Where is the wanton hand
That ruthlessly destroyed it?
That ruthlessly destroyed it?
Warner - World's Best Literature - v16 - Lev to Mai
In the cities the jails were not large
enough to hold the debtors. At New York during 1809 thirteen
hundred men were imprisoned for no other crime than being
ruined by the embargo. A traveler who saw the city in this
day of distress assures us that it looked like a town ravaged by
pestilence. The counting-houses were shut or advertised to let.
The coffee-houses were almost empty. The streets along the
water-side were almost deserted. The ships were dismantled;
their decks were cleared, their hatches were battened down. Not
a box, not a cask, not a barrel, not a bale was to be seen on
the wharves, where the grass had begun to grow luxuriantly. A
year later, in this same city, eleven hundred and fifty men were
confined for debts under twenty-five dollars, and were clothed by
the Humane Society.
## p. 9515 (#543) ###########################################
9515
EMERICH MADÁCH
(1823-1864)
BY GEORGE ALEXANDER KOHUT
UNGARY is a favorite land of the Muses. Romance, ardent
sentiment, and a certain mystic fervor give to her poetry an
exquisite charm. A thrill of fire and passion vibrates in her
songs and melodies. Her folk-lore and ancient traditions teem with
rich Oriental imagery and beautiful conceptions. These ancient gems
have in the present century received a fresh setting at the hands of
the literary artists, who have borne witness
to the unabated vigor of this people "barbar-
ously grand. " Of the modern school, Petöfi
the lyric poet and Madách the dramatic are
the most popular poets of Hungary.
Madách Imre (for the family name comes
first in Hungarian) was born in Alsó Sztre-
gova, Hungary, January 21st, 1823; and died
in his native town October 5th, 1864. Of
his life little need be told. He was notary,
orator, and journalist; at an early age he
wrote a number of essays on natural science,
archæology, and æsthetics. He wrote lyric
as well as dramatic poetry; but it is chiefly
through his two dramatic poems, 'Moses'
and The Tragedy of Man,' written almost simultaneously in 1860,
that he is best known. An edition of his collected writings, in three
volumes, was issued by Paul Gyulai in Budapest, 1880. His master-
piece, The Tragedy of Man,' has been rendered into German no less
than five times; the latest version, by Julius Lechner von der Lech
(Leipzig, 1888, with a preface by Maurice Jókai), being the most feli-
citous. Alexander Fischer gave a splendid résumé of this powerful
drama in Sacher-Masoch's periodical, Auf der Höhe (Vol. xvi. , 1885),
-the only analysis of it in any language except Hungarian. Though
it is too philosophical and contemplative in character, and not in-
tended for the stage, its first production, which took place in Septem-
ber 1883, created an immense sensation both in Austria and Hungary.
To English readers, Madách is a total stranger. His name is
scarcely ever found in any encyclopædia or biographical dictionary;
EMERICH MADÁCH
## p. 9516 (#544) ###########################################
9516
EMERICH MADÁCH
and strangely enough, no attempt has been thus far made to give
even a selection from this latter-day Milton of Hungary.
It is not here intended to explain the origin and inner development
of this fascinating drama, nor to draw elaborate parallels between
its author and his predecessors in other lands. Such a comparative
critical study would be interesting as showing the spiritual kinship
between master minds, centuries distant from one another, whose
sympathies are in direct touch with our own ideals and life problems.
Madách will plead his own cause effectively enough. To him, how-
ever, who in reading the Tragedy of Man' involuntarily makes such
comparisons, and might be led unjustly to question the author's ori-
ginality, the graceful adage Grosse Geister treffen sich (Great minds
meet) will serve as an answer. He should rather say, with true
artistic estimate, that the shading in the one landscape of a higher
life helps to set off the vivid and brilliant coloring in the other; so
that the whole, viewed side by side, presents a series of wondrous
harmonies. Madách imbibed, no doubt, from foreign sources.
He
was familiar with 'Paradise Lost,' and with the now obsolete but
once much-lauded epic, 'La Semaine (The Week), of Milton's French
predecessor Du Bartas; Alfieri's tramelogedia, 'Abele,' and Gesner's
'Death of Abel,' as well as Byron's 'Mystery of Cain,' may also have
come to his notice; Goethe's 'Faust' appears more than once, and may
be recognized in any incognito. Yet we cannot say with certainty
that any one of these masterpieces influenced his own work, any more
than Milton inspired the great German bard. We might as justly
tax him with drawing upon Hebrew tradition for the entire plot of
his drama, beginning with the fourth scene; for strangely enough,
Adam's experiences with his mentor and Nemesis, Lucifer, are fore-
shadowed in the very same manner in a quaint legend of the Jewish
Rabbis, told nearly twenty centuries ago. The comparative study
of literature will reveal other facts equally amazing. It is of course
self-evident that the morbid pessimism which rings its vague alarms
throughout the book is that of Ecclesiastes, whose vanitas vanitatum
is the key to his doleful plaint.
"I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all
that is done under heaven: it is a sore travail that God hath given to the
sons of men to be exercised therewith. I have seen all the works that are
done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. . .
And I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I
perceived that this also was a striving after wind. For in much wisdom is
much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. " (Eccl. i.
12-18. )
This is the leading theme, and Lessing's soulful simile of the
ideal, the grand morale: "If God held truth in his right hand," says
he, "and in his left the mere striving after truth, bidding me choose
-
## p. 9517 (#545) ###########################################
EMERICH MADÁCH
"
9517
between the two, I would reverently bow to his left and say, 'Give
but the impulse; truth is for thee alone! '»
Thus, after traversing many lands the world over; after plunging
into every pleasure and being steeped in every vice; after passions
human and divine have had their sway over his spirit,- Adam con-
cedes to Lucifer that the world of ideals is illusory, existing only in
fancy, thriving but in our own souls, nourished by sentiment, and
supersensitive to the touch of grosser things. And yet the echo
which answers his sad pleadings, as he cries out disheartened —
is a wholly unexpected one in the grand finale. It teaches the
doctrine of eternal hope, as the great Hebrew pessimist Koheleth
summed it up, when only the Hellenic intellect reigned supreme and
the Hellenic heart was cold:-
"I have decreed, O man-
strive ye and trust! »
The ideal conquers in the end, should life and love not fail. Poetry
and sentiment transform even this valley of the shadow of death into
a Paradise regained. It is a song of the ideals in which salvation
lies; and the words of the Lord with which the poem closes are,
"Struggle and trust. »
Teorge Alexander Mohut
IRST CITIZEN
"O sacred poetry, hast thou then
Quite forsaken this prosy world of ours? »
FIRS
Second Citizen
SEVENTH SCENE
Scene: An open square in Constantinople. A few citizens lounging about.
In the centre the palace of the Patriarch; to the right a cloister; to the
left a grove. Adam as Tancred, in the prime of life, is seen advan-
cing at the head of returning Crusaders, accompanied by other knights,
with colors flying and drums beating; Lucifer as his armor-bearer.
Evening, then night.
--
-
FROM THE TRAGEDY OF MAN'
Behold, there comes another horde of heathen;
Oh, flee and double-bar the doors, lest they
Again the whim to plunder feel!
Hide ye the women: but too well
Knows this rebel the joys of the seraglio.
―
## p. 9518 (#546) ###########################################
9518
EMERICH MADÁCH
First Citizen -
Adam
First Citizen -
Lucifer-
Adam
Lucifer
Adam-
_____
Adam [to the knights]-
-
Lucifer-
And our wives the rights of the conqueror.
Hold! hold! why scatter in such haste?
Do ye not see the holy sign aloft
That makes us brothers in humanity
And companions to one goal? —
We bore the light of our faith, the law
Of love, into Asia's wilds,
That the savage millions there
Where our Savior's cradle stood
Might share sweet salvation's boon.
Know ye not this brotherly love?
Full many a time through honeyed words
Swift harm befell our homes.
[They disperse. ]
-
Behold, this is the accursed result
When scheming vagabonds
The sacred symbol flaunt,
And flattering the passions of the mob,
Presume unasked to lead. -
Fellow knights! Until our swords
To honor fair, to praise of God,
To women's guard, to bravery,
Be sanctified,- are we in duty bound
This demon foul in constant check to hold,
That in spite of godless inclination,
He great and noble deeds may do.
That sounds well. But, Tancred, what if the people
Do but spurn thy leadership?
Where spirit is, is also victory.
I'll crush them to the earth!
And should spirit with them alike abide,
Wilt thou descend to them?
Why descend?
Is it not nobler to lift them up to me?
