organs called for the immediate meeting of +Parliament. Paul Visire returned to Paris, summoned his colleagues, +held an important Cabinet Council, and proclaimed through his agencies +that a plot had been actually formed against the national +representation, but that the Prime Minister held the threads of it in +his hand, and that a judicial inquiry was about to be opened. + +He immediately ordered the arrest of thirty Socialists, and whilst the +entire country was acclaiming him as its saviour, baffling the +watchfulness of his six hundred detectives, he secretly took Eveline to +a little house near the Northern railway station, where they remained +until night. After their departure, the maid of their hotel, as she was +putting their room in order, saw seven little crosses traced by a +hairpin on the wall at the head of the bed. + +That is all that Hippolyte Cérès obtained as a reward of his efforts. + + + + +IX. THE FINAL CONSEQUENCES + + +Jealousy is a virtue of democracies which preserves them from tyrants. +Deputies began to envy the Prime Minister his golden key. For a year +his domination over the beauteous Madame Cérès had been known to the +whole universe. The provinces, whither news and fashions only arrive +after a complete revolution of the earth round the sun, were at last +informed of the illegitimate loves of the Cabinet. The provinces +preserve an austere morality; women are more virtuous there than they +are in the capital. + +Various reasons have been alleged for this: Education, example, +simplicity of life. Professor Haddock asserts that this virtue of +provincial ladies is solely due to the fact that the heels of their +shoes are low. “A woman,” said he, in a learned article in the +“Anthropological Review”, “a woman attracts a civilized man in +proportion as her feet make an angle with the ground. If this angle is +as much as thirty-five degrees, the attraction becomes acute. For the +position of the feet upon the ground determines the whole carriage of +the body, and it results that provincial women, since they wear low +heels, are not very attractive, and preserve their virtue with ease.” +These conclusions were not generally accepted. It was objected that +under the influence of English and American fashions, low heels had +been introduced generally without producing the results attributed to +them by the learned Professor; moreover, it was said that the +difference he pretended to establish between the morals of the +metropolis and those of the provinces is perhaps illusory, and that if +it exists, it is apparently due to the fact that great cities offer +more advantages and facilities for love than small towns provide. +However that may be, the provinces began to murmur against the Prime +Minister, and to raise a scandal. This was not yet a danger, but there +was a possibility that it might become one. + +For the moment the peril was nowhere and yet everywhere. The majority +remained solid; but the leaders became stiff and exacting. Perhaps +Hippolyte Cérès would never have intentionally sacrificed his interests +to his vengeance. But thinking that he could henceforth, without +compromising his own fortune, secretly damage that of Paul Visire, he +devoted himself to the skilful and careful preparation of difficulties +and perils for the Head of the Government. Though far from equalling +his rival in talent, knowledge, and authority, he greatly surpassed him +in his skill as a lobbyist. The most acute parliamentarians attributed +the recent misfortunes of the majority to his refusal to vote. At +committees, by a calculated imprudence, he favoured motions which he +knew the Prime Minister could not accept. One day his intentional +awkwardness provoked a sudden and violent conflict between the Minister +of the Interior, and his departmental Treasurer. Then Cérès became +frightened and went no further. It would have been dangerous for him to +overthrow the ministry too soon. His ingenious hatred found an issue by +circuitous paths. Paul Visire had a poor cousin of easy morals who bore +his name. Cérès, remembering this lady, Celine Visire, brought her into +prominence, arranged that she should become intimate with several +foreigners, and procured her engagements in the music-halls. One summer +night, on a stage in the Champs Elysées before a tumultuous crowd, she +performed risky dances to the sounds of wild music which was audible in +the gardens where the President of the Republic was entertaining +Royalty. The name of Visire, associated with these scandals, covered +the walls of the town, filled the newspapers, was repeated in the cafés +and at balls, and blazed forth in letters of fire upon the boulevards. + +Nobody regarded the Prime Minister as responsible for the scandal of +his relatives, but a bad idea of his family came into existence, and +the influence of the statesman was diminished. + +Almost immediately he was made to feel this in a pretty sharp fashion. +One day in the House, on a simple question, Labillette, the Minister of +Religion and Public Worship, who was suffering from an attack of liver, +and beginning to be exasperated by the intentions and intrigues of the +clergy, threatened to close the Chapel of St. Orberosia, and spoke +without respect of the National Virgin. The entire Right rose up in +indignation; the Left appeared to give but a half-hearted support to +the rash Minister. The leaders of the majority did not care to attack a +popular cult which brought thirty millions a year into the country. The +most moderate of the supporters of the Right, M. Bigourd, made the +question the subject of a resolution and endangered the Cabinet. +Luckily, Fortuné Lapersonne, the Minister of Public Works, always +conscious of the obligations of power, was able in the Prime Minister’s +absence to repair the awkwardness and indecorum of his colleague, the +Minister of Public Worship. He ascended the tribune and bore witness to +the respect in which the Government held the heavenly Patron of the +country, the consoler of so many ills which science admitted its +powerlessness to relieve. + +When Paul Visire, snatched at last from Eveline’s arms, appeared in the +House, the administration was saved; but the Prime Minister saw himself +compelled to grant important concessions to the upper classes. He +proposed in Parliament that six armoured cruisers should be laid down, +and thus won the sympathies of the Steel Trust; he gave new assurances +that the income tax would not be imposed, and he