where his destiny as man
precipitated
him !
Krasinski - The Undivine Comedy
"
And the boy went away murmuring : '^ In Heaven per-
haps, but not upon earth. "
During this time many, crawling in the dust, ground
their teeth ; while the Shade of Dante hurried through
them like an avalanche, sweeping on elsewhere.
In the midst of this world of granite, other throngs
were leaning over an immense gulf. The faces of those
who looked down into it swam in a crimson light ; the
earth around it trembled, as if convulsed by hidden earth-
quakes. When the Young Man drew near, it seemed to
him he saw the vast crater of a volcano, or the sunken bed
of a dry lake surrounded by high and precipitous walls.
The bottom was black with human heads ; black as the
waves in a tempest; a bloody light glowed as if from
burning coals and smoking cinders like volcanic scoriae, —
and threats and curses rose continually therefrom !
As a mother folds her infant to her breast, so the Shade
wound the Young Man in his arms, and glided with him
into the dismal depths of this great gulf. Forms of the
most savage character were there unchained, raging and
seething in the abyss. Their cheeks were black with
bristling beard, their sleeves tucked up to their shoulders,
and their arms were blue with swollen veins like cords.
Sometimes they coiled themselves into living knots ; some-
times they scattered far asunder; sometimes they crawled
like vipers ; then stood erect in the lurid light of the
flames, as men prepared for combat.
Close to the nearest fire, twelve men of gigantic size
were on their knees. Their bodies were stripped to the
waist, and a thirteenth advanced before them, with a
dagger in the right hand and a cup in the left, and he
said : ** I will consecrate you ! " The giants bowed their
THE DREAM.
149
heads devoutly, and on spots illuminated by the reflection
from the coals he graved with the point of his dagger
bloody letters upon their naked shoulders. None trembled,
none groaned. The word equality, and the Avord
LIBERTY, were carved in crimson wounds on every brawny
shoulder. The Shade said: "Look, how carefully the
thirteenth holds the cup to collect the blood flowing from
the bodies of his brothers ! No drop escapes- him ! Per-
haps thou thinkest he will preserve it in testimony of the
torments endured, in memory of the consecration, or
show it to the People as the emblem of vengeance? "
And the Young Man whispered: "Master, will it be
otherwise ? "
The voice of the apparition replied, in tones like sub-
terranean thunder: "Verily! he will sell this blood to
the merchants, and at their hour of barter ! Move on,
and look no more. "
And as they passed through, a black whirlwind of wild
life, madly tossing about in the half-extinguished cinders,
cried: "Are we to dwell y^r^f^r at the bottom of this
black gulf? Are we never to reach the surface of the
earth, where dwell the merchants? "
Another horde of poor tatterdemalions, rekindling the
coals of the furnace by the clapping of their hands, in-
terrupted the words of the first : "Away to the Sanctuary
of 'the Golden Sun, where the wines are sweet, the food
luscious, and the garments fine ! Away to the Exchange,
where men always enjoy themselves, conquer power, and
never once wound their hands with work, from the cradle
to the grave ! "
Another whirlwind of black life, pouring oil into the
flames, cried: "Boldness! and we will make our way
into the Banks of all Nations ! Breasts of rock and
claws of lions will be found among us ! We can arm
ourselves with iron spikes, as we have no swords. "
Then the brawny masses spun together in wild whirl,
clapped their hands, and cried: "In spite of all oppo-
sition from other castes, we will climb to the top of those
steep cliffs ! But once. Fate, let us sleep in the Paradise
of the Rich, on their silken carpets, on their beds of
down ! Can it be possible to have more in Heaven than
ISO
THE '' fragment:'
they have upon earth ? Like them, let us be happy on
earth before we die ! "
At this moment, the man with the dagger and the cup,
leading the consecrated giants, penetrated into the midst
of the howlers. The crowd saluted him with furious ac-
clamations, crying: "When wilt thou lead us hence? "
He replied: "For the present be patient; in a little
while your hour cometh ! " And the giants stretched
forth to him their hands ; their bones cracked, and the
blood spurted from their fresh wounds, and their lips
trembled with the oath : " With you to conquer, or with
you to die! " And following their chief, they went
where the long rows of gibbets, illuminated by blazing
torches, glared through the gloom !
Groups of boys knelt under every scaffold, and jurists
and scribes, versed in the Scriptures, were seated near
them, and taught them in what way they ought to curse
their fathers. The children repeated the maledictions in
chorus, and if one, weaker than the rest, hesitated or
wept with repugnance, the teachers fell upon him with
raised lash, and the child, shielding himself with his
little hands, recommenced to recite his task. The Shade
of Dante, like a dark column, took a place in the midst
of those kneeling rows, and seemed to listen. He sud-
denly uttered a loud cry, and the lesson was interrupted.
The scribes and jurists grew pale, and asked: "Who
spoke? " and the Shadow replied: "One of those
against whom you thunder forth your imprecations.
Liars and hypocrites ! You are lower than the vilest
reptile, for you assume a robe of moral grandeur, and
you try to imitate the language of science ! Look into
my dead eyes, and endure if you can my glance of scorn !
Ah ! you are utterly ignorant of what constitutes the lib-
erty of the spirit ! Woe ! woe ! you understand nothing
but the well-being of the body ! "
Then he called the children to him, and stretching his
hands above those who surrounded him and in the direc-
tion of those who were more distant, he blessed them all
and said : " Do not believe the falsehoods you have been
taught ! It is you who are to-day slaves ! The fathers
of your fathers were free in the simplicity of their own
THE DREAM.
151
hearts. Faith in God was their buckler against the op-
pression of men. Their souls were as fresh as the young
verdure of the spring. In the cabin of the valley, or the
chateau on the hill, they were everywhere true to them-
selves ; their love was really love, and their worship was
a true combat ! In this vast world of to-day, love is no
longer to be found ; in this vast world of to-day, there is
no true combat 1"
It seemed to the Young Man that one of the jurists
rose and advanced towards Dante, grasping in his hands
the double barrel of his gun, and he was blind in one
eye, and he cried : " Equality ! murder ! "
His hat was placed awry upon his head, and the word
PEOPLE was embroidered in great letters upon it. He
stumbled as he walked, and when he stopped he cocked
his gun and began to harangue. His one eye rolled in
its socket, and the froth flowed from his lips. But the
pale shade interrupted his discourse : ** Thy fury exhales
in vain sounds, in which there are no thoughts. Not
words, but acts ; not blood, but the concord of the citizens
must form and maintain a Republic ! The brute alone
lives in thee ; the spirit is dead ! Before ten years shall
have passed away, thou wilt have betrayed the People 1"
The eye of the speech-maker became blood-shot, and,
seized by a secret terror, he lowered the barrel of his
gun. The Shade said to the Young Man : " Such souls
merit contempt. The wave that flings itself most vio-
lently against the sands makes the most noise : — human
bosoms are the waves of this world ! "
The ground now began to descend ; the light from the
gibbets still shone, but ever more and more feebly. Be-
hold ! afar off appeared numberless little livid stars, like
the night-lamps in a hospital. Each star was fixed above
a mat of reeds, on which lay a woman : a whole People
of women lay here, and groaned, sighed, and wept, and
ever and anon broke forth a last cry of pain, a shriek of
mortal anguish ; and as they died away, again com-
menced low sobs and sighs and wails, and they pro-
longed themselves ever farther in the distance, and ever
lower in the depths of the subterranean vaults !
At the sight of Dante, one of the women rose, un-
152
THE ''FRAGMENT:'
rolled her long, floating tresses, and twisted their masses
round her hands ; and the Young Man saw that her soul
was inwoven in those meshes, and streamed down their
golden length with horrible writhings of pain. And she
said: "Whosoever thou mayst be, tell me — and thou,
also : tell me, both of you, — why they have forced me to
glide down from the warm surface of the earth to its
uttermost abysses ? As long as my body was graceful and
fair I walked in the sunshine, and everybody was kind
to me. But when like the flower I faded, — as the love-
liest flower must fade, — they seized me and hurled me
down among those who rot in the sepulchre where there
is weeping and gnashing of teeth ! When men grow old,
the young honor them in song ; but we, alas ! long be-
fore the hour of our death, they order us to lie down in
the grave ! We complain, we supplicate, we entreat, we
appeal ! But they are afar ; they hear us not. Then our
agony begins; ah ! they have gone still farther off"; they
hear us no longer ; they will not come even to say fare-
well ; and there is nothing left us but to die ! "
As she spoke, others rose, and, standing upon their
feet, cried : "Justice ! justice ! " And after these, others,
striking their breasts, sobbed and cursed ! Streams of
tears flowed from their eyes, poured down their long,
disheveled locks, and then fell rippling to the ground
with the dull rustling of autumnal rain. Scarcely would
the weaker and more exhausted among them rise when
they would fall back anew; while those who had not been
able to rise at all dragged themselves along upon their
hands and knees, and many, veiling their faces with their
hands in sad memory of their lost beauty, turned towards
the apparition, and nothing but the fire of two burninrg
eyes about to die out forever could be seen between the
tapering fingers.