To yield for lack of fighters
The foremost place in battle, were
As unworthy as to reject a comrade
In envy of his share of victory.
Alack! how the grand idea has come to naught
For which the martyrs of the circus fought!
Is this the freedom of equality?
A wondrous brotherhood were that!
## p. 9519 (#547) ###########################################
EMERICH MADÁCH
Adam Oh, cease thy scorn! Think not that I misprize
Christianity's exalted precepts.
Adam
My being yearns for them alone!
Whoever hath the spark divine may strive;
Lucifer - What a pity that thy spirit's lofty flight
Even now begets such sorry fruit;
Red without, within already rotten!
Lucifer-
Adam-
And him who upward toils to us
With joy we surely will receive.
A sword-cut lifts him to our ranks.
But guard we must our ranks with jealous eye
Against the still fermenting chaos here.
Would that our time were already near!
For only then can we be quite redeemed
When every barrier falls-when all is pure.
And were he who set this universe in motion
Not himself the great and mighty God,
I must needs doubt the dawn of such a day.
Ye have seen, O friends, how we have been received:
Orphaned amidst the tumult of the town,
Naught now remains save in yonder grove
A tent to pitch, as we were wont among the infidels,
Till better times shall come. Go; I follow soon.
Every knight stands sponsor for his men.
[The Crusaders pitch their tent. ]
Stop!
Hast thou no longer faith in lofty thought?
What boots it thee if I believe,
When thine own race doth doubt?
This knighthood which thou hast placed
As lighthouse amid ocean's waves,
Will yet die out, or half collapse,
And make the sailor's course even more fearful
9519
Than before, when no light shone before his way.
What lives to-day and blessing works,
Dies with time; the spirit takes wing
And the carcass but remains, to breathe
Murderous miasmas into the fresher life
Which round him buds. Behold, thus
Survive from bygone times our old ideals.
Until our ranks dissolve, its sacred teachings
Will have had effect upon the public mind.
I fear no danger then.
## p. 9520 (#548) ###########################################
9520
EMERICH MADÁCH
Lucifer-
Adam-
-
Adam-
―
Third Citizen.
Lucifer-
Adam-
-
Lucifer-
Adam
Lucifer-
-
――――
Adam-
Look thou upon this sword! It may by a hair's-breadth
Longer be or shorter, and yet remains the same
In substance. The door is opened thus to endless specula-
Adam-
Lucifer-
-
The holy teachings! They are your curse indeed,
When ye approach them unawares,
For ye turn, sharpen, split, and smooth
Them o'er so long, till they your phantoms
Or your chains become.
And though reason cannot grasp exact ideas,
Yet ye presumptuous men do always seek
To forge them to your harm.
-
tion;
For where is there limit pre-imposed?
'Tis true your feelings soon perceive the right
When change in greater things sets in. —
But why speak and myself exert? Speech
Is wearisome. Turn thou, survey the field thyself.
Friends, my troops are tired and shelter crave.
In the Capital of Christendom they will
Perchance not crave in vain.
The question is, whether as heretics.
Ye're not worse than infidels!
I stand aghast! But see what prince
Approaches from afar, so haughtily defiant?
The Patriarch successor to the Apostles.
And this barefoot, dirty mob
Which follows with malicious joy
In the captive's wake,
Feigning humility?
They are monks, Christian cynics.
I saw not such among my native hills.
You'll see them yet. Slowly, slowly
Spreads the curse of leprosy;
But beware how you dare insult
This people, so absolute in virtue and
Hence so hard to reconcile.
What virtue could adorn such folk as this?
Their worth is abnegation, poverty,
As practiced first by the Master on the Cross.
He saved a world by such humility;
While these cowards, like rebels,
Do but blaspheme the name of God,
In that they despise his gift.
## p. 9521 (#549) ###########################################
EMERICH MADÁCH
Lucifer-
Adam [facing the Patriarch]--
Who 'gainst gnats the weapons same would draw
That in the bear hunt he is wont to use
Is a fool.
Patriarch-
Monks
But if they in pious zeal, perchance,
Mistake the gnats for monstrous bears,
Have they then not the right to drive
To the very gates of hell
Those who life enjoy?
Father, we're battling for the Holy Grave,
And wearied from the way which we have come,
To rest within these walls we are denied.
Thou hast power here: help thou our cause.
Patriarch
Scale ye their walls, level them to the ground,
And spare ye neither woman, child, nor hoary head.
Adam The innocent! O father, this cannot be thy wish!
Patriarch-
My son, I have just now no time for petty things.
God's glory and my people's weal
Call higher aims now forth. I must away
To judge the heretics; who, like poisonous weeds,
Do grow and multiply, and whom hell
With force renewed upon us throws,
Even though we constant try with fire and sword
―
To root them out.
But if indeed ye be true Christian knights,
Why seek the Moor so far remote?
Here lurks a yet more dangerous foe.
Innocent is the serpent, too, while yet of tender growth
Or after its fangs are shed.
Yet sparest thou the snake?
Adam It must, in faith, have been a grievous sin
Which could such wrath from Christian love evoke.
O my son! not he shows love who feeds the flesh,
But he who leadeth back the erring soul,
At point of sword, or e'en through leaping flames.
If needs must be,- to Him who said:
Not peace but war do I proclaim!
That wicked sect interprets false
The mystic Trinity. .
XVI-596
―
Death upon them all!
There burns the funeral pile.
9521
## p. 9522 (#550) ###########################################
EMERICH MADÁCH
9522
Adam-
An Old Heretic-
Patriarch-
My friend, give up the iota, pray:
Your inspired valor in fighting
For the Savior's grave will be
More fitting sacrifice than this.
One of the Monks-
Satan, tempt us not! We'll bleed
For our true faith where God ordains.
Ha, renegade! thou boastest of true faith?
Too long have we tarried here: away with them
To the funeral pyre, in honor of God!
The Old Heretic-
Lucifer-
In honor of God? Thou spakest well, O knave!
In honor of God are we indeed your prey.
Ye are strong, and can enforce your will
As ye may please. But whether ye have acted rightly
Heaven alone will judge. Even now is weighed,
At every hour, your vile career of crime.
New champions shall from our blood arise;
The idea lives triumphant on; and coming centuries
Shall the light reflect of flames that blaze to-day.
Friends, go we to our glorious martyrdom!
The Heretics [chanting in chorus] –
——
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Why art thou so far from helping me
And from the words of my roaring?
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou
Hearest not; and in the night season,
And am not silent. But thou art holy!
(Psalm xxii. )
Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me;
Fight against them that fight against me;
Take hold of shield and buckler and stand up for mine help;
Draw out also the spear, and stop the way
Against them that persecute me.
Monks [breaking in]-
-
(Psalm xxxv. )
[In the interim the Patriarch and the procession go by. The monks with
tracts mingle among the Crusaders. ]
Why silent thus and horrified?
Dost hold this to be a tragedy?
Consider it a comedy, and 'twill make thee laugh.
## p. 9523 (#551) ###########################################
EMERICH MADÁCH
9523
Adam-
Lucifer-
Adam-
Lucifer-
Adam-
Lucifer-
Nay, spare thy banter now! Can one
For a mere iota go firmly thus to death?
What then is the lofty and sublime?
That which to others may seem droll.
Only a hair divides these two ideas;
A voice in the heart alone may judge betwixt them,
And the mysterious judge is sympathy,
Which, blindly, at one time deifies,
Then with brutal scorn condemns to death.
Why must my eyes be witness of these varied sins?
The subtleties of proud science, and of sophistry!
That deadly poison wondrously so sipped
From the sweetest, gayest, freshest flowers?
I knew this flower once in the budding time
Of our oppressed faith.
Where is the wanton hand
That ruthlessly destroyed it?
The wanton hand is victory,
Which wide-spread once, a thousand wishes wakes,
Danger allies, and martyrs makes,
And strength endues;
'Tis there among the heretics.
Verily, I'd cast away my sword and turn me
To my northern home, where, in the glades
Of the shadowy woods primeval,
Stern manliness, true artlessness yet dwell,
And the rancor of this smooth-tongued age defy.
I would return but for a voice that lisps
The constant message in my ears,
That I alone am called to re-create this world.
Love's labor lost; for unaided thou canst
Ne'er prevail against the ruling spirit of the age.
The course of time is a mighty stream,—
It buries thee or bears thee;
Nor canst thou hope to guide it,
But only swim adrift the tide.
Who in history immortal shine,
And wield uncommon power,
-
Knew well the time in which they lived,
Yet did not themselves the thought create.
