But
you, to-day, whose fingers are as soft as wax, what could
you possibly effect ?
you, to-day, whose fingers are as soft as wax, what could
you possibly effect ?
Krasinski - The Undivine Comedy
I have
never seen so strange, so wild, a night. To find the way
now, one must be the supreme master of these solitudes,
or the chamois which rule these rocks !
Ho ! Where art thou ? Answer !
Alighieri. Here ! Near thee !
Young Man. This bewildering fog ! It rises now di-
rectly under my feet ; it darkens my sight ; I cannot see
thee ! Ha ! now it breaks, it sails above and joins its
sister bands on high !
Look, Alighieri ! Is that not an old, long-bearded
king upon his throne, his sceptre in his hand ? After him
comes an immense serpent — no — rather a dragon — no —
now it is a cherub with four great wings. Look down
there ! Oh, far, far down, in the intervale among the
rocks ! there throngs a whole nation of spirits, hastening
to the Last Judgment ! Alighieri, what is this before me ?
Against what have I bruised myself?
Alighieri. It is the gateway of an ancient cemetery.
Young Man. Look at the moon ! It burns like a pale
purgatory of souls above the graves where their bodies rest.
But a moment ago I was so strong, so fresh, light as the
air, and now I am so weary, — so ill at ease, — and I know
not how nor why, unless the old dead here have cast their
spells upon me ! If I do not sit down upon this stone I
believe I will fall asleep.
X40
THE "FRAGMENTS
Alighieri. Lean upon me, Henry.
Young Man. Yes, — for my eyelids close; — I must rest
here !
Alighieri. Come but a few steps farther : only as far
as this White Chapel.
Young Man. I will. We will be more quiet under its
roof than out here in the open air.
A/ighieri. Why do you stop? Goon!
Young Man. Have these mists really blinded me? or
am I asleep ? Is this a dream ?
Alighieri. What seest thou, Henry?
Young Afan. Thy forehead grows strangely livid under
the rays of the moon, — thine eyes look hollow, — thou art
so slight and attenuated, — thou seemest older, older — but
sublime ! Is it really thyself, Alighieri?
Alighieri. It is really I, Henry.
Young Man. The voice alone recalls thee. It seems
to me now that a crown of laurel glitters round thy brow,
that it winds and unwinds, appears and disappears. Leave
me ! I fear thee ! I will go no farther !
Sleep bows me to the earth . . . I am falling . . . let
me fall ! Touch me not, Alighieri ! God is my witness
that I have somewhere seen a face like thine . . . some-
where. . . .
Alighieri. A few steps more !
Young Man. ' Where are we ? Where ?
Ah ! now I know the laurel crown, the strange fire in
the eye brought from other worlds ! This image stands
in the great Hall of my ancestors, under the canopy
strewn thick with silver stars : yes, it is under the green
canopy in my home ! My father told me that in centu-
ries past that man had visited Hell and Purgatory, and
had seen Paradise !
Master ! Master ! whither dost thou lead me?
Alighieri (bearing him into the chapel). Now thou
mayst sleep !
THE DREAM. 1 41
II.
THE DREAM.
It seemed to the young man that the figure of Dante
turned to him, and said : " From that reahii where Love,'
Wisdom, and the Eternal Will abide, thence have they
sent me to show thee the Hell of the present days!
Therefore banish all fear, and whither I go, follow me ! "
Like a pale column the Figure rose, and took its flight
across the night of space, gliding rapidly over nebulous
vapor, and through aerial waves. Sometimes a rapid me-
teor broke flashing under its feet, and here and there gray
dawns awoke, floating away to disappear in the distance.
But the soul of the Young Man was overwhelmed with
sadness, for it knew not whither it was going, and it went
into the Infinite : — and it felt it was the Infinite of Evil !