had eighteen +Socialists arrested. + +He was soon to find himself opposed by more formidable obstacles. The +Chancellor of the neighbouring Empire in an ingenious and profound +speech upon the foreign relations of his sovereign, made a sly allusion +to the intrigues that inspired the policy of a great country. This +reference, which was received with smiles by the Imperial Parliament, +was certain to irritate a punctilious republic. It aroused the national +susceptibility, which directed its wrath against its amorous Minister. +The Deputies seized upon a frivolous pretext to show their +dissatisfaction. A ridiculous incident, the fact that the wife of a +subprefect had danced at the Moulin Rouge, forced the minister to face +a vote of censure, and he was within a few votes of being defeated. +According to general opinion, Paul Visire had never been so weak, so +vacillating, or so spiritless, as on that occasion. + +He understood that he could only keep himself in office by a great +political stroke, and he decided on the expedition to Nigritia. This +measure was demanded by the great financial and industrial corporations +and was one which would bring concessions of immense forests to the +capitalists, a loan of eight millions to the banking companies, as well +as promotions and decorations to the naval and military officers. A +pretext presented itself; some insult needed to be avenged, or some +debt to be collected. Six battleships, fourteen cruisers, and eighteen +transports sailed up the mouth of the river Hippopotamus. Six hundred +canoes vainly opposed the landing of the troops. Admiral Vivier des +Murènes’ cannons produced an appalling effect upon the blacks, who +replied to them with flights of arrows, but in spite of their fanatical +courage they were entirely defeated. Popular enthusiasm was kindled by +the newspapers which the financiers subsidised, and burst into a blaze. +Some Socialists alone protested against this barbarous, doubtful, and +dangerous enterprise. They were at once arrested. + +At that moment when the Minister, supported by wealth, and now beloved +by the poor, seemed unconquerable, the light of hate showed Hippolyte +Cérès alone the danger, and looking with a gloomy joy at his rival, he +muttered between his teeth, “He is wrecked, the brigand!” + +Whilst the country intoxicated itself with glory, the neighbouring +Empire protested against the occupation of Nigritia by a European +power, and these protests following one another at shorter and shorter +intervals became more and more vehement. The newspapers of the +interested Republic concealed all causes for uneasiness; but Hippolyte +Cérès heard the growing menace, and determined at last to risk +everything, even the fate of the ministry, in order to ruin his enemy. +He got men whom he could trust to write and insert articles in several +of the official journals, which, seeming to express Paul Visire’s +precise views, attributed warlike intentions to the Head of the +Government. + +These articles roused a terrible echo abroad, and they alarmed the +public opinion of a nation which, while fond of soldiers, was not fond +of war. Questioned in the House on the foreign policy of his +government, Paul Visire made a re-assuring statement, and promised to +maintain a face compatible with the dignity of a great nation. His +Minister of Foreign Affairs, Crombile, read a declaration which was +absolutely unintelligible, for the reason that it was couched in +diplomatic language. The Minister obtained a large majority. + +But the rumours of war did not cease, and in order to avoid a new and +dangerous motion, the Prime Minister distributed eighty thousand acres +of forests in Nigritia among the Deputies, and had fourteen Socialists +arrested. Hippolyte Cérès went gloomily about the lobbies, confiding to +the Deputies of his group that he was endeavouring to induce the +Cabinet to adopt a pacific policy, and that he still hoped to succeed. +Day by day the sinister rumours grew in volume, and penetrating amongst +the public, spread uneasiness and disquiet. Paul Visire himself began +to take alarm. What disturbed him most were the silence and absence of +the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Crombile no longer came to the +meetings of the Cabinet. Rising at five o’clock in the morning, he +worked eighteen hours at his desk, and at last fell exhausted into his +waste-paper basket, from whence the registrars removed him, together +with the papers which they were going to sell to the military attachés +of the neighbouring Empire. + +General Débonnaire believed that a campaign was imminent, and prepared +for it. Far from fearing war, he prayed for it, and confided his +generous hopes to Baroness Bildermann, who informed the neighbouring +nation, which, acting on her information, proceeded to a rapid +mobilization. + +The Minister of Finance unintentionally precipitated events. At the +moment, he was speculating for a fall, and in order to bring about a +panic on the Stock Exchange, he spread the rumour that war was now +inevitable. The neighbouring Empire, deceived by this action, and +expecting to see its territory invaded, mobilized its troops in all +haste. The terrified Chamber overthrew the Visire ministry by an +enormous majority (814 votes to 7, with 28 abstentions). It was too +late. The very day of this fall the neighbouring and hostile nation +recalled its ambassador and flung eight millions of men into Madame +Cérès’ country. War became universal, and the whole world was drowned +in a torrent of blood. + + + + +THE ZENITH OF PENGUIN CIVILIZATION + +Half a century after the events we have just related, Madame Cérès died +surrounded with respect and veneration, in the eighty-ninth year of her +age. She had long been the widow of a statesman whose name she bore +with dignity. Her modest and quiet funeral was followed by the orphans +of the parish and the sisters of the Sacred Compassion. + +The deceased left all her property to the Charity of St. Orberosia. + +“Alas!” sighed M. Monnoyer, a canon of St. Maël, as he received the +pious legacy, “it was high time for a generous benefactor to come to +the relief of our necessities. Rich and poor, learned and ignorant are +turning away from us. And when we try to lead back these misguided +souls, neither threats nor promises, neither gentleness nor violence, +nor anything else is now successful. The Penguin clergy pine in +desolation; our country priests, reduced to following the humblest of +trades, are shoeless, and compelled to live upon such scraps as they +can pick up. In our ruined churches the rain of heaven falls upon the +faithful, and during the holy offices they can hear the noise of stones +falling from the arches. The tower of the cathedral is tottering and +will soon fall. St. Orberosia is forgotten by the Penguins, her +devotion abandoned, and her sanctuary deserted. On her shrine, bereft +of its gold and precious stones, the spider silently weaves her web.” + +Hearing these lamentations, Pierre Mille, who at the age of +ninety-eight years had lost nothing of his intellectual and moral +power, asked, the canon if he did not think that St. Orberosia would +one day rise out of this wrongful oblivion. + +“I hardly dare to hope so,” sighed M. Monnoyer. + +“It is a pity!” answered Pierre Mille. “Orberosia is a charming figure +and her legend is a beautiful one. I discovered the other day by the +merest chance, one of her most delightful miracles, the miracle of Jean +Violle. Would you like to hear it, M. Monnoyer?” + +“I should be very pleased, M. Mille.” + +“Here it is, then, just as I found it in a fifteenth-century manuscript + +“Cécile, the wife of Nicolas Gaubert, a jeweller on the Pont-au-Change, +after having led an honest and chaste life for many years, and being +now past her prime, became infatuated with Jean Violle, the Countess de +Maubec’s page, who lived at the Hôtel du Paon on the Place de Grève. He +was not yet eighteen years old, and his face and figure were +attractive. Not being able to conquer her passion, Cécile resolved to +satisfy it. She attracted the page to her house, loaded him with +caresses, supplied him with sweetmeats and finally did as she wished +with him. + +“Now one day, as they were together in the jeweller’s bed, Master +Nicholas came home sooner than he was expected. He found the bolt +drawn, and heard his wife on the other side of the door exclaiming, ‘My +heart! my angel! my love!’ Then suspecting that she was shut up with a +gallant, he struck great blows upon the door and began to shout ‘Slut! +hussy! wanton! open so that I may cut off your nose and ears!’ In this +peril, the jeweller’s wife besought St. Orberosia, and vowed her a +large candle if she helped her and the little page, who was dying of +fear beside the bed, out of their difficulty. + +“The saint heard the prayer. She immediately changed Jean Violle into a +girl. Seeing this, Cécile was completely reassured, and began to call +out to her husband: ‘Oh! you brutal villain, you jealous wretch! Speak +gently if you want the door to be opened.’ And scolding in this way, +she ran to the wardrobe and took out of it an old hood, a pair of +stays, and a long grey petticoat, in which she hastily wrapped the +transformed page. Then when this was done, ‘Catherine, dear Catherine,’ +said she, loudly, ‘open the door for your uncle; he is more fool than +knave, and won’t do you any harm.’ The boy who had become a girl, +obeyed. Master Nicholas entered the room and found in it a young maid +whom he did not know, and his wife in bed. ‘Big booby,’ said the latter +to him, ‘don’t stand gaping at what you see, just as I had come to bed +because had a stomach ache, I received a visit from Catherine, the +daughter of my sister Jeanne de Palaiseau, with whom we quarrelled +fifteen years ago. Kiss your niece. She is well worth the trouble.’ The +jeweller gave Violle a hug, and from that moment wanted nothing so much +as to be alone with her a moment, so that he might embrace her as much +as he liked. For this reason he led her without any delay down to the +kitchen, under the pretext of giving her some walnuts and wine, and he +was no sooner there with her than he began to caress her very +affectionately. He would not have stopped at that if St. Orberosia had +not inspired his good wife with the idea of seeing what he was about. +She found him with the pretended niece sitting on his knee. She called +him a debauched creature, boxed his ears, and forced him to beg her +pardon. The next day Violle resumed his previous form.” + +Having heard this story the venerable Canon Monnoyer thanked Pierre +Mille for having told it, and, taking up his pen, began to write out a +list of horses that would win at the next race meeting. For he was a +book-maker’s clerk. + +In the mean time Penguinia gloried in its wealth. Those who produced +the things necessary for life, wanted them; those who did not produce +them had more than enough. “But these,” as a member of the Institute +said, “are necessary economic fatalities.” The great Penguin people had +no longer either traditions, intellectual culture, or arts. The +progress of civilisation manifested itself among them by murderous +industry, infamous speculation, and hideous luxury. Its capital +assumed, as did all the great cities of the time, a cosmopolitan and +financial character. An immense and regular ugliness reigned within it. +The country enjoyed perfect tranquillity. It had reached its zenith. + + + + +BOOK VIII. FUTURE TIMES + + +THE ENDLESS HISTORY + +Alca is becoming Americanised.—_M. Daniset_. + +And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the +inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the +ground.—_Genesis xix_. 25 + +Γῇ Ἑλλάδι πενίη μὲν αἐι κοτε σύντροφος ἐστι, ἀρετὴ δὲ ἔπακτός ἐστι, ἀπό +τε σοφίης κατεργασμένη καὶ νόμου ἰσχυροῦ.[13] (Herodotus, Histories, +VII cii.) + + [13] Poverty hast ever been familiar to Greece, but virtue has been + acquired, having been accomplished by wisdom and firm laws. +—Henry Cary’s Translation. + + +You have not seen angels then.—_Liber Terribilis_. + +Bqsfttfusftpvtusbjufbmbvupsjufeftspjtf +ueftfnqfsfvstbqsftbxpjsqspdmbnfuspjtgpjt +tbmjcfsufmbgsbodftftutpvnjtfbeftdpnqbh +ojftgjobodjfsftrvjejtqptfoueftsjdifttftevqb +ztfuqbsmfnpzfoevofqsfttfbdifuffejsjhfoum +pqjojpo + + +_Voufnpjoxfsjejrvf_ + + +We are now beginning to study a chemistry which will deal with effects +produced by bodies containing a quantity of concentrated energy the +like of which we have not yet had at our disposal.