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diff --git a/old/pngwn10h.htm b/old/pngwn10h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..97b5faa --- /dev/null +++ b/old/pngwn10h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,14723 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>The Project Gutenberg Etext of Penguin Island</title> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= +"text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Penguin Island, by Anatole France +#1 in our series by Anatole France + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Penguin Island + +Author: Anatole France + +Release Date: October, 1999 [EBook #1930] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This htm version was first posted on March 17, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PENGUIN ISLAND *** + + + + +Produced by Walter Debeuf + + + + + + +</pre> + +Scanned by Aaron Cannon of Paradise, California + +<p>PENGUIN ISLAND</p> + +<p>by ANATOLE FRANCE</p> + +<p><br> + CONTENTS</p> + +<p>BOOK I. THE BEGINNINGS<br> + BOOK II. THE ANCIENT TIMES<br> + BOOK III. THE MIDDLE AGES AND THE RENAISSANCE<br> + BOOK IV. MODERN TIMES: TRINCO<br> + BOOK V. MODERN TIMES: CHATILLON<br> + BOOK VI. MODERN TIMES<br> + BOOK VII. MODERN TIMES<br> + BOOK VIII. FUTURE TIMES</p> + +<h1><br> + BOOK I. THE BEGINNINGS</h1> + +<h2>I. LIFE OF SAINT MAEL</h2> + +<p>Mael, a scion of a royal family of Cambria, was sent in his +ninth year to the<br> + Abbey of Yvern so that he might there study both sacred and +profane learning.<br> + At the age of fourteen he renounced his patrimony and took a vow +to serve the<br> + Lord. His time was divided, according to the rule, between the +singing of<br> + hymns, the study of grammar, and the meditation of eternal +truths.</p> + +<p>A celestial perfume soon disclosed the virtues of the monk +throughout the<br> + cloister, and when the blessed Gal, the Abbot of Yvern, departed +from this<br> + world into the next, young Mael succeeded him in the government +of the<br> + monastery. He established therein a school, an infirmary, a +guest-house, a<br> + forge, work-shops of all kinds, and sheds for building ships, +and he compelled<br> + the monks to till the lands in the neighbourhood. With his own +hands he<br> + cultivated the garden of the Abbey, he worked in metals, he +instructed the<br> + novices, and his life was gently gliding along like a stream +that reflects the<br> + heaven and fertilizes the fields.</p> + +<p><br> + At the close of the day this servant of God was accustomed to +seat himself on<br> + the cliff, in the place that is to-day still called St. Mael's +chair. At his<br> + feet the rocks bristling with green seaweed and tawny wrack +seemed like black<br> + dragons as they faced the foam of the waves with their monstrous +breasts. He<br> + watched the sun descending into the ocean like a red Host whose +glorious blood<br> + gave a purple tone to the clouds and to the summits of the +waves. And the holy<br> + man saw in this the image of the mystery of the Cross, by which +the divine<br> + blood has clothed the earth with a royal purple. In the offing a +line of dark<br> + blue marked the shores of the island of Gad, where St. Bridget, +who had been<br> + given the veil by St. Malo, ruled over a convent of women.</p> + +<p>Now Bridget, knowing the merits of the venerable Mael, begged +from him some<br> + work of his hands as a rich present. Mael cast a hand-bell of +bronze for her<br> + and, when it was finished, he blessed it and threw it into the +sea. And the<br> + bell went ringing towards the coast of Gad, where St. Bridget, +warned by the<br> + sound of the bell upon the waves, received it piously, and +carried it in<br> + solemn procession with singing of psalms into the chapel of the +convent.</p> + +<p>Thus the holy Mael advanced from virtue to virtue. He had +already passed<br> + through two-thirds of the way of life, and he hoped peacefully +to reach his<br> + terrestrial end in the midst of his spiritual brethren, when he +knew by a<br> + certain sign that the Divine wisdom had decided otherwise, and +that the Lord<br> + was calling him to less peaceful but not less meritorious +labours.</p> + +<h2>II. THE APOSTOLICAL VOCATION OF SAINT MAEL</h2> + +<p>One day as he walked in meditation to the furthest point of a +tranquil beach,<br> + for which rocks jutting out into the sea formed a rugged dam, he +saw a trough<br> + of stone which floated like a boat upon the waters.</p> + +<p>It was in a vessel similar to this that St. Guirec, the great +St. Columba, and<br> + so many holy men from Scotland and from Ireland had gone forth +to evangelize<br> + Armorica. More recently still, St. Avoye having come from +England, ascended<br> + the river Auray in a mortar made of rose-coloured granite into +which children<br> + were afterwards placed in order to make them strong; St. Vouga +passed from<br> + Hibernia to Cornwall on a rock whose fragments, preserved at +Penmarch, will<br> + cure of fever such pilgrims as place these splinters on their +heads. St.<br> + Samson entered the Bay of St. Michael's Mount in a granite +vessel which will<br> + one day be called St. Samson's basin. It is because of these +facts that when<br> + he saw the stone trough the holy Mael understood that the Lord +intended him<br> + for the apostolate of the pagans who still peopled the coast and +the Breton<br> + islands.</p> + +<p><br> + He handed his ashen staff to the holy Budoc, thus investing him +with the<br> + government of the monastery. Then, furnished with bread, a +barrel of fresh<br> + water, and the book of the Holy Gospels, he entered the stone +trough which<br> + carried him gently to the island of Hoedic.</p> + +<p>This island is perpetually buffeted by the winds. In it some +poor men fished<br> + among the clefts of the rocks and labouriously cultivated +vegetables in<br> + gardens full of sand and pebbles that were sheltered from the +wind by walls of<br> + barren stone and hedges of tamarisk. A beautiful fig-tree raised +itself in a<br> + hollow of the island and thrust forth its branches far and wide. +The<br> + inhabitants of the island used to worship it.</p> + +<p>And the holy Mael said to them: "You worship this tree because +it is<br> + beautiful. Therefore you are capable of feeling beauty. Now I +come to reveal<br> + to you the hidden beauty." And he taught them the Gospel. And +after having<br> + instructed them, he baptized them with salt and water.</p> + +<p>The islands of Morbihan were more numerous in those times than +they are<br> + to-day. For since then many have been swallowed up by the sea. +St. Mael<br> + evangelized sixty of them. Then in his granite trough he +ascended the river<br> + Auray. And after sailing for three hours he landed before a +Roman house. A<br> + thin column of smoke went up from the roof. The holy man crossed +the threshold<br> + on which there was a mosaic representing a dog with its hind +legs outstretched<br> + and its lips drawn back. He was welcomed by an old couple, +Marcus Combabus and<br> + Valeria Moerens, who lived there on the products of their lands. +There was a<br> + portico round the interior court the columns of which were +painted red, half<br> + their height upwards from the base. A fountain made of shells +stood against<br> + the wall and under the portico there rose an altar with a niche +in which the<br> + master of the house had placed some little idols made of baked +earth and<br> + whitened with whitewash. Some represented winged children, +others Apollo or<br> + Mercury, and several were in the form of a naked woman twisting +her hair. But<br> + the holy Mael, observing those figures, discovered among them +the image of a<br> + young mother holding a child upon her knees.</p> + +<p>Immediately pointing to that image he said:</p> + +<p>"That is the Virgin, the mother of God. The poet Virgil +foretold her in<br> + Sibylline verses before she was born and, in angelical tones he +sang Jam redit<br> + et virgo. Throughout heathendom prophetic figures of her have +been made, like<br> + that which you, O Marcus, have placed upon this altar. And +without doubt it is<br> + she who has protected your modest household. Thus it is that +those who<br> + faithfully observe the natural law prepare themselves for the +knowledge of<br> + revealed truths."</p> + +<p>Marcus Combabus and Valeria Moerens, having been instructed by +this speech,<br> + were converted to the Christian faith. They received baptism +together with<br> + their young freedwoman, Caelia Avitella, who was dearer to them +than the light<br> + of their eyes. All their tenants renounced paganism and were +baptized on the<br> + same day.</p> + +<p>Marcus Combabus, Valeria Moerens, and Caelia Avitella led +thenceforth a life<br> + full of merit. They died in the Lord and were admitted into the +canon of the<br> + saints.</p> + +<p>For thirty-seven years longer the blessed Mael evangelized the +pagans of the<br> + inner lands. He built two hundred and eighteen chapels and +seventy-four<br> + abbeys.</p> + +<p>Now on a certain day in the city of Vannes, when he was +preaching the Gospel,<br> + he learned that the monks of Yvern had in his absence declined +from the rule<br> + of St. Gal. Immediately, with the zeal of a hen who gathers her +brood, he<br> + repaired to his erring children. He was then towards the end of +his<br> + ninety-seventh year; his figure was bent, but his arms were +still strong, and<br> + his speech was poured forth abundantly like winter snow in the +depths of the<br> + valleys.</p> + +<p>Abbot Budoc restored the ashen staff to St. Mael and informed +him of the<br> + unhappy state into which the Abbey had fallen. The monks were in +disagreement<br> + as to the date an which the festival of Easter ought to be +celebrated. Some<br> + held for the Roman calendar, others for the Greek calendar, and +the horrors of<br> + a chronological schism distracted the monastery.</p> + +<p>There also prevailed another cause of disorder. The nuns of +the island of Gad,<br> + sadly fallen from their former virtue, continually came in boats +to the coast<br> + of Yvern. The monks received them in the guesthouse and from +this there arose<br> + scandals which filled pious souls with desolation.</p> + +<p>Having finished his faithful report, Abbot Budoc concluded in +these terms:</p> + +<p>"Since the coming of these nuns the innocence and peace of the +monks are at an<br> + end."</p> + +<p>"I readily believe it," answered the blessed Mael. "For woman +is a cleverly<br> + constructed snare by which we are taken even before we suspect +the trap. Alas!<br> + the delightful attraction of these creatures is exerted with +even greater<br> + force from a distance than when they are close at hand. The less +they satisfy<br> + desire the more they inspire it. This is the reason why a poet +wrote this<br> + verse to one of them:</p> + +<p>When present I avoid thee, but when away I find thee.</p> + +<p>Thus we see, my son, that the blandishments of carnal love +have more power<br> + over hermits and monks than over men who live in the world. All +through my<br> + life the demon of lust has tempted me in various ways, but his +strongest<br> + temptations did not come to me from meeting a woman, however +beautiful and<br> + fragrant she was. They came to me from the image of an absent +woman. Even now,<br> + though full of days and approaching my ninety-eighth year, I am +often led by<br> + the Enemy to sin against chastity, at least in thought. At night +when I am<br> + cold in my bed and my frozen old bones rattle together with a +dull sound I<br> + hear voices reciting the second verse of the third Book of the +Kings:<br> + 'Wherefore his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for +my lord the<br> + king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and let +her cherish<br> + him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get +heat,' and<br> + the devil shows me a girl in the bloom of youth who says to me: +'I am thy<br> + Abishag; I am thy Shunamite. Make, O my lord, room for me in thy +couch.'</p> + +<p>"Believe me," added the old man, "it is only by the special +aid of Heaven that<br> + a monk can keep his chastity in act and in intention."</p> + +<p>Applying himself immediately to restore innocence and peace to +the monastery,<br> + he corrected the calendar according to the calculations of +chronology and<br> + astronomy and he compelled all the monks to accept his decision; +he sent the<br> + women who had declined from St. Bridget's rule back to their +convent; but far<br> + from driving them away brutally, he caused them to be led to +their boat with<br> + singing of psalms and litanies.</p> + +<p>"Let us respect in them," he said, "the daughters of Bridget +and the betrothed<br> + of the Lord. Let us beware lest we imitate the Pharisees who +affect to despise<br> + sinners. The sin of these women and not their persons should be +abased, and<br> + they should be made ashamed of what they have done and not of +what they are,<br> + for they are all creatures of God."</p> + +<p>And the holy man exhorted his monks to obey faithfully the +rule of their<br> + order.</p> + +<p>"When it does not yield to the rudder," said he to them, "the +ship yields to<br> + the rock."</p> + +<h2>III. THE TEMPTATION OF SAINT MAEL</h2> + +<p>The blessed Mael had scarcely restored order in the Abbey of +Yvern before he<br> + learned that the inhabitants of the island of Hoedic, his first +catechumens<br> + and the dearest of all to his heart, had returned to paganism, +and that they<br> + were hanging crowns of flowers and fillets of wool to the +branches of the<br> + sacred fig-tree.</p> + +<p>The boatman who brought this sad news expressed a fear that +soon those<br> + misguided men might violently destroy the chapel that had been +built on the<br> + shore of their island.</p> + +<p>The holy man resolved forthwith to visit his faithless +children, so that he<br> + might lead them back to the faith and prevent them from yielding +to such<br> + sacrilege. As he went down to the bay where his stone trough was +moored, he<br> + turned his eyes to the sheds, then filled with the noise of saws +and of<br> + hammers, which, thirty years before, he had erected on the +fringe of that bay<br> + for the purpose of building ships.</p> + +<p><br> + At that moment, the Devil, who never tires, went out from the +sheds and, under<br> + the appearance of a monk called Samsok, he approached the holy +man and tempted<br> + him thus:</p> + +<p>"Father, the inhabitants of the island of Hoedic commit sins +unceasingly.<br> + Every moment that passes removes them farther from God. They are +soon going to<br> + use violence towards the chapel that you have raised with your +own venerable<br> + hands on the shore of their island. Time is pressing. Do you not +think that<br> + your stone trough would carry you more quickly towards them if +it were rigged<br> + like a boat and furnished with a rudder, a mast, and a sail, for +then you<br> + would be driven by the wind? Your arms are still strong and able +to steer a<br> + small craft. It would be a good thing, too, to put a sharp stem +in front of<br> + your apostolic trough. You are much too clear-sighted not to +have thought of<br> + it already."</p> + +<p>"Truly time is pressing," answered the holy man. "But to do as +you say,<br> + Samson, my son, would it not be to make myself like those men of +little faith<br> + who do not trust the Lord? Would it not be to despise the gifts +of Him who has<br> + sent me this stone vessel without rigging or sail?"</p> + +<p>This question, the Devil, who is a great theologian, answered +by another.</p> + +<p>"Father, is it praiseworthy to wait, with our arms folded, +until help comes<br> + from on high, and to ask everything from Him who can do all +things, instead of<br> + acting by human prudence and helping ourselves?</p> + +<p>"It certainly is not," answered the holy Mael, "and to neglect +to act by human<br> + prudence is tempting God."</p> + +<p>"Well," urged the Devil, "is it not prudence in this case to +rig the vessel?"</p> + +<p>"It would be prudence if we could not attain our end in any +other way."</p> + +<p>"Is your vessel then so very speedy?"</p> + +<p>"It is as speedy as God pleases."</p> + +<p>"What do you know about it? It goes like Abbot Budoc's mule. +It is a regular<br> + old tub. Are you forbidden to make it speedier?"</p> + +<p>"My son, clearness adorns your words, but they are unduly +over-confident.<br> + Remember that this vessel is miraculous."</p> + +<p>"It is, father. A granite trough that floats on the water like +a cork is a<br> + miraculous trough. There is not the slightest doubt about it. +What conclusion<br> + do you draw from that?"</p> + +<p>"I am greatly perplexed. Is it right to perfect so miraculous +a machine by<br> + human and natural means?"</p> + +<p>"Father, if you lost your right foot and God restored it to +you, would not<br> + that foot be miraculous?"</p> + +<p>"Without doubt, my son."</p> + +<p>"Would you put a shoe on it?"</p> + +<p>"Assuredly."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, if you believe that one may cover a miraculous +foot with a<br> + natural shoe, you should also believe that we can put natural +rigging on a<br> + miraculous boat. That is clear. Alas! Why must the holiest +persons have their<br> + moments of weakness and despondency? The most illustrious of the +apostles of<br> + Brittany could accomplish works worthy of eternal glory . . . +But his spirit<br> + is tardy and his hand is slothful. Farewell then, father! Travel +by short and<br> + slow stages and when at last you approach the coast of Hoedic +you will see the<br> + smoking ruins of the chapel that was built and consecrated by +your own hands.<br> + The pagans will have burned it and with it the deacon you left +there. He will<br> + be as thoroughly roasted as a black pudding."</p> + +<p>"My trouble is extreme," said the servant of God, drying with +his sleeve the<br> + sweat that gathered upon his brow. "But tell me, Samson, my son, +would not<br> + rigging this stone trough be a difficult piece of work? And if +we undertook it<br> + might we not lose time instead of gaining it?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! father," exclaimed the Devil, "in one turning of the +hour-glass the thing<br> + would be done. We shall find the necessary rigging in this shed +that you have<br> + formerly built here on the coast and in those store-houses +abundantly stocked<br> + through your care. I will myself regulate all the ship's +fittings. Before<br> + being a monk I was a sailor and a carpenter and I have worked at +many other<br> + trades as well. Let us to work."</p> + +<p>Immediately he drew the holy man into an outhouse filled with +all things<br> + needful for fitting out a boat.</p> + +<p>"That for you, father!"</p> + +<p>And he placed on his shoulders the sail, the mast, the gaff, +and the boom.</p> + +<p>Then, himself bearing a stem and a rudder with its screw and +tiller, and<br> + seizing a carpenter's bag full of tools, he ran to the shore, +dragging the<br> + holy man after him by his habit. The latter was bent, sweating, +and<br> + breathless, under the burden of canvas and wood.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>IV. ST. MAEL'S NAVIGATION ON THE OCEAN OF ICE</h2> + +<p>The Devil, having tucked his clothes up to his arm-pits, +dragged the trough on<br> + the sand, and fitted the rigging in less than an hour.</p> + +<p>As soon as the holy Mael had embarked, the vessel, with all +its sails set,<br> + cleft through the waters with such speed that the coast was +almost immediately<br> + out of sight. The old man steered to the south so as to double +the Land's End,<br> + but an irresistible current carried him to the south-west. He +went along the<br> + southern coast of Ireland and turned sharply towards the north. +In the evening<br> + the wind freshened. In vain did Mael attempt to furl the sail. +The vessel flew<br> + distractedly towards the fabulous seas.</p> + +<p>By the light of the moon the immodest sirens of the North came +around him with<br> + their hempen-coloured hair, raising their white throats and +their rose-tinted<br> + limbs out of the sea; and beating the water into foam with their +emerald<br> + tails, they sang in cadence:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><br> + Whither go'st thou, gentle Mael,<br> + In thy trough distracted?<br> + All distended is thy sail<br> + Like the breast of Juno<br> + When from it gushed the Milky Way.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>For a moment their harmonious laughter followed him beneath +the stars, but the<br> + vessel fled on, a hundred times more swiftly than the red ship +of a Viking.<br> + And the petrels, surprised in their flight, clung with their +feet to the hair<br> + of the holy man.</p> + +<p><br> + Soon a tempest arose full of darkness and groanings, and the +trough, driven by<br> + a furious wind, flew like a sea-mew through the mist and the +surge.</p> + +<p>After a night of three times twenty-four hours the darkness +was suddenly rent<br> + and the holy man discovered on the horizon a shore more dazzling +than diamond.<br> + The coast rapidly grew larger, and soon by the glacial light of +a torpid and<br> + sunken sun, Mael saw, rising above the waves, the silent streets +of a white<br> + city, which, vaster than Thebes with its hundred gates, extended +as far as the<br> + eye could see the ruins of its forum built of snow, its palaces +of frost, its<br> + crystal arches, and its iridescent obelisks.</p> + +<p>The ocean was covered with floating ice-bergs around which +swam men of the sea<br> + of a wild yet gentle appearance. And Leviathan passed by hurling +a column of<br> + water up to the clouds.</p> + +<p>Moreover, on a block of ice which floated at the same rate as +the stone trough<br> + there was seated a white bear holding her little one in her +arms, and Mael<br> + heard her murmuring in a low voice this verse of Virgil, Incipe +parve puer.</p> + +<p>And full of sadness and trouble, the old man wept.</p> + +<p>The fresh water had frozen and burst the barrel that contained +it. And Mael<br> + was sucking pieces of ice to quench his thirst, and his food was +bread dipped<br> + in dirty water. His beard and his hair were broken like glass. +His habit was<br> + covered with a layer of ice and cut into him at every movement +of his limbs.<br> + Huge waves rose up and opened their foaming jaws at the old man. +Twenty times<br> + the boat was filled by masses of sea. And the ocean swallowed up +the book of<br> + the Holy Gospels which the apostle guarded with extreme care in +a purple cover<br> + marked with a golden cross.</p> + +<p>Now on the thirtieth day the sea calmed. And lo! with a +frightful clamour of<br> + sky and waters a mountain of dazzling whiteness advanced towards +the stone<br> + vessel. Mael steered to avoid it, but the tiller broke in his +hands. To lessen<br> + the speed of his progress towards the rock he attempted to reef +the sails, but<br> + when he tried to knot the reef-points the wind pulled them away +from him and<br> + the rope seared his hands. He saw three demons with wings of +black skin having<br> + hooks at their ends, who, hanging from the rigging, were puffing +with their<br> + breath against the sails.</p> + +<p>Understanding from this sight that the Enemy had governed him +in all these<br> + things, he guarded himself by making the sign of the Cross. +Immediately a<br> + furious gust of wind filled with the noise of sobs and howls +struck the stone<br> + trough, carried off the mast with all the sails, and tore away +the rudder and<br> + the stem.</p> + +<p>The trough was drifting on the sea, which had now grown calm. +The holy man<br> + knelt and gave thanks to the Lord who had delivered him from the +snares of the<br> + demon. Then he recognised, sitting on a block of ice, the mother +bear who had<br> + spoken during the storm. She pressed her beloved child to her +bosom, and in<br> + her hand she held a purple book marked with a golden cross. +Hailing the<br> + granite trough, she saluted the holy man with these words:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"Pax tibi Mael"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>And she held out the book to him.</p> + +<p>The holy man recognised his evangelistary, and, full of +astonishment, he sang<br> + in the tepid air a hymn to the Creator and His creation.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>V. THE BAPTISM OF THE PENGUINS</h2> + +<p>After having drifted for an hour the holy man approached a +narrow strand, shut<br> + in by steep mountains. He went along the coast for a whole day +and a night,<br> + passing around the reef which formed an insuperable barrier. He +discovered in<br> + this way that it was a round island in the middle of which rose +a mountain<br> + crowned with clouds. He joyfully breathed the fresh breath of +the moist air.<br> + Rain fell, and this rain was so pleasant that the holy man said +to the Lord:</p> + +<p><br> + "Lord, this is the island of tears, the island of +contrition."</p> + +<p>The strand was deserted. Worn out with fatigue and hunger, he +sat down on a<br> + rock in the hollow of which there lay some yellow eggs, marked +with black<br> + spots, and about as large as those of a swan. But he did not +touch them,<br> + saying:</p> + +<p>"Birds are the living praises of God. I should not like a +single one of these<br> + praises to be lacking through me."</p> + +<p>And he munched the lichens which he tore from the crannies of +the rocks.</p> + +<p>The holy man had gone almost entirely round the island without +meeting any<br> + inhabitants, when he came to a vast amphitheatre formed of black +and red rocks<br> + whose summits became tinged with blue as they rose towards the +clouds, and<br> + they were filled with sonorous cascades.</p> + +<p>The reflection from the polar ice had hurt the old man's eyes, +but a feeble<br> + gleam of light still shone through his swollen eyelids. He +distinguished<br> + animated forms which filled the rocks, in stages, like a crowd +of men on the<br> + tiers of an amphitheatre. And at the same time, his ears, +deafened by the<br> + continual noises of the sea, heard a feeble sound of voices. +Thinking that<br> + what he saw were men living under the natural law, and that the +Lord had sent<br> + him to teach them the Divine law, he preached the gospel to +them.</p> + +<p>Mounted on a lofty stone in the midst of the wild circus:</p> + +<p>"Inhabitants of this island," said he, "although you be of +small stature, you<br> + look less like a band of fishermen and mariners than like the +senate of a<br> + judicious republic. By your gravity, your silence, your tranquil +deportment,<br> + you form on this wild rock an assembly comparable to the +Conscript Fathers at<br> + Rome deliberating in the temple of Victory, or rather, to the +philosophers of<br> + Athens disputing on the benches of the Areopagus. Doubtless you +possess<br> + neither their science nor their genius, but perhaps in the sight +of God you<br> + are their superiors. I believe that you are simple and good. As +I went round<br> + your island I saw no image of murder, no sign of carnage, no +enemies' heads or<br> + scalps hung from a lofty pole or nailed to the doors of your +villages. You<br> + appear to me to have no arts and not to work in metals. But your +hearts are<br> + pure and your hands are innocent, and the truth will easily +enter into your<br> + souls."</p> + +<p>Now what he had taken for men of small stature but of grave +bearing were<br> + penguins whom the spring had gathered together, and who were +ranged in couples<br> + on the natural steps of the rock, erect in the majesty of their +large white<br> + bellies. From moment to moment they moved their winglets like +arms, and<br> + uttered peaceful cries. They did not fear men, for they did not +know them, and<br> + had never received any harm from them; and there was in the monk +a certain<br> + gentleness that reassured the most timid animals and that +pleased these<br> + penguins extremely. With a friendly curiosity they turned +towards him their<br> + little round eyes lengthened in front by a white oval spot that +gave something<br> + odd and human to their appearance.</p> + +<p>Touched by their attention, the holy man taught them the +Gospel.</p> + +<p>"Inhabitants of this island, the earthly day that has just +risen over your<br> + rocks is the image of the heavenly day that rises in your souls. +For I bring<br> + you the inner light; I bring you the light and heat of the soul. +Just as the<br> + sun melts the ice of your mountains so Jesus Christ will melt +the ice of your<br> + hearts."</p> + +<p>Thus the old man spoke. As everywhere throughout nature voice +calls to voice,<br> + as all which breathes in the light of day loves alternate +strains, these<br> + penguins answered the old man by the sounds of their throats. +And their voices<br> + were soft, for it was the season of their loves.</p> + +<p>The holy man, persuaded that they belonged to some idolatrous +people and that<br> + in their own language they gave adherence to the Christian +faith, invited them<br> + to receive baptism.</p> + +<p>"I think," said he to them, "that you bathe often, for all the +hollows of the<br> + rocks are full of pure water, and as I came to your assembly I +saw several of<br> + you plunging into these natural baths. Now purity of body is the +image of<br> + spiritual purity."</p> + +<p>And he taught them the origin, the nature, and the effects of +baptism.</p> + +<p>"Baptism," said he to them, "is Adoption, New Birth, +Regeneration,<br> + Illumination."</p> + +<p>And he explained each of these points to them in +succession.</p> + +<p>Then, having previously blessed the water that fell from the +cascades and<br> + recited the exorcisms, he baptized those whom he had just +taught, pouring on<br> + each of their heads a drop of pure water and pronouncing the +sacred words.</p> + +<p>And thus for three days and three nights he baptized the +birds.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>VI. AN ASSEMBLY IN PARADISE</h2> + +<p>When the baptism of the penguins was known in Paradise, it +caused neither joy<br> + nor sorrow, but an extreme surprise. The Lord himself was +embarrassed. He<br> + gathered an assembly of clerics and doctors, and asked them +whether they<br> + regarded the baptism as valid.</p> + +<p>"It is void," said St. Patrick.</p> + +<p>"Why is it void?" asked St. Gal, who had evangelized the +people of Cornwall<br> + and had trained the holy Mael for his apostolical labours.</p> + +<p><br> + "The sacrament of baptism," answered St. Patrick, "is void when +it is given to<br> + birds, just as the sacrament of marriage is void when it is +given to a<br> + eunuch."</p> + +<p>But St. Gal replied:</p> + +<p>"What relation do you claim to establish between the baptism +of a bird and the<br> + marriage of a eunuch? There is none at all. Marriage is, if I +may say so, a<br> + conditional, a contingent sacrament. The priest blesses an event +beforehand;<br> + it is evident that if the act is not consummated the benediction +remains<br> + without effect. That is obvious. I have known on earth, in the +town of Antrim,<br> + a rich man named Sadoc, who, living in concubinage with a woman, +caused her to<br> + be the mother of nine children. In his old age, yielding to my +reproofs, he<br> + consented to marry her, and I blessed their union. Unfortunately +Sadoc's great<br> + age prevented him from consummating the marriage. A short time +afterwards he<br> + lost all his property, and Germaine (that was the name of the +woman), not<br> + feeling herself able to endure poverty, asked for the annulment +of a marriage<br> + which was no reality. The Pope granted her request, for it was +just. So much<br> + for marriage. But baptism is conferred without restrictions or +reserves of any<br> + kind. There is no doubt about it, what the penguins have +received is a<br> + sacrament."</p> + +<p>Called to give his opinion, Pope St. Damascus expressed +himself in these<br> + terms:</p> + +<p>"In order to know if a baptism is valid and will produce its +result, that is<br> + to say, sanctification, it is necessary to consider who gives it +and not who<br> + receives it. In truth, the sanctifying virtue of this sacrament +results from<br> + the exterior act by which it is conferred, without the baptized +person<br> + cooperating in his own sanctification by any personal act; if it +were<br> + otherwise it would not be administered to the newly born. And +there is no<br> + need, in order to baptize, to fulfil any special condition; it +is not<br> + necessary to be in a state of grace; it is sufficient to have +the intention of<br> + doing what the Church does, to pronounce the consecrated words +and to observe<br> + the prescribed forms. Now we cannot doubt that the venerable +Mael has observed<br> + these conditions. Therefore the penguins are baptized."</p> + +<p>"Do you think so?" asked St. Guenole. "And what then do you +believe that<br> + baptism really is? Baptism is the process of regeneration by +which man is born<br> + of water and of the spirit, for having entered the water covered +with crimes,<br> + he goes out of it a neophyte, a new creature, abounding in the +fruits of<br> + righteousness; baptism is the seed of immortality; baptism is +the pledge of<br> + the resurrection; baptism is the burying with Christ in His +death and<br> + participation in His departure from the sepulchre. That is not a +gift to<br> + bestow upon birds. Reverend Fathers, let us consider. Baptism +washes away<br> + original sin; now the penguins were not conceived in sin. It +removes the<br> + penalty of sin; now the penguins have not sinned. It produces +grace and the<br> + gift of virtues, uniting Christians to Jesus Christ, as the +members to the<br> + body, and it is obvious to the senses that penguins cannot +acquire the virtues<br> + of confessors, of virgins, and of widows, or receive grace and +be united to--"</p> + +<p>St. Damascus did not allow him to finish.</p> + +<p>"That proves," said he warmly, "that the baptism was useless; +it does not<br> + prove that it was not effective."</p> + +<p>"But by this reasoning," said St. Guenole, "one might baptize +in the name of<br> + the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, by aspersion or +immersion, not<br> + only a bird or a quadruped, but also an inanimate object, a +statue, a table, a<br> + chair, etc. That animal would be Christian, that idol, that +table would be<br> + Christian! It is absurd!"</p> + +<p>St. Augustine began to speak. There was a great silence.</p> + +<p>"I am going," said the ardent bishop of Hippo, "to show you, +by an example,<br> + the power of formulas. It deals, it is true, with a diabolical +operation. But<br> + if it be established that formulas taught by the Devil have +effect upon<br> + unintelligent animals or even on inanimate objects, how can we +longer doubt<br> + that the effect of the sacramental formulas extends to the minds +of beasts and<br> + even to inert matter?</p> + +<p>"This is the example. There was during my lifetime in the town +of Madaura, the<br> + birthplace of the philosopher Apuleius, a witch who was able to +attract men to<br> + her chamber by burning a few of their hairs along with certain +herbs upon her<br> + tripod, pronouncing at the same time certain words. Now one day +when she<br> + wished by this means to gain the, love of a young man, she was +deceived by her<br> + maid, and instead of the young man's hairs, she burned some +hairs pulled from<br> + a leather bottle, made out of a goatskin that hung in a tavern. +During the<br> + night the leather bottle, full of wine, capered through the town +up to the<br> + witch's door. This fact is undoubted. And in sacraments as in +enchantments it<br> + is the form which operates. The effect of a divine formula +cannot be less in<br> + power and extent than the effect of an infernal formula."</p> + +<p>Having spoken in this fashion the great St. Augustine sat down +amidst<br> + applause.</p> + +<p>One of the blessed, of an advanced age and having a melancholy +appearance,<br> + asked permission to speak. No one knew him. His name was Probus, +and he was<br> + not enrolled in the canon of the saints.</p> + +<p>"I beg the company's pardon," said he, "I have no halo, and I +gained eternal<br> + blessedness without any eminent distinction. But after what the +great St.<br> + Augustine has just told you I believe it right to impart a cruel +experience,<br> + which I had, relative to the conditions necessary for the +validity of a<br> + sacrament. The bishop of Hippo is indeed right in what he said. +A sacrament<br> + depends on the form; its virtue is in its form; its vice is in +its form.<br> + Listen, confessors and pontiffs, to my woeful story. I was a +priest in Rome<br> + under the rule of the Emperor Gordianus. Without desiring to +recommend myself<br> + to you for any special merit, I may say that I exercised my +priesthood with<br> + piety and zeal. For forty years I served the church of St.<br> + Modestus-beyond-the-Walls. My habits were regular. Every +Saturday I went to a<br> + tavern-keeper called Barjas, who dwelt with his wine-jars under +the Porta<br> + Capena, and from him I bought the wine that I consecrated daily +throughout the<br> + week. During that.long space of time I never failed for a single +morning to<br> + consecrate the holy sacrifice of the mass. However, I had no +joy, and it was<br> + with a heart oppressed by sorrow that, on the steps of the altar +I used to<br> + ask, 'Why art thou so heavy, O my soul, and why art thou so +disquieted within<br> + me?' The faithful whom I invited to the holy table gave me cause +for<br> + affliction, for having, so to speak, the Host that I +administered still upon<br> + their tongues, they fell again into sin just as if the sacrament +had been<br> + without power or efficacy. At last I reached the end of my +earthly trials, and<br> + failing asleep in the Lord, I awoke in this abode of the elect. +I learned then<br> + from the mouth of the angel who brought me here, that Barjas, +the<br> + tavern-keeper of the Porta Capena, had sold for wine a decoction +of roots and<br> + barks in which there was not a single drop of the juice of the +grape. I had<br> + been unable to transmute this vile brew into blood, for it was +not wine, and<br> + wine alone is changed into the blood of Jesus Christ. Therefore +all my<br> + consecrations were invalid, and unknown to us, my faithful and +myself had for<br> + forty years been deprived of the sacrament and were in fact in a +state of<br> + excommunication. This revelation threw me into a stupor which +overwhelms me<br> + even to-day in this abode of bliss. I go all through Paradise +without ever<br> + meeting a single one of those Christians whom formerly I +admitted to the holy<br> + table in the basilica of the blessed Modestus. Deprived of the +bread of<br> + angels, they easily gave way to the most abominable vices, and +they have all<br> + gone to hell. It gives me some satisfaction to think that +Barjas, the<br> + tavern-keeper, is damned. There is in these things a logic +worthy of the<br> + author of all logic. Nevertheless my unhappy example proves that +it is<br> + sometimes inconvenient that form should prevail over essence in +the<br> + sacraments, and I humbly ask, Could not, eternal wisdom remedy +this?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered the Lord. "The remedy would be worse than the +disease. It would<br> + be the ruin of the priesthood if essence prevailed over form in +the laws of<br> + salvation."</p> + +<p>"Alas! Lord," sighed the humble Probus. "Be persuaded by my +humble experience;<br> + as long as you reduce your sacraments to formulas your justice +will meet with<br> + terrible obstacles."</p> + +<p>"I know that better than you do," replied the Lord. "I see in +a single glance<br> + both the actual problems which are difficult, and the future +problems which<br> + will not be less difficult. Thus I can foretell that when the +sun will have<br> + turned round the earth two hundred and forty times more.</p> + +<p>"Sublime language," exclaimed the angels.</p> + +<p>"And worthy of the creator of the world," answered the +pontiffs.</p> + +<p>"It is," resumed the Lord, "a manner of speaking in accordance +with my old<br> + cosmogony and one which I cannot give up without losing my +immutability. . . .</p> + +<p>"After the sun, then, will have turned another two hundred and +forty times<br> + round the earth, there will not be a single cleric left in Rome +who knows<br> + Latin. When they sing their litanies in the churches people will +invoke<br> + Orichel, Roguel, and Totichel, and, as you know, these are +devils and not<br> + angels. Many robbers desiring to make their communions, but +fearing that<br> + before obtaining pardon they would be forced to give up the +things they had<br> + robbed to the Church, will make their confessions to travelling +priests,who,<br> + ignorant of both Italian and Latin, and only speaking the patois +of their<br> + village, will go through cities and towns selling the remission +of sins for a<br> + base price, often for a bottle of wine. Probably we shall not +be<br> + inconvenienced by those absolutions as they will want contrition +to make them<br> + valid, but it may be that their baptisms will cause us some +embarrassment. The<br> + priests will become so ignorant that they will baptize children +in nomine<br> + patria et filia et spirita sancta, as Louis de Potter will take +a pleasure in<br> + relating in the third volume of his 'Philosophical, Political, +and Critical<br> + History of Christianity.' It will be an arduous question to +decide on the<br> + validity of such baptisms; for even if in my sacred writings I +tolerate a<br> + Greek less elegant than Plato's and a scarcely Ciceronian Latin, +I cannot<br> + possibly admit a piece of pure patois as a liturgical formula. +And one<br> + shudders when one thinks that millions of new-born babes will be +baptized by<br> + this method. But let us return to our penguins."</p> + +<p>"Your divine words, Lord, have already led us back to them," +said St. Gal. "In<br> + the signs of religion and the laws of salvation form necessarily +prevails over<br> + essence, and the validity of a sacrament solely depends upon its +form. The<br> + whole question is whether the penguins have been baptized with +the proper<br> + forms. Now there is no doubt about the answer."</p> + +<p>The fathers and the doctors agreed, and their perplexity +became only the more<br> + cruel.</p> + +<p>"The Christian state," said St. Cornelius, "is not without +serious<br> + inconveniences for a penguin. In it the birds are obliged to +work out their<br> + own salvation. How can they succeed? The habits of birds are, in +many points,<br> + contrary to the commandments of the Church, and the penguins +have no reason<br> + for changing theirs. I mean that they are not intelligent enough +to give up<br> + their present habits and assume better."</p> + +<p>"They cannot," said the Lord; "my decrees prevent them."</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless," resumed St. Cornelius, "in virtue of their +baptism their<br> + actions no longer remain indifferent. Henceforth they will be +good or bad,<br> + susceptible of merit or of demerit."</p> + +<p>"That is precisely the question we have to deal with," said +the Lord.</p> + +<p>"I see only one solution," said St. Augustine. "The penguins +will go to hell."</p> + +<p>"But they have no soul," observed St. Irenaeus.</p> + +<p>"It is a pity"" sighed Tertullian.</p> + +<p>"It is indeed," resumed St. Gal. "And I admit that my +disciple, the holy Mael,<br> + has, in his blind zeal, created great theological difficulties +for the Holy<br> + Spirit and introduced disorder into the economy of +mysteries."</p> + +<p>"He is an old blunderer," cried St. Adjutor of Alsace, +shrugging his<br> + shoulders.</p> + +<p>But the Lord cast a reproachful look on Adjutor.</p> + +<p>"Allow me to speak," said he; "the holy Mael has not intuitive +knowledge like<br> + you, my blessed ones. He does not see me. He is an old man +burdened by<br> + infirmities; he is half deaf and three parts blind. You are too +severe on him.<br> + However, I recognise that the situation is an embarrassing +one."</p> + +<p>"Luckily it is but a passing disorder," said St. Irenaeus. +"The penguins are<br> + baptized, but their eggs are not, and the evil will stop with +the present<br> + generation."</p> + +<p>"Do not speak thus, Irenaeus my son," said the Lord. "There +are exceptions to<br> + the laws that men of science lay down on the earth because they +are imperfect<br> + and have not an exact application to nature. But the laws that I +establish are<br> + perfect and suffer no exception. We must decide the fate of the +baptized<br> + penguins without violating any divine law, and in a manner +conformable to the<br> + decalogue as well as to the commandments of my Church."</p> + +<p>"Lord," said St. Gregory Nazianzen, "give them an immortal +soul."</p> + +<p>"Alas! Lord, what would they do with it," sighed Lactantius. +"They have not<br> + tuneful voices to sing your praises. They would not be able to +celebrate your<br> + mysteries."</p> + +<p>"Without doubt," said St. Augustine, "they would not observe +the divine law."</p> + +<p>"They could not," said the Lord.</p> + +<p>"They could not," continued St. Augustine. "And if, Lord, in +your wisdom, you<br> + pour an immortal soul into them, they will burn eternally in +hell in virtue of<br> + your adorable decrees. Thus will the transcendent order, that +this old<br> + Welshman has disturbed, be re-established."</p> + +<p>"You propose a correct solution to me, son of Monica," said +the Lord, "and one<br> + that accords with my wisdom. But it does not satisfy my mercy. +And, although<br> + in my essence I am immutable, the longer I endure, the more I +incline to<br> + mildness. This change of character is evident to anyone who +reads my two<br> + Testaments."</p> + +<p>As the discussion continued without much light being thrown +upon the matter<br> + and as the blessed showed a disposition to keep repeating the +same thing, it<br> + was decided to consult St. Catherine of Alexandria. This is what +was usually<br> + done in such cases. St. Catherine while on earth had confounded +fifty very<br> + learned doctors. She knew Plato's philosophy in addition to the +Holy<br> + Scriptures, and she also possessed a knowledge of rhetoric.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>VII. AN ASSEMBLY IN PARADISE (Continuation and End)</h2> + +<p>St. Catherine entered the assembly, her head encircled by a +crown of emeralds,<br> + sapphires, and pearls, and she was clad in a robe of cloth of +gold. She<br> + carried at her side a blazing wheel, the image of the one whose +fragments had<br> + struck her persecutors.</p> + +<p>The Lord having invited her to speak, she expressed herself in +these terms:</p> + +<p>"Lord, in order to solve the problem you deign to submit to me +I shall not<br> + study the habits of animals in general nor those of birds in +particular. I<br> + shall only remark to the doctors, confessors, and pontiffs +gathered in this<br> + assembly that the separation between man and animal is not +complete since<br> + there are monsters who proceed from both. Such are +chimeras--half nymphs and<br> + half serpents; such are the three Gorgons and the Capripeds; +such are the<br> + Scyllas and the Sirens who sing in the sea. These have a woman's +breast and a<br> + fish's tail. Such also are the Centaurs, men down to the waist +and the<br> + remainder horses. They are a noble race of monsters. One of +them, as you know,<br> + was able, guided by the light of reason alone, to direct his +steps towards<br> + eternal blessedness, and you sometimes see his heroic bosom +prancing on the<br> + clouds. Chiron, the Centaur, deserved for his works on the earth +to share the<br> + abode of the blessed; he it was who gave Achilles his education; +and that<br> + young hero, when he left the Centaur's hands, lived for two +years, dressed as<br> + a young girl, among the daughters of King Lycomedes. He shared +their games and<br> + their bed without allowing any suspicion to arise that he was +not a young<br> + virgin like them. Chiron, who taught him such good morals, is, +with the<br> + Emperor Trajan, the only righteous man who obtained celestial +glory by<br> + following the law of nature. And yet he was but half human.</p> + +<p><br> + "I think I have proved by this example that, to reach eternal +blessedness, it<br> + is enough to possess some parts of humanity, always on the +condition that they<br> + are noble. And what Chiron, the Centaur, could obtain without +having been<br> + regenerated by baptism, would not the penguins deserve too, if +they became<br> + half penguins and half men? That is why, Lord, I entreat you to +give old<br> + Mael's penguins a human head and breast so that they can praise +you worthily.<br> + And grant them also an immortal soul--but one of small +size."</p> + +<p>Thus Catherine spoke, and the fathers, doctors, confessors, +and pontiffs heard<br> + her with a murmur of approbation.</p> + +<p>But St. Anthony, the Hermit, arose and stretching two red and +knotty arms<br> + towards the Most High:</p> + +<p>"Do not so, O Lord God," he cried, "in the name of your holy +Paraclete, do not<br> + so!"</p> + +<p>He spoke with such vehemence that his long white beard shook +on his chin like<br> + the empty nose-bag of a hungry horse.</p> + +<p>"Lord, do not so. Birds with human heads exist already. St. +Catherine has told<br> + us nothing new."</p> + +<p>"The imagination groups and compares; it never creates," +replied St. Catherine<br> + drily.</p> + +<p>"They exist already," continued St. Antony, who would listen +to nothing. "They<br> + are called harpies, and they are the most obscene animals in +creation. One day<br> + as I was having supper in the desert with the Abbot St. Paul, I +placed the<br> + table outside my cabin under an old sycamore tree. The harpies +came and sat in<br> + its branches; they deafened us with their shrill cries and cast +their<br> + excrement over all our food. The clamour of the monsters +prevented me from<br> + listening to the teaching of the Abbot St. Paul, and we ate +birds' dung with<br> + our bread and lettuces. Lord, it is impossible to believe that +harpies could<br> + give thee worthy praise.</p> + +<p>"Truly in my temptations I have seen many hybrid beings, not +only<br> + women-serpents and women-fishes, but beings still more +confusedly formed such<br> + as men whose bodies were made out of a pot, a bell, a clock, a +cupboard full<br> + of food and crockery, or even out of a house with doors and +windows through<br> + which people engaged in their domestic tasks could be seen. +Eternity would not<br> + suffice were I to describe all the monsters that assailed me in +my solitude,<br> + from whales rigged like ships to a shower of red insects which +changed the<br> + water of my fountain into blood. But none were as disgusting as +the harpies<br> + whose offal polluted the leaves of my sycamore."</p> + +<p>"Harpies," observed Lactantius, "are female Monsters with +birds' bodies. They<br> + have a woman's head and breast. Their forwardness, their +shamelessness, and<br> + their obscenity proceed from their female nature as the poet +Virgil<br> + demonstrated in his 'Aeneid.' They share the curse of Eve."</p> + +<p>"Let us not speak of the curse of Eve," said the Lord. "The +second Eve has<br> + redeemed the first."</p> + +<p>Paul Orosius, the author of a universal history that Bossuet +was to imitate in<br> + later years, arose and prayed to the Lord:</p> + +<p>"Lord, hear my prayer and Anthony's. Do not make any more +monsters like the<br> + Centaurs, Sirens, and Fauns, whom the Greeks, those collectors +of fables,<br> + loved. You will derive no satisfaction from them. Those species +of monsters<br> + have pagan inclinations and their double nature does not dispose +them to<br> + purity of morals."</p> + +<p>The bland Lactantius replied in these terms:</p> + +<p>"He who has just spoken is assuredly the best historian in +Paradise, for<br> + Herodotus, Thucydides, Polybius, Livy, Velleius Paterculus, +Cornelius Nepos,<br> + Suetonius, Manetho, Diodorus Siculus, Dion Cassius, and +Lampridius are<br> + deprived of the sight of God, and Tacitus suffers in hell the +torments that<br> + are reserved for blasphemers. But Paul Orosius does not know +heaven as well as<br> + he knows the earth, for he does not seem to bear in mind that +the angels, who<br> + proceed from man and bird, are purity itself."</p> + +<p>"We are wandering," said the Eternal. "What have we to do with +all those<br> + centaurs, harpies, and angels? We have to deal with +penguins."</p> + +<p>"You have spoken to the point, Lord," said the chief of the +fifty doctors,<br> + who, during their mortal life had been confounded by the Virgin +of Alexandria,<br> + "and I dare express the opinion that, in order to put an end to +the scandal by<br> + which heaven is now stirred, old Mael's penguins should, as St. +Catherine who<br> + confounded us has proposed, be given half of a human body with +an eternal soul<br> + proportioned to that half."