The Figure stopped upon the summit of a mountain,
and it appeared to the Young Man that*they com-
menced to descend within its bosom. The darkness
yielded by degrees, and where the way could be dis-
cerned, it appeared bordered on either side by walls cut
in the solid rock ; the most terrific passes were scarcely
penetrated by the doubtful twilight, and on the right and
the left, all along the rocky parapet, were ranged soldiers,
all arrayed in the same costume, all of the same height,
all alike in the expression of their features, all in per-
petual motion, sometimes leaning forward, and sometimes
standing erect ; all engaged in the same monotonous oc-
cupation of sedulously polishing the barrels of the mus-
kets, which all held in their hands. Light as a sigh, the
hand of the Shade swept the eyelids of the Young Man
as he said : "Look ! this is truly the entrance of the Hell
of Earth ! " And instantly he saw the Souls of the Sol-
diers, bent half-way out of their bodies, into which they
could return no more, and from which they could not
tear themselves away. And in their agony they cried :
" We can neither live nor die, — we must forever go where
they order us, — order us against God, and we go, —
13
142
THE ''FRAGMENTS
against our brothers, and we go :" — and their tears were
unquenchable! The Shade stopped and said: "Who
are you, and'what is your name? " But the souls of all
those bodies answered nothing. " Where is your coun-
try? " And the souls of all those bodies straightened
themselves, full of astonishment ! " Where is your
home? " And among so many eyes, a few let fall a tear
^s at some vague remembrance ! But the arms ceased not
to move more and more vigorously, ever rubbing the bar-
rels of their guns and sharpening the points of their bayo-
nets, and lo ! above those mute bodies all the souls groaned
out together : " Since infancy, they have driven us about
the world without our own volition ; they have forced us
to forget ourselves and to murder others; whoever re-
sisted us, we were commanded to shoot as a traitor; and
now we know not whence we came nor whither we are
going! "
Then the pale figure spake : " When men of old sought
the combat, they knew what cause they were serving, and
why they must die; they were like gods of war, but you
perish like |)oor brutes ! " And breaking with a sign the
ranks of the armed people, the Figure advanced to the
stairs which wound down into the depths.
Following the steps of the Seer, the young man plunged
into the subterranean darkness.
Suddenly a deluge of light poured around him ; he saw
the black walls, the prison grates, the rings with chains
clamped into the rocks : luxurious flames blazed in lamps
of alabaster, soft carpets of silk were underfoot, and a
numberless crowd was gathered round a man who occu-
pied a high seat, and who, delicate and slight as a woman,
turned over the pages of a black book. Before him stood
a gigantic cross, rising almost to the vault, and a figure of
Clirist was stretched upon it. The shade of Dante trem-
bled from head to foot as he spake: "I never met that
sacred sign with the Condemned of old ! At least they
did not know how to blaspheme God in the name of God !
Look and listen ! "
The Official of the multitude, the slight and delicate
man, bent forward, and drew many heavy bags of gold
from under the base of the cross. All who were present
THE DREAM.
143
approached and formed a circle round him, stretching
out to him their hands, — and the sweat of their cupidity
streamed from their brows! And in paying, he instructed
them ; his voice was sharp and hissing as the grinding of
a dagger over the face of a polished mirror.
" Wheresoever you may glide, be cautious and of honied
sweetness !
" In the house of the old Signors, be humble and lavish
of incense to their pride : in the house of the poor, flat-
ter their poverty !
** When the husband tyrannizes over his wife, console
her : when the father is hard with his sons, lend them the
money of which they have need !
" The strong every where oppress the weak : protect the
weak ; and all complaints and furtive hopes, like hidden
treasures, shall open before you !
" Should you find one melancholy and silent, be your-
self loudly desperate : your cry of pain will awaken his
voice !
" When you meet the young devoured with impatience
to act, bind them on the instant by terrible oaths ! Glide
mysterious arms under their garments ; it is with men as
with grains of corn: the fuller they are, the more easily
may they be hulled !
"Let your memory be eager, keen, and limitless: if
the winds shake the leaves of a tree, listen to their rust-
ling !
" Should you find a pin upon your way, pick it up and
bring it here : it is of more worth than a sword, for where
the sword intervenes, there is no longer time !
" Love children, and learn skillfully to play with them ;
as butterflies upon flowers, so repose the secret mysteries
of families upon their lips !
" Knowledge is the gift of gifts. A single prison
would not contain the bodies of all, but a single brain
may seize upon the thoughts of all, and, like the dome
of an immense dungeon, may vault above them all !