—_Sir William +Ramsay_. + + +§. I + + +The houses were never high enough to satisfy them; they kept on making +them still higher and built them of thirty or forty storeys: with +offices, shops, banks, societies one above another; they dug cellars +and tunnels ever deeper downwards. + +Fifteen millions of men laboured in a giant town by the light of +beacons which shed forth their glare both day and night. No light of +heaven pierced through the smoke of the factories with which the town +was girt, but sometimes the red disk of a rayless sun might be seen +riding in the black firmament through which iron bridges ploughed their +way, and from which there descended a continual shower of soot and +cinders. It was the most industrial of all the cities in the world and +the richest. Its organisation seemed perfect. None of the ancient +aristocratic or democratic forms remained; everything was subordinated +to the interests of the trusts. This environment gave rise to what +anthropologists called the multi-millionaire type. The men of this type +were at once energetic and frail, capable of great activity in forming +mental combinations and of prolonged labour in offices, but men whose +nervous irritability suffered from hereditary troubles which increased +as time went on. + +Like all true aristocrats, like the patricians of republican Rome or +the squires of old England, these powerful men affected a great +severity in their habits and customs. They were the ascetics of wealth. +At the meetings of the trusts an observer would have noticed their +smooth and puffy faces, their lantern cheeks, their sunken eyes and +wrinkled brows. With bodies more withered, complexions yellower, lips +drier, and eyes filled with a more burning fanaticism than those of the +old Spanish monks, these multimillionaires gave themselves up with +inextinguishable ardour to the austerities of banking and industry. +Several, denying themselves all happiness, all pleasure, and all rest, +spent their miserable lives in rooms without light or air, furnished +only with electrical apparatus, living on eggs and milk, and sleeping +on camp beds. By doing nothing except pressing nickel buttons with +their fingers, these mystics heaped up riches of which they never even +saw the signs, and acquired the vain possibility of gratifying desires +that they never experienced. + +The worship of wealth had its martyrs. One of these multi-millionaires, +the famous Samuel Box, preferred to die rather than surrender the +smallest atom of his property. One of his workmen, the victim of an +accident while at work, being refused any indemnity by his employer, +obtained a verdict in the courts, but repelled by innumerable obstacles +of procedure, he fell into the direst poverty. Being thus reduced to +despair, he succeeded by dint of cunning and audacity in confronting +his employer with a loaded revolver in his hand, and threatened to blow +out his brains if he did not give him some assistance. Samuel Box gave +nothing, and let himself be killed for the sake of principle. + +Examples that come from high quarters are followed. Those who possessed +some small capital (and they were necessarily the greater number), +affected the ideas and habits of the multi-millionaires, in order that +they might be classed among them. All passions which injured the +increase or the preservation of wealth, were regarded as dishonourable; +neither indolence, nor idleness, nor the taste for disinterested study, +nor love of the arts, nor, above all, extravagance, was ever forgiven; +pity was condemned as a dangerous weakness. Whilst every inclination to +licentiousness excited public reprobation, the violent and brutal +satisfaction of an appetite was, on the contrary, excused; violence, in +truth, was regarded as less injurious to morality, since it manifested +a form of social energy. The State was firmly based on two great public +virtues: respect for the rich and contempt for the poor. Feeble spirits +who were still moved by human suffering had no other resource than to +take refuge in a hypocrisy which it was impossible to blame, since it +contributed to the maintenance of order and the solidity of +institutions. + +Thus, among the rich, all were devoted to their social order, or seemed +to be so; all gave good examples, if all did not follow them. Some felt +the gravity of their position cruelly; but they endured it either from +pride or from duty. Some attempted, in secret and by subterfuge, to +escape from it for a moment. One of these, Edward Martin, the +President, of the Steel Trust, sometimes dressed himself as a poor man, +went forth to beg his bread, and allowed himself to be jostled by the +passers-by. One day, as he asked alms on a bridge, he engaged in a +quarrel with a real beggar, and filled with a fury of envy, he +strangled him. + +As they devoted their whole intelligence to business, they sought no +intellectual pleasures. The theatre, which had formerly been very +flourishing among them, was now reduced to pantomimes and comic dances. +Even the pieces in which women acted were given up; the taste for +pretty forms and brilliant toilettes had been lost; the somersaults of +clowns and the music of negroes were preferred above them, and what +roused enthusiasm was the sight of women upon the stage whose necks +were bedizened with diamonds, or processions carrying golden bars in +triumph. Ladies of wealth were as much compelled as the men to lead a +respectable life. According to a tendency common to all civilizations, +public feeling set them up as symbols; they were, by their austere +magnificence, to represent both the splendour of wealth and its +intangibility. The old habits of gallantry had been reformed, Tut +fashionable lovers were now secretly replaced by muscular labourers or +stray grooms. Nevertheless, scandals were rare, a foreign journey +concealed nearly all of them, and the Princesses of the Trusts remained +objects of universal esteem. + +The rich formed only a small minority, but their collaborators, who +composed the entire people, had been completely won over or completely +subjugated by them. They formed two classes, the agents of commerce or +banking, and workers in the factories. The former contributed an +immense amount of work and received large salaries. Some of them +succeeded in founding establishments of their own; for in the constant +increase of the public wealth the more intelligent and audacious could +hope for anything. Doubtless it would have been possible to find a +certain number of discontented and rebellious persons among the immense +crowd of engineers and accountants, but this powerful society had +imprinted its firm discipline even on the minds of its opponents. The +very anarchists were laborious and regular. + +As for the workmen who toiled in the factories that surrounded the +town, their decadence, both physical and moral, was terrible; they were +examples of the type of