Overcome
with detesta-
tion of the deed he is about to do, Irydion bids
her leave him.
tion of the deed he is about to do, Irydion bids
her leave him.
Poland - 1915 - Poland, a Study in National Idealism - Monica Gardner
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? ZTGMUNT KRASINSKI 129
this village was burnt, that town sacked, and all
Praga drowned in the blood of its inhabitants,
children flung palpitating on the frozen, stiff
breasts of their mothers. . . You have not followed
on the map the desolation of your country, till
it was at last overwhelmed under the weight of
the oppressors. To you everything has spoken of
peace, happiness, forgetfulness. That is why
hatred appears so hideous to you. -Hatred was the
companion of my childhood. I hateawith all the
strength of my little heart before I loved either'
a woman or friend. It is an element which has
mingled with my nature and which has become
a part of my being. "'*V I
To a Polish friend, better able than the pros-
perous young Englishman to understand the
strength of the temptation, Krasinski confided
that his sympathies were with Irydion, the hater
and the avenger, and that only logic and necessity
led him to the conclusion of love triumphant
that makes the moral grandeur of the play.
"What is, is," he added. " It is not our caprices
'that rule the world, but the mind of God. "t
Irydion represents the victory of Krasinski's
higher self, a life-giving truth spoken from the
anguish of one Pole to the anguish of thousands
. of Poles.
The length of the drama, the elaboration of.
the style, the wealth of detail that, indeed, at times
somewhat overlays the main purpose, are in
? Correspondance de Sigismond Krasinski et de Henry Steve,
Paris, 1902. Letter of Krasinski to Reeve, Nov. 18, 1831.
t Letters of Zygmunt Krasinski. Vol, I. fo Constantine Ga>>z-
ynski, June 6, 1837,
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? 130 POLAND
'strong contrast with the Undivine Comedy. Irydion
glows with the colour and pageantry of Imperial
Rome. It was Krasinski's mental refuge to picture
the blue skies of the south, as he thought out
Irydion during the long winter in a snow-bound
city, where all that his half-blind eyes could see
from his window were white roofs and a gray pall
of clouds. *
Irydion is the son of Amphilochus the Greek
and of a Scandinavian priestess. The touch of
northern blood is required in order to give Kras-
inski's " Thought 'f its mystic link with the north,
and also as foretelling the direction from which
Rome's fall was to come upon her. The scene is
laid in the reign of Heliogabalus. Both of Irydion's
parents are dead when the drama, which is written
in prose, begins. He and his sister, Elsinoe, are
alone, under the tutelage of a majestic and mys-
terious old man; called Masinissa, in reality,
Mephistopheles. Nursed in hatred of Rome,
Irydion has been brought up with the one idea of
compassing, not his nation's resurrection, but the
ruin of her conqueror. To that end he is stealthily
proceeding. Every weapon, however ignoble,
suits his purpose if only it can bring about the
desired result. On all sides he sows treachery,
destruction, disgrace--for the sake of finally
destroying Rome.
His master move is to sacrifice his sister's honour
to Heliogabalus, and, through her, to play on the
fears and caprices of the half-childish emperor,
till the latter becomes a tool in the Greek's hands.
The farewell of Irydion and Elsinoe on the evening
* J. Kallenbach, op. cit.
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? ZTGMUNT KRASINSKI 131
when the imperial slaves are coming to fetch her
away is the first scene of the drama. Here, as in ^ >>.
the madhouse episode in the Undivine Comedy] *
Krasinski handles a terrible sifuation with artistic
'power and restraint. The beautiful child, for she
is little more, throws herself weeping \>n the
mercy of her brother.
"Thou knowest," is his reply, "that thou art
no more my sister, thou art not the golden-
haired Elsinoe, the hope of thy father's house,
the darling of my heart. Thou art the victim
appointed for the suffering of many and for the
shame of thy fathers,"
Elsinoe: "Yea. You all have taught me this
from childhood, and I am ready. But still not to-
day, not to-morrow--a little later, when I have
gathered strength, when I have heard more of
Masinissa's teaching and thy commands, when I
have drunk to the bottom of the chalice of your
poison. "
Irydion: "Thou art chosen. We needs must
hasten on the road we tread. "
Elsinoe: "Remember when we played on the
grass-plots of Chiara, I loved thee so. Oh, have
-mercy on me! "
Irydion: "Woman, thou temptest me to pity
in vain, in vain. "
Elsinoe: "Why so many prayers and tears?
It was possible in times of old to save oneself by
death from men and gods. See, thy dagger flashes
there, Irydion. Let us hasten annihilation for
ourselves, Irydion. "
Irydion: "Thou blasphemest against thy
father's thought. Of old the life of one man
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? 132
POLAND
sufficed for the salvation of nations. To-day the
times are otherwise. To-day the sacrifice must be
of honour. " He clasps her in his arms. "To-day
thou shalt be wreathed with roses, decked with
smiles^Oh, unhappy child, lay here thy doomed
head. For the last time in thy father's house thy
brother presses thee to his bosom. Take thy fare-
well of me in all the beauty of thy maiden fresh-
ness. Neyer again shall I behold thee young--
never, never again. " 1
Then he, too, fails at the thought of what he is
doing. He cries to Masinissa for support. His
hesitation, Elsinoe's prayers'and tears, all alike die
at the entrance of the old man. Adorned as a
bride, weeping and swooning, the girl h carried
off by the slaves of Heliogabalus; but irydion's
end is gained. He, and Elsinoe acting under his
-orders, assume entire dominion over the young
'emperor, the mad, childish degenerate whose
personality stands out in vivid colours in Krasin-
. ski's drama. Irydion soon convinces him that he,
the" Greek, is his only friend, and that no safety
. will be his till he abandons the city and retires to
^uild up another in the east. In the meanwhile,
the traitor tampers with the Praetorians, and
lures the barbarians and gladiators to his side.