" Go and traverse the world ! "
And all laden with gold, they vanished like phan-
toms ! A rose-colored curtain was now rolled upon the
other side of the subterranean abyss, and iron doors were
144
THE "FH AG ME NT. "
opened behind it. Servants entered carrying in a wretch
in rags, who, as he staggered forward, roared like a beast :
" Give me food, food ! drink ! drink ! My father died
of hunger yesterday, — this morning my mother perished,
— fever consumes me, — I must die ere night ! "
The Official made a sign, a drapery of azure was sud-
denly opened before him, behind which stood a table,
glittering and groaning under the weight of its dishes of
silver, its cups of crystal. The famished man darted for-
ward, but they held him back: "First swear fealty to
us! "
"Food ! food ! afterwards I will swear ! " The slight
Official broke into a laugh at these words, pointed him to
the cross, and the dying man fell on his knees before it.
It seemed to the Young Man that the voice of the
Official sounded like the hissing of a serpent as he dic-
tated the oath: "In the name of the Holy Trinity and
the Passion of our Lord, I swear to report here all I shall
see, all I shall hear, all I may divine, were it the groans
of my brother, or the sighs of my sister ! Should my
friends or relations imagine anything in secret, I swear to
reveal it, though I know I should thus place their heads
under the axe of the executioner ! Should I conceal
anything from you, may I be tortured, nailed to the cross,
burned by fire, and fed on poison 1"
But the kneeling wretch would not repeat the words,
and, falling upon the earth, he gasped : " I die! "
And the slight Official cried: "Die! " and calmly
crossing his hands, he waited !
A great silence followed ; and it seemed to the Young
Man that he asked the Shade: " Master, where are the
souls of these men ? I do not see them, though thou hast
lent me the power to perceive spirits. "
And the Shade replied: "In the justice of God, no
punishment has been found sufficiently severe for them,
therefore, abandoned to eternal contempt, their souls are
identified with their bodies. From them alone, among
the myriads, has the holy gift of life been taken, and when
their first bodies shall fall into corruption, these beings
will no longer exist ! "
'At this moment the starving man, stiffening himself,
^ THE DREAM. . . ^
turned toward the richly-spread table : "I will swear! "
he muttered.
His eye sparkled with dying fire, while the Official
stretched out his hand to him and again placed him on
his knees. He began to take the oath !
Then a phantom like an angel, with a veiled brow, de-
tached himself from space, and with outspread wings
shielded the crucifix, and as long as the oath lasted, the
angel thus held himself before the cross. But none of them
could see him. When the last word of the oath expired,
and the famished body, rising, tottered away, the face of
the angel grew ghastly in its pallor, and rending the veil,
he cried : " A soul. Lord, has perished ! "
This cry transpierced the heart of the Young Man, and
he bowed his head under the weight of an insupportable
grief.
When he again raised his eyes, he was surrounded by
darkness, in the midst of which he saw unburied bones
and cemeteries full of gibbets on which already swung their
victims dimly floating, and they multiplied and sailed on,
one after the other, like the gathering clouds of a tem-
pest. Like whirlwinds of autumn leaves they drifted on •
above with mournful sighs; thousands of voices joined
the funereal murmur ; the sobs of women, the wails of
children, and the hoarser groans of men ! But the Shade
of Dante spake to them and said : " Unfortunate as you
are, your hour will surely come, and you will live with a
double immortality; your own, and the immortality of
those who have ruined you! For, from the nothingness
to which they are destined, a spirit will be disengaged
which will pass into you. Calm yourselves, then, O ye
unfortunate ! "
But as he spake, his own tears flowed.
And returning towards the surface of the earth, 'they
repassed through the Armed People, who were already un-
der arms in rows like countless statues. The blast of the
trumpet and the roll of the drum, in monotonous rhythm,
meted out to them time and life. Some were marched off
to rest, others, stolid as stones, marched up to replace
them. Some, placed in guard of prisoners, who, too
weak to stand, were stretched upon the ground, watched
13*
146 THE '^ FRAGMENTr
them breathlessly with unmoving eyes, the butt-ends of
tlieir guns upon their breasts, and their fingers upon the
trigger; and at intervals the report of fire-arms, some-
times in the rear, sometimes on either side, proved that
the sport of death was in process.