poverty as it is set forth by anthropology. +Although the development among them of certain muscles, due to the +particular nature of their work, might give a false idea of their +strength, they presented sure signs of morbid debility. Of low stature, +with small heads and narrow chests, they were further distinguished +from the comfortable classes by a multitude of physiological anomalies, +and, in particular, by a common want of symmetry between the head and +the limbs. And they were destined to a gradual and continuous +degeneration, for the State made soldiers of the more robust among +them, and the health of these did not long withstand the brothels and +the drink-shops that sprang up around their barracks. The proletarians +became more and more feeble in mind. The continued weakening of their +intellectual faculties was not entirely due to their manner of life; it +resulted also from a methodical selection carried out by the employers. +The latter, fearing that workmen of too great ability might be inclined +to put forward legitimate demands, took care to eliminate them by every +possible means, and preferred to engage ignorant and stupid labourers, +who were incapable of defending their rights, but were yet intelligent +enough to perform their toil, which highly perfected machines rendered +extremely simple. Thus the proletarians were unable to do anything to +improve their lot. With difficulty did they succeed by means of strikes +in maintaining the rate of their wages. Even this means began to fail +them. The alternations of production inherent in the capitalist system +caused such cessations of work that, in several branches of industry, +as soon as a strike was declared, the accumulation of products allowed +the employers to dispense with the strikers. In a word, these miserable +employees were plunged in a gloomy apathy that nothing enlightened and +nothing exasperated. They were necessary instruments for the social +order and well adapted to their purpose. + +Upon the whole, this social order seemed the most firmly established +that had yet been seen, at least among kind, for that of bees and ants +is incomparably more stable. Nothing could foreshadow the ruin of a +system founded on what is strongest in human nature, pride and +cupidity. However, keen observers discovered several grounds for +uneasiness. The most certain, although the least apparent, were of an +economic order, and consisted in the continually increasing amount of +over-production, which entailed long and cruel interruptions of labour, +though these were, it is true, utilized by the manufacturers as a means +of breaking the power of the workmen, by facing them with the prospect +of a lock-out. A more obvious peril resulted from the physiological +state of almost the entire population. “The health of the poor is what +it must be,” said the experts in hygiene, “but that of the rich leaves +much to be desired.” It was not difficult to find the causes of this. +The supply of oxygen necessary for life was insufficient in the city, +and men breathed in an artificial air. The food trusts, by means of the +most daring chemical syntheses, produced artificial wines, meat, milk, +fruit, and vegetables, and the diet thus imposed gave rise to stomach +and brain troubles. The multi-millionaires were bald at the age of +eighteen; some showed from time to time a dangerous weakness of mind. +Over-strung and enfeebled, they gave enormous sums to ignorant +charlatans; and it was a common thing for some bath-attendant or other +trumpery who turned healer or prophet, to make a rapid fortune by the +practice of medicine or theology. The number of lunatics increased +continually; suicides multiplied in the world of wealth, and many of +them were accompanied by atrocious and extraordinary circumstances, +which bore witness to an unheard of perversion of intelligence and +sensibility. + +Another fatal symptom created a strong impression upon average minds. +Terrible accidents, henceforth periodical and regular, entered into +people’s calculations, and kept mounting higher and higher in +statistical tables. Every day, machines burst into fragments, houses +fell down, trains laden with merchandise fell on to the streets, +demolishing entire buildings and crushing hundreds of passers-by. +Through the ground, honey-combed with tunnels, two or three storeys of +work-shops would often crash, engulfing all those who worked in them. + +§. 2 + + +In the southwestern district of the city, on an eminence which had +preserved its ancient name of Fort Saint-Michel, there stretched a +square where some old trees still spread their exhausted arms above the +greensward. Landscape gardeners had constructed a cascade, grottos, a +torrent, a lake, and an island, on its northern slope. From this side +one could see the whole town with its streets, its boulevards, its +squares, the multitude of its roofs and domes, its air-passages, and +its crowds of men, covered with a veil of silence, and seemingly +enchanted by the distance. This square was the healthiest place in the +capital; here no smoke obscured the sky, and children were brought here +to play. In summer some employees from the neighbouring offices and +laboratories used to resort to it for a moment after their luncheons, +but they did not disturb its solitude and peace. + +It was owing to this custom that, one day in June, about mid-day, a +telegraph clerk, Caroline Meslier, came and sat down on a bench at the +end of a terrace. In order to refresh her eyes by the sight of a little +green, she turned her back to the town. Dark, with brown eyes, robust +and placid, Caroline appeared to be from twenty-five to twenty-eight +years of age. Almost immediately, a clerk in the Electricity Trust, +George Clair, took his place beside her. Fair, thin, and supple, he had +features of a feminine delicacy; he was scarcely older than she, and +looked still younger. As they met almost every day in this place, a +comradeship had sprung up between them, and they enjoyed chatting +together. But their conversation had never been tender, affectionate, +or even intimate. Caroline, although it had happened to her in the past +to repent of her confidence, might perhaps have been less reserved had +not George Clair always shown himself extremely restrained in his +expressions and behaviour. He always gave a purely intellectual +character to the conversation, keeping it within the realm of general +ideas, and, moreover, expressing himself on all subjects with