They only wait Irydion's signal to fall upon Rome;
but Irydion is not ready yet. He believes that
Rome cannot be destroyed unless he wins the
adhesion of the Christians, and they, he knows,
will not consent to fight against their persecutors
whom their Founder bade them forgive. Masinissa
persuades him to go down into the catacombs, to
feign the profession of Christianity and receive.
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? ZTGMUNT KRASINSK1 133
baptism and then, seemingly as a fervent neophyte,
By all the craft in his power to sow dissension among
'the Christians, and convince the more restless and
impetuous that it is their duty to' take up
arms. Irydion is baptized by the name of Hieron-
imus. /He attempts to work his will with the
Christians. But the task is a difficult one. Masi-
nissa counsels him to dupe some Christian virgin,
and to play upon her religious exaltation till it
turns into love for him. Then, when she is his,
victory will follow. . For once, Jrydiqn shrinks.
He has in his mind ^Cornelia, the pure ind
beautiful maiden, Vowed to Christ, who has
talked to him of his soul,
"Must all that is holy and dear to others be
ever a sacrilege for me? Who made me miserable
and vile? She, who is the murderess of all my
moments, whose name is Rome. "
"There is another Rome," answers Masinissa,
"that cannot perish. Not on seven hills, but on
millions of stars have her feet rested. " Against
that Rome Irydion must swear eternal enmity. t
And Irydion,' calling on "unhappy Hellas," con-1
sents for love of her to destroy another's joy, "to
tear hope away from one who hoped. "
Masinissa is Satan. Krasinski's conception of a'
Mephistopheles is unusual. He is grand, majestic,
and, save in certain moments when he speaks or acts
openly as the minister of hatred, passionless. His
attitude with Irydion is less that of a tempter
than of a conspirator on equal terms. He incites or
encourages Irydion to vile deeds, such as the
sacrifice of the two women in the play; but it is
in the name of a sacred cause that he does so, for
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? *34
POLAND
the love of Hellas. He will ruin souls by his appeal,
not to their baser, but to their higher, desires. *
Krasinski's idea in the presentment of this Mephis-
topheles is that he is the satan of the world's
policy; the evil spirit of humanity that thrusts
governments and peoples back from the road of
spiritual progress, that would warp a nation's
love to destroy her by that love itself. f
Irydion has already brought disunion and con-
fusion where before all was brotherly charity and
steadfast purpose. He has set the young men
among the Christians on fire for battle in the
name of God. The old men, headed by the Pope,
Victor, seek to hold them back, appalled at the
thought of taking the blood of their persecutors.
If only Cornelia, who is venerated as a saint by
her fellow-believers, will persuade them to listen
to Irydion, his cause is won. He, therefore, sets
himself to deceive her by every wile of diabolical
craft that his cunning can suggest, into which <
against his will the touch of human passion on his
side now and again steals. They stand together
alone in the bowels of the earth, among the cor-
ridors of the dead stretching as far as eye can
reach. The maiden, in whose portrayal there is
the tenderness of touch, the strange, elusive charm
peculiar to Krasinski's women, trembles for
lrydion's soul. The Greek, dark and gloomy,
watches her as with the eyes of a snake on the bird
he is ensnaring. She entreats him to desist from his
thirst for bloodshed that she can only look upon
as sin.
* J. Kleiner, History of the Thought of Zygmunt Krasinski.
t St. Tarnowski, Zygmunt Krasinski.
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? ZTGMUNT KRASINSKI 135
"Alas! Art thou the same with whom I knelt
in the cemetery of Eufemia, to whom I taught
my prayer? Hieronimus, is this thou? I have
prayed so much, I have done such hard penance
for so many days and nights. "
Irydion: "And thou shalt reach heaven. Who
could doubt it? "
Cornelia: "Oh, it was not for myself, not for
myself. "
Irydion: "Then for whom? "
Cornelia: "One of my brothers. "
Terrified at the frenzy, whether real or feigned,
of a jealous lover which she in her innocence
takes for a delirium she does not understand, she
confesses that this brother was he. Little by
little, Irydion lets sink into her ear the idea that
she is dishonouring her God, Who is his God too,
by not desiring the warfare for His glory that
Irydion desires.
"Oh, Lord, for mercy, mercy on him do I call,"
pleads Cornelia. " Thou wilt not suffer him to be
lost before my eyes. Ah! what am I saying?
Where am I? Surely, oh, Lord, I have vowed my
whole heart to Thee. How dark and gloomy is it
here! For the first time terror of the dead falls
on me. "
Irydion; "Lean on me. "
Gradually the hints of the tempter do their
work. Trouble and doubt enter the soul of the
innocent girl. Irydion weaves the story of the vow
to revenge himself on Rome, to which his father
trained him, with the vision of Christ's kingdom
triumphing, till she can no longer distinguish
issues. She only knows that a mortal face has
4
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? 136
POLAND
fastened itself into her thoughts where Christ
alone reigned before; "and as a prophet, a saint,
an archangel, he stands before me and speaks, and
I listen to him, oh, Lord, and I would fain die. Have
mercy on me! " .