Not because the cock crows does day dawn,
But the cock crows with the dawn of day;
Yonder those who, fettered, fly to face
The terrors of a death of martyrdom,
See scarce a step ahead.
## p. 9524 (#552) ###########################################
9524
EMERICH MADÁCH
A Monk in the centre of a crowd of Crusaders —
The Crusaders
Adam-
The thought but just conceived dawns in their midst
In the throes of death they hail so joyfully,—
The thought which by a care-free posterity
Will be inhaled with the air they breathe.
But leave thou this theme! Glance toward thy tent:
What unclean monks stroll about there?
What trade they drive, what speeches make
And gestures wild, insane?
Let's nearer draw, and hearken!
Adam
Here, father, here, give us
copy too!
Infamous trader, and still more wicked patrons,
Draw ye the sword and end this foul traffic!
Lucifer [confused]-
-
Lucifer-
Buy ye, brave warriors; neglect ye not
This manual of penance:
'Twill clear all doubt of conscience;
You'll learn therein much weighty mystery:
How many years in hell will burn
Each murderer, thief, and ravisher,
And he who doth our doctrines spurn;
It tells ye what the rich may buy
For a score or more of solidi;
And the poor for three alone
May swift obtain salvation's boon;
Whilst even he, to be quite fair,
Who such a sum cannot well spare,
May for a thousand lashes, mind,
Salvation bring upon his kind.
Buy ye, buy ye, this precious book!
I beg your pardon. This monk has long my partner been.
Not so deeply do I this world despise;
When praise of God soared high,
My homage also rose aloft,
Whilst thine remained becalmed.
Help me, O Lucifer! Away, away from here!
Lead back my future into past,
That I my fate no longer see,
Nor view a fruitless strife. Pray let me think
If wisdom is to thwart my destiny!
Awake then, Adam,-thy dream is o'er.
·
## p. 9525 (#553) ###########################################
EMERICH MADÁCH
9525
FIFTEENTH SCENE
Scene: A garden of palms. Adam, young again, enters from his bower;
still half asleep, he looks about in astonishment. Lucifer stands in
the middle of the scene. It is a radiant day.
Ye weird scenes and haggard forms,
How have ye left me lone!
Joys and smiles greet now my path,
As once of yore before my heart was broken.
Lucifer-O boastful man, is it thy wish, perchance,
That Nature for thy sake her law should change,—
A star appoint to mark thy loss,
Or shake the earth because a worm has died?
Have I dreamed, or am I dreaming still?
And is our life aught but a dream at last
Which makes an inanimate mass to live
But for a moment, then lets it fade forever?
Oh why, why this brief glimpse of consciousness,
Only to view the terrors of annihilation?
Thou mournest? Only cowards bend
Their necks to yoke, and unresisting stand
When yet the blow may be averted.
But unmurmuring doth the strong man
Decipher the mystic runes eternal
Of his destiny, caring but to know
If he himself can thrive beneath their doom.
AD
DAM-
Adam
Lucifer-
The might of Fate controls the world's great course;
Thou art but a tool and blindly onward driven.
Adam Nay, nay, thou liest! for the will of man is free;
That at least I've well deserved,
-
And for it have resigned my Paradise!
My phantom dreams have taught me much;
Full many a madness have I left behind,
And now 'tis mine to choose another path.
Lucifer Ay, if forgetting and eternal hope
Were not to destiny so closely wed.
The one doth heal thy bleeding wounds,
The other closely screens abysmal depths,
And gives new courage, saying,—
Rash hundreds found a grave therein,
Thou shalt be the first safely to leap it o'er.
Hast thou not, scholar, full oft beheld
The many freaks and whims among
## p. 9526 (#554) ###########################################
9526
EMERICH MADÁCH
Adam
Eve-
The parasites that brood and breed
In cats and owls only,
But must pass in mice their earliest stage
Of slow development?
Not just the one or other mouse
Predestined is the claw to feel
Of cat or owl; who cautious is
May even both avoid, and keep
In ripe old age his nest and house.
A relentless hand doth yet provide
Just such a number for his foes
As its presence here on earth
Ages hence insures.
Nor is the human being bound,
And yet the race wears chains.
Zeal carries thee like a flood along:
To-day for this, for that to-morrow,
The funeral pyres will their victims claim,
And of scoffers there will be no lack;
While he who registers the count
Will be in wonder lost, that wanton fate
Should have maintained such rare consistency
In making, matching, marring,
In virtue, faith, and sin and death,
In suicide and lunacy.
Hold! An inspiration fires my brain;
I may then thee, Almighty God, defy.
Should fate but cry to life a thousand halts,
I'd laugh serene and die, should I so please.
Am I not lone and single in this world?
Before me frowns that cliff, beneath whose base
Yawns the dark abysmal gulf.
One leap, the final scene, and I shall cry—
Farewell, the farce at last is ended!
[Adam approaches the cliff, as Eve appears. ]
Lucifer Ended! What simple-minded phrases!
Is not each moment end and
Beginning too? Alas! and but for this
Hast thou surveyed millennial years to come?
I pray thee, Adam, why didst steal off from me?
Thy last cold kiss still chills my heart;
And even now, sorrow or anger sits
Upon thy brow; I shrink from thee!
## p. 9527 (#555) ###########################################
EMERICH MADÁCH
Adam [going on]-
Eve-
Adam
Eve-
--
God-
Why follow me? Why dog my footsteps?
The ruler of creation, man,
Adam
Has weightier things to do
Than waste in sportive love his days.
Woman understands not; is a burden only.
[Softening]-
Oh, why didst thou not longer slumber?
Far harder now the sacrifice will be
That I for future ages offer must.
Shouldst hear me, lord, 'twill easier be:
What doubtful was, is now assured,—
The future.
Adam [sinking upon his knee] —
How now?
The hope my lips thus fain would lisp
Will lift the cloud and clear thy brow.
Come then a little nearer, pray!
O Adam, hear: I am a mother.
Thou hast conquered me, O Lord!
Behold, in the dust I lie.
God [appearing, surrounded by angels]—
Lucifer [aside]-
Without thee as against thee I strive in vain;
Thou mayest raise me up or strike me down,—
I bare my heart and soul before thee.
Adam, rise, and be thou not cast down.
Behold, I take thee back to me,
Reconciled by my saving grace.
9527
Family scenes are not my specialty.
They may affect the heart,
But the mind shrinks from such monotony;
[About to go.
Methinks I'll slink away.
Lucifer! I'll have a word with thee,- remain!
And thou, my son, confess what troubles thee.
Fearful images haunted me, O Lord,
And what was true therein I cannot tell;
Intrust to me, I beg, I supplicate,
The mystery of all my future state.
Is there naught else besides this narrow life
Which, becoming clarified like wine,
Thou mayest spill with every whim of thine,
And dust may drink it?
Or didst thou mean the soul for higher things?
## p. 9528 (#556) ###########################################
9528
EMERICH MADÁCH
Will further toil and forward stride my kind,
Still growing nobler, till we perfection find
Near thine almighty Throne ?
Or drudge to death like some blind treadmill-horse
Without the hope of ever changing course?
Doth noble striving meet with just reward,
When he who for ideals gives his blood
Is mocked at by a soulless throng?
Enlighten me; grateful will I bear my lot:
I can but win by such exchange,
For this suspense is hell.
Seek not to solve the mystery
Which Godly grace and sense benign
Hath screened from human sight.
If thou couldst see that transient is
The soul's sojourn upon this world,
And that it upward soars
To life unending, in the great beyond,-
Sorrow would no virtue be.
If dust absorbed thy soul alike,
What would spur thee on to thought?
Who would prompt thee to resign
Thy grosser joys for virtue fine?
Whilst now, though burdened with life,
Thy future beckons from afar,
Shimmering through the clouds
And lifting thee to higher spheres.
And should, at times, this pride thy heart inflame,
Thy span of life will soon control thy pace,
And nobleness and virtue reign supreme.
Lucifer [laughing derisively] —
Verily, glory floods the paths you tread,
Since greatness, virtue, are to lead thee on.
Two words which only pass in blessed deed
When superstition, ignorance, and prejudice
Keep constant guard and company. -
Why did I ever seek to work out great ideas
Through man, of dust and sunbeams formed,
So dwarfed in knowledge, in blind error so gigantic?
Cease thy scorn, O Lucifer! cease thy scorn!
I saw full well thy wisdom's edifice,
Wherein my heart felt only chilled;
But, gracious God, who shall sustain me now
And lead me onward in the paths of right,
God-
Adam
## p. 9529 (#557) ###########################################
EMERICH MADÁCH
9529
God-
Since thou didst withdraw the hand that guided me,
Before I tasted fruit of idle knowledge?