As the Young Man followed the steps of the Seer, the
walls hollowed out through the rock began to diverge,
always embracing a wider horizon, until one took its di-
rection to the east, the other to the west, as far as the eye
could follow them.
They ran on and on, — one might have said they would
embrace all space, — and they increased in height and they
spread in breadth, and their girdle of rock grew up into
the horizon and lined the whole arch of the sky with a
vault of stone, so closely that it formed a building as im-
mense as the world, granitic, gray, without verdure, and
without azure ! And, far in the distance in this granite
world, the Young Man perceived the phantom of a Sun
nailed upon the overhanging canopy and lighting the in-
closed space with its oblique rays. But its glimmer seemed
rather the sickness of light than light itself. Innumerable
throngs hurried to and fro through this wan atmosphere,
as if all the nations of the earth were collected there, and,
like the crossing surges of great seas, the uproar of the
myriad voices broke against the granite walls of that
world !
The Soul entranced by the Dream, the Soul of the Young
Man, asked : " Master, where are we ? "
And he answered : "In the Sanctuary which Humanity
has, for the present, chosen for its Home ; but from which
God is absent ! "
He then entered a group seated upon the threshold.
Each one composing it had an open ditch before him, his
own property, deep and long as a grave ; and each bore
upon his head a lamp which, as he stooped, lighted the
dark trench before him, whence he selected the tools of
various trades. Each worked with his hands, though his
look was stolid as the face of an idiot ; and the Young
Man saw some who held in their fingers the head of a pin,
and their brows were as furrowed with expressionless
wrinkles as if they had passed the whole of their lives in
THE DREAM.
147
rounding this head of a pin ! But whenever the hour of
death, tolling always in the distance, echoed nearer along
the walls of this gigantic vault, here one, and then another,
would bow his head, and roll with a groan into his own
ditch. Then their souls became visible ; like bluish
clouds, and somewhat resembling the implements of their
life-long labors, they detached themselves from their
bodies, and skimming along the surface of the earth, they
floated on towards the yellow and distant sun !
At the approach of the Seer, the men rose, and, break-
ing their lamps, cried : " If you are the gods or the de-
mons of whom we have heard, — and it matters to us little
which you are, — give us gold ! gold ! "
And their skeletons extended their shivering hands !
The blood of indignation colored the pale face of Dante
as he replied: "Mercenary wretches, possessed by the
Demon! " And, like inert masses, they fell to earth
before the Spirit !
The face of Dante again flushed, but it was with the
glow of inspiration, as he said : " Would you understand
me if I should prophesy to you of the future? When my
body advanced from the other side of the grave through
the free light of the sun towards death, there were also
artisans upon the earth, and the banners of their guilds
floated from the terraces of the towers. They trafficked
in purple, fine gold, and precious stones upon the public
marts, but they carried the sword, and the rosary of prayer
hung at their girdles. Their hands could guide the helm
over the stormy waves, and their brains could raise invin-
cible fortresses upon the land. They received gold ; but
they washed its stain away in the blood of battle !
But
you, to-day, whose fingers are as soft as wax, what could
you possibly effect ? You, whose lips have never breathed
a prayer ! You have no strength upon earth, no hope in
heaven ! You have lost the sinews of men in the thirst
for gold! "
A boy, beautiful as an angel, but faded before his time
by the rude labor exacted from his little hands, dragged
himself to him, and placing his head upon his feet, mur-
mured, in low tones : " Have pity upon us ! All that we
can gain through the day we are forced to spend at night ;
148 THE "FRAGMENT. "
and at the dawn of the next day we must go to work
again ! VVe have no time to pray to God, but only to
work to get something to eat that we may not die of
hunger ; and scarcely have we eaten, when we must again
work for food. Have pity upon us ! "
And the Shade grew as pallid as the boy, who was
wiping his feet with his fair hair, and raising his eyes, he
sighed: " My child, the past will never return ! Pray
for the FUTURE to our Father who dwells in Heaven ! "
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.
never seen so strange, so wild, a night. To find the way
now, one must be the supreme master of these solitudes,
or the chamois which rule these rocks !