</p> + +<p>At this speech there arose in the assembly a great noise of +private<br> + conversations and disputes of the doctors. The Greek fathers +argued with the<br> + Latins concerning the substance, nature, and dimensions of the +soul that<br> + should be given to the penguins.</p> + +<p>"Confessors and pontiffs," exclaimed the Lord, "do not imitate +the conclaves<br> + and synods of the earth. And do not bring into the Church +Triumphant those<br> + violences that trouble the Church Militant. For it is but too +true that in all<br> + the councils held under the inspiration of my spirit, in Europe, +in Asia, and<br> + in Africa, fathers have torn the beards and scratched the eyes +of other<br> + fathers. Nevertheless they were infallible, for I was with +them."</p> + +<p>Order being restored, old Hermas arose and slowly uttered +these words:</p> + +<p>"I will praise you, Lord, for that you caused my mother, +Saphira, to be born<br> + amidst your people, in the days when the dew of heaven refreshed +the earth<br> + which was in travail with its Saviour. And will praise you, +Lord, for having<br> + granted to me to see with my mortal eyes the Apostles of your +divine Son. And<br> + I will speak in this illustrious assembly because you have +willed that truth<br> + should proceed out of the mouths of the humble, and I will say: +'Change these<br> + penguins to men. It is the only determination conformable to +your justice and<br> + your mercy.'"</p> + +<p>Several doctors asked permission to speak, others began to do +so. No one<br> + listened, and all the confessors were tumultuously shaking their +palms and<br> + their crowns.</p> + +<p>The Lord, by a gesture of his right hand, appeased the +quarrels of his elect.</p> + +<p>"Let us not deliberate any longer," said he. "The opinion +broached by gentle<br> + old Hermas is the only one conformable to my eternal designs. +These birds will<br> + be changed into men. I foresee in this several disadvantages. +Many of those<br> + men will commit sins they would not have committed as penguins. +Truly their<br> + fate through this change will be far less enviable than if they +had been<br> + without this baptism and this incorporation into the family of +Abraham. But my<br> + foreknowledge must not encroach upon their free will.</p> + +<p>"In order not to impair human liberty, I will be ignorant of +what I know, I<br> + will thicken upon my eyes the veils I have pierced, and in my +blind<br> + clearsightedness I will let myself be surprised by what I have +foreseen."</p> + +<p>And immediately calling the archangel Raphael:</p> + +<p>"Go and find the holy Mael," said he to him; "inform him of +his mistake and<br> + tell him, armed with my Name, to change these penguins into +men."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>VII. METAMORPHOSIS OF THE PENGUINS</h2> + +<p>The archangel, having gone down into the Island of the +Penguins, found the<br> + holy man asleep in the hollow of a rock surrounded by his new +disciples. He<br> + laid his hand on his shoulder and, having waked him, said in a +gentle voice:</p> + +<p>"Mael, fear not!"</p> + +<p>The holy man, dazzled by a vivid light, inebriated by a +delicious odour,<br> + recognised the angel of the Lord, and prostrated himself with +his forehead on<br> + the ground.</p> + +<p>The angel continued:</p> + +<p>"Mael, know thy error, believing that thou wert baptizing +children of Adam<br> + thou hast baptized birds; and it is, through thee that penguins +have entered<br> + into the Church of God."</p> + +<p><br> + At these words the old man remained stupefied.</p> + +<p>And the angel resumed:</p> + +<p>"Arise, Mael, arm thyself with the mighty Name of the Lord, +and say to these<br> + birds, 'Be ye men!'"</p> + +<p>And the holy Mael, having wept and prayed, armed himself with +the mighty Name<br> + of the Lord and said to the birds:</p> + +<p>"Be ye men!"</p> + +<p>Immediately the penguins were transformed. Their foreheads +enlarged and their<br> + heads grew round like the dome of St. Maria Rotunda in Rome. +Their oval eyes<br> + opened more widely on the universe; a fleshy nose clothed the +two clefts of<br> + their nostrils; their beaks were changed into mouths, and from +their mouths<br> + went forth speech; their necks grew short and thick; their wings +became arms<br> + and their claws legs; a restless soul dwelt within the breast of +each of them.</p> + +<p>However, there remained with them some traces of their first +nature. They were<br> + inclined to look sideways; they balanced themselves on their +short thighs;<br> + their bodies were covered with fine down.</p> + +<p>And Mael gave thanks to the Lord, because he had incorporated +these penguins<br> + into the family of Abraham.</p> + +<p>But he grieved at the thought that he would soon leave the +island to come back<br> + no more, and that perhaps when he was far away the faith of the +penguins would<br> + perish for want of care like a young and tender plant.</p> + +<p>And he formed the idea of transporting their island to the +coasts of Armorica.</p> + +<p>"I know not the designs of eternal Wisdom," said he to +himself. "But if God<br> + wills that this island be transported, who could prevent +it?"</p> + +<p>And the holy man made a very fine cord about forty feet long +out of the flax<br> + of his stole. He fastened one end of the cord round a point of +rock that<br> + jutted up through the sand of the shore and, holding the other +end of the cord<br> + in his hand, he entered the stone trough.</p> + +<p>The trough glided over the sea and towed Penguin Island behind +it; after nine<br> + days' sailing it approached the Breton coast, bringing the +island with it.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h1>BOOK II. THE ANCIENT TIMES</h1> + +<h2>I. THE FIRST CLOTHES</h2> + +<p>One day St. Mael was sitting by the seashore on a warm stone +that he found. He<br> + thought it had been warmed by the sun and he gave thanks to God +for it, not<br> + knowing that the Devil had been resting on it. The apostle was +waiting for the<br> + monks of Yvern who had been commissioned to bring a freight of +skins and<br> + fabrics to clothe the inhabitants of the island of Alca.</p> + +<p>Soon he saw a monk called Magis coming ashore and carrying a +chest upon his<br> + back. This monk enjoyed a great reputation for holiness.</p> + +<p><br> + When he had drawn near to the old man he laid the chest on the +ground and<br> + wiping his forehead with the back of his sleeve, he said:</p> + +<p>"Well, father, you wish then to clothe these penguins?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing is more needful, my son," said the old man. "Since +they have been<br> + incorporated into the family of Abraham these penguins share the +curse of Eve,<br> + and they know that they are naked, a thing of which they were +ignorant before.<br> + And it is high time to clothe them, for they are losing the down +that remained<br> + on them after their metamorphosis."</p> + +<p>"It is true," said Magis as he cast his eyes over the coast +where the penguins<br> + were to be seen looking for shrimps, gathering mussels, singing, +or sleeping,<br> + "they are naked. But do you not think, father, that it would be +better to<br> + leave them naked? Why clothe them? When they wear clothes and +are under the<br> + moral law they will assume an immense pride, a vile hypocrisy, +and an<br> + excessive cruelty."</p> + +<p>"Is it possible, my son," sighed the old man, "that you +understand so badly<br> + the effects of the moral law to which even the heathen +submit?"</p> + +<p>"The moral law," answered Magis, "forces men who are beasts to +live otherwise<br> + than beasts, a thine that doubtless puts a constraint upon them, +but that also<br> + flatters and reassures them; and as they are proud, cowardly, +and covetous of<br> + pleasure, they willingly submit to restraints that tickle their +vanity and on<br> + which they found both their present security and the hope of +their future<br> + happiness. That is the principle of all morality. . . . But let +us not mislead<br> + ourselves. My companions are unloading their cargo of stuffs and +skins on the<br> + island. Think, father, while there is still time I To clothe the +penguins is a<br> + very serious business. At present when a penguin desires a +penguin he knows<br> + precisely what he desires and his lust is limited by an exact +knowledge of its<br> + object. At this moment two or three couples of penguins are +making love on the<br> + beach. See with what simplicity! No one pays any attention and +the actors<br> + themselves do not seem to be greatly preoccupied. But when the +female penguins<br> + are clothed, the male penguin will not form so exact a notion of +what it is<br> + that attracts him to them. His indeterminate desires will fly +out into all<br> + sorts of dreams and illusions; in short, father, he will know +love and its mad<br> + torments. And all the time the female penguins will cast down +their eyes and<br> + bite their lips, and take on airs as if they kept a treasure +under their<br> + clothes! . . . what a pity!</p> + +<p>"The evil will be endurable as long as these people remain +rude and poor; but<br> + only wait for a thousand years and you will see, father, with +what powerful<br> + weapons you have endowed the daughters of Alca. If you will +allow me, I can<br> + give you some idea of it beforehand. I have some old clothes in +this chest.<br> + Let us take at hazard one of these female penguins to whom the +male penguins<br> + give such little thought, and let us dress her as well as we +can.</p> + +<p>"Here is one coming towards us. She is neither more beautiful +nor uglier than<br> + the others; she is young. No one looks at her. She strolls +indolently along<br> + the shore, scratching her back and with her finger at her nose +as she walks.<br> + You cannot help seeing, father, that she has narrow shoulders, +clumsy breasts,<br> + a stout figure, and short legs. Her reddish knees pucker at +every step she<br> + takes, and there is, at each of her joints, what looks like a +little monkey's<br> + head. Her broad and sinewy feet cling to the rock with their +four crooked<br> + toes, while the great toes stick up like the heads of two +cunning serpents.<br> + She begins to walk, all her muscles are engaged in the task, +and, when we see<br> + them working, we think of her as a machine intended for walking +rather than as<br> + a machine intended for making love, although visibly she is +both, and contains<br> + within herself several other pieces of machinery, besides. Well, +venerable<br> + apostle, you will see what I am going to make of her."</p> + +<p>With these words the monk, Magis, reached the female penguin +in three bounds,<br> + lifted her up, carried her in his arms with her hair trailing +behind her, and<br> + threw her, overcome with fright, at the feet of the holy +Mael.</p> + +<p>And whilst she wept and begged him to do her no harm, he took +a pair of<br> + sandals out of his chest and commanded her to put them on.</p> + +<p>"Her feet," observed the old man, "will appear smaller when +squeezed in by the<br> + woollen cords. The soles, being two fingers high, will give an +elegant length<br> + to her legs and the weight they bear will seem magnified."</p> + +<p>As the penguin tied on her sandals she threw a curious look +towards the open<br> + coffer, and seeing that it was full of jewels and finery, she +smiled through<br> + her tears.</p> + +<p>The monk twisted her hair on the back of her head and covered +it with a<br> + chaplet of flowers. He encircled her wrist with golden bracelets +and making<br> + her stand upright, he passed a large linen band beneath her +breasts, alleging<br> + that her bosom would thereby derive a new dignity and that her +sides would be<br> + compressed to the greater glory of her hips.</p> + +<p>He fixed this band with pins, taking them one by one out of +his mouth.</p> + +<p>"You can tighten it still more," said the penguin.</p> + +<p>When he had, with much care and study, enclosed the soft parts +of her bust in<br> + this way, he covered her whole body with a rose-coloured tunic +which gently<br> + followed the lines of her figure.</p> + +<p>"Does it hang well?" asked the penguin.</p> + +<p>And bending forward with her head on one side and her chin on +her shoulder,<br> + she kept looking attentively at the appearance of her +toilet.</p> + +<p>Magis asked her if she did not think the dress a little long, +but she answered<br> + with assurance that it was not--she would hold it up.</p> + +<p>Immediately, taking the back of her skirt in her left hand, +she drew it<br> + obliquely across her hips, taking care to disclose a glimpse of +her heels.<br> + Then she went away, walking with short steps and swinging her +hips.</p> + +<p>She did not turn her head, but as she passed near a stream she +glanced out of<br> + the corner of her eye at her own reflection.</p> + +<p>A male penguin, who met her by chance, stopped in surprise, +and retracing his<br> + steps began to follow her. As she went along the shore, others +coming back<br> + from fishing, went up to her, and after looking at her, walked +behind her.<br> + Those who were lying on the sand got up and joined the rest.</p> + +<p>Unceasingly, as she advanced, fresh penguins, descending from +the paths of the<br> + mountain, coming out of clefts of the rocks, and emerging from +the water,<br> + added to the size of her retinue.</p> + +<p>And all of them, men of ripe age with vigorous shoulders and +hairy breasts,<br> + agile youths, old men shaking the multitudinous wrinkles of +their rosy, and<br> + white-haired skins, or dragging their legs thinner and drier +than the juniper<br> + staff that served them as a third leg, hurried on, panting and +emitting an<br> + acrid odour and hoarse gasps. Yet she went on peacefully and +seemed to see<br> + nothing.</p> + +<p>"Father," cried Magis, "notice how each one advances with his +nose pointed<br> + towards the centre of gravity of that young damsel now that the +centre is<br> + covered by a garment. The sphere inspires the meditations of +geometers by the<br> + number of its properties. When it proceeds from a physical and +living nature<br> + it acquires new qualities, and in order that the interest of +that figure might<br> + be fully revealed to the penguins it was necessary that, ceasing +to see it<br> + distinctly with their eyes, they should be led to represent it +to themselves<br> + in their minds. I myself feel at this moment irresistibly +attracted towards<br> + that penguin. Whether it be because her skirt gives more +importance to her<br> + hips, and that in its simple magnificence it invests them with a +synthetic and<br> + general character and allows only the pure idea, the divine +principle, of them<br> + to be seen, whether this be the cause I cannot say, but I feel +that if I<br> + embraced her I would hold in my hands the heaven of human +pleasure. It is<br> + certain that modesty communicates an invincible attraction to +women. My<br> + uneasiness is so great that it would be vain for me to try to +conceal it."</p> + +<p>He spoke, and, gathering up his habit, he rushed among the +crowd of penguins,<br> + pushing, jostling, trampling, and crushing, until he reached the +daughter of<br> + Alca, whom he seized and suddenly carried in his arms into a +cave that had<br> + been hollowed out by the sea.</p> + +<p>Then the penguins felt as if the sun had gone out. And the +holy Mael knew that<br> + the Devil had taken the features of the monk, Magis, in order +that he might<br> + give clothes to the daughter of Alca. He was troubled in spirit, +and his soul<br> + was sad. As with slow steps he went towards his hermitage he saw +the little<br> + penguins of six and seven years of age tightening their waists +with belts made<br> + of sea-weed and walking along the shore to see if anybody would +follow them.</p> + +<h2>II. THE FIRST CLOTHES (Continuation and End)</h2> + +<p>The holy Mael felt a profound sadness that the first clothes +put upon a<br> + daughter of Alca should have betrayed the penguin modesty +instead of helping<br> + it. He persisted, none the less, in his design of giving clothes +to the<br> + inhabitants of the miraculous island. Assembling them on the +shore, he<br> + distributed to them the garments that the monks of Yvern had +brought. The male<br> + penguins received short tunics and breeches, the female penguins +long robes.<br> + But these robes were far from creating the effect that the +former one had<br> + produced. They were not so beautiful, their shape was uncouth +and without art,<br> + and no attention was paid to them since every woman bad one. As +they prepared<br> + the meals and worked in the fields they soon had nothing but +slovenly bodices<br> + and soiled petticoats.</p> + +<p><br> + The male penguins loaded their unfortunate consorts with work +until they<br> + looked like beasts of burden. They knew nothing of the troubles +of the heart<br> + and the disorders of passion. Their habits were innocent. +Incest, though<br> + frequent, was a sign of rustic simplicity and if drunkenness led +a youth to<br> + commit some such crime he thought nothing more about it the day +afterwards.</p> + +<h2>III. SETTING BOUNDS TO THE FIELDS AND THE ORIGIN OF +PROPERTY</h2> + +<p>The island did not preserve the rugged appearance that it had +formerly, when,<br> + in the midst of floating icebergs it sheltered a population of +birds within<br> + its rocky amphitheatre. Its snow-clad peak had sunk down into a +hill from the<br> + summit of which one could see the coasts of Armorica eternally +covered with<br> + mist, and the ocean strewn with sullen reefs like monsters half +raised out of<br> + its depths.</p> + +<p><br> + Its coasts were now very extensive and clearly defined and its +shape reminded<br> + one of a mulberry leaf. It was suddenly covered with coarse +grass, pleasing to<br> + the flocks, and with willows, ancient figtrees, and mighty oaks. +This fact is<br> + attested by the Venerable Bede and several other authors worthy +of credence.</p> + +<p>To the north the shore formed a deep bay that in after years +became one of the<br> + most famous ports in the universe. To the east, along a rocky +coast beaten by<br> + a foaming sea, there stretched a deserted and fragrant heath. It +was the Beach<br> + of Shadows, and the inhabitants of the island never ventured on +it for fear of<br> + the serpents that lodged in the hollows of the rocks and lest +they might<br> + encounter the souls of the dead who resembled livid flames. To +the south,<br> + orchards and woods bounded the languid Bay of Divers. On this +fortunate shore<br> + old Mael built a wooden church and a monastery. To the west, two +streams, the<br> + Clange and the Surelle, watered the fertile valleys of Dalles +and Dombes.</p> + +<p>Now one autumn morning, as the blessed Mael was walking in the +valley of<br> + Clange in company with a monk of Yvern called Bulloch, he saw +bands of<br> + fierce-looking men loaded with stones passing along the roads. +At the same<br> + time he heard in all directions cries and complaints mounting up +from the<br> + valley towards the tranquil sky.</p> + +<p>And he said to Bulloch:</p> + +<p>"I notice with sadness, my son, that since they became men the +inhabitants of<br> + this island act with less wisdom than formerly. When they were +birds they only<br> + quarrelled during the season of their love affairs. But now they +dispute all<br> + the time; they pick quarrels with each other in summer as well +as in winter.<br> + How greatly have they fallen from that peaceful majesty which +made the<br> + assembly of the penguins look like the Senate of a wise +republic!</p> + +<p>"Look towards Surelle, Bulloch, my son. In yonder pleasant +valley a dozen men<br> + penguins are busy knocking each other down with the spades and +picks that they<br> + might employ better in tilling the ground. The women, still more +cruel than<br> + the men, are tearing their opponents' faces with their nails. +Alas! Bulloch,<br> + my son, why are they murdering each other in this way?"</p> + +<p>"From a spirit of fellowship, father, and through forethought +for the future,"<br> + answered Bulloch. "For man is essentially provident and +sociable. Such is his<br> + character and it is impossible to imagine it apart from a +certain<br> + appropriation of things. Those penguins whom you see are +dividing the ground<br> + among themselves."</p> + +<p>"Could they not divide it with less violence?" asked the aged +man. "As they<br> + fight they exchange invectives and threats. I do not distinguish +their words,<br> + but they are angry ones, judging from the tone."</p> + +<p>"They are accusing one another of theft and encroachment," +answered Bulloch.<br> + "That is the general sense of their speech."</p> + +<p>At that moment the holy Mael clasped his hands and sighed +deeply.</p> + +<p>"Do you see, my son," he exclaimed, "that madman who with his +teeth is biting<br> + the nose of the adversary he has overthrown and that other one +who is pounding<br> + a woman's head with a huge stone?"</p> + +<p>"I see them," said Bulloch. "They are creating law; they are +founding<br> + property; they are establishing the principles of civilization, +the basis of<br> + society, and the foundations of the State."</p> + +<p>"How is that?" asked old Mael.</p> + +<p>"By setting bounds to their fields. That is the origin of all +government. Your<br> + penguins, O Master, are performing the most august of functions. +Throughout<br> + the ages their work will be consecrated by lawyers, and +magistrates will<br> + confirm it."</p> + +<p>Whilst the monk, Bulloch, was pronouncing these words a big +penguin with a<br> + fair skin and red hair went down into the valley carrying a +trunk of a tree<br> + upon his shoulder. He went up to a little penguin who was +watering his<br> + vegetables in the heat of the sun, and shouted to him:</p> + +<p>"Your field is mine!"</p> + +<p>And having delivered himself of this stout utterance he +brought down his club<br> + on the head of the little penguin, who fell dead upon the field +that his own<br> + hands had tilled.</p> + +<p>At this sight the holy Mael shuddered through his whole body +and poured forth<br> + a flood of tears.</p> + +<p>And in a voice stifled by horror and fear he addressed this +prayer to heaven:</p> + +<p>"O Lord, my God, O thou who didst receive young Abel's +sacrifices, thou who<br> + didst curse Cain, avenge, O Lord, this innocent penguin +sacrificed upon his<br> + own field and make the murderer feel the weight of thy arm. Is +there a more<br> + odious crime, is there a graver offence against thy justice, O +Lord, than this<br> + murder and this robbery?"</p> + +<p>"Take care, father," said Bulloch gently, "that what you call +murder and<br> + robbery may not really be war and conquest, those sacred +foundations of<br> + empires, those sources of all human virtues and all human +greatness. Reflect,<br> + above all, that in blaming the big penguin you are attacking +property in its<br> + origin and in its source. I shall have no trouble in showing you +how. To till<br> + the land is one thing, to possess it is another, and these two +things must not<br> + be confused; as regards ownership the right of the first +occupier is uncertain<br> + and badly founded. The right of conquest, on the other hand, +rests on more<br> + solid foundations. It is the only right that receives respect +since it is the<br> + only one that makes itself respected. The sole and proud origin +of property is<br> + force. It is born and preserved by force. In that it is august +and yields only<br> + to a greater force. This is why it is correct to say that he who +possesses is<br> + noble. And that big red man, when he knocked down a labourer to +get possession<br> + of his field, founded at that moment a very noble house upon +this earth. I<br> + congratulate him upon it."</p> + +<p>Having thus spoken, Bulloch approached the big penguin, who +was leaning upon<br> + his club as he stood in the blood-stained furrow:</p> + +<p>"Lord Greatauk, dreaded Prince," said he, bowing to the +ground, "I come to pay<br> + you the homage due to the founder of legitimate power and +hereditary wealth.<br> + The skull of the vile Penguin you have overthrown will, buried +in your field,<br> + attest for ever the sacred rights of your posterity over this +soil that you<br> + have ennobled. Blessed be your suns and your sons' sons! They +shall be<br> + Greatauks, Dukes of Skull, and they shall rule over this island +of Alca."</p> + +<p>Then raising his voice and turning towards the holy Mael:</p> + +<p>"Bless Greatauk, father, for all power comes from God."</p> + +<p>Mael remained silent and motionless, with his eyes raised +towards heaven; he<br> + felt a painful uncertainty in judging the monk Bulloch's +doctrine. It was,<br> + however, the doctrine destined to prevail in epochs of advanced +civilization.<br> + Bulloch can be considered as the creator of civil law in +Penguinia.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>IV. THE FIRST ASSEMBLY OF THE ESTATES OF PENGUINIA</h2> + +<p>"Bulloch, my son," said old Mael, "we ought to make a census +of the Penguins<br> + and inscribe each of their names in a book."</p> + +<p>"It is a most urgent matter," answered Bulloch, "there can be +no good<br> + government without it."</p> + +<p>Forthwith, the apostle, with the help of twelve monks, +proceeded to make a<br> + census of the people.</p> + +<p>And old Mael then said:</p> + +<p>"Now that we keep a register of all the inhabitants, we ought, +Bulloch, my<br> + son, to levy a just tax so as to provide for public expenses and +the<br> + maintenance of the Abbey. Each ought to contribute according to +his means. For<br> + this reason, my son, call together the Elders of Alca, and in +agreement with<br> + them we shall establish the tax."</p> + +<p><br> + The Elders, being called together, assembled to the number of +thirty under the<br> + great sycamore in the courtyard of the wooden monastery. They +were the first<br> + Estates of Penguinia. Three-fourths of them were substantial +peasants of<br> + Surelle and Clange. Greatauk, as the noblest of the Penguins, +sat upon the<br> + highest stone.</p> + +<p>The venerable Mael took his place in the midst of his monks +and uttered these<br> + words:</p> + +<p>"Children, the Lord when he pleases grants riches to men and +he takes them<br> + away from them. Now I have called you together to levy +contributions from the<br> + people so as to provide for public expenses and the maintenance +of the monks.<br> + I consider that these contributions ought to be in proportion to +the wealth of<br> + each. Therefore he who has a hundred oxen will give ten; he who +has ten will<br> + give one."</p> + +<p>When the holy man had spoken, Morio, a, labourer at +Anis-on-the-Clange, one of<br> + the richest of the Penguins, rose up and said:</p> + +<p>"O Father Mael, I think it right that each should contribute +to the public<br> + expenses and to the support of the Church. or my part I am ready +to give up<br> + all that I possess in the interest of my brother Penguins, and +if it were<br> + necessary I would even cheerfully part with my shirt. All the +elders of the<br> + people are ready, like me, to sacrifice their goods, and no one +can doubt<br> + their absolute devotion to their country and their creed. We +have, then, only<br> + to consider the public interest and to do what it requires. Now, +Father, what<br> + it requires, what it demands, is not to ask much from those who +possess much,<br> + for then the rich would be less rich and the poor still poorer. +The poor live<br> + on the wealth of the rich and that is the reason why that wealth +is sacred. Do<br> + not touch it, to do so would be an uncalled for evil. You will +get no great<br> + profit by taking from the rich, for they are very few in number; +on the<br> + contrary you will strip yourself of all your resources and +plunge the country<br> + into misery. Whereas if you ask a little from each inhabitant +without regard<br> + to his wealth, you will collect enough for the public +necessities and you will<br> + have no need to enquire into each citizen's resources, a thing +that would be<br> + regarded by all as a most vexatious measure. By taxing all +equally and easily<br> + you will spare the poor, for you Will leave them the wealth of +the rich. And<br> + how could you possibly proportion taxes to wealth? Yesterday I +had two hundred<br> + oxen, to-day I have sixty, to-morrow I shall have a hundred. +Clunic has three<br> + cows, but they are thin; Nicclu has only two, but they are fat. +Which is the<br> + richer, Clunic or Nicclu? The signs of opulence are deceitful. +What is certain<br> + is that everyone eats and drinks. Tax people according to what +they consume.<br> + That would be wisdom and it would be justice."</p> + +<p>Thus spoke Morio amid the applause of the Elders.</p> + +<p>"I ask that this speech be graven on bronze," cried the monk, +Bulloch. "It is<br> + spoken for the future; in fifteen hundred years the best of the +Penguins will<br> + not speak otherwise."</p> + +<p>The Elders were still applauding when Greatauk, his hand on +the pommel of his<br> + sword, made this brief declaration:</p> + +<p>"Being noble, I shall not contribute; for to contribute is +ignoble. It is for<br> + the rabble to pay."</p> + +<p>After this warning the Elders separated in silence.</p> + +<p>As in Rome, a new census was taken every five years; and by +this means it was<br> + observed that the population increased rapidly. Although +children died in<br> + marvellous abundance and plagues and famines came with perfect +regularity to<br> + devastate entire villages, new Penguins, in continually greater +numbers,<br> + contributed by their private misery to the public +prosperity.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>V. THE MARRIAGE OF KRAKEN AND ORBEROSIA</h2> + +<p>During these times there lived in the island of Alca a Penguin +whose arm was<br> + strong and whose mind was subtle. He was called Kraken, and had +his dwelling<br> + on the Beach of Shadows whither the inhabitants never ventured +for fear of<br> + serpents that lodged in the hollows of the rocks and lest they +might encounter<br> + the souls of Penguins that had died without baptism. These, in +appearance like<br> + livid flames, and uttering doleful groans, wandered night and +day along the<br> + deserted beach. For it was generally believed, though without +proof, that<br> + among the Penguins that had been changed into men at the blessed +Mael's<br> + prayer, several had not received baptism and returned after +their death to<br> + lament amid the tempests. Kraken dwelt on this savage coast in +an inaccessible<br> + cavern. The only way to it was through a natural tunnel a +hundred feet long,<br> + the entrance of which was concealed by a thick wood. One evening +as Kraken was<br> + walking through this deserted plain he happened to meet a young +and charming<br> + woman Penguin. She was the one that the monk Magis had clothed +with his own<br> + hands and thus was the first to have worn the garments of +chastity. In<br> + remembrance of the day when the astonished crowd of Penguins had +seen her<br> + moving gloriously in her robe tinted like the dawn, this maiden +had received<br> + the name of Orberosia.*</p> + +<p><br> + * "Orb, poetically, a globe when speaking of the heavenly +bodies. By extension<br> + any species of globular body."--Littre</p> + +<p><br> + At the sight of Kraken she uttered a cry of alarm and darted +forward to escape<br> + from him. But the hero seized her by the garments that floated +behind, her,<br> + and addressed her in these words:</p> + +<p>"Damsel, tell me thy name, thy family and thy country."</p> + +<p>But Orberosia kept looking at Kraken with alarm.</p> + +<p>"Is it you, I see, sir," she asked him, trembling, "or is it +not rather your<br> + troubled spirit?"</p> + +<p>She spoke in this way because the inhabitants of Alca, having +no news of<br> + Kraken since he went to live on the Beach of Shadows, believed +that he had<br> + died and descended among the demons of night.</p> + +<p>"Cease to fear, daughter of Alca," answered Kraken. "He who +speaks to thee is<br> + not a wandering spirit, but a man full of strength and might. I +shall soon<br> + possess great riches."</p> + +<p>And young Orberosia asked:</p> + +<p>"How dost thou think of acquiring great riches, O Kraken, +since thou art a<br> + child of Penguins?"</p> + +<p>"By my intelligence," answered Kraken.</p> + +<p>"I know," said Orberosia, "that in the time that thou dwelt +among us thou wert<br> + renowned for thy skill in hunting and fishing. No one equalled +thee in taking<br> + fishes in a net or in piercing with thy arrows the swift-flying +birds."</p> + +<p>"It was but a vulgar and laborious industry, O maiden. I have +found a means of<br> + gaining much wealth for myself without fatigue. But tell me who +thou art?"</p> + +<p>"I am called Orberosia," answered the young girl.</p> + +<p>"Why art thou so far away from thy dwelling and in the +night?"</p> + +<p>"Kraken, it was not without the will of Heaven."</p> + +<p>"What meanest thou, Orberosia?"</p> + +<p>"That Heaven, O Kraken, placed me in thy path, for what reason +I know not."</p> + +<p>Kraken beheld her for a long time in silence.</p> + +<p>Then he said with gentleness:</p> + +<p>"Orberosia, come into my house; it is that of the bravest and +most ingenious<br> + of the sons of the Penguins. If thou art willing to follow me, I +will make<br> + thee my companion."</p> + +<p>Then casting down her eyes, she murmured:</p> + +<p>"I will follow thee, master."</p> + +<p>It is thus that the fair Orberosia became the consort of the +hero Kraken. This<br> + marriage was not celebrated with songs and torches because +Kraken did not<br> + consent to show himself to the people of the Penguins; but +hidden in his cave<br> + he planned great designs.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>VI. THE DRAGON OF ALCA</h2> + +<p>"We afterwards went to visit the cabinet of natural history. . +. . The<br> + care-taker showed us a sort of packet bound in straw that he +told us contained<br> + the skeleton of a dragon; a proof, added he, that the dragon is +not a fabulous<br> + animal."--Memoirs of Jacques Casanova, Paris, 1843. Vol. IV., +pp. 404, 405</p> + +<p>In the meantime the inhabitants of Alca practised the labours +of peace. Those<br> + of the northern coast went in boats to fish or to search for +shell-fish. The<br> + labourers of Dombes cultivated oats, rye, and wheat. The rich +Penguins of the<br> + valley of Dalles reared domestic animals, while those of the Bay +of Divers<br> + cultivated their orchards. Merchants of Port-Alca carried on a +trade in salt<br> + fish with Armorica and the gold of the two Britains, which began +to be<br> + introduced into the island, facilitated exchange. The Penguin +people were<br> + enjoying the fruit of their labours in perfect tranquillity when +suddenly a<br> + sinister rumour ran from village to village. It was said +everywhere that<br> + frightful dragon had ravaged two farms in the Bay of Divers.</p> + +<p><br> + A few days before, the maiden Orberosia had disappeared. Her +absence had at<br> + first caused no uneasiness because on several occasions she had +been carried<br> + off by violent men who were consumed with love. And thoughtful +people were not<br> + astonished at this, reflecting that the maiden was the most +beautiful of the<br> + Penguins. It was even remarked that she sometimes went to meet +her ravishers,<br> + for none of us can escape his destiny. But this time, as she did +not return,<br> + it was feared that the dragon had devoured her. The more so as +the inhabitants<br> + of the valley of Dalles soon knew that the dragon was not a +fable told by the<br> + women around the fountains. For one night the monster devoured +out of the<br> + village of Anis six hens, a sheep, and a young orphan child +called little Elo.<br> + The next morning nothing was to be found either of the animals +or of the<br> + child.</p> + +<p>Immediately the Elders of the village assembled in the public +place and seated<br> + themselves on the stone bench to take counsel concerning what it +was expedient<br> + to do in these terrible circumstances.</p> + +<p>Having called all those Penguins who had seen the dragon +during the disastrous<br> + night, they asked them:</p> + +<p>"Have you not noticed his form and his behaviour?"</p> + +<p>And each answered in his turn:</p> + +<p>"He has the claws of a lion, the wings of an eagle, and the +tail of a<br> + serpent."</p> + +<p>"His back bristles with thorny crests."</p> + +<p>"His whole body is covered with yellow scales."</p> + +<p>"His look fascinates and confounds. He vomits flames."</p> + +<p>"He poisons the air with his breath."</p> + +<p>"He has the head of a dragon, the claws of a lion, and the +tail of a fish."</p> + +<p>And a woman of Anis, who was regarded as intelligent and of +sound judgment and<br> + from whom the dragon had taken three hens, deposed as +follows:</p> + +<p>"He is formed like a man. The proof is that I thought he was +my husband, and I<br> + said to him, 'Come to bed, you old fool.'"</p> + +<p>Others said:</p> + +<p>"He is formed like a cloud."</p> + +<p>"He looks like a mountain."</p> + +<p>And a little child came and said:</p> + +<p>"I saw the dragon taking off his head in the barn so that he +might give a kiss<br> + to my sister Minnie."</p> + +<p>And the Elders also asked the inhabitants:</p> + +<p>"How big is the dragon?"</p> + +<p>And it was answered:</p> + +<p>"As big as an ox."</p> + +<p>"Like the big merchant ships of the Bretons."</p> + +<p>"He is the height of a man."</p> + +<p>"He is higher than the fig-tree under which you are +sitting."</p> + +<p>"He is as large as a dog."</p> + +<p>Questioned finally on his colour, the inhabitants said:</p> + +<p>"Red."</p> + +<p>"Green."</p> + +<p>"Blue."</p> + +<p>"Yellow."</p> + +<p>"His head is bright green, his wings are brilliant orange +tinged with pink,<br> + his limbs are silver grey, his hind-quarters and his tail are +striped with<br> + brown and pink bands, his belly bright yellow spotted with +black."</p> + +<p>"His colour? He has no colour."</p> + +<p>"He is the colour of a dragon."</p> + +<p>After hearing this evidence the Elders remained uncertain as +to what should be<br> + done. Some advised to watch for him, to surprise him and +overthrow him by a<br> + multitude of arrows. Others, thinking it vain to oppose so +powerful a monster<br> + by force, counselled that he should be appeased by +offerings.</p> + +<p>"Pay him tribute," said one of them who passed for a wise man. +"We can render<br> + him propitious to us by giving him agreeable presents, fruits, +wine, lambs, a<br> + young virgin."</p> + +<p>Others held for poisoning the fountains where he was +accustomed to drink or<br> + for smoking him out of his cavern.</p> + +<p>But none of these counsels prevailed. The dispute was lengthy +and the Elders<br> + dispersed without coming to any resolution.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>VII. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation)</h2> + +<p>During all the month dedicated by the Romans to their false +god Mars or<br> + Mavors, the dragon ravaged the farms of Dalles and Dombes. He +carried off<br> + fifty sheep, twelve pigs, and three young boys. Every family was +in mourning<br> + and the island was full of lamentations. In order to remove the +scourge, the<br> + Elders of the unfortunate villages watered by the Clange and the +Surelle<br> + resolved to assemble and together go and ask the help of the +blessed Mael.</p> + +<p>On the fifth day of the month whose name among the Latins +signifies opening,<br> + because it opens the year, they went in procession to the wooden +monastery<br> + that had been built on the southern coast of the island. When +they were<br> + introduced into the cloister they filled it with their sobs and +groans. Moved<br> + by their lamentations, old Mael left the room in which he +devoted himself to<br> + the study of astronomy and the meditation of the Scriptures, and +went down to<br> + them, leaning on his pastoral staff. At his approach, the +Elders, prostrating<br> + themselves, held out to him green branches of trees and some of +them burnt<br> + aromatic herbs.</p> + +<p><br> + And the holy man, seating himself beside the cloistral fountain +under an<br> + ancient fig-tree, uttered these words:</p> + +<p>"O my sons, offspring of the Penguins, why do you weep and +groan? Why do you<br> + hold out those suppliant boughs towards me? Why do you raise +towards heaven<br> + the smoke of those herbs? What calamity do you expect that I can +avert from<br> + your heads? Why do you beseech me? I am ready to give my life +for you. Only<br> + tell your father what it is you hope from him."</p> + +<p>To these questions the chief of the Elders answered:</p> + +<p>"O Mael, father of the sons of Alca, I will speak for all. A +horrible dragon<br> + is laying waste our lands, depopulating our cattle-sheds, and +carrying off the<br> + flower of our youth. He has devoured the child Elo and seven +young boys; he<br> + has mangled the maiden Orberosia, the fairest of the Penguins +with his teeth.<br> + There is not a village in which he does not emit his poisoned +breath and which<br> + he has not filled with desolation. A prey to this terrible +scourge, we come, O<br> + Mael, to pray thee, as the wisest, to advise us concerning the +safety of the<br> + inhabitants of this island lest the ancient race of Penguins be +extinguished."</p> + +<p>"O chief of the Elders of Alca," replied Mael, "thy words fill +me with<br> + profound grief, and I groan at the thought that this island is +the prey of a<br> + terrible dragon. But such an occurrence is not unique, for we +find in books<br> + several tales of very fierce dragons. The monsters are oftenest +found in<br> + caverns, by the brinks of waters, and, in preference, among +pagan peoples.<br> + Perhaps there are some among you who, although they have +received holy baptism<br> + and been incorporated into the family of Abraham, have yet +worshipped idols,<br> + like the ancient Romans, or hung up images, votive tablets, +fillets of wool,<br> + and garlands of flowers on the branches of some sacred tree. Or +perhaps some<br> + of the women Penguins have danced round a magic stone and drunk +water from the<br> + fountains where the nymphs dwell. If it be so, believe, O +Penguins, that the<br> + Lord has sent this dragon to punish all for the crimes of some, +and to lead<br> + you, O children of the Penguins, to exterminate blasphemy, +superstition, and<br> + impiety from amongst you. For this reason I advise, as a remedy +against the<br> + great evil from which you suffer, that you carefully search your +dwellings for<br> + idolatry, and extirpate it from them. I think it would be also +efficacious to<br> + pray and do penance."</p> + +<p>Thus spoke the holy Mael. And the Elders of the Penguin people +kissed his feet<br> + and returned to their villages with renewed hope.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>VIII. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation)</h2> + +<p>Following the counsel of the holy Mael the inhabitants of Alca +endeavoured to<br> + uproot the superstitions that had sprung up amongst them. They +took care to<br> + prevent the girls from dancing with incantations round the fairy +tree. Young<br> + mothers were sternly forbidden to rub their children against the +stones that<br> + stood upright in the fields so as to make them strong. An old +man of Dombes<br> + who foretold the future by shaking grains of barley on a sieve, +was thrown<br> + into a well.</p> + +<p>However, each night the monster still raided the poultry-yards +and the<br> + cattle-sheds. The frightened peasants barricaded themselves in +their houses. A<br> + woman with child who saw the shadow of a dragon on the road +through a window<br> + in the moonlight, was so terrified that she was brought to bed +before her<br> + time.</p> + +<p><br> + In those days of trial, the holy Mael meditated unceasingly on +the nature of<br> + dragons and the means of combating them. After six months of +study and prayer<br> + he thought he had found what he sought. One evening as he was +walking by the<br> + sea with a young monk called Samuel, he to him in these +terms:</p> + +<p>"I have studied at length the history and habits of dragons, +not to satisfy a<br> + vain curiosity, but to discover examples to follow in the +present<br> + circumstances. For such, Samuel, my son, is the use of +history.</p> + +<p>"It is an invariable fact that dragons are extremely vigilant. +They never<br> + sleep, and for this reason we often find them employed in +guarding treasures.<br> + A dragon guarded at Colchis the golden fleece that Jason +conquered from him. A<br> + dragon watched over the golden apples in the garden of the +Hesperides. He was<br> + killed by Hercules and transformed into a star by Juno. This +fact is related<br> + in some books, and if it be true, it was done by magic, for the +gods of the<br> + pagans are in reality demons. A dragon prevented barbarous and +ignorant men<br> + from drinking at the fountain of Castalia. We must also remember +the dragon of<br> + Andromeda, which was slain by Perseus. But let us turn from +these pagan<br> + fables, in which error is always mixed with truth. We meet +dragons in the<br> + histories of the glorious archangel Michael, of St. George, St. +Philip, St.<br> + James the Great, St. Patrick, St. Martha, and St. Margaret. And +it is in such<br> + writings, since they are worthy of full credence, that we ought +to look for<br> + comfort and counsel.</p> + +<p>"The story of the dragon of Silena affords us particularly +precious examples.<br> + You must know, my son, that on the banks of a vast pool close to +that town<br> + there dwelt a dragon who sometimes approached the walls and +poisoned with his<br> + breath all who dwelt in the suburbs. And that they might not be +devoured by<br> + the monster, the inhabitants of Silena delivered up to him one +of their number<br> + expressed his thought every morning. The victim was chosen by +lot, and after a<br> + hundred others, the lot fell upon the king's daughter.</p> + +<p>"Now St. George, who was a military tribune, as he passed +through the town of<br> + Silena, learned that the king's daughter had just been given to +the fierce<br> + beast. He immediately mounted his horse, and, armed with his +lance, rushed to<br> + encounter the dragon, whom he reached just as the monster was +about to devour<br> + the royal virgin. And when St. George had overthrown the dragon, +the king's<br> + daughter fastened her girdle round the beast's neck and he +followed her like a<br> + dog led on a leash.</p> + +<p>"That is an example for us of the power of virgins over +dragons. The history<br> + of St. Martha furnishes us with a still more certain proof. Do +you know the<br> + story, Samuel, my son?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, father," answered Samuel.</p> + +<p>And the blessed Mael went on:</p> + +<p>"There was in a forest on the banks of the Rhone, between +Arles and Avignon, a<br> + dragon half quadruped and half fish, larger than an ox, with +sharp teeth like<br> + horns and huge-wings at his shoulders. He sank the boats and +devoured their<br> + passengers. Now St. Martha, at the entreaty of the people, +approached this<br> + dragon, whom she found devouring a man. She put her girdle round +his neck and<br> + led him easily into the town.</p> + +<p>"These two examples lead me to think that we should have +recourse to the power<br> + of some virgin so as to conquer the dragon who scatters terror +and death<br> + through the island of Alca.</p> + +<p>"For this reason, Samuel thy son, gird up thy loins and go, I +pray thee, with<br> + two of thy companions, into all the villages of this island, and +proclaim<br> + everywhere that a virgin alone shall be able to deliver the +island from the<br> + monster that devastates it.</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt sing psalms and canticles and thou shalt say:</p> + +<p>"'O sons of the Penguins, if there be among you a pure virgin, +let her arise<br> + and go, armed with the sign of the cross, to combat the +dragon!'"</p> + +<p>Thus the old man spake, and Samuel promised to obey him. The +next day he<br> + girded up his loins and set out with two of his companions to +proclaim to the<br> + inhabitants of Alca that a virgin alone would be able to deliver +the Penguins<br> + from the rage of the dragon.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>X. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation)</h2> + +<p>Orberosia loved her husband, but she did not love him alone. +At the hour when<br> + Venus lightens in the pale sky, whilst Kraken scattered terror +through the<br> + villages, she used to visit in his moving hut, a young shepherd +of Dalles<br> + called Marcel, whose pleasing form was invested with +inexhaustible vigour. The<br> + fair Orberosia shared the shepherd's aromatic couch with +delight, but far from<br> + making herself known to him, she took the name of Bridget, and +said that she<br> + was the daughter of a gardener in the Bay of Divers. When +regretfully she left<br> + his arms she walked across the smoking fields towards the Coast +of Shadows,<br> + and if she happened to meet some belated peasant she immediately +spread out<br> + her garments like great wings and cried:</p> + +<p>"Passer by, lower your eyes, that you may not have to say, +'Alas! alas! woe is<br> + me, for I have seen the angel of the Lord.'"</p> + +<p><br> + The villagers tremblingly knelt with their faces to the round. +And several of<br> + them used to say that angels, whom it would be death to see, +passed along the<br> + roads of the island in the night time.</p> + +<p>Kraken did not know of the loves of Orberosia and Marcel, for +he was a hero,<br> + and heroes never discover the secrets of their wives. But though +he did not<br> + know of these loves, he reaped the benefit of them. Every night +he found his<br> + companion more good-humoured and more beautiful, exhaling +pleasure and<br> + perfuming the nuptial bed with a delicious odour of fennel and +vervain. She<br> + loved Kraken with a love that never became importunate or +anxious, because she<br> + did not rest its whole weight on him alone.</p> + +<p>This lucky infidelity of Orberosia was destined soon to save +the hero from a<br> + great peril and to assure his fortune and his glory for ever. +For it happened<br> + that she saw passing in the twilight a neatherd from Belmont, +who was goading<br> + on his oxen, and she fell more deeply in love with him than she +had ever been<br> + with the shepherd Marcel. He was hunch-backed; his shoulders +were higher than<br> + his ears; his body was supported by legs of different lengths; +his rolling<br> + eyes flashed, from beneath his matted hair. From his throat +issued a hoarse<br> + voice and strident laughter; he smelt of the cow-shed. However, +to her he was<br> + beautiful. "A plant," as Gnatho says, "has been loved by one, a +stream by<br> + another, a beast by a third."</p> + +<p>Now, one day, as she was sighing within the neatherd's arms in +a village barn,<br> + suddenly the blasts of a trumpet, with sounds and footsteps, +fell upon her<br> + ears; she looked through the window and saw the inhabitants +collected in the<br> + marketplace round a young monk, who, standing upon a rock, +uttered these words<br> + in a distinct voice:</p> + +<p>"Inhabitants of Belmont, Abbot Mael, our venerable father, +informs you through<br> + my mouth that neither by strength nor skill in arms shall you +prevail against<br> + the dragon; but the beast shall be overcome by a virgin. If, +then, there be<br> + among you a perfectly pure virgin, let her arise and go towards +the monster;<br> + and when she meets him let her tie her girdle round his neck and +she shall<br> + lead him as easily as if he were a little dog."</p> + +<p>And the young monk, replacing his hood upon his head, departed +to carry the<br> + proclamation of the blessed Mael to other villages.</p> + +<p>Orberosia sat in the amorous straw, resting her head in her +hand and<br> + supporting her elbow upon her knee, meditating on what she had +just heard.</p> + +<p>Although, so far as Kraken was concerned, she feared the power +of a virgin<br> + much less than the strength of armed men, she did not feel +reassured by the<br> + proclamation of the blessed Mael. A vague but sure instinct +ruled her mind and<br> + warned her that Kraken could not henceforth be a dragon with +safety.</p> + +<p>She said to the neatherd:</p> + +<p>"My own heart, what do you think about the dragon?"</p> + +<p>The rustic shook his head.</p> + +<p>"It is certain that dragons laid waste the earth in ancient +times and some<br> + have been seen as large as mountains. But they come no longer, +and I believe<br> + that what has been taken for a dragon is not one at all, but +pirates or<br> + merchants who have carried off the fair Orberosia and the best +of the children<br> + of Alca in their ships. But if one of those brigands attempts to +rob me of my<br> + oxen, I will either by force or craft find a way to prevent him +from doing me<br> + any harm."