Strong is thine arm, full thy heart of lofty thoughts;
The field is boundless where thou seed shouldst sow.
Give thou but heed! A voice shall ceaseless call thee back,
Or constant speed thee on:
Follow its lead. And if at times
This heavenly sound be hushed in midst the whirl
Of thine eventful years, the purer soul
Of woman, unselfish, pure, and gentle,
Will surely hear it, and thrilled by woman's love,
Thy soul shall soar in Poetry and Song!
And by thy side she loyally will watch,
Mounted on these cherubim,
In sorrow pale or rosy joy,
A cheering, soothing genius.
Thou too, O Lucifer, a link but art
In my wide universe; so labor on!
Thy frosty knowledge and thy mad denial
Will cause, like yeast, the mind to effervesce.
E'en though it turns him from the beaten track,
It matters not. He'll soon return;
But endless shall thy penance be,
Since thou art ever doomed to see
How beauty buds and virtue sprouts
From the seed thou wouldst have spoiled.
Chorus of Angels
Choice between the good and evil,
Wondrous thought, sublime decision!
Still to know that thou art shielded
By a gracious God's provision.
For the right, then, be thou steadfast,
Though thou labor without meed;
Thy reward shall be the knowledge
Thou hast done a noble deed.
Greatness grows in goodness only;
Shame will keep the good man just,
And the fear of shame uplifts him,
While the mean man crawls in dust.
But when treading paths exalted,
This blind error cherish not,-
## p. 9530 (#558) ###########################################
EMERICH MADÁCH
9530
That the glory thou achievest
Adds to God's a single jot:
God-
For he needs not thy assistance
To accomplish his designs;
Be thou thankful if he calls thee
And a task to thee assigns.
Eve-
Praise be to God, I understand this song.
Adam-I divine the message and submit to its decree.
Ah, could I only the distant end foresee!
I have ordained, O man,—
Struggle thou and trust!
Translated for 'A Library of the World's Best Literature by G. A. Kohut.
## p. 9530 (#559) ###########################################
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## p. 9531 (#563) ###########################################
9531
JAMES MADISON
(1751-1836)
HE writings of James Madison were designed to serve the
ends of practical politics. Yet, despite the absence of a lit-
erary motive, they possess qualities which entitle them to
a permanent place in American literature. Madison's papers in the
Federalist, for example, are models of political essay-writing.
James Madison was the son of a wealthy planter of Orange
County, Virginia, and was born at Port Conway, March 16th, 1751.
He was graduated at Princeton in 1772. Two years later, at the
age of twenty-three, he was appointed a member of the Committee
of Public Safety for Orange County; and thenceforward, with a few
unimportant interruptions, took an active part in politics until 1817,
when, at the close of his second term as President of the United
States, he retired permanently from public life.
His first notable publication was a paper entitled 'A Memorial
and Remonstrance,' addressed to the General Assembly of Virginia.
It appeared in 1785, and was directed against a bill providing for a
tax "for the support of teachers of the Christian religion," the vote
on which in the Legislature he had with difficulty been able to post-
pone. Copies of the paper were distributed throughout the State, with
the result that in the next election religious freedom was made a test
question. In the session of the Legislature which followed the elec-
tion the obnoxious bill was defeated, and in place thereof was enacted
the bill establishing religious freedom offered by Jefferson seven years
before. The Religious Freedom Act disestablished the Episcopal
Church in Virginia, and abolished religious tests for public office.
Madison's chief work both as a constructive statesman and as a
publicist was done in connection with the Constitutional Convention
of 1787. The epithet "Father of the Constitution," sometimes applied
to him, is not undeserved, inasmuch as he was the author of the
leading features of that instrument. In common with others, he
had for some time seen the impossibility of maintaining an effective
government under the Articles of Confederation. With the thorough-
ness characteristic of his nature, he had made a study of ancient and
modern confederacies,— including; as his notes show, the Lycian, the
Amphictyonic, the Achæan, the Helvetic, the Belgic, and the Ger-
man,— with a view to discovering the proper remedy for the defects
## p. 9532 (#564) ###########################################
9532
JAMES MADISON
in the Articles of Confederation. Before the convention met, he laid
before his colleagues of the Virginia delegation the outlines of the
scheme of government that was presented to the convention as the
"Virginia plan. " This plan was introduced at the beginning of
the convention by Edmund Randolph, who, by virtue of his office as
governor of Virginia, was regarded as the member most fit to speak
for the delegation; but its chief supporter in the debate which fol-
lowed was Madison. The fundamental defect of the government
created by the Articles of Confederation was that it operated on
States only, not upon individuals. The delegates to the Continental
Congress were envoys from sovereign States rather than members
of a legislative body. They might deliberate and advise, but had
no means of enforcing their decisions. Thus they were empowered
to determine the share of the expenses of the general government
which each State should pay, but were unable to coerce a delinquent
State. The Virginia plan contemplated a government essentially the
same as that created by the Constitution; with this difference, that it
provided for representation according to population, both in the upper
and in the lower house of the legislature. The hand of Madison is
also seen in some of the provisions of the Constitution which were
not contained in the Virginia plan. Thus, for instance, he was the
author of the famous compromise in accordance with which, for
purposes of direct taxation and of representation, five slaves were
counted as three persons.
During the convention Madison kept a journal of its debates, which
forms the chief authority for the deliberations of that historic body.
This journal, together with his notes on the proceedings of the Con-
tinental Congress from November 1782 to February 1783, was pur-
chased by the government after his death; both have been published
by order of Congress under the title of 'The Madison Papers. ' It
may here be noted also that the remainder of his writings, including
his correspondence, speeches, etc. , from 1769 to 1836, have been pub-
lished by the government in a separate work, entitled 'Writings of
James Madison. '
After the adjournment of the convention Madison devoted his
energies toward securing the ratification of the Constitution. He not
only successfully opposed the eloquence and prestige of Patrick Henry
and Richard Henry Lee in the Virginia ratifying convention, but also
wrote with Hamilton and Jay that series of essays, appearing origi-
nally in certain New York newspapers, which has been preserved in
book form under the title of The Federalist'; and which, though
intended primarily to influence the action of the extremely doubtful
State of New York, served to reinforce the arguments of the advo-
cates of ratification in other States also.
## p. 9533 (#565) ###########################################
JAMES MADISON
9533
'The Federalist' is composed of eighty-five essays; of which, ac-
cording to the memorandum made by Madison, he wrote twenty-nine,
Hamilton fifty-one, and Jay five,-one or two being written jointly.
It discussed the utility of the proposed union, the inefficiency of the
existing Confederation, the necessity of a government at least equally
energetic with the one proposed, the conformity of the Constitution to
the true principles of republican government, its analogy to the State
constitutions, and the additional security which its adoption would give
to liberty and property. Madison's papers defined republican govern-
ment, and surveyed the powers vested in the Union, the relations
between the Federal and State governments, the distribution of power
among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the govern-
ment, and the structure of the legislative department; taking up in
conjunction with the last-mentioned subject most of the vital ques-
tions, both theoretical and practical, connected with representative
institutions.
Madison wrote in the style that prevailed at the close of the
eighteenth century. His language, while occasionally involved and
heavy with orotund Latin derivatives, is rhythmical, dignified, and
impressive. His writings have no imagination, wit, or humor; but
the absence of these qualities is atoned for by clearness, sincerity,
and aptness of illustration. Possessed of depth and genuineness of
feeling coupled with an extraordinary power of logical exposition, he
was considered by Jefferson, some years after the adoption of the
Constitution, to be the only writer in the Republican party capable of
opposing Alexander Hamilton, the Federalist "colossus of debate. "
At the opening of the First Congress, Madison took his seat in
the House of Representatives, the influence of Henry and the Anti-
Federalists in the Virginia State Legislature having prevented his
election to the Senate. In the differentiation of parties occasioned by
Hamilton's nationalizing financial policy, Madison allied himself with
the Republicans and became the leader of the opposition in the
House. His change of attitude from that of an extreme nationalist
to that of an extreme States-rights man was no doubt due in large
part to the influence of his friend and intimate Thomas Jefferson.
No two documents can be more dissimilar than the Virginia plan,
which would have invested Congress with a veto on State legislation,
and the famous Virginia Resolutions of 1789 and 1799, of which Mad-
ison was the author. However, his inconsistency was perhaps more
apparent than real; for having once given in his adhesion to the
Constitution, it was perfectly logical to desire a strict construction of
that instrument to preserve the balance struck in it between the
State and Federal governments.