She strives to defend him against his temptation
to vengeance, herself against the unknown forces
that are carrying her away.
Overcome with detesta-
tion of the deed he is about to do, Irydion bids
her leave him. No, she will not leave him to his
sin. She implores him to kneel and pray by her <<
side.
"You are my witness, bones of the dead,"
murmurs he, "and thou, mother earth, I would
fain have spared her, and her only. "
He hears the voice of Simeon, the leader of the
Christian youths whom he has gained over,
calling him to the battle. Then he tears the
veil from Cornelia's head, and implants his kisses
on her forehead. With the cry that she is damned
with him for ever, she swoons. She wakes, mad, to
find Irydion standing by her. He tells her he is
Christ, come to claim His victory with arms. His
end is secured. Cornelia runs frenzied through
the catacombs, crying out: "To arms! "
All is now clamour and discord. Victor tries in
vain to restrain Simeon's band. Irydion, surrounded
by his barbarians, urges them forward by all that
is sacred to them, and which he pretends is equally
sacred to himself. Cornelia's wild cries " To arms! "
ring above the tumult, and, coming from the lips
of the saint of the catacombs, seem a summons
from heaven. Masinissa, at this moment appearing
openly as the demon, rises in the midst of columns
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? ZTGMUNT KRAS1NSKI
of fire, exulting in the ravages that have been, and
will be, wrought in the souls of the followers of
Christ.
"Faith, hope and love! Trinity, which wast
to last for ever, I have torn Thee to shreds in the
hearts of the most beloved children of Thy bene-
diction! In Thy name they shall slay and burn.
In Thy name they shall oppress. Thou shalt be
crucified alike in their wisdom and their ignorance,
alike in the sleepy humility of their prayers and in
the blasphemies of their pride. "
And now the moment for which Irydion has
schemed so long is close at hand. Irydion wrings
from the terror-stricken emperor his command
over the Praetorians. Alexander Severus is march-
ing on Rome; and the avenger has sworn his death
no less than that of Heliogabalus, with an equal
certainty that neither of them must live to prolong
the life of Rome. Elsinoe, throwing herself into
her brother's arms, entreats him:
"Let those eyes die beneath which I withered.
Let the arms which crawled about my neck fall
as two worn-out vipers. Let the lips which first
touched mine perish in ashes. "
Irydion: "On the same heap and at the same
moment, both he and Severus. "
Elsinoe: "Not so, not so. Let me finish my
last desire. Spare Alexander on the field of battle.
He with one look calmed my despair. He alone
guessed. Ah, why hast thou turned thy face away
from me? "
Irydion: "He is the only one who is now
tearing Rome from the clasp of my hatred. "
Elsinoe: "Then once more press thy sister to
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? POLAND
thy bosom. Feelest thou how this heart throbs?
Ere thou returnest, it will have broken, son of
Amphilochus! But remember Elsinoe desired no
blood of thee. Let live all, all--even he, the
Syrian, the abominated--let him live. "
Voices outside the palace: "Forward, in the
name of the Fortune of Irydion the Greek. "
Irydion: "Away with untimely mourning,
when Nemesis already holds the crown of ven-
geance for us in each hand. Victory descends into
my soul. In those clashings of arms, in those shouts,
leaps my life, and must thou die? Rather be
happy and proud. What thy father invoked, what
long ages have asked of the gods with tears,
approaches as the thunderbolt. "
Voices: "Irydion, Irydion! "
Irydion: "Farewell. " /
Elsinoe: "Go. Be thou happy and mighty;
and if ever thou shalt sail on the Aegean waters
cast a handful of my ashes on Chiara's banks. "
They part for ever. When Alexander Severus'
troops rush into the palace, Heliogabalus is hold-
ing to his lips the cup of poison he dares not
drink, and is despatched by the soldiers. Elsinoe,
garbed in imperial robes, sits calmly waiting. As
the curtains of her apartment are torn aside, she
pierces her heart with a dagger, preferring death
rather than the love that might be hers of the
saviour of Rome, Alexander Severus.
But we anticipate. Alexander is not victorious
yet. The night that Irydion hails as the last night
of Rome is here. His armies are awaiting his
signal. Masinissa is at his side. With wild fury
Irydion exults in the thought that, before the
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? ZTGMUNT KRASINSKI 139
morning is upon them, Rome shall be in flames--
if, and upon this condition all depends, the
Christian auxiliaries join him. They delay. They
are singing their hymns, says Masinissa sardon-
ically. A messenger from Simeon summons Irydion.
He hastens to the catacombs. He finds Victor and
the priests on the altar steps, Simeon and his
youths in arms, panting for the fray, Cornelia
still uttering her frenzied war-cry. Irydion bursts
upon this assembly. He calls to Cornelia as to his
beloved; but pitted against him is Victor who
stands forth and, in the presence of all, exorcises
Cornelia. She returns to herself. She bears witness
that she and her fellow Christians have been
duped by an evil spirit that has possessed her and
spoken through her lips. In vain Irydion, with
one despairing effort, calls to her in the language
of love for the last time. She turns to him without
fear and with forgiveness. "Hieronimus, I
pardon thee. Hieronimus, pray to Christ "; and
so she dies, breathing the fragrance of the flowers
of Paradise.