The Young Man then perceived some old men in long,
black robes, carrying vases of holy water, which they
sprinkled freely over the sufferers, while they chanted in
low and melancholy cadence. Some of the women
bowed their heads patiently, and at once went sweetly to
sleep upon their mats. Others knelt, kissed the hands of
the old men, and murmured to them the interminable
THE DUE AM. 1^2
recital of their sorrows. But she who had first arisen,
twisting her hair still more violently, cried to them :
" Yonder, on the surface of the earth, the men would no
longer listen to you ; but they said to you : ' Go, and be
our spies on the women we have left to perish ! When
their souls are tearing themselves loose from their bodies,
stifle their complaints ! When they break into curses
■^igainst us, close their lips, for their groans are not
pleasant to our ears! Often when they struggle to fling
themselves forth from this gulf into which we have cast
them, they spoil our festivals, and interrupt our philo-
sophical speculations ! ' You obeyed, you descended, you
are here ! Your task is to teach us to die silently / But
I win not die in silence ! I will perish crying aloud : ' I
had a soul; I have a soul ; and on earth they would never
acknowledge in me anything but a body ! Be Thou the
judge of it, O God ! Thou who hast given me a living
soul! '"
And as the eyes of the Young Man were fixed upon
her, he saw her soul in a final convulsion tear itself loose
from the tangled meshes of her hair, and float above the
lamps athwart the gloom, like a veil of blood pierced by
a thousand needles !
The Seer passed on lost in thought, as if with repug-
nance, and answering nothing. At last they reached a
white couch in a lonely spot and at a great distance from
all others. A lamp burned under a crucifix placed against
a pillar of white marble, and a woman in black was upon
her knees before it. Her face was turned away from the
shadow of the Seer, who stopped and remained standing
in silence, as if wrapped in deep melancholy.
" Master, who is she? " demanded the Young Man.
The Shade replied : "I have seen one form like that, —
it was years ago,— once here, upon the earth, — a second
time above, in Heaven ! When she turns her head, we
will know who she is. "
And he remained standing there, without interrupting
the prayer of the woman.
And it appeared to the Young Man that he saw kneel-
ing by the side of the woman in black a woman in white,
exactly like the first, except that in place of being quite
'4
154
THE "FRAGMENTS
veiled with long hair, she had two angel wings softly bent
in the form of a cross and folded above her shoulders.
And these wings were furrowed with deep wounds, and in
each wound a nail was deeply sunk, which kept the wings
from unfolding. A moment after, these two forms melted
into each other, — and once more there was only the kneel-
ing figure in mourning.
Then the Shade said: *'Lo! she has finished her
prayer, for her soul of snow has disappeared. " And he
added, as if in spite of himself: "Beatrice ! "
The woman in black turned round, and said: "She
who bore this name years and years ago knew nothing
but Paradise upon this earth, for she perished in the first
spring of life ; — and she knew nothing but Paradise be-
yond this earth, for Heaven immediately received her
into its bosom ! But, miserable me ! none ever compen-
sated me for the loss of my first spring by a second !
That is not my name ! "
And wringing her hands, she stood erect and white as
alabaster.
And when the Seer conjured her to speak, she began in
these words : " I was born in a land of milk and honey,
which is to-day called the land of sepulchres and of
crosses, — and which is also called the land of agony !
You have heard me spoken of there ! But a thousand
tongues had poisoned and torn my name before it
reached your ears. At first my parents called me : Inno-
cent, Lovely, Blessed, — afterwards they gave me another
name : Slave 1
"For in accordance with the customs of the world,
while still a child and knowing nothing of love, I was
given, or rather sold, to a husband. Oh ! weep for me
and for my sisters, who, as yet young, knowing nothing
and feeling nothing, go without volition to deliver them-
selves up, body and soul, to those who know all and have
already felt all, — to whom nevertheless knowledge has not
given the light of the angel, but rather the astute decrepi-
tude of the demon !
" I bore all, — for all may be endured in this sad world
save one feeling : contempt ! When like a dagger it pen-
etrates between two beings, — the handle in the heart of
THE DREAM. icj
the one, and the point in the heart of the other, — how can
they pursue together the same path in life? Wretched
beings, only riveted to one another by this mortal blade !
How can they break together every day the same bread,
even until death, — then a blessing, — conies to separate
them? I tried to force my own will, — 'twas all in vain !
I cried to God ! He would not hear ! He must have
despised me ! "
Ralapsing into silence, she again stood erect and im-
movable, pale, and white as alabaster !
And when the Seer again adjured her, she replied, with
broken sobs: "Nay, I will not answer to God Himself
upon the Day of Judgment ! I alone know it ! I alone
remember it !
" I still see the Palace, the long avenue of flowering lin-
dens, and the sun setting behind the perfumed branches.
I see myself still under them ; still feel myself walking
about as if in a magnetic sleep ! Had it not been said
during the last few days that something mysterious was
preparing in my country? An indefinable presentiment
floated in the air, saddening the perfume of the new-mown
hay, as if the plague were about to breathe upon us, or as
if men were preparing to rise and combat where they must
inevitably perish by thousands ! My husband, delicate,
white, and slight as a woman, also walked about and
seemed to expect something, some one ! Ah ! he waited
with a smile which I can never, never forget !
"Men then began to glide into the garden from all
sides. I knew this one, that one, another,-! knew them
all ! They were relations, friends, neighbors ! He grasps
their hands, he promises them, he swears faith ! The sun
sets. He begs them to lay aside their arms, sit down, and
enter for the last time into consultation. They obey, and
seat themselves upon the turf. But he ! He claps his
hands, gives a signal, — his hissing is like that of a ser-
pent ! Soldiers! . . . soldiers! . , . everywhere sol-
diers ! . . .
"Ask me nothing, — I have borne the name of that
man ; . . . I have sworn to be faithful to him even to the
grave ! I will not give him up to you, as he has given
his brothers up to the enemy ! . . .
156 THE "FRAGMENT. "
"Hear now my third name upon the earth: Dishon-
ored !
"Men, know ye wherefore? Because despair tore my
heart — and there came a day when I was loved, — and in
that day I beh'eved in Beauty, Goodness, Wisdom, even
upon earth ? Because, when dying, I raised my head and
cried : How blessed it is to spring from the grave into the
skies ! — Because I dared to love ! "
Again was she silent, again motionless and white as
alabaster.
And when the Seer for the third time adjured her, she
murmured, in a low voice: "Then follow me! " Taking
the lamp from below the crucifix, she left the place where
the People of women lay prostrate behind her, and fol-
lowed a tortuous path far through the subterranean space.
The walls of the narrow dungeons contracted and length-
ened before the thin hand as it approached them, bearing
the lamp with its doubtful and uncertain light.
Everywhere around her were walls reeking with hu-
midity ; everywhere a low and stifling vault ! No sound
of footsteps was there ever heard ; no breath ever played
with the doubtful flame of the lamp ! The Young Man
continued to advance, although he felt ever more languid,
more weary and oppressed. It seemed to him that the
very air necessary for breath failed on all sides ; that an
invisible weight crushed him to the earth ; that the blood
congealed in his veins, and it seemed to him that he cried
to himself: " I will go no farther ! "
The lady in the funereal robes then turned round, and,
lifting the glimmering lamp above his forehead, said:
"Although thou art a man, and a strong and courageous
one, thou canst not endure to breathe for a single hotir
here, where all my weary years forever flow and reflow !
Go ! Go, in peace ! "
But the Seer sadly asked : " Tell me, where then is he
who loved thee? "
Suddenly casting down her eyes, she answered : "There !
where his destiny as man precipitated him ! He tore me
from my solitude of heart : and left me in the utter soli-
tude of spirit ! I loved him, — he has left me ! "
Then showing a distant stone which whitened in the
THE DREAM.
157
midst of the darkness, she said : *' Wrapped in its wings
my soul is buried there ! This which you see is only a
body which has not yet been able to die ! "
And, overpowered by grief, she fell upon her knees and
cried : " Thou who knowest, tell us if it will be thus for-
ever? "
And for the first time her tears began to flow.
And the Seer, placing his hand upon her brow, said :
*' Until now you have been as the Heavenly Lilies, which
bloom knowing naught of their colors and perfumes.
The day is coming when each of you will change into a
Thinking Rose. The chords of inspiration will escape
from the hands of the men, and will pass into yours !
Kneeling at your feet, they will then implore from you a
hymn of consolation, a prophecy of hope, a vision of
beauty, — for their destiny will then have led them into
prosaic and unendurable cares, into hard and harsh
labors ! But absorbed in the contemplation of God, you
will not cast a glance upon them, you will not hear their
sighs. Then will their hearts break, as yours have done
for ages P '
"Tell me yet more! " said the lady in black, appeal-
ing to Dante with beseeching look.
He proceeded : "This will continue until the hour of
a new transformation sounds for you. Then you will again
stretch forth your hands to them ; through love you will
save the dying hearts ; and you will become as their sisters,
— forever their equals upon earth and in Heaven ! "
But the lady in black weeping with ever-increasing
emotion, he added : " Recall thy soul, and be not afraid,
for if it were possible for anything to perish, it would be
seen that in the judgments of the Lord the star of the
glory of men would sooner be forever extinguished than
the tears of one unfortunate woman be suifered to flow in
vain ! "
And when, kneeling, she appeared more tranquil, Dante
left her, and, bearing off" the Young Man with him, walked
directly to the grave, and as they passed the tomb which
whitened in the darkness, he said : " Verily, she will die
in these shadows and will rest here; — for the time 70///
come; — but it is not yet come ! "
14*
158 THE "FRAGMENT. "
And, having blessed the grave, as if borne upward by
his own power he rose through the air into higher regions.