</p> + +<p>This remark of the neatherd increased Orberosia's +apprehensions and added to<br> + her solicitude for the husband whom she loved.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>X. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation)</h2> + +<p>The days passed by and no maiden arose in the island to combat +the monster.<br> + And in the wooden monastery old Mael, seated on a bench in the +shade of an old<br> + fig-tree, accompanied by a pious monk called Regimental, kept +asking himself<br> + anxiously and sadly how it was that there was not in Alca a +single virgin fit<br> + to overthrow the monster.</p> + +<p>He sighed and brother Regimental sighed too. At that moment +old Mael called<br> + young Samuel, who happened to pass through the garden, and said +to him:</p> + +<p>"I have meditated anew, my son, on the means of destroying the +dragon who<br> + devours the flower of our youth, our flocks, and our harvests. +In this respect<br> + the story of the dragons of St. Riok and of St. Pol de Leon +seems to me<br> + particularly instructive. The dragon of St. Riok was six fathoms +long; his<br> + head was derived from the cock and the basilisk, his body from +the ox and the<br> + serpent; he ravaged the banks of the Elorn in the time of King +Bristocus. St.<br> + Riok, then aged two years, led him by a leash to the sea, in +which the monster<br> + drowned himself of his own accord. St. Pol's dragon was sixty +feet long and<br> + not less terrible. The blessed apostle of Leon bound him with +his stole and<br> + allowed a young noble of great purity of life to lead him. These +examples<br> + prove that in the eyes of God a chaste young man is as agreeable +as a chaste<br> + girl. Heaven makes no distinction between them. For this reason, +my son, if<br> + you believe what I say, we will both go to the Coast of Shadows; +when we reach<br> + the dragon's cavern we will call the monster in a loud voice, +and when he<br> + comes forth I will tie my stole round his neck and you will lead +him to the<br> + sea, where he will not fail to drown himself."</p> + +<p><br> + At the old man's words Samuel cast down his head and did not +answer.</p> + +<p>"You seem to hesitate, my son," said Mael.</p> + +<p>Brother Regimental, contrary to his custom, spoke without +being addressed.</p> + +<p>"There is at least cause for some hesitation," said he. "St. +Riok was only two<br> + years old when he overcame the dragon. Who says that nine or ten +years later<br> + he could have done as much? Remember, father, that the dragon +who is<br> + devastating our island has devoured little Elo and four or five +other young<br> + boys. Brother Samuel is not go presumptuous as to believe that +at nineteen<br> + years of age he is more innocent than they were at twelve and +fourteen.</p> + +<p>"Alas!" added the monk, with a groan, "who can boast of being +chaste in this<br> + world, where everything gives the example and model of love, +where all things<br> + in nature, animals, and plants, show us the caresses of love and +advise us to<br> + share them? Animals are eager to unite in their own fashion, but +the various<br> + marriages of quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and reptiles are far +from equalling in<br> + lust the nuptials of the trees. The greatest extremes of +lewdness that the<br> + pagans have imagined in their fables are outstripped by the +simple flowers of<br> + the field, and, if you knew the irregularities of lilies and +roses you would<br> + take those chalices of impurity, those vases of scandal, away +from your<br> + altars."</p> + +<p>"Do not speak in this way, Brother Regimental," answered old +Mael. "Since they<br> + are subject to the law of nature, animals and plants are always +innocent. They<br> + have no souls to save, whilst man--"</p> + +<p>"You are right," replied Brother Regimental, "it is quite a +different thing.<br> + But do not send young Samuel to the dragon--the dragon might +devour him. For<br> + the last five years Samuel is not in a state to show his +innocence to<br> + monsters. In the year of the comet, the Devil in order to seduce +him, put in<br> + his path a milkmaid, who was lifting up her petticoat to cross a +ford. Samuel<br> + was tempted, but he overcame the temptation. The Devil, who +never tires, sent<br> + him the image of that young girl in a dream. The shade did what +the reality<br> + was unable to accomplish, and Samuel yielded. When he awoke be +moistened his<br> + couch with his tears, but alas! repentance did not give him back +his<br> + innocence."</p> + +<p>As he listened to this story Samuel asked himself how his +secret could be<br> + known, for he was ignorant that the Devil had borrowed the +appearance of<br> + Brother Regimental, so as to trouble the hearts of the monks of +Alca.</p> + +<p>And old Mael remained deep in thought and kept asking himself +in grief:</p> + +<p>"Who will deliver us from the dragon's tooth? Who will +preserve us from his<br> + breath? Who will save us from his look?"</p> + +<p>However, the inhabitants of Alca began to take courage. The +labourers of<br> + Dombes and the neatherds of Belmont swore that they themselves +would be of<br> + more avail than a girl against the ferocious beast, and they +exclaimed as they<br> + stroked the muscles on their arms, "Let the dragon come!" Many +men and women<br> + had seen him. They did not agree about his form and his figure, +but all now<br> + united in saying that he was not as big as they had thought, and +that his<br> + height was not much greater than a man's. The defence was +organised; towards<br> + nightfall watches were stationed at the entrances of the +villages ready to<br> + give the alarm; and during the night companies armed with +pitchforks and<br> + scythes protected the paddocks in which the animals were shut +up. Indeed, once<br> + in the village of Anis some plucky labourers surprised him as he +was scaling<br> + Morio's wall, and, as they had flails, scythes, and pitchforks, +they fell upon<br> + him and pressed him hard. One of them, a very quick and +courageous man,<br> + thought to have run him through with his pitchfork; but he +slipped in a pool<br> + and so let him escape. The others would certainly have caught +him had they not<br> + waited to pick up the rabbits and fowls that he dropped in his +flight.</p> + +<p>Those labourers declared to the Elders of the village that the +monster's form<br> + and proportions appeased to them human enough except for his +head and his<br> + tail, which were, in truth, terrifying.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>XI. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation)</h2> + +<p>On that day Kraken came back to his cavern sooner than usual. +He took from his<br> + head his sealskin helmet with its two bull's horns and its visor +trimmed with<br> + terrible hooks. He threw on the table his gloves that ended in +horrible<br> + claws--they were the beaks of sea-birds. He unhooked his belt +from which hung<br> + a long green tail twisted into many folds. Then he ordered his +page, Elo, to<br> + help him off with his boots and, as the child did not succeed in +doing this<br> + very quickly, he gave him a kick that sent him to the other end +of the grotto.</p> + +<p>Without looking at the fair Orberosia, who was spinning, he +seated himself in<br> + front of the fireplace, on which a sheep was roasting, and he +muttered:</p> + +<p>"Ignoble Penguins. . . . There is no worse trade than a +dragon's."</p> + +<p><br> + "What does my master say?" asked the fair Orberosia.</p> + +<p>"They fear me no longer," continued Kraken. "Formerly everyone +fled at my<br> + approach. I carried away hens and rabbits in my bag; I drove +sheep and pigs,<br> + cows, and oxen before me. To-day these clod-hoppers keep a good +guard; they<br> + sit up at night. Just now I was pursued in the village of Anis +by doughty<br> + labourers armed with flails and scythes and pitchforks. I had to +drop the hens<br> + and rabbits, put my tail under my arm, and run as fast as I +could. Now I ask<br> + you, is it seemly for a dragon of Cappadocia to run away like a +robber with<br> + his tail under his arm? Further, incommoded as I was by crests, +horns, hooks,<br> + claws, and scales, I barely escaped a brute who ran half an inch +of his<br> + pitchfork into my left thigh."</p> + +<p>As he said this he carefully ran his hand over the insulted +part, and, after<br> + giving himself up for a few moments to bitter meditation:</p> + +<p>"What idiots those Penguins are! I am tired of blowing flames +in the faces of<br> + such imbeciles. Orberosia, do you hear me?"</p> + +<p>Having thus spoken the hero raised his terrible helmet in his +hands and gazed<br> + at it for a long time in gloomy silence. Then he pronounced +these rapid words:</p> + +<p>"I have made this helmet with my own hands in the shape of a +fish's head,<br> + covering it with the skin of a seal. To make it more terrible I +have put on it<br> + the horns of a bull and I have given it a boar's jaws; I have +hung from it a<br> + horse's tail dyed vermilion. When in the gloomy twilight I threw +it over my<br> + shoulders no inhabitant of this island had courage to withstand +its sight.<br> + Women and children, young men and old men fled distracted at its +approach, and<br> + I carried terror among the whole race of Penguins. By what +advice does that<br> + insolent people lose its earlier fears and dare to-day to behold +these<br> + horrible jaws and to attack this terrible crest?"</p> + +<p>And throwing his helmet on the rocky soil:</p> + +<p>"Perish, deceitful helmet!" cried Kraken. "I swear by all the +demons of Armor<br> + that I will never bear you upon my head again."</p> + +<p>And having uttered this oath he stamped upon his helmet, his +gloves, his<br> + boots, and upon his tail with its twisted folds.</p> + +<p>"Kraken," said the fair Orberosia, "will you allow your +servant to employ<br> + artifice to save your reputation and your goods? Do not despise +a woman's<br> + help. You need it, for all men are imbeciles."</p> + +<p>"Woman," asked Kraken, "what are your plans?"</p> + +<p>And the fair Orberosia informed her husband that the monks +were going through<br> + the villages teaching the inhabitants the best way of combating +the dragon;<br> + that, according to their instructions, the beast would be +overcome by a<br> + virgin, and that if a maid placed her girdle around the dragon's +neck she<br> + could lead him as easily as if he were a little dog.</p> + +<p>"How do you know that the monks teach this?" asked Kraken.</p> + +<p>"My friend," answered Orberosia, "do not interrupt a serious +subject by<br> + frivolous questions. . . . 'If, then,' added the monks, 'there +be in Alca a<br> + pure virgin, let her arise!' Now, Kraken, I have determined to +answer their<br> + call. I will go and find the holy Mael and I will say to him: 'I +am the virgin<br> + destined by Heaven to overthrow the dragon.'"</p> + +<p>At these words Kraken exclaimed: "How can you be that pure +virgin? And why do<br> + you want to overthrow me, Orberosia? Have you lost your reason? +Be sure that I<br> + will not allow myself to be conquered by you!"</p> + +<p>"Can you not try and understand me before you get angry?" +sighed the fair<br> + Orberosia with deep though gentle contempt.</p> + +<p>And she explained the cunning designs that she had formed.</p> + +<p>As he listened, the hero remained pensive. And when she ceased +speaking:</p> + +<p>"Orberosia, your cunning, is deep," said he, "And if your +plans are carried<br> + out according to your intentions I shall derive great advantages +from them.<br> + But how can you be the virgin destined by heaven?"</p> + +<p>"Don't bother about that," she replied, "and come to bed."</p> + +<p>The next day in the grease-laden atmosphere of the cavern, +Kraken plaited a<br> + deformed skeleton out of osier rods and covered it with +bristling, scaly, and<br> + filthy skins. To one extremity of the skeleton Orberosia sewed +the fierce<br> + crest and the hideous mask that Kraken used to wear in his +plundering<br> + expeditions, and to the other end she fastened the tail with +twisted folds<br> + which the hero was wont to trail behind him. And when the work +was finished<br> + they showed little Elo and the other five children who waited on +them how to<br> + get inside this machine, how to make it walk, how to blow horns +and burn tow<br> + in it so as to send forth smoke and flames through the dragon's +mouth.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>XII. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation)</h2> + +<p>Orberosia, having clothed herself in a robe made of coarse +stuff and girt<br> + herself with a thick cord, went to the monastery and asked to +speak to the<br> + blessed Mael. And because women were forbidden to enter the +enclosure of the<br> + monastery the old man advanced outside the gates, holding his +pastoral cross<br> + in his right hand and resting his left on the shoulder of +Brother Samuel, the<br> + youngest of his disciples.</p> + +<p>He asked:</p> + +<p>"Woman, who art thou?"</p> + +<p>"I am the maiden Orberosia."</p> + +<p>At this reply Mael raised his trembling arms to heaven.</p> + +<p>"Do you speak truth, woman? It is a certain fact that +Orberosia was devoured<br> + by the dragon. And yet I see Orberosia and hear her. Did you +not, O my<br> + daughter, while within the dragon's bowels arm yourself with the +sign of the<br> + cross and come uninjured out of his throat? That is what seems +to me the most<br> + credible explanation."</p> + +<p><br> + "You are not deceived, father," answered Orberosia. "That is +precisely what<br> + happened to me. Immediately I came out of the creature's bowels +I took refuge<br> + in a hermitage on the Coast of Shadows. I lived there in +solitude, giving<br> + myself up to prayer and meditation, and performing unheard of +austerities,<br> + until I learnt by a revelation from heaven that a maid alone +could overcome<br> + the dragon, and that I was that maid."</p> + +<p>"Show me a sign of your mission," said the old man.</p> + +<p>"I myself am the sign," answered Orberosia.</p> + +<p>"I am not ignorant of the power of those who have placed a +seal upon their<br> + flesh," replied the apostle of the Penguins. But are you indeed +such as you<br> + say?"</p> + +<p>"You will see by the result," answered Orberosia.</p> + +<p>The monk Regimental drew near:</p> + +<p>"That will," said he, "be the best proof. King Solomon has +said: 'Three things<br> + are hard to understand and a fourth is impossible: they are the +way of a<br> + serpent on the earth, the way of a bird in the air, the way of a +ship in the<br> + sea, and the way of a man with a maid!' I regard such matrons as +nothing less<br> + than presumptuous who claim to compare themselves in these +matters with the<br> + wisest of kings. Father, if you are led by me you will not +consult them in<br> + regard to the pious Orberosia. When they have given their +opinion you will not<br> + be a bit farther on than before. Virginity is not less difficult +to prove than<br> + to keep. Pliny tells us in his history that its signs are either +imaginary or<br> + very uncertain.* One who bears upon her the fourteen signs of +corruption may<br> + yet be pure in the eyes of the angels, and, on the contrary, +another who has<br> + been pronounced pure by the matrons who inspected her may know +that her good<br> + appearance is due to the artifices of a cunning perversity. As +for the purity<br> + of this holy girl here, I would put my hand in the fire in +witness of it."</p> + +<p>* We have vainly sought for this phrase in Pliny's "Natural +History."--Editor.</p> + +<p><br> + He spoke thus because he was the Devil. But old Mael did not +know it. He asked<br> + the pious Orberosia:</p> + +<p>"My daughter, how, would you proceed to conquer so fierce an +animal as he who<br> + devoured you?"</p> + +<p>The virgin answered:</p> + +<p>"To-morrow at sunrise, O Mael, you will summon the people +together on the hill<br> + in front of the desolate moor that extends to the Coast of +Shadows, and you<br> + will take care that no man of the Penguins remains less than +five hundred<br> + paces from those rocks so that he may not be poisoned by the +monster's breath.<br> + And the dragon will come out of the rocks and I will put my +girdle round his<br> + neck and lead him like an obedient dog."</p> + +<p>"Ought you not to be accompanied by a courageous and pious man +who will kill<br> + the dragon?" asked Mael.</p> + +<p>"It will be as thou sayest, venerable father. I shall deliver +the monster to<br> + Kraken, who will stay him with his flashing sword. For I tell +thee that the<br> + noble Kraken, who was believed to be dead, will return among the +Penguins and<br> + he shall slay the dragon. And from the creature's belly will +come forth the<br> + little children whom he has devoured."</p> + +<p>"What you declare to me, O virgin," cried the apostle, "seems +wonderful and<br> + beyond human power."</p> + +<p>"It is," answered the virgin Orberosia. "But learn, O Mael, +that I have had a<br> + revelation that as a reward for their deliverance, the Penguin +people will pay<br> + to the knight Kraken an annual tribute of three hundred fowls, +twelve sheep,<br> + two oxen, three pigs, one thousand eight hundred bushels of +corn, and<br> + vegetables according to their season; and that, moreover, the +children who<br> + will come out of the dragon's belly will be given and committed +to the said<br> + Kraken to serve him and obey him in all things. If the Penguin +people fail to<br> + keep their engagements a new dragon will come upon the island +more terrible<br> + than the first. I have spoken."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>XIII. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation and End)</h2> + +<p>The people of the Penguins were assembled by Mael and they +spent the night on<br> + the Coast of Shadows within the bounds which the holy man had +prescribed in<br> + order that none among the Penguins should be poisoned by the +monster's breath.</p> + +<p>The veil of night still covered the earth when, preceded by a +hoarse<br> + bellowing, the dragon showed his indistinct and monstrous form +upon the rocky<br> + coast. He crawled like a serpent and his writhing body seemed +about fifteen<br> + feet long. At his appearance the crowd drew back in terror. But +soon all eyes<br> + were turned towards the Virgin Orberosia, who, in the first +light of the dawn,<br> + clothed in white, advanced over the purple heather. With an +intrepid though<br> + modest gait she walked towards the beast, who, uttering awful +bellowings,<br> + opened his flaming throat. An immense cry of terror and pity +arose from the<br> + midst of the Penguins. But the virgin, unloosing her linen +girdle, put it<br> + round the dragon's neck and led him on the leash like a faithful +dog amid the<br> + acclamations of the spectators.</p> + +<p><br> + She had walked over a long stretch of the heath when Kraken +appeared armed<br> + with a flashing sword. The people, who believed him dead, +uttered cries of joy<br> + and surprise. The hero rushed towards the beast, turned him over +on his back,<br> + and with his sword cut open his belly, from whence came forth in +their shirts,<br> + with curling hair and folded hands, little Elo and the five +other children<br> + whom the monster had devoured.</p> + +<p>Immediately they threw themselves on their knees before the +virgin Orberosia,<br> + who took them in her arms and whispered into their ears:</p> + +<p>"You will go through the villages saying: 'We are the poor +little children who<br> + were devoured by the dragon, and we came out of his belly in our +shirts.' The<br> + inhabitants will give you abundance of all that you can desire. +But if you say<br> + anything else you will get nothing but cuffs and whippings. +Go!"</p> + +<p>Several Penguins, seeing the dragon disembowelled, rushed +forward to cut him<br> + to pieces, some from a feeling of rage and vengeance, others to +get the magic<br> + stone called dragonite, that is engendered in his head. The +mothers of the<br> + children who had come back to life ran to embrace their little +ones. But the<br> + holy Mael kept them back, saying that none of them were holy +enough to<br> + approach a dragon without dying.</p> + +<p>And soon little Elo, and the five other children came towards +the people and<br> + said:</p> + +<p>"We are the poor little children who were devoured by the +dragon and we came<br> + out of his belly in our shirts."</p> + +<p>And all who heard them kissed them and said:</p> + +<p>"Blessed children, we will give you abundance of all that you +can desire."</p> + +<p>And the crowd of people dispersed, full of joy, singing hymns +and canticles.</p> + +<p>To commemorate this day on which Providence delivered the +people from a cruel<br> + scourge, processions were established in which the effigy of a +chained dragon<br> + was led about.</p> + +<p>Kraken levied the tribute and became the richest and most +powerful of the<br> + Penguins. As a sign of his victory and so as to inspire a +salutary terror, he<br> + wore a dragon's crest upon his head and he had a habit of saying +to the<br> + people:</p> + +<p>"Now that the monster is dead I am the dragon."</p> + +<p>For many years Orberosia bestowed her favours upon neatherds +and shepherds,<br> + whom she thought equal to the gods. But when she was no longer +beautiful she<br> + consecrated herself to the Lord.</p> + +<p>At her death she became the object of public veneration, and +was admitted into<br> + the calendar of the saints and adopted as the patron saint of +Penguinia.</p> + +<p>Kraken left a son, who, like his father, wore a dragon's +crest, and he was for<br> + this reason surnamed Draco. He was the founder of the first +royal dynasty of<br> + the Penguins.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h1>BOOK III. THE MIDDLE AGES AND THE RENAISSANCE</h1> + +<h1> </h1> + +<h2>I. BRIAN THE GOOD AND QUEEN GLAMORGAN</h2> + +<p>The kings of Alca were descended from Draco,the son of +Kraken,and they wore on<br> + their heads a terrible dragon's crest, as a sacred badge whose +appearance<br> + alone inspired the people with veneration, terror, and love. +They were<br> + perpetually in conflict either with their own vassals and +subjects or with the<br> + princes of the adjoining islands and continents.</p> + +<p><br> + The most ancient of these kings has left but a name. We do not +even know how<br> + to pronounce or write it. The first of the Draconides whose +history is known<br> + was Brian the Good, renowned for his skill and courage in war +and in the<br> + chase.</p> + +<p>He was a Christian and loved learning. He also favoured men +who had vowed<br> + themselves to the monastic life. In the hall of his palace +where, under the<br> + sooty rafters, there hung the heads, pelts, and horns of wild +beasts, he held<br> + feasts to which all the harpers of Alca and of the neighbouring +islands were<br> + invited, and he himself used to join in singing the praises of +the heroes. He<br> + was just and magnanimous, but inflamed by so ardent a love of +glory that he<br> + could not restrain himself from putting to death those who had +sung better<br> + than himself.</p> + +<p>The monks of Yvern having been driven out by the pagans who +ravaged Brittany,<br> + King Brian summoned them into his kingdom and built a wooden +monastery for<br> + them near his palace. Every day he went with Queen Glamorgan, +his wife, into<br> + the monastery chapel and was present at the religious ceremonies +and joined in<br> + the hymns.</p> + +<p>Now among these monks there was a brother called Oddoul, who, +while still in<br> + the flower of his youth, had adorned himself with knowledge and +virtue. The<br> + devil entertained a great grudge against him, and attempted +several times to<br> + lead him into temptation. He took several shapes and appeared to +him in turn<br> + as a war-horse, a young maiden, and a cup of mead. Then he +rattled two dice in<br> + a dicebox and said to him:</p> + +<p>"Will you play with me for the kingdoms of, the world against +one of the hairs<br> + of your head?"</p> + +<p>But the man of the Lord, armed with the sign of the Cross, +repulsed the enemy.<br> + Perceiving that he could not seduce him, the devil thought of an +artful plan<br> + to ruin him. One summer night he approached the queen, who slept +upon her<br> + couch, showed her an image of the young monk whom she saw every +day in the<br> + wooden monastery, and upon this image he placed a spell. +Forthwith, like a<br> + subtle poison, love flowed into Glamorgan's veins, and she +burned with an<br> + ardent desire to do as she listed with Oddoul. She found +unceasing pretexts to<br> + have him near her. Several times she asked him to teach reading +and singing to<br> + her children.</p> + +<p>"I entrust them to you," said she to him. "And will follow the +lessons you<br> + will give them so that I myself may learn also. You will teach +both mother and<br> + sons at the same time."</p> + +<p>But the young monk kept making excuses. At times he would say +that he was not<br> + a learned enough teacher, and on other occasions that his state +forbade him<br> + all intercourse with women. This refusal inflamed Glamorgan's +passion. One day<br> + as she lay pining upon her couch, her malady having become +intolerable, she<br> + summoned Oddoul to her chamber. He came in obedience to her +orders, but<br> + remained with his eyes cast down towards the threshold of the +door. With<br> + impatience and grief she resented his not looking at her.</p> + +<p>"See," said she to him, "I have no more strength, a shadow is +on my eyes. My<br> + body is both burning and freezing."</p> + +<p>And as he kept silence and made no movement, she called him in +a voice of<br> + entreaty:</p> + +<p>"Come to me, come!"</p> + +<p>With outstretched arms to which passion gave more length, she +endeavoured to<br> + seize him and draw him towards her.</p> + +<p>But he fled away, reproaching her for her wantonness.</p> + +<p>Then, incensed with rage and fearing that Oddoul might divulge +the shame into<br> + which she had fallen, she determined to ruin him so that he +might not ruin<br> + her.</p> + +<p>In a voice of lamentation that resounded throughout all the +palace she called<br> + for help, as if, in truth, she were in some great danger. Her +servants rushed<br> + up and saw the young monk fleeing and the queen pulling back the +sheets upon<br> + her couch. They all cried out together. And when King Brian, +attracted by the<br> + noise, entered the chamber, Glamorgan, showing him her +dishevelled hair, her<br> + eyes flooded with tears, and her bosom that in the fury of her +love she had<br> + torn with her nails, said:</p> + +<p>"My lord and husband, behold the traces of the insults I have +undergone.<br> + Driven by an infamous desire Oddoul has approached me and +attempted to do me<br> + violence."</p> + +<p>When he heard these complaints and saw the blood, the king, +transported with<br> + fury, ordered his guards to seize the young monk and burn him +alive before the<br> + palace under the queen's eyes.</p> + +<p>Being told of the affair, the Abbot of Yvern went to the king +and said to him:</p> + +<p>"King Brian, know by this example the difference between a +Christian woman and<br> + a pagan. Roman Lucretia was the most virtuous of idolatrous +princesses, yet<br> + she had not the strength to defend herself against the attacks +of an<br> + effeminate youth, and, ashamed of her weakness, she gave way to +despair,<br> + whilst Glamorgan has successfully withstood the assaults of a +criminal filled<br> + with rage, and possessed by the most terrible of demons." +Meanwhile Oddoul, in<br> + the prison of the palace, was waitin for the moment when he +should be burned<br> + alive. But God did not suffer an innocent to perish. He sent to +him an angel,<br> + who, taking the form of one of the queen's servants called +Gudrune, took him<br> + out of his prison and led him into the very room where the woman +whose<br> + appearance he had taken dwelt.</p> + +<p>And the angel said to young Oddoul:</p> + +<p>"I love thee because thou art daring."</p> + +<p>And young Oddoul, believing that it was Gudrune herself, +answered with<br> + downcast looks:</p> + +<p>"It is by the grace of the Lord that I have resisted the +violence of the queen<br> + and braved the anger of that powerful woman."</p> + +<p>And the angel asked:</p> + +<p>"What? Hast thou not done what the queen accuses thee of?"</p> + +<p>"In truth no, I have not done it," answered Oddoul, his hand +on his heart.</p> + +<p>"Thou hast not done it?"</p> + +<p>"No, I have not done it. The very thought of such an action +fills me with<br> + horror."</p> + +<p>"Then," cried the angel, "what art thou doing here, thou +impotent creature?" *</p> + +<p>* The Penguin chronicler who relates the fact employs the +expression, Species<br> + inductilis. I have endeavoured to translate it literally.</p> + +<p><br> + And she opened the door to facilitate the young man's escape. +Oddoul felt<br> + himself pushed violently out. Scarcely had he gone down into the +street than a<br> + chamber-pot was poured over his head; and he thought:</p> + +<p>"Mysterious are thy designs, O Lord, and thy ways past finding +out."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>II. DRACO THE GREAT (Translation of the Relics of St. +Orberosia)</h2> + +<p>The direct posterity of Brian the Good was extinguished about +the year 900 in<br> + the person of Collic of the Short Nose. A cousin of that prince, +Bosco the<br> + Magnanimous, succeeded him, and took care, in order to assure +himself of the<br> + throne, to put to death all his relations. There issued from him +a long line<br> + of powerful kings.</p> + +<p><br> + One of them, Draco the Great, attained great renown as a man of +war. He was<br> + defeated more frequently than the others. It is by this +constancy in defeat<br> + that great captains are recognized. In twenty years he burned +down more than a<br> + hundred thousand hamlets, market towns, unwalled towns, +villages, walled<br> + towns, cities, and universities. He set fire impartially to his +enemies'<br> + territory and to his own domains. And he used to explain his +conduct by<br> + saying:</p> + +<p>"War without fire is like tripe without mustard: it is an +insipid thing."</p> + +<p>His justice was rigorous. When the peasants whom he made +prisoners were unable<br> + to raise the money for their ransoms he had them hanged from a +tree, and if<br> + any unhappy woman came to plead for her destitute husband he +dragged her by<br> + the hair at his horse's tail. He lived like a soldier without +effeminacy. It<br> + is satisfactory to relate that his manner of life was pure. Not +only did he<br> + not allow his kingdom to decline from its hereditary glory, but, +even in his<br> + reverses he valiantly supported the honour of the Penguin +people.</p> + +<p>Draco the Great caused the relics of St. Orberosia to be +transferred to Alca.</p> + +<p>The body of the blessed saint had been buried in a grotto on +the Coast of<br> + Shadows at the end of a scented heath. The first pilgrims who +went to visit it<br> + were the boys and girls from the neighbouring villages. They +used to go there<br> + in the evening, by preference in couples, as if their pious +desires naturally<br> + sought satisfaction in darkness and solitude. They worshipped +the saint with a<br> + fervent and discreet worship whose mystery they seemed jealously +to guard, for<br> + they did not like to publish too openly the experiences they +felt. But they<br> + were heard to murmur one to another words of love, delight, and +rapture with<br> + which they mingled the name of Orberosia. Some would sigh that +there they<br> + forgot the world; others would say that they came out of the +grotto in peace<br> + and calm; the young girls among them used to recall to each +other the joy with<br> + which they had been filled in it.</p> + +<p>Such were the marvels that the virgin of Alca performed in the +morning of her<br> + glorious eternity; they had the sweetness and indefiniteness of +the dawn. Soon<br> + the mystery of the grotto spread like a perfume throughout the +land; it was a<br> + ground of joy and edification for pious souls, and corrupt men +endeavoured,<br> + though in vain, by falsehood and calumny, to divert the faithful +from the<br> + springs of grace that flowed from the saint's tomb. The Church +took measures<br> + so that these graces should not remain reserved for a few +children, but should<br> + be diffused throughout all Penguin Christianity. Monks took up +their quarters<br> + in the grotto, they built a monastery, a chapel, and a hostelry +on the coast,<br> + and pilgrims began to flock thither.</p> + +<p>As if strengthened by a longer sojourn in heaven, the blessed +Orberosia now<br> + performed still greater miracles for those who came to lay their +offerings on<br> + her tomb. She gave hopes to women who had been hitherto barren, +she sent<br> + dreams to reassure jealous old men concerning the fidelity of +the young wives<br> + whom they had suspected without cause, and she protected the +country from<br> + plagues, murrains, famines, tempests, and dragons of +Cappadocia.</p> + +<p>But during the troubles that desolated the kingdom in the time +of King Collic<br> + and his successors, the tomb of St. Orberosia was plundered of +its wealth, the<br> + monastery burned down, and the monks dispersed. The road that +had been so long<br> + trodden by devout pilgrims was overgrown with furze and heather, +and the blue<br> + thistles of the sands. For a hundred years the miraculous tomb +had been<br> + visited by none save vipers, weasels, and bats, when, one day +the saint<br> + appeared to a peasant of the neighbourhood, Momordic by +name.</p> + +<p>"I am the virgin Orberosia," said she to him; "I have chosen +thee to restore<br> + my sanctuary. Warn the inhabitants of the country that if they +allow my memory<br> + to be blotted out, and leave my tomb without honour and wealth, +a new dragon<br> + will come and devastate Penguinia."</p> + +<p>Learned churchmen held an inquiry concerning this apparition, +and pronounced<br> + it genuine, and not diabolical but truly heavenly, and in later +years it was<br> + remarked that in France, in like circumstances, St. Foy and St. +Catherine had<br> + acted in the same way and made use of similar language.</p> + +<p>The monastery was restored and pilgrims flocked to it anew. +The virgin<br> + Orberosia worked greater and greater miracles. She cured divers +hurtful<br> + maladies, particularly club-foot, dropsy, paralysis, and St. +Guy's disease.<br> + The monks who kept the tomb were enjoying an enviable opulence, +when the<br> + saint, appearing to King Draco the Great, ordered him to +recognise her as the<br> + heavenly patron of the kingdom and to transfer her precious +remains to the<br> + cathedral of Alca.</p> + +<p>In consequence, the odoriferous relics of that virgin were +carried with great<br> + pomp to the metropolitan church and placed in the middle of the +choir in a<br> + shrine made of gold and enamel and ornamented with precious +stones.</p> + +<p>The chapter kept a record of the miracles wrought by the +blessed Orberosia.</p> + +<p>Draco the Great, who had never ceased to defend and exalt the +Christian faith,<br> + died fulfilled with the most pious sentiments and bequeathed his +great<br> + possessions to the Church.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>II. QUEEN CRUCHA</h2> + +<p>Terrible disorders followed the death of Draco the Great. That +prince's<br> + successors have often been accused of weakness, and it is true +that none of<br> + them followed, even from afar, the example of their valiant +ancestor.</p> + +<p>His son, Chum, who was lame, failed to increase the territory +of the Penguins.<br> + Bolo, the son of Chum, was assassinated by the palace guards at +the age of<br> + nine, just as he was ascending the throne. His brother Gun +succeeded him. He<br> + was only seven years old and allowed himself to be governed by +his mother,<br> + Queen Crucha.</p> + +<p><br> + Crucha was beautiful, learned, and intelligent; but she was +unable to curb her<br> + own passions.</p> + +<p>These are the terms in which the venerable Talpa expresses +himself in his<br> + chronicle regarding that illustrious queen:</p> + +<p>"In beauty of face and symmetry of figure Queen Crucha yields +neither to<br> + Semiramis of Babylon nor to Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons; +nor to Salome,<br> + the daughter of Herodias. But she offers in her person certain +singularities<br> + that will appear beautiful or uncomely according to the +contradictory opinions<br> + of men and the varying judgments of the world. She has on her +forehead two<br> + small horns which she conceals in the abundant folds of her +golden hair; one<br> + of her eyes is blue and one is black; her neck is bent towards +the left side;<br> + and, like Alexander of Macedon, she has six fingers on her right +hand, and a<br> + stain like a little monkey's head upon her skin.</p> + +<p>"Her gait is majestic and her manner affable. She is +magnificent in her<br> + expenses, but she is not always able to rule desire by +reason.</p> + +<p>"One day, having noticed in the palace stables, a young groom +of great beauty,<br> + she immediately fell violently in love with him, and entrusted +to him the<br> + command of her armies. What one must praise unreservedly in this +great queen<br> + is the abundance of gifts that she makes to the churches, +monasteries, and<br> + chapels in her kingdom, and especially to the holy house of +Beargarden, where,<br> + by the grace of the Lord, I made my profession in my fourteenth +year. She has<br> + founded masses for the repose of her soul in such great numbers +that every<br> + priest in the Penguin Church is, so to speak, transformed into a +taper lighted<br> + in the sight of heaven to draw down the divine mercy upon the +august Crucha."</p> + +<p>From these lines and from some others with which have enriched +my text the<br> + reader can judge of the historical and literary value of the +"Gesta<br> + Penguinorum." Unhappily, that chronicle suddenly comes suddenly +to an end at<br> + third year of Draco the Simple, the successor of Gun the Weak. +Having reached<br> + that point of my history, I deplore the loss of an agreeable and +trustworthy<br> + guide.</p> + +<p>During the two centuries that followed, the Penguins remained +plunged in<br> + blood-stained disorder. All the arts perished. In the midst of +the general<br> + ignorance, the monks in the shadow of their cloister devoted +themselves to<br> + study, and copied the Holy Scriptures with indefatigable zeal. +As parchment<br> + was scarce,they scraped the writing off old manuscripts in order +to transcribe<br> + upon them the divine word. Thus throughout the breadth of +Penguinia Bibles<br> + blossomed forth like roses on a bush.</p> + +<p>A monk of the order of St. Benedict, Ermold the Penguin, had +himself alone<br> + defaced four thousand Greek and Latin manuscripts so as to copy +out the Gospel<br> + of St. John four thousand times. Thus the masterpieces of +ancient poetry and<br> + eloquence were destroyed in great numbers. Historians are +unanimous in<br> + recognising that the Penguin convents were the refuge of +learning during the<br> + Middle Ages.</p> + +<p>Unending wars between the Penguins and the Porpoises filled +the close of this<br> + period. It is extremely difficult to know the truth concerning +these wars, not<br> + because accounts are wanting, but because there are so many of +them. The<br> + Porpoise Chronicles contradict the Penguin Chronicles at every +point. And,<br> + moreover, the Penguins contradict each other as well as the +Porpoises. I have<br> + discovered two chronicles that are in agreement, but one has +copied from the<br> + other. A single fact is certain, namely, that massacres, +rapes,<br> + conflagrations, and plunder succeeded one another without +interruption.</p> + +<p>Under the unhappy prince Bosco IX. the kingdom was at the +verge of ruin. On<br> + the news that the Porpoise fleet, composed of six hundred great +ships, was in<br> + sight of Alca, the bishop ordered a solemn procession. The +cathedral chapter,<br> + the elected magistrates, the members of Parliament, and the +clerics of the<br> + University entered the Cathedral and, taking up St. Orberosia's +shrine, led it<br> + in procession through the town, followed by the entire people +singing hymns.<br> + The holy patron of Penguinia was not invoked in vain. +Nevertheless, the<br> + Porpoises besieged the town both by land and sea, took it by +assault, and for<br> + three days and three nights killed, plundered, violated, and +burned, with all<br> + the indifference that habit produces.</p> + +<p>Our astonishment cannot be too great at the fact that, during +those iron ages,<br> + the faith was preserved intact among the Penguins. The splendour +of the truth<br> + in those times illumined all souls that had not been corrupted +by sophisms.<br> + This is the explanation of the unity of belief. A constant +practice of the<br> + Church doubtless contributed also to maintain this happy +communion of the<br> + faithful--every Penguin who thought differently from the others +was<br> + immediately burned at the stake.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>IV. LETTERS: JOHANNES TALPA</h2> + +<p>During the minority of King Gun, Johannes Talpa, in the +monastery of<br> + Beargarden, where at the age of fourteen he had made his +profession and from<br> + which he never departed for a single day throughout his life, +composed his<br> + celebrated Latin chronicle in twelve books called "De Gestis +Penguinorum."</p> + +<p>The monastery of Beargarden lifts its high walls on the summit +of an<br> + inaccessible peak. One sees around it only the blue tops of +mountains, divided<br> + by the clouds.</p> + +<p>When he began to write his "Gesta Penguinorum," Johannes Talpa +was already<br> + old. The good monk has taken care to tell us this in his book: +"My head has<br> + long since lost," he says, "its adornment of fair hair, and my +scalp resembles<br> + those convex mirrors of metal which the Penguin ladies consult +with so much<br> + care and zeal. My stature, naturally small, has with years +become diminished<br> + and bent. My white beard gives warmth to my breast."</p> + +<p><br> + With a charming simplicity, Talpa informs us of certain +circumstances in his<br> + life and some features in his character. "Descended," he tells +us, "from a<br> + noble family, and destined from childhood for the ecclesiastical +state, I was<br> + taught grammar and music. I learnt to read under the guidance of +a master who<br> + was called Amicus, and who would have been better named +Inimicus. As I did not<br> + easily attain to a knowledge of my letters, he beat me violently +with rods so<br> + that I can say that he printed the alphabet in strokes upon my +back."</p> + +<p>In another passage Talpa confesses his natural inclination +towards pleasure.<br> + These are his expressive words: "In my youth the ardour of my +senses was such<br> + that in the shadow of the woods I experienced a sensation of +boiling in a pot<br> + rather than of breathing the fresh air. I fled from women, but +in vain, for<br> + every object recalled them to me."</p> + +<p>While he was writing his chronicle, a terrible war, at once +foreign and<br> + domestic, laid waste the Penguin land. The soldiers of Crucha +came to defend<br> + the monastery of Beargarden against the Penguin barbarians and +established<br> + themselves strongly within its walls. In order to render it +impregnable they<br> + pierced loop-holes through the walls and they took the lead off +the church<br> + roof to make balls for their slings. At night they lighted huge +fires in the<br> + courts and cloisters and on them they roasted whole oxen which +they spitted<br> + upon the ancient pine-trees of the mountain. Sitting around the +flames, amid<br> + smoke filled with a mingled odour of resin and fat, they +broached huge casks<br> + of wine and beer. Their songs, their blasphemies, and the noise +of their<br> + quarrels drowned the sound of the morning bells.</p> + +<p>At last the Porpoises, having crossed the defiles, laid siege +to the<br> + monastery. They were warriors from the North, clad in copper +armour. They<br> + fastened ladders a hundred and fifty fathoms long to the sides +of the cliffs<br> + and sometimes in the darkness and storm these broke beneath the +weight of men<br> + and arms, and bunches of the besiegers were hurled into the +ravines and<br> + precipices. A prolonged wail would be heard going down into the +darkness, and<br> + the assault would begin again. The Penguins poured streams of +burning wax upon<br> + their assailants, which made them blaze like torches. Sixty +times the enraged<br> + Porpoises attempted to scale the monastery and sixty times they +were repulsed.</p> + +<p>For six months they had closely invested the monastery, when, +on the day of<br> + the Epiphany, a shepherd of the valley showed them a hidden path +by which they<br> + climbed the mountain, penetrated into the vaults of the abbey, +ran through the<br> + cloisters, the kitchens, the church, the chapter halls, the +library, the<br> + laundry, the cells, the refectories, and the dormitories, and +burned the<br> + buildings, killing and violating without distinction of age or +sex. The<br> + Penguins, awakened unexpectedly, ran to arms, but in the +darkness and alarm<br> + they struck at one another, whilst the Porpoises with blows of +their axes<br> + disputed the sacred vessels, the censers, the candlesticks, +dalmatics,<br> + reliquaries, golden crosses, and precious stones.</p> + +<p>The air was filled with an acrid odour of burnt flesh. Groans +and death-cries<br> + arose in the midst of the flames, and on the edges of the +crumbling roofs<br> + monks ran in thousands like ants, and fell into the valley. Yet +Johannes Talpa<br> + kept on writing his Chronicle. The soldiers of Crucha retreated +speedily and<br> + filled up all the issues from the monastery with pieces of rock +so as to shut<br> + up the Porpoises in the burning buildings. And to crush the +enemy beneath the<br> + ruin they employed the trunks of old oaks as battering-rams. The +burning<br> + timbers fell in with a noise like thunder and the lofty arches +of the naves<br> + crumbled beneath the shock of these giant trees when moved by +six hundred men<br> + together. Soon there was left nothing of the rich and extensive +abbey but the<br> + cell of Johannes Talpa, which, by a marvellous chance, hung from +the ruin of a<br> + smoking gable. The old chronicler still kept writing.</p> + +<p>This admirable intensity of thought may seem excessive in the +case of an<br> + annalist who applies himself to relate the events of his own +time. However<br> + abstracted and detached we may be from surrounding things, we +nevertheless<br> + resent their influence. I have consulted the original manuscript +of Johannes<br> + Talpa in the National Library, where it is preserved (Monumenta +Peng., K. L6.,<br> + 12390 four). It is a parchment manuscript of 628 leaves. The +writing is<br> + extremely confused, the letters instead of being in a straight +line, stray in<br> + all directions and are mingled together in great disorder, or, +more correctly<br> + speaking, in absolute confusion. They are so badly formed that +for the most<br> + part it is impossible not merely to say what they are, but even +to distinguish<br> + them from the splashes of ink with which they are plentifully +interspersed.<br> + Those inestimable pages bear witness in this way to the troubles +amid which<br> + they were written. To read them is difficult. On the other hand, +the monk of<br> + Beargarden's style shows no trace of emotion. The tone of the +"Gesta<br> + Penguinorum" never departs from simplicity. The narration is +rapid and of a<br> + conciseness that sometimes approaches dryness. The reflections +are rare and,<br> + as a rule, judicious.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>V. THE ARTS: THE PRIMITIVES OF PENGUIN PAINTING</h2> + +<p>The Penguin critics vie with one another in affirming that +Penguin art has<br> + from its origin been distinguished by a powerful and pleasing +originality, and<br> + that we may look elsewhere in vain for the qualities of grace +and reason that<br> + characterise its earliest works. But the Porpoises claim that +their artists<br> + were undoubtedly the instructors and masters of the Penguins. It +is difficult<br> + to form an opinion on the matter, because the Penguins, before +they began to<br> + admire their primitive painters, destroyed all their works.</p> + +<p>We cannot be too sorry for this loss. For my own part I feel +it cruelly, for I<br> + venerate the Penguin antiquities and I adore the primitives. +They are<br> + delightful. I do not say the are all alike, for that would be +untrue, but they<br> + have common characters that are found in all schools--I mean +formulas from<br> + which they never depart--and there is besides something finished +in their<br> + work, for what they know they know well. Luckily we can form a +notion of the<br> + Penguin primitives from the Italian, Flemish, and Dutch +primitives, and from<br> + the French primitives, who are superior to all the rest; as M. +Gruyer tells us<br> + they are more logical, logic being a peculiarly French quality. +Even if this<br> + is denied it must at least be admitted that to France belongs +the credit of<br> + having kept primitives when the other nations knew them no +longer. The<br> + Exhibition of French Primitives at the Pavilion Marsan in 1904 +contained<br> + several little panels contemporary with the later Valois kings +and with Henry<br> + IV.</p> + +<p><br> + I have made many journeys to see the pictures of the brothers +Van Eyck, of<br> + Memling, of Roger van der Weyden, of the painter of the death of +Mary, of<br> + Ambrogio Lorenzetti, and of the old Umbrian masters. It was, +however, neither<br> + Bruges, nor Cologne, nor Sienna, nor Perugia, that completed my +initiation; it<br> + was in the little town of Arezzo that I became a conscious adept +in primitive<br> + painting. That was ten years ago or even longer. At that period +of indigence<br> + and simplicity, the municipal museums, though usually kept shut, +were always<br> + opened to foreigners. One evening an old woman with a candle +showed me, for<br> + half a lira, the sordid museum of Arezzo, and in it I discovered +a painting by<br> + Margaritone, a "St. Francis," the pious sadness of which moved +me to tears. I<br> + was deeply touched, and Margaritone,of Arezzo became from that +day my dearest<br> + primitive.</p> + +<p>I picture to myself the Penguin primitives in conformity with +the works of<br> + that master. It will not therefore be thought superfluous if in +this place I<br> + consider his works with some attention, if not in detail, at +least under their<br> + more general and, if I dare say so, most representative +aspect.</p> + +<p>We possess five or six pictures signed with his hand. His +masterpiece,<br> + preserved in the National Gallery of London, represents the +Virgin seated on a<br> + throne and holding the infant Jesus in her arms. What strikes +one first when<br> + one looks at this figure is the proportion. The body from the +neck to the feet<br> + is only twice as long as the head, so that it appears extremely +short and<br> + podgy. This work is not less remarkable for its painting than +for its drawing.<br> + The great Margaritone had but a limited number of colours in his +possession,<br> + and he used them in all their purity without ever modifying the +tones. From<br> + this it follows that his colouring has more vivacity than +harmony. The cheeks<br> + of the Virgin and those of the Child are of a bright vermilion +which the old<br> + master, from a naive preference for clear definitions, has +placed on each face<br> + in two circumferences as exact as if they had been traced out by +a pair of<br> + compasses.</p> + +<p>A learned critic of the eighteenth century, the Abbe Lanzi, +has treated<br> + Margaritone's works with profound disdain. "They are," he says. +"merely crude<br> + daubs. In those unfortunate times people could neither draw nor +paint." Such<br> + was the common opinion of the connoisseurs of the days of +powdered wigs. But<br> + the great Margaritone and his contemporaries were soon to be +avenged for this<br> + cruel contempt. There was born in the nineteenth century, in the +biblical<br> + villages and reformed cottages of pious England, a multitude of +little Samuels<br> + and little St. Johns, with hair curling like lambs, who, about +1840, and 1850,<br> + became spectacled professors and founded the cult of the +primitives.