Her testimony turns the Christians, loathing
and horror-stricken, from him whom they now
see in his true colours. The maddened Irydion
tears the cross he wears from his armour and,
dashing it to the ground, departs, doomed, as he
well knows, to failure. In the catacombs the
avenger has been brought up against the only
life-giving element in Rome. With that force
behind him, he can conquer. With it against
him, he can do nothing. All that is now left to
him is to fight a losing battle "morelike a demon
than a mortal man. " The envoy of Alexander
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? 140 POLAND
Severus brings him overtures of peace. He rejects
them with a certain noble contempt. His nation
has loved, and lived on, an idea. What has she
to do with an empire that has maintained herself
by blood and by the tears of the conquered? >.
So Irydion fights on; but ever and again his
sword falters in his hand and he turns pale, for he
hears Cornelia calling to him in the name of
Christ. He is defeated, and abandoned by all.
He steps on Elsinoe's funeral pyre and prepares to
perish in the flames. Masinissa descends, and
carries him away to a mountain top. In the dis-
tance lies Rome. The enemy of Irydion's race
stands out on her hills, her marbles flashing in
the sun, proud and invincible.
"Oh, thou whom I loved for thy sorrows, wast
thou but a shade ? " What now remains to Iry-
dion? The voice of the Christian maiden, whom
he sacrificed at Masinissa's bidding, wails in his
ear. He sees the cross at which she prayed. If her
God wete indeed a God above all gods, it is on
Him that he would now call.
"-Our Father, Who art in heaven," sneers
Masinissa, " give long days to Rome. Save those
who through alTtime have oppressed my native
land. "
'^Nay," is Irydion's reply. "Our Father Who
art in heaven, love Hellas as I have loved her. "
He then adjures Masinissa to tell him if Christ
is indeed the "Lord of heaven and earth. "
Masinissa confesses Him, but as his immortal
enemy. He bids Irydion gaze at the " city of his
hatred. " Who shall tear it from the hands of
Irydion's northern brothers when their hordes
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? ZTGMUNT KRASINSKI 141
Overwhelm Italy? The Nazarene. But Irydion
1 must not despair. A day will come when " on the
Forum only dust shall remain, in the Circus only
ruins, on the Capitol only shams-. " That day is so
- distant that Masinissa himself can hardly foresee
it; but, if Irydion will consent to renounce Christ
for ever, Masinissa will cast him into a slumber
of centuries till he awakes to behold the ruin of
Rome. A voice once known to Irydion cries in
anguish and entreaty: but he agrees to the bond,
and sinks into a deep sleep in a cavern in the hills
outside Rome.
Here the dramatic form of Irydion ends, and
the conclusion is told in an epilogue.
The ages roll over Irydion's head.
"Oh, my Thought "--the poet thus address-
ing Irydion--" thou hast lasted out the centuries!
Thou didst slumber in the day of Alaric and in
the day of the mighty Attila. Neither the ring of
the imperial crown on the rough brow of Char-
lemagne, nor Rienzi, the tribune of the people,
woke thee--and the consecrated lords of the
Vatican one after the other passed before thee, as
shades before a shade. But to-day thou shalt
arise, oh, my Thought! "
He rises in the strength of his youth at the
appointed hour--the days of Krasinski.
"Thou didst stand in the Roman Campagna.
She hath nought with which to hide her shame
before thy gaze. The aqueducts running to the
city, finding no city, have halted. The stones
fallen from them lie in graveyard heaps.
"The son of the ages saw and rejoiced in the
justice of his vengeance. Each ruin, and the plains,.
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? i42 POLAND
widowed of amphitheatres, and the hills, orphaned
of temples, were his recompense. "
He passes on to Rome, guided by Masinissa.
He beholds the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla,
the Appian way laid waste, the Forum a mass of
fragments. He halts in the Coliseum. As he stands
in the arena, surrounded by the gaping walls
about which festoons of greenery cling, some
strange emotion stirs within the Greek. He looks
upon the cross that stands there--as it stood in
Krasinski's youth--with some far off recollection
of a maiden's face; and he knows that now he no
longer desires war with the cross, for it seems to
him as though that cross is " weary as he, sorrow-
ing as once Hellas sorrowed--and holy for ever-
more. "
Then begins in the Coliseum, at the foot of the
cross, the judgment upon Irydion's soul--a scene
that had developed in Krasinski's heart since
he had wandered, when little more than a boy,
about the ruin in the moonlight. The amphi-
theatre resounds with the sighs of the martyrs
who shed their blood there, with the wailing of
the angels above. Below the cross stands Irydion
with prayerless lips. Masinissa claims the damned
soul for his own. In the light of the moon shines
a beautiful face, angelic wings flash, as Cornelia
battles for the salvation of him who wronged her.
"Immortal Enemy," is the cry of Masinissa, " he
is mine, for he lived in revenge, and he hated
Rome. " "Oh, Lord, he is mine," rings the cry
of Cornelia, " for he loved Greece. "
The plea of love prevails, as in the scheme of
Irydion it must prevail. Irydion had. h. a'tsd ? but,
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? ZTGMUNT KRAS1NSK1 ^3
unlike Henryk of the Undivine Comedy, who was
damned because he had loved nothing, Irydion
had loved Greece. He had sinned, but sinned
because he had loved. He is, therefore, saved, but
not without a long expiation. He who had worked
in hatred, and whose work had therefore resulted
only in its own destruction, is now sent to a labour v
of love for a fallen country that will surely save
both him and her. In the sentence pronounced by
heaven upon Irydion--Krasinski's mystic and
national Thought--the poet throws off, in part, the-
allegory, and speaks more plainly to his brother
Poles. Irydion is bidden
"'Go to the north in the name of Christ.