Through the opening between the precipices, but very,
very high above him, the Young Man saw the granite
vault covering the world ! And as he rose from the depths,
it widened in its livid light. He could already dis-
tinguish the clangor of a thousand jarring bells, the in-
cessant pattering of quirk steps, the sound of myriads of
footfalls, and the groanings of pavements echoing be-
neath the tread of throngiiig men. And when the ap-
parition stopped on the edge of the opening, and with a
sign of his hand swept the Young Man on like a whirlwind,
he saw all the Nations of the Earth making their way
toward the Yellow Sun; and under this sun stood a gi-
gantic black platform, upon which many thrones glittered
in the distance.
Like vapors rising into air, like rushing streams, like
hunted herds, the throngs crowd, hurry, jostle one
another; all, all rushing in the same direction! The
sound of countless invisible bells buzzes thr. ough space ;
old and young men, women and children, brush and
bustle on, pass and repass, scramble hurriedly onward !
Vainly do the old implore the young to retard their
steps, to stop a single moment and to take them with
them. The youngrefiiseto turn, they will not even listen, —
they run on ! Pale, weary maidens forced to stop, weep
and beg their brothers, supplicate their lovers, to wait a
moment for them ; — they will not even spare the time to
recognize them, — they run and run ! Mothers with ba-
bies at their breasts join in the race; suddenly a child on
one side or the other is knocked down ; it shrieks aloud,
stretches out its little hands, and lies upon the pavement.
From all sides the crowd presses and jostles on; the mothers
turn not back nor stoop to rescue ; — they too run and run.
The Young Man stopped above one of these little
bodies crushed under the trampling feet, and asked :
" Master, is it the hour of the Last Judgment? "
The Api)arition, veiling his fare, replied : "It is only
the hour of the Judgment of the Merchants: it is the hour
of the Exchange and the Marts ! "
At these words, the Apparition transported the Young
THE DREAM. i^p
Man from side to side across the space of this world to
the opposite point, where were the Yellow Sun and the
gigantic black platform ; and it seemed to the Young
Man that, as if borne upon wings, he remained suspended
at the height of the platform, and lower than the sun : —
and the figure of the Master wrapped itself in bitter scorn
— and disappeared ! "
This sun seemed to be of gold with artificial rays, and
the platform was of black marble, with stairways which
led to many brilliant thrones. Upon those thrones sat
the Bankers and Merchants chosen among the wandering
tribes of the Orient ; they were clad in flowing robes,
wore long gray beards, and purple fillets round their brows;
— and under their feet lay enormous sacks full of sono-
rous metal.
And sometimes broken cries proceeded from the sacks,
as it were complaints, prayers, demands, and reproaches.
The Young Man perceived that these cries came from the
souls of the merchants wailing, hidden and chained, in
the bags of gold. And the more the unhappy souls com-
plained, the more the rage of the merchants increased,
and, trampling and crushing the sacks underfoot, they
thus silenced the moans of their own souls !
And when the Wretched souls were silenced, with care-
less and rough voices they commenced their consultation,
designating from time to time with their hands one or other
of the innumerable throngs of Peoples which approached
them on every side. A dense mass of black vapor rose,
overspreading space, above these hustling Peoples ; it was
deeply furrowed with tawny lights ; and the Young Man
understood it was the form of all those human souls united
and overhanging their bodies, above which they lowered
like mists of blood, like melting scorice, like immense
furnaces dying into darkness.
Like ice-floes broken by tossing waves, like the rushing
of wind-driven tempests, the Nations advanced under the
lurid reflections of their souls, as if under a Hell float-
ing above them ! Sometimes were heard the cries of
those who fell, or the dull groans of those who were
crushed and stifled underfoot by the crowd. One of the
merchants rose, gave a signal, and on one side of the
l6o THE "FRAGMENT:'
platform enormous slabs of stone were immediately raised,
subterranean caverns opened, and long files of soldiers
issued therefrom, who, mute and statue-like, with primed
arms and bayonets glittering on the points of their guns,
marched and placed themselves in line, three deep, on
either side of the stairway of marble.
And the roaring of the crowd, the uproar, the groans,
the complaints, the appeals, redoubled. Each nation,
each tribe, each throng tried to thrust itself foremost in
the race ; endeavored to force for itself the first passage.
Masses formed of thousands of hands, heads, breasts, were
overturned, prostrated, or driven forward. Sometimes the
reflection of the bloody light shone luridly upon them;
sometimes the air was gray, livid, heavy. Like a deluge
of waves and clouds, like water-spouts driven by the wind,
they at last reached the foot of the platform. The click-
ing of the firelocks of the muskets was heard as the
soldiers adjusted them for instant use. A dead silence for
a moment ensued, and a merchant rose and cried : " The
marts are open ; the sales commence ! " The clangor of
bells everywhere ringing again jarred upon the ear, mul-
tiplying until the sound was lost in distant space.
Then the merchant closely questioned the men on the
occurrences of the days last passed, and as the voices of
the Princes and Sages set over the various divisions of
men replied from below, announcing the combats, the
massacres, the discoveries, and inventions, his associates,
standing behind him, deliberated, and concerted their
plans: — and again a dead silence ensued. The murmur-
ing of the voices of the merchants alone was to be heard
in the world of granite. The red lights in the atmosphere
grew pale ; the souls of the men were blanched with ex-
pectation !
Several minutes thus elapsed. The merchant then an-
nounced how much certain interests had increased in
value ; how much certain others had decreased upon the
earth ; and from these heady throngs, who almost held
their breaths to hear, a perfect avalanche of applause, of
curses, of cries, threats, and sobs hurtled through the
air ! Among the masses some cried : " We must die of
hunger ! " while others bellowed: *• Hurrah ! hurrah for
THE DREAM. l6i
the merchants ! Long live the all-powerful merchants ! "
Some leaped wild with joy, clapping their hands and
shouting: "We have won! We have won! " And
others groaned out: " O merchants ! O our gods ! have
mercy upon us ! " Then they began again to quarrel, to
fight, to beat, to choke, to kill one another : — and among
the bodies, some rolled upon the earth, and others tram-
pled over them, crushing them without pity !
The Young Man saw thousands of corpses trampled
underfoot in front of the platform ; and i)assing in un-
broken order over the dead bodies, he saw the living
begin to ascend the steps of marble. With the sceptre
in their hands, and the sword at their sides, the Princes,
surrounded by the Grand Dignitaries of the Nations,
marched at their heads. A glittering arch formed by the
bayonets of the soldiers rose above them, and protected
them as they advanced ; and when they had arrived mid-
way up the giant staircase, the merchants descended to
meet them, and, clasping them by the hand, conducted
them higher.
All the Workers of this world began to ascend behind
them : the manufacturers and the artisans, the lenders
and shopkeepers, some carrying various kinds of mer-
chandise, some immense bags, others undulating rolls of
paper closely covered with writing. As they reached the
midway of the giant stairs, they were all ordered to stop,
while a voice of thunder from above demanded their
names. Turn by turn they replied in the denomination
of the trade, the merchandise, the manufacture they sev-
erally represented, or by some adopted number ; for none
among them possessed or were any longer known by any
proper human 7iame in this world !
Behold ! after this black surge of people, and following
in their wake, appeared a strange group of melancholy
men bowed towards the ground. They held antique
swords in their hands, and wore battered and rusty
armor upon their shoulders. At this moment the Young
Man heard the words : "Look! those are the last de-
scendants of the old nobility ! " And glancing rapidly
around him, he saw the Apparition again at his side.
This train also mounted the giant stairs until it reached
1 62 THE '' FRAGMENT. "
midway, and then each man took his station upon a great
block of marble, and seemed suddenly to become enraged
against the arms he had hitherto borne; striking, break-
ing, pounding, and crushing them with axe and hammer.
The Apparition said : " Look at them ! They are trying
to extract the gold of Damascus, the turquoises of Persia,
from the bucklers of their ancestors ! They are tearing
the diamonds, tarnished by the lapse of centuries, from
those heaps of arms and sabres, in order to carry them to
the merchants ; they will sell to them the last remains of
ancient glory! " While the Shade of Dante thus com-
plained, they threw down the fragments of their armor ;
helmets, cuirasses, breastplates, and daggers rang as they
fell upon the pavement, and glittered as they broke into
sparkling fragments.
Then the sons of the valiant of old arose and ascended
higher, stretching out their hands, full of gold and spark-
ling gems, toward the merchants ; and thus being allowed
to advance, they supplicated in humble tones that they
might be permitted to enter among the merchants and
princes. A sign was mSde to them from above that their
request was granted. They proffered many thanks, and,
speaking now in louder tones, they began to haggle,
cavil, and bargain about the price of their merchandise,
their precious jewels. The features of Dante writhed
with pain ; the blood burst from his torn lips, and he
groaned out: "No. The Hell of the ancients never
caused me so much agony ! "
Placing his transparent hand upon the head of the
Young Man, he said : "Remember! " . . . But at that
very moment he again disappeared. Melting into the
transparent air, he was seen no longer.