the +greatest freedom. He spoke frequently of the organization of society, +and the conditions of labour. + +“Wealth,” said he, “is one of the means of living happily; but people +have made it the sole end of existence.” + +And this state of things seemed monstrous to both of them. + +They returned continually to various scientific subjects with which +they were both familiar. + +On that day they discussed the evolution of chemistry. + +“From the moment,” said Clair, “that radium was seen to be transformed +into helium, people ceased to affirm the immutability of simple bodies; +in this way all those old laws about simple relations and about the +indestructibility of matter were abolished.” + +“However,” said she, “chemical laws exist.” + +For, being a woman, she had need of belief. + +He resumed carelessly: + +“Now that we can procure radium in sufficient quantities, science +possesses incomparable means of analysis; even at present we get +glimpses, within what are called simple bodies, of extremely +diversified complex ones, and we discover energies in matter which seem +to increase even by reason of its tenuity.” + +As they talked, they threw bits of bread to the birds, and some +children played around them. + +Passing from one subject to another: + +“This hill, in the quaternary epoch,” said Clair, “was inhabited by +wild horses. Last year, as they were tunnelling for the water mains, +they found a layer of the bones of primeval horses.” + +She was anxious to know whether, at that distant epoch, man had yet +appeared. + +He told her that man used to hunt the primeval horse long before he +tried to domesticate him. + +“Man,” he added, “was at first a hunter, then he became a shepherd, a +cultivator, a manufacturer . . . and these diverse civilizations +succeeded each other at intervals of time that the mind cannot +conceive.” + +He took out his watch. + +Caroline asked if it was already time to go back to the office. + +He said it was not, that it was scarcely half-past twelve. + +A little girl was making mud pies at the foot of their bench; a little +boy of seven or eight years was playing in front of them. Whilst his +mother was sewing on an adjoining bench, he played all alone at being a +run-away horse, and with that power of illusion, of which children are +capable, he imagined that he was at the same time the horse, and those +who ran after him, and those who fled in terror before him. He kept +struggling with himself and shouting: “Stop him, Hi! Hi! This is an +awful horse, he has got the bit between his teeth.” + +Caroline asked the question: + +“Do you think that men were happy formerly?” + +Her companion answered: + +“They suffered less when they were younger. They acted like that little +boy: they played; they played at arts, at virtues, at vices, at +heroism, at beliefs, at pleasures; they had illusions which entertained +them; they made a noise; they amused themselves. But now. . . .” + +He interrupted himself, and looked again at his watch. + +The child, who was running, struck his foot against the little girl’s +pail, and fell his full length on the gravel. He remained a moment +stretched out motionless, then raised himself up on the palms of his +hands. His forehead puckered, his mouth opened, and he burst into +tears. His mother ran up, but Caroline had lifted him from the ground +and was wiping his eyes and mouth with her handkerchief. + +The child kept on sobbing and Clair took him in his arms. + +“Come, don’t cry, my little man! I am going to tell you a story. + +“A fisherman once threw his net into the sea and drew out a little, +sealed, copper pot, which he opened with his knife. Smoke came out of +it, and as it mounted up to the clouds the smoke grew thicker and +thicker and became a giant who gave such a terrible yawn that the whole +world was blown to dust....” + +Clair stopped himself, gave a dry laugh, and handed the child back to +his mother. Then he took out his watch again, and kneeling on the bench +with his elbows resting on its back he gazed at the town. As far as the +eye could reach, the multitude of houses stood out in their tiny +immensity. + +Caroline turned her eyes in the same direction. + +“What splendid weather it is!” said she. “The sun’s rays change the +smoke on the horizon into gold. The worst thing about civilization is +that it deprives one of the light of day.” + +He did not answer; his looks remained fixed on a place in the town. + +After some seconds of silence they saw about half a mile away, in the +richer district on the other side of the river, a sort of tragic fog +rearing itself upwards. A moment afterwards an explosion was heard even +where they were sitting, and an immense tree of smoke mounted towards +the pure sky. Little by little the air was filled with an imperceptible +murmur caused by the shouts of thousands of men. Cries burst forth +quite close to the square. + +“What has been blown up?” + +The bewilderment was great, for although accidents were common, such a +violent explosion as this one had never been seen, and everybody +perceived that something terribly strange had happened. + +Attempts were made to locate the place of the accident; districts, +streets, different buildings, clubs, theatres, and shops were +mentioned. Information gradually became more precise and at last the +truth was known. + +“The Steel Trust has just been blown up.” + +Clair put his watch back into his pocket. + +Caroline looked at him closely and her eyes filled with astonishment. + +At last she whispered in his ear: + +“Did you know it? Were you expecting it? Was it you . . .” + +He answered very calmly: + +“That town ought to be destroyed.” + +She replied in a gentle and thoughtful tone: + +“I think so too.” + +And both of them returned quietly to their work. + +§. 