? ZTGMUNT KRASINSKI 129
this village was burnt, that town sacked, and all
Praga drowned in the blood of its inhabitants,
children flung palpitating on the frozen, stiff
breasts of their mothers. . . You have not followed
on the map the desolation of your country, till
it was at last overwhelmed under the weight of
the oppressors. To you everything has spoken of
peace, happiness, forgetfulness. That is why
hatred appears so hideous to you. -Hatred was the
companion of my childhood. I hateawith all the
strength of my little heart before I loved either'
a woman or friend. It is an element which has
mingled with my nature and which has become
a part of my being. "'*V I
To a Polish friend, better able than the pros-
perous young Englishman to understand the
strength of the temptation, Krasinski confided
that his sympathies were with Irydion, the hater
and the avenger, and that only logic and necessity
led him to the conclusion of love triumphant
that makes the moral grandeur of the play.
"What is, is," he added. " It is not our caprices
'that rule the world, but the mind of God. "t
Irydion represents the victory of Krasinski's
higher self, a life-giving truth spoken from the
anguish of one Pole to the anguish of thousands
. of Poles.
The length of the drama, the elaboration of.
the style, the wealth of detail that, indeed, at times
somewhat overlays the main purpose, are in
? Correspondance de Sigismond Krasinski et de Henry Steve,
Paris, 1902. Letter of Krasinski to Reeve, Nov. 18, 1831.
t Letters of Zygmunt Krasinski. Vol, I. fo Constantine Ga>>z-
ynski, June 6, 1837,
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? 130 POLAND
'strong contrast with the Undivine Comedy. Irydion
glows with the colour and pageantry of Imperial
Rome. It was Krasinski's mental refuge to picture
the blue skies of the south, as he thought out
Irydion during the long winter in a snow-bound
city, where all that his half-blind eyes could see
from his window were white roofs and a gray pall
of clouds. *
Irydion is the son of Amphilochus the Greek
and of a Scandinavian priestess. The touch of
northern blood is required in order to give Kras-
inski's " Thought 'f its mystic link with the north,
and also as foretelling the direction from which
Rome's fall was to come upon her. The scene is
laid in the reign of Heliogabalus. Both of Irydion's
parents are dead when the drama, which is written
in prose, begins. He and his sister, Elsinoe, are
alone, under the tutelage of a majestic and mys-
terious old man; called Masinissa, in reality,
Mephistopheles. Nursed in hatred of Rome,
Irydion has been brought up with the one idea of
compassing, not his nation's resurrection, but the
ruin of her conqueror. To that end he is stealthily
proceeding. Every weapon, however ignoble,
suits his purpose if only it can bring about the
desired result. On all sides he sows treachery,
destruction, disgrace--for the sake of finally
destroying Rome.
His master move is to sacrifice his sister's honour
to Heliogabalus, and, through her, to play on the
fears and caprices of the half-childish emperor,
till the latter becomes a tool in the Greek's hands.
The farewell of Irydion and Elsinoe on the evening
* J. Kallenbach, op. cit.
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? ZTGMUNT KRASINSKI 131
when the imperial slaves are coming to fetch her
away is the first scene of the drama. Here, as in ^ >>.
the madhouse episode in the Undivine Comedy] *
Krasinski handles a terrible sifuation with artistic
'power and restraint. The beautiful child, for she
is little more, throws herself weeping \>n the
mercy of her brother.
"Thou knowest," is his reply, "that thou art
no more my sister, thou art not the golden-
haired Elsinoe, the hope of thy father's house,
the darling of my heart. Thou art the victim
appointed for the suffering of many and for the
shame of thy fathers,"
Elsinoe: "Yea. You all have taught me this
from childhood, and I am ready. But still not to-
day, not to-morrow--a little later, when I have
gathered strength, when I have heard more of
Masinissa's teaching and thy commands, when I
have drunk to the bottom of the chalice of your
poison. "
Irydion: "Thou art chosen. We needs must
hasten on the road we tread. "
Elsinoe: "Remember when we played on the
grass-plots of Chiara, I loved thee so. Oh, have
-mercy on me! "
Irydion: "Woman, thou temptest me to pity
in vain, in vain. "
Elsinoe: "Why so many prayers and tears?
It was possible in times of old to save oneself by
death from men and gods. See, thy dagger flashes
there, Irydion. Let us hasten annihilation for
ourselves, Irydion. "
Irydion: "Thou blasphemest against thy
father's thought. Of old the life of one man
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? 132
POLAND
sufficed for the salvation of nations. To-day the
times are otherwise. To-day the sacrifice must be
of honour. " He clasps her in his arms. "To-day
thou shalt be wreathed with roses, decked with
smiles^Oh, unhappy child, lay here thy doomed
head. For the last time in thy father's house thy
brother presses thee to his bosom. Take thy fare-
well of me in all the beauty of thy maiden fresh-
ness. Neyer again shall I behold thee young--
never, never again. " 1
Then he, too, fails at the thought of what he is
doing. He cries to Masinissa for support. His
hesitation, Elsinoe's prayers'and tears, all alike die
at the entrance of the old man. Adorned as a
bride, weeping and swooning, the girl h carried
off by the slaves of Heliogabalus; but irydion's
end is gained. He, and Elsinoe acting under his
-orders, assume entire dominion over the young
'emperor, the mad, childish degenerate whose
personality stands out in vivid colours in Krasin-
. ski's drama. Irydion soon convinces him that he,
the" Greek, is his only friend, and that no safety
. will be his till he abandons the city and retires to
^uild up another in the east. In the meanwhile,
the traitor tampers with the Praetorians, and
lures the barbarians and gladiators to his side.