A funereal groan, rising into a cry of fury, now rang
through this world, howling up from the depths of the
abyss : floating above the nations, it broke at last, with
fearful violence, against the Platform ! The Princes and
the Great of Earth grew suddenly pale ; but the coun-
tenances of the merchants did not change ; a strange
smile only writhed their lips as they fondly caressed their
gray beards.
Look ! look ! Giant forms break their way through
THE DREAM. 1 63
the very centre of the black masses ; they come, they
come ! They grow in numbers as they draw nearer !
And as they approached him the Young Man recognized
the Twelve who had been consecrated, and the Thir-
teenth, their chief, who held in his right hand the dag-
ger, and in his left the cup of blood.
And as he advanced, his face seemed to float above the
sea of human heads, power streamed from it, and genius
flashed around it. Leading his Giants to the first step,
he ordered them to take their seats, and there await his
return. And quite alone and asking permission from
none, and motioning away with his hands the bayonets
of the soldiers, he ascended, — gigantic, irresistible, and
irrepressible, shaking his thick hair as if it were the mane
of a lion !
One of the merchants descended to meet him, and in-
troduced him upon the platform even into the very midst
of the circle of consultation. But at this moment it
seemed to the Young Man that the eyes of the Giant lost
their fire, and the lion-like power of his brow grew mild.
Standing boldly, however, in the midst of the merchants,
he cried, in a voice resonant as thunder : " I am here for
the last time, to summon you in the name of the
Oppressed and Wretched ! For the last time we cry :
* Share with us, or die ! Division or Death ! ' "
The twelve martyrs left at the foot of the platform
greeted this cry with enthusiastic acclaim ; thousands and
thousands among the multitude repeated it, and the abyss
sent it back in echoes of thunder.
The giant leaned forward, and threw his double-bladed
sword upon the ground ; then stooping still lower, he
bent and bent until his forehead had quite disappeared
from the gaze of the nations. Thus contracted, he seated
himself upon one of the thrones of the merchants, and
said, in a low voice : ''Answer without delay! How
much will you give me for this cup of blood ? "
When the merchants had told him the price they had
fixed upon it, he said : " It is not enough for the blood I
offer you to-day ! Have you the slightest idea of what is
going on in the abyss? Have you ever had sufficient
courage to descend therein ? Severed as we may have
i64 ^-^^ *' fragment:'
been, we are all thoroughly united now ; they await my
return, ploughing their breasts with their nails in rage;
desperate and resolute; tearing their hair and howling
with fury ! Should they be again deceived to-day after
so many juggles, I cannot answer for them. They may
break into open revolt. Pleasant flattery, skillful phrases,
honeyed promises, will no longer appease them ; maddened
in their lair, their wild arms are already raised to strike
a fatal blow ! And you pause in this deadly hour to
chaffer and traffic with me ? Merchants and masters of
the world, is not your luxurious and fortunate position
worth a handful of gold to him who risks his life to aid
you to rescue it? "
The merchants answered : " Every day you repeat this
same story in our ears ! However, on condition that you
will urge no further claims, we will pay more for the
blood you have now brought us. "
And after much consultation, they offered him a larger
sum. But he again refused. "It is not enough for the
blood I have brought to-day! " And lifting up the cup,
he pretended to be in haste to leave the throne.
One of the merchants then unloosed from the band he
wore upon his head an enormous diamond, and said :
"This is a nail from the cross of Golgotha, which was
thus transformed during the night in which your God
expired ! It was torn from the wood at early dawn
the next morning by one of my own ancestors. Since
that time it has always been preserved in my family.
Will this diamond repay you for the • blood of your
brothers? "
The Giant cast a glance upon it ; then lowering the
cup, he poured out all the blood it contained at the feet
of the merchants, and said : "The nail is mine ! " The
Jew threw the diamond into the empty chalice, which
rang in melancholy cadence as it fell !
The chief of the Sacrifice then rose, and wended his
way back to the nations of the world. He broke forth
in threats and curses as he descended to his brothers, who
cried to liim: " Wlien ? Where? "
He replied to them in angry tones : " Follow me im-
mediately ! Our hour is not yet ; but it will surely
THE DREAM.
165
come! " And inducing them to follow him, he broke
away through the multitudes to the entrance of the abyss.
The merchants who had bargained with him then an-
nounced to the nations that perfect peace and absolute
security reigned upon earth ; that every one would now
be allowed to ascend and descend, to trade, buy, and sell.
Upon the thrones above sat all the merchants and all the
princes ; at their feet lay the company of nobles upon the
marble; they supported their heads upon' the sonorous
sacks in which the souls of the merchants moaned, and
clasped in the hollows of their hands the precious gems
they had torn from their swords and armor, — and thus
they lay extended, immovable, disarmed, their brows con-
tracted and great tears in their eyes.
And the common men incessantly rushed up and down
the great stairs in two contrary currents; a constant up-
roar prevailed among the people, disputing, haggling, and
agreeing about prices : and the howling multitude below
also bargained, traded, bought and sold.
Poor wretches down there were also crying that they
had lost all chance of making their daily bread: but no
one heeded their complaints. Countless groups were
there, burning with fever or shivering with cold : but no
one deigned to look at them. Crushed and mutilated
bodies were here and there lying about, still moving their
white lii)s and muttering : " Help ! Help! " but no hand
was stretched out to aid them !
While these things were passing upon the earth, the
reflection of all those souls which had at first inundated
space with a bloody light now became of a livid, ghastly
hue. As if hearts were breaking, one after the other, all
those fires, rays, lights, fell and died out. Then the smoke,
hanging round and wreathing itself about the cornices of
granite, overhung the walls of the edifice like a black cu-
pola, obscuring the Yellow Sun, and filling the immense
structure with darkness from base to pinnacle. In the
heart of this gloom, the Bankers of the Orient alone still
sat upon their thrones. And the world was all one black
Exchange ! and the merchants were kings of the earth !
All these pictures and images, mingling and fusing,
began to surge, grow dim, and disaj^pear before the eyes
15
1 66 THE '' fragment:'
of the Young Man. In the midst of this fog, always
thicker and more dismal, the figure of Dante, sad but
tranquil, again became visible; and the Young Man caught
the tones: "Depart from this Hell of the base! " And
at these words a vivifying cold, like a breath of fresh night
air, swept over his temples.
The Apparition took him by the hand, and moved
before him over white and silent clouds, permeated by
the faint perfume of an invisible verdure ! From time to
time also the sapphire of the sky was seen to break, and
little stars glittered in the distance. Lo ! on a sudden a
deep groan floated on behind the clouds, filled them, and
then died away ; but scarcely had it expired before a
second rose, — then a third, — then a fourth, — lo ! a multi-
tudinous wail of protracted pain ! And the clouds of
silver opened before it like flocks of frightened swans.
And it seemed to the Young Man that he and the Seer
stopped upon one of the clouds, and that from it, as from
a high balcony, they looked down upon a vast plain and
round a circle of pure azure illuminated by a full moon.
It seemed to him that before him in the plain he saw, as
it were, a forest of tall, slim trees ; they resembled pines,
but were cut in a most singular manner, for on each tall
trunk but two branches had been left ; and every tree rose
upon its own mound. Meanwhile, the groans became more
and more frequent, — each of them thrilled the air like a
clap of thunder, and resounded and re-echoed through
space, like the death-cries of thousands of men suffering
together !
The Shade asked : " Seest thou the Purgatory of our
present days? "
The Young Man answered: "I see nothing save this
forest and the sky. "
The Seer slowly raised his hands and said : "For the
second time thou wilt receive the gift of vision, for with
the same sight with which thou seest into the vile thou
canst not perceive the generous. But first listen atten-
tively to what I have to say to thee :
"There is no death ! Its frightful semblance alone
is f The Lord formed it nowhere, nor ever : for He lives
everywhere and forever ! No one dies eternally save
THE DREAM.
167
through an titter and voluntary degradation, and for him
who thus ends there is no longer existence nor tomb.
He is degraded to utter nothingness ; he is absorbed in
his own debasement. Perhaps in the circling thousands
of centuries something may yet reawaken within him. . . .
But no ! Such a one will never be purified nor have part
in the resurrection ! But whosoever is to live again must
be transformed, and every transformation bears tempo-
rarily the appearance of death. Such is the probation of
the grave. Full of mockery, of tears, of grief, of illusion !
Individuals and races, the Humanity and the worlds, must
alike submit to it, — every immortal must traverse it. He
who has not been able to bear it has perished forever!
Be lion-hearted, Henry, for such probations are about to
open before thee ! "
And placing his fingers upon his eyelids, he breathed
upon them.
It seemed to the Young Man that from every pine-
tree in this great forest the form of a man crucified
started forth ! He then perceived a multitude of bodies,
palpitating and bloody, thus suspended in the air, — and
at every moment their numbers augmented. Rank suc-
ceeded to rank in the wan light of the moon ; they wid-
ened, they lengthened, they extended here, there, ever
farther, even to the most distant limits of the horizon.
All space is living, breathing, palpitating, shivering with
them ! And the Young Man knew it was an entire na-
tion extended in the Passion of Christ upon its own soil,
— and his eyes swam in tears !