3 + + +From that day onward, anarchist attempts followed one another every +week without interruption. The victims were numerous, and almost all of +them belonged to the poorer classes. These crimes roused public +resentment. It was among domestic servants, hotel-keepers, and the +employees of such small shops as the Trusts still allowed to exist, +that indignation burst forth most vehemently. In popular districts +women might be heard demanding unusual punishments for the dynamitards. +(They were called by this old name, although it was hardly appropriate +to them, since, to these unknown chemists, dynamite was an innocent +material only fit to destroy ant-hills, and they considered it mere +child’s play to explode nitro-glycerine with a cartridge made of +fulminate of mercury.) Business ceased suddenly, and those who were +least rich were the first to feel the effects. They spoke of doing +justice themselves to the anarchists. In the mean time the factory +workers remained hostile or indifferent to violent action. They were +threatened, as a result of the decline of business, with a likelihood +of losing their work, or even a lock-out in all the factories. The +Federation of Trade Unions proposed a general strike as the most +powerful means of influencing the employers, and the best aid that +could be given to the revolutionists, but all the trades with the +exception of the gilders refused to cease work. + +The police made numerous arrests. Troops summoned from all parts of the +National Federation protected the offices of the Trusts, the houses of +the multi-millionaires, the public halls, the banks, and the big shops. +A fortnight passed without a single explosion, and it was concluded +that the dynamitards, in all probability but a handful of persons, +perhaps even still fewer, had all been killed or captured, or that they +were in hiding, or had taken flight. Confidence returned; it returned +at first among the poorer classes. Two or three hundred thousand +soldiers, who bad been lodged in the most closely populated districts, +stimulated trade, and people began to cry out: “Hurrah for the army!” + +The rich, who had not been so quick to take alarm, were reassured more +slowly. But at the Stock Exchange a group of “bulls” spread optimistic +rumours and by a powerful effort put a brake upon the fall in prices. +Business improved. Newspapers with big circulations supported the +movement. With patriotic eloquence they depicted capital as laughing in +its impregnable position at the assaults of a few dastardly criminals, +and public wealth maintaining its serene ascendency in spite of the +vain threats made against it. They were sincere in their attitude, +though at the same time they found it benefited them. Outrages were +forgotten or their occurrence denied. On Sundays, at the race-meetings, +the stands were adorned by women covered with pearls and diamonds. It +was observed with joy that the capitalists had not suffered. Cheers +were given for the multi-millionaires in the saddling rooms. + +On the following day the Southern Railway Station, the Petroleum Trust, +and the huge church built at the expense of Thomas Morcellet were all +blown up. Thirty houses were in flames, and the beginning of a fire was +discovered at the docks. The firemen showed amazing intrepidity and +zeal. They managed their tall fire-escapes with automatic precision, +and climbed as high as thirty storeys to rescue the luckless +inhabitants from the flames. The soldiers performed their duties with +spirit, and were given a double ration of coffee. But these fresh +casualties started a panic. Millions of people, who wanted to take +their money with them and leave the town at once, crowded the great +banking houses. These establishments, after paying out money for three +days, closed their doors amid mutterings of a riot. A crowd of +fugitives, laden with their baggage, besieged the railway stations and +took the town by storm. Many who were anxious to lay in a stock of +provisions and take refuge in the cellars, attacked the grocery stores, +although they were guarded by soldiers with fixed bayonets. The public +authorities displayed energy. Numerous arrests were made and thousands +of warrants issued against suspected persons. + +During the three weeks that followed no outrage was committed. There +was a rumour that bombs had been found in the Opera House, in the +cellars of the Town Hall, and beside one of the Pillars of the Stock +Exchange. But it was soon known that these were boxes of sweets that +had been put in those places by practical jokers or lunatics. One of +the accused, when questioned by a magistrate, declared that he was the +chief author of the explosions, and said that all his accomplices had +lost their lives. These confessions were published by the newspapers +and helped to reassure public opinion. It was only towards the close of +the examination that the magistrates saw they had to deal with a +pretender who was in no way connected with any of the crimes. + +The experts chosen by the courts discovered nothing that enabled them +to determine the engine employed in the work of destruction. According +to their conjectures the new explosive emanated from a gas which radium +evolves, and it was supposed that electric waves, produced by a special +type of oscillator, were propagated through space and thus caused the +explosion. But even the ablest chemist could say nothing precise or +certain. At last two policemen, who were passing in front of the Hôtel +Meyer, found on the pavement, close to a ventilator, an egg made of +white metal and provided with a capsule at each end. They picked it up +carefully, and, on the orders of their chief, carried it to the +municipal laboratory. Scarcely had the experts assembled to examine it, +than the egg burst and blew up the amphitheatre and the dome. All the +experts perished, and with them Collin, the General of Artillery, and +the famous Professor Tigre. + +The capitalist society did not allow itself to be daunted by this fresh +disaster. The great banks re-opened their doors, declaring that they +would meet demands partly in bullion and partly in paper money +guaranteed by the State. The Stock Exchange and the Trade Exchange, in +spite of the complete cessation of business, decided not to suspend +their sittings. + +In the mean time the magisterial investigation into the case of those +who had been first accused had come to an end. Perhaps the evidence +brought against them might have appeared insufficient under other +circumstances, but the zeal both of the magistrates and the public made +up for this insufficiency. On the eve of the day fixed for the trial +the Courts of justice were blown up and eight hundred people were +killed, the greater number of them being judges and lawyers. A furious +crowd broke into the prison and lynched the prisoners. The troops sent +to restore order were received with showers of stones and revolver +shots; several soldiers being dragged from their horses and trampled +underfoot. The soldiers fired on the mob and many persons were killed. +At last the public authorities succeeded in establishing tranquillity. +Next day the Bank was blown up. + +From that time onwards