They only wait Irydion's signal to fall upon Rome;
but Irydion is not ready yet. He believes that
Rome cannot be destroyed unless he wins the
adhesion of the Christians, and they, he knows,
will not consent to fight against their persecutors
whom their Founder bade them forgive. Masinissa
persuades him to go down into the catacombs, to
feign the profession of Christianity and receive.
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? ZTGMUNT KRASINSK1 133
baptism and then, seemingly as a fervent neophyte,
By all the craft in his power to sow dissension among
'the Christians, and convince the more restless and
impetuous that it is their duty to' take up
arms. Irydion is baptized by the name of Hieron-
imus. /He attempts to work his will with the
Christians. But the task is a difficult one. Masi-
nissa counsels him to dupe some Christian virgin,
and to play upon her religious exaltation till it
turns into love for him. Then, when she is his,
victory will follow. . For once, Jrydiqn shrinks.
He has in his mind ^Cornelia, the pure ind
beautiful maiden, Vowed to Christ, who has
talked to him of his soul,
"Must all that is holy and dear to others be
ever a sacrilege for me? Who made me miserable
and vile? She, who is the murderess of all my
moments, whose name is Rome. "
"There is another Rome," answers Masinissa,
"that cannot perish. Not on seven hills, but on
millions of stars have her feet rested. " Against
that Rome Irydion must swear eternal enmity. t
And Irydion,' calling on "unhappy Hellas," con-1
sents for love of her to destroy another's joy, "to
tear hope away from one who hoped. "
Masinissa is Satan. Krasinski's conception of a'
Mephistopheles is unusual. He is grand, majestic,
and, save in certain moments when he speaks or acts
openly as the minister of hatred, passionless. His
attitude with Irydion is less that of a tempter
than of a conspirator on equal terms. He incites or
encourages Irydion to vile deeds, such as the
sacrifice of the two women in the play; but it is
in the name of a sacred cause that he does so, for
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? *34
POLAND
the love of Hellas. He will ruin souls by his appeal,
not to their baser, but to their higher, desires. *
Krasinski's idea in the presentment of this Mephis-
topheles is that he is the satan of the world's
policy; the evil spirit of humanity that thrusts
governments and peoples back from the road of
spiritual progress, that would warp a nation's
love to destroy her by that love itself. f
Irydion has already brought disunion and con-
fusion where before all was brotherly charity and
steadfast purpose. He has set the young men
among the Christians on fire for battle in the
name of God. The old men, headed by the Pope,
Victor, seek to hold them back, appalled at the
thought of taking the blood of their persecutors.
If only Cornelia, who is venerated as a saint by
her fellow-believers, will persuade them to listen
to Irydion, his cause is won. He, therefore, sets
himself to deceive her by every wile of diabolical
craft that his cunning can suggest, into which <
against his will the touch of human passion on his
side now and again steals. They stand together
alone in the bowels of the earth, among the cor-
ridors of the dead stretching as far as eye can
reach. The maiden, in whose portrayal there is
the tenderness of touch, the strange, elusive charm
peculiar to Krasinski's women, trembles for
lrydion's soul. The Greek, dark and gloomy,
watches her as with the eyes of a snake on the bird
he is ensnaring. She entreats him to desist from his
thirst for bloodshed that she can only look upon
as sin.
* J. Kleiner, History of the Thought of Zygmunt Krasinski.
t St. Tarnowski, Zygmunt Krasinski.
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? ZTGMUNT KRASINSKI 135
"Alas! Art thou the same with whom I knelt
in the cemetery of Eufemia, to whom I taught
my prayer? Hieronimus, is this thou? I have
prayed so much, I have done such hard penance
for so many days and nights. "
Irydion: "And thou shalt reach heaven. Who
could doubt it? "
Cornelia: "Oh, it was not for myself, not for
myself. "
Irydion: "Then for whom? "
Cornelia: "One of my brothers. "
Terrified at the frenzy, whether real or feigned,
of a jealous lover which she in her innocence
takes for a delirium she does not understand, she
confesses that this brother was he. Little by
little, Irydion lets sink into her ear the idea that
she is dishonouring her God, Who is his God too,
by not desiring the warfare for His glory that
Irydion desires.
"Oh, Lord, for mercy, mercy on him do I call,"
pleads Cornelia. " Thou wilt not suffer him to be
lost before my eyes. Ah! what am I saying?
Where am I? Surely, oh, Lord, I have vowed my
whole heart to Thee. How dark and gloomy is it
here! For the first time terror of the dead falls
on me. "
Irydion; "Lean on me. "
Gradually the hints of the tempter do their
work. Trouble and doubt enter the soul of the
innocent girl. Irydion weaves the story of the vow
to revenge himself on Rome, to which his father
trained him, with the vision of Christ's kingdom
triumphing, till she can no longer distinguish
issues. She only knows that a mortal face has
4
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? 136
POLAND
fastened itself into her thoughts where Christ
alone reigned before; "and as a prophet, a saint,
an archangel, he stands before me and speaks, and
I listen to him, oh, Lord, and I would fain die. Have
mercy on me! " .
She strives to defend him against his temptation
to vengeance, herself against the unknown forces
that are carrying her away.