</p> + +<p>That eminent theorist of Pre-Raphaelitism, Sir James Tuckett, +does not shrink<br> + from placing the Madonna of the National Gallery on a level with +the<br> + masterpieces of Christian art. "By giving to the Virgin's head," +says Sir<br> + James Tuckett, "a third of the total height of the figure, the +old master<br> + attracts the spectator's attention and keeps it directed towards +the more<br> + sublime parts of the human figure, and in particular the eyes, +which we<br> + ordinarily describe as the spiritual organs. In this picture, +colouring and<br> + design conspire to produce an ideal and mystical impression. The +vermilion of<br> + the cheeks does not recall the natural appearance of the skin; +it rather seems<br> + as if the old master has applied the roses of Paradise to the +faces of the<br> + Mother and the Child."</p> + +<p>We see, in such a criticism as this, a shining reflection, so +to speak, of the<br> + work which it exalts; yet MacSilly, the seraphic aesthete of +Edinburgh, has<br> + expressed in a still more moving and penetrating fashion the +impression<br> + produced upon his mind by the sight of this primitive painting. +"The Madonna<br> + of Margaritone," says the revered MacSilly, "attains the +transcendent end of<br> + art. It inspires its beholders with feelings of innocence and +purity; it makes<br> + them like little children. And so true is this, that at the age +of sixty-six,<br> + after having had the joy of contemplating it closely for three +hours, I felt<br> + myself suddenly transformed into a little child. While my cab +was taking me<br> + through Trafalgar Square I kept laughing and prattling and +shaking my<br> + spectacle-case as if it were a rattle. And when the maid in my +boarding-house<br> + had served my meal I kept pouring spoonfuls of soup into my ear +with all the<br> + artlessness of childhood."</p> + +<p>"It is by such results," adds MacSilly, "that the excellence +of a work of art<br> + is proved."</p> + +<p>Margaritone, according to Vasari, died at the age of +seventy-seven,<br> + "regretting that he had lived to see a new form of art arising +and the new<br> + artists crowned with fame."</p> + +<p>These lines, which I translate literally, have inspired Sir +James Tuckett with<br> + what are perhaps the finest pages in his work. They form part of +his "Breviary<br> + for Aesthetes"; all the Pre-Raphaelites know them by heart. I +place them here<br> + as the most precious ornament of this book. You will agree that +nothing more<br> + sublime has been written since the days of the Hebrew +prophets.</p> + +<h3>MARGARITONE'S VISION</h3> + +<p>Margaritone, full of years and labours, went one day to visit +the studio of a<br> + young painter who had lately settled in the town. He noticed in +the studio a<br> + freshly painted Madonna, which, although severe and rigid, +nevertheless, by a<br> + certain exactness in the proportions and a devilish mingling of +light and<br> + shade, assumed an appearance of relief and life. At this sight +the artless and<br> + sublime worker of Arezzo perceived with horror what the future +of painting<br> + would be. With his brow clasped in his hands he exclaimed:</p> + +<p><br> + "What things of shame does not this figure show forth! I discern +in it the end<br> + of that Christian art which paints the soul and inspires the +beholder with an<br> + ardent desire for heaven. Future painters will not restrain +themselves as does<br> + this one to portraying on the side of a wall or on a wooden +panel the cursed<br> + matter of which our bodies are formed; they will celebrate and +glorify it.<br> + They will clothe their figures with dangerous appearances of +flesh, and these<br> + figures will seem like real persons. Their bodies will be seen; +their forms<br> + will appear through their clothing. St. Magdalen will have a +bosom. St. Martha<br> + a belly, St. Barbara hips, St. Agnes buttocks; St. Sebastian +will unveil his<br> + youthful beauty, and St. George will display beneath his armour +the muscular<br> + wealth of a robust virility; apostles, confessors, doctors, and +God the Father<br> + himself will appear as ordinary beings like you and me; the +angels will affect<br> + an equivocal, ambiguous, mysterious beauty which will trouble +hearts. What<br> + desire for heaven will these representations impart? None; but +from them you<br> + will learn to take pleasure in the forms of terrestrial life. +Where will<br> + painters stop in their indiscreet inquiries? They will stop +nowhere. They will<br> + go so far as to show men and women naked like the idols of the +Romans. There<br> + will be a sacred art and a profane art, and the sacred art will +not be less<br> + profane than the other."</p> + +<p>"Get ye behind me, demons," exclaimed the old master. For in +prophetic vision<br> + he saw the righteous and the saints assuming the appearance of +melancholy<br> + athletes. He saw Apollos playing the lute on a flowery hill, in +the midst of<br> + the Muses wearing light tunics. He saw Venuses lying under shady +myrtles and<br> + the Danae exposing their charming sides to the golden rain. He +saw pictures of<br> + Jesus under the pillar's of the temple amidst patricians, fair +ladies,<br> + musicians, pages, negroes, dogs, and parrots. He saw in an +inextricable<br> + confusion of human limbs, outspread wings, and flying draperies, +crowds of<br> + tumultuous Nativities, opulent Holy Families, emphatic +Crucifixions. He saw<br> + St. Catherines, St. Barbaras, St. Agneses humiliating patricians +by the<br> + sumptuousness of their velvets, their brocades, and their +pearls, and by the<br> + splendour of their breasts. He saw Auroras scattering roses, and +a multitude<br> + of naked Dianas and Nymphs surprised on the banks of retired +streams. And the<br> + great Margaritone died, strangled by so horrible a presentiment +of the<br> + Renaissance and the Bolognese School.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>VI. MARBODIUS</h2> + +<p>We possess a precious monument of the Penguin literature of +the fifteenth<br> + century. It is a narrative of a journey to hell undertaken by +the monk<br> + Marbodius, of the order of St. Benedict, who professed a fervent +admiration<br> + for the poet Virgil. This narrative, written in fairly good +Latin, has been<br> + published by M. du Clos des Limes. It is here translated for the +first time. I<br> + believe that I am doing a service to my fellow-countrymen in +making them<br> + acquainted with these pages, though doubtless they are far from +forming a<br> + unique example of this class of mediaeval Latin literature. +Among the fictions<br> + that may be compared with them we may mention "The Voyage of St. +Brendan,"<br> + "The Vision of Albericus," and "St. Patrick's Purgatory," +imaginary<br> + descriptions, like Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy," of the +supposed abode of<br> + the dead. The narrative of Marbodius is one of the latest works +dealing with<br> + this theme, but it is not the least singular.</p> + +<h3><br> + THE DESCENT OF MARBODIUS INTO HELL</h3> + +<p>In the fourteen hundred and fifty-third year of the +incarnation of the Son of<br> + God, a few days before the enemies of the Cross entered the city +of Helena and<br> + the great Constantine, it was given to me, Brother Marbodius, an +unworthy<br> + monk, to see and to hear what none had hitherto seen or heard. I +have composed<br> + a faithful narrative of those things so that their memory may +not perish with<br> + me, for man's time is short.</p> + +<p>On the first day of May in the aforesaid year, at the hour of +vespers, I was<br> + seated in the Abbey of Corrigan on a stone in the cloisters and, +as my custom<br> + was, I read the verses of the poet whom I love best of all, +Virgil, who has<br> + sung of the labours: of the field, of shepherds, and of heroes. +Evening was<br> + hanging its purple folds from the arches of the cloisters and in +a voice of<br> + emotion I was murmuring the verses which describe how Dido, the +Phoenician<br> + queen, wanders with her ever-bleeding wound beneath the myrtles +of hell. At<br> + that moment Brother Hilary happened to pass by, followed by +Brother Jacinth,<br> + the porter.</p> + +<p><br> + Brought up in the barbarous ages before the resurrection of the +Muses, Brother<br> + Hilary has not been initiated into the wisdom of the ancients; +nevertheless,<br> + the poetry of the Mantuan has, like a subtle torch, shed some +gleams of light<br> + into his understanding.</p> + +<p>"Brother Marbodius," he asked me, "do those verses that you +utter with<br> + swelling breast and sparkling eyes--do they belong to that great +'Aeneid' from<br> + which morning or evening your glances are never withheld?"</p> + +<p>I answered that I was reading in Virgil how the son of +Anchises perceived Dido<br> + like a moon behind the foliage.*</p> + +<p>* The text runs</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>. . .qualem primo qui syrgere mense<br> + Aut videt aut vidisse putat per nubila lunam.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Brother Marbodius, by a strange misunderstanding, substitutes +an entirely<br> + different image for the one created by the poet.</p> + +<p><br> + "Brother Marbodius," he replied, "I am certain that on all +occasions Virgil<br> + gives expression to wise maxims and profound thoughts. But the +songs that he<br> + modulates on his Syracusan flute hold such a lofty meaning and +such exalted<br> + doctrine that I am continually puzzled by them."</p> + +<p><br> + "Take care, father," cried Brother Jacinth, in an agitated +voice. "Virgil was<br> + a magician who wrought marvels by the help of demons. It is thus +he pierced<br> + through a mountain near Naples and fashioned a bronze horse that +had power to<br> + heal all the diseases of horses. He was a necromancer, and there +is still<br> + shown, in a certain town in Italy, the mirror in which he made +the dead<br> + appear. And yet a woman deceived this great sorcerer. A +Neapolitan courtesan<br> + invited him to hoist himself up to her window in the basket that +was used to<br> + bring the provisions, and she left him all night suspended +between two<br> + storeys."</p> + +<p>Brother Hilary did not appear to hear these observations.</p> + +<p>"Virgil is a prophet," he replied, "and a prophet who leaves +far behind him<br> + the sibyls with their sacred verses as well as the daughter of +King Priam, and<br> + that great diviner of future things, Plato of Athens. You will +find in the<br> + fourth of his Syracusan cantos the birth of our Lord foretold in +a lancune<br> + that seems of heaven rather than of earth.* In the time of my +early studies,<br> + when I read for the first time JAM REDIT ET VIRGO, I felt myself +bathed in an<br> + infinite delight, but I immediately experienced intense grief at +the thought<br> + that, for ever deprived of the presence of God, the author of +this prophetic<br> + verse, the noblest that has come from human lips, was pining +among the heathen<br> + in eternal darkness. This cruel thought did not leave me. It +pursued me even<br> + in my studies, my prayers, my meditations, and my ascetic +labours. Thinkin<br> + that Virgil was deprived of the sight of God and that possibly +he might even<br> + be suffering the fate of the reprobate in hell, I could neither +enjoy peace<br> + nor rest, and I went so far as to exclaim several times a day +with my arms<br> + outstretched to heaven:</p> + +<p>" 'Reveal to me, O Lord, the lot thou hast assigned to him who +sang on earth<br> + as the angels sing in heaven!'</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>*Three centuries before the epoch in which our Marbodius lived +the words--<br> + Maro, vates gentilium<br> + Da Christo testimonium<br> + Were sung in the churches on Christmas Day.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><br> + "After some years my anguish ceased when I read in an old book +that the great<br> + apostle St. Paul, who called the Gentiles into the Church of +Christ, went to<br> + Naples and sanctified with his tears the tomb of the prince of +poets.* This<br> + was some ground for believing that Virgil, like the Emperor +Trajan, was<br> + admitted to Paradise because even in error he had a presentiment +of the truth.<br> + We are not compelled to believe it, but I can easily persuade +myself that it<br> + is true."</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>*Ad maronis mausoleum<br> + Ductus, fudit super eum<br> + Piae rorem lacrymae.<br> + Quem te, intuit, reddidissem,<br> + Si te vivum invenissem<br> + Poetarum maxime!</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><br> + Having thus spoken, old Hilary wished me the peace of a holy +night and went<br> + away with Brother Jacinth.</p> + +<p><br> + I resumed the delightful study of my poet. Book in hand, I +meditated upon the<br> + way in which those whom Love destroys with its cruel malady +wander through the<br> + secret paths in the depth of the myrtle forest, and, as I +meditated, the<br> + quivering reflections of the stars came and mingled with those +of the leafless<br> + eglantines in the waters of the cloister fountain. Suddenly the +lights and the<br> + perfumes and the stillness of the sky were overwhelmed, a fierce +Northwind<br> + charged with storm and darkness burst roaring upon me. It lifted +me up and<br> + carried me like a wisp of straw over fields, cities, rivers, and +mountains,<br> + and through the midst of thunder-clouds, during a long night +composed of a<br> + whole series of nights and days. And when, after this prolonged +and cruel<br> + rage, the hurricane was at last stilled, I found myself far from +my native<br> + land at the bottom of a valley bordered by cypress trees. Then a +woman of wild<br> + beauty, trailing long garments behind her, approached me. She +placed her left<br> + hand on my shoulder, and, pointing her right arm to an oak with +thick foliage:</p> + +<p>"Look!" said she to me.</p> + +<p>Immediately I recognised the Sibyl who guards the sacred wood +of Avernus, and<br> + I discerned the fair Proserpine's beautiful golden twig amongst +the tufted<br> + boughs of the tree to which her finger pointed.</p> + +<p>"O prophetic Virgin," I exclaimed, "thou hast comprehended my +desire and thou<br> + hast satisfied it in this way. Thou hast revealed to me the tree +that bears<br> + the shining twig without which none can enter alive into the +dwelling-place of<br> + the dead. And in truth, eagerly did I long to converse with the +shade of<br> + Virgil."</p> + +<p>Having said this, I snatched the golden branch from its +ancient trunk and I<br> + advanced without fear into the smoking gulf that leads to the +miry banks of<br> + the Styx, upon which the shades are tossed about like dead +leaves. At sight of<br> + the branch dedicated to Proserpine, Charon took me in his bark, +which groaned<br> + beneath my weight, and I alighted on the shores of the dead, and +was greeted<br> + by the mute baying of the threefold Cerberus. I pretended to +throw the shade<br> + of a stone at him, and the vain monster fled into his cave. +There, amidst the<br> + rushes, wandered the souls of those children whose eyes had but +opened and<br> + shut to the kindly light of day, and there in a gloomy cavern +Minos judges<br> + men. I penetrated into the myrtle wood in which the victims of +love wander<br> + languishing, Phaedra, Procris, the sad Eriphyle, Evadne, +Pasiphae, Laodamia,<br> + and Cenis, and the Phoenician Dido. Then I went through the +dusty plains<br> + reserved for famous warriors. Beyond them open two ways. That to +the left<br> + leads to Tartarus, the abode of the wicked. I took that to the +right, which<br> + leads to Elysium and to the dwellings of Dis. Having hung the +sacred branch at<br> + the goddess's door, I reached pleasant fields flooded with +purple light. The<br> + shades of philosophers and poets hold grave converse there. The +Graces and the<br> + Muses formed sprightly choirs upon the grass. Old Homer sang, +accompanying<br> + himself upon his rustic lyre. His eyes were closed, but divine +images shone<br> + upon his lips. I saw Solon, Democritus, and Pythagoras watching +the games of<br> + the young men in the meadow, and, through the foliage of an +ancient laurel, I<br> + perceived also Hesiod, Orpheus, the melancholy Euripides, and +the masculine<br> + Sappho. I passed and recognised, as they sat on the bank of a +fresh rivulet,<br> + the poet Horace, Varius, Gallus, and Lycoris. A little apart, +leaning against<br> + the trunk of a dark holm-oak, Virgil was gazing pensively at the +grove. Of<br> + lofty stature, though spare, he still preserved that swarthy +complexion, that<br> + rustic air, that negligent bearing, and unpolished appearance +which during his<br> + lifetime concealed his genius. I saluted him piously and +remained for a long<br> + time without speech.</p> + +<p>At last when my halting voice could proceed out of my +throat:</p> + +<p>"O thou, so dear to the Ausonian Muses, thou honour of the +Latin name,<br> + Virgil," cried I, "it is through thee I have known what beauty +is, it is<br> + through thee I have known what the tables of the gods and the +beds of the<br> + goddesses are like. Suffer the praises of the humblest of thy +adorers."</p> + +<p>"Arise, stranger," answered the divine poet. "I perceive that +thou art a<br> + living being among the shades, and that thy body treads down the +grass in this<br> + eternal evening. Thou art not the first man who has descended +before his death<br> + into these dwellings, although all intercourse between us and +the living is<br> + difficult. But cease from praise; I do not like eulogies and the +confused<br> + sounds of glory have always offended my ears. That is why I fled +from Rome,<br> + where I was known to the idle and curious, and laboured in the +solitude of my<br> + beloved Parthenope. And then I am not so convinced that the men +of thy<br> + generation understand my verses that should be gratified by thy +praises. Who<br> + art thou?"</p> + +<p>"I am called Marbodius of the Kingdom of Alca. I made my +profession in the<br> + Abbey of Corrigan. I read thy poems by day and I read them by +night. It is<br> + thee whom I have come to see in Hell; I was impatient to know +what thy fate<br> + was. On earth the learned often dispute about it. Some hold it +probable that,<br> + having lived under the power of demons, thou art now burning +in<br> + inextinguishable flames; others, more cautious, pronounce no +opinion,<br> + believing that all which is said concerning the dead is +uncertain and full of<br> + lies; several, though not in truth the ablest, maintain that, +because thou<br> + didst elevate the tone of the Sicilian Muses and foretell that a +new progeny<br> + would descend from heaven, thou wert admitted, like the Emperor +Trajan, to<br> + enjoy eternal blessedness in the Christian heaven."</p> + +<p>"Thou seest that such is not the case," answered the shade, +smiling.</p> + +<p>"I meet thee in truth, O Virgil, among the heroes and sages in +those Elysian<br> + Fields which thou thyself hast described. Thus, contrary to what +several on<br> + earth believe, no one has come to seek thee on the part of Him +who reigns on<br> + high?</p> + +<p>After a rather long silence:</p> + +<p>"I will conceal nought from thee. He sent for me; one of his +messengers, a<br> + simple man, came to say that I was expected, and that, although +I had not been<br> + initiated into their mysteries, in consideration of my prophetic +verses, a<br> + place had been reserved for me among those of the new sect. But +I refused to<br> + accept that invitation; I had no desire to change my lace. I did +so not<br> + because I share the admiration of the Greeks for the Elysian +fields, or<br> + because I taste here those joys which caused Proserpine to lose +the<br> + remembrance of her mother. I never believed much myself in what +I say about<br> + these things in the 'Aeneid.' I was instructed by philosophers +and men of<br> + science and I had a correct foreboding of the truth. Life in +hell is extremely<br> + attenuated; we feel neither pleasure nor pain; we are as if we +were not. The<br> + dead have no existence here except such as the living lend them. +Nevertheless<br> + I prefer to remain here."</p> + +<p>"But what reason didst thou give, O Virgil, for so strange a +refusal?"</p> + +<p>"I gave excellent ones. I said to the messenger of the god +that I did not<br> + deserve the honour he brought me, and that a meaning had been +given to my<br> + verses which they did not bear. In truth I have not in my fourth +Eclogue<br> + betrayed the faith of my ancestors. Some ignorant Jews alone +have interpreted<br> + in favour of a barbarian god a verse which celebrates the return +of the golden<br> + age predicted by the Sibylline oracles. I excused myself then on +the ground<br> + that I could not occupy a place which was destined for me in +error and to<br> + which I recognised that I had no right. Then I alleged my +disposition and my<br> + tastes, which do not accord with the customs of the new +heavens.</p> + +<p>"'I am not unsociable,' said I to this man. 'I have shown in +life a<br> + complaisant and easy disposition, although the extreme +simplicity of my habits<br> + caused me to be suspected of avarice. I kept nothing for myself +alone. My<br> + library was open to all and I have conformed my conduct to that +fine saying of<br> + Euripides, "all ought to be common among friends." Those praises +that seemed<br> + obtrusive when I myself received them became agreeable to me +when addressed to<br> + Varius or to Macer. But at bottom I am rustic and uncultivated. +I take<br> + pleasure in the society of animals; I was so zealous in +observing them and<br> + took so much care of them that I was regarded, not altogether +wrongly, as a<br> + good veterinary surgeon. I am told that the people of thy sect +claim an<br> + immortal soul for themselves, but refuse one to the animals. +That is a piece<br> + of nonsense that makes me doubt their judgment. Perhaps I love +the flocks and<br> + the shepherds a little too much. That would not seem right +amongst you. There<br> + is a maxim to which I endeavour to conform my actions, "Nothing +too much."<br> + More even than my feeble health my philosophy teaches me to use +things with<br> + measure. I am sober; a lettuce and some olives with a drop of +Falernian wine<br> + form all my meals. I have, indeed, to some extent gone with +strange women, but<br> + I have not delayed over long in taverns to watch the young +Syrians dance to<br> + the sound of the crotalum.* But if I have restrained my desires +it was for my<br> + own satisfaction and for the sake of good discipline. To fear +pleasure and to<br> + fly from joy appears to me the worst insult that one can offer +to nature. I am<br> + assured that during their lives certain of the elect of thy god +abstained from<br> + food and avoided women through love of asceticism, and +voluntarily exposed<br> + themselves to useless sufferings. I should be afraid of meeting +those,<br> + criminals whose frenzy horrifies me. A poet must not be asked to +attach<br> + himself too strictly to any scientific or moral doctrine. +Moreover, I am a<br> + Roman, and the Romans, unlike the Greeks, are unable to pursue +profound<br> + speculations in a subtle manner. If they adopt a philosophy it +is above all in<br> + order to derive some practical advantages from it. Siro, who +enjoyed great<br> + renown among us, taught me the system of Epicurus and thus freed +me from vain<br> + terrors and turned me aside from the cruelties to which religion +persuades<br> + ignorant men. I have embraced the views of Pythagoras concerning +the souls of<br> + men and animals, both of which are of divine essence; this +invites us to look<br> + upon ourselves without pride and without shame. I have learnt +from the<br> + Alexandrines how the earth, at first soft and without form, +hardened in<br> + proportion as Nereus withdrew himself from it to dig his humid +dwellings; I<br> + have learned how things were formed insensibly; in what manner +the rains,<br> + falling from the burdened clouds, nourished the silent forests, +and by what<br> + progress a few animals at last began to wander over the nameless +mountains. I<br> + could not accustom myself to your cosmogony either, for it seems +to me fitter<br> + for a camel-driver on the Syrian sands than for a disciple of +Aristarchus of<br> + Samos. And what would become of me in the abode of your +beatitude if I did not<br> + find there my friends, my ancestors, my masters, and my gods, +and if it is not<br> + given to me to see Rhea's noble son, or Venus, mother of Aeneas, +with her<br> + winning smile, or Pan, or the young Dryads, or the Sylvans, or +old Silenus,<br> + with his face stained by Aegle's purple mulberries.' These are +the reasons<br> + which I begged that simple man to plead before the successor of +Jupiter."</p> + +<p>* This phrase seems to indicate that, if one is to believe +Macrobius, the<br> + "Copa" is by Virgil.</p> + +<p><br> + "And since then, O great shade, thou hast received no other +messages?"</p> + +<p>"I have received none."</p> + +<p>"To console themselves for thy absence, O Virgil, they have +three poets,<br> + Commodianus, Prudentius, and Fortunatus, who were all three born +in those dark<br> + plays when neither prosody nor grammar were known. But tell me, +O Mantuan,<br> + hast thou never received other intelligence of the God whose +company thou<br> + didst so deliberately refuse?"</p> + +<p>"Never that I remember."</p> + +<p>"Hast thou not told me that I am not the first who descended +alive into these<br> + abodes and presented himself before thee?"</p> + +<p><br> + "Thou dost remind me of it. A century and a half ago, or so it +seems to me (it<br> + is difficult to reckon days and years amid the shades), my +profound peace was<br> + intruded upon by a strange visitor. As I was wandering beneath +the gloomy<br> + foliage that borders the Styx, I saw rising before me a human +form more opaque<br> + and darker than that of the inhabitants of these shores. I +recognised a living<br> + person. He was of high stature, thin, with an aquiline nose, +sharp chin, and<br> + hollow cheeks. His dark eyes shot forth fire; a red hood girt +with a crown of<br> + laurels bound his lean brows. His bones pierced through the +tight brown cloak<br> + that descended to his heels. He saluted me with deference, +tempered by a sort<br> + of fierce pride, and addressed me in a speech more obscure and +incorrect than<br> + that of those Gauls with whom the divine Julius filled both his +legions and<br> + the Curia. At last I understood that he had been born near +Fiesole, in an<br> + ancient Etruscan colony that Sulla had founded on the banks of +the Arno, and<br> + which had prospered; that he had obtained municipal honours, but +that he had<br> + thrown himself vehemently into the sanguinary quarrels which +arose between the<br> + senate, the knights, and the people, that he had been defeated +and banished,<br> + and now he wandered in exile throughout the world. He described +Italy to me as<br> + distracted by more wars and discords than in the time of my +youth, and as<br> + sighing anew for a second Augustus. I pitied his misfortune, +remembering what<br> + I myself had formerly endured.</p> + +<p>"An audacious spirit unceasingly disquieted him, and his mind +harboured great<br> + thoughts, but alas! his rudeness and ignorance displayed the +triumph of<br> + barbarism. He knew neither poetry, nor science, nor even the +tongue of the<br> + Greeks, and he was ignorant, too, of the ancient traditions +concerning the<br> + origin of the world and the nature of the gods. He bravely +repeated fables<br> + which in my time would have brought smiles to the little +children who were not<br> + yet old enough to pay for admission at the baths. The vulgar +easily believe in<br> + monsters. The Etruscans especially peopled hell with demons, +hideous as a sick<br> + man's dreams. That they have not abandoned their childish +imaginings after so<br> + many centuries is explained by the continuation and progress of +ignorance and<br> + misery, but that one of their magistrates whose mind is raised +above the<br> + common level should share these popular illusions and should be +frightened by<br> + the hideous demons that the inhabitants of that country painted +on the walls<br> + of their tombs in the time of Porsena--that is something which +might sadden<br> + even a sage. My Etruscan visitor repeated verses to me which he +had composed<br> + in a new dialect, called by him the vulgar tongue, the sense of +which I could<br> + not understand. My ears were more surprised than charmed as I +heard him repeat<br> + the same sound three or four times at regular intervals in his +efforts to mark<br> + the rhythm. That artifice did not seem ingenious to me; but it +is not for the<br> + dead to judge of novelties.</p> + +<p>"But I do not reproach this colonist of Sulla, born in an +unhappy time, for<br> + making inharmonious verses or for being, if it be possible, as +bad a poet as<br> + Bavius or Maevius. I have grievances against him which touch me +more closely.<br> + The thing is monstrous and scarcely credible, but when this man +returned to<br> + earth he disseminated the most odious lies about me. He affirmed +in several<br> + passages of his barbarous poems that I had served him as a guide +in the modern<br> + Tartarus, a place I know nothing of. He insolently proclaimed +that I had<br> + spoken of the gods of Rome as false and lying gods, and that I +held as the<br> + true God the present successor of Jupiter. Friend, when thou art +restored to<br> + the kindly light of day and beholdest again thy native land, +contradict those<br> + abominable falsehoods. Say to thy people that the singer of the +pious Aeneas<br> + has never worshipped the god of the Jews. I am assured that his +power is<br> + declining and that his approaching fall is manifested by +undoubted<br> + indications. This news would give me some pleasure if one could +rejoice in<br> + these abodes. where we feel neither fears nor desires."</p> + +<p>He spoke, and with a gesture of farewell he went away. I +beheld his. shade<br> + gliding over the asphodels without bending their stalks. I saw +that it became<br> + fainter and vaguer as it receded farther from me, and it +vanished before it<br> + reached the wood of evergreen laurels. Then I understood the +meaning of the<br> + words, "The dead have no life, but that which the living lend +them," and I<br> + walked slowly through the pale meadow to the gate of horn.</p> + +<p>I affirm that all in this writing is true.*</p> + +<p>* There is in Marbodius's narrative a passage very worthy of +notice, viz.,<br> + that in which the monk of Corrigan describes Dante Alighieri +such as we<br> + picture him to ourselves to-day. The miniatures in a very old +manuscript of<br> + the "Divine Comedy," the "Codex Venetianus," represent the poet +as a little<br> + fat man clad in a short tunic, the skirts of which fall above +his knees. As<br> + for Virgil, he still wears the philosophical beard, in the +wood-engravings of<br> + the sixteenth century.</p> + +<p>One would not have thought either that Marbodius, or even +Virgil, could have<br> + known the Etruscan tombs of Chiusi and Corneto, where, in fact, +there are<br> + horrible and burlesque devils closely resembling those of +Orcagna.<br> + Nevertheless, the authenticity of the "Descent of Marbodius into +Hell" is<br> + indisputable. M. du Clos des Lunes has firmly established it. To +doubt it<br> + would be to doubt palaeography itself.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>VII. SIGNS IN THE MOON</h2> + +<p>At that time, whilst Penguinia was still plunged in ignorance +and barbarism,<br> + Giles Bird-catcher, a Franciscan monk, known by his writings +under the name<br> + Aegidius Aucupis, devoted himself with indefatigable zeal to the +study of<br> + letters and the sciences. He gave his nights to mathematics and +music, which<br> + he called the two adorable sisters, the harmonious daughters of +Number and<br> + Imagination. He was versed in medicine and astrology. He was +suspected of<br> + practising magic, and it seemed true that he wrought +metamorphoses and<br> + discovered hidden things.</p> + +<p><br> + The monks of his convent, finding in his cell Greek books which +they could not<br> + read, imagined them to be conjuring-books, and denounced their +too learned<br> + brother as a wizard. Aegidius Aucupis fled, and reached the +island of Ireland,<br> + where he lived for thirty studious years. He went from monastery +to monastery,<br> + searching for and copying the Greek and Latin manuscripts which +they<br> + contained. He also studied physics and alchemy. He acquired a +universal<br> + knowledge and discovered notable secrets concerning animals, +plants, and<br> + stones. He was found one day in the company of a very beautiful +woman who sang<br> + to her own accompaniment on the lute, and who was afterwards +discovered to be<br> + a machine which he had himself constructed.</p> + +<p>He often crossed the Irish Sea to go into the land of Wales +and to visit the<br> + libraries of the monasteries there. During one of these +crossings, as he<br> + remained during the night on the bridge of the ship, he saw +beneath the waters<br> + two sturgeons swimming side by side. He had very good hearing +and he knew the<br> + language of fishes. Now he heard one of the sturgeons say to the +other:</p> + +<p>"The man in the moon, whom we have often seen carrying fagots +on his<br> + shoulders, has fallen into the sea.</p> + +<p>And the other sturgeon said in its turn:</p> + +<p>"And in the silver disc there will be seen the image of two +lovers kissing<br> + each other on the mouth."</p> + +<p>Some years later, having returned to his native country, +Aegidius Aucupis<br> + found that ancient learning had been restored. Manners had +softened. Men no<br> + longer pursued the nymphs of the fountains, of the woods, and of +the mountains<br> + with their insults. They placed images of the Muses and of the +modest Graces<br> + in their gardens, and they rendered her former honours to the +Goddess with<br> + ambrosial lips, the joy of men and gods. They were becoming +reconciled to<br> + nature. They trampled vain terrors beneath their feet and raised +their eyes to<br> + heaven without fearing, as they formerly did, to read signs of +anger and<br> + threats of damnation in the skies.</p> + +<p>At this spectacle Aegidius Aucupis remembered what the two +sturgeons of the<br> + sea of Erin had foretold.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p> </p> + +<h1>BOOK IV. MODERN TIMES: TRINCO</h1> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>I. MOTHER ROUQUIN</h2> + +<p>Aegidius Aucupis, the Erasmus of the Penguins, was not +mistaken; his age was<br> + an age of free inquiry. But that great man mistook the elegances +of the<br> + humanists for softness of manners, and he did not foresee the +effects that the<br> + awaking of intelligence would have amongst the Penguins. It +brought about the<br> + religious Reformation; Catholics massacred Protestants and +Protestants<br> + massacred Catholics. Such were the first results of liberty of +thought. The<br> + Catholics prevailed in Penguinia. But the spirit of inquiry had +penetrated<br> + among them without their knowing it. They joined reason to +faith, and claimed<br> + that religion had been divested of the superstitious practices +that<br> + dishonoured it, just as in later days the booths that the +cobblers, hucksters,<br> + and dealers in old clothes had built against the walls of the +cathedrals were<br> + cleared away. The word, legend, which at first indicated what +the faithful<br> + ought to read, soon suggested the idea of pious fables and +childish tales.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p><br> + The saints had to suffer from this state of mind. An obscure +canon called<br> + Princeteau, a very austere and crabbed man, designated so great +a number of<br> + them as not worthy of having their days observed, that he was +surnamed the<br> + exposer of the saints. He did not think, for instance, that if +St. Margaret's<br> + prayer were applied as a poultice to a woman in travail that the +pains of<br> + childbirth would be softened.</p> + +<p>Even the venerable patron saint of Penguinia did not escape +his rigid<br> + criticism. This is what he says of her in his "Antiquities of +Alca":</p> + +<p>"Nothing is more uncertain than the history, or even the +existence, of St.<br> + Orberosia. An ancient anonymous annalist, a monk of Dombes, +relates that a<br> + woman called Orberosia was possessed by the devil in a cavern +where, even down<br> + to his own days, the little boys and girls of the village used +to play at a<br> + sort of game representing the devil and the fair Orberosia. He +adds that this<br> + woman became the concubine of a horrible dragon, who ravaged the +country. Such<br> + a statement is hardly credible, but the history of Orberosia, as +it has since<br> + been related, seems hardly more worthy of belief. The life of +that saint by<br> + the Abbot Simplicissimus is three hundred years later than the +pretended<br> + events which it relates and that author shows himself +excessively credulous<br> + and devoid of all critical faculty."</p> + +<p>Suspicion attacked even the supernatural origin of the +Penguins. The historian<br> + Ovidius Capito went so far as to deny the miracle of their +transformation. He<br> + thus begins his "Annals of Penguinia":</p> + +<p>"A dense obscurity envelopes this history, and it would be no +exaggeration to<br> + say that it is a tissue of puerile fables and popular tales. The +Penguins<br> + claim that they are descended from birds who were baptized by +St. Mael and<br> + whom God changed into men at the intercession of that glorious +apostle. They<br> + hold that, situated at first in the frozen ocean, their island, +floating like<br> + Delos, was brought to anchor in these heaven-favoured seas, of +which it is<br> + to-day the queen. I conclude that this myth is a reminiscence of +the ancient<br> + migrations of the Penguins."</p> + +<p>In the following century, which was that of the philosophers, +scepticism<br> + became still more acute. No further evidence of it is needed +than the<br> + following celebrated passage from the "Moral Essay":</p> + +<p>"Arriving we know not from whence (for indeed their origins +are not very<br> + clear), and successively invaded and conquered by four or five +peoples from<br> + the north, south, east, and west, miscegenated, interbred, +amalgamated, and<br> + commingled, the Penguins boast of the purity of their race, and +with justice,<br> + for they have become a pure race. This mixture of all mankind, +red, black,<br> + yellow, and white, round-headed and long-headed, as formed in +the course of<br> + ages a fairly homogeneous human family, and one which is +recognisable by<br> + certain features due to a community of life and customs.</p> + +<p>"This idea that they belong to the best race in the world, and +that they are<br> + its finest family, inspires them with noble pride, indomitable +courage, and a<br> + hatred for the human race.</p> + +<p>"The life of a people is but a succession of miseries, crimes, +and follies.<br> + This is true of the Penguin nation, as of all other nations. +Save for this<br> + exception its history is admirable from beginning to end."</p> + +<p>The two classic ages of the Penguins are too well-known for me +to lay stress<br> + upon them. But what has not been sufficiently noticed is the way +in which the<br> + rationalist theologians such as Canon Princeteau called into +existence the<br> + unbelievers of the succeeding age. The former employed their +reason to destroy<br> + what did not seem to them, essential to their religion; they +only left<br> + untouched the most rigid article of faith. Their intellectual +successors,<br> + being taught by them how to make use of science and reason, +employed them<br> + against whatever beliefs remained. Thus rational theology +engendered natural<br> + philosophy.</p> + +<p>That is why (if I may turn from the Penguins of former days to +the Sovereign<br> + Pontiff, who, to-day governs the universal Church) we cannot +admire too<br> + greatly the wisdom of Pope Pius X. in condemning the study of +exegesis as<br> + contrary to revealed truth, fatal to sound theological doctrine, +and deadly to<br> + the faith. Those clerics who maintain the rights of science in +opposition to<br> + him are pernicious doctors and pestilent teachers, and the +faithful who<br> + approve of them are lacking in either mental or moral +ballast.</p> + +<p>At the end of the age of philosophers, the ancient kingdom of +Penguinia was<br> + utterly destroyed, the king put to death, the privileges of the +nobles<br> + abolished, and a Republic proclaimed in the midst of public +misfortunes and<br> + while a terrible war was raging. The assembly which then +governed Penguinia<br> + ordered all the metal articles contained in the churches to be +melted down.<br> + The patriots even desecrated the tombs of the kings. It is said +that when the<br> + tomb of Draco the Great was opened, that king presented an +appearance as black<br> + as ebony and so majestic that those who profaned his corpse fled +in terror.<br> + According to other accounts, these churlish men insulted him by +putting a pipe<br> + in his mouth and derisively offering him a glass of wine.</p> + +<p>On the seventeenth day of the month of Mayflowers, the shrine +of St.<br> + Orberosia, which had for five hundred years been exposed to the +veneration of<br> + the faithful in the Church of St. Mael, was transported into the +town-hall and<br> + submitted to the examination of a jury of experts appointed by +the<br> + municipality. It was made of gilded copper in shape like the +nave of a church,<br> + entirely covered with enamels and decorated with precious +stones, which latter<br> + were perceived to be false. The chapter in its foresight had +removed the<br> + rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and great balls of rock-crystal, +and had<br> + substituted pieces of glass in their place. It contained only a +little dust<br> + and a piece of old linen, which were thrown into a great fire +that had been<br> + lighted on the Place de Greve to burn the relics of the saints. +The people<br> + danced around it singing patriotic songs.</p> + +<p>From the threshold of their booth, which leant against the +town-hall, a man<br> + called Rouquin and his wife were watching this group of madmen. +Rouquin<br> + clipped dogs and gelded cats; he also frequented the inns. His +wife was a<br> + ragpicker and a bawd, but she had plenty of shrewdness.</p> + +<p>"You see, Rouquin," said she to her man, "they are committing +a sacrilege.<br> + They will repent of it."</p> + +<p>"You know nothing about it, wife," answered Rouquin; "they, +have become<br> + philosophers, and when one is once a philosopher he is a +philosopher for<br> + ever."</p> + +<p>"I tell you, Rouquin, that sooner or later they will regret +what they are<br> + doing to-day. They ill-treat the saints because they have not +helped them<br> + enough, but for all that the quails won't fall ready cooked into +their mouths.<br> + They will soon find themselves as badly off as before, and when +they have put<br> + out their tongues for enough they will become pious again. +Sooner than people<br> + think the day will come when Penguinia will again begin to +honour her blessed<br> + patron. Rouquin, it would be a good thing, in readiness for that +day, if we<br> + kept a handful of ashes and some rags and bones in an old pot in +our lodgings.<br> + We will say that they are the relics of St. Orberosia and that +we have saved<br> + them from the flames at the peril of our lives. I am greatly +mistaken if we<br> + don't get honour and profit out of them. That good action might +be worth a<br> + place from the Cure to sell tapers and hire chairs in the chapel +of St.<br> + Orberosia."</p> + +<p>On that same day Mother Rouquin took home with her a little +ashes and some<br> + bones, and put them in an old jam-pot in her cupboard.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>II. TRINCO</h2> + +<p>The sovereign Nation had taken possession of the lands of the +nobility and<br> + clergy to sell them at a low price to the middle classes and the +peasants. The<br> + middle classes and the peasants thought that the revolution was +a good thing<br> + for acquiring lands and a bad one for retaining them.</p> + +<p>The legislators of the Republic made terrible laws for the +defence of<br> + property, and decreed death to anyone who should propose a +division of wealth.<br> + But that did not avail the Republic. The peasants who had become +proprietors<br> + bethought themselves that though it had made them rich, the +Republic had<br> + nevertheless caused a disturbance to wealth, and they desired a +system more<br> + respectful of private property and more capable of assuring the +permanence of<br> + the new institutions.</p> + +<p><br> + They had not long to wait. The Republic, like Agrippina, bore +her destroyer in<br> + her bosom.</p> + +<p>Having great wars to carry on, it created military forces, and +these were<br> + destined both to save it and to destroy it. Its legislators +thought they could<br> + restrain their generals by the fear of punishment, but if they +sometimes cut<br> + off the heads of unlucky soldiers they could not do the same to +the fortunate<br> + soldiers who obtained over it the advantages of having saved its +existence.</p> + +<p>In the enthusiasm of victory the renovated Penguins delivered +themselves up to<br> + a dragon, more terrible than that of their fables, who, like a +stork amongst<br> + frogs, devoured them for fourteen years with his insatiable +beak.</p> + +<p>Half a century after the reign of the new dragon a young +Maharajah of Malay,<br> + called Djambi, desirous, like the Scythian Anacharsis, of +instructing himself<br> + by travel, visited Penguinia and wrote an interesting account of +his travels.<br> + I transcribe the first page of his account:</p> + +<p>ACCOUNT OF THE TRAVELS OF YOUNG DJAMBI IN PENGUINIA</p> + +<p>After a voyage of ninety days I landed at the vast and +deserted port of the<br> + Penguins and travelled over untilled fields to their ruined +capital.<br> + Surrounded by ramparts and full of barracks and arsenals it had +a martial<br> + though desolate appearance. Feeble and crippled men wandered +proudly through<br> + the streets, wearing old uniforms and carrying rusty +weapons.</p> + +<p>"What do you want?" I was rudely asked at the gate of the city +by a soldier<br> + whose moustaches pointed to the skies.</p> + +<p>"Sir," I answered, "I come as an inquirer to visit this +island."</p> + +<p>"It is not an island," replied the soldier.</p> + +<p>"What!" I exclaimed, "Penguin Island is not an island?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir, it is an insula. It was formerly called an island, +but for a century<br> + it has been decreed that it shall bear the name of insula. It is +the only<br> + insula in the whole universe. Have you a passport?"</p> + +<p>"Here it is."</p> + +<p>"Go and get it signed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."</p> + +<p>A lame guide who conducted me came to a pause in a vast +square.</p> + +<p>"The insula," said he, "has given birth, as you know, to +Trinco, the greatest<br> + genius of the universe, whose statue you see before you. That +obelisk standing<br> + to your right commemorates Trinco's birth; the column that rises +to your left<br> + has Trinco crowned with a diadem upon its summit. You see here +the triumphal<br> + arch dedicated to the glory of Trinco and his family."</p> + +<p>"What extraordinary feat has Trinco performed?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"War."</p> + +<p>"That is nothing extraordinary. We Malayans make war +constantly."</p> + +<p>"That may be, but Trinco is the greatest warrior of all +countries and all<br> + times. There never existed a greater conqueror than he. As you +anchored in our<br> + port you saw to the east a volcanic island called Ampelophoria, +shaped like a<br> + cone, and of small size, but renowned for its wines. And to the +west a larger<br> + island which raises to the sky a long range of sharp teeth; for +this reason it<br> + is called the Dog's Jaws. It is rich in copper mines. We +possessed both before<br> + Trinco's reign and they were the boundaries of our empire. +Trinco extended the<br> + Penguin dominion over the Archipelago of the Turquoises and the +Green<br> + Continent, subdued the gloomy Porpoises, and planted his flag +amid the<br> + icebergs of the Pole and on the burning sands of the African +deserts. He<br> + raised troops in all the countries he conquered, and when his +armies marched<br> + past in the wake of our own light infantry, our island +grenadiers, our<br> + hussars, our dragoons, our artillery, and our engineers there +were to be seen<br> + yellow soldiers looking in their blue armour like crayfish +standing on their<br> + tails; red men with parrots' plumes, tattooed with solar and +Phallic emblems,<br> + and with quivers of poisoned arrows resounding on their backs; +naked blacks<br> + armed only with their teeth and nails; pygmies riding on cranes; +gorillas<br> + carrying trunks of trees and led by an old ape who wore upon his +hairy breast<br> + the cross of the Legion of Honour. And all those troops, led to +Trinco's<br> + banner by the most ardent patriotism, flew on from victory to +victory, and in<br> + thirty years of war Trinco conquered half the known world."</p> + +<p>"What!" cried I, "you possess half of the world."</p> + +<p>"Trinco conquered it for us, and Trinco lost it to us. As +great in his defeats<br> + as in his victories he surrendered all that he had conquered. He +even allowed<br> + those two islands we possessed before his time, Ampelophoria and +the Dog's<br> + Jaws, to be taken from us. He left Penguinia impoverished and +depopulated. The<br> + flower of the insula perished in his wars. At the time of his +fall there were<br> + left in our country none but the hunchbacks and cripples from +whom we are<br> + descended. But he gave us glory."</p> + +<p>"He made you pay dearly for it!"</p> + +<p>"Glory never costs too much," replied my guide.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>III. THE JOURNEY OF DOCTOR OBNUBILE</h2> + +<p>After a succession of amazing vicissitudes, the memory of +which is in great<br> + part lost by the wrongs of time and the bad style of historians, +the Penguins<br> + established the government of the Penguins by themselves. They +elected a diet<br> + or assembly, and invested it with the privilege of naming the +Head of the<br> + State. The latter, chosen from among the simple Penguins, wore +no formidable<br> + monster's crest upon his head and exercised no absolute +authority over the<br> + people. He was himself subject to the laws of the nation. He was +not given the<br> + title of king, and no ordinal number followed his name. He bore +such names as<br> + Paturle, Janvion, Traffaldin, Coquenhot, and Bredouille. These +magistrates did<br> + not make war. They were not suited for that.</p> + +<p><br> + The new state received the name of Public Thing or Republic. Its +partisans<br> + were called republicanists or republicans. They were also named +Thingmongers<br> + and sometimes Scamps, but this latter name was taken in ill +part.</p> + +<p>The Penguin democracy did not itself govern. It obeyed a +financial oligarchy<br> + which formed opinion by means of the newspapers, and held in its +hands the<br> + representatives, the ministers, and the president. It controlled +the finances<br> + of the republic, and directed the foreign affairs of the country +as if it were<br> + possessed of sovereign power.</p> + +<p>Empires and kingdoms in those days kept up enormous fleets. +Penguinia,<br> + compelled to do as they did, sank under the pressure of her +armaments.<br> + Everybody deplored or pretended to deplore so grievous a +necessity. However,<br> + the rich, and those engaged in business or affairs, submitted to +it with a<br> + good heart through a spirit of patriotism, and because they +counted on the<br> + soldiers and sailors to defend their goods at home and to +acquire markets and<br> + territories abroad. The great manufacturers encouraged the +making of cannons<br> + and ships through a zeal for the national defence and in order +to obtain<br> + orders. Among the citizens of middle rank and of the liberal +professions some<br> + resigned themselves to this state of affairs without +complaining, believing<br> + that it would last for ever; others waited impatiently for its +end and thought<br> + they might be able to lead the powers to a simultaneous +disarmament.</p> + +<p>The illustrious Professor Obnubile belonged to this latter +class.</p> + +<p>"War," said he, "is a barbarity to which the progress of +civilization will put<br> + an end. The great democracies are pacific and will soon impose +their will upon<br> + the aristocrats."</p> + +<p>Professor Obnubile, who had for sixty years led a solitary and +retired life in<br> + his laboratory, whither external noises did not penetrate, +resolved to observe<br> + the spirit of the peoples for himself. He began his studies with +the greatest<br> + of all democracies and set sail for New Atlantis.