unheard-of things took place. The factory +workers, who had refused to strike, rushed in crowds into the town and +set fire to the houses. Entire regiments, led by their officers, joined +the workmen, went with them through the town singing revolutionary +hymns, and took barrels of petroleum from the docks with which to feed +the fires. Explosions were continual. One morning a monstrous tree of +smoke, like the ghost of a huge palm tree half a mile in height, rose +above the giant Telegraph Hall which suddenly fell into a complete +ruin. + +Whilst half the town was in flames, the other half pursued its +accustomed life. In the mornings, milk pails could be heard jingling in +the dairy carts. In a deserted avenue some old navvy might be seen +seated against a wall slowly eating hunks of bread with perhaps a +little meat. Almost all the presidents of the trusts remained at their +posts. Some of them performed their duty with heroic simplicity. +Raphael Box, the son of a martyred multi-millionaire, was blown up as +he was presiding at the general meeting of the Sugar Trust. He was +given a magnificent funeral and the procession on its way to the +cemetery had to climb six times over piles of ruins or cross upon +planks over the uprooted roads. + +The ordinary helpers of the rich, the clerks, employees, brokers, and +agents, preserved an unshaken fidelity. The surviving clerks of the +Bank that had been blown up, made their way along the ruined streets +through the midst of smoking houses to hand in their bills of exchange, +and several were swallowed up in the flames while endeavouring to +present their receipts. + +Nevertheless, any illusion concerning the state of affairs was +impossible. The enemy was master of the town. Instead of silence the +noise of explosions was now continuous and produced an insurmountable +feeling of horror. The lighting apparatus having been destroyed, the +city was plunged in darkness all through the night, and appalling +crimes were committed. The populous districts alone, having suffered +the least, still preserved measures of protection. The were paraded by +patrols of volunteers who shot the robbers, and at every street corner +one stumbled over a body lying in a pool of blood, the hands bound +behind the back, a handkerchief over the face, and a placard pinned +upon the breast. + +It became impossible to clear away the ruins or to bury the dead. Soon +the stench from the corpses became intolerable. Epidemics raged and +caused innumerable deaths, while they also rendered the survivors +feeble and listless. Famine carried off almost all who were left. A +hundred and one days after the first outrage, whilst six army corps +with field artillery and siege artillery were marching, at night, into +the poorest quarter of the city, Caroline and Clair, holding each +other’s hands, were watching from the roof a lofty house, the only one +still left standing, but now surrounded by smoke and flame, joyous +songs ascended from the street, where the crowd was dancing in +delirium. + +“To-morrow it will be ended,” said the man, “and it will be better.” + +The young woman, her hair loosened and her face shining with the +reflection of the flames, gazed with a pious joy at the circle of fire +that was growing closer around them. + +“It will be better,” said she also. + +And throwing herself into the destroyer’s arms she pressed a passionate +kiss upon his lips. + +§. 4 + + +The other towns of the federation also suffered from disturbances and +outbreaks, and then order was restored. Reforms were introduced into +institutions and great changes took place in habits and customs, but +the country never recovered the loss of its capital, and never regained +its former prosperity. Commerce and industry dwindled away, and +civilization abandoned those countries which for so long it had +preferred to all others. They became insalubrious and sterile; the +territory that had supported so many millions of men became nothing +more than a desert. On the hill of Fort St. Michel wild horses cropped +the coarse grass. + +Days flowed by like water from the fountains, and the centuries passed +like drops falling from the ends of stalactites. Hunters came to chase +the bears upon the hills that covered the forgotten city; shepherds led +their flocks upon them; labourers turned up the soil with their +ploughs; gardeners cultivated their lettuces and grafted their pear +trees. They were not rich, and they had no arts. The walls of their +cabins were covered with old vines and roses. A goat-skin clothed their +tanned limbs, while their wives dressed themselves with the wool that +they themselves had spun. The goat-herds moulded little figures of men +and animals out of clay, or sang songs about the young girl who follows +her lover through woods or among the browsing goats while the pine +trees whisper together and the water utters its murmuring sound. The +master of the house grew angry with the beetles who devoured his figs; +he planned snares to protect his fowls from the velvet-tailed fox, and +he poured out wine for his neighbours saying: + +“Drink! The flies have not spoilt my vintage; the vines were dry before +they came.” + +Then in the course of ages the wealth of the villages and the corn that +filled the fields were pillaged by barbarian invaders. The country +changed its masters several times. The conquerors built castles upon +the hills; cultivation increased; mills, forges, tanneries, and looms +were established; roads were opened through the woods and over the +marshes; the river was covered with boats. The hamlets became large +villages and joining together formed a town which protected itself by +deep trenches and lofty walls. Later, becoming the capital of a great +State, it found itself straitened within its now useless ramparts and +it converted them into grass-covered walks. + +It grew very rich and large beyond measure. The houses were never high +enough to satisfy the people; they kept on making them still higher and +built them of thirty or forty storeys, with offices, shops, banks, +societies one above another; they dug cellars and tunnels ever deeper +downwards. Fifteen millions of men laboured in the giant town. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PENGUIN ISLAND *** + +***** This file should be named 1930-0.txt or 1930-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/3/1930/ + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. 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