Overcome with detesta-
tion of the deed he is about to do, Irydion bids
her leave him. No, she will not leave him to his
sin. She implores him to kneel and pray by her <<
side.
"You are my witness, bones of the dead,"
murmurs he, "and thou, mother earth, I would
fain have spared her, and her only. "
He hears the voice of Simeon, the leader of the
Christian youths whom he has gained over,
calling him to the battle. Then he tears the
veil from Cornelia's head, and implants his kisses
on her forehead. With the cry that she is damned
with him for ever, she swoons. She wakes, mad, to
find Irydion standing by her. He tells her he is
Christ, come to claim His victory with arms. His
end is secured. Cornelia runs frenzied through
the catacombs, crying out: "To arms! "
All is now clamour and discord. Victor tries in
vain to restrain Simeon's band. Irydion, surrounded
by his barbarians, urges them forward by all that
is sacred to them, and which he pretends is equally
sacred to himself. Cornelia's wild cries " To arms! "
ring above the tumult, and, coming from the lips
of the saint of the catacombs, seem a summons
from heaven. Masinissa, at this moment appearing
openly as the demon, rises in the midst of columns
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? ZTGMUNT KRAS1NSKI
of fire, exulting in the ravages that have been, and
will be, wrought in the souls of the followers of
Christ.
"Faith, hope and love! Trinity, which wast
to last for ever, I have torn Thee to shreds in the
hearts of the most beloved children of Thy bene-
diction! In Thy name they shall slay and burn.
In Thy name they shall oppress. Thou shalt be
crucified alike in their wisdom and their ignorance,
alike in the sleepy humility of their prayers and in
the blasphemies of their pride. "
And now the moment for which Irydion has
schemed so long is close at hand. Irydion wrings
from the terror-stricken emperor his command
over the Praetorians. Alexander Severus is march-
ing on Rome; and the avenger has sworn his death
no less than that of Heliogabalus, with an equal
certainty that neither of them must live to prolong
the life of Rome. Elsinoe, throwing herself into
her brother's arms, entreats him:
"Let those eyes die beneath which I withered.
Let the arms which crawled about my neck fall
as two worn-out vipers. Let the lips which first
touched mine perish in ashes. "
Irydion: "On the same heap and at the same
moment, both he and Severus. "
Elsinoe: "Not so, not so. Let me finish my
last desire. Spare Alexander on the field of battle.
He with one look calmed my despair. He alone
guessed. Ah, why hast thou turned thy face away
from me? "
Irydion: "He is the only one who is now
tearing Rome from the clasp of my hatred. "
Elsinoe: "Then once more press thy sister to
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? POLAND
thy bosom. Feelest thou how this heart throbs?
Ere thou returnest, it will have broken, son of
Amphilochus! But remember Elsinoe desired no
blood of thee. Let live all, all--even he, the
Syrian, the abominated--let him live. "
Voices outside the palace: "Forward, in the
name of the Fortune of Irydion the Greek. "
Irydion: "Away with untimely mourning,
when Nemesis already holds the crown of ven-
geance for us in each hand. Victory descends into
my soul. In those clashings of arms, in those shouts,
leaps my life, and must thou die? Rather be
happy and proud. What thy father invoked, what
long ages have asked of the gods with tears,
approaches as the thunderbolt. "
Voices: "Irydion, Irydion! "
Irydion: "Farewell. " /
Elsinoe: "Go. Be thou happy and mighty;
and if ever thou shalt sail on the Aegean waters
cast a handful of my ashes on Chiara's banks. "
They part for ever. When Alexander Severus'
troops rush into the palace, Heliogabalus is hold-
ing to his lips the cup of poison he dares not
drink, and is despatched by the soldiers. Elsinoe,
garbed in imperial robes, sits calmly waiting. As
the curtains of her apartment are torn aside, she
pierces her heart with a dagger, preferring death
rather than the love that might be hers of the
saviour of Rome, Alexander Severus.
But we anticipate. Alexander is not victorious
yet. The night that Irydion hails as the last night
of Rome is here. His armies are awaiting his
signal. Masinissa is at his side. With wild fury
Irydion exults in the thought that, before the
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? ZTGMUNT KRASINSKI 139
morning is upon them, Rome shall be in flames--
if, and upon this condition all depends, the
Christian auxiliaries join him. They delay. They
are singing their hymns, says Masinissa sardon-
ically. A messenger from Simeon summons Irydion.
He hastens to the catacombs. He finds Victor and
the priests on the altar steps, Simeon and his
youths in arms, panting for the fray, Cornelia
still uttering her frenzied war-cry. Irydion bursts
upon this assembly. He calls to Cornelia as to his
beloved; but pitted against him is Victor who
stands forth and, in the presence of all, exorcises
Cornelia. She returns to herself. She bears witness
that she and her fellow Christians have been
duped by an evil spirit that has possessed her and
spoken through her lips. In vain Irydion, with
one despairing effort, calls to her in the language
of love for the last time. She turns to him without
fear and with forgiveness. "Hieronimus, I
pardon thee. Hieronimus, pray to Christ "; and
so she dies, breathing the fragrance of the flowers
of Paradise.