-
On the inauguration of Jefferson as President in 1801, Madison
accepted the Secretaryship of State.
enough to hold the debtors. At New York during 1809 thirteen
hundred men were imprisoned for no other crime than being
ruined by the embargo. A traveler who saw the city in this
day of distress assures us that it looked like a town ravaged by
pestilence. The counting-houses were shut or advertised to let.
The coffee-houses were almost empty. The streets along the
water-side were almost deserted. The ships were dismantled;
their decks were cleared, their hatches were battened down. Not
a box, not a cask, not a barrel, not a bale was to be seen on
the wharves, where the grass had begun to grow luxuriantly. A
year later, in this same city, eleven hundred and fifty men were
confined for debts under twenty-five dollars, and were clothed by
the Humane Society.
## p. 9515 (#543) ###########################################
9515
EMERICH MADÁCH
(1823-1864)
BY GEORGE ALEXANDER KOHUT
UNGARY is a favorite land of the Muses. Romance, ardent
sentiment, and a certain mystic fervor give to her poetry an
exquisite charm. A thrill of fire and passion vibrates in her
songs and melodies. Her folk-lore and ancient traditions teem with
rich Oriental imagery and beautiful conceptions. These ancient gems
have in the present century received a fresh setting at the hands of
the literary artists, who have borne witness
to the unabated vigor of this people "barbar-
ously grand. " Of the modern school, Petöfi
the lyric poet and Madách the dramatic are
the most popular poets of Hungary.
Madách Imre (for the family name comes
first in Hungarian) was born in Alsó Sztre-
gova, Hungary, January 21st, 1823; and died
in his native town October 5th, 1864. Of
his life little need be told. He was notary,
orator, and journalist; at an early age he
wrote a number of essays on natural science,
archæology, and æsthetics. He wrote lyric
as well as dramatic poetry; but it is chiefly
through his two dramatic poems, 'Moses'
and The Tragedy of Man,' written almost simultaneously in 1860,
that he is best known. An edition of his collected writings, in three
volumes, was issued by Paul Gyulai in Budapest, 1880. His master-
piece, The Tragedy of Man,' has been rendered into German no less
than five times; the latest version, by Julius Lechner von der Lech
(Leipzig, 1888, with a preface by Maurice Jókai), being the most feli-
citous. Alexander Fischer gave a splendid résumé of this powerful
drama in Sacher-Masoch's periodical, Auf der Höhe (Vol. xvi. , 1885),
-the only analysis of it in any language except Hungarian. Though
it is too philosophical and contemplative in character, and not in-
tended for the stage, its first production, which took place in Septem-
ber 1883, created an immense sensation both in Austria and Hungary.
To English readers, Madách is a total stranger. His name is
scarcely ever found in any encyclopædia or biographical dictionary;
EMERICH MADÁCH
## p. 9516 (#544) ###########################################
9516
EMERICH MADÁCH
and strangely enough, no attempt has been thus far made to give
even a selection from this latter-day Milton of Hungary.
It is not here intended to explain the origin and inner development
of this fascinating drama, nor to draw elaborate parallels between
its author and his predecessors in other lands. Such a comparative
critical study would be interesting as showing the spiritual kinship
between master minds, centuries distant from one another, whose
sympathies are in direct touch with our own ideals and life problems.
Madách will plead his own cause effectively enough. To him, how-
ever, who in reading the Tragedy of Man' involuntarily makes such
comparisons, and might be led unjustly to question the author's ori-
ginality, the graceful adage Grosse Geister treffen sich (Great minds
meet) will serve as an answer. He should rather say, with true
artistic estimate, that the shading in the one landscape of a higher
life helps to set off the vivid and brilliant coloring in the other; so
that the whole, viewed side by side, presents a series of wondrous
harmonies. Madách imbibed, no doubt, from foreign sources.
He
was familiar with 'Paradise Lost,' and with the now obsolete but
once much-lauded epic, 'La Semaine (The Week), of Milton's French
predecessor Du Bartas; Alfieri's tramelogedia, 'Abele,' and Gesner's
'Death of Abel,' as well as Byron's 'Mystery of Cain,' may also have
come to his notice; Goethe's 'Faust' appears more than once, and may
be recognized in any incognito. Yet we cannot say with certainty
that any one of these masterpieces influenced his own work, any more
than Milton inspired the great German bard. We might as justly
tax him with drawing upon Hebrew tradition for the entire plot of
his drama, beginning with the fourth scene; for strangely enough,
Adam's experiences with his mentor and Nemesis, Lucifer, are fore-
shadowed in the very same manner in a quaint legend of the Jewish
Rabbis, told nearly twenty centuries ago. The comparative study
of literature will reveal other facts equally amazing. It is of course
self-evident that the morbid pessimism which rings its vague alarms
throughout the book is that of Ecclesiastes, whose vanitas vanitatum
is the key to his doleful plaint.
"I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all
that is done under heaven: it is a sore travail that God hath given to the
sons of men to be exercised therewith. I have seen all the works that are
done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. . .
And I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I
perceived that this also was a striving after wind. For in much wisdom is
much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. " (Eccl. i.
12-18. )
This is the leading theme, and Lessing's soulful simile of the
ideal, the grand morale: "If God held truth in his right hand," says
he, "and in his left the mere striving after truth, bidding me choose
-
## p. 9517 (#545) ###########################################
EMERICH MADÁCH
"
9517
between the two, I would reverently bow to his left and say, 'Give
but the impulse; truth is for thee alone! '»
Thus, after traversing many lands the world over; after plunging
into every pleasure and being steeped in every vice; after passions
human and divine have had their sway over his spirit,- Adam con-
cedes to Lucifer that the world of ideals is illusory, existing only in
fancy, thriving but in our own souls, nourished by sentiment, and
supersensitive to the touch of grosser things. And yet the echo
which answers his sad pleadings, as he cries out disheartened —
is a wholly unexpected one in the grand finale. It teaches the
doctrine of eternal hope, as the great Hebrew pessimist Koheleth
summed it up, when only the Hellenic intellect reigned supreme and
the Hellenic heart was cold:-
"I have decreed, O man-
strive ye and trust! »
The ideal conquers in the end, should life and love not fail. Poetry
and sentiment transform even this valley of the shadow of death into
a Paradise regained. It is a song of the ideals in which salvation
lies; and the words of the Lord with which the poem closes are,
"Struggle and trust. »
Teorge Alexander Mohut
IRST CITIZEN
"O sacred poetry, hast thou then
Quite forsaken this prosy world of ours? »
FIRS
Second Citizen
SEVENTH SCENE
Scene: An open square in Constantinople. A few citizens lounging about.
In the centre the palace of the Patriarch; to the right a cloister; to the
left a grove. Adam as Tancred, in the prime of life, is seen advan-
cing at the head of returning Crusaders, accompanied by other knights,
with colors flying and drums beating; Lucifer as his armor-bearer.
Evening, then night.
--
-
FROM THE TRAGEDY OF MAN'
Behold, there comes another horde of heathen;
Oh, flee and double-bar the doors, lest they
Again the whim to plunder feel!
Hide ye the women: but too well
Knows this rebel the joys of the seraglio.
―
## p. 9518 (#546) ###########################################
9518
EMERICH MADÁCH
First Citizen -
Adam
First Citizen -
Lucifer-
Adam
Lucifer
Adam-
_____
Adam [to the knights]-
-
Lucifer-
And our wives the rights of the conqueror.
Hold! hold! why scatter in such haste?
Do ye not see the holy sign aloft
That makes us brothers in humanity
And companions to one goal? —
We bore the light of our faith, the law
Of love, into Asia's wilds,
That the savage millions there
Where our Savior's cradle stood
Might share sweet salvation's boon.
Know ye not this brotherly love?
Full many a time through honeyed words
Swift harm befell our homes.
[They disperse. ]
-
Behold, this is the accursed result
When scheming vagabonds
The sacred symbol flaunt,
And flattering the passions of the mob,
Presume unasked to lead. -
Fellow knights! Until our swords
To honor fair, to praise of God,
To women's guard, to bravery,
Be sanctified,- are we in duty bound
This demon foul in constant check to hold,
That in spite of godless inclination,
He great and noble deeds may do.
That sounds well. But, Tancred, what if the people
Do but spurn thy leadership?
Where spirit is, is also victory.
I'll crush them to the earth!
And should spirit with them alike abide,
Wilt thou descend to them?
Why descend?
Is it not nobler to lift them up to me?
To yield for lack of fighters
The foremost place in battle, were
As unworthy as to reject a comrade
In envy of his share of victory.