</p> + +<p>After a voyage of fifteen days his steamer entered, during the +night, the<br> + harbour of Titanport, where thousands of ships were anchored. An +iron bridge<br> + thrown across the water and shining with lights, stretched +between two piers<br> + so far apart that Professor Obnubile imagined he was sailing on +the seas of<br> + Saturn and that he saw the marvellous ring which girds the +planet of the Old<br> + Man. And this immense conduit bore upon it more than a quarter +of the wealth<br> + of the world. The learned Penguin, having disembarked, was +waited on by<br> + automatons in a hotel forty-eight stories high. Then he took the +great railway<br> + that led to Gigantopolis, the capital of New Atlantis. In the +train there were<br> + restaurants, gaming-rooms, athletic arenas, telegraphic, +commercial, and<br> + financial offices, a Protestant Church, and the printing-office +of a great<br> + newspaper, which latter the doctor was unable to read, as he did +not know the<br> + language of the New Atlantans. The train passed along the banks +of great<br> + rivers, through manufacturing cities which concealed the sky +with the smoke<br> + from their chimneys, towns black in the day, towns red at night, +full of noise<br> + by day and full of noise also by night.</p> + +<p>"Here," thought the doctor, "is a people far too much engaged +in industry and<br> + trade to make war. I am already certain that the New Atlantans +pursue a policy<br> + of peace. For it is an axiom admitted by all economists that +peace without and<br> + peace within are necessary for the progress of commerce and +industry."</p> + +<p>As he surveyed Gigantopolis, he was confirmed in this opinion. +People went<br> + through the streets so swiftly propelled by hurry that they +knocked down all<br> + who were in their way. Obnubile was thrown down several times, +but soon<br> + succeeded in learning how to demean himself better; after an +hour's walking he<br> + himself knocked down an Atlantan.</p> + +<p>Having reached a great square he saw the portico of a palace +in the Classic<br> + style, whose Corinthian columns reared their capitals of +arborescent acanthus<br> + seventy metres above the stylobate.</p> + +<p>As he stood with his head thrown back admiring the building, a +man of modest<br> + appearance approached him and said in Penguin:</p> + +<p>"I see by your dress that you are from Penguinia. I know your +language; I am a<br> + sworn interpreter. This is the Parliament palace. At the present +moment the<br> + representatives of the States are in deliberation. Would you +like to be<br> + present at the sitting?"</p> + +<p>The doctor was brought into the hall and cast his looks upon +the crowd of<br> + legislators who were sitting on cane chairs with their feet upon +their desks.</p> + +<p>The president arose and, in the midst of general inattention, +muttered rather<br> + than spoke the following formulas which the interpreter +immediately translated<br> + to the doctor.</p> + +<p>"The war for the opening of the Mongol markets being ended to +the satisfaction<br> + of the States, I propose that the accounts be laid before the +finance<br> + committee . . . ."</p> + +<p>"Is there any opposition? . . ."</p> + +<p>"The proposal is carried."</p> + +<p>"The war for the opening of the markets of Third-Zealand being +ended to the<br> + satisfaction of the States, I propose that the accounts be laid +before the<br> + finance committee. . . ."</p> + +<p>"Is there any opposition? . . ."</p> + +<p>"The proposal is carried."</p> + +<p>"Have I heard aright?" asked Professor Obnubile. "What? you an +industrial<br> + people and engaged in all these wars!"</p> + +<p>"Certainly," answered the interpreter, "these are industrial +wars. Peoples who<br> + have neither commerce nor industry are not obliged to make war, +but a business<br> + people is forced to adopt a policy of conquest. The number of +wars necessarily<br> + increases with our productive activity. As soon as one of our +industries fails<br> + to find a market for its products a war is necessary to open new +outlets. It<br> + is in this way we have had a coal war, a copper war, and a +cotton war. In<br> + Third-Zealand we have killed two-thirds of the inhabitants in +order to compel<br> + the remainder to buy our umbrellas and braces."</p> + +<p>At that moment a fat man who was sitting in the middle of the +assembly<br> + ascended the tribune.</p> + +<p>"I claim," said he, "a war against the Emerald Republic, which +insolently<br> + contends with our pigs for the hegemony of hams and sauces in +all the markets<br> + of the universe."</p> + +<p>"Who is that legislator?" asked Doctor Obnubile.</p> + +<p>"He is a pig merchant."</p> + +<p>"Is there any opposition?" said the President. "I put the +proposition to the<br> + vote."</p> + +<p>The war against the Emerald Republic was voted with uplifted +hands by a very<br> + large majority.</p> + +<p>"What?" said Obnubile to the interpreter; "you have voted a +war with that<br> + rapidity and that indifference!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! it is an unimportant war which will hardly cost eight +million dollars."</p> + +<p>"And men . . ."</p> + +<p>"The men are included in the eight million dollars."</p> + +<p>Then Doctor Obnubile bent his head in bitter reflection.</p> + +<p>"Since wealth and civilization admit of as many causes of wars +as poverty and<br> + barbarism, since the folly and wickedness of men are incurable, +there remains<br> + but one good action to be done. The wise man will collect enough +dynamite to<br> + blow up this planet. When its fragments fly through space an +imperceptible<br> + amelioration will be accomplished in the universe and a +satisfaction will be<br> + given to the universal conscience. Moreover, this universal +conscience does<br> + not exist."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h1>BOOK V. MODERN TIMES: CHATILLON</h1> + +<h1> </h1> + +<h2>I. THE REVEREND FATHERS AGARIC AND CORNEMUSE</h2> + +<p>Every system of government produces people who are +dissatisfied. The Republic<br> + or Public Thing produced them at first from among the nobles who +had been<br> + despoiled of their ancient privileges. These looked with regret +and hope to<br> + Prince Crucho, the last of the Draconides, a prince adorned both +with the<br> + grace of youth and the melancholy of exile. It also produced +them from among<br> + the smaller traders, who, owing to profound economic causes, no +longer gained<br> + a livelihood. They believed that this was the fault of the +republic which they<br> + had at first adored and from which each day they were now +becoming more<br> + detached. The financiers, both Christians and Jews, became by +their insolence<br> + and their cupidity the scourge of the country, which they +plundered and<br> + degraded, as well as the scandal of a government which they +never troubled<br> + either to destroy or preserve, so confident were they that they +could operate<br> + without hindrance under all governments. Nevertheless, their +sympathies<br> + inclined to absolute power as the best protection against the +socialists,<br> + their puny but ardent adversaries. And just as they imitated the +habits of the<br> + aristocrats, so they imitated their political and religious +sentiments. Their<br> + women, in particular, loved the Prince and had dreams of +appearing one day at<br> + his Court.</p> + +<p><br> + However, the Republic retained some partisans and defenders. If +it was not in<br> + a position to believe in the fidelity of its own officials it +could at least<br> + still count on the devotion of the manual labourers, although it +had never<br> + relieved their misery. These came forth in crowds from their +quarries and<br> + their factories to defend it, and marched in long processions, +gloomy,<br> + emaciated, and sinister. They would have died for it because it +had given them<br> + hope.</p> + +<p>Now, under the Presidency of Theodore Formose, there lived in +a peaceable<br> + suburb of Alca a monk called Agaric, who kept a school and +assisted in<br> + arranging marriages. In his school he taught fencing and riding +to the sons of<br> + old families, illustrious by their birth, but now as destitute +of wealth as of<br> + privilege. And as soon as they were old enough he married them +to the<br> + daughters of the opulent and despised caste of financiers.</p> + +<p>Tall, thin, and dark, Agaric used to walk in deep thought, +with his breviary<br> + in his hand and his brow loaded with care, through the corridors +of the school<br> + and the alleys of the garden. His care was not limited to +inculcating in his<br> + pupils abstruse doctrines and mechanical precepts and to +endowing them<br> + afterwards with legitimate and rich wives. He entertained +political designs<br> + and pursued the realisation of a gigantic plan. His thought of +thoughts and<br> + labour of labours was to overthrow the Republic. He was not +moved to this by<br> + any personal interest. He believed that a democratic state was +opposed to the<br> + holy society to which body and soul he belonged. And all the +other monks, his<br> + brethren, thought the same. The Republic was perpetually at +strife with the<br> + congregation of monks and the assembly of the faithful. True, to +plot the<br> + death of the new government was a difficult and perilous +enterprise. Still,<br> + Agaric was in a position to carry on a formidable conspiracy. At +that epoch,<br> + when the clergy guided the superior classes of the Penguins, +this monk<br> + exercised a tremendous influence over the aristocracy of +Alca.</p> + +<p>All the young men whom he had brought up waited only for a +favourable moment<br> + to march against the popular power. The sons of the ancient +families did not<br> + practise the arts or engage in business. They were almost all +soldiers and<br> + served the Republic. They served it, but they did not love it; +they regretted<br> + the dragon's crest. And the fair Jewesses shared in these +regrets in order<br> + that they might be taken for Christians.</p> + +<p>One July as he was walking in a suburban street which ended in +some dusty<br> + fields, Agaric heard groans coming from a moss-grown well that +had been<br> + abandoned by the gardeners. And almost immediately he was told +by a cobbler of<br> + the neighbourhood that a ragged man who had shouted out "Hurrah +for the<br> + Republic!" had been thrown into the well by some cavalry +officers who were<br> + passing, and had sunk up to his ears in the mud. Agaric was +quite ready to see<br> + a general significance in this particular fact. He inferred a +great<br> + fermentation in the whole aristocratic and military caste, and +concluded that<br> + it was the moment to act.</p> + +<p>The next day he went to the end of the Wood of Conils to visit +the good Father<br> + Cornemuse. He found the monk in his laboratory pouring a +golden-coloured<br> + liquor into a still. He was a short, fat, little man, with +vermilion-tinted<br> + cheeks and an elaborately polished bald head. His eyes had +ruby-coloured<br> + pupils like a guinea-pig's. He graciously saluted his visitor +and offered him<br> + a glass of the St. Orberosian liqueur, which he manufactured, +and from the<br> + sale of which he gained immense wealth.</p> + +<p>Agaric made a gesture of refusal. Then, standing on his long +feet and pressing<br> + his melancholy hat against his stomach, he remained silent.</p> + +<p>"Take a seat," said Cornemuse to him.</p> + +<p>Agaric sat down on a rickety stool, but continued mute.</p> + +<p>Then the monk of Conils inquired:</p> + +<p>"Tell me some news of your young pupils. Have the dear +children sound views?"</p> + +<p>"I am very satisfied with them," answered the teacher. "It is +everything to be<br> + nurtured in sound principles. It is necessary to have sound +views before<br> + having any views at all, for afterwards it is too late. . . . +Yes, I have<br> + great grounds for comfort. But we live in a sad age."</p> + +<p>"Alas!" sighed Cornemuse.</p> + +<p>"We are passing through evil days. . . ."</p> + +<p>"Times of trial."</p> + +<p>"Yet, Cornemuse, the mind of the public is not so entirely +corrupted as it<br> + seems."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you are right."</p> + +<p>"The people are tired of a government that ruins them and does +nothing for<br> + them. Every day fresh scandals spring up. The Republic is sunk +in shame. It is<br> + ruined."</p> + +<p>"May God grant it!"</p> + +<p>"Cornemuse, what do you think of Prince Crucho?"</p> + +<p>"He is an amiable young man and, I dare say, a worthy scion of +an august<br> + stock. I pity him for having to endure the pains of exile at so +early an age.<br> + Spring has no flowers for the exile, and autumn no fruits. +Prince Crucho has<br> + sound views; he respects the clergy; he practises our religion; +besides, he<br> + consumes a good deal of my little products."</p> + +<p>"Cornemuse, in many homes, both rich and poor, his return is +hoped for.<br> + Believe me, he will come back."</p> + +<p>"May I live to throw my mantle beneath his feet!" sighed +Cornemuse.</p> + +<p>Seeing that he held these sentiments, Agaric depicted to him +the state of<br> + people's minds such as he himself imagined them. He showed him +the nobles and<br> + the rich exasperated against the popular government; the army +refusing to<br> + endure fresh insults; the officials willing to betray their +chiefs; the people<br> + discontented, riot ready to burst forth, and the enemies of the +monks, the<br> + agents of the constituted authority, thrown into the wells of +Alca. He<br> + concluded that it was the moment to strike a great blow.</p> + +<p>"We can," he cried, "save the Penguin people, we can deliver +it from its<br> + tyrants, deliver it from itself, restore the Dragon's crest, +re-establish the<br> + ancient State, the good State, for the honour of the faith and +the exaltation<br> + of the Church. We can do this if we will. We possess great +wealth and we exert<br> + secret influences; by our evangelistic and outspoken journals we +communicate<br> + with all the ecclesiastics in towns and county alike, and we +inspire them with<br> + our own eager enthusiasm and our own burning faith. They will +kindle their<br> + penitents and their congregations. I can dispose of the chiefs +of the army; I<br> + have an understanding with the men of the people. Unknown to +them I sway the<br> + minds of umbrella sellers, publicans, shopmen, gutter merchants, +newspaper<br> + boys, women of the streets, and police agents. We have more +people on our side<br> + than we need. What are we waiting for? Let us act!"</p> + +<p>"What do you think of doing?" asked Cornemuse.</p> + +<p>"Of forming a vast conspiracy and overthrowing the Republic, +of<br> + re-establishing Crucho on the throne of the Draconides."</p> + +<p>Cornemuse moistened his lips with his tongue several times. +Then he said with<br> + unction:</p> + +<p>"Certainly the restoration of the Draconides is desirable; it +is eminently<br> + desirable; and for my part, desire it with all my heart. As for +the Republic,<br> + you know what I think of it. . . . But would it not te better to +abandon it to<br> + its fate and let it die of the vices of its own constitution? +Doubtless,<br> + Agaric, what you propose is noble and generous. It would be a +fine thing to<br> + save this great and unhappy country, to re-establish it in its +ancient<br> + splendour. But reflect on it, we are Christians before we are +Penguins. And we<br> + must take heed not to compromise religion in political +enterprises."</p> + +<p>Agaric replied eagerly:</p> + +<p>"Fear nothing. We shall hold all the threads of the plot, but +we ourselves<br> + shall remain in the background. We shall not be seen."</p> + +<p>"Like flies in milk," murmured the monk of Conils.</p> + +<p>And turning his keen ruby-coloured eyes towards his brother +monk:</p> + +<p>"Take care. Perhaps the Republic is stronger than it seems. +Possibly, too, by<br> + dragging it out of the nerveless inertia in which it now rests +we may only<br> + consolidate its forces. Its malice is great; if we attack it, it +will defend<br> + itself. It makes bad laws which hardly affect us; if it is +frightened it will<br> + make terrible ones against us. Let us not lightly engage in an +adventure in<br> + which we may get fleeced. You think the opportunity a good one. +I don't, and I<br> + am going to tell you why. The present government is not yet +known by<br> + everybody, that is to say, it is known by nobody. It proclaims +that it is the<br> + Public Thing, the common thing. The populace believes it and +remains<br> + democratic and Republican. But patience! This same people will +one day demand<br> + that the public thing be the people's thing. I need not tell you +how insolent,<br> + unregulated, and contrary to Scriptural polity such claims seem +to me. But the<br> + people will make them, and enforce them, and then there will be +an end of the<br> + present government. The moment cannot now be far distant; and it +is then that<br> + we ought to act in the interests of our august body. Let us +wait. What hurries<br> + us? Our existence is not in peril. It has not been rendered +absolutely<br> + intolerable to us. The Republic fails in respect and submission +to us; it does<br> + not give the priests the honours it owes them. But it lets us +live. And such<br> + is the excellence of our position that with us to live is to +prosper. The<br> + Republic is hostile to us, but women revere us. President +Formose does not<br> + assist at the celebration of our mysteries, but I have seen his +wife and<br> + daughters at my feet. They buy my phials by the gross. I have no +better<br> + clients even among the aristocracy. Let us say what there is to +be said for<br> + it. There is no country in the world as good for priests and +monks as<br> + Penguinia. In what other country would you find our virgin wax, +our virile<br> + incense, our rosaries, our scapulars, our holy water, and our +St. Orberosian<br> + liqueur sold in such great quantities? What other people would, +like the<br> + Penguins, give a hundred golden crowns for a wave of our hands, +a sound from<br> + our mouths, a movement of our lips? For my part, I gain a +thousand times more,<br> + in this pleasant, faithful, and docile Penguinia, by extracting +the essence<br> + from a bundle of thyme, than I could make by tiring my lungs +with preaching<br> + the remission of sins in the most populous states of Europe and +America.<br> + Honestly, would Penguinia be better off if a police officer came +to take me<br> + away from here and put me on a steamboat bound for the Islands +of Night?"</p> + +<p>Having thus spoken, the monk of Conils got up and led his +guest into a huge<br> + shed where hundreds of orphans clothed in blue were packing +bottles, nailing<br> + up cases, and gumming tickets. The ear was deafened by the noise +of hammers<br> + mingled with the dull rumbling of bales being placed upon the +rails.</p> + +<p>"It is from here that consignments are forwarded," said +Cornemuse. "I have<br> + obtained from the government a railway through the Wood and a +station at my<br> + door. Every three days I fill a truck with my own products. You +see that the<br> + Republic has not killed all beliefs."</p> + +<p>Agaric made a last effort to engage the wise distiller in his +enterprise. He<br> + pointed him to a prompt, certain, dazzling success.</p> + +<p>"Don't you wish to share in it?" he added. "Don't you wish to +bring back your<br> + king from exile?"</p> + +<p>"Exile is pleasant to men of good will," answered the monk of +Conils. "If you<br> + are guided by me, my dear Brother Agaric, you will give up your +project for<br> + the present. For my own part I have no illusions. Whether or not +I belong to<br> + your party, if you lose, I shall have to pay like you."</p> + +<p>Father Agaric took leave of his friend and went back satisfied +to his school.<br> + "Cornemuse," thought he, "not being able to prevent the plot, +would like to<br> + make it succeed and he will give money." Agaric was not +deceived. Such,<br> + indeed, was the solidarity among priests and monks that the acts +of a single<br> + one bound them all. That was at once both their strength and +their weakness.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>V. PRINCE CRUCHO</h2> + +<p>Agaric resolved to proceed without delay to Prince Crucho, who +honoured him<br> + with his familiarity. In the dusk of the evening he went out of +his school by<br> + the side door, disguised as a cattle merchant and took passage +on board the<br> + St. Mael.</p> + +<p>The next day he landed in Porpoisea, for it was at +Chitterlings Castle on this<br> + hospitable soil that Crucho ate the bitter bread of exile.</p> + +<p><br> + Agaric met the Prince on the road driving in a motor-car with +two young ladies<br> + at the rate of a hundred miles an hour. When the monk saw him he +shook his red<br> + umbrella and the prince stopped his car.</p> + +<p>"Is it you, Agaric? Get in! There are already three of us, but +we can make<br> + room for you. You can take one of these young ladies on your +knee."</p> + +<p>The pious Agaric got in.</p> + +<p>"What news, worthy father?" asked the young prince.</p> + +<p>"Great news," answered Agaric. "Can I speak?"</p> + +<p>"You can. I have nothing secret from these two ladies."</p> + +<p>"Sire, Penguinia claims you. You will not be deaf to her +call."</p> + +<p>Agaric described the state of feeling and outlined a vast +plot.</p> + +<p>"On my first signal," said he, "all your partisans will rise +at once. With<br> + cross in hand and habits girded up, your venerable clergy will +lead the armed<br> + crowd into Formose's palace. We shall carry terror and death +among your<br> + enemies. For a reward of our efforts we only ask of you, Sire, +that you will<br> + not render them useless. We entreat you to come and seat +yourself on the<br> + throne that we shall prepare."</p> + +<p>The prince returned a simple answer:</p> + +<p>"I shall enter Alca on a green horse."</p> + +<p>Agaric declared that he accepted this manly response. +Although, contrary to<br> + his custom, he had a lady on his knee, he adjured the young +prince, with a<br> + sublime loftiness of soul, to be faithful to his royal +duties.</p> + +<p>"Sire," he cried, with tears in his eyes, "you will live to +remember the day<br> + on which you have been restored from exile, given back to your +people,<br> + reestablished on the throne of your ancestors by the hands of +your monks, and<br> + crowned by them with the august crest of the Dragon. King +Crucho, may you<br> + equal the glory of your ancestor Draco the Great!"</p> + +<p>The young prince threw himself with emotion on his restorer +and attempted to<br> + embrace him, but he was prevented from reaching him by the girth +of the two<br> + ladies, so tightly packed were they all in that historic +carriage.</p> + +<p>"Worthy father," said he, "I would like all Penguinia to +witness this<br> + embrace."</p> + +<p>"It would be a cheering spectacle," said Agaric.</p> + +<p>In the mean time the motor-car rushed like a tornado through +hamlets and<br> + villages, crushing hens, geese, turkeys, ducks, guinea-fowls, +cats, dogs,<br> + pigs, children, labourers, and women beneath its insatiable +tyres. And the<br> + pious Agaric turned over his great designs in his mind. His +voice, coming from<br> + behind one of the ladies, expressed this thought:</p> + +<p>"We must have money, a great deal of money."</p> + +<p>"That is your business," answered the prince.</p> + +<p>But already the park gates were opening to the formidable +motor-car.</p> + +<p>The dinner was sumptuous. They toasted the Dragon's crest. +Everybody knows<br> + that a closed goblet is a sign of sovereignty; so Prince Crucho +and Princess<br> + Gudrune, his wife, drank out of goblets that were covered-over +like ciboriums.<br> + The prince had his filled several times with the wines of +Penguinia, both<br> + white and red.</p> + +<p>Crucho had received a truly princely education, and he +excelled in motoring,<br> + but was not ignorant of history either. He was said to be well +versed in the<br> + antiquities and famous deeds of his family; and, indeed, he gave +a notable<br> + proof of his knowledge in this respect. As they were speaking of +the various<br> + remarkable peculiarities that had been noticed in famous +women,</p> + +<p>"It is perfectly true," said he, "that Queen Crucha, whose +name I bear, had<br> + the mark of a little monkey's head upon her body."</p> + +<p>During the evening Agaric had a decisive interview with three +of the prince's<br> + oldest councillors. It was decided to ask for funds from +Crucho's<br> + father-in-law, as he was anxious to have a king for son-in-law, +from several<br> + Jewish ladies, who were impatient to become ennobled, and, +finally, from the<br> + Prince Regent of the Porpoises, who had promised his aid to the +Draconides,<br> + thinking that by Crucho's restoration he would weaken the +Penguins, the<br> + hereditary enemies of his people. The three old councillors +divided among<br> + themselves the three chief offices of the Court, those of +Chamberlain,<br> + Seneschal, and High Steward, and authorised the monk to +distribute the other<br> + places to the prince's best advantage.</p> + +<p>"Devotion has to be rewarded," said the three old +councillors.</p> + +<p>"And treachery also," said Agaric.</p> + +<p>"It is but too true," replied one of them, the Marquis of +Sevenwounds, who had<br> + experience of revolutions.</p> + +<p>There was dancing, and after the ball Princess Gudrune tore up +her green robe<br> + to make cockades. With her own hands she sewed a piece of it on +the monk's<br> + breast, upon which he shed tears of sensibility and +gratitude.</p> + +<p>M. de Plume, the prince's equerry, set out the same evening to +look for a<br> + green horse.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>III. THE CABAL</h2> + +<p>After his return to the capital of Penguinia, the Reverend +Father Agaric<br> + disclosed his projects to Prince Adelestan des Boscenos, of +whose Draconian<br> + sentiments he was well aware.</p> + +<p>The prince belonged to the highest nobility. The Torticol des +Boscenos went<br> + back to Brian the Good, and under the Draconides had held the +highest offices<br> + in the kingdom. In 1179, Philip Torticol, High Admiral of +Penguinia, a brave,<br> + faithful, and generous, but vindictive man, delivered over the +port of La<br> + Crique and the Penguin fleet to the enemies of the kingdom, +because he<br> + suspected that Queen Crucha, whose lover he was, had been +unfaithful to him<br> + and loved a stable-boy. It was that great queen who gave to the +Boscenos the<br> + silver warming-pan which they bear in their arms. As for their +motto, it only<br> + goes back to the sixteenth century. The story of its origin is +as follows: One<br> + gala night, as he mingled with the crowd of courtiers who were +watching the<br> + fire-works in the king's garden, Duke John des Boscenos +approached the Duchess<br> + of Skull and put his hand under the petticoat of that lady, who +made no<br> + complaint at the gesture. The king, happening to pass, surprised +them and<br> + contented himself with saying, "And thus I find you." These four +words became<br> + the motto of the Boscenos.</p> + +<p><br> + Prince Adelestan had not degenerated from his ancestors. He +preserved an<br> + unalterable fidelity for the race of the Draconides and desired +nothing so<br> + much as the restoration of Prince Crucho, an event which was in +his eyes to be<br> + the fore-runner of the restoration of his own fortune. He +therefore readily<br> + entered into the Reverend Father Agaric's plans. He joined +himself at once to<br> + the monk's projects, and hastened to put him into communication +with the most<br> + loyal Royalists of his acquaintance, Count Clena, M. de La +Trumelle, Viscount<br> + Olive, and M. Bigourd. They met together one night in the Duke +of Ampoule's<br> + country house, six miles eastward of Alca, to consider ways and +means.</p> + +<p>M. de La Trumelle was in favour of legal action.</p> + +<p>"We ought to keep within the law," said he in substance. "We +are for order. It<br> + is by an untiring propaganda that we shall best pursue the +realisation of our<br> + hopes. We must change the feeling of the country. Our cause will +conquer<br> + because it is just."</p> + +<p>The Prince des Boscenos expressed a contrary opinion. He +thought that, in<br> + order to triumph, just causes need force quite as much and even +more than<br> + unjust causes require it.</p> + +<p>"In the present situation," said he tranquilly, "three methods +of action<br> + present themselves: to hire the butcher boys, to corrupt the +ministers, and to<br> + kidnap President Formose."</p> + +<p>"It would be a mistake to kidnap Formose," objected M. de La +Trumelle. "The<br> + President is on our side."</p> + +<p>The attitude and sentiments of the President of the Republic +are explained by<br> + the fact that one Dracophil proposed to seize Formose while +another Dracophil<br> + regarded him as a friend. Formose showed himself favourable to +the Royalists,<br> + whose habits he admired and imitated. If he smiled at the +mention of the<br> + Dragon's crest it was at the thought of putting it on his own +head. He was<br> + envious of sovereign power, not because he felt himself capable +of exercising<br> + it, but because he loved to appear so. According to the +expression of a<br> + Penguin chronicler, "he was a goose."</p> + +<p>Prince des Boscenos maintained his proposal to march against +Formose's palace<br> + and the House of Parliament.</p> + +<p>Count Clena was even still more energetic.</p> + +<p>"Let us begin," said he, "by slaughtering, disembowelling, and +braining the<br> + Republicans and all partisans of the government. Afterwards we +shall see what<br> + more need be done."</p> + +<p>M. de La Trumelle was a moderate, and moderates are always +moderately opposed<br> + to violence. He recognised that Count Clena's policy was +inspired by a noble<br> + feeling and that it was high-minded, but he timidly objected +that perhaps it<br> + was not conformable to principle, and that it presented certain +dangers. At<br> + last he consented to discuss it.</p> + +<p>"I propose," added he, "to draw up an appeal to the people. +Let us show who we<br> + are. For my own part I can assure you that I shall not hide my +flag in my<br> + pocket."</p> + +<p>M. Bigourd began to speak.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen, the Penguins are dissatisfied with the new order +because it<br> + exists, and it is natural for men to complain of their +condition. But at the<br> + same time the Penguins are afraid to change their government +because new<br> + things alarm them. They have not known the Dragon's crest and, +although they<br> + sometimes say that they regret it, we must not believe them. It +is easy to see<br> + that they speak in this way either without thought or because +they are in an<br> + ill-temper. Let us not have any illusions about their feelings +towards<br> + ourselves. They do not like us. They hate the aristocracy both +from a base<br> + envy and from a generous love of equality. And these two united +feelings are<br> + very strong in a people. Public opinion is not against us, +because it knows<br> + nothing about us. But when it knows what we want it will not +follow us. If we<br> + let it be seen that we wish to destroy democratic government and +restore the<br> + Dragon's crest, who will be our partisans? Only the butcher-boys +and the<br> + little shopkeepers of Alca. And could we even count on them to +the end? They<br> + are dissatisfied, but at the bottom of their hearts they are +Republicans. They<br> + are more anxious to sell their cursed wares than to see Crucho +again. If we<br> + act openly we shall only cause alarm.</p> + +<p>"To make people sympathise with us and follow us we must make +them believe<br> + that we want, not to overthrow the Republic, but, on the +contrary, to restore<br> + it, to cleanse, to purify, to embellish, to adorn, to beautify, +and to<br> + ornament it, to render it, in a word, glorious and attractive. +Therefore, we<br> + ought not to act openly ourselves. It is known that we are not +favourable to<br> + the present order. We must have recourse to a friend of the +Republic, and, if<br> + we are to do what is best, to a defender of this government. We +have plenty to<br> + choose from. It would be well to prefer the most popular and, if +I dare say<br> + so, the most republican of them. We shall win him over to us by +flattery, by<br> + presents, and above all by promises. Promises cost less than +presents, and are<br> + worth more. No one gives as much as he who gives hopes. It is +not necessary<br> + for the man we choose to be of brilliant intellect. I would even +prefer him to<br> + be of no great ability. Stupid people show an inimitable grace +in roguery. Be<br> + guided by me, gentlemen, and overthrow the Republic by the +agency of a<br> + Republican. Let us be prudent. But prudence does not exclude +energy. If you<br> + need me you will find me at your disposal."</p> + +<p>This speech made a great impression upon those who heard it. +The mind of the<br> + pious Agaric was particularly impressed. But each of them was +anxious to<br> + appoint himself to a position of honour and profit. A secret +government was<br> + organised of which all those present were elected active +members. The Duke of<br> + Ampoule, who was the great financier of the party, was chosen +treasurer and<br> + charged with organising funds for the propaganda.</p> + +<p>The meeting was on the point of coming to an end when a rough +voice was heard<br> + singing an old air:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>Boscenos est un gros cochon;<br> + On en va faire des andouilles<br> + Des saucisses et du jambon<br> + Pour le reveillon des pauv' bougres.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>It had, for two hundred years, been a well-known song in the +slums of Alca.<br> + Prince Boscenos did not like to hear it. He went down into the +street, and,<br> + perceiving that the singer was a workman who was placing some +slates on the<br> + roof of a church, he politely asked him to sing something +else.</p> + +<p><br> + "I will sing what I like," answered the man.</p> + +<p>"My friend, to please me. . . ."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to please you."</p> + +<p>Prince Boscenos was as a rule good-tempered, but he was easily +angered and a<br> + man of great strength.</p> + +<p>"Fellow, come down or I will go up to you," cried he, in a +terrible voice.</p> + +<p>As the workman, astride on his coping, showed no sign of +budging, the prince<br> + climbed quickly up the staircase of the tower and attacked the +singer. He gave<br> + him a blow that broke his jaw-bone and sent him rolling into a +water-spout. At<br> + that moment seven or eight carpenters, who were working on the +rafters, heard<br> + their companion's cry and looked through the window. Seeing the +prince on the<br> + coping they climbed along a ladder that was leaning on the +slates and reached<br> + him just as he was slipping into the tower. They sent him, head +foremost, down<br> + the one hundred and thirty-seven steps of the spiral +staircase.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>IV. VISCOUNTESS OLIVE</h2> + +<p>The Penguins had the finest army in the world. So had the +Porpoises. And it<br> + was the same with the other nations of Europe. The smallest +amount of thought<br> + will prevent any surprise at this. For all armies are the finest +in the world.<br> + The second finest army, if one could exist, would be in a +notoriously inferior<br> + position; it would be certain to be beaten. It ought to be +disbanded at once.<br> + Therefore, all armies are the finest in the world. In France the +illustrious<br> + Colonel Marchand understood this when, before the passage of the +Yalou, being<br> + questioned by some journalists about the Russo-Japanese war, he +did not<br> + hesitate to describe the Russian army as the finest in the +world, and also the<br> + Japanese. And it should be noticed that even after suffering the +most terrible<br> + reverses an army does not fall from its position of being the +finest in the<br> + world. For if nations ascribe their victories to the ability of +their generals<br> + and the courage of their soldiers, they always attribute their +defeats to an<br> + inexplicable fatality. On the other hand, navies are classed +according to the<br> + number of their ships. There is a first, a second, a third, and +so on. So that<br> + there exists no doubt as to the result of naval wars.</p> + +<p><br> + The Penguins had the finest army and the second navy in the +world. This navy<br> + was commanded by the famous Chatillon, who bore the title of +Emiralbahr, and<br> + by abbreviation Emiral. It is the same word which, unfortunately +in a corrupt<br> + form, is used to-day among several European nations to designate +the highest<br> + grade in the naval service. But as there was but one Emiral +among the<br> + Penguins, a singular prestige, if I dare say so, was attached to +that rank.</p> + +<p>The Emiral did not belong to the nobility. A child of the +people, he was loved<br> + by the people. They were flattered to see a man who sprang from +their own<br> + ranks holding a position of honour. Chatillon was good-looking +and fortune<br> + favoured him. He was not over-addicted to thought. No event ever +disturbed his<br> + serene outlook.</p> + +<p>The Reverend Father Agaric, surrendering to M. Bigourd's +reasons and<br> + recognising that the existing government could only be destroyed +by one of its<br> + defenders, cast his eyes upon Emiral Chatillon. He asked a large +sum of money<br> + from his friend, the Reverend Father Cornemuse, which the latter +handed him<br> + with a sigh. And with this sum he hired six hundred butcher boys +of Alca to<br> + run behind Chatillon's horse and shout, "Hurrah for the Emiral!" +Henceforth<br> + Chatillon could not take a single step without being +cheered.</p> + +<p>Viscountess Olive asked him for a private interview. He +received her at the<br> + Admiralty* in a room decorated with anchors, shells, and +grenades.</p> + +<p>* Or better, Emiralty.</p> + +<p><br> + She was discreetly dressed in greyish blue. A hat trimmed with +roses covered<br> + her pretty, fair hair, Behind her veil her eyes shone like +sapphires. Although<br> + she came of Jewish origin there was no more fashionable woman in +the whole<br> + nobility. She was tall and well shaped; her form was that of the +year, her<br> + figure that of the season.</p> + +<p>"Emiral," said she, in a delightful voice, "I cannot conceal +my emotion from<br> + you. . . . It is very natural . . . before a hero."</p> + +<p>"You are too kind. But tell me, Viscountess, what brings me +the honour of your<br> + visit."</p> + +<p>"For a long time I have been anxious to see you, to speak to +you. . . . So I<br> + very willingly undertook to convey a message to you."</p> + +<p>"Please take a seat."</p> + +<p>"How still it is here."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is quiet enough."</p> + +<p>"You can hear the birds singing."</p> + +<p>"Sit down, then, dear lady."</p> + +<p>And he drew up an arm-chair for her.</p> + +<p>She took a seat with her back to the light.</p> + +<p>"Emiral, I came to bring you a very important message, a +message. . ."</p> + +<p>"Explain."</p> + +<p>"Emiral, have you ever seen Prince Crucho?"</p> + +<p>"Never."</p> + +<p>She sighed.</p> + +<p>"It is a great pity. He would be so delighted to see you! He +esteems and<br> + appreciates you. He has your portrait on his desk beside his +mother's. What a<br> + pity it is he is not better known! He is a charming prince and +so grateful for<br> + what is done for him! He will be a great king. For he will be +king without<br> + doubt. He will come back and sooner than people think. . . . +What I have to<br> + tell you, the message with which I am entrusted, refers +precisely to. . ."</p> + +<p>The Emiral stood up.</p> + +<p>"Not a word more, dear lady. I have the esteem, the confidence +of the<br> + Republic. I will not betray it. And why should I betray it? I am +loaded<br> + honours and dignities."</p> + +<p>"Allow me to tell you, my dear Emiral, that your honours and +dignities are far<br> + from equalling what you deserve. If your services were properly +rewarded, you<br> + would be Emiralissimo and Generalissimo, Commander-in-chief of +the troops both<br> + on land and sea. The Republic is very ungrateful to you."</p> + +<p>"All governments are more or less ungrateful."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but the Republicans are jealous of you. That class of +person is always<br> + afraid of his superiors. They cannot endure the Services. +Everything that has<br> + to do with the navy and the army is odious to them. They are +afraid of you."</p> + +<p>"That is possible."</p> + +<p>"They are wretches; they are ruining the country. Don't you +wish to save<br> + Penguinia?</p> + +<p>"In what way?"</p> + +<p>"By sweeping away all the rascals of the Republic, all the +Republicans."</p> + +<p>"What a proposal to make to me, dear lady!"</p> + +<p>"It is what will certainly be done, if not by you, then by +some one else. The<br> + Generalissimo, to mention him alone, is ready to throw all the +ministers,<br> + deputies, and senators into the sea, and to recall Prince +Crucho."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the rascal, the scoundrel," exclaimed the Emiral.</p> + +<p>"Do to him what he would do to you. The prince will know how +to recognise your<br> + services, He will give you the Constable's sword and a +magnificent grant. I am<br> + commissioned, in the mean time, to hand you a pledge of his +royal friendship."</p> + +<p>As she said these words she drew a green cockade from her +bosom.</p> + +<p>"What is that?" asked the Emiral.</p> + +<p>"It is his colours which Crucho sends you."</p> + +<p>"Be good enough to take them back."</p> + +<p>"So that they may be offered to the Generalissimo who will +accept them! . . .<br> + No, Emiral, let me place them on your glorious breast."</p> + +<p>Chatillon gently repelled the lady. But for some minutes he +thought her<br> + extremely pretty, and he felt this impression still more when +two bare arms<br> + and the rosy palms of two delicate hands touched him lightly. He +yielded<br> + almost immediately. Olive was slow in fastening the ribbon. Then +when it was<br> + done she made a low courtesy and saluted Chatillon with the +title of<br> + Constable.</p> + +<p>"I have been ambitious like my comrades," answered the sailor, +"I don't hide<br> + it, and perhaps I am so still; but u on my word of honour, when +I look at you,<br> + the only, desire I feel is for a cottage and a heart."</p> + +<p>She turned upon him the charming sapphire glances that flashed +from under her<br> + eyelids.</p> + +<p>"That is to be had also . . . what are you doing, Emiral?"</p> + +<p>"I am looking for the heart."</p> + +<p>When she left the Admiralty, the Viscountess went immediately +to the Reverend<br> + Father Agaric to give an account of her visit.</p> + +<p>"You must go to him again, dear lady," said that austere +monk.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>V. THE PRINCE DES BOSCENOS</h2> + +<p>Morning and evening the newspapers that had been bought by the +Dracophils<br> + proclaimed Chatillon's praises and hurled shame and opprobrium +upon the<br> + Ministers of the Republic. Chatillon's portrait was sold through +the streets<br> + of Alca. Those young descendants of Remus who carry plaster +figures on their<br> + heads, offered busts of Chatillon for sale upon the bridges.</p> + +<p>Every evening Chatillon rode upon his white horse round the +Queen's Meadow, a<br> + place frequented by the people of fashion. The Dracophils posted +along the<br> + Emiral's route a crowd of needy Penguins who kept shouting: "It +is Chatillon<br> + we want." The middle classes of Alca conceived a profound +admiration for the<br> + Emiral. Shopwomen murmured: "He is good-looking." Women of +fashion slackened<br> + the speed of their motor-cars and kissed hands to him as they +passed, amidst<br> + the hurrahs of an enthusiastic populace.</p> + +<p><br> + One day, as he went into a tobacco shop, two Penguins who were +putting letters<br> + in the box recognized Chatillon and cried at the top of their +voices: "Hurrah<br> + for the Emiral! Down with the Republicans." All those who were +passing stopped<br> + in front of the shop. Chatillon lighted his cigar before the +eyes of a dense<br> + crowd of frenzied citizens who waved their hats and cheered. The +crowd kept<br> + increasing, and the whole town, singing and marching behind its +hero, went<br> + back with him to the Admiralty.</p> + +<p>The Emiral had an old comrade in arms, Under-Emiral +Vulcanmould, who had<br> + served with great distinction, a man as true as gold and as +loyal as his<br> + sword. Vulcanmould plumed himself on his thoroughgoing +independence and he<br> + went among the partisans of Crucho and the Minister of the +Republic telling<br> + both parties what he thought of them. M. Bigourd maliciously +declared that he<br> + told each party what the other party thought of it. In truth he +had on several<br> + occasions been guilty of regrettable indiscretions, which were +overlooked as<br> + being the freedoms of a soldier who knew nothing of intrigue. +Every morning he<br> + went to see Chatillon, whom he treated with the cordial +roughness of a brother<br> + in arms.</p> + +<p>"Well, old buffer, so you are popular," said he to him. "Your +phiz is sold on<br> + the heads of pipes and on liqueur bottles and every drunkard in +Alca spits out<br> + your name as he rolls in the gutter. . . . Chatillon, the hero +of the<br> + Penguins! Chatillon, defender of the Penguin glory! . . . Who +would have said<br> + it? Who would have thought it?"</p> + +<p>And he laughed with his harsh laugh. Then changing his tone: +"But, joking<br> + aside, are you not a bit surprised at what is happening to +you?"</p> + +<p>"No, indeed," answered Chatillon.</p> + +<p>And out went the honest Vulcanmould, banging the door behind +him.</p> + +<p>In the mean time Chatillon had taken a little flat at number +18 Johannes-Talpa<br> + Street, so that he might receive Viscountess Olive. They met +there every day.<br> + He was desperately in love with her. During his martial and +neptunian life he<br> + had loved crowds of women, red, black, yellow, and white, and +some of them had<br> + been very beautiful. But before he met the Viscountess he did +not know what a<br> + woman really was. When the Viscountess Olive called him her +darling, her dear<br> + darling, he felt in heaven and it seemed to him that the stars +shone in her<br> + hair.</p> + +<p>She would come a little late, and, as she put her ba,q on the +table, she would<br> + ask pensively:</p> + +<p>"Let me sit on your knee."</p> + +<p>And then she would talk of subjects suggested by the pious +Agaric,<br> + interrupting the conversation with sighs and kisses. She would +ask him to<br> + dismiss such and such an officer, to give a command to another, +to send the<br> + squadron here or there. And at the right moment she would +exclaim:</p> + +<p>"How young you are, my dear!"</p> + +<p>And he did whatever she wished, for he was simple, he was +anxious to wear the<br> + Constable's sword, and to receive a large grant; he did not +dislike playing a<br> + double part, he had a vague idea of saving Penguinia, and he was +in love.</p> + +<p>This delightful woman induced him to remove the troops that +were at La Cirque,<br> + the port where Crucho was to land. By this means it was made +certain that<br> + there would be no obstacle to prevent the prince from entering +Penguinia.</p> + +<p>The pious Agaric organised public meetings so as to keep up +the agitation. The<br> + Dracophils held one or two every day in some of the thirty-six +districts of<br> + Alca, and preferably in the poorer quarters. They desired to win +over the<br> + poor, for they are the most numerous. On the fourth of May a +particularly fine<br> + meeting was held in an old cattle-market, situated in the centre +of a populous<br> + suburb filled with housewives sitting on the doorsteps and +children playing in<br> + the gutters. There were present about two thousand people, in +the opinion of<br> + the Republicans, and six thousand according to the reckoning of +the<br> + Dracophils. In the audience was to be seen the flower of Penguin +society,<br> + including Prince and Princess des Boscenos, Count Clena, M. de +La Trumelle, M.<br> + Bigourd, and several rich Jewish ladies.</p> + +<p>The Generalissimo of the national army had come in uniform. He +was cheered.</p> + +<p>The committee had been carefully formed. A man of the people, +a workman, but a<br> + man of sound principles, M. Rauchin, the secretary of the yellow +syndicate,<br> + was asked to preside, supported by Count Clena and M. Michaud, a +butcher.</p> + +<p>The government which Penguinia had freely given itself was +called by such<br> + names as cesspool and drain in several eloquent speeches. But +President<br> + Formose was spared and no mention was made of Crucho or the +priests.</p> + +<p>The meeting was not unanimous. A defender of the modern State +and of the<br> + Republic, a manual labourer, stood up.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," said M. Rauchin, the chairman, "we have told you +that this<br> + meeting would not be unanimous. We are not like our opponents, +we are honest<br> + men. I allow our opponent to speak. Heaven knows what you are +going to hear.<br> + Gentlemen, I beg of you to restrain as long as you can the +expression of your<br> + contempt, your disgust, and your indignation."</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," said the opponent. . . .</p> + +<p>Immediately he was knocked down, trampled beneath the feet of +the indignant<br> + crowd, and his unrecognisable remains thrown out of the +hall.</p> + +<p>The tumult was still resounding when Count Clena ascended the +tribune. Cheers<br> + took the place of groans and when silence was restored the +orator uttered<br> + these words:</p> + +<p>"Comrades, we are going to see whether you have blood in your +veins. What we<br> + have got to do is to slaughter, disembowel, and brain all the +Republicans."</p> + +<p>This speech let loose such a thunder of applause that the old +shed rocked with<br> + it, and a cloud of acrid and thick dust fell from its filthy +walls and<br> + worm-eaten beams and enveloped the audience.</p> + +<p>A resolution was carried vilifying the government and +acclaiming Chatillon.<br> + And the audience departed singing the hymn of the liberator: "It +is Chatillon<br> + we want."</p> + +<p>The only way out of the old market was through a muddy alley +shut in by<br> + omnibus stables and coal sheds. There was no moon and a cold +drizzle was<br> + coming down. The police, who were assembled in great numbers, +blocked the<br> + alley and compelled the Dracophils to disperse in little groups. +These were<br> + the instructions they had received from their chief, who was +anxious to check<br> + the enthusiasm of the excited crowd.</p> + +<p>The Dracophils who were detained in the alley kept marking +time and singing,<br> + "It is Chatillon we want." Soon, becoming impatient of the +delay, the cause of<br> + which they did not know, they began to push those in front of +them. This<br> + movement, propagated along the alley, threw those in front +against the broad<br> + chests of the police. The latter had no hatred for the +Dracophils. In the<br> + bottom of their hearts they liked Chatillon. But it is natural +to resist<br> + aggression and strong men are inclined to make use of their +strength. For<br> + these reasons the police kicked the Dracophils with their +hob-nailed boots. As<br> + a result there were sudden rushes backwards and forwards. +Threats and cries<br> + mingled with the songs.</p> + +<p>"Murder! Murder! . . . It is Chatillon we want! Murder! +Murder!"</p> + +<p>And in the gloomy alley the more prudent kept saying, "Don't +push." Among<br> + these latter, in the darkness, his lofty figure rising above the +moving crowd,<br> + his broad shoulders and robust body noticeable among the +trampled limbs and<br> + crushed sides of the rest, stood the Prince des Boscenos, calm, +immovable, and<br> + placid. Serenely and indulgently he waited. In the mean time, as +the exit was<br> + opened at regular intervals between the ranks of the police, the +pressure of<br> + elbows against the chests of those around the prince diminished +and people<br> + began to breathe again.</p> + +<p>"You see we shall soon be able to go out," said that kindly +giant, with a<br> + pleasant smile. "Time and patience . . ."</p> + +<p>He took a cigar from his case, raised it to his lips and +struck a match.