Her testimony turns the Christians, loathing
and horror-stricken, from him whom they now
see in his true colours. The maddened Irydion
tears the cross he wears from his armour and,
dashing it to the ground, departs, doomed, as he
well knows, to failure. In the catacombs the
avenger has been brought up against the only
life-giving element in Rome. With that force
behind him, he can conquer. With it against
him, he can do nothing. All that is now left to
him is to fight a losing battle "morelike a demon
than a mortal man. " The envoy of Alexander
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? 140 POLAND
Severus brings him overtures of peace. He rejects
them with a certain noble contempt. His nation
has loved, and lived on, an idea. What has she
to do with an empire that has maintained herself
by blood and by the tears of the conquered? >.
So Irydion fights on; but ever and again his
sword falters in his hand and he turns pale, for he
hears Cornelia calling to him in the name of
Christ. He is defeated, and abandoned by all.
He steps on Elsinoe's funeral pyre and prepares to
perish in the flames. Masinissa descends, and
carries him away to a mountain top. In the dis-
tance lies Rome. The enemy of Irydion's race
stands out on her hills, her marbles flashing in
the sun, proud and invincible.
"Oh, thou whom I loved for thy sorrows, wast
thou but a shade ? " What now remains to Iry-
dion? The voice of the Christian maiden, whom
he sacrificed at Masinissa's bidding, wails in his
ear. He sees the cross at which she prayed. If her
God wete indeed a God above all gods, it is on
Him that he would now call.
"-Our Father, Who art in heaven," sneers
Masinissa, " give long days to Rome. Save those
who through alTtime have oppressed my native
land. "
'^Nay," is Irydion's reply. "Our Father Who
art in heaven, love Hellas as I have loved her. "
He then adjures Masinissa to tell him if Christ
is indeed the "Lord of heaven and earth. "
Masinissa confesses Him, but as his immortal
enemy. He bids Irydion gaze at the " city of his
hatred. " Who shall tear it from the hands of
Irydion's northern brothers when their hordes
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? ZTGMUNT KRASINSKI 141
Overwhelm Italy? The Nazarene. But Irydion
1 must not despair. A day will come when " on the
Forum only dust shall remain, in the Circus only
ruins, on the Capitol only shams-. " That day is so
- distant that Masinissa himself can hardly foresee
it; but, if Irydion will consent to renounce Christ
for ever, Masinissa will cast him into a slumber
of centuries till he awakes to behold the ruin of
Rome. A voice once known to Irydion cries in
anguish and entreaty: but he agrees to the bond,
and sinks into a deep sleep in a cavern in the hills
outside Rome.
Here the dramatic form of Irydion ends, and
the conclusion is told in an epilogue.
The ages roll over Irydion's head.
"Oh, my Thought "--the poet thus address-
ing Irydion--" thou hast lasted out the centuries!
Thou didst slumber in the day of Alaric and in
the day of the mighty Attila. Neither the ring of
the imperial crown on the rough brow of Char-
lemagne, nor Rienzi, the tribune of the people,
woke thee--and the consecrated lords of the
Vatican one after the other passed before thee, as
shades before a shade. But to-day thou shalt
arise, oh, my Thought! "
He rises in the strength of his youth at the
appointed hour--the days of Krasinski.
"Thou didst stand in the Roman Campagna.
She hath nought with which to hide her shame
before thy gaze. The aqueducts running to the
city, finding no city, have halted. The stones
fallen from them lie in graveyard heaps.
"The son of the ages saw and rejoiced in the
justice of his vengeance. Each ruin, and the plains,.
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? i42 POLAND
widowed of amphitheatres, and the hills, orphaned
of temples, were his recompense. "
He passes on to Rome, guided by Masinissa.
He beholds the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla,
the Appian way laid waste, the Forum a mass of
fragments. He halts in the Coliseum. As he stands
in the arena, surrounded by the gaping walls
about which festoons of greenery cling, some
strange emotion stirs within the Greek. He looks
upon the cross that stands there--as it stood in
Krasinski's youth--with some far off recollection
of a maiden's face; and he knows that now he no
longer desires war with the cross, for it seems to
him as though that cross is " weary as he, sorrow-
ing as once Hellas sorrowed--and holy for ever-
more. "
Then begins in the Coliseum, at the foot of the
cross, the judgment upon Irydion's soul--a scene
that had developed in Krasinski's heart since
he had wandered, when little more than a boy,
about the ruin in the moonlight. The amphi-
theatre resounds with the sighs of the martyrs
who shed their blood there, with the wailing of
the angels above. Below the cross stands Irydion
with prayerless lips. Masinissa claims the damned
soul for his own. In the light of the moon shines
a beautiful face, angelic wings flash, as Cornelia
battles for the salvation of him who wronged her.
"Immortal Enemy," is the cry of Masinissa, " he
is mine, for he lived in revenge, and he hated
Rome. " "Oh, Lord, he is mine," rings the cry
of Cornelia, " for he loved Greece. "
The plea of love prevails, as in the scheme of
Irydion it must prevail. Irydion had. h. a'tsd ? but,
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? ZTGMUNT KRAS1NSK1 ^3
unlike Henryk of the Undivine Comedy, who was
damned because he had loved nothing, Irydion
had loved Greece. He had sinned, but sinned
because he had loved. He is, therefore, saved, but
not without a long expiation. He who had worked
in hatred, and whose work had therefore resulted
only in its own destruction, is now sent to a labour v
of love for a fallen country that will surely save
both him and her. In the sentence pronounced by
heaven upon Irydion--Krasinski's mystic and
national Thought--the poet throws off, in part, the-
allegory, and speaks more plainly to his brother
Poles. Irydion is bidden
"'Go to the north in the name of Christ.