Alack! how the grand idea has come to naught
For which the martyrs of the circus fought!
Is this the freedom of equality?
A wondrous brotherhood were that!
## p. 9519 (#547) ###########################################
EMERICH MADÁCH
Adam Oh, cease thy scorn! Think not that I misprize
Christianity's exalted precepts.
Adam
My being yearns for them alone!
Whoever hath the spark divine may strive;
Lucifer - What a pity that thy spirit's lofty flight
Even now begets such sorry fruit;
Red without, within already rotten!
Lucifer-
Adam-
And him who upward toils to us
With joy we surely will receive.
A sword-cut lifts him to our ranks.
But guard we must our ranks with jealous eye
Against the still fermenting chaos here.
Would that our time were already near!
For only then can we be quite redeemed
When every barrier falls-when all is pure.
And were he who set this universe in motion
Not himself the great and mighty God,
I must needs doubt the dawn of such a day.
Ye have seen, O friends, how we have been received:
Orphaned amidst the tumult of the town,
Naught now remains save in yonder grove
A tent to pitch, as we were wont among the infidels,
Till better times shall come. Go; I follow soon.
Every knight stands sponsor for his men.
[The Crusaders pitch their tent. ]
Stop!
Hast thou no longer faith in lofty thought?
What boots it thee if I believe,
When thine own race doth doubt?
This knighthood which thou hast placed
As lighthouse amid ocean's waves,
Will yet die out, or half collapse,
And make the sailor's course even more fearful
9519
Than before, when no light shone before his way.
What lives to-day and blessing works,
Dies with time; the spirit takes wing
And the carcass but remains, to breathe
Murderous miasmas into the fresher life
Which round him buds. Behold, thus
Survive from bygone times our old ideals.
Until our ranks dissolve, its sacred teachings
Will have had effect upon the public mind.
I fear no danger then.
## p. 9520 (#548) ###########################################
9520
EMERICH MADÁCH
Lucifer-
Adam-
-
Adam-
―
Third Citizen.
Lucifer-
Adam-
-
Lucifer-
Adam
Lucifer-
-
――――
Adam-
Look thou upon this sword! It may by a hair's-breadth
Longer be or shorter, and yet remains the same
In substance. The door is opened thus to endless specula-
Adam-
Lucifer-
-
The holy teachings! They are your curse indeed,
When ye approach them unawares,
For ye turn, sharpen, split, and smooth
Them o'er so long, till they your phantoms
Or your chains become.
And though reason cannot grasp exact ideas,
Yet ye presumptuous men do always seek
To forge them to your harm.
-
tion;
For where is there limit pre-imposed?
'Tis true your feelings soon perceive the right
When change in greater things sets in. —
But why speak and myself exert? Speech
Is wearisome. Turn thou, survey the field thyself.
Friends, my troops are tired and shelter crave.
In the Capital of Christendom they will
Perchance not crave in vain.
The question is, whether as heretics.
Ye're not worse than infidels!
I stand aghast! But see what prince
Approaches from afar, so haughtily defiant?
The Patriarch successor to the Apostles.
And this barefoot, dirty mob
Which follows with malicious joy
In the captive's wake,
Feigning humility?
They are monks, Christian cynics.
I saw not such among my native hills.
You'll see them yet. Slowly, slowly
Spreads the curse of leprosy;
But beware how you dare insult
This people, so absolute in virtue and
Hence so hard to reconcile.
What virtue could adorn such folk as this?
Their worth is abnegation, poverty,
As practiced first by the Master on the Cross.
He saved a world by such humility;
While these cowards, like rebels,
Do but blaspheme the name of God,
In that they despise his gift.
## p. 9521 (#549) ###########################################
EMERICH MADÁCH
Lucifer-
Adam [facing the Patriarch]--
Who 'gainst gnats the weapons same would draw
That in the bear hunt he is wont to use
Is a fool.
Patriarch-
Monks
But if they in pious zeal, perchance,
Mistake the gnats for monstrous bears,
Have they then not the right to drive
To the very gates of hell
Those who life enjoy?
Father, we're battling for the Holy Grave,
And wearied from the way which we have come,
To rest within these walls we are denied.
Thou hast power here: help thou our cause.
Patriarch
Scale ye their walls, level them to the ground,
And spare ye neither woman, child, nor hoary head.
Adam The innocent! O father, this cannot be thy wish!
Patriarch-
My son, I have just now no time for petty things.
God's glory and my people's weal
Call higher aims now forth. I must away
To judge the heretics; who, like poisonous weeds,
Do grow and multiply, and whom hell
With force renewed upon us throws,
Even though we constant try with fire and sword
―
To root them out.
But if indeed ye be true Christian knights,
Why seek the Moor so far remote?
Here lurks a yet more dangerous foe.
Innocent is the serpent, too, while yet of tender growth
Or after its fangs are shed.
Yet sparest thou the snake?
Adam It must, in faith, have been a grievous sin
Which could such wrath from Christian love evoke.
O my son! not he shows love who feeds the flesh,
But he who leadeth back the erring soul,
At point of sword, or e'en through leaping flames.
If needs must be,- to Him who said:
Not peace but war do I proclaim!
That wicked sect interprets false
The mystic Trinity. .
XVI-596
―
Death upon them all!
There burns the funeral pile.
9521
## p. 9522 (#550) ###########################################
EMERICH MADÁCH
9522
Adam-
An Old Heretic-
Patriarch-
My friend, give up the iota, pray:
Your inspired valor in fighting
For the Savior's grave will be
More fitting sacrifice than this.
One of the Monks-
Satan, tempt us not! We'll bleed
For our true faith where God ordains.
Ha, renegade! thou boastest of true faith?
Too long have we tarried here: away with them
To the funeral pyre, in honor of God!
The Old Heretic-
Lucifer-
In honor of God? Thou spakest well, O knave!
In honor of God are we indeed your prey.
Ye are strong, and can enforce your will
As ye may please. But whether ye have acted rightly
Heaven alone will judge. Even now is weighed,
At every hour, your vile career of crime.
New champions shall from our blood arise;
The idea lives triumphant on; and coming centuries
Shall the light reflect of flames that blaze to-day.
Friends, go we to our glorious martyrdom!
The Heretics [chanting in chorus] –
——
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Why art thou so far from helping me
And from the words of my roaring?
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou
Hearest not; and in the night season,
And am not silent. But thou art holy!
(Psalm xxii. )
Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me;
Fight against them that fight against me;
Take hold of shield and buckler and stand up for mine help;
Draw out also the spear, and stop the way
Against them that persecute me.
Monks [breaking in]-
-
(Psalm xxxv. )
[In the interim the Patriarch and the procession go by. The monks with
tracts mingle among the Crusaders. ]
Why silent thus and horrified?
Dost hold this to be a tragedy?
Consider it a comedy, and 'twill make thee laugh.
## p. 9523 (#551) ###########################################
EMERICH MADÁCH
9523
Adam-
Lucifer-
Adam-
Lucifer-
Adam-
Lucifer-
Nay, spare thy banter now! Can one
For a mere iota go firmly thus to death?
What then is the lofty and sublime?
That which to others may seem droll.
Only a hair divides these two ideas;
A voice in the heart alone may judge betwixt them,
And the mysterious judge is sympathy,
Which, blindly, at one time deifies,
Then with brutal scorn condemns to death.
Why must my eyes be witness of these varied sins?
The subtleties of proud science, and of sophistry!
That deadly poison wondrously so sipped
From the sweetest, gayest, freshest flowers?
I knew this flower once in the budding time
Of our oppressed faith.
Where is the wanton hand
That ruthlessly destroyed it?
The wanton hand is victory,
Which wide-spread once, a thousand wishes wakes,
Danger allies, and martyrs makes,
And strength endues;
'Tis there among the heretics.
Verily, I'd cast away my sword and turn me
To my northern home, where, in the glades
Of the shadowy woods primeval,
Stern manliness, true artlessness yet dwell,
And the rancor of this smooth-tongued age defy.
I would return but for a voice that lisps
The constant message in my ears,
That I alone am called to re-create this world.
Love's labor lost; for unaided thou canst
Ne'er prevail against the ruling spirit of the age.
The course of time is a mighty stream,—
It buries thee or bears thee;
Nor canst thou hope to guide it,
But only swim adrift the tide.
Who in history immortal shine,
And wield uncommon power,
-
Knew well the time in which they lived,
Yet did not themselves the thought create.
Not because the cock crows does day dawn,
But the cock crows with the dawn of day;
Yonder those who, fettered, fly to face
The terrors of a death of martyrdom,
See scarce a step ahead.