<br> + Suddenly, in the light of the match, he saw Princess Anne, his +wife, clasped<br> + in Count Clena's arms. At this sight he rushed towards them, +striking both<br> + them and those around with his cane. He was disarmed, though not +without<br> + difficulty, but he could not be separated from his opponent. And +whilst the<br> + fainting princess was lifted from arm to arm to her carriage +over the excited<br> + and curious crowd, the two men still fought furiously. Prince +des Boscenos<br> + lost his hat, his eye-glass, his cigar, his necktie, and his +portfolio full of<br> + private letters and political correspondence; he even lost the +miraculous<br> + medals that he had received from the good Father Cornemuse. But +he gave his<br> + opponent so terrible a kick in the stomach that the unfortunate +Count was<br> + knocked through an iron grating and went, head foremost, through +a glass door<br> + and into a coal-shed.</p> + +<p>Attracted by the struggle and the cries of those around, the +police rushed<br> + towards the prince, who furiously resisted them. He stretched +three of them<br> + gasping at his feet and put seven others to flight, with, +respectively, a<br> + broken jaw, a split lip, a nose pouring blood, a fractured +skull, a torn ear,<br> + a dislocated collar-bone, and broken ribs. He fell, however, and +was dragged<br> + bleeding and disfigured, with his clothes in rags, to the +nearest<br> + police-station, where, jumping about and bellowing, he spent the +night.</p> + +<p>At daybreak groups of demonstrators went about the town +singing, "It is<br> + Chatillon we want," and breaking the windows of the houses in +which the<br> + Ministers of the Republic lived.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>VI. THE EMIRAL'S FALL</h2> + +<p>That night marked the culmination of the Dracophil movement. +The Royalists had<br> + no longer any doubt of its triumph. Their chiefs sent +congratulations to<br> + Prince Crucho by wireless telegraphy. Their ladies embroidered +scarves and<br> + slippers for him. M. de Plume had found the green horse.</p> + +<p>The pious Agaric shared the common hope. But he still worked +to win partisans<br> + for the Pretender. They ought, he said, to lay their foundations +upon the<br> + bed-rock.</p> + +<p>With this design he had an interview with three Trade Union +workmen.</p> + +<p>In these times the artisans no longer lived, as in the days of +the Draconides,<br> + under the government of corporations. They were free, but they +had no assured<br> + pay. After having remained isolated from each other for a long +time, without<br> + help and without support, they had formed themselves into +unions. The coffers<br> + of the unions were empty, as it was not the habit of the +unionists to pay<br> + their subscriptions. There were unions numbering thirty thousand +members,<br> + others with a thousand, five hundred, two hundred, and so forth. +Several<br> + numbered two or three members only, or even a few less. But as +the lists of<br> + adherents were not published, it was not easy to distinguish the +great unions<br> + from the small ones.</p> + +<p><br> + After some dark and indirect steps the pious Agaric was put into +communication<br> + in a room in the Moulin de la Galette, with comrades Dagobert, +Tronc, and<br> + Balafille, the secretaries of three unions of which the first +numbered<br> + fourteen members, the second twenty-four, and the third only +one. Agaric<br> + showed extreme cleverness at this interview.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," said he, "you and I have not, in most respects, +the same<br> + political and social views, but there are points in which we may +come to an<br> + understanding. We have a common enemy. The government exploits +you and<br> + despises us. Help us to overthrow it; we will supply you with +the means so far<br> + as we are able, and you can in addition count on our +gratitude."</p> + +<p>"Fork out the tin," said Dagobert.</p> + +<p>The Reverend Father placed on the table a bag which the +distiller of Conils<br> + had given him with tears in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Done!" said the three companions.</p> + +<p>Thus was the solemn compact sealed.</p> + +<p>As soon as the monk had departed, carrying with him the joy of +having won over<br> + the masses to his cause, Dagobert, Tronc, and Balafille whistled +to their<br> + wives, Amelia, Queenie, and Matilda, who were waiting in the +street for the<br> + signal, and all six holding each other's hands, danced around +the bag,<br> + singing:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>J'ai du bon pognon,<br> + Tu n'l'auras pas Chatillon!<br> + Hou! Hou! la calotte!</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>And they ordered a salad-bowl full of warm wine.</p> + +<p>In the evening all six went through the street from stall to +stall singing<br> + their new song. The song became popular, for the detectives +reported that<br> + every day showed an increase of the number of workpeople who +sang through the<br> + slums:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>J'ai du bon pognon;<br> + Tu n'l'auras pas Chatillon!<br> + Hou! Hou! la calotte!</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The Dracophil agitation made no progress in the provinces. The +pious Agaric<br> + sought to find the cause of this, but was unable to discover it +until old<br> + Cornemuse revealed it to him.</p> + +<p><br> + "I have proofs," sighed the monk of Conils, "that the Duke of +Ampoule, the<br> + treasurer of the Dracophils, has brought property in Porpoisia +with the funds<br> + that he received for the propaganda."</p> + +<p>The party wanted money. Prince des Boscenos had lost his +portfolio in a brawl<br> + and he was reduced to painful expedients which were repugnant to +his impetuous<br> + character. The Viscountess Olive was expensive. Cornemuse +advised that the<br> + monthly allowance of that lady should be diminished.</p> + +<p>"She is very useful to us," objected the pious Agaric.</p> + +<p>"Undoubtedly," answered Cornemuse, "but she does us an injury +by ruining us."</p> + +<p>A schism divided the Dracophils. Misunderstandings reigned in +their councils.<br> + Some wished that in accordance with the policy of M. Bigourd and +the pious<br> + Agaric, they should carry on the design of reforming the +Republic. Others,<br> + wearied by their long constraint, had resolved to proclaim the +Dragon's crest<br> + and swore to conquer beneath that sign.</p> + +<p>The latter urged the advantage of a clear situation and the +impossibility of<br> + making a pretence much longer, and in truth, the public began to +see whither<br> + the agitation was tending and that the Emiral's partisans wanted +to destroy<br> + the very foundations of the Republic.</p> + +<p>A report was spread that the prince was to land at La Cirque +and make his<br> + entry into Alca on a green horse.</p> + +<p>These rumours excited the fanatical monks, delighted the poor +nobles,<br> + satisfied the rich Jewish ladies, and put hope in the hearts of +the small<br> + traders. But very few of them were inclined to purchase these +benefits at the<br> + price of a social catastrophe and the overthrow of the public +credit; and<br> + there were fewer still who would have risked their money, their +peace, their<br> + liberty, or a single hour from their pleasures in the business. +On the other<br> + hand, the workmen held themselves ready, as ever, to give a +day's work to the<br> + Republic, and a strong resistance was being formed in the +suburbs.</p> + +<p>"The people are with us," the pious Agaric used to say.</p> + +<p>However, men, women, and children, when leaving their +factories, used to shout<br> + with one voice:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>A bas Chatillon!<br> + Hou! Hou! la calotte!</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>As for the government, it showed the weakness, indecision, +flabbiness, and<br> + heedlessness common to all governments, and from which none has +ever departed<br> + without falling into arbitrariness and violence. In three words +it knew<br> + nothing, wanted nothing, and would do nothing. Formose, shut in +his<br> + presidential palace, remained blind, dumb, deaf, huge, +invisible, wrapped up<br> + in his pride as in an eider-down.</p> + +<p><br> + Count Olive advised the Dracophils to make a last appeal for +funds and to<br> + attempt a great stroke while Alca was still in a ferment.</p> + +<p>An executive committee, which he himself had chosen, decided +to kidnap the<br> + members of the Chamber of Deputies, and considered ways and +means.</p> + +<p>The affair was fixed for the twenty-eighth of July. On that +day the sun rose<br> + radiantly over the city. In front of the legislative palace +women passed to<br> + market with their baskets; hawkers cried their peaches, pears, +and grapes; cab<br> + horses with their noses in their bags munched their hay. Nobody +expected<br> + anything, not because the secret had been kept but because it +met with nothing<br> + but unbelievers. Nobody believed in a revolution, and from this +fact we may<br> + conclude that nobody desired one. About two o'clock the deputies +began to<br> + pass, few and unnoticed, through the side-door of the palace. At +three o'clock<br> + a few groups of badly dressed men had formed. At half past three +black masses<br> + coming from the adjacent streets spread over Revolution Square. +This vast<br> + expanse was soon covered by an ocean of soft hats, and the crowd +of<br> + demonstrators, continually increased by sight-seers, having +crossed the<br> + bridge, struck its dark wave against the walls of the +legislative enclosure.<br> + Cries, murmurs, and songs went up to the impassive sky. "It is +Chatillon we<br> + want!" "Down with the Deputies!" "Down with the Republicans!" +"Death to the<br> + Republicans!" The devoted band of Dracophils, led by Prince des +Boscenos,<br> + struck up the august canticle:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>Vive Crucho,<br> + Vaillant et sage,<br> + Plein de courage<br> + Des le berceau!</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Behind the wall silence alone replied.</p> + +<p>This silence and the absence of guards encouraged and at the +same time<br> + frightened the crowd. Suddenly a formidable voice cried out:</p> + +<p><br> + "Attack!"</p> + +<p>And Prince des Boscenos was seen raising his gigantic form to +the top of the<br> + wall, which was covered with barbs and iron spikes. Behind him +rushed his<br> + companions, and the people followed. Some hammered against the +wall to make<br> + holes in it; others endeavoured to tear down the spikes and to +pull out the<br> + barbs. These defences had given way in places and some of the +invaders had<br> + stripped the wall and were sitting astride on the top. Prince +des Boscenos was<br> + waving an immense green flag. Suddenly the crowd wavered and +from it came a<br> + long cry of terror. The police and the Republican carabineers +issuing out of<br> + all the entrances of the palace formed themselves into a column +beneath the<br> + wall and in a moment it was cleared of its besiegers. After a +long moment of<br> + suspense the noise of arms was heard, and the police charged the +crowd with<br> + fixed bayonets. An instant afterwards and on the deserted square +strewn with<br> + hats and walking-sticks there reigned a sinister silence. Twice +again the<br> + Dracophils attempted to form, twice they were repulsed. The +rising was<br> + conquered. But Prince des Boscenos, standing on the wall of the +hostile<br> + palace, his flag in his hand, still repelled the attack of a +whole brigade. He<br> + knocked down all who approached him. At last he, too, was thrown +down, and<br> + fell on an iron spike, to which he remained hooked, still +clasping the<br> + standard of the Draconides.</p> + +<p>On the following day the Ministers of the Republic and the +Members of<br> + Parliament determined to take energetic measures. In vain, this +time, did<br> + President Formose attempt to evade his responsibilities. The +government<br> + discussed the question of depriving Chatillon of his rank and +dignities and of<br> + indicting him before the High Court as a conspirator, an enemy +of the public<br> + good, a traitor, etc.</p> + +<p>At this news the Emiral's old companions in arms, who the very +evening before<br> + had beset him with their adulations, made no effort to conceal +their joy. But<br> + Chatillon remained popular with the middle classes of Alca and +one still heard<br> + the hymn of the liberator sounding in the streets, "It is +Chatillon we want."</p> + +<p>The Ministers were embarrassed. They intended to indict +Chatillon before the<br> + High Court. But they knew nothing; they remained in that total +ignorance<br> + reserved for those who govern men. They were incapable of +advancing any grave<br> + charges against Chatillon. They could supply the prosecution +with nothing but<br> + the ridiculous lies of their spies. Chatillon's share in the +plot and his<br> + relations with Prince Crucho remained the secret of the thirty +thousand<br> + Dracophils. The Ministers and the Deputies had suspicions and +even<br> + certainties, but they had no proofs. The Public Prosecutor said +to the<br> + Minister of justice: "Very little is needed for a political +prosecution! but I<br> + have nothing at all and that is not enough." The affair made no +progress. The<br> + enemies of the Republic were triumphant.</p> + +<p>On the eighteenth of September the news ran in Alca that +Chatillon had taken<br> + flight. Everywhere there was surprise and astonishment. People +doubted, for<br> + they could not understand.</p> + +<p>This is what had happened: One day as the brave Under-Emiral +Vulcanmould<br> + happened, as if by chance, to go into the office of M. Barbotan, +the Minister<br> + of Foreign Affairs, he remarked with his usual frankness:</p> + +<p>"M. Barbotan, your colleagues do not seem to me to be up to +much; it is<br> + evident that they have never commanded a ship. That fool +Chatillon gives them<br> + a deuced bad fit of the shivers."</p> + +<p>The Minister, in sign of denial, waved his paper-knife in the +air above his<br> + desk.</p> + +<p>"Don't deny it," answered Vulcanmould. "You don't know how to +get rid of<br> + Chatillon. You do not dare to indict him before the High Court +because you are<br> + not sure of being able to bring forward a strong enough charge. +Bigourd will<br> + defend him, and Bigourd is a clever advocate. . . . You are +right, M.<br> + Barbotan, you are right. It would be a dangerous trial."</p> + +<p>"Ah! my friend," said the Minister, in a careless tone, "if +you knew how<br> + satisfied we are. . . . I receive the most reassuring news from +my prefects.<br> + The good sense of the Penguins will do justice to the intrigues +of this<br> + mutinous soldier. Can you suppose for a moment that a great +people, an<br> + intelligent, laborious people, devoted to liberal institutions +which. . ."</p> + +<p>Vulcanmould interrupted with a great sigh:</p> + +<p>"Ah! If I had time to do it I would relieve you of your +difficulty. I would<br> + juggle away my Chatillon like a nutmeg out of a thimble. I would +fillip him<br> + off to Porpoisia."</p> + +<p>The Minister paid close attention.</p> + +<p>"It would not take long," continued the sailor. "I would rid +you in a trice of<br> + the creature. . . . But just now I have other fish to fry. . . . +I am in a bad<br> + hole. I must find a pretty big sum. But, deuce take it, honour +before<br> + everything."</p> + +<p>The Minister and the Under-Emiral looked at each other for a +moment in<br> + silence. Then Barbotan said with authority:</p> + +<p>"Under-Emiral Vulcanmould, get rid of this seditious soldier. +You will render<br> + a great service to Penguinia, and the Minister of Home Affairs +will see that<br> + your gambling debts are paid."</p> + +<p>The same evening Vulcanmould called on Chatillon and looked at +him for some<br> + time with an expression of grief and mystery.</p> + +<p>"My do you look like that?" asked the Emiral in an uneasy +tone.</p> + +<p>Vulcanmould said to him sadly:</p> + +<p>"Old brother in arms, all is discovered. For the past +half-hour the government<br> + knows everything."</p> + +<p>At these words Chatillon sank down overwhelmed.</p> + +<p>Vulcanmould continued:</p> + +<p>"You may be arrested any moment. I advise you to make +off."</p> + +<p>And drawing out his watch:</p> + +<p>"Not a minute to lose."</p> + +<p>"Have I time to call on the Viscountess Olive?"</p> + +<p>"It would be mad," said Vulcanmould, handing him a passport +and a pair of blue<br> + spectacles, and telling him to have courage.</p> + +<p>"I will," said Chatillon.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye! old chum."</p> + +<p>"Good-bye and thanks! You have saved my life."</p> + +<p>"That is the least I could do."</p> + +<p>A quarter of an hour later the brave Emiral had left the city +of Alca.</p> + +<p>He embarked at night on an old cutter at La Cirque and set +sail for Porpoisia.<br> + But eight miles from the coast he was captured by a +despatch-boat which was<br> + sailing without lights and which was under, the flag of the +Queen of the Black<br> + Islands. That Queen had for a long time nourished a fatal +passion for<br> + Chatillon.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>VII. CONCLUSION</h2> + +<p>Nunc est bibendum. Delivered from its fears and pleased at +having escaped from<br> + so great a danger, the government resolved to celebrate the +anniversary of the<br> + Penguin regeneration and the establishment of the Republic by +holding a<br> + general holiday.</p> + +<p><br> + President Formose, the Ministers, and the members of the Chamber +and of the<br> + Senate were present at the ceremony.</p> + +<p>The Generalissimo of the Penguin army was present in uniform. +He was cheered.</p> + +<p>Preceded by the black flag of misery and the red flag of +revolt, deputations<br> + of workmen walked in the procession, their aspect one of grim +protection.</p> + +<p>President, Ministers, Deputies, officials, heads of the +magistracy and of the<br> + army, each, in their own names and in the name of the sovereign +people,<br> + renewed the ancient oath to live in freedom or to die. It was an +alternative<br> + upon which they were resolutely determined. But they preferred +to live in<br> + freedom. There were games, speeches, and songs.</p> + +<p>After the departure of the representatives of the State the +crowd of citizens<br> + separated slowly and peaceably, shouting out, "Hurrah for the +Republic!"<br> + "Hurrah for liberty!" "Down with the shaven pates!"</p> + +<p>The newspapers mentioned only one regrettable incident that +happened on that<br> + wonderful day. Prince des Boscenos was quietly smoking a cigar +in the Queen's<br> + Meadow when the State procession passed by. The prince +approached the<br> + Minister's carriage and said in a loud voice: "Death to the +Republicans!" He<br> + was immediately apprehended by the police, to whom he offered a +most desperate<br> + resistance. He knocked them down in crowds, but he was conquered +by numbers,<br> + and, bruised, scratched, swollen, and unrecognisable even to the +eyes of. his<br> + wife, he was dragged through the joyous streets into an obscure +prison.</p> + +<p>The magistrates carried on the case against Chatillon in a +peculiar style.<br> + Letters were found at the Admiralty which revealed the +complicity of the<br> + Reverend Father Agaric in the plot. Immediately public opinion +was inflamed<br> + against the monks, and Parliament voted, one after the other, a +dozen laws<br> + which restrained, diminished, limited, prescribed, suppressed, +determined, and<br> + curtailed, their rights, immunities, exemptions, privileges, and +benefits, and<br> + created many invalidating disqualifications against them.</p> + +<p>The Reverend Father Agaric steadfastly endured the rigour of +the laws which<br> + struck himself personally, as well as the terrible fall of the +Emiral of which<br> + he was the chief cause. Far from yielding to evil fortune, he +regarded it as<br> + but a bird of passage. He was planning new political designs +more audacious<br> + than the first.</p> + +<p>When his projects were sufficiently ripe he went one day to +the Wood of<br> + Conils. A thrush sang in a tree and a little hedgehog crossed +the stony path<br> + in front of him with awkward steps. Agaric walked with great +strides,<br> + muttering fragments of sentences to himself.</p> + +<p>When he reached the door of the laboratory in which, for so +many years, the<br> + pious manufacturer bad distilled the golden liqueur of St. +Orberosia, he found<br> + the place deserted and the door shut. Having walked around the +building he saw<br> + in the backyard the venerable Cornemuse, who, with his habit +pinned up, was<br> + climbing a ladder that leant against the wall.</p> + +<p>"Is that you, my dear friend?" said he to him. "What are you +doing there?"</p> + +<p>"You can see for yourself," answered the monk of Conils in a +feeble voice,<br> + turning a sorrowful look Upon Agaric. "I am going into my +house."</p> + +<p>The red pupils of his eyes no longer imitated the triumph and +brilliance of<br> + the ruby, they flashed mournful and troubled glances. His +countenance had lost<br> + its happy fulness. His shining head was no longer pleasant to +the sight;<br> + perspiration and inflamed blotches bad altered its inestimable +perfection.</p> + +<p>"I don't understand," said Agaric.</p> + +<p>"It is easy enough to understand. You see the consequences of +your plot.<br> + Although a multitude of laws are directed against me I have +managed to elude<br> + the greater number of them. Some, however, have struck me. These +vindictive<br> + men have closed my laboratories and my shops, and confiscated my +bottles, my<br> + stills, and my retorts. They have put seals on my doors and now +I am compelled<br> + to go in through the window. I am barely able to extract in +secret and from<br> + time to time the juice of a few plants and that with an +apparatus which the<br> + humblest labourer would despise."</p> + +<p>"You suffer from the persecution," said Agaric. "It strikes us +all."</p> + +<p>The monk of Conils passed his hand over his afflicted +brow:</p> + +<p>"I told you so, Brother Agaric; I told you that your +enterprise would turn<br> + against ourselves."</p> + +<p>"Our defeat is only momentary," replied Agaric eagerly. "It is +due to purely<br> + accidental causes; it results from mere contingencies. Chatillon +was a fool;<br> + he has drowned himself in his own ineptitude. Listen to me, +Brother Cornemuse.<br> + We have not a moment to lose. We must free the Penguin people, +we must deliver<br> + them from their tyrants, save them from themselves, restore the +Dragon's<br> + crest, reestablish the ancient State, the good State, for the +honour of<br> + religion and the exaltation of the Catholic faith. Chatillon was +a bad<br> + instrument; he broke in our hands. Let us take a better +instrument to replace<br> + him. I have the man who will destroy this impious democracy. He +is a civil<br> + official; his name is Gomoru. The Penguins worship him, He has +already<br> + betrayed his party for a plate of rice. There's the man we +want!"</p> + +<p>At the beginning of this speech the monk of Conils had climbed +into his window<br> + and pulled up the ladder.</p> + +<p>"I foresee," answered he, with his nose through the sash, +"that you will not<br> + stop until you have us all expelled from this pleasant, +agreeable, and sweet<br> + land of Penguinia. Good night; God keep you!"</p> + +<p>Agaric, standing before the wall, entreated his dearest +brother to listen to<br> + him for a moment:</p> + +<p>"Understand your own interest better, Cornemuse! Penguinia is +ours. What do we<br> + need to conquer it? just one effort more . . . one more little +sacrifice of<br> + money and . . ."</p> + +<p>But without listening further, the monk of Conils drew in his +head and closed<br> + his window.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h1>BOOK VI. MODERN TIMES.</h1> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>THE AFFAIR OF THE EIGHTY THOUSAND TRUSSES OF HAY</h2> + +<p>O Father Zeus, only save thou the sons of the Acheans from the +darkness, and<br> + make clear sky and vouchsafe sight to our eyes, and then, so it +be but light,<br> + slay us, since such is thy good pleasure. (Iliad, xvii. 645 et +seq.)</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2><br> + I. GENERAL GREATAUK, DUKE OF SKULL</h2> + +<p>A short time after the flight of the Emiral, a middle-class +Jew called Pyrot,<br> + desirous of associating with the aristocracy and wishing to +serve his country,<br> + entered the Penguin army. The Minister of War, who at the time +was Greatauk,<br> + Duke of Skull, could not endure him. He blamed him for his zeal, +his hooked<br> + nose, his vanity, his fondness for study, his thick lips, and +his exemplary<br> + conduct. Every time the author of any misdeed was looked for, +Greatauk used to<br> + say:</p> + +<p><br> + "It must be Pyrot!"</p> + +<p>One morning General Panther, the Chief of the Staff, informed +Greatauk of a<br> + serious matter. Eighty thousand trusses of hay intended for the +cavalry had<br> + disappeared and not a trace of them was to be found.</p> + +<p>Greatauk exclaimed at once:</p> + +<p>"It must be Pyrot who has stolen them!"</p> + +<p>He remained in thought for some time and said: "The more I +think of it the<br> + more I am convinced that Pyrot has stolen those eighty thousand +trusses of<br> + hay. And I know it by this: he stole them in order that he might +sell them to<br> + our bitter enemies the Porpoises. What an infamous piece of +treachery!</p> + +<p>"There is no doubt about it," answered Panther; "it only +remains to prove it."</p> + +<p>The same day, as he passed by a cavalry barracks, Prince des +Boscenos heard<br> + the troopers as they were sweeping out the yard, singing:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>Boscenos est un gros cochon;<br> + On en va faire des andouilles,<br> + Des saucisses et du jambon<br> + Pour le riveillon des pauy' bougres.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>It seemed to him contrary to all discipline that soldiers +should sing this<br> + domestic and revolutionary refrain which on days of riot had +been uttered by<br> + the lips of jeering workmen. On this occasion he deplored the +moral<br> + degeneration of the army, and thought with a bitter smile that +his old comrade<br> + Greatauk, the head of this degenerate army, basely exposed him +to the malice<br> + of an unpatriotic government. And he promised himself that he +would make an<br> + improvement before long.</p> + +<p><br> + "That scoundrel Greatauk," said he to himself, "will, not remain +long a<br> + Minister."</p> + +<p>Prince des Boscenos was the most irreconcilable of the +opponents of modem<br> + democracy, free thought, and the government which the Penguins +had voluntarily<br> + given themselves. He had a vigorous and undisguised hatred for +the Jews, and<br> + he worked in public and in private, night and day, for the +restoration of the<br> + line of the Draconides. His ardent royalism was still further +excited by the<br> + thought of his private affairs, which were in a bad way and were +hourly<br> + growing worse. He had no hope of seeing an end to his pecuniary +embarrassments<br> + until the heir of Draco the Great entered the city of Alca.</p> + +<p>When he returned to his house, the prince took out of his safe +a bundle of old<br> + letters consisting of a private correspondence of the most +secret nature,<br> + which he had obtained from a treacherous secretary. They proved +that his old<br> + comrade Greatauk, the Duke of Skull, had been guilty of jobbery +regarding the<br> + military stores and had received a present of no great value +from a<br> + manufacturer called Maloury. The very smallness of this present +deprived the<br> + Minister who had accepted it of all excuse.</p> + +<p>The prince re-read the letters with a bitter satisfaction, put +them carefully<br> + back into his safe, and dashed to the Minister of War. He was a +man of<br> + resolute character. On being told that the Minister could see no +one he<br> + knocked down the ushers, swept aside the orderlies, trampled +under foot the<br> + civil and military clerks, burst through the doors, and entered +the room of<br> + the astonished Greatauk.</p> + +<p>"I will not say much," said he to him, "but I will speak to +the point. You are<br> + a confounded cad. I have asked you to put a flea in the ear of +General<br> + Mouchin, the tool of those Republicans, and you would not do it. +I have asked<br> + you to give a command to General des Clapiers, who works for the +Dracophils,<br> + and who has obliged me personally, and you would not do it. I +have asked you<br> + to dismiss General Tandem, the commander of Port Alca, who +robbed me of fifty<br> + louis at cards, and who had me handcuffed when I was brought +before the High<br> + Court as Emiral Chatillon's accomplice. You would not do it. I +asked you for<br> + the hay and bran stores. You would not give them. I asked you to +send me on a<br> + secret mission to Porpoisia. You refused. And not satisfied with +these<br> + repeated refusals you have designated me to your Government +colleagues as a<br> + dangerous person, who ought to be watched, and it is owing to +you that I have<br> + been shadowed by the police. You old traitor! I ask nothing more +from you and<br> + I have but one word to say to you: Clear out; you have bothered +us too long.<br> + Besides, we will force the vile Republic to replace you by one +of our own<br> + party. You know that I am a man of my word. If in twenty-four +hours you have<br> + not handed in your resignation I will publish the Maloury +dossier in the<br> + newspapers."</p> + +<p>But Greatauk calmly and serenely replied:</p> + +<p>"Be quiet, you fool. I am just having a Jew transported. I am +handing over<br> + Pyrot to justice as guilty of having stolen eighty thousand +trusses of hay."</p> + +<p>Prince Boscenos, whose anger vanished like a dream, +smiled.</p> + +<p>"Is that true?"</p> + +<p>"You will see."</p> + +<p>"My congratulations, Greatauk. But as one always needs to take +precautions<br> + with you I shall immediately publish the good news. People will +read this<br> + evening about Pyrot's arrest in every newspaper in Alca . . . +."</p> + +<p>And he went away muttering:</p> + +<p>"That Pyrot! I suspected he would come to a bad end."</p> + +<p>A moment later General Panther appeared before Greatauk.</p> + +<p>"Sir," said he, "I have just examined the business of the +eighty thousand<br> + trusses of hay. There is no evidence against Pyrot."</p> + +<p>"Let it be found," answered Greatauk. "Justice requires it. +Have Pyrot<br> + arrested at once."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>I. PYROT</h2> + +<p>All Penguinia heard with horror of Pyrot's crime; at the same +time there was a<br> + sort of satisfaction that this embezzlement combined with +treachery and even<br> + bordering on sacrilege, had been committed by a Jew. In order to +understand<br> + this feeling it is necessary to be acquainted with the state of +public opinion<br> + regarding the Jews both great and small. As we have had occasion +to say in<br> + this history, the universally detested and all powerful +financial caste was<br> + composed of Christians and of Jews. The Jews who formed part of +it and on whom<br> + the people poured all their hatred were the upper-class Jews. +They possessed<br> + immense riches and, it was said, held more than a fifth part of +the total<br> + property of Penguinia. Outside this formidable caste there was a +multitude of<br> + Jews of a mediocre condition, who were not more loved than the +others and who<br> + were feared much less. In every ordered State, wealth is a +sacred thing: in<br> + democracies it is the only sacred thing. Now the Penguin State +was democratic.<br> + Three or four financial companies exercised a more extensive, +and above all,<br> + more effective and continuous power, than that of the Ministers +of the<br> + Republic. The latter were puppets whom the companies ruled in +secret, whom<br> + they compelled by intimidation or corruption to favour +themselves at the<br> + expense of the State, and whom they ruined by calumnies in the +press if they<br> + remained honest. In spite of the secrecy of the Exchequer, +enough appeared to<br> + make the country indignant, but the middle-class Penguins had, +from the<br> + greatest to the least of them, been brought up to hold money in +great<br> + reverence, and as they all had property, either much or little, +they were<br> + strongly impressed with the solidarity of capital and understood +that a small<br> + fortune is not safe unless a big one is protected. For these +reasons they<br> + conceived a religious respect for the Jews' millions, and +self-interest being<br> + stronger with them than aversion, they were as much afraid as +they were of<br> + death to touch a single hair of one of the rich Jews whom they +detested.<br> + Towards the poorer Jews they felt less ceremonious and when they +saw any of<br> + them down they trampled on them. That is why the entire nation +learnt with<br> + thorough satisfaction that the traitor was a Jew. They could +take vengeance on<br> + all Israel in his person without any fear of compromising the +public credit.</p> + +<p><br> + That Pyrot had stolen the eighty thousand trusses of hay nobody +hesitated for<br> + a moment to believe. No one doubted because the general +ignorance in which<br> + everybody was concerning the affair did not allow of doubt, for +doubt is a<br> + thing that demands motives. People do not doubt without reasons +in the same<br> + way that people believe without reasons. The thing was not +doubted because it<br> + was repeated everywhere and, with the public, to repeat is to +prove. It was<br> + not doubted because people wished to believe Pyrot guilty and +one believes<br> + what one wishes to believe. Finally, it was not doubted because +the faculty of<br> + doubt is rare amongst men; very few minds carry in them its +germs and these<br> + are not developed without cultivation. Doubt is singular, +exquisite,<br> + philosophic, immoral, transcendent, monstrous, full of +malignity, injurious to<br> + persons and to property, contrary to the good order of +governments, and to the<br> + prosperity of empires, fatal to humanity, destructive of the +gods, held in<br> + horror by heaven and earth. The mass of the Penguins were +ignorant of doubt:<br> + it believed in Pyrot's guilt and this conviction immediately +became one of its<br> + chief national beliefs and an essential truth in its patriotic +creed.</p> + +<p>Pyrot was tried secretly and condemned.</p> + +<p>General Panther immediately went to the Minister of War to +tell him the<br> + result.</p> + +<p>"Luckily," said he, "the judges were certain, for they had no +proofs."</p> + +<p>"Proofs," muttered Greatauk, "Proofs, what do they prove? +There is only one<br> + certain, irrefragable proof--the confession of the guilty +person. Has Pyrot<br> + confessed?"</p> + +<p>"No, General."</p> + +<p>"He will confess, he ought to. Panther, we must induce him; +tell him it is to<br> + his interest. Promise him that, if he confesses, he will obtain +favours, a<br> + reduction of his sentence, full pardon; promise him that if he +confesses his<br> + innocence will be admitted, that he will be decorated. Appeal to +his good<br> + feelings. Let him confess from patriotism, for the flag, for the +sake of<br> + order, from respect for the hierarchy, at the special command of +the Minister<br> + of War militarily. . . . But tell me, Panther, has he not +confessed already?<br> + There are tacit confessions; silence is a confession."</p> + +<p>"But, General, he is not silent; he keeps on squealing like a +pig that he is<br> + innocent."</p> + +<p>"Panther, the confessions of a guilty man sometimes result +from the vehemence<br> + of his denials. To deny desperately is to confess. Pyrot has +confessed; we<br> + must have witnesses of his confessions, justice requires +them."</p> + +<p>There was in Western Penguinia a seaport called La Cirque, +formed of three<br> + small bays and formerly greatly frequented by ships, but now +solitary and<br> + deserted. Gloomy lagoons stretched along its low coasts exhaling +a pestilent<br> + odour, while fever hovered over its sleepy waters. Here, on the +borders of the<br> + sea, there was built a high square tower, like the old Campanile +at Venice,<br> + from the side of which, close to the summit hung an open cage +which was<br> + fastened by a chain to a transverse beam. In the times of the +Draconides the<br> + Inquisitors of Alca used to put heretical clergy into this cage. +It had been<br> + empty for three hundred years, but now Pirot was imprisoned in +it under the<br> + guard of sixty warders, who lived in the tower and did not lose +sight of him<br> + night or day, spying on him for confessions that they might +afterwards report<br> + to the Minister of War. For Greatauk, careful and prudent, +desired confessions<br> + and still further confessions. Greatauk, who was looked upon as +a fool, was in<br> + reality a man of great ability and full of rare foresight.</p> + +<p>In the mean time Pyrot, burnt by the sun, eaten by mosquitoes, +soaked in the<br> + rain, hail and snow, frozen by the cold, tossed about terribly +by the wind,<br> + beset by the sinister croaking of the ravens that perched upon +his cage, kept<br> + writing down his innocence on pieces torn off his shirt with a +tooth-pick<br> + dipped in blood. These rags were lost in the sea or fell into +the hands of the<br> + gaolers. But Pyrot's protests moved nobody because his +confessions had been<br> + published.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>III. COUNT DE MAUBEC DE LA DENTDULYNX</h2> + +<p>The morals of the Jews were not always pure; in most cases +they were averse<br> + from none of the vices of Christian civilization, but they +retained from the<br> + Patriarchal age a recognition of family, ties and an attachment +to the<br> + interests of the tribe. Pyrot's brothers, half-brothers, uncles, +great-uncles,<br> + first, second, and third cousins, nephews and great-nephews, +relations by<br> + blood and relations by marriage, and all who were related to him +to the number<br> + of about seven hundred, were at first overwhelmed by the blow +that had struck<br> + their relative, and they shut themselves up in their houses, +covering<br> + themselves with ashes and blessing the hand that had chastised +them. For forty<br> + days they kept a strict fast. Then they bathed themselves and +resolved to<br> + search, without rest, at the cost of any toil and at the risk of +eve danger,<br> + for the demonstration of an innocence which they did not doubt. +And how could<br> + they have doubted? Pyrot's innocence had been revealed to them +in the same way<br> + that his guilt had been revealed to Christian Penguinia's; for +these things,<br> + being hidden, assume a mystic character and take on the +authority of religious<br> + truths. The seven hundred Pyrotists set to work with as much +zeal as prudence,<br> + and made the most thorough inquiries in secret. They were +everywhere; they<br> + were seen nowhere. One would have said that, like the pilot of +Ulysses, they<br> + wandered freely over the earth. They penetrated into the War +Office and<br> + approached, under different disguises, the judges, the +registrars, and the<br> + witnesses of the affair. Then Greatauk's cleverness was seen. +The witnesses<br> + knew nothing; the judges and registrars knew nothing. Emissaries +reached even<br> + Pyrot and anxiously questioned him in his cage amid the +prolonged moanings of<br> + the sea and the hoarse croaks of the ravens. It was in vain; the +prisoner knew<br> + nothing. The seven hundred Pyrotists could not subvert the +proofs of the<br> + accusation because they could not know what they were, and they +could not know<br> + what they were because there were none. Pyrot's guilt was +indefeasible through<br> + its very nullity. And it was with a legitimate pride that +Greatauk, expressing<br> + himself as a true artist, said one day to General Panther: "This +case is a<br> + master-piece: it is made out of nothing." The seven hundred +Pyrotists<br> + despaired of ever clearing up this dark business, when suddenly +they<br> + discovered, from a stolen letter, that the eighty thousand +trusses of hay had<br> + never existed, that a most distinguished nobleman, Count de +Maubec, had sold<br> + them to the State, that he had received the price but had never +delivered<br> + them. Indeed seeing that he was descended from the richest +landed proprietors<br> + of ancient Penguinia, the heir of the Maubecs of Dentdulynx, +once the<br> + possessors of four duchies, sixty counties, and six hundred and +twelve<br> + marquisates, baronies, and viscounties, he did not possess as +much land as he<br> + could cover with his hand, and would not have been able to cut a +single day'S<br> + mowing of forage off his own domains. As to his getting a single +rush from a<br> + land-owner or a merchant, that would have been quite impossible, +for everybody<br> + except the Ministers of State and the Government officials knew +that it would<br> + be easier to get blood from a stone than a farthing from a +Maubec.</p> + +<p><br> + The seven hundred Pyrotists made a minute inquiry concerning the +Count Maubec<br> + de la Dentdulynx's financial resources, and they proved that +that nobleman was<br> + chiefly supported by a house in which some generous ladies were +ready to<br> + furnish all comers with the most lavish hospitality. They +publicly proclaimed<br> + that he was guilty of the theft of the eighty thousand trusses +of straw for<br> + which an innocent man had been condemned and was now imprisoned +in the cage.</p> + +<p>Maubec belonged to an illustrious family which was allied to +the Draconides.<br> + There is nothing that a democracy esteems more highly than noble +birth. Maubec<br> + had also served in the Penguin army, and since the Penguins were +all soldiers,<br> + they loved their army to idolatry. Maubec, on the field of +battle, had<br> + received the Cross, which is a sign of honour among the Penguins +and which<br> + they valued even more highly than the embraces of their wives. +All Penguinia<br> + declared for Maubec, and the voice of the people which began to +assume a<br> + threatening tone, demanded severe punishments for the seven +hundred<br> + calumniating Pyrotists.</p> + +<p>Maubec was a nobleman; he challenged the seven hundred +Pyrotists to combat<br> + with either sword, sabre, pistols, carabines, or sticks.</p> + +<p>"Vile dogs," he wrote to them in a famous letter, "you have +crucified my God<br> + and you want my life too; I warn you that I will not be such a +duffer as He<br> + was and that I will cut off your fourteen hundred ears. Accept +my boot on your<br> + seven hundred behinds."</p> + +<p>The Chief of the Government at the time was a peasant called +Robin Mielleux, a<br> + man pleasant to the rich and powerful, but hard towards the +poor, a man of<br> + small courage and ignorant of his own interests. In a public +declaration he<br> + guaranteed Maubec's innocence and honour, and presented the +seven hundred<br> + Pyrotists: to the criminal courts where they were condemned, as +libellers, to<br> + imprisonment, to enormous fines, and to all the damages that +were claimed by<br> + their innocent victim.</p> + +<p>It seemed as if Pyrot was destined to remain for ever shut in +the cage on<br> + which the ravens perched. But all the Penguins being anxious to +know and prove<br> + that this Jew was guilty, all the proofs brought forward were +found not to be<br> + good, while some of them were also contradictory. The officers +of the Staff<br> + showed zeal but lacked prudence. Whilst Greatauk kept an +admirable silence,<br> + General Panther made inexhaustible speeches and every morning +demonstrated in<br> + the newspapers that the condemned man was guilty. He would have +done better,<br> + perhaps, if he had said nothing. The guilt was evident and what +is evident<br> + cannot be demonstrated. So much reasoning disturbed people's +minds; their<br> + faith, though still alive, became less serene. The more proofs +one gives a<br> + crowd the more they ask for.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless the danger of proving too much would not have +been great if there<br> + had not been in Penguinia, as there are, indeed, everywhere, +minds framed for<br> + free inquiry, capable of studying a difficult question, and +inclined to<br> + philosophic doubt. They were few; they were not all inclined to +speak, and the<br> + public was by no means inclined to listen to them. Still, they +did not always<br> + meet with deaf ears. The great Jews, all the Israelite +millionaires of Alca,<br> + when spoken to of Pyrot, said: "We do not know the man"; but +they thought of<br> + saving him. They preserved the prudence to which their wealth +inclined them<br> + and wished that others would be less timid. Their wish was to be +gratified.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>V. COLOMBAN</h2> + +<p>Some weeks after the conviction of the seven hundred +Pyrotists, a little,<br> + gruff, hairy, short-sighted man left his house one morning with +a paste-pot, a<br> + ladder, and a bundle of posters and went about the streets +pasting placards to<br> + the walls on which might be read in large letters: Pyrot is +innocent, Maubec<br> + is guilty. He was not a bill-poster; his name was Colomban, and +as the author<br> + of sixty volumes on Penguin sociology he was numbered among the +most laborious<br> + and respected writers in Alca. Having given sufficient thought +to the matter<br> + and no longer doubting Pyrot's innocence, he proclaimed it in +the manner which<br> + he thought would be most sensational. He met with no hindrance +while posting<br> + his bills in the quiet streets, but when he came to the populous +quarters,<br> + every time he mounted his ladder, inquisitive people crowded +round him and,<br> + dumbfounded with surprise and indignation, threw at him +threatening looks<br> + which he received with the calm that comes from courage and +short-sightedness.<br> + Whilst caretakers and tradespeople tore down the bills he had +posted, he kept<br> + on zealously placarding, carrying his tools and followed by +little boys who,<br> + with their baskets under their arms or their satchels on their +backs, were in<br> + no hurry to reach school. To the mute indignation against him, +protests and<br> + murmurs were now added. But Colomban did not condescend to see +or hear<br> + anything. As, at the entrance to the Rue St. Orberosia, he was +posting one of<br> + his squares of paper bearing the words: Pyrot is innocent, +Maubec is guilty,<br> + the riotous crowd showed signs of the most violent anger. They +called after<br> + him, "Traitor, thief, rascal, scoundrel." A woman opened a +window and emptied<br> + a vase full of filth over his head, a cabby sent his hat flying +from one end<br> + of the street to the other by a blow of his whip amid the cheers +of the crowd<br> + who now felt themselves avenged. A butcher's boy knocked +Colomban with his<br> + paste-pot, his brush, and his posters, from the top of his +ladder into the<br> + gutter, and the proud Penguins then felt the greatness of their +country.<br> + Colomban stood up,, covered with filth, lame, and with his elbow +injured, but<br> + tranquil and resolute.</p> + +<p><br> + "Low brutes," he muttered, shrugging his shoulders.</p> + +<p>Then he went down on all-fours in the gutter to look for his +glasses which he<br> + had lost in his fall. t was then seen that his coat was split +from the collar<br> + to the tails and that his trousers were in rags. The rancour of +the crowd grew<br> + stronger.</p> + +<p>On the other side of the street stretched the big St. +Orberosian Stores. The<br> + patriots seized whatever they could lay their hands on from the +shop front,<br> + and hurled at Colomban oranges, lemons, pots of jam, pieces of +chocolate,<br> + bottles of liqueurs, boxes of sardines, pots of foie gras, hams, +fowls, flasks<br> + of oil, and bags of haricots. Covered with the debris of the +food, bruised,<br> + tattered, lame, and blind, he took to flight, followed by the +shop-boys,<br> + bakers, loafers, citizens, and hooligans whose number increased +each moment<br> + and who kept shouting: "Duck him! Death to the traitor! Duck +him!" This<br> + torrent of vulgar humanity swept along the streets and rushed +into the Rue St.<br> + Mael. The police did their duty. From all the adjacent streets +constables<br> + proceeded and, holding their scabbards with their left hands, +they went at<br> + full speed in front of the pursuers. They were on the point of +grabbing<br> + Colomban in their huge hands when he suddenly escaped them by +falling through<br> + an open man-hole to the bottom of a sewer.</p> + +<p>He spent the night there in the darkness, sitting close by the +dirty water<br> + amidst the fat and slimy rats. He thought of his task, and his +swelling heart<br> + filled with courage and pity. And when the dawn threw a pale ray +of light into<br> + the air-hole he got up and said, speaking to himself:</p> + +<p>"I see that the fight will be a stiff one."</p> + +<p>Forthwith he composed a memorandum in which he clearly showed +that Pyrot could<br> + not have stolen from the Ministry of War the eighty thousand +trusses of hay<br> + which it had never received, for the reason that Maubec had +never delivered<br> + them, though he had received the money. Colomban caused this +statement to be<br> + distributed in the streets of Alca. The people refused to read +it and tore it<br> + up in anger. The shop-keepers shook their fists at the +distributers, who made<br> + off, chased by angry women armed with brooms. Feelings grew warm +and the<br> + ferment lasted the whole day. In the evening bands of wild and +ragged men went<br> + about the streets yelling: "Death to Colomban!" The patriots +snatched whole<br> + bundles of the memorandum from the newsboys and burned them in +the public<br> + squares, dancing wildly round these bon-fires with girls whose +petticoats were<br> + tied up to their waists.</p> + +<p>Some of the more enthusiastic among them went and broke the +windows of the<br> + house in which Colomban had lived in perfect tranquillity during +his forty<br> + years of work.</p> + +<p>Parliament was roused and asked the Chief of the Government +what measures he<br> + proposed to take in order to repel the odious attacks made by +Colomban upon<br> + the honour of the National Arm and the safety of Penguinia. +Robin Mielleux<br> + denounced Colomban's impious audacity and proclaimed amid the +cheers of the<br> + legislators that the man would be summoned before the Courts to +answer for his<br> + infamous libel.</p> + +<p>The Minister of War was called to the tribune and appeared in +it transfigured.<br> + He had no longer the air, as in former days, of one of the +sacred geese of the<br> + Penguin citadels. Now, bristling, with outstretched neck and +hooked beak, he<br> + seemed the symbolical vulture fastened to the livers of his +country's enemies.</p> + +<p>In the august silence of the assembly he pronounced these +words only:</p> + +<p>"I swear that Pyrot is a rascal."</p> + +<p>This speech of Greatauk was reported all over Penguinia and +satisfied the<br> + public conscience.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>V. THE REVEREND FATHERS AGARIC AND CORNEMUSE</h2> + +<p>Colomban bore with meekness and surprise the weight of the +general<br> + reprobation. He could not go out without being stoned, so he did +not go out.<br> + He remained in his study with a superb obstinacy, writing new +memoranda in<br> + favour of the encaged innocent. In the mean time among the few +readers that he<br> + found, some, about a dozen, were struck by his reasons and began +to doubt<br> + Pyrot's guilt. They broached the subject to their friends and +endeavoured to<br> + spread the light that had arisen in their minds. One of them was +a friend of<br> + Robin Mielleux and confided to him his perplexities, with the +result that he<br> + was no longer received by that Minister. Another demanded +explanations in an<br> + open letter to the Minister of War. A third published a terrible +pamphlet. The<br> + latter, whose name was Kerdanic, was a formidable +controversialist. The public<br> + was unmoved. It was said that these defenders of the traitor had +been bribed<br> + by the rich Jews; they were stigmatized by the name of Pyrotists +and the<br> + patriots swore to exterminate them. There were only a thousand +or twelve<br> + hundred Pyrotists in the whole vast Republic, but it was +believed that they<br> + were everywhere. People were afraid of finding them in the +promenades, at<br> + meetings, at receptions, in fashionable drawing-rooms, at the +dinner-table,<br> + even in the conjugal couch. One half of the population was +suspected by the<br> + other half. The discord set all Alca on fire.