Ho ! Where art thou ? Answer !
Alighieri. Here ! Near thee !
Young Man. This bewildering fog ! It rises now di-
rectly under my feet ; it darkens my sight ; I cannot see
thee ! Ha ! now it breaks, it sails above and joins its
sister bands on high !
Look, Alighieri ! Is that not an old, long-bearded
king upon his throne, his sceptre in his hand ? After him
comes an immense serpent — no — rather a dragon — no —
now it is a cherub with four great wings. Look down
there ! Oh, far, far down, in the intervale among the
rocks ! there throngs a whole nation of spirits, hastening
to the Last Judgment ! Alighieri, what is this before me ?
Against what have I bruised myself?
Alighieri. It is the gateway of an ancient cemetery.
Young Man. Look at the moon ! It burns like a pale
purgatory of souls above the graves where their bodies rest.
But a moment ago I was so strong, so fresh, light as the
air, and now I am so weary, — so ill at ease, — and I know
not how nor why, unless the old dead here have cast their
spells upon me ! If I do not sit down upon this stone I
believe I will fall asleep.
X40
THE "FRAGMENTS
Alighieri. Lean upon me, Henry.
Young Man. Yes, — for my eyelids close; — I must rest
here !
Alighieri. Come but a few steps farther : only as far
as this White Chapel.
Young Man. I will. We will be more quiet under its
roof than out here in the open air.
A/ighieri. Why do you stop? Goon!
Young Man. Have these mists really blinded me? or
am I asleep ? Is this a dream ?
Alighieri. What seest thou, Henry?
Young Afan. Thy forehead grows strangely livid under
the rays of the moon, — thine eyes look hollow, — thou art
so slight and attenuated, — thou seemest older, older — but
sublime ! Is it really thyself, Alighieri?
Alighieri. It is really I, Henry.
Young Man. The voice alone recalls thee. It seems
to me now that a crown of laurel glitters round thy brow,
that it winds and unwinds, appears and disappears. Leave
me ! I fear thee ! I will go no farther !
Sleep bows me to the earth . . . I am falling . . . let
me fall ! Touch me not, Alighieri ! God is my witness
that I have somewhere seen a face like thine . . . some-
where. . . .
Alighieri. A few steps more !
Young Man. ' Where are we ? Where ?
Ah ! now I know the laurel crown, the strange fire in
the eye brought from other worlds ! This image stands
in the great Hall of my ancestors, under the canopy
strewn thick with silver stars : yes, it is under the green
canopy in my home ! My father told me that in centu-
ries past that man had visited Hell and Purgatory, and
had seen Paradise !
Master ! Master ! whither dost thou lead me?
Alighieri (bearing him into the chapel). Now thou
mayst sleep !
THE DREAM. 1 41
II.
THE DREAM.
It seemed to the young man that the figure of Dante
turned to him, and said : " From that reahii where Love,'
Wisdom, and the Eternal Will abide, thence have they
sent me to show thee the Hell of the present days!
Therefore banish all fear, and whither I go, follow me ! "
Like a pale column the Figure rose, and took its flight
across the night of space, gliding rapidly over nebulous
vapor, and through aerial waves. Sometimes a rapid me-
teor broke flashing under its feet, and here and there gray
dawns awoke, floating away to disappear in the distance.
But the soul of the Young Man was overwhelmed with
sadness, for it knew not whither it was going, and it went
into the Infinite : — and it felt it was the Infinite of Evil !