And the Shade said : " Look !
And the boy went away murmuring : '^ In Heaven per-
haps, but not upon earth. "
During this time many, crawling in the dust, ground
their teeth ; while the Shade of Dante hurried through
them like an avalanche, sweeping on elsewhere.
In the midst of this world of granite, other throngs
were leaning over an immense gulf. The faces of those
who looked down into it swam in a crimson light ; the
earth around it trembled, as if convulsed by hidden earth-
quakes. When the Young Man drew near, it seemed to
him he saw the vast crater of a volcano, or the sunken bed
of a dry lake surrounded by high and precipitous walls.
The bottom was black with human heads ; black as the
waves in a tempest; a bloody light glowed as if from
burning coals and smoking cinders like volcanic scoriae, —
and threats and curses rose continually therefrom !
As a mother folds her infant to her breast, so the Shade
wound the Young Man in his arms, and glided with him
into the dismal depths of this great gulf. Forms of the
most savage character were there unchained, raging and
seething in the abyss. Their cheeks were black with
bristling beard, their sleeves tucked up to their shoulders,
and their arms were blue with swollen veins like cords.
Sometimes they coiled themselves into living knots ; some-
times they scattered far asunder; sometimes they crawled
like vipers ; then stood erect in the lurid light of the
flames, as men prepared for combat.
Close to the nearest fire, twelve men of gigantic size
were on their knees. Their bodies were stripped to the
waist, and a thirteenth advanced before them, with a
dagger in the right hand and a cup in the left, and he
said : ** I will consecrate you ! " The giants bowed their
THE DREAM.
149
heads devoutly, and on spots illuminated by the reflection
from the coals he graved with the point of his dagger
bloody letters upon their naked shoulders. None trembled,
none groaned. The word equality, and the Avord
LIBERTY, were carved in crimson wounds on every brawny
shoulder. The Shade said: "Look, how carefully the
thirteenth holds the cup to collect the blood flowing from
the bodies of his brothers ! No drop escapes- him ! Per-
haps thou thinkest he will preserve it in testimony of the
torments endured, in memory of the consecration, or
show it to the People as the emblem of vengeance? "
And the Young Man whispered: "Master, will it be
otherwise ? "
The voice of the apparition replied, in tones like sub-
terranean thunder: "Verily! he will sell this blood to
the merchants, and at their hour of barter ! Move on,
and look no more. "
And as they passed through, a black whirlwind of wild
life, madly tossing about in the half-extinguished cinders,
cried: "Are we to dwell y^r^f^r at the bottom of this
black gulf? Are we never to reach the surface of the
earth, where dwell the merchants? "
Another horde of poor tatterdemalions, rekindling the
coals of the furnace by the clapping of their hands, in-
terrupted the words of the first : "Away to the Sanctuary
of 'the Golden Sun, where the wines are sweet, the food
luscious, and the garments fine ! Away to the Exchange,
where men always enjoy themselves, conquer power, and
never once wound their hands with work, from the cradle
to the grave ! "
Another whirlwind of black life, pouring oil into the
flames, cried: "Boldness! and we will make our way
into the Banks of all Nations ! Breasts of rock and
claws of lions will be found among us ! We can arm
ourselves with iron spikes, as we have no swords. "
Then the brawny masses spun together in wild whirl,
clapped their hands, and cried: "In spite of all oppo-
sition from other castes, we will climb to the top of those
steep cliffs ! But once. Fate, let us sleep in the Paradise
of the Rich, on their silken carpets, on their beds of
down ! Can it be possible to have more in Heaven than
ISO
THE '' fragment:'
they have upon earth ? Like them, let us be happy on
earth before we die ! "
At this moment, the man with the dagger and the cup,
leading the consecrated giants, penetrated into the midst
of the howlers. The crowd saluted him with furious ac-
clamations, crying: "When wilt thou lead us hence? "
He replied: "For the present be patient; in a little
while your hour cometh ! " And the giants stretched
forth to him their hands ; their bones cracked, and the
blood spurted from their fresh wounds, and their lips
trembled with the oath : " With you to conquer, or with
you to die! " And following their chief, they went
where the long rows of gibbets, illuminated by blazing
torches, glared through the gloom !
Groups of boys knelt under every scaffold, and jurists
and scribes, versed in the Scriptures, were seated near
them, and taught them in what way they ought to curse
their fathers. The children repeated the maledictions in
chorus, and if one, weaker than the rest, hesitated or
wept with repugnance, the teachers fell upon him with
raised lash, and the child, shielding himself with his
little hands, recommenced to recite his task. The Shade
of Dante, like a dark column, took a place in the midst
of those kneeling rows, and seemed to listen. He sud-
denly uttered a loud cry, and the lesson was interrupted.
The scribes and jurists grew pale, and asked: "Who
spoke? " and the Shadow replied: "One of those
against whom you thunder forth your imprecations.
Liars and hypocrites ! You are lower than the vilest
reptile, for you assume a robe of moral grandeur, and
you try to imitate the language of science ! Look into
my dead eyes, and endure if you can my glance of scorn !
Ah ! you are utterly ignorant of what constitutes the lib-
erty of the spirit ! Woe ! woe ! you understand nothing
but the well-being of the body ! "
Then he called the children to him, and stretching his
hands above those who surrounded him and in the direc-
tion of those who were more distant, he blessed them all
and said : " Do not believe the falsehoods you have been
taught ! It is you who are to-day slaves ! The fathers
of your fathers were free in the simplicity of their own
THE DREAM.
151
hearts. Faith in God was their buckler against the op-
pression of men. Their souls were as fresh as the young
verdure of the spring. In the cabin of the valley, or the
chateau on the hill, they were everywhere true to them-
selves ; their love was really love, and their worship was
a true combat ! In this vast world of to-day, love is no
longer to be found ; in this vast world of to-day, there is
no true combat 1"
It seemed to the Young Man that one of the jurists
rose and advanced towards Dante, grasping in his hands
the double barrel of his gun, and he was blind in one
eye, and he cried : " Equality ! murder ! "
His hat was placed awry upon his head, and the word
PEOPLE was embroidered in great letters upon it. He
stumbled as he walked, and when he stopped he cocked
his gun and began to harangue. His one eye rolled in
its socket, and the froth flowed from his lips. But the
pale shade interrupted his discourse : ** Thy fury exhales
in vain sounds, in which there are no thoughts. Not
words, but acts ; not blood, but the concord of the citizens
must form and maintain a Republic ! The brute alone
lives in thee ; the spirit is dead ! Before ten years shall
have passed away, thou wilt have betrayed the People 1"
The eye of the speech-maker became blood-shot, and,
seized by a secret terror, he lowered the barrel of his
gun. The Shade said to the Young Man : " Such souls
merit contempt. The wave that flings itself most vio-
lently against the sands makes the most noise : — human
bosoms are the waves of this world ! "
The ground now began to descend ; the light from the
gibbets still shone, but ever more and more feebly. Be-
hold ! afar off appeared numberless little livid stars, like
the night-lamps in a hospital. Each star was fixed above
a mat of reeds, on which lay a woman : a whole People
of women lay here, and groaned, sighed, and wept, and
ever and anon broke forth a last cry of pain, a shriek of
mortal anguish ; and as they died away, again com-
menced low sobs and sighs and wails, and they pro-
longed themselves ever farther in the distance, and ever
lower in the depths of the subterranean vaults !
At the sight of Dante, one of the women rose, un-
152
THE ''FRAGMENT:'
rolled her long, floating tresses, and twisted their masses
round her hands ; and the Young Man saw that her soul
was inwoven in those meshes, and streamed down their
golden length with horrible writhings of pain. And she
said: "Whosoever thou mayst be, tell me — and thou,
also : tell me, both of you, — why they have forced me to
glide down from the warm surface of the earth to its
uttermost abysses ? As long as my body was graceful and
fair I walked in the sunshine, and everybody was kind
to me. But when like the flower I faded, — as the love-
liest flower must fade, — they seized me and hurled me
down among those who rot in the sepulchre where there
is weeping and gnashing of teeth ! When men grow old,
the young honor them in song ; but we, alas ! long be-
fore the hour of our death, they order us to lie down in
the grave ! We complain, we supplicate, we entreat, we
appeal ! But they are afar ; they hear us not. Then our
agony begins; ah ! they have gone still farther off"; they
hear us no longer ; they will not come even to say fare-
well ; and there is nothing left us but to die ! "
As she spoke, others rose, and, standing upon their
feet, cried : "Justice ! justice ! " And after these, others,
striking their breasts, sobbed and cursed ! Streams of
tears flowed from their eyes, poured down their long,
disheveled locks, and then fell rippling to the ground
with the dull rustling of autumnal rain. Scarcely would
the weaker and more exhausted among them rise when
they would fall back anew; while those who had not been
able to rise at all dragged themselves along upon their
hands and knees, and many, veiling their faces with their
hands in sad memory of their lost beauty, turned towards
the apparition, and nothing but the fire of two burninrg
eyes about to die out forever could be seen between the
tapering fingers.