## p. 9524 (#552) ###########################################
9524
EMERICH MADÁCH
A Monk in the centre of a crowd of Crusaders —
The Crusaders
Adam-
The thought but just conceived dawns in their midst
In the throes of death they hail so joyfully,—
The thought which by a care-free posterity
Will be inhaled with the air they breathe.
But leave thou this theme! Glance toward thy tent:
What unclean monks stroll about there?
What trade they drive, what speeches make
And gestures wild, insane?
Let's nearer draw, and hearken!
Adam
Here, father, here, give us
copy too!
Infamous trader, and still more wicked patrons,
Draw ye the sword and end this foul traffic!
Lucifer [confused]-
-
Lucifer-
Buy ye, brave warriors; neglect ye not
This manual of penance:
'Twill clear all doubt of conscience;
You'll learn therein much weighty mystery:
How many years in hell will burn
Each murderer, thief, and ravisher,
And he who doth our doctrines spurn;
It tells ye what the rich may buy
For a score or more of solidi;
And the poor for three alone
May swift obtain salvation's boon;
Whilst even he, to be quite fair,
Who such a sum cannot well spare,
May for a thousand lashes, mind,
Salvation bring upon his kind.
Buy ye, buy ye, this precious book!
I beg your pardon. This monk has long my partner been.
Not so deeply do I this world despise;
When praise of God soared high,
My homage also rose aloft,
Whilst thine remained becalmed.
Help me, O Lucifer! Away, away from here!
Lead back my future into past,
That I my fate no longer see,
Nor view a fruitless strife. Pray let me think
If wisdom is to thwart my destiny!
Awake then, Adam,-thy dream is o'er.
·
## p. 9525 (#553) ###########################################
EMERICH MADÁCH
9525
FIFTEENTH SCENE
Scene: A garden of palms. Adam, young again, enters from his bower;
still half asleep, he looks about in astonishment. Lucifer stands in
the middle of the scene. It is a radiant day.
Ye weird scenes and haggard forms,
How have ye left me lone!
Joys and smiles greet now my path,
As once of yore before my heart was broken.
Lucifer-O boastful man, is it thy wish, perchance,
That Nature for thy sake her law should change,—
A star appoint to mark thy loss,
Or shake the earth because a worm has died?
Have I dreamed, or am I dreaming still?
And is our life aught but a dream at last
Which makes an inanimate mass to live
But for a moment, then lets it fade forever?
Oh why, why this brief glimpse of consciousness,
Only to view the terrors of annihilation?
Thou mournest? Only cowards bend
Their necks to yoke, and unresisting stand
When yet the blow may be averted.
But unmurmuring doth the strong man
Decipher the mystic runes eternal
Of his destiny, caring but to know
If he himself can thrive beneath their doom.
AD
DAM-
Adam
Lucifer-
The might of Fate controls the world's great course;
Thou art but a tool and blindly onward driven.
Adam Nay, nay, thou liest! for the will of man is free;
That at least I've well deserved,
-
And for it have resigned my Paradise!
My phantom dreams have taught me much;
Full many a madness have I left behind,
And now 'tis mine to choose another path.
Lucifer Ay, if forgetting and eternal hope
Were not to destiny so closely wed.
The one doth heal thy bleeding wounds,
The other closely screens abysmal depths,
And gives new courage, saying,—
Rash hundreds found a grave therein,
Thou shalt be the first safely to leap it o'er.
Hast thou not, scholar, full oft beheld
The many freaks and whims among
## p. 9526 (#554) ###########################################
9526
EMERICH MADÁCH
Adam
Eve-
The parasites that brood and breed
In cats and owls only,
But must pass in mice their earliest stage
Of slow development?
Not just the one or other mouse
Predestined is the claw to feel
Of cat or owl; who cautious is
May even both avoid, and keep
In ripe old age his nest and house.
A relentless hand doth yet provide
Just such a number for his foes
As its presence here on earth
Ages hence insures.
Nor is the human being bound,
And yet the race wears chains.
Zeal carries thee like a flood along:
To-day for this, for that to-morrow,
The funeral pyres will their victims claim,
And of scoffers there will be no lack;
While he who registers the count
Will be in wonder lost, that wanton fate
Should have maintained such rare consistency
In making, matching, marring,
In virtue, faith, and sin and death,
In suicide and lunacy.
Hold! An inspiration fires my brain;
I may then thee, Almighty God, defy.
Should fate but cry to life a thousand halts,
I'd laugh serene and die, should I so please.
Am I not lone and single in this world?
Before me frowns that cliff, beneath whose base
Yawns the dark abysmal gulf.
One leap, the final scene, and I shall cry—
Farewell, the farce at last is ended!
[Adam approaches the cliff, as Eve appears. ]
Lucifer Ended! What simple-minded phrases!
Is not each moment end and
Beginning too? Alas! and but for this
Hast thou surveyed millennial years to come?
I pray thee, Adam, why didst steal off from me?
Thy last cold kiss still chills my heart;
And even now, sorrow or anger sits
Upon thy brow; I shrink from thee!
## p. 9527 (#555) ###########################################
EMERICH MADÁCH
Adam [going on]-
Eve-
Adam
Eve-
--
God-
Why follow me? Why dog my footsteps?
The ruler of creation, man,
Adam
Has weightier things to do
Than waste in sportive love his days.
Woman understands not; is a burden only.
[Softening]-
Oh, why didst thou not longer slumber?
Far harder now the sacrifice will be
That I for future ages offer must.
Shouldst hear me, lord, 'twill easier be:
What doubtful was, is now assured,—
The future.
Adam [sinking upon his knee] —
How now?
The hope my lips thus fain would lisp
Will lift the cloud and clear thy brow.
Come then a little nearer, pray!
O Adam, hear: I am a mother.
Thou hast conquered me, O Lord!
Behold, in the dust I lie.
God [appearing, surrounded by angels]—
Lucifer [aside]-
Without thee as against thee I strive in vain;
Thou mayest raise me up or strike me down,—
I bare my heart and soul before thee.
Adam, rise, and be thou not cast down.
Behold, I take thee back to me,
Reconciled by my saving grace.
9527
Family scenes are not my specialty.
They may affect the heart,
But the mind shrinks from such monotony;
[About to go.
Methinks I'll slink away.
Lucifer! I'll have a word with thee,- remain!
And thou, my son, confess what troubles thee.
Fearful images haunted me, O Lord,
And what was true therein I cannot tell;
Intrust to me, I beg, I supplicate,
The mystery of all my future state.
Is there naught else besides this narrow life
Which, becoming clarified like wine,
Thou mayest spill with every whim of thine,
And dust may drink it?
Or didst thou mean the soul for higher things?
## p. 9528 (#556) ###########################################
9528
EMERICH MADÁCH
Will further toil and forward stride my kind,
Still growing nobler, till we perfection find
Near thine almighty Throne ?
Or drudge to death like some blind treadmill-horse
Without the hope of ever changing course?
Doth noble striving meet with just reward,
When he who for ideals gives his blood
Is mocked at by a soulless throng?
Enlighten me; grateful will I bear my lot:
I can but win by such exchange,
For this suspense is hell.
Seek not to solve the mystery
Which Godly grace and sense benign
Hath screened from human sight.
If thou couldst see that transient is
The soul's sojourn upon this world,
And that it upward soars
To life unending, in the great beyond,-
Sorrow would no virtue be.
If dust absorbed thy soul alike,
What would spur thee on to thought?
Who would prompt thee to resign
Thy grosser joys for virtue fine?
Whilst now, though burdened with life,
Thy future beckons from afar,
Shimmering through the clouds
And lifting thee to higher spheres.
And should, at times, this pride thy heart inflame,
Thy span of life will soon control thy pace,
And nobleness and virtue reign supreme.
Lucifer [laughing derisively] —
Verily, glory floods the paths you tread,
Since greatness, virtue, are to lead thee on.
Two words which only pass in blessed deed
When superstition, ignorance, and prejudice
Keep constant guard and company. -
Why did I ever seek to work out great ideas
Through man, of dust and sunbeams formed,
So dwarfed in knowledge, in blind error so gigantic?
Cease thy scorn, O Lucifer! cease thy scorn!
I saw full well thy wisdom's edifice,
Wherein my heart felt only chilled;
But, gracious God, who shall sustain me now
And lead me onward in the paths of right,
God-
Adam
## p. 9529 (#557) ###########################################
EMERICH MADÁCH
9529
God-
Since thou didst withdraw the hand that guided me,
Before I tasted fruit of idle knowledge?