The Figure stopped upon the summit of a mountain,
and it appeared to the Young Man that*they com-
menced to descend within its bosom. The darkness
yielded by degrees, and where the way could be dis-
cerned, it appeared bordered on either side by walls cut
in the solid rock ; the most terrific passes were scarcely
penetrated by the doubtful twilight, and on the right and
the left, all along the rocky parapet, were ranged soldiers,
all arrayed in the same costume, all of the same height,
all alike in the expression of their features, all in per-
petual motion, sometimes leaning forward, and sometimes
standing erect ; all engaged in the same monotonous oc-
cupation of sedulously polishing the barrels of the mus-
kets, which all held in their hands. Light as a sigh, the
hand of the Shade swept the eyelids of the Young Man
as he said : "Look ! this is truly the entrance of the Hell
of Earth ! " And instantly he saw the Souls of the Sol-
diers, bent half-way out of their bodies, into which they
could return no more, and from which they could not
tear themselves away. And in their agony they cried :
" We can neither live nor die, — we must forever go where
they order us, — order us against God, and we go, —
13
142
THE ''FRAGMENTS
against our brothers, and we go :" — and their tears were
unquenchable! The Shade stopped and said: "Who
are you, and'what is your name? " But the souls of all
those bodies answered nothing. " Where is your coun-
try? " And the souls of all those bodies straightened
themselves, full of astonishment ! " Where is your
home? " And among so many eyes, a few let fall a tear
^s at some vague remembrance ! But the arms ceased not
to move more and more vigorously, ever rubbing the bar-
rels of their guns and sharpening the points of their bayo-
nets, and lo ! above those mute bodies all the souls groaned
out together : " Since infancy, they have driven us about
the world without our own volition ; they have forced us
to forget ourselves and to murder others; whoever re-
sisted us, we were commanded to shoot as a traitor; and
now we know not whence we came nor whither we are
going! "
Then the pale figure spake : " When men of old sought
the combat, they knew what cause they were serving, and
why they must die; they were like gods of war, but you
perish like |)oor brutes ! " And breaking with a sign the
ranks of the armed people, the Figure advanced to the
stairs which wound down into the depths.
Following the steps of the Seer, the young man plunged
into the subterranean darkness.
Suddenly a deluge of light poured around him ; he saw
the black walls, the prison grates, the rings with chains
clamped into the rocks : luxurious flames blazed in lamps
of alabaster, soft carpets of silk were underfoot, and a
numberless crowd was gathered round a man who occu-
pied a high seat, and who, delicate and slight as a woman,
turned over the pages of a black book. Before him stood
a gigantic cross, rising almost to the vault, and a figure of
Clirist was stretched upon it. The shade of Dante trem-
bled from head to foot as he spake: "I never met that
sacred sign with the Condemned of old ! At least they
did not know how to blaspheme God in the name of God !
Look and listen ! "
The Official of the multitude, the slight and delicate
man, bent forward, and drew many heavy bags of gold
from under the base of the cross. All who were present
THE DREAM.
143
approached and formed a circle round him, stretching
out to him their hands, — and the sweat of their cupidity
streamed from their brows! And in paying, he instructed
them ; his voice was sharp and hissing as the grinding of
a dagger over the face of a polished mirror.
" Wheresoever you may glide, be cautious and of honied
sweetness !
" In the house of the old Signors, be humble and lavish
of incense to their pride : in the house of the poor, flat-
ter their poverty !
** When the husband tyrannizes over his wife, console
her : when the father is hard with his sons, lend them the
money of which they have need !
" The strong every where oppress the weak : protect the
weak ; and all complaints and furtive hopes, like hidden
treasures, shall open before you !
" Should you find one melancholy and silent, be your-
self loudly desperate : your cry of pain will awaken his
voice !
" When you meet the young devoured with impatience
to act, bind them on the instant by terrible oaths ! Glide
mysterious arms under their garments ; it is with men as
with grains of corn: the fuller they are, the more easily
may they be hulled !
"Let your memory be eager, keen, and limitless: if
the winds shake the leaves of a tree, listen to their rust-
ling !
" Should you find a pin upon your way, pick it up and
bring it here : it is of more worth than a sword, for where
the sword intervenes, there is no longer time !
" Love children, and learn skillfully to play with them ;
as butterflies upon flowers, so repose the secret mysteries
of families upon their lips !
" Knowledge is the gift of gifts. A single prison
would not contain the bodies of all, but a single brain
may seize upon the thoughts of all, and, like the dome
of an immense dungeon, may vault above them all !