The Young Man then perceived some old men in long,
black robes, carrying vases of holy water, which they
sprinkled freely over the sufferers, while they chanted in
low and melancholy cadence. Some of the women
bowed their heads patiently, and at once went sweetly to
sleep upon their mats. Others knelt, kissed the hands of
the old men, and murmured to them the interminable
THE DUE AM. 1^2
recital of their sorrows. But she who had first arisen,
twisting her hair still more violently, cried to them :
" Yonder, on the surface of the earth, the men would no
longer listen to you ; but they said to you : ' Go, and be
our spies on the women we have left to perish ! When
their souls are tearing themselves loose from their bodies,
stifle their complaints ! When they break into curses
■^igainst us, close their lips, for their groans are not
pleasant to our ears! Often when they struggle to fling
themselves forth from this gulf into which we have cast
them, they spoil our festivals, and interrupt our philo-
sophical speculations ! ' You obeyed, you descended, you
are here ! Your task is to teach us to die silently / But
I win not die in silence ! I will perish crying aloud : ' I
had a soul; I have a soul ; and on earth they would never
acknowledge in me anything but a body ! Be Thou the
judge of it, O God ! Thou who hast given me a living
soul! '"
And as the eyes of the Young Man were fixed upon
her, he saw her soul in a final convulsion tear itself loose
from the tangled meshes of her hair, and float above the
lamps athwart the gloom, like a veil of blood pierced by
a thousand needles !
The Seer passed on lost in thought, as if with repug-
nance, and answering nothing. At last they reached a
white couch in a lonely spot and at a great distance from
all others. A lamp burned under a crucifix placed against
a pillar of white marble, and a woman in black was upon
her knees before it. Her face was turned away from the
shadow of the Seer, who stopped and remained standing
in silence, as if wrapped in deep melancholy.
" Master, who is she? " demanded the Young Man.
The Shade replied : "I have seen one form like that, —
it was years ago,— once here, upon the earth, — a second
time above, in Heaven ! When she turns her head, we
will know who she is. "
And he remained standing there, without interrupting
the prayer of the woman.
And it appeared to the Young Man that he saw kneel-
ing by the side of the woman in black a woman in white,
exactly like the first, except that in place of being quite
'4
154
THE "FRAGMENTS
veiled with long hair, she had two angel wings softly bent
in the form of a cross and folded above her shoulders.
And these wings were furrowed with deep wounds, and in
each wound a nail was deeply sunk, which kept the wings
from unfolding. A moment after, these two forms melted
into each other, — and once more there was only the kneel-
ing figure in mourning.
Then the Shade said: *'Lo! she has finished her
prayer, for her soul of snow has disappeared. " And he
added, as if in spite of himself: "Beatrice ! "
The woman in black turned round, and said: "She
who bore this name years and years ago knew nothing
but Paradise upon this earth, for she perished in the first
spring of life ; — and she knew nothing but Paradise be-
yond this earth, for Heaven immediately received her
into its bosom ! But, miserable me ! none ever compen-
sated me for the loss of my first spring by a second !
That is not my name ! "
And wringing her hands, she stood erect and white as
alabaster.
And when the Seer conjured her to speak, she began in
these words : " I was born in a land of milk and honey,
which is to-day called the land of sepulchres and of
crosses, — and which is also called the land of agony !
You have heard me spoken of there ! But a thousand
tongues had poisoned and torn my name before it
reached your ears. At first my parents called me : Inno-
cent, Lovely, Blessed, — afterwards they gave me another
name : Slave 1
"For in accordance with the customs of the world,
while still a child and knowing nothing of love, I was
given, or rather sold, to a husband. Oh ! weep for me
and for my sisters, who, as yet young, knowing nothing
and feeling nothing, go without volition to deliver them-
selves up, body and soul, to those who know all and have
already felt all, — to whom nevertheless knowledge has not
given the light of the angel, but rather the astute decrepi-
tude of the demon !
" I bore all, — for all may be endured in this sad world
save one feeling : contempt ! When like a dagger it pen-
etrates between two beings, — the handle in the heart of
THE DREAM. icj
the one, and the point in the heart of the other, — how can
they pursue together the same path in life? Wretched
beings, only riveted to one another by this mortal blade !
How can they break together every day the same bread,
even until death, — then a blessing, — conies to separate
them? I tried to force my own will, — 'twas all in vain !
I cried to God ! He would not hear ! He must have
despised me ! "
Ralapsing into silence, she again stood erect and im-
movable, pale, and white as alabaster !
And when the Seer again adjured her, she replied, with
broken sobs: "Nay, I will not answer to God Himself
upon the Day of Judgment ! I alone know it ! I alone
remember it !
" I still see the Palace, the long avenue of flowering lin-
dens, and the sun setting behind the perfumed branches.
I see myself still under them ; still feel myself walking
about as if in a magnetic sleep ! Had it not been said
during the last few days that something mysterious was
preparing in my country? An indefinable presentiment
floated in the air, saddening the perfume of the new-mown
hay, as if the plague were about to breathe upon us, or as
if men were preparing to rise and combat where they must
inevitably perish by thousands ! My husband, delicate,
white, and slight as a woman, also walked about and
seemed to expect something, some one ! Ah ! he waited
with a smile which I can never, never forget !
"Men then began to glide into the garden from all
sides. I knew this one, that one, another,-! knew them
all ! They were relations, friends, neighbors ! He grasps
their hands, he promises them, he swears faith ! The sun
sets. He begs them to lay aside their arms, sit down, and
enter for the last time into consultation. They obey, and
seat themselves upon the turf. But he ! He claps his
hands, gives a signal, — his hissing is like that of a ser-
pent ! Soldiers! . . . soldiers! . , . everywhere sol-
diers ! . . .
"Ask me nothing, — I have borne the name of that
man ; . . . I have sworn to be faithful to him even to the
grave ! I will not give him up to you, as he has given
his brothers up to the enemy ! . . .
156 THE "FRAGMENT. "
"Hear now my third name upon the earth: Dishon-
ored !
"Men, know ye wherefore? Because despair tore my
heart — and there came a day when I was loved, — and in
that day I beh'eved in Beauty, Goodness, Wisdom, even
upon earth ? Because, when dying, I raised my head and
cried : How blessed it is to spring from the grave into the
skies ! — Because I dared to love ! "
Again was she silent, again motionless and white as
alabaster.
And when the Seer for the third time adjured her, she
murmured, in a low voice: "Then follow me! " Taking
the lamp from below the crucifix, she left the place where
the People of women lay prostrate behind her, and fol-
lowed a tortuous path far through the subterranean space.
The walls of the narrow dungeons contracted and length-
ened before the thin hand as it approached them, bearing
the lamp with its doubtful and uncertain light.
Everywhere around her were walls reeking with hu-
midity ; everywhere a low and stifling vault ! No sound
of footsteps was there ever heard ; no breath ever played
with the doubtful flame of the lamp ! The Young Man
continued to advance, although he felt ever more languid,
more weary and oppressed. It seemed to him that the
very air necessary for breath failed on all sides ; that an
invisible weight crushed him to the earth ; that the blood
congealed in his veins, and it seemed to him that he cried
to himself: " I will go no farther ! "
The lady in the funereal robes then turned round, and,
lifting the glimmering lamp above his forehead, said:
"Although thou art a man, and a strong and courageous
one, thou canst not endure to breathe for a single hotir
here, where all my weary years forever flow and reflow !
Go ! Go, in peace ! "
But the Seer sadly asked : " Tell me, where then is he
who loved thee? "
Suddenly casting down her eyes, she answered : "There !
where his destiny as man precipitated him ! He tore me
from my solitude of heart : and left me in the utter soli-
tude of spirit ! I loved him, — he has left me ! "
Then showing a distant stone which whitened in the
THE DREAM.
157
midst of the darkness, she said : *' Wrapped in its wings
my soul is buried there ! This which you see is only a
body which has not yet been able to die ! "
And, overpowered by grief, she fell upon her knees and
cried : " Thou who knowest, tell us if it will be thus for-
ever? "
And for the first time her tears began to flow.
And the Seer, placing his hand upon her brow, said :
*' Until now you have been as the Heavenly Lilies, which
bloom knowing naught of their colors and perfumes.
The day is coming when each of you will change into a
Thinking Rose. The chords of inspiration will escape
from the hands of the men, and will pass into yours !
Kneeling at your feet, they will then implore from you a
hymn of consolation, a prophecy of hope, a vision of
beauty, — for their destiny will then have led them into
prosaic and unendurable cares, into hard and harsh
labors ! But absorbed in the contemplation of God, you
will not cast a glance upon them, you will not hear their
sighs. Then will their hearts break, as yours have done
for ages P '
"Tell me yet more! " said the lady in black, appeal-
ing to Dante with beseeching look.
He proceeded : "This will continue until the hour of
a new transformation sounds for you. Then you will again
stretch forth your hands to them ; through love you will
save the dying hearts ; and you will become as their sisters,
— forever their equals upon earth and in Heaven ! "
But the lady in black weeping with ever-increasing
emotion, he added : " Recall thy soul, and be not afraid,
for if it were possible for anything to perish, it would be
seen that in the judgments of the Lord the star of the
glory of men would sooner be forever extinguished than
the tears of one unfortunate woman be suifered to flow in
vain ! "
And when, kneeling, she appeared more tranquil, Dante
left her, and, bearing off" the Young Man with him, walked
directly to the grave, and as they passed the tomb which
whitened in the darkness, he said : " Verily, she will die
in these shadows and will rest here; — for the time 70///
come; — but it is not yet come ! "
14*
158 THE "FRAGMENT. "
And, having blessed the grave, as if borne upward by
his own power he rose through the air into higher regions.