</p> + +<p><br> + In the mean time Father Agaric, who managed his big school for +young nobles,<br> + followed events with anxious attention. The misfortunes of the +Penguin Church<br> + had not disheartened him. He remained faithful to Prince Crucho +and preserved<br> + the hope of restoring the heir of the Draconides to the Penguin +throne. It<br> + appeared to him that the events that were happening or about to +happen in the<br> + country, the state of mind of which they were at once the effect +and the<br> + cause, and the troubles that necessarily resulted from them +might--if they<br> + were directed, guided, and led by the profound wisdom of a +monk--overthrow the<br> + Republic and incline the Penguins to restore Prince Crucho, from +whose piety<br> + the faithful hoped for so much solace. Wearing his huge black +hat, the brims<br> + of which looked like the wings of Night, he walked through the +Wood of Conils<br> + towards the factory where his venerable friend, Father +Cornemuse, distilled<br> + the hygienic St. Orberosian liqueur, The good monk's industry, +so cruelly<br> + affected in the time of Emiral Chatillon, was being restored +from its ruins.<br> + One heard goods trains rumbling through the Wood and one saw in +the sheds<br> + hundreds of orphans clothed in blue, packing bottles and nailing +up cases.</p> + +<p>Agaric found the venerable Cornemuse standing before his +stoves and surrounded<br> + by his retorts. The shining pupils of the old man's eyes had +again become as<br> + rubies, his skull shone with its former elaborate and careful +polish.</p> + +<p>Agaric first congratulated the pious distiller on the restored +activity of his<br> + laboratories and workshops.</p> + +<p>"Business is recovering. I thank God for it," answered the old +man of Conils.<br> + "Alas! it had fallen into a bad state, Brother Agaric. You raw +the desolation<br> + of this establishment. I need say no more."</p> + +<p>Agaric turned away his head.</p> + +<p>"The St. Orberosian liqueur," continued Cornemuse, "is making +fresh conquests.<br> + But none the less my industry remains uncertain and precarious. +The laws of<br> + ruin and desolation that struck it have not been abrogated, they +have only<br> + been suspended."</p> + +<p>And the monk of Conils lifted his ruby eyes to heaven.</p> + +<p>Agaric put his hand on his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"What a sight, Cornemuse, does unhappy Penguinia present to +us! Everywhere<br> + disobedience, independence, liberty! We seethe proud, the +haughty, the men of<br> + revolt rising up. After having braved the Divine laws they now +rear themselves<br> + against human laws, so true is it that in order to be a good +citizen a man<br> + must be a good Christian. Colomban is trying to imitate Satan. +Numerous<br> + criminals are following his fatal example. They want, in their +rage, to put<br> + aside all checks, to throw off all yokes, to free themselves +from the most<br> + sacred bonds, to escape from the most salutary restraints. They +strike their<br> + country to make it obey them. But they will be overcome by the +weight of<br> + public animadversion, vituperation, indignation, fury, +execration, and<br> + abomination. That is the abyss to which they have been led by +atheism, free<br> + thought, and the monstrous claim to judge for themselves and to +form their own<br> + opinions."</p> + +<p>"Doubtless, doubtless," replied Father Cornemuse, shaking his +head, "but I<br> + confess that the care of distilling these simples has prevented +me from<br> + following public affairs. I only know that people are talking a +great deal<br> + about a man called Pyrot. Some maintain that he is guilty, +others affirm that<br> + he is innocent, but I do not clearly understand the motives that +drive both<br> + parties to mix themselves up in a business that concerns neither +of them."</p> + +<p>The pious Agaric asked eagerly:</p> + +<p>"You do not doubt Pyrot's guilt?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot doubt it, dear Agaric," answered the monk of Conils. +"That would be<br> + contrary to the laws of my country which we ought to respect as +long as they<br> + are not opposed to the Divine laws. Pyrot is guilty, for he has +been<br> + convicted. As to saying more for or against his guilt, that +would be to erect<br> + my own authority against that of the judges, a thing which I +will take good<br> + care not to do. Besides, it is useless, for Pyrot has been +convicted. If he<br> + has not been convicted because he is guilty, he is guilty +because he has been<br> + convicted; it comes to the same thing. I believe in his guilt as +every good<br> + citizen ought to believe in it; and I will believe in it as long +as the<br> + established jurisdiction will order me to believe in it, for it +is not for a<br> + private person but for a judge to proclaim the innocence of a +convicted<br> + person. Human justice is venerable even in the errors inherent +in its fallible<br> + and limited nature. These errors are never irreparable; if the +judges do not<br> + repair them on earth, God will repair them in Heaven. Besides I +have great<br> + confidence in general Greatauk, who, though he certainly does +not look it,<br> + seems to me to be an abler man than all those who are attacking +him."</p> + +<p>"Dearest Cornemuse," cried the pious Agaric, "the Pyrot +affair, if pushed to<br> + the point whither we can lead it by the help of God and the +necessary funds,<br> + will produce the greatest benefits. It will lay bare the vices +of this<br> + Anti-Christian Republic and will incline the Penguins to restore +the throne of<br> + the Draconides and the prerogatives of the Church. But to do +that it is<br> + necessary for the people to see the clergy in the front rank of +its defenders.<br> + Let us march against the enemies of the army, against those who +insult our<br> + heroes, and everybody will follow us."</p> + +<p>"Everybody will be too many," murmured the monk of Conils, +shaking his head.<br> + "I see that the Penguins want to quarrel. If we mix ourselves up +in their<br> + quarrel they will become reconciled at our expense and we shall +have to pay<br> + the cost of the war. That is why, if you are guided by me, dear +Agaric, you<br> + will not engage the Church in this adventure."</p> + +<p>"You know my energy; you know my prudence. I will compromise +nothing. . . .<br> + Dear Cornemuse, I only want from you the funds necessary for us +to begin the<br> + campaign."</p> + +<p>For a long time Cornemuse refused to bear the expenses of what +he thought was<br> + a fatal enterprise. Agaric was in turn pathetic and terrible. At +last,<br> + yielding to his prayers and threats, Cornemuse, with banging +head and swinging<br> + arms, went to the austere cell that concealed his evangelical +poverty. In the<br> + whitewashed wall under a branch of blessed box, there was fixed +a safe. He<br> + opened it, and with a sigh took out a bundle of bills which, +with hesitating<br> + hands, he gave to the pious Agaric.</p> + +<p>"Do not doubt it, dear Cornemuse," said the latter, thrusting +the papers into<br> + the pocket of his overcoat, "this Pyrot affair has been sent us +by God for the<br> + glory and exaltation of the Church of Penguinia."</p> + +<p>"I pray that you may be right!" sighed the monk of Conils.</p> + +<p>And, left alone in his laboratory, he gazed, through his +exquisite eyes, with<br> + an ineffable sadness at his stoves and his retorts.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>VI. THE SEVEN HUNDRED PYROTISTS</h2> + +<p>The seven hundred Pyrotists inspired the public with an +increasing aversion.<br> + Every day two or three of them were beaten to death in the +streets. One of<br> + them was publicly whipped, another thrown into the river, a +third tarred and<br> + feathered and led through a laughing crowd, a fourth had his +nose cut off by a<br> + captain of dragoons. They did not dare to show themselves at +their clubs, at<br> + tennis, or at the races; they put on a disguise when they went +to the Stock<br> + Exchange. In these circumstances the Prince des Boscenos thought +it urgent to<br> + curb their audacity and repress their insolence. For this +purpose he joined<br> + with Count Clena, M. de La Trumelle, Viscount Olive, and M. +Bigourd in<br> + founding a great anti-Pyrotist association to which citizens in +hundreds of<br> + thousands, soldiers in companies, regiments, brigades, +divisions, and army<br> + corps, towns, districts, and provinces, all gave their +adhesion.</p> + +<p><br> + About this time the Minister of War happening to visit one day +his Chief of<br> + Staff, saw with surprise that the large room where General +Panther worked,<br> + which was formerly quite bare, had now along each wall from +floor to ceiling<br> + in sets of deep pigeon-holes, triple and quadruple rows of paper +bundles of<br> + every as form and colour. These sudden and monstrous records had +in a few days<br> + reached the dimensions of a pile of archives such as it takes +centuries to<br> + accumulate.</p> + +<p>"What is this?" asked the astonished minister.</p> + +<p>"Proofs against Pyrot," answered General Panther with +patriotic satisfaction.<br> + "We had not got them when we convicted him, but we have plenty +of them now."</p> + +<p>The door was open, and Greatauk saw coming up the stair-case a +long file of<br> + porters who were unloading heavy bales of papers in the hall, +and he saw the<br> + lift slowly rising heavily loaded with paper packets.</p> + +<p>"What are those others?" said he.</p> + +<p>"They are fresh proofs against Pyrot that are now reaching +us," said Panther.<br> + "I have asked for them in every county of Penguinia, in every +Staff Office and<br> + in every Court in Europe. I have ordered them in every town in +America and in<br> + Australia, and in every factory in Africa, and I am expecting +bales of them<br> + from Bremen and a ship-load from Melbourne." And Panther turned +towards the<br> + Minister of War the tranquil and radiant look of a hero. +However, Greatauk,<br> + his eye-glass in his eye, was looking at the formidable pile of +papers with<br> + less satisfaction than uneasiness.</p> + +<p>"Very good," said he, "very good! but I am afraid that this +Pyrot business may<br> + lose its beautiful simplicity. It was limpid; like a +rock-crystal its value<br> + lay in its transparency. You could have searched it in vain with +a<br> + magnifying-glass for a straw, a bend, a blot, for the least +fault. When it<br> + left my hands it was as pure as the light. Indeed it was the +light. I give you<br> + a pearl and you make a mountain out of it. To tell you the truth +I am afraid<br> + that by wishing to do too well you have done less well. Proofs! +of course it<br> + is good to have proofs, but perhaps it is better to have none at +all. I have<br> + already told you, Panther, there is only one irrefutable proof, +the confession<br> + of the guilty person (or if the innocent what matter!). The +Pyrot affair, as I<br> + arranged it, left no room for criticism; there was no spot where +it could be<br> + touched. It defied assault. t was invulnerable because it was +invisible. Now<br> + it gives an enormous handle for discussion. I advise you, +Panther, to use your<br> + paper packets with great reserve. I should be particularly +grateful if you<br> + would be more sparing of your communications to journalists. You +speak well,<br> + but you say too much. Tell me, Panther, are there any forged +documents among<br> + these?"</p> + +<p>"There are some adapted ones."</p> + +<p>"That is what I meant. There are some adapted ones. So much +the better. As<br> + proofs, forged documents, in general, are better than genuine +ones, first of<br> + all because they have been expressly made to suit the needs of +the case, to<br> + order and measure, and therefore they are fitting and exact. +They are also<br> + preferable because they carry the mind into an ideal world and +turn it aside<br> + from the reality which, alas! in this world is never without +some alloy. . . .<br> + Nevertheless, I think I should have preferred, Panther, that we +had no proofs<br> + at all."</p> + +<p>The first act of the Anti-Pyrotist Association was to ask the +Government<br> + immediately to summon the seven hundred Pyrotists and their +accomplices before<br> + the High Court of Justice as guilty of high treason. Prince des +Boscenos was<br> + charged to speak on behalf of the Association and presented +himself before the<br> + Council which had assembled to hear him. He expressed a hope +that the<br> + vigilance and firmness of the Government would rise to the +height of the<br> + occasion. He shook hands with each of the ministers and as he +passed General<br> + Greatauk he whispered in his ear:</p> + +<p>"Behave properly, you ruffian, or I will publish the Maloury +dossier!"</p> + +<p>Some days later by a unanimous vote of both Houses, on a +motion proposed by<br> + the Government, the Anti-Pyrotist Association was granted a +charter<br> + recognising it as beneficial to the public interest.</p> + +<p>The Association immediately sent a deputation to Chitterlings +Castle in<br> + Porpoisia, where Crucho was eating the bitter bread of exile, to +assure the<br> + prince of the love and devotion of the Anti-Pyrotist +members.</p> + +<p>However, the Pyrotists grew in numbers, and now counted ten +thousand. They had<br> + their regular cafes on the boulevards. The patriots had theirs +also, richer<br> + and bigger, and every evening glasses of beer, saucers, +match-stands, jugs,<br> + chairs, and tables were hurled from one to the other. Mirrors +were smashed to<br> + bits, and the police ended the struggles by impartially +trampling the<br> + combatants of both parties under their hob-nailed shoes.</p> + +<p>On one of these glorious nights, as Prince des Boscenos was +leaving a<br> + fashionable cafe in the company of some patriots, M. de La +Trumelle pointed<br> + out to him a little, bearded man with glasses, hatless, and +having only one<br> + sleeve to his coat, who was painfully dragging himself along +the<br> + rubbish-strewn pavement.</p> + +<p>"Look!" said he, "there is Colomban!"</p> + +<p>The prince had gentleness as well as strength; he was +exceedingly mild; but at<br> + the name of Colomban his blood boiled. He rushed at the little +spectacled man,<br> + and knocked him down with one blow of his fist on the nose.</p> + +<p>M. de La Trumelle then perceived that, misled by an undeserved +resemblance, he<br> + had mistaken for Colomban, M. Bazile, a retired lawyer, the +secretary of the<br> + Anti-pyrotist Association, and an ardent and generous patriot. +Prince des<br> + Boscenos was one of those antique souls who never bend. However, +he knew how<br> + to recognise his faults.</p> + +<p>"M. Bazile," said he, raising his hat, "if I have touched your +face with my<br> + hand you will excuse me and you will understand me, you will +approve of me,<br> + nay, you will compliment me, you will congratulate me and +felicitate me, when<br> + you know the cause of that act. I took you for Colomban."</p> + +<p>M. Bazile, wiping his bleeding nostrils with his handkerchief +and displaying<br> + an elbow laid bare by the absence of his sleeve:</p> + +<p>"No, sir," answered he drily, "I shall not felicitate you, I +shall not<br> + congratulate you, I shall not compliment you, for your action +was, at the very<br> + least, superfluous; it was, I will even say, supererogatory. +Already this<br> + evening I have been three times mistaken for Colomban and +received a<br> + sufficient amount of the treatment he deserves. The patriots +have knocked in<br> + my ribs and broken my back, and, sir, I was of opinion that that +was enough."</p> + +<p>Scarcely had he finished this speech than a band of Pyrotists +appeared, and<br> + misled in their turn by that insidious resemblance, they +believed that the<br> + patriots were killing Colomban. They fell on Prince des Boscenos +and his<br> + companions with loaded canes and leather thongs, and left them +for dead. Then<br> + seizing Bazile they carried him in triumph, and in spite of his +protests,<br> + along the boulevards, amid cries of: "Hurrah for Colomban! +Hurrah for Pyrot!"<br> + At last the police, who had been sent after them, attacked and +defeated them<br> + and dragged them ignominiously to the station, where Bazile, +under the name of<br> + Colomban, was trampled on by an innumerable quantity of thick, +hob-nailed<br> + shoes.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>VII. BIDAULT-COQUILLE AND MANIFLORE, THE SOCIALISTS</h2> + +<p>Whilst the wind of anger and hatred blew in Alca, Eugine +Bidault- Coquille,<br> + poorest and happiest of astronomers, installed in an old +steam-engine of the<br> + time of the Draconides, was observing the heavens through a bad +telescope, and<br> + photographing the paths of the meteors upon some damaged +photographic plates.<br> + His genius corrected the errors of his instruments and his love +of science<br> + triumphed over the worthlessness of his apparatus. With an +inextinguishable<br> + ardour he observed aerolites, meteors, and fire-balls, and all +the glowing<br> + ruins and blazing sparks which pass through the terrestrial +atmosphere with<br> + prodigious speed, and as a reward for is studious vigils he +received the<br> + indifference of the public, the ingratitude of the State and the +blame of the<br> + learned societies. Engulfed in the celestial spaces he knew not +what occurred<br> + upon the surface of the earth. He never read the newspapers, and +when he<br> + walked through the town his mind was occupied with the November +asteroids, and<br> + more than once he found himself at the bottom of a pond in one +of the public<br> + parks or beneath the wheels of a motor omnibus.</p> + +<p><br> + Elevated in stature as in thought he respected himself and +others. This was<br> + shown by his cold politeness as well as by a very thin black +frock coat and a<br> + tall hat which gave to his person an appearance at once +emaciated and sublime.<br> + He took his meals in a little restaurant from which all +customers less<br> + intellectual than himself had fled, and thenceforth his napkin +bound by its<br> + wooden ring rested alone in the abandoned rack.</p> + +<p>In this cook-shop his eyes fell one evening upon Colomban's +memorandum in<br> + favour of Pyrot. He read it as he was cracking some bad nuts and +suddenly,<br> + exalted with astonishment, admiration, horror, and pity, he +forgot all about<br> + falling meteors and shooting stars and saw nothing but the +innocent man<br> + hanging in his cage exposed to the winds of heaven and the +ravens perching<br> + upon it.</p> + +<p>That image did not leave him. For a week he had been obsessed +by the innocent<br> + convict, when, as he was leaving his cook-shop, he saw a crowd +of citizens<br> + entering a public-house in which a public meeting was going on. +He went in.<br> + The meeting was disorderly; they were yelling, abusing one +another and<br> + knocking one another down in the smoke-laden hall. The Pyrotists +and the<br> + Anti-Pyrotists spoke in turn and were alternately cheered and +hissed at. An<br> + obscure and confused enthusiasm moved the audience. With the +audacity of a<br> + timid and retired man Bidault-Coquille leaped upon the platform +and spoke for<br> + three-quarters of an hour. He spoke very quickly, without order, +but with<br> + vehemence, and with all the conviction of a mathematical mystic. +He was<br> + cheered. When he got down from the platform a big woman of +uncertain age,<br> + dressed in red, and wearing an immense hat trimmed with heroic +feathers,<br> + throwing herself into his arms, embraced him, and said to +him:</p> + +<p>"You are splendid!"</p> + +<p>He thought in his simplicity that there was some truth in the +statement.</p> + +<p>She declared to him that henceforth she would live but for +Pyrot's defence and<br> + Colomban's glory. He thought her sublime and beautiful. She was +Maniflore, a<br> + poor old courtesan, now forgotten and discarded, who had +suddenly become a<br> + vehement politician.</p> + +<p>She never left him. They spent glorious hours together in +doss-houses and in<br> + lodgings beautified by their love, in newspaper offices, in +meeting-halls and<br> + in lecture-halls. As he was an idealist, he persisted in +thinking her<br> + beautiful, although she gave him abundant opportunity of seeing +that she had<br> + preserved no charm of any kind. From her past beauty she only +retained a<br> + confidence in her capacity for pleasing and a lofty assurance in +demanding<br> + homage. Still, it must be admitted that this Pyrot affair, so +fruitful in<br> + prodigies, invested Maniflore with a sort of civic majesty, and +transformed<br> + her, at public meetings, into an august symbol of justice and +truth.</p> + +<p>Bidault-Coquille and Maniflore did not kindle the least spark +of irony or<br> + amusement in a single Anti-Pyrotist, a single defender of +Greatauk, or a<br> + single supporter of the army. The gods, in their anger, had +refused to those<br> + men the precious gift of humour. They gravely accused the +courtesan and the<br> + astronomer of being spies, of treachery, and of plotting against +their<br> + country. Bidault-Coquille and Maniflore grew visibly greater +beneath insult,<br> + abuse, and calumny.</p> + +<p>For long months Penguinia had been divided into two camps and, +though at first<br> + sight it may appear strange, hitherto the socialists had taken +no part in the<br> + contest. Their groups comprised almost all the manual workers in +the country,<br> + necessarily scattered, confused, broken up, and divided, but +formidable. The<br> + Pyrot affair threw the group leaders into a singular +embarrassment. They did<br> + not wish to place themselves either on the side of the +financiers or on the<br> + side of the army. They regarded the Jews, both great and small, +as their<br> + uncompromising opponents. Their principles were not at stake, +nor were their<br> + interests concerned in the affair. Still the greater number felt +how difficult<br> + it was growing for them to remain aloof from struggles in which +all Penguinia<br> + was engaged.</p> + +<p>Their leaders called a sitting of their federation at the Rue +de la<br> + Queue-du-diable-St. Mael, to take into consideration the conduct +they ought to<br> + adopt in the present circumstances and in future +eventualities.</p> + +<p>Comrade Phoenix was the first to speak.</p> + +<p>"A crime," said he, "the most odious and cowardly of crimes, a +judicial crime,<br> + has been committed. Military judges, coerced or misled by their +superior<br> + officers, have condemned an innocent man to an infamous and +cruel punishment.<br> + Let us not say that the victim is not one of our own party, that +he belongs to<br> + a caste which was, and always will be, our enemy. Our party is +the party of<br> + social justice; it can look upon no iniquity with +indifference.</p> + +<p>"It would be a shame for us if we left it to Kerdanic, a +radical, to Colomban,<br> + a member of the middle classes, and to a few moderate +Republicans, alone to<br> + proceed against the crimes of the army. If the victim is not one +of us, his<br> + executioners are our brothers' executioners, and before Greatauk +struck down<br> + this soldier he shot our comrades who were on strike.</p> + +<p>"Comrades, by an intellectual, moral and material effort you +must rescue Pyrot<br> + from his torment, and in performing this generous act you are +not turning<br> + aside from the liberating and revolutionary task you have +undertaken, for<br> + Pyrot his become the symbol of the oppressed and of all the +social iniquities<br> + that now exist; by destroying one you make all the others +tremble."</p> + +<p>When Phoenix ended, comrade Sapor spoke in these terms:</p> + +<p>"You are advised to abandon your task in order to do something +with which you<br> + have no concern. Why throw yourselves into a conflict where, on +whatever side<br> + you turn, you will find none but your natural, uncompromising, +even necessary<br> + opponents? Are the financiers to be less hated by us than the +army? What inept<br> + and criminal generosity is it that hurries you to save those +seven hundred<br> + Pyrotists whom you will always find confronting you in the +social war?</p> + +<p>"It is proposed that you act the part of the police for your +enemies, and that<br> + you are to re-establish for them the order which their own +crimes have<br> + disturbed. Magnanimity pushed to this degree changes its +name.</p> + +<p>"Comrades, there is a point at which infamy becomes fatal to a +society.<br> + Penguin society is being strangled by its infamy, and you are +requested to<br> + save it, to give it air that it can breathe. This is simply +turning you into<br> + ridicule.</p> + +<p>"Leave is to smother itself and let us gaze at its last +convulsions with<br> + joyful contempt, only regretting that it has so entirely +corrupted the soil on<br> + which it has been built that we shall find nothing but poisoned +mud on which<br> + to lay the foundations of a new society."</p> + +<p>When Sapor had ended his speech comrade Lapersonne pronounced +these few words:</p> + +<p>"Phoenix calls us to Pyrot's help for the reason that Pyrot is +innocent. It<br> + seems to me that that is a very bad reason. If Pyrot is innocent +he has<br> + behaved like a good soldier and has always conscientiously +worked at his<br> + trade, which principally consists in shooting the people. That +is not a motive<br> + to make the people brave all dangers in his defence. When it is +demonstrated<br> + to me that Pyrot is guilty and that he stole the army hay, I +shall be on his<br> + side."</p> + +<p>Comrade Larrivee afterwards spoke.</p> + +<p>"I am not of my friend, Phoenix's opinion but I am not with my +friend Sapor<br> + either. I do not believe that the party is bound to embrace a +cause as soon as<br> + we are told that that cause is just. That, I am afraid, is a +grievous abuse of<br> + words and a dangerous equivocation. For social justice is not +revolutionary<br> + justice. They are both in perpetual antagonism: to serve the one +is to oppose<br> + the other. As for me, my choice is made. I am for revolutionary +justice as<br> + against social justice. Still, in the present case I am against +abstention. I<br> + say that when a lucky chance brings us an affair like this we +should be fools<br> + not to profit by it.</p> + +<p>"How? We are given an opportunity of striking terrible, +perhaps fatal, blows<br> + against militarism. And am I to fold my arms? I tell you, +comrades, I am not a<br> + fakir, I have never been a fakir, and if there are fakirs here +let them not<br> + count on me. To sit in meditation is a policy without results +and one which I<br> + shall never adopt.</p> + +<p>"A party like ours ought to be continually asserting itself. +It ought to prove<br> + its existence by continual action. We will intervene in the +Pyrot affair but<br> + we will intervene in it in a revolutionary manner; we will adopt +violent<br> + action. . . . Perhaps you think that violence is old-fashioned +and<br> + superannuated, to be scrapped along with diligences, +hand-presses and aerial<br> + telegraphy. You are mistaken. To-day as yesterday nothing is +obtained except<br> + by violence; it is the one efficient instrument. The only thing +necessary is<br> + to know how to use it. You ask what will our action be? I will +tell you: it<br> + will be to stir up the governing classes against one another, to +put the army<br> + in conflict with the capitalists, the government with the +magistracy, the<br> + nobility and clergy with the Jews, and if possible to drive them +all to<br> + destroy one another. To do this would be to carry on an +agitation which would<br> + weaken government in the same way that fever wears out the +sick.</p> + +<p>"The Pyrot affair, little as we know how to turn it to +advantage, will put<br> + forward by ten years the growth of the Social party and the +emancipation of<br> + the proletariat, by disarmament, the general strike, and +revolution."</p> + +<p>The leaders of the party having each expressed a different +opinion, the<br> + discussion was continued, not without vivacity. The orators, as +always happens<br> + in such a case, reproduced the arguments they had already +brought forward,<br> + though with less order and moderation than before. The dispute +was prolonged<br> + and none changed his opinion. These opinions, in the final +analysis, were<br> + reduced to two: that of Sapor and Lapersonne who advised +abstention, and that<br> + of Phoenix and Larrivee, who wanted intervention. Even these two +contrary<br> + opinions were united in a common hatred of the heads of the army +and of their<br> + justice, and in a common belief in Pyrot's innocence. So that +public opinion<br> + was hardly mistaken in regarding all the Socialist leaders as +pernicious<br> + Anti-Pyrotists.</p> + +<p>As for the vast masses in whose name they spoke and whom they +represented as<br> + far as speech can express the impossible--as for the +proletarians whose<br> + thought is difficult to know and who do not know it themselves, +it seemed that<br> + the Pyrot affair did not interest them. It was too literary for +them, it was<br> + in too classical a style, and had an upper-middle-class and +high-finance tone<br> + about it that did not please them much.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>VIII. THE COLOMBAN TRIAL</h2> + +<p>When the Colomban trial began, the Pyrotists were not many +more than thirty<br> + thousand, but they were every where and might be found even +among the priests<br> + and millionaires. What injured them most was the sympathy of the +rich Jews. On<br> + the other hand they derived valuable advantages from their +feeble number. In<br> + the first place there were among them fewer fools than among +their opponents,<br> + who were over-burdened with them. Comprising but a feeble +minority, they<br> + co-operated easily, acted with harmony, and had no temptation to +divide and<br> + thus counteract one another's efforts. Each of them felt the +necessity of<br> + doing the best possible and was the more careful of his conduct +as he found<br> + himself more in the public eye. Finally, they had every reason +to hope that<br> + they would gain fresh adherents, while their opponents, having +had everybody<br> + with them at the beginning, could only decrease.</p> + +<p><br> + Summoned before the judges at a public sitting, Colomban +immediately perceived<br> + that his judges were not anxious to discover the truth. As soon +as he opened<br> + his mouth the President ordered him to be silent in the superior +interests of<br> + the State. For the same reason, which is the supreme reason, the +witnesses for<br> + the defence were not heard. General Panther, the Chief of the +Staff, appeared<br> + in the witness-box, in full uniform and decorated with all his +orders. He<br> + deposed as follows:</p> + +<p>"The infamous Colomban states that we have no proofs against +Pyrot. He lies;<br> + we have them. I have in my archives seven hundred and thirty-two +square yards<br> + of them which at five hundred pounds each make three hundred and +sixty-six<br> + thousand pounds."</p> + +<p>That superior officer afterwards gave, with elegance and ease, +a summary of<br> + those proofs.</p> + +<p>"They are of all colours and all shades," said he in +substance, "they are of<br> + every form--pot, crown, sovereign, grape, dove-cot, grand eagle, +etc. The<br> + smallest is less than the hundredth part of a square inch, the +largest<br> + measures seventy yards long by ninety yards broad."</p> + +<p>At this revelation the audience shuddered with horror.</p> + +<p>Greatauk came to give evidence in his turn. Simpler, and +perhaps greater, he<br> + wore a grey tunic and held his hands joined behind his back.</p> + +<p>"I leave," said he calmly and in a slightly raised voice, "I +leave to M.<br> + Colomban the responsibility for an act that has brought our +country to the<br> + brink of ruin. The Pyrot affair is secret; it ought to remain +secret. If it<br> + were divulged the cruelest ills, wars, pillages, depredations, +fires,<br> + massacres, and epidemics would immediately burst upon Penguinia. +I should<br> + consider myself guilty of high treason if I uttered another +word."</p> + +<p>Some persons known for their political experience, among +others M. Bigourd,<br> + considered the evidence of the Minister of War as abler and of +greater weight<br> + than that of his Chief of Staff.</p> + +<p>The evidence of Colonel de Boisjoli made a great +impression.</p> + +<p>"One evening at the Ministry of War," said that officer, "the +attache of a<br> + neighbouring Power told me that while visiting his sovereign's +stables he had<br> + once admired some soft and fragrant hay, of a pretty green +colour, the finest<br> + hay he had ever seen! 'Where did it come from?' I asked him. He +did not<br> + answer, but there seemed to me no doubt about its origin. It was +the hay Pyrot<br> + had stolen. Those qualities of verdure, softness, and aroma, are +those of our<br> + national hay. The forage of the neighbouring Power is grey and +brittle; it<br> + sounds under the fork and smells of dust. One can draw one own +conclusions."</p> + +<p>Lieutenant-Colonel Hastaing said in the witness-box, amid +hisses, that he did<br> + not believe Pyrot guilty. He was immediately seized by the +police and thrown<br> + into the bottom of a dungeon where, amid vipers, toads, and +broken glass, he<br> + remained insensible both to promises and threats.</p> + +<p>The usher called:</p> + +<p>"Count Pierre Maubec de la Dentdulynx."</p> + +<p>There was deep silence, and a stately but ill-dressed +nobleman, whose<br> + moustaches pointed to the skies and whose dark eyes shot forth +flashing<br> + glances, was seen advancing toward the witness-box.</p> + +<p>He approached Colomban and casting upon him a look of +ineffable disdain:</p> + +<p>"My evidence," said he, "here it is: you excrement!"</p> + +<p>At these words the entire hall burst into enthusiastic +applause and jumped up,<br> + moved by one of those transports that stir men's hearts and +rouse them to<br> + extraordinary actions. Without another word Count Maubec de la +Dentdulynx<br> + withdrew.</p> + +<p>All those present left the Court and formed a procession +behind him. Prostrate<br> + at his feet, Princess des Boscenos held his legs in a close +embrace, but he<br> + went on, stern and impassive, beneath a shower of handkerchiefs +and flowers.<br> + Viscountess Olive, clinging to his neck, could not be removed, +and the calm<br> + hero bore her along with him, floating on his breast like a +light scarf.</p> + +<p>When the court resumed its sitting, which it had been +compelled to suspend,<br> + the President called the experts.</p> + +<p>Vermillard, the famous expert in handwriting, gave the results +of his<br> + researches.</p> + +<p>"Having carefully studied," said he, "the papers found in +Pyrot's house, in<br> + particular his account book and his laundry books, I noticed +that, though<br> + apparently not out of the common, they formed an impenetrable +cryptogram, the<br> + key to which, however, I discovered. The traitor's infamy is to +be seen in<br> + every line. In this system of writing the words 'Three glasses +of beer and<br> + twenty francs for Adele' mean 'I have delivered thirty thousand +trusses of hay<br> + to a neighbouring Power! From these documents I have even been +able to<br> + establish the composition of the hay delivered by this officer. +The words<br> + waistcoat, drawers, pocket handkerchief, collars, drink, +tobacco, cigars, mean<br> + clover, meadowgrass, lucern, burnet, oats, rye-grass, +vernal-grass, and common<br> + cat's tail grass. And these are precisely the constituents of +the hay<br> + furnished by Count Maubec to the Penguin cavalry. In this way +Pyrot mentioned<br> + his crimes in a language that he believed would always remain +indecipherable.<br> + One is confounded by so much astuteness and so great a want of +conscience."</p> + +<p>Colomban, pronounced guilty without any extenuating +circumstances, was<br> + condemned to the severest penalty. The judges immediately signed +a warrant<br> + consuming him to solitary confinement.</p> + +<p>In the Place du Palais on the sides of a river whose banks had +during the<br> + course of twelve centuries seen so great a history, fifty +thousand persons<br> + were tumultuously awaiting the result of the trial. Here were +the heads of the<br> + Anti-Pyrotist Association, among whom might be seen Prince des +Boscenos, Count<br> + Clena, Viscount Olive, and M. de La Trumelle; here crowded the +Reverend Father<br> + Agaric and the teachers of St. Mael College with their pupils; +here the monk<br> + Douillard and General Caraguel, embracing each other, formed a +sublime group.<br> + The market women and laundry women with spits, shovels, tongs, +beetles, and<br> + kettles full of water might be seen running across the +Pont-Vieux. On the<br> + steps in front of the bronze gates were assembled all the +defenders of Pyrot<br> + in Alca, professors, publicists, workmen, some conservatives, +others Radicals<br> + or Revolutionaries, and by their negligent dress and fierce +aspect could be<br> + recognised comrades Phoenix, Larrivee, Lapersonne, Dagobert, and +Varambille.<br> + Squeezed in his funereal frock-coat and wearing his hat of +ceremony,<br> + Bidault-Coquille invoked the sentimental mathematics on behalf +of Colomban and<br> + Colonel Hastaing. Maniflore shone smiling and resplendent on the +topmost step,<br> + anxious, like Leaena, to deserve a glorious monument, or to be +given, like<br> + Epicharis, the praises of history.</p> + +<p>The seven hundred Pyrotists disguised as lemonade sellers, +utter-merchants,<br> + collectors of odds and ends, or anti-Pyrotists, wandered round +the vast<br> + building.</p> + +<p>When Colomban appeared, so great an uproar burst forth that, +struck by the<br> + commotion of air and water, birds fell from the trees and fishes +floated on<br> + the surface of the stream.</p> + +<p>On all sides there were yells:</p> + +<p>"Duck Colomban, duck him, duck him!"</p> + +<p>There were some cries of "Justice and truth!" and a voice was +even heard<br> + shouting:</p> + +<p>"Down with the Army!"</p> + +<p>This was the signal for a terrible struggle. The combatants +fell in thousands,<br> + and their bodies formed howling and moving mounds on top of +which fresh<br> + champions gripped each other by the throats. Women, eager, pale, +and<br> + dishevelled, with clenched teeth and frantic nails, rushed on +the man, in<br> + transports that, in the brilliant light of the public square, +gave to their<br> + faces expressions unsurpassed even in the shade of curtains and +in the hollows<br> + of pillows. They were going to seize Colomban, to bite him, to +strangle,<br> + dismember and rend him, when Maniflore, tall and dignified in +her red tunic,<br> + stood forth, serene and terrible, confronting these furies who +recoiled from<br> + before her in terror. Colomban seemed to be saved; his partisans +succeeded in<br> + clearing a passage for him through the Place du Palais and in +putting him into<br> + a cab stationed at the comer of the Pont-Vieux. The horse was +already in full<br> + trot when Prince des Boscenos, Count Clena, and M. de La +Trumelle knocked the<br> + driver off his seat. Then, making the animal back and pushing +the spokes of<br> + the wheels, they ran the vehicle on to the parapet of the +bridge, whence they<br> + overturned it into the river amid the cheers of the delirious +crowd. With a<br> + resounding splash a jet of water rose upwards, and then nothing +but a slight<br> + eddy was to be seen on the surface of the stream.</p> + +<p>Almost immediately comrades Dagobert and Varambille, with the +help of the<br> + seven hundred disguised Pyrotists, sent Prince des Boscenos head +foremost into<br> + a river-laundry in which he was lamentably swallowed up.</p> + +<p>Serene night descended over the Place du Palais and shed +silence and peace<br> + upon the frightful ruins with which it was strewed. In the mean +time,<br> + Colomban, three thousand yards down the stream, cowering beside +a lame old<br> + horse on a bridge, was meditating on the ignorance and injustice +of crowds.</p> + +<p>"The business," said he to himself, "is even more troublesome +than I believed.<br> + I foresee fresh difficulties."</p> + +<p>He got up and approached the unhappy animal.</p> + +<p>"What have you, poor friend, done to them?" said he. "It is on +my account they<br> + have used you so cruelly."</p> + +<p>He embraced the unfortunate beast and kissed the white star on +his forehead.<br> + Then he took him by the bridle and led him, both of them +limping, trough the<br> + sleeping city to his house, where sleep soon allowed them to +forget mankind.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>X. FATHER DOUILLARD</h2> + +<p>In their infinite gentleness and at the suggestion of the +common father of the<br> + faithful, the bishops, canons, vicars, curates, abbots, and +friars of<br> + Penguinia resolved to hold a solemn service in the cathedral of +Alca, and to<br> + pray that Divine mercy would deign to put an end to the troubles +that<br> + distracted one of the noblest countries in Christendom, and +grant to repentant<br> + Penguinia pardon for its crimes against God and the ministers of +religion.</p> + +<p>The ceremony took place on the fifteenth of June. General +Caraguel, surrounded<br> + by his staff, occupied the churchwarden's pew. The congregation +was numerous<br> + and brilliant. According to M. Bigourd's expression it was both +crowded and<br> + select. In the front rank was to be seen M. de la Bertheoseille, +Chamberlain<br> + to his Highness Prince Crucho. Near the pulpit, which was to be +ascended by<br> + the Reverend Father Douillard, of the Order of St. Francis, were +gathered, in<br> + an attitude of attention with their hands crossed upon their +wands of office,<br> + the great dignitaries of the Anti-Pyrotist association, Viscount +Olive, M. de<br> + La Trumelle, Count Clena, the Duke d'Ampoule, and Prince des +Boscenos. Father<br> + Agaric was in the apse with the teachers and pupils of St. Mael +College. The<br> + right-hand transept and aisle were reserved for officers and +soldiers in<br> + uniform, this side being thought the more honourable, since the +Lord leaned<br> + his head to the right when he died on the Cross. The ladies of +the<br> + aristocracy, and among them Countess Clena, Viscountess Olive, +and Princess<br> + des Boscenos, occupied reserved seats. In the immense building +and in the<br> + square outside were gathered twenty thousand clergy of all +sorts, as well as<br> + thirty thousand of the laity.</p> + +<p><br> + After the expiatory and propitiatory ceremony the Reverend +Father Douillard<br> + ascended the pulpit. The sermon had at first been entrusted to +the Reverend<br> + Father Agaric, but, in spite of his merits, he was thought +unequal to the<br> + occasion in zeal and doctrine, and the eloquent Capuchin friar, +who for six<br> + months had gone through the barracks preaching against the +enemies of God and<br> + authority, had been chosen in his place.</p> + +<p>The Reverend Father Douillard, taking as his text, "He hath +put down the<br> + mighty from their seat," established that all temporal power has +God as its<br> + principle and its end, and that it is ruined and destroyed when +it turns aside<br> + from the path that Providence has traced out for it and from the +end to which<br> + He has directed it.</p> + +<p>Applying these sacred rules to the government of Penguinia, he +drew a terrible<br> + picture of the evils that the country's rulers had been unable +either to<br> + prevent or to foresee.</p> + +<p>"The first author of all these miseries and degradations, my +brethren," said<br> + he, "is only too well known to you. He is a monster whose +destiny is<br> + providentially proclaimed by his name, for it is derived from +the Greek word,<br> + pyros, which means fire. Eternal wisdom warns us by this +etymology that a Jew<br> + was to set ablaze the country that had welcomed him."</p> + +<p>He depicted the country, persecuted by the persecutors of the +Church, and<br> + crying in its agony:</p> + +<p>"O woe! O glory! Those who have crucified my God are +crucifying me!"</p> + +<p>At these words a prolonged shudder passed through the +assembly.</p> + +<p>The powerful orator excited still greater indignation when he +described the<br> + proud and crime-stained Colomban, plunged into the stream, all +the waters of<br> + which could not cleanse him. He gathered up all the humiliations +and all the<br> + perils of the Penguins in order to reproach the President of the +Republic and<br> + his Prime Minister with them.</p> + +<p>"That Minister," said he, "having been guilty of degrading +cowardice in not<br> + exterminating the seven hundred Pyrotists with their allies and +defenders, as<br> + Saul exterminated the Philistines at Gibeah, has rendered +himself unworthy of<br> + exercising the power. that God delegated to him, and every good +citizen ought<br> + henceforth to insult his contemptible government. Heaven will +look favourably<br> + on those who despise him. 'He hath put down the mighty from +their seat.' God<br> + will depose these pusillanimous chiefs and will put in their +place strong men<br> + who will call upon Him. I tell you, gentlemen, I tell you +officers,<br> + non-commissioned officers, and soldiers who listen to me, I tell +you General<br> + of the Penguin armies, the hour has come! If you do not obey +God's orders, if<br> + in His name you do not depose those now in authority, if you do +not establish<br> + a religious and strong government in Penguinia, God will none +the less destroy<br> + what He has condemned, He will none the less save His people. He +will save<br> + them, but, if you are wanting, He will do so by means of a +humble artisan or a<br> + simple corporal. Hasten! The hour will soon be past."</p> + +<p>Excited by this ardent exhortation, the sixty thousand people +present rose up<br> + trembling and shouting: "To arms! To arms! Death to the +Pyrotists! Hurrah for<br> + Crucho!" and all of them, monks, women, soldiers, noblemen, +citizens, and<br> + loafers, who were gathered beneath the superhuman arm uplifted +in the pulpit,<br> + struck up the hymn, "Let us save Penguinia! They rushed +impetuously from the<br> + basilica and marched along the quays to the Chamber of +Deputies.</p> + +<p>Left alone in the deserted nave, the wise Cornemuse, lifting +his arms to<br> + heaven, murmured in broken accents:</p> + +<p>"Agnosco fortunam ecclesiae penguicanae! I see but too well +whither this will<br> + lead us."</p> + +<p>The attack which the crowd made upon the legislative palace +was repulsed.<br> + Vigorously charged by the police and Alcan guards, the +assailants were already<br> + fleeing in disorder, when the Socialists, running from the slums +and led by<br> + comrades Phoenix, Dagobert, Lapersonne, and Varambille, threw +themselves upon<br> + them and completed their discomfiture. MM. de La Trumelle and +d'Ampoule were<br> + taken to the police station. Prince des Boscenos, after a +valiant struggle,<br> + fell upon the bloody pavement with a fractured skull.</p> + +<p>In the enthusiasm of victory, the comrades, mingled with an +innumerable crowd<br> + of paper-sellers and gutter-merchants, ran through the +boulevards all night,<br> + carrying, Maniflore in triumph, and breaking the mirrors of the +cafes and the<br> + glasses of the street lamps amid cries of "Down with Crucho! +Hurrah for the<br> + Social Revolution!" The Anti-Pyrotists in their turn upset the +newspaper<br> + kiosks and tore down the hoardings.</p> + +<p>These were spectacles of which cool reason cannot approve and +they were fit<br> + causes for grief to the municipal authorities, who desired to +preserve the<br> + good order of the roads and streets. But, what was sadder for a +man of heart<br> + was the sight or the canting humbugs, who, from fear of blows, +kept at an<br> + equal distance from the two camps, and who, although they +allowed their<br> + selfishness and cowardice to be visible, claimed admiration for +the generosity<br> + of their sentiments and the nobility of their souls. They rubbed +their eyes<br> + with onions, gaped like whitings, blew violently into their +handkerchiefs,<br> + and, bringing their voices out of the depths of their stomachs, +groaned forth:<br> + "O Penguins, cease these fratricidal struggles; cease to rend +your mother's<br> + bosom!" As if men could live in society without disputes and +without quarrels,<br> + and as if civil discords were not the necessary conditions of +national life<br> + and progress. They showed themselves hypocritical cowards by +proposing a<br> + compromise between the just and the unjust, offending the just +in his<br> + rectitude and the unjust in his courage. One of these creatures, +the rich and<br> + powerful Machimel, a champion coward, rose upon the town like a +colossus of<br> + grief; his tears formed poisonous lakes at his feet and his +sighs capsized the<br> + boats of the fishermen.</p> + +<p>During these stormy nights Bidault-Coquille at the top of his +old<br> + steam-engine, under the serene sky, boasted in his heart, while +the shooting<br> + stars registered themselves upon his photographic plates. He was +fighting for<br> + justice. He loved and was loved with a sublime passion. Insult +and calumny<br> + raised him to the clouds. A caricature of him in company with +those of<br> + Colomban, Kerdanic, and Colonel Hastaing was to be seen in the +newspaper<br> + kiosks. The Anti-Pyrotists proclaimed that he had received fifty +thousand<br> + francs from the big Jewish financiers. The reporters of the +militarist sheets<br> + held interviews regarding his scientific knowledge with official +scholars, who<br> + declared he had no knowledge of the stars, disputed his most +solid<br> + observations, denied his most certain discoveries, and condemned +his most<br> + ingenious and most fruitful hypotheses. He exulted under these +flattering<br> + blows of hatred and envy.</p> + +<p>He contemplated the black immensity pierced by a multitude of +lights, without<br> + giving a thought to all the heavy slumbers, cruel insomnias, +vain dreams,<br> + spoilt pleasures, and infinitely diverse miseries that a great +city contains.</p> + +<p>"It is in this enormous city," said he to himself, "that the +just and the<br> + unjust are joining battle."</p> + +<p>And substituting a simple and magnificent poetry for the +multiple and vulgar<br> + reality, he represented to himself the Pyrot affair as a +struggle between good<br> + and bad angels. He awaited the eternal triumph of the Sons of +Light and<br> + congratulated himself on being a Child of the Day confounding +the Children of<br> + Night.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>X. MR. JUSTICE CHAUSSEPIED</h2> + +<p>Hitherto blinded by fear, incautious and stupid before the +bands of Friar<br> + Douillard and the partisans of Prince Crucho, the Republicans at +last opened<br> + their eyes and grasped the real meaning of the Pyrot affair. The +deputies who<br> + had for two years turned pale at the shouts of the patriotic +crowds became,<br> + not indeed more courageous, but altered their cowardice and +blamed Robin<br> + Mielleux for disorders which their own compliance had +encouraged, and the<br> + instigators of which they had several times slavishly +congratulated. They<br> + reproached him for having imperilled the Republic by a weakness +which was<br> + really theirs and a timidity which they themselves had imposed +upon him. Some<br> + of them began to doubt whether it was not to their interest to +believe in<br> + Pyrot's innocence rather than in his guilt, and thenceforward +they felt a<br> + bitter anguish at the thought that the unhappy man might have +been wrongly<br> + convicted and that in his aerial cage he might be expiating +another man's<br> + crimes. "I cannot sleep on account of it!" was what several +members of<br> + Minister Guillaumette's majority used to say. But these were +ambitious to<br> + replace their chief.</p> + +<p><br> + These generous legislators overthrew the cabinet, and the +President of the<br> + Republic put in Robin Mielleux's place, a patriarchal Republican +with a<br> + flowing beard, La Trinite by name, who, like most of the +Penguins, understood<br> + nothing about the affair, but thought that too many monks were +mixed up in it.</p> + +<p>General Greatauk before leaving the Ministry of War, gave his +final advice to<br> + Pariler, the Chief of the Staff.</p> + +<p>"I go and you remain," said he, as he shook hands with him. +"The Pyrot affair<br> + is my daughter; I confide her to you, she is worthy of your love +and your<br> + care; she is beautiful. Do not forget that her beauty loves the +shade, is<br> + leased with mystery, and likes to remain veiled. Great her +modesty with<br> + gentleness. Too many indiscreet looks have already profaned her +charms. . . .<br> + Panther, you desired proofs and you obtained them. You have +many, perhaps too<br> + many, in your possession. I see that there will be many tiresome +interventions<br> + and much dangerous curiosity. If I were in your place I would +tear up all<br> + those documents. Believe me, the best of proofs is none at all. +That is the<br> + only one which nobody discusses."