" Go and traverse the world ! "
And all laden with gold, they vanished like phan-
toms ! A rose-colored curtain was now rolled upon the
other side of the subterranean abyss, and iron doors were
144
THE "FH AG ME NT. "
opened behind it. Servants entered carrying in a wretch
in rags, who, as he staggered forward, roared like a beast :
" Give me food, food ! drink ! drink ! My father died
of hunger yesterday, — this morning my mother perished,
— fever consumes me, — I must die ere night ! "
The Official made a sign, a drapery of azure was sud-
denly opened before him, behind which stood a table,
glittering and groaning under the weight of its dishes of
silver, its cups of crystal. The famished man darted for-
ward, but they held him back: "First swear fealty to
us! "
"Food ! food ! afterwards I will swear ! " The slight
Official broke into a laugh at these words, pointed him to
the cross, and the dying man fell on his knees before it.
It seemed to the Young Man that the voice of the
Official sounded like the hissing of a serpent as he dic-
tated the oath: "In the name of the Holy Trinity and
the Passion of our Lord, I swear to report here all I shall
see, all I shall hear, all I may divine, were it the groans
of my brother, or the sighs of my sister ! Should my
friends or relations imagine anything in secret, I swear to
reveal it, though I know I should thus place their heads
under the axe of the executioner ! Should I conceal
anything from you, may I be tortured, nailed to the cross,
burned by fire, and fed on poison 1"
But the kneeling wretch would not repeat the words,
and, falling upon the earth, he gasped : " I die! "
And the slight Official cried: "Die! " and calmly
crossing his hands, he waited !
A great silence followed ; and it seemed to the Young
Man that he asked the Shade: " Master, where are the
souls of these men ? I do not see them, though thou hast
lent me the power to perceive spirits. "
And the Shade replied: "In the justice of God, no
punishment has been found sufficiently severe for them,
therefore, abandoned to eternal contempt, their souls are
identified with their bodies. From them alone, among
the myriads, has the holy gift of life been taken, and when
their first bodies shall fall into corruption, these beings
will no longer exist ! "
'At this moment the starving man, stiffening himself,
^ THE DREAM. . . ^
turned toward the richly-spread table : "I will swear! "
he muttered.
His eye sparkled with dying fire, while the Official
stretched out his hand to him and again placed him on
his knees. He began to take the oath !
Then a phantom like an angel, with a veiled brow, de-
tached himself from space, and with outspread wings
shielded the crucifix, and as long as the oath lasted, the
angel thus held himself before the cross. But none of them
could see him. When the last word of the oath expired,
and the famished body, rising, tottered away, the face of
the angel grew ghastly in its pallor, and rending the veil,
he cried : " A soul. Lord, has perished ! "
This cry transpierced the heart of the Young Man, and
he bowed his head under the weight of an insupportable
grief.
When he again raised his eyes, he was surrounded by
darkness, in the midst of which he saw unburied bones
and cemeteries full of gibbets on which already swung their
victims dimly floating, and they multiplied and sailed on,
one after the other, like the gathering clouds of a tem-
pest. Like whirlwinds of autumn leaves they drifted on •
above with mournful sighs; thousands of voices joined
the funereal murmur ; the sobs of women, the wails of
children, and the hoarser groans of men ! But the Shade
of Dante spake to them and said : " Unfortunate as you
are, your hour will surely come, and you will live with a
double immortality; your own, and the immortality of
those who have ruined you! For, from the nothingness
to which they are destined, a spirit will be disengaged
which will pass into you. Calm yourselves, then, O ye
unfortunate ! "
But as he spake, his own tears flowed.
And returning towards the surface of the earth, 'they
repassed through the Armed People, who were already un-
der arms in rows like countless statues. The blast of the
trumpet and the roll of the drum, in monotonous rhythm,
meted out to them time and life. Some were marched off
to rest, others, stolid as stones, marched up to replace
them. Some, placed in guard of prisoners, who, too
weak to stand, were stretched upon the ground, watched
13*
146 THE '^ FRAGMENTr
them breathlessly with unmoving eyes, the butt-ends of
tlieir guns upon their breasts, and their fingers upon the
trigger; and at intervals the report of fire-arms, some-
times in the rear, sometimes on either side, proved that
the sport of death was in process.