Through the opening between the precipices, but very,
very high above him, the Young Man saw the granite
vault covering the world ! And as he rose from the depths,
it widened in its livid light. He could already dis-
tinguish the clangor of a thousand jarring bells, the in-
cessant pattering of quirk steps, the sound of myriads of
footfalls, and the groanings of pavements echoing be-
neath the tread of throngiiig men. And when the ap-
parition stopped on the edge of the opening, and with a
sign of his hand swept the Young Man on like a whirlwind,
he saw all the Nations of the Earth making their way
toward the Yellow Sun; and under this sun stood a gi-
gantic black platform, upon which many thrones glittered
in the distance.
Like vapors rising into air, like rushing streams, like
hunted herds, the throngs crowd, hurry, jostle one
another; all, all rushing in the same direction! The
sound of countless invisible bells buzzes thr. ough space ;
old and young men, women and children, brush and
bustle on, pass and repass, scramble hurriedly onward !
Vainly do the old implore the young to retard their
steps, to stop a single moment and to take them with
them. The youngrefiiseto turn, they will not even listen, —
they run on ! Pale, weary maidens forced to stop, weep
and beg their brothers, supplicate their lovers, to wait a
moment for them ; — they will not even spare the time to
recognize them, — they run and run ! Mothers with ba-
bies at their breasts join in the race; suddenly a child on
one side or the other is knocked down ; it shrieks aloud,
stretches out its little hands, and lies upon the pavement.
From all sides the crowd presses and jostles on; the mothers
turn not back nor stoop to rescue ; — they too run and run.
The Young Man stopped above one of these little
bodies crushed under the trampling feet, and asked :
" Master, is it the hour of the Last Judgment? "
The Api)arition, veiling his fare, replied : "It is only
the hour of the Judgment of the Merchants: it is the hour
of the Exchange and the Marts ! "
At these words, the Apparition transported the Young
THE DREAM. i^p
Man from side to side across the space of this world to
the opposite point, where were the Yellow Sun and the
gigantic black platform ; and it seemed to the Young
Man that, as if borne upon wings, he remained suspended
at the height of the platform, and lower than the sun : —
and the figure of the Master wrapped itself in bitter scorn
— and disappeared ! "
This sun seemed to be of gold with artificial rays, and
the platform was of black marble, with stairways which
led to many brilliant thrones. Upon those thrones sat
the Bankers and Merchants chosen among the wandering
tribes of the Orient ; they were clad in flowing robes,
wore long gray beards, and purple fillets round their brows;
— and under their feet lay enormous sacks full of sono-
rous metal.
And sometimes broken cries proceeded from the sacks,
as it were complaints, prayers, demands, and reproaches.
The Young Man perceived that these cries came from the
souls of the merchants wailing, hidden and chained, in
the bags of gold. And the more the unhappy souls com-
plained, the more the rage of the merchants increased,
and, trampling and crushing the sacks underfoot, they
thus silenced the moans of their own souls !
And when the Wretched souls were silenced, with care-
less and rough voices they commenced their consultation,
designating from time to time with their hands one or other
of the innumerable throngs of Peoples which approached
them on every side. A dense mass of black vapor rose,
overspreading space, above these hustling Peoples ; it was
deeply furrowed with tawny lights ; and the Young Man
understood it was the form of all those human souls united
and overhanging their bodies, above which they lowered
like mists of blood, like melting scorice, like immense
furnaces dying into darkness.
Like ice-floes broken by tossing waves, like the rushing
of wind-driven tempests, the Nations advanced under the
lurid reflections of their souls, as if under a Hell float-
ing above them ! Sometimes were heard the cries of
those who fell, or the dull groans of those who were
crushed and stifled underfoot by the crowd. One of the
merchants rose, gave a signal, and on one side of the
l6o THE "FRAGMENT:'
platform enormous slabs of stone were immediately raised,
subterranean caverns opened, and long files of soldiers
issued therefrom, who, mute and statue-like, with primed
arms and bayonets glittering on the points of their guns,
marched and placed themselves in line, three deep, on
either side of the stairway of marble.
And the roaring of the crowd, the uproar, the groans,
the complaints, the appeals, redoubled. Each nation,
each tribe, each throng tried to thrust itself foremost in
the race ; endeavored to force for itself the first passage.
Masses formed of thousands of hands, heads, breasts, were
overturned, prostrated, or driven forward. Sometimes the
reflection of the bloody light shone luridly upon them;
sometimes the air was gray, livid, heavy. Like a deluge
of waves and clouds, like water-spouts driven by the wind,
they at last reached the foot of the platform. The click-
ing of the firelocks of the muskets was heard as the
soldiers adjusted them for instant use. A dead silence for
a moment ensued, and a merchant rose and cried : " The
marts are open ; the sales commence ! " The clangor of
bells everywhere ringing again jarred upon the ear, mul-
tiplying until the sound was lost in distant space.
Then the merchant closely questioned the men on the
occurrences of the days last passed, and as the voices of
the Princes and Sages set over the various divisions of
men replied from below, announcing the combats, the
massacres, the discoveries, and inventions, his associates,
standing behind him, deliberated, and concerted their
plans: — and again a dead silence ensued. The murmur-
ing of the voices of the merchants alone was to be heard
in the world of granite. The red lights in the atmosphere
grew pale ; the souls of the men were blanched with ex-
pectation !
Several minutes thus elapsed. The merchant then an-
nounced how much certain interests had increased in
value ; how much certain others had decreased upon the
earth ; and from these heady throngs, who almost held
their breaths to hear, a perfect avalanche of applause, of
curses, of cries, threats, and sobs hurtled through the
air ! Among the masses some cried : " We must die of
hunger ! " while others bellowed: *• Hurrah ! hurrah for
THE DREAM. l6i
the merchants ! Long live the all-powerful merchants ! "
Some leaped wild with joy, clapping their hands and
shouting: "We have won! We have won! " And
others groaned out: " O merchants ! O our gods ! have
mercy upon us ! " Then they began again to quarrel, to
fight, to beat, to choke, to kill one another : — and among
the bodies, some rolled upon the earth, and others tram-
pled over them, crushing them without pity !
The Young Man saw thousands of corpses trampled
underfoot in front of the platform ; and i)assing in un-
broken order over the dead bodies, he saw the living
begin to ascend the steps of marble. With the sceptre
in their hands, and the sword at their sides, the Princes,
surrounded by the Grand Dignitaries of the Nations,
marched at their heads. A glittering arch formed by the
bayonets of the soldiers rose above them, and protected
them as they advanced ; and when they had arrived mid-
way up the giant staircase, the merchants descended to
meet them, and, clasping them by the hand, conducted
them higher.
All the Workers of this world began to ascend behind
them : the manufacturers and the artisans, the lenders
and shopkeepers, some carrying various kinds of mer-
chandise, some immense bags, others undulating rolls of
paper closely covered with writing. As they reached the
midway of the giant stairs, they were all ordered to stop,
while a voice of thunder from above demanded their
names. Turn by turn they replied in the denomination
of the trade, the merchandise, the manufacture they sev-
erally represented, or by some adopted number ; for none
among them possessed or were any longer known by any
proper human 7iame in this world !
Behold ! after this black surge of people, and following
in their wake, appeared a strange group of melancholy
men bowed towards the ground. They held antique
swords in their hands, and wore battered and rusty
armor upon their shoulders. At this moment the Young
Man heard the words : "Look! those are the last de-
scendants of the old nobility ! " And glancing rapidly
around him, he saw the Apparition again at his side.
This train also mounted the giant stairs until it reached
1 62 THE '' FRAGMENT. "
midway, and then each man took his station upon a great
block of marble, and seemed suddenly to become enraged
against the arms he had hitherto borne; striking, break-
ing, pounding, and crushing them with axe and hammer.
The Apparition said : " Look at them ! They are trying
to extract the gold of Damascus, the turquoises of Persia,
from the bucklers of their ancestors ! They are tearing
the diamonds, tarnished by the lapse of centuries, from
those heaps of arms and sabres, in order to carry them to
the merchants ; they will sell to them the last remains of
ancient glory! " While the Shade of Dante thus com-
plained, they threw down the fragments of their armor ;
helmets, cuirasses, breastplates, and daggers rang as they
fell upon the pavement, and glittered as they broke into
sparkling fragments.
Then the sons of the valiant of old arose and ascended
higher, stretching out their hands, full of gold and spark-
ling gems, toward the merchants ; and thus being allowed
to advance, they supplicated in humble tones that they
might be permitted to enter among the merchants and
princes. A sign was mSde to them from above that their
request was granted. They proffered many thanks, and,
speaking now in louder tones, they began to haggle,
cavil, and bargain about the price of their merchandise,
their precious jewels. The features of Dante writhed
with pain ; the blood burst from his torn lips, and he
groaned out: "No. The Hell of the ancients never
caused me so much agony ! "
Placing his transparent hand upon the head of the
Young Man, he said : "Remember! " . . . But at that
very moment he again disappeared. Melting into the
transparent air, he was seen no longer.