Strong is thine arm, full thy heart of lofty thoughts;
The field is boundless where thou seed shouldst sow.
Give thou but heed! A voice shall ceaseless call thee back,
Or constant speed thee on:
Follow its lead. And if at times
This heavenly sound be hushed in midst the whirl
Of thine eventful years, the purer soul
Of woman, unselfish, pure, and gentle,
Will surely hear it, and thrilled by woman's love,
Thy soul shall soar in Poetry and Song!
And by thy side she loyally will watch,
Mounted on these cherubim,
In sorrow pale or rosy joy,
A cheering, soothing genius.
Thou too, O Lucifer, a link but art
In my wide universe; so labor on!
Thy frosty knowledge and thy mad denial
Will cause, like yeast, the mind to effervesce.
E'en though it turns him from the beaten track,
It matters not. He'll soon return;
But endless shall thy penance be,
Since thou art ever doomed to see
How beauty buds and virtue sprouts
From the seed thou wouldst have spoiled.
Chorus of Angels
Choice between the good and evil,
Wondrous thought, sublime decision!
Still to know that thou art shielded
By a gracious God's provision.
For the right, then, be thou steadfast,
Though thou labor without meed;
Thy reward shall be the knowledge
Thou hast done a noble deed.
Greatness grows in goodness only;
Shame will keep the good man just,
And the fear of shame uplifts him,
While the mean man crawls in dust.
But when treading paths exalted,
This blind error cherish not,-
## p. 9530 (#558) ###########################################
EMERICH MADÁCH
9530
That the glory thou achievest
Adds to God's a single jot:
God-
For he needs not thy assistance
To accomplish his designs;
Be thou thankful if he calls thee
And a task to thee assigns.
Eve-
Praise be to God, I understand this song.
Adam-I divine the message and submit to its decree.
Ah, could I only the distant end foresee!
I have ordained, O man,—
Struggle thou and trust!
Translated for 'A Library of the World's Best Literature by G. A. Kohut.
## p. 9530 (#559) ###########################################
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## p. 9531 (#563) ###########################################
9531
JAMES MADISON
(1751-1836)
HE writings of James Madison were designed to serve the
ends of practical politics. Yet, despite the absence of a lit-
erary motive, they possess qualities which entitle them to
a permanent place in American literature. Madison's papers in the
Federalist, for example, are models of political essay-writing.
James Madison was the son of a wealthy planter of Orange
County, Virginia, and was born at Port Conway, March 16th, 1751.
He was graduated at Princeton in 1772. Two years later, at the
age of twenty-three, he was appointed a member of the Committee
of Public Safety for Orange County; and thenceforward, with a few
unimportant interruptions, took an active part in politics until 1817,
when, at the close of his second term as President of the United
States, he retired permanently from public life.
His first notable publication was a paper entitled 'A Memorial
and Remonstrance,' addressed to the General Assembly of Virginia.
It appeared in 1785, and was directed against a bill providing for a
tax "for the support of teachers of the Christian religion," the vote
on which in the Legislature he had with difficulty been able to post-
pone. Copies of the paper were distributed throughout the State, with
the result that in the next election religious freedom was made a test
question. In the session of the Legislature which followed the elec-
tion the obnoxious bill was defeated, and in place thereof was enacted
the bill establishing religious freedom offered by Jefferson seven years
before. The Religious Freedom Act disestablished the Episcopal
Church in Virginia, and abolished religious tests for public office.
Madison's chief work both as a constructive statesman and as a
publicist was done in connection with the Constitutional Convention
of 1787. The epithet "Father of the Constitution," sometimes applied
to him, is not undeserved, inasmuch as he was the author of the
leading features of that instrument. In common with others, he
had for some time seen the impossibility of maintaining an effective
government under the Articles of Confederation. With the thorough-
ness characteristic of his nature, he had made a study of ancient and
modern confederacies,— including; as his notes show, the Lycian, the
Amphictyonic, the Achæan, the Helvetic, the Belgic, and the Ger-
man,— with a view to discovering the proper remedy for the defects
## p. 9532 (#564) ###########################################
9532
JAMES MADISON
in the Articles of Confederation. Before the convention met, he laid
before his colleagues of the Virginia delegation the outlines of the
scheme of government that was presented to the convention as the
"Virginia plan. " This plan was introduced at the beginning of
the convention by Edmund Randolph, who, by virtue of his office as
governor of Virginia, was regarded as the member most fit to speak
for the delegation; but its chief supporter in the debate which fol-
lowed was Madison. The fundamental defect of the government
created by the Articles of Confederation was that it operated on
States only, not upon individuals. The delegates to the Continental
Congress were envoys from sovereign States rather than members
of a legislative body. They might deliberate and advise, but had
no means of enforcing their decisions. Thus they were empowered
to determine the share of the expenses of the general government
which each State should pay, but were unable to coerce a delinquent
State. The Virginia plan contemplated a government essentially the
same as that created by the Constitution; with this difference, that it
provided for representation according to population, both in the upper
and in the lower house of the legislature. The hand of Madison is
also seen in some of the provisions of the Constitution which were
not contained in the Virginia plan. Thus, for instance, he was the
author of the famous compromise in accordance with which, for
purposes of direct taxation and of representation, five slaves were
counted as three persons.
During the convention Madison kept a journal of its debates, which
forms the chief authority for the deliberations of that historic body.
This journal, together with his notes on the proceedings of the Con-
tinental Congress from November 1782 to February 1783, was pur-
chased by the government after his death; both have been published
by order of Congress under the title of 'The Madison Papers. ' It
may here be noted also that the remainder of his writings, including
his correspondence, speeches, etc. , from 1769 to 1836, have been pub-
lished by the government in a separate work, entitled 'Writings of
James Madison. '
After the adjournment of the convention Madison devoted his
energies toward securing the ratification of the Constitution. He not
only successfully opposed the eloquence and prestige of Patrick Henry
and Richard Henry Lee in the Virginia ratifying convention, but also
wrote with Hamilton and Jay that series of essays, appearing origi-
nally in certain New York newspapers, which has been preserved in
book form under the title of The Federalist'; and which, though
intended primarily to influence the action of the extremely doubtful
State of New York, served to reinforce the arguments of the advo-
cates of ratification in other States also.
## p. 9533 (#565) ###########################################
JAMES MADISON
9533
'The Federalist' is composed of eighty-five essays; of which, ac-
cording to the memorandum made by Madison, he wrote twenty-nine,
Hamilton fifty-one, and Jay five,-one or two being written jointly.
It discussed the utility of the proposed union, the inefficiency of the
existing Confederation, the necessity of a government at least equally
energetic with the one proposed, the conformity of the Constitution to
the true principles of republican government, its analogy to the State
constitutions, and the additional security which its adoption would give
to liberty and property. Madison's papers defined republican govern-
ment, and surveyed the powers vested in the Union, the relations
between the Federal and State governments, the distribution of power
among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the govern-
ment, and the structure of the legislative department; taking up in
conjunction with the last-mentioned subject most of the vital ques-
tions, both theoretical and practical, connected with representative
institutions.
Madison wrote in the style that prevailed at the close of the
eighteenth century. His language, while occasionally involved and
heavy with orotund Latin derivatives, is rhythmical, dignified, and
impressive. His writings have no imagination, wit, or humor; but
the absence of these qualities is atoned for by clearness, sincerity,
and aptness of illustration. Possessed of depth and genuineness of
feeling coupled with an extraordinary power of logical exposition, he
was considered by Jefferson, some years after the adoption of the
Constitution, to be the only writer in the Republican party capable of
opposing Alexander Hamilton, the Federalist "colossus of debate. "
At the opening of the First Congress, Madison took his seat in
the House of Representatives, the influence of Henry and the Anti-
Federalists in the Virginia State Legislature having prevented his
election to the Senate. In the differentiation of parties occasioned by
Hamilton's nationalizing financial policy, Madison allied himself with
the Republicans and became the leader of the opposition in the
House. His change of attitude from that of an extreme nationalist
to that of an extreme States-rights man was no doubt due in large
part to the influence of his friend and intimate Thomas Jefferson.
No two documents can be more dissimilar than the Virginia plan,
which would have invested Congress with a veto on State legislation,
and the famous Virginia Resolutions of 1789 and 1799, of which Mad-
ison was the author. However, his inconsistency was perhaps more
apparent than real; for having once given in his adhesion to the
Constitution, it was perfectly logical to desire a strict construction of
that instrument to preserve the balance struck in it between the
State and Federal governments.
-
On the inauguration of Jefferson as President in 1801, Madison
accepted the Secretaryship of State.