As the Young Man followed the steps of the Seer, the
walls hollowed out through the rock began to diverge,
always embracing a wider horizon, until one took its di-
rection to the east, the other to the west, as far as the eye
could follow them.
They ran on and on, — one might have said they would
embrace all space, — and they increased in height and they
spread in breadth, and their girdle of rock grew up into
the horizon and lined the whole arch of the sky with a
vault of stone, so closely that it formed a building as im-
mense as the world, granitic, gray, without verdure, and
without azure ! And, far in the distance in this granite
world, the Young Man perceived the phantom of a Sun
nailed upon the overhanging canopy and lighting the in-
closed space with its oblique rays. But its glimmer seemed
rather the sickness of light than light itself. Innumerable
throngs hurried to and fro through this wan atmosphere,
as if all the nations of the earth were collected there, and,
like the crossing surges of great seas, the uproar of the
myriad voices broke against the granite walls of that
world !
The Soul entranced by the Dream, the Soul of the Young
Man, asked : " Master, where are we ? "
And he answered : "In the Sanctuary which Humanity
has, for the present, chosen for its Home ; but from which
God is absent ! "
He then entered a group seated upon the threshold.
Each one composing it had an open ditch before him, his
own property, deep and long as a grave ; and each bore
upon his head a lamp which, as he stooped, lighted the
dark trench before him, whence he selected the tools of
various trades. Each worked with his hands, though his
look was stolid as the face of an idiot ; and the Young
Man saw some who held in their fingers the head of a pin,
and their brows were as furrowed with expressionless
wrinkles as if they had passed the whole of their lives in
THE DREAM.
147
rounding this head of a pin ! But whenever the hour of
death, tolling always in the distance, echoed nearer along
the walls of this gigantic vault, here one, and then another,
would bow his head, and roll with a groan into his own
ditch. Then their souls became visible ; like bluish
clouds, and somewhat resembling the implements of their
life-long labors, they detached themselves from their
bodies, and skimming along the surface of the earth, they
floated on towards the yellow and distant sun !
At the approach of the Seer, the men rose, and, break-
ing their lamps, cried : " If you are the gods or the de-
mons of whom we have heard, — and it matters to us little
which you are, — give us gold ! gold ! "
And their skeletons extended their shivering hands !
The blood of indignation colored the pale face of Dante
as he replied: "Mercenary wretches, possessed by the
Demon! " And, like inert masses, they fell to earth
before the Spirit !
The face of Dante again flushed, but it was with the
glow of inspiration, as he said : " Would you understand
me if I should prophesy to you of the future? When my
body advanced from the other side of the grave through
the free light of the sun towards death, there were also
artisans upon the earth, and the banners of their guilds
floated from the terraces of the towers. They trafficked
in purple, fine gold, and precious stones upon the public
marts, but they carried the sword, and the rosary of prayer
hung at their girdles. Their hands could guide the helm
over the stormy waves, and their brains could raise invin-
cible fortresses upon the land. They received gold ; but
they washed its stain away in the blood of battle !
But
you, to-day, whose fingers are as soft as wax, what could
you possibly effect ? You, whose lips have never breathed
a prayer ! You have no strength upon earth, no hope in
heaven ! You have lost the sinews of men in the thirst
for gold! "
A boy, beautiful as an angel, but faded before his time
by the rude labor exacted from his little hands, dragged
himself to him, and placing his head upon his feet, mur-
mured, in low tones : " Have pity upon us ! All that we
can gain through the day we are forced to spend at night ;
148 THE "FRAGMENT. "
and at the dawn of the next day we must go to work
again ! VVe have no time to pray to God, but only to
work to get something to eat that we may not die of
hunger ; and scarcely have we eaten, when we must again
work for food. Have pity upon us ! "
And the Shade grew as pallid as the boy, who was
wiping his feet with his fair hair, and raising his eyes, he
sighed: " My child, the past will never return ! Pray
for the FUTURE to our Father who dwells in Heaven ! "
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.