A funereal groan, rising into a cry of fury, now rang
through this world, howling up from the depths of the
abyss : floating above the nations, it broke at last, with
fearful violence, against the Platform ! The Princes and
the Great of Earth grew suddenly pale ; but the coun-
tenances of the merchants did not change ; a strange
smile only writhed their lips as they fondly caressed their
gray beards.
Look ! look ! Giant forms break their way through
THE DREAM. 1 63
the very centre of the black masses ; they come, they
come ! They grow in numbers as they draw nearer !
And as they approached him the Young Man recognized
the Twelve who had been consecrated, and the Thir-
teenth, their chief, who held in his right hand the dag-
ger, and in his left the cup of blood.
And as he advanced, his face seemed to float above the
sea of human heads, power streamed from it, and genius
flashed around it. Leading his Giants to the first step,
he ordered them to take their seats, and there await his
return. And quite alone and asking permission from
none, and motioning away with his hands the bayonets
of the soldiers, he ascended, — gigantic, irresistible, and
irrepressible, shaking his thick hair as if it were the mane
of a lion !
One of the merchants descended to meet him, and in-
troduced him upon the platform even into the very midst
of the circle of consultation. But at this moment it
seemed to the Young Man that the eyes of the Giant lost
their fire, and the lion-like power of his brow grew mild.
Standing boldly, however, in the midst of the merchants,
he cried, in a voice resonant as thunder : " I am here for
the last time, to summon you in the name of the
Oppressed and Wretched ! For the last time we cry :
* Share with us, or die ! Division or Death ! ' "
The twelve martyrs left at the foot of the platform
greeted this cry with enthusiastic acclaim ; thousands and
thousands among the multitude repeated it, and the abyss
sent it back in echoes of thunder.
The giant leaned forward, and threw his double-bladed
sword upon the ground ; then stooping still lower, he
bent and bent until his forehead had quite disappeared
from the gaze of the nations. Thus contracted, he seated
himself upon one of the thrones of the merchants, and
said, in a low voice : ''Answer without delay! How
much will you give me for this cup of blood ? "
When the merchants had told him the price they had
fixed upon it, he said : " It is not enough for the blood I
offer you to-day ! Have you the slightest idea of what is
going on in the abyss? Have you ever had sufficient
courage to descend therein ? Severed as we may have
i64 ^-^^ *' fragment:'
been, we are all thoroughly united now ; they await my
return, ploughing their breasts with their nails in rage;
desperate and resolute; tearing their hair and howling
with fury ! Should they be again deceived to-day after
so many juggles, I cannot answer for them. They may
break into open revolt. Pleasant flattery, skillful phrases,
honeyed promises, will no longer appease them ; maddened
in their lair, their wild arms are already raised to strike
a fatal blow ! And you pause in this deadly hour to
chaffer and traffic with me ? Merchants and masters of
the world, is not your luxurious and fortunate position
worth a handful of gold to him who risks his life to aid
you to rescue it? "
The merchants answered : " Every day you repeat this
same story in our ears ! However, on condition that you
will urge no further claims, we will pay more for the
blood you have now brought us. "
And after much consultation, they offered him a larger
sum. But he again refused. "It is not enough for the
blood I have brought to-day! " And lifting up the cup,
he pretended to be in haste to leave the throne.
One of the merchants then unloosed from the band he
wore upon his head an enormous diamond, and said :
"This is a nail from the cross of Golgotha, which was
thus transformed during the night in which your God
expired ! It was torn from the wood at early dawn
the next morning by one of my own ancestors. Since
that time it has always been preserved in my family.
Will this diamond repay you for the • blood of your
brothers? "
The Giant cast a glance upon it ; then lowering the
cup, he poured out all the blood it contained at the feet
of the merchants, and said : "The nail is mine ! " The
Jew threw the diamond into the empty chalice, which
rang in melancholy cadence as it fell !
The chief of the Sacrifice then rose, and wended his
way back to the nations of the world. He broke forth
in threats and curses as he descended to his brothers, who
cried to liim: " Wlien ? Where? "
He replied to them in angry tones : " Follow me im-
mediately ! Our hour is not yet ; but it will surely
THE DREAM.
165
come! " And inducing them to follow him, he broke
away through the multitudes to the entrance of the abyss.
The merchants who had bargained with him then an-
nounced to the nations that perfect peace and absolute
security reigned upon earth ; that every one would now
be allowed to ascend and descend, to trade, buy, and sell.
Upon the thrones above sat all the merchants and all the
princes ; at their feet lay the company of nobles upon the
marble; they supported their heads upon' the sonorous
sacks in which the souls of the merchants moaned, and
clasped in the hollows of their hands the precious gems
they had torn from their swords and armor, — and thus
they lay extended, immovable, disarmed, their brows con-
tracted and great tears in their eyes.
And the common men incessantly rushed up and down
the great stairs in two contrary currents; a constant up-
roar prevailed among the people, disputing, haggling, and
agreeing about prices : and the howling multitude below
also bargained, traded, bought and sold.
Poor wretches down there were also crying that they
had lost all chance of making their daily bread: but no
one heeded their complaints. Countless groups were
there, burning with fever or shivering with cold : but no
one deigned to look at them. Crushed and mutilated
bodies were here and there lying about, still moving their
white lii)s and muttering : " Help ! Help! " but no hand
was stretched out to aid them !
While these things were passing upon the earth, the
reflection of all those souls which had at first inundated
space with a bloody light now became of a livid, ghastly
hue. As if hearts were breaking, one after the other, all
those fires, rays, lights, fell and died out. Then the smoke,
hanging round and wreathing itself about the cornices of
granite, overhung the walls of the edifice like a black cu-
pola, obscuring the Yellow Sun, and filling the immense
structure with darkness from base to pinnacle. In the
heart of this gloom, the Bankers of the Orient alone still
sat upon their thrones. And the world was all one black
Exchange ! and the merchants were kings of the earth !
All these pictures and images, mingling and fusing,
began to surge, grow dim, and disaj^pear before the eyes
15
1 66 THE '' fragment:'
of the Young Man. In the midst of this fog, always
thicker and more dismal, the figure of Dante, sad but
tranquil, again became visible; and the Young Man caught
the tones: "Depart from this Hell of the base! " And
at these words a vivifying cold, like a breath of fresh night
air, swept over his temples.
The Apparition took him by the hand, and moved
before him over white and silent clouds, permeated by
the faint perfume of an invisible verdure ! From time to
time also the sapphire of the sky was seen to break, and
little stars glittered in the distance. Lo ! on a sudden a
deep groan floated on behind the clouds, filled them, and
then died away ; but scarcely had it expired before a
second rose, — then a third, — then a fourth, — lo ! a multi-
tudinous wail of protracted pain ! And the clouds of
silver opened before it like flocks of frightened swans.
And it seemed to the Young Man that he and the Seer
stopped upon one of the clouds, and that from it, as from
a high balcony, they looked down upon a vast plain and
round a circle of pure azure illuminated by a full moon.
It seemed to him that before him in the plain he saw, as
it were, a forest of tall, slim trees ; they resembled pines,
but were cut in a most singular manner, for on each tall
trunk but two branches had been left ; and every tree rose
upon its own mound. Meanwhile, the groans became more
and more frequent, — each of them thrilled the air like a
clap of thunder, and resounded and re-echoed through
space, like the death-cries of thousands of men suffering
together !
The Shade asked : " Seest thou the Purgatory of our
present days? "
The Young Man answered: "I see nothing save this
forest and the sky. "
The Seer slowly raised his hands and said : "For the
second time thou wilt receive the gift of vision, for with
the same sight with which thou seest into the vile thou
canst not perceive the generous. But first listen atten-
tively to what I have to say to thee :
"There is no death ! Its frightful semblance alone
is f The Lord formed it nowhere, nor ever : for He lives
everywhere and forever ! No one dies eternally save
THE DREAM.
167
through an titter and voluntary degradation, and for him
who thus ends there is no longer existence nor tomb.
He is degraded to utter nothingness ; he is absorbed in
his own debasement. Perhaps in the circling thousands
of centuries something may yet reawaken within him. . . .
But no ! Such a one will never be purified nor have part
in the resurrection ! But whosoever is to live again must
be transformed, and every transformation bears tempo-
rarily the appearance of death. Such is the probation of
the grave. Full of mockery, of tears, of grief, of illusion !
Individuals and races, the Humanity and the worlds, must
alike submit to it, — every immortal must traverse it. He
who has not been able to bear it has perished forever!
Be lion-hearted, Henry, for such probations are about to
open before thee ! "
And placing his fingers upon his eyelids, he breathed
upon them.
It seemed to the Young Man that from every pine-
tree in this great forest the form of a man crucified
started forth ! He then perceived a multitude of bodies,
palpitating and bloody, thus suspended in the air, — and
at every moment their numbers augmented. Rank suc-
ceeded to rank in the wan light of the moon ; they wid-
ened, they lengthened, they extended here, there, ever
farther, even to the most distant limits of the horizon.
All space is living, breathing, palpitating, shivering with
them ! And the Young Man knew it was an entire na-
tion extended in the Passion of Christ upon its own soil,
— and his eyes swam in tears !
And the Shade said : " Look !