</p> + +<p>Alas! General Panther did not realise the wisdom of this +advice. The future<br> + was only too thoroughly to justify Greatauk's perspicacity. La +Trinite<br> + demanded the documents belonging, to the Pyrot affair. Peniche, +his Minister<br> + of War, refused them in the superior interests of the national +defence,<br> + telling him that the documents under General Panther's care +formed the hugest<br> + mass of archives in the world. La Trinite studied the case as +well as he<br> + could, and, without penetrating to the bottom of the matter, +suspected it of<br> + irregularity. Conformably to his rights and prerogatives he then +ordered a<br> + fresh trial to be held. Immediately, Peniche, his Minister of +War, accused him<br> + of insulting the army and betraying the country and flung his +portfolio at his<br> + head. He was replaced by a second, who did the same. To him +succeeded a third,<br> + who imitated these examples, and those after him to the number +of seventy<br> + acted like their predecessors, until the venerable La Trinite +groaned beneathe<br> + the weight of bellicose portfolios. The seventy-first Minister +of War, van<br> + Julep, retained office. Not that he was in disagreement with so +many and such<br> + noble colleagues, but he had been commissioned by them +generously to betray<br> + his Prime Minister, to cover him with shame and opprobrium, and +to convert the<br> + new trial to the glory of Greatauk, the satisfaction of the +Anti-Pyrotists,<br> + the profit of the monks, and the restoration of Prince +Crucho.</p> + +<p>General van Julep, though endowed with high military virtues, +was not<br> + intelligent enough to employ the subtle conduct and exquisite +methods of<br> + Greatauk. He thought, like General Panther, that tangible proofs +against Pyrot<br> + were necessary, that they could never ave too many of them, that +they could<br> + never have even enough. He expressed these' sentiments to his +Chief of Staff,<br> + who was only too inclined to agree with them.</p> + +<p>"Panther," said he, "we are at the moment when we need +abundant and<br> + superabundant proofs."</p> + +<p>"You have said enough, General," answered Panther, "I will +complete my piles<br> + of documents."</p> + +<p>Six months later the proofs against Pyrot filled two storeys +of the Ministry<br> + of War. The ceiling fell in beneath the weight of the bundles, +and the<br> + avalanche of falling documents crushed two head clerks, fourteen +second<br> + clerks, and sixty copying clerks, who were at work upon the +ground floor<br> + arranging a change in the fashion of the cavalry gaiters. The +walls of the<br> + huge edifice had to be propped. Passers-by saw with amazement +enormous beams<br> + and monstrous stanchions which reared themselves obliquely +against the noble<br> + front of the building, now tottering and disjointed, and blocked +up the<br> + streets, stopped the carriages, and presented to the +motor-omnibuses an<br> + obstacle against which they dashed with their loads of +passengers.</p> + +<p>The judges who had condemned Pyrot were not, properly +speaking, judges but<br> + soldiers. The judges who had condemned Colomban were real +judges, but of<br> + inferior rank, wearing seedy black clothes like church vergers, +unlucky<br> + wretches of judges, miserable judgelings. Above them were the +superior judges<br> + who wore ermine robes over their black gowns. These, renowned +for their<br> + knowledge and doctrine, formed a court whose terrible name +expressed power. It<br> + was called the Court of Appeal (Cassation) so as to make it +clear that it was<br> + the hammer suspended over the judgments and decrees of all +other<br> + jurisdictions.</p> + +<p>One of these superior red Judges of the Supreme Court, called +Chaussepied, led<br> + a modest and tranquil life in a suburb of Alca. His soul was +pure, his heart<br> + honest, his spirit just. When he had finished studying his +documents he used<br> + to play the violin and cultivate hyacinths. Every Sunday he +dined with his<br> + neighbours the Mesdemoiselles Helbivore. His old age was +cheerful and robust<br> + and his friends often praised the amenity of his character.</p> + +<p>For some months, however, he had been irritable and touchy, +and when he opened<br> + a newspaper his broad and ruddy face would become covered with +dolorous<br> + wrinkles and darkened with an angry purple. Pyrot was the cause +of it. Justice<br> + Chaussepied could not understand how an officer could have +committed so black<br> + a crime as to hand over eighty thousand trusses of military hay +to a<br> + neighbouring and hostile Power. And he could still less conceive +how a<br> + scoundrel should have found official defenders in Penguinia. The +thought that<br> + there existed in his country a Pyrot, a Colonel Hastaing, a +Colomban, a<br> + Kerdanic, a Phoenix, spoilt his hyacinths,his violin, his +heaven, and his<br> + earth, all nature, and even his dinner with the Mesdemoiselles +Helbivore!</p> + +<p>In the mean time the Pyrot case, having been presented to the +Supreme Court by<br> + the Keeper of Seals, it fell to Chaussepied to examine it and +cover its<br> + defects, in case any existed. Although as upright and honest as +a man can be,<br> + and trained by long habit to exercise his magistracy without +fear or favour,<br> + he expected to find in the documents he submitted to him proofs +of certain<br> + guilt and obvious criminality. After lengthened difficulties and +repeated<br> + refusals on the part of General Julep, Justice Chaussepied was +allowed to<br> + examine the documents. Numbered and initialed they ran to the +number of<br> + fourteen millions six hundred and twenty-six thousand three +hundred and<br> + twelve. As he studied them the judge was at first surprised, +then astonished,<br> + then stupefied, amazed, and, if I dare say so, flabbergasted. He +found among<br> + the documents prospectuses of new fancy shops, newspapers, +fashion-plates,<br> + paper bags, old business letters, exercise books, brown paper, +green paper for<br> + rubbing parquet floors, playing cards, diagrams, six thousand +copies of the<br> + "Key to Dreams," but not a single document in which any mention +was made of<br> + Pyrot.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>XI. CONCLUSION</h2> + +<p>The appeal was allowed, and Pyrot was brought down from his +cage. But the<br> + Anti-Pyrotists did not regard themselves as beaten. The military +judges<br> + re-tried Pyrot. Greatauk, in this second affair, surpassed +himself. He<br> + obtained a second conviction; he obtained it by declaring that +the proofs<br> + communicated to the Supreme Court were worth nothing, and that +great care had<br> + been taken to keep back the good ones, since they ought to +remain secret. In<br> + the opinion of connoisseurs he had never shown so much address. +On leaving the<br> + court, as he passed through the vestibule with a tranquil step, +and his hands<br> + behind his back, amidst a crowd of sight-seers, a woman dressed +in red and<br> + with her face covered by a black veil rushed at him, brandishing +a kitchen<br> + knife.</p> + +<p><br> + "Die, scoundrel!" she cried. It was Maniflore. Before those +present could<br> + understand what was happening, the general seized her by the +wrist, and with<br> + apparent gentleness, squeezed it so forcibly that the knife fell +from her<br> + aching hand.</p> + +<p>Then he picked it up and handed it to Maniflore.</p> + +<p>"Madam," said he with a bow, "you have dropped a household +utensil."</p> + +<p>He could not prevent the heroine from being taken to the +police-station; but<br> + he had her immediately released and afterwards he employed all +his influence<br> + to stop the prosecution.</p> + +<p>The second conviction of Pyrot was Greatauk's last +victory.</p> + +<p>Justice Chaussepied, who had formerly liked soldiers so much, +and esteemed<br> + their justice so highly,, being now enraged with the military +judges, quashed<br> + their judgments as a monkey cracks nuts. He rehabilitated Pyrot +a second time;<br> + he would, if necessary, have rehabilitated him five hundred +times.</p> + +<p>Furious at having been cowards and at having allowed +themselves to be deceived<br> + and made game of, the Republicans turned against the monks and +clergy. The<br> + deputies passed laws of expulsion, separation, and spoliation +against them.<br> + What Father Cornemuse had foreseen took place. That good monk +was driven from<br> + the Wood of Conils. Treasury officers confiscated his retorts +and his stills,<br> + and the liquidators divided amongst them his bottles of St. +Oberosian liqueur.<br> + The pious distiller lost the annual income of three million five +hundred<br> + thousand francs that his products procured for him. Father +Agaric went into<br> + exile, abandoning his school into the hands of laymen, who soon +allowed it to<br> + fall into decay. Separated from its foster-mother, the State, +the Church of<br> + Penguinia withered like a plucked flower.</p> + +<p>The victorious defenders of the innocent man now abused each +other and<br> + overwhelmed each other reciprocally with insults and calumnies. +The vehement<br> + Kerdanic hurled himself upon Phoenix as if ready to devour him. +The wealthy<br> + Jews and the seven hundred Pyrotists turned away with disdain +from the<br> + socialist comrades whose aid they had humbly implored in the +past.</p> + +<p>"We know you no longer," said they. "To the devil with you and +your social<br> + justice. Social justice is the defence of property."</p> + +<p>Having been elected a Deputy and chosen to be the leader of +the new majority,<br> + comrade Larrivee was appointed by the Chamber and public opinion +to the<br> + Premiership. He showed himself an energetic defender of the +military tribunals<br> + that had condemned Pyrot. When his former socialist comrades +claimed a little<br> + more justice and liberty for the employes of the State as well +as for manual<br> + workers, he opposed their proposals in an eloquent speech.</p> + +<p>"Liberty," said he, "is not licence. Between order and +disorder my choice is<br> + made: revolution is impotence. Progress has no more formidable +enemy than<br> + violence. Gentlemen, those who, as I am, are anxious for reform, +ought to<br> + apply themselves before everything else to cure this agitation +which enfeebles<br> + government just as fever exhausts those who are ill. It is time +to reassure<br> + honest people."</p> + +<p>This speech was received with applause. The government of the +Republic<br> + remained in subjection to the great financial companies, the +army was<br> + exclusively devoted to the defence of capital, while the fleet +was designed<br> + solely to procure fresh orders for the mine-owners. Since the +rich refused to<br> + pay their just share of the taxes, the poor, as in the past, +paid for them.</p> + +<p>In the mean time from the height of his old steamline, beneath +the crowded<br> + stars of night, Bidault-Coquille gazed sadly at the sleeping +city. Maniflore<br> + had left him. Consumed with a desire for fresh devotions and +fresh sacrifices,<br> + she had gone in company with a young Bulgarian to bear justice +and vengeance<br> + to Sofia. He did not regret her, having perceived after the +Affair, that she<br> + was less beautiful in form and in thought than he had at first +imagined. His<br> + impressions had been modified in the same direction concerning +many other<br> + forms and many other thoughts. And what was cruelest of all to +him, he<br> + regarded himself as not so great, not so splendid, as he had +believed.</p> + +<p>And he reflected:</p> + +<p>"You considered yourself sublime when you had but candour and +good-will. Of<br> + what were you proud, Bidault-Coquille? Of having been one of the +first to know<br> + that Pyrot was innocent and Greatauk a scoundrel. But +three-fourths of those<br> + who defended Greatauk against the attacks of the seven hundred +Pyrotists knew<br> + that better than you. Of what then did you show yourself so +proud? Of having<br> + dared to say what you thought? That is civic courage, and, like +military<br> + courage, it is a mere result of imprudence. You have been +imprudent. So far so<br> + good, but that is no reason for praising yourself beyond +measure. Your<br> + imprudence was trifling; it exposed you to trifling perils; you +did not risk<br> + your head by it. The Penguins have lost that cruel and +sanguinary pride which<br> + formerly gave a tragic grandeur to their revolutions; it is the +fatal result<br> + of the weakening of beliefs and character. Ought one to look +upon oneself as a<br> + superior spirit for having shown a little more clear-sightedness +than the<br> + vulgar? I am very much afraid, on the contrary, +Bidault-Coquille, that you<br> + have given proof of a gross misunderstanding of the conditions +of the moral<br> + and intellectual development of a people. You imagined that +social injustices<br> + were threaded together like pearls and that it would be enough +to pull off one<br> + in order to unfasten the whole necklace. That is a very +ingenuous conception.<br> + You flattered yourself that at one stroke you were establishing +justice in<br> + your own country and in the universe. You were a brave man, an +honest<br> + idealist, though without much experimental philosophy. But go +home to your own<br> + heart and you will recognise that you had in you a spice of +malice and that<br> + our ingenuousness was not without cunning. You believed you were +performing a<br> + fine moral action. You said to yourself: 'Here am I, just and +courageous once<br> + for all. I can henceforth repose in the public esteem and the +praise of<br> + historians.' And now that you have lost your illusions, now that +you know how<br> + hard it is to redress wrongs, and that the task must ever be +begun afresh, you<br> + are going back to your asteroids. You are right; but go back to +them with<br> + modesty, Bidault-Coquille!"</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h1>BOOK VII. MODERN TIMES</h1> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>MADAME CERES</h2> + +<p>"Only extreme things are tolerable." Count Robert de +Montesquiou.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>I. MADAME CLARENCE'S DRAWING-ROOM</h2> + +<p>Madame Clarence, the widow of an exalted functionary of the +Republic, loved to<br> + entertain. Every Thursday she collected together some friends of +modest<br> + condition who took pleasure in conversation. The ladies who went +to see her,<br> + very different in age and rank, were all without money, and had +all suffered<br> + much. There was a duchess who looked like a fortune-teller and +a<br> + fortune-teller who looked like a duchess. Madame Clarence was +pretty enough to<br> + maintain some old liaisons, but not to form new ones, and she +generally<br> + inspired a quiet esteem. She had a very pretty daughter, who, +since she had no<br> + dower, caused some alarm among the male guests; for the Penguins +were as much<br> + afraid of portionless girls as they were of the devil himself. +Eveline<br> + Clarence, noticing their reserve and perceiving its cause, used +to hand them<br> + their tea with an air of disdain. Moreover, she seldom appeared +at the parties<br> + and talked only to the ladies or the very young people. Her +discreet and<br> + retiring presence put no restraint upon the conversation, since +those who took<br> + part in it thought either that as she was a young girl she would +not<br> + understand it, or that, being twenty-five years old, she might +listen to<br> + everything.</p> + +<p><br> + One Thursday therefore, in Madame Clarence's drawing-room, the +conversation<br> + turned upon love. The ladies spoke of it with pride, delicacy, +and mystery,<br> + the men with discretion and fatuity; everyone took an interest +in the<br> + conversation, for each one was interested in what he or she +said. A great deal<br> + of wit flowed; brilliant apostrophes were launched forth and +keen repartees<br> + were returned. But when Professor Haddi began to speak he +overwhelmed<br> + everybody.</p> + +<p>"It is the same with our ideas on love as with our ideas on +everything else,"<br> + said he, "they rest upon anterior habits whose very memory has +been effaced.<br> + In morals, the limitations that have lost their grounds for +existing, the most<br> + useless obligations, the cruelest and most injurious restraints, +are because<br> + of their profound antiquity and the mystery of their origin, the +least<br> + disputed and the least disputable as well as the most respected, +and they are<br> + those that cannot be violated without incurring the most severe +blame. All<br> + morality relative to the relations of the sexes is founded on +this principle:<br> + that a woman once obtained belongs to the man, that she is his +property like<br> + his horse or his weapons. And this having ceased to be true, +absurdities<br> + result from it, such as the marriage or contract of sale of a +woman to a man,<br> + with clauses restricting the right of ownership introduced as a +consequence of<br> + the gradual diminution of the claims of the possessor.</p> + +<p>"The obligation imposed on a girl that she should bring her +virginity to her<br> + husband comes from the times when girls were married immediately +they were of<br> + a marriageable age. It is ridiculous that a girl who marries at +twenty-five or<br> + thirty should be subject to that obligation. You will, perhaps, +say that it is<br> + a present with which her husband, if she gets one at last, will +be gratified;<br> + but every moment we see men wooing married women and showing +themselves<br> + perfectly satisfied to take them as they find them.</p> + +<p>"Still, even in our own day, the duty of girls is determined +in religious<br> + morality by the old belief that God, the most powerful of +warriors, is<br> + polygamous, that he has reserved all maidens for himself, and +that men can<br> + only take those whom he has left. This belief, although traces +of it exist in<br> + several metaphors of mysticism, is abandoned to-day, by most +civilised<br> + peoples. However, it still dominates the education of girls not +only among our<br> + believers, but even among our free-thinkers, who, as a rule, +think freely for<br> + the reason that they do not think at all.</p> + +<p>"Discretion means ability to separate and discern. We say that +a girl is<br> + discreet when she knows nothing at all. We cultivate her +ignorance. In spite<br> + of all our care the most discreet know something, for we cannot +conceal from<br> + them their own nature and their own sensations. But they know +badly, they know<br> + in a wrong way. That is all we obtain by our careful education. +. . ."</p> + +<p>"Sir," suddenly said Joseph Boutourle, the High Treasurer of +Alca, "believe<br> + me, there are innocent girls, perfectly innocent girls, and it +is a great<br> + pity. I have known three. They married, and the result was +tragical."</p> + +<p>"I have noticed," Professor Haddock went on, "that Europeans +in general and<br> + Penguins in particular occupy themselves, after sport and +motoring, with<br> + nothing so much as with love. It is giving a great deal of +importance to a<br> + matter that has very little weight."</p> + +<p>"Then, Professor," exclaimed Madame Cremeur in a choking +voice, "when a woman<br> + has completely surrendered herself to you, you think it is a +matter of no<br> + importance?"</p> + +<p>"No, Madame; it can have its importance," answered Professor +Haddock, "but it<br> + is necessary to examine if when she surrenders herself to us she +offers us a<br> + delicious fruit-garden or a plot of thistles and dandelions. And +then, do we<br> + not misuse words? In love, a woman lends herself rather than +gives herself.<br> + Look at the pretty Madame Pensee. . . ."</p> + +<p>"She is my mother," said a tall, fair young man.</p> + +<p>"Sir, I have the greatest respect for her," replied Professor +Haddock; "do not<br> + be afraid that I intend to say anything in the least offensive +about her. But<br> + allow me to tell you that, as a rule, the opinions of sons about +their mothers<br> + are not to be relied on. They do not bear enough in mind that a +mother is a<br> + mother only because she loved, and that she can still love. +That, however, is<br> + the case, and it would be deplorable were it otherwise. I have +noticed, on the<br> + contrary, that daughters do not deceive themselves about their +mothers'<br> + faculty for loving or about the use they make of it; they are +rivals; they<br> + have their eyes upon them."</p> + +<p>The insupportable Professor spoke a great deal longer, adding +indecorum to<br> + awkwardness, and impertinence to incivility, accumulating +incongruities,<br> + despising what is respectable, respecting what is despicable; +but no one<br> + listened to him further.</p> + +<p>During this time in a room that was simple without grace, a +room sad for the<br> + want of love, a room which, like all young girls' rooms, had +something of the<br> + cold atmosphere of a place of waiting about it, Eveline Clarence +turned over<br> + the pages of club annuals and prospectuses of charities in order +to obtain<br> + from them some acquaintance with society. Being convinced that +her mother,<br> + shut up in her own intellectual but poor world, could neither +bring her out or<br> + push her into prominence, she decided that she herself would +seek the best<br> + means of winning a husband. At once calm and obstinate, without +dreams or<br> + illusions, and regarding marriage as but a ticket of admission +or a passport,<br> + she kept before her mind a clear notion of the hazards, +difficulties, and<br> + chances of her enterprise. She had the art of pleasing and a +coldness of<br> + temperament that enabled her to turn it to its fullest +advantage. Her weakness<br> + lay in the fact that she was dazzled by anything that had an +aristocratic air.</p> + +<p>When she was alone with her mother she said:</p> + +<p>"Mamma, we will go to-morrow to Father Douillard's +retreat."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>II. THE CHARITY OF ST. ORBEROSIA</h2> + +<p>Every Friday evening at nine o'clock the choicest of Alcan +society assembled<br> + in the aristocratic church of St. Mael for the Reverend Father +Douillard's<br> + retreat. Prince and Princess des Boscenos, Viscount and +Viscountess Olive, M.<br> + and Madame Bigourd, Monsieur and Madame de La Trumelle were +never absent. The<br> + flower of the aristocracy might be seen there, and fair Jewish +baronesses also<br> + adorned it by their presence, for the Jewish baronesses of Alca +were<br> + Christians.</p> + +<p>This retreat, like all religious retreats, had for its object +to procure for<br> + those living in the world opportunities for recollection so that +they might<br> + think of their eternal salvation. It was also intended to draw +down upon so<br> + man noble and illustrious families the benediction of L. +Orberosia, who loves<br> + the Penguins. The Reverend Father Douillard strove for the +completion of his<br> + task with a truly apostolical zeal. He hoped to restore the +prerogatives of<br> + St. Orberosia as the patron saint of Penguinia and to dedicate +to her a<br> + monumental church on one of the hills that dominate the city. +His efforts had<br> + been crowned with great success, and for the accomplishing of +this national<br> + enterprise he had already united more than a hundred thousand +adherents and<br> + collected more than twenty millions of francs.</p> + +<p><br> + It was in the choir of St. Mael's that St. Orberosia's new +shrine, shining<br> + with gold, sparkling with precious stones, and surrounded by +tapers and<br> + flowers, had been erected.</p> + +<p>The following account may be read in the "History of the +Miracles of the<br> + Patron Saint of Alca" by the Abbe Plantain:</p> + +<p>"The ancient shrine had been melted down during the Terror and +the precious<br> + relics of the saint thrown into a fire that had been lit on the +Place de<br> + Greve; but a poor woman of great piety, named Rouquin, went by +night at the<br> + peril of her life to gather up the calcined bones and the ashes +of the blessed<br> + saint. She preserved them in a jam-pot, and when religion was +again restored,<br> + brought them to the venerable Cure of St. Maels. The woman ended +her days<br> + piously as a vendor of tapers and custodian of seats in the +saint's chapel."</p> + +<p>It is certain that in the time of Father Douillard, although +faith was<br> + declining, the cult of St. Orberosia, which for three hundred +years had fallen<br> + under the criticism of Canon Princeteau and the silence of the +Doctors of the<br> + Church, recovered, and was surrounded with more pomp, more +splendour, and more<br> + fervour than ever. The theologians did not now subtract a single +iota from the<br> + legend. They held as certainly established all the facts related +by Abbot<br> + Simplicissimus, and in particular declared, on the testimony of +that monk,<br> + that the devil, assuming a monk's form had carried off the saint +to a cave and<br> + had there striven with her until she overcame him. Neither +places nor dates<br> + caused them any embarrassment. They paid no heed to exegesis and +took good<br> + care not to grant as much to science as Canon Princeteau had +formerly<br> + conceded. They knew too well whither that would lead.</p> + +<p>The church shone with lights and flowers. An operatic tenor +sang the famous<br> + canticle of St. Orberosia:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>Virgin of Paradise<br> + Come, come in the dusky night<br> + And on us shed<br> + Thy beams of light.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Mademoiselle Clarence sat beside her mother and in front of +Viscount Clena.<br> + She remained kneeling during a considerable time, for the +attitude of prayer<br> + is natural to discreet virgins and it shows off their +figures.</p> + +<p>The Reverend Father Douillard ascended the pulpit. He was a +powerful orator<br> + and could, at once melt, surprise, and rouse his hearers. Women +complained<br> + only that he fulminated against vice with excessive harshness +and in crude<br> + terms that made them blush. But they liked him none the less for +it.</p> + +<p><br> + He treated in his sermon of the seventh trial of St. Orberosia, +who was<br> + tempted by the dragon which she went forth to combat. But she +did not yield,<br> + and she disarmed the monster. The orator demonstrated without +difficulty that<br> + we, also, by the aid of St. Orberosia, and strong in the virtue +which she<br> + inspires, can in our turn overthrow the dragons that dart upon +us and are<br> + waiting to devour us, the dragon of doubt, the dragon of +impiety, the dragon<br> + of forgetfulness of religious duties. He proved that the charity +of St.<br> + Orberosia was a work of social regeneration, and he concluded by +an ardent<br> + appeal to the faithful "to become instruments of the Divine +mercy, eager<br> + upholders and supporters of the charity of St. Orberosia, and to +furnish it<br> + with all the means which it required to take its flight and bear +its salutary<br> + fruits." *</p> + +<p>* Cf. J. Ernest Charles in the "Censeur," May-August, 1907, p. +562, col. 2.</p> + +<p><br> + After the ceremony, the Reverend Father Douillard remained in +the sacristy at<br> + the disposal of those of the faithful who desired information +concerning the<br> + charity, or who wished to bring their contributions. +Mademoiselle Clarence<br> + wished to speak to Father Douillard, so did Viscount Clena. The +crowd was<br> + large, and a queue was formed. By chance Viscount Clena and +Mademoiselle<br> + Clarence were side by side and possibly they were squeezed a +little closely to<br> + each other by the crowd. Eveline had noticed this fashionable +young man, who<br> + was almost as well known as his father in the world of sport. +Clena had<br> + noticed her, and, as he thought her pretty, he bowed to her, +then apologised<br> + and pretended to believe that he had been introduced to the +ladies, but could<br> + not remember where. They pretended to believe it also.</p> + +<p>He presented himself the following week at Madame Clarence's, +thinking that<br> + her house was a bit fast--a thing not likely to displease +him--and when he saw<br> + Eveline again he felt he had not been mistaken and that she was +an extremely<br> + pretty girl.</p> + +<p>Viscount Clena had the finest motor-car in Europe. For three +months he drove<br> + the Clarences every day over hills and plains, through woods and +valleys; they<br> + visited famous sites and went over celebrated castles. He said +to Eveline all<br> + that could be said and did all that could be done to overcome +her resistance.<br> + She did not conceal from him that she loved him, that she would +always love<br> + him, and love no one but him. She remained grave and trembling +by his side. To<br> + his devouring passion she opposed the invincible defence of a +virtue conscious<br> + of its danger. At the end of three months, after having gone +uphill and down<br> + hill, turned sharp corners, and negotiated level crossings, and +experienced<br> + innumerable break-downs, he knew her as well as he knew the +fly-wheel of his<br> + car, but not much better. He employed surprises, adventures, +sudden stoppages<br> + in the depths of forests and before hotels, but he had advanced +no farther. He<br> + said to himself that it was absurd; then, taking her again in +his car he set<br> + off at fifty miles an hour quite prepared to upset her in a +ditch or to smash<br> + himself and her against a tree.</p> + +<p>One day, having come to take her on some excursion, he found +her more charming<br> + than ever, and more provoking. He darted upon her as a storm +falls upon the<br> + reeds that border a lake. She bent with adorable weakness +beneath the breath<br> + of the storm, and twenty times was almost carried away by its +strength, but<br> + twenty times she arose, supple and, bowing to the wind. After +all these shocks<br> + one would have said that a light breeze had barely touched her +charming stem;<br> + she smiled as if ready to be plucked by a bold hand. Then her +unhappy<br> + aggressor, desperate, enraged, and three parts mad, fled so as +not to kill<br> + her, mistook the door, went into the bedroom of Madame Clarence, +whom he found<br> + putting on her hat in front of a wardrobe, seized her, flung her +on the bed,<br> + and possessed her before she knew what had happened.</p> + +<p>The same day Eveline, who had been making inquiries, learned +that Viscount<br> + Clena had nothing but debts, lived on money given him by an +elderly lady, and<br> + promoted the sale of the latest models of a motor-car +manufacturer. They<br> + separated with common accord and Eveline began again +disdainfully to serve tea<br> + to her mother's guests.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>III. HIPPOLYTE CERES</h2> + +<p>In Madame Clarence's drawing-room the conversation turned upon +love, and many<br> + charming things were said about it.</p> + +<p>"Love is a sacrifice," sighed Madame Cremeur.</p> + +<p>"I agree with you," replied M. Boutourle with animation.</p> + +<p>But Professor Haddock soon displayed his fastidious +insolence.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me," said he, "that the Penguin ladies have made +a great fuss<br> + since, through St. Mael's agency, they became viviparous. But +there is nothing<br> + to be particularly proud of in that, for it is a state they +share in common<br> + with cows and pigs, and even with orange and lemon trees, for +the seeds of<br> + these plants germinate in the pericarp."</p> + +<p><br> + "The self-importance which the Penguin ladies give themselves +does not go so<br> + far back as that," answered M. Boutourle. "It dates from the day +when the holy<br> + apostle gave them clothes. But this self-importance was long +kept in<br> + restraint, and displayed itself fully only with increased luxury +of dress and<br> + in a small section of society. For go only two leagues from Alca +into the<br> + country at harvest time, and you will see whether women are +over-precise or<br> + self-important."</p> + +<p>On that day M. Hippolyte Ceres paid his first call. He was a +Deputy of Alca,<br> + and one of the youngest members of the House. His father was +said to have kept<br> + a dram shop, but he himself was a lawyer of robust physique, a +good though<br> + prolix speaker, with a self-important air and a reputation for +ability.</p> + +<p>"M. Ceres," said the mistress of the house, "your constituency +is one of the<br> + finest in Alca."</p> + +<p>"And there are fresh improvements made in it every day, +Madame."</p> + +<p>"Unfortunately, it is impossible to take a stroll through it +any longer," said<br> + M. Boutourle.</p> + +<p>"Why?" asked M. Ceres.</p> + +<p>"On account of the motors, of course."</p> + +<p>"Do not give them a bad name," answered the Deputy. "They are +our great<br> + national industry."</p> + +<p>"I know. The Penguins of to-day make me think of the ancient +Egyptians.<br> + According to Clement of Alexandria, Taine tells us--though he +misquotes the<br> + text--the Egyptians worshipped the crocodiles that devoured +them. The Penguins<br> + to-day worship the motors that crush them. Without a doubt the +future belongs<br> + to the metal beast. We are no more likely to go back to cabs +than we are to go<br> + back to the diligence. And the long martyrdom of the horse will +come to an<br> + end. The motor, which the frenzied cupidity of manufacturers +hurls like a<br> + juggernaut's car upon the bewildered people and of which the +idle and<br> + fashionable make a foolish though fatal elegance, will soon +begin to perform<br> + its true function, and putting its strength at the service of +the entire<br> + people, will behave like a docile, toiling monster. But in order +that the<br> + motor may cease to be injurious and become beneficent we must +build roads<br> + suited to its speed, roads which it cannot tear up with its +ferocious tyres,<br> + and from which it will send no clouds of poisonous dust into +human lungs. We<br> + ought not to allow slower vehicles or mere animals to go upon +those roads, and<br> + we should establish garages upon them and foot-bridges over +them, and so<br> + create order and harmony among the means of communication of the +future. That<br> + is the wish of every good citizen."</p> + +<p>Madame Clarence led the conversation back to the improvements +in M. Ceres'<br> + constituency. M. Ceres showed his enthusiasm for demolitions, +tunnelings,<br> + constructions, reconstructions, and all other fruitful +operations.</p> + +<p>"We build to-day in an admirable style," said he; "everywhere +majestic avenues<br> + are being reared. Was ever anything as fine as our arcaded +bridges and our<br> + domed hotels!"</p> + +<p>"You are forgetting that big palace surmounted an immense +melon-shaped dome,"<br> + grumbled by M. Daniset, an old art amateur, in a voice of +restrained rage. "I<br> + am amazed at the degree of ugliness which a modern city can +attain. Alca is<br> + becoming Americanised. Everywhere we are destroying all that is +free,<br> + unexpected, measured, restrained, human, or traditional among +the things that<br> + are left us. Everywhere we are destroying that charming object, +a piece of an<br> + old wall that bears up the branches of a tree. Everywhere we are +suppressing<br> + some fragment of light and air, some fragment of nature, some +fragment of the<br> + associations that still remain with us, some fragment of our +fathers, some<br> + fragment of ourselves. And we are putting up frightful, +enormous, infamous<br> + houses, surmounted in Viennese style by ridiculous domes, or +fashioned after<br> + the models of the 'new art' without mouldings, or having +profiles with<br> + sinister corbels and burlesque pinnacles, and such monsters as +these<br> + shamelessly peer over the surrounding buildings. We see bulbous +protuberances<br> + stuck on the fronts of buildings and we are told they are 'new +art' motives. I<br> + have seen the 'new art' in other countries, but it is not so +ugly as with us;<br> + it has fancy and it has simplicity. It is only in our own +country that by a<br> + sad privilege we may behold the newest and most diverse styles +of<br> + architectural ugliness. Not an enviable privilege!"</p> + +<p>"Are you not afraid," asked M. Ceres severely, "are you not +afraid that these<br> + bitter criticisms tend to keep out of our capital the foreigners +who flow into<br> + it from all arts of the world and who leave millions behind +them?"</p> + +<p>"You may set your mind at rest about that," answered M. +Daniset. "Foreigners<br> + do not come to admire our buildings; they come to see our +courtesans, our<br> + dressmakers, and our dancing saloons."</p> + +<p>"We have one bad habit," sighed M. Ceres, "it is that we +calumniate<br> + ourselves."</p> + +<p>Madame Clarence as an accomplished hostess thought it was time +to return to<br> + the subject of love and asked M. Jumel his opinion of M. Leon +Blum's recent<br> + book in which the author complained. . . .</p> + +<p>". . . That an irrational custom," went on Professor Haddock, +"prevents<br> + respectable young ladies from making love, a thing they would +enjoy doing,<br> + whilst mercenary girls do it too much and without getting any +enjoyment out of<br> + it. It is indeed deplorable. But M. Leon Blum need not fret too +much. If the<br> + evil exists, as he says it does, in our middle-class society, I +can assure him<br> + that everywhere else he would see a consoling spectacle. Among +the people, the<br> + mass of the people through town and country, girls do not deny +themselves that<br> + pleasure."</p> + +<p>"It is depravity!" said Madame Cremeur.</p> + +<p>And she praised the innocence of young girls in terms full of +modesty and<br> + grace. It was charming to hear her.</p> + +<p>Professor Haddock's views on the same subject were, on the +contrary, painful<br> + to listen to.</p> + +<p>"Respectable young girls," said he, "are guarded and watched +over. Besides,<br> + men do not, as a rule, pursue them much, either through probity, +or from a<br> + fear of grave responsibilities, or because the seduction of a +young girl would<br> + not be to their credit. Even then we do not know what really +takes place, for<br> + the reason that what is hidden is not seen. This is a condition +necessary to<br> + the existence of all society. The scruples of respectable young +girls could be<br> + more easily overcome than those of married women if the same +pressure were<br> + brought to bear on them, and for this there are two reasons: +they have more<br> + illusions, and their curiosity has not been satisfied. Women, +for the most<br> + part, have been so disappointed by their husbands that they have +not courage<br> + enough to begin again with somebody else. I myself have been met +by this<br> + obstacle several times in my attempts at seduction."</p> + +<p>At the moment when Professor Haddock ended his unpleasant +remarks,<br> + Mademoiselle Eveline Clarence entered the drawing-room and +listlessly handed<br> + about tea with that expression of boredom which gave an oriental +charm to her<br> + beauty.</p> + +<p>"For my part," said Hippolyte Ceres, looking at her, "I +declare myself the<br> + young ladies' champion."</p> + +<p>"He must be a fool," thought the girl.</p> + +<p>Hippolyte Ceres, who had never set foot outside of his +political world of<br> + electors and elected, thought Madame Clarence's drawing-room +most select, its<br> + mistress exquisite, and her daughter amazingly beautiful. His +visits became<br> + frequent and he paid court to both of them. Madame Clarence, who +now liked<br> + attention, thought him agreeable. Eveline showed no friendliness +towards him,<br> + and treated him with a hauteur and disdain that he took for +aristocratic<br> + behaviour and fashionable manners, and he thought all the more +of her on that<br> + account. This busy man taxed his ingenuity to please them, and +he sometimes<br> + succeeded. He got them cards for fashionable functions and boxes +at the Opera.<br> + He furnished Mademoiselle Clarence with several opportunities of +appearing to<br> + great advantage and in particular at a garden party which, +although given by a<br> + Minister, was regarded as really fashionable, and gained its +first success in<br> + society circles for the Republic.</p> + +<p>At that party Eveline had been much noticed and had attracted +the special<br> + attention of a young diplomat called Roger Lambilly who, +imagining that she<br> + belonged to a rather fast set, invited her to his bachelor's +flat. She thought<br> + him handsome and believed him rich, and she accepted. A little +moved, almost<br> + disquieted, she very nearly became the victim of her daring, and +only avoided<br> + defeat by an offensive measure audaciously carried out. This was +the most<br> + foolish escapade in her unmarried life.</p> + +<p>Being now on friendly terms with Ministers and with the +President, Eveline<br> + continued to wear her aristocratic and pious affectations, and +these won for<br> + her the sympathy of the chief personages in the anti-clerical +and democratic<br> + Republic. M. Hippolyte Ceres, seeing that she was succeeding and +doing him<br> + credit, liked her still more. He even went so far as to fall +madly in love<br> + with her.</p> + +<p>Henceforth, in spite of everything, she began to observe him +with interest,<br> + being curious to see if his passion would increase. He appeared +to her without<br> + elegance or grace, and not well bred, but active, clear-sighted, +full of<br> + resource, and not too great a bore. She still made fun of him, +but he had now<br> + won her interest.</p> + +<p>One day she wished to test him. It was during the elections, +when members of<br> + Parliament were, as the phrase runs, requesting a renewal of +their mandates.<br> + He had an opponent, who, though not dangerous at first and not +much of an<br> + orator, was rich and was reported to be gaining votes every day. +Hippolyte<br> + Ceres, banishing both dull security and foolish alarm from his +mind, redoubled<br> + his care. His chief method of action was by public meetings at +which he spoke<br> + vehemently against the rival candidate. His committee held huge +meetings on<br> + Saturday evenings and at three o'clock on Sunday afternoons. One +Sunday, as he<br> + called on the Clarences, he found Eveline alone in the +drawing-room. He had<br> + been chatting for about twenty or twenty-five minutes, when, +taking out his<br> + watch, he saw that it was a quarter to three. The young girl +showed herself<br> + amiable, engaging, attractive, and full of promises. Ceres was +fascinated, but<br> + he stood up to go.</p> + +<p>"Stay a little longer," said she in a pressing and agreeable +voice which made<br> + him promptly sit down again.</p> + +<p>She was full of interest, of abandon, curiosity, and weakness. +He blushed,<br> + turned pale, and again got up.</p> + +<p>Then, in order to keep him still longer, she looked at him out +of two grey and<br> + melting eyes, and though her bosom was heaving, she did not say +another word.<br> + He fell at her feet in distraction,, but once more looking at +his watch, he<br> + jumped up with a terrible oath.</p> + +<p>"D--! a quarter to four! I must be off."</p> + +<p>And immediately he rushed down the stairs.</p> + +<p>From that time onwards she had a certain amount of esteem for +him.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>IV. A POLITICIAN'S MARRIAGE</h2> + +<p>She was not quite in love with him, but she wished him to be +in love with her.<br> + She was, moreover, very reserved with him, and that not solely +from any want<br> + of inclination to be otherwise, since in affairs of love some +things are due<br> + to indifference, to inattention, to woman's instinct, to +traditional custom<br> + and feeling, to a desire to try one's power, and to satisfaction +at seeing its<br> + results. The reason of her prudence was that she knew him to be +very much<br> + infatuated and capable of taking advantage of any familiarities +she allowed as<br> + well as of reproaching her coarsely afterwards if she +discontinued them.</p> + +<p><br> + As he was a professed anti-clerical and free-thinker, she +thought it a good<br> + plan to affect an appearance of piety in his presence and to be +seen with<br> + prayer-books bound in red morocco, such as Queen Marie +Leczinska's or the<br> + Dauphiness Marie Josephine's "The Last Two Weeks of Lent." She +lost no<br> + opportunity, either, of showing him the subscriptions that she +collected for<br> + the endowment of the national cult of St. Orberosia. Eveline did +not act in<br> + this way because she wished to tease him. Nor did it spring from +a young<br> + girl's archness, or a spirit of constraint, or even from +snobbishness, though<br> + there was more than a suspicion of this latter in her behaviour. +It was but<br> + her way of asserting herself, of stamping herself with a +definite character,<br> + of increasing her value. To rouse the Deputy's courage she +wrapped herself up<br> + in religion, just as Brunhild surrounded herself with flames so +as to attract<br> + Sigurd. Her audacity was successful. He thought her still more +beautiful thus.<br> + Clericalism was in his eyes a sign of good form.</p> + +<p>Ceres was re-elected by an enormous majority and returned to a +House which<br> + showed itself more inclined to the Left, more advanced, and, as +it seemed,<br> + more eager for reform than its predecessor. Perceiving at once +that so much<br> + zeal was but intended to hide a fear of change, and a sincere +desire to do<br> + nothing, he determined to adopt a policy that would satisfy +these aspirations.<br> + At the beginning of the session he made a great speech, cleverly +thought out<br> + and well arranged, dealing with the idea that all reform ought +to be put off<br> + for a long time. He showed himself heated, even fervid; holding +the principle<br> + that an orator should recommend moderation with extreme +vehemence. He was<br> + applauded by the entire assembly. The Clarences listened to him +from the<br> + President's box and Eveline trembled in spite of herself at the +solemn sound<br> + of the applause. On the same bench the fair Madame Pensee +shivered at the<br> + intonations of his virile voice.</p> + +<p>As soon as he descended from the tribune, Ceres, even while +the audience were<br> + still clapping, went without a moment's delay to salute the +Clarences in their<br> + box. Eveline saw in him the beauty of success, and as he leaned +towards the<br> + ladies, wiping his neck with his handkerchief and receiving +their<br> + congratulations with an air of modesty though not without a +tinge of<br> + self-conceit, the young girl glanced towards Madame Pensee and +saw her,<br> + palpitating and breathless, drinking in the hero's applause with +her head<br> + thrown backwards. It seemed as if she were on the point of +fainting. Eveline<br> + immediately smiled tenderly on M. Ceres.</p> + +<p>The Alcan deputy's speech had a great vogue. In political +"spheres" it was<br> + regarded as extremely able. "We have at last heard an honest +pronouncement,"<br> + said the chief Moderate journal. "It is a regular programme!" +they said in the<br> + House. It was agreed that he was a man of immense talent.</p> + +<p>Hippolyte Ceres had now established himself as leader of the +radicals,<br> + socialists, and anti-clericals, and they appointed him President +of their<br> + group, which was then the most considerable in the House. He +thus found<br> + himself marked out for office in the next ministerial +combination.</p> + +<p>After a long hesitation Eveline Clarence accepted the idea of +marrying M.<br> + Hippolyte Ceres. The great man was a little common for her +taste. Nothing had<br> + yet proved that he would one day reach the point where politics +bring in large<br> + sums of money. But she was entering her twenty-seventh year and +knew enough of<br> + life to see that she must not be too fastidious or show herself +too difficult<br> + to please.</p> + +<p>Hippolyte Ceres was celebrated; Hippolyte Ceres was happy. He +was no longer<br> + recognisable; the elegance of his clothes and deportment had +increased<br> + tremendously. He wore an undue number of white gloves. Now that +he was too<br> + much of a society man, Eveline began to doubt if it was not +worse than being<br> + too little of one. Madame Clarence regarded the engagement with +favour. She<br> + was reassured concerning her daughter's future and pleased to +have flowers<br> + given her every Thursday for her drawing-room.</p> + +<p>The celebration of the marriage raised some difficulties. +Eveline was pious<br> + and wished to receive the benediction of the Church. Hippolyte +Ceres, tolerant<br> + but a free-thinker, wanted only a civil marriage. There were +many discussions<br> + and even some violent scenes upon the subject. The last took +place in the<br> + young girl's room at the moment when the invitations were being +written.<br> + Eveline declared that if she did not go to church she would not +believe<br> + herself married. She spoke of breaking off the engagement, and +of going abroad<br> + with her mother, or of retiring into a convent. Then she became +tender, weak,<br> + suppliant. She sighed, and everything in her virginal chamber +sighed in<br> + chorus, the holy-water font, the palm-branch above her white +bed, the books of<br> + devotion on their little shelves, and the blue and white +statuette of St.<br> + Orberosia chaining the dragon of Cappadocia, that stood upon the +marble<br> + mantelpiece. Hippolyte Ceres was moved, softened, melted.</p> + +<p>Beautiful in her grief, her eyes shining with tears, her +wrists girt by a<br> + rosary of lapis lazuli and, so to speak, chained by her faith, +she suddenly<br> + flung herself at Hippolyte's feet, and dishevelled, almost +dying, she embraced<br> + his knees.</p> + +<p>He nearly yielded.</p> + +<p>"A religious marriage," he muttered, "a marriage in church, I +could make my<br> + constituents stand that, but my committee would not swallow the +matter so<br> + easily. . . . Still I'll explain it to them . . . toleration, +social<br> + necessities . . . . They all send their daughters to Sunday +school . . . . But<br> + as for office, my dear I am afraid we are going to drown all +hope of that in<br> + your holy water."</p> + +<p>At these words she stood up grave, generous, resigned, +conquered also in her<br> + turn.</p> + +<p>"My dear, I insist no longer."</p> + +<p>"Then we won't have a religious marriage. It will be better, +much better not."</p> + +<p>"Very well, but be guided by me. I am going to try and arrange +everything both<br> + to your satisfaction and mine."</p> + +<p>She sought the Reverend Father Douillard and explained the +situation. He<br> + showed himself even more accommodating and yielding than she had +hoped.</p> + +<p>"Your husband is an intelligent man, a man of order and +reason; he will come<br> + over to us. You will sanctify him. It is not in vain that God +has granted him<br> + the blessing of a Christian wife. The Church needs no pomp and +ceremonial<br> + display for her benedictions. Now that she is persecuted, the +shadow of the<br> + crypts and the recesses of the catacombs are in better accord +with her<br> + festivals. Mademoiselle, when you have performed the civil +formalities come<br> + here to my private chapel in costume with M. Ceres. I will marry +you, a<br> + observe the most absolute discretion. I will obtain the +necessary<br> + dispensations from the Archbishop as well as all facilities +regarding the<br> + banns, confession-tickets, etc."</p> + +<p>Hippolyte, although he thought the combination a little +dangerous, agreed to<br> + it, a good deal flattered, at bottom.</p> + +<p>"I will go in a short coat," he said.</p> + +<p>He went in a frock coat with white gloves and varnished shoes, +and he<br> + genuflected.</p> + +<p>"Politeness demands. . . ."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>V. THE VISIRE CABINET</h2> + +<p>The Ceres household was established with modest decency in a +pretty flat<br> + situated in a new building. Ceres loved his wife in a calm and +tranquil<br> + fashion. He was often kept late from home by the Commission on +the Budget and<br> + he worked more than three nights a week at a report on the +postal finances of<br> + which he hoped to make a masterpiece. Eveline thought she could +twist him<br> + round her finger, and this did not displease him. The bad side +of their<br> + situation was that they had not much money; in truth they had +very little. The<br> + servants of the Republic do not grow rich in her service as +easily as people<br> + think. Since the sovereign is no longer there to distribute +favours, each of<br> + them takes what he can, and his depredations, limited by the +depredations of<br> + all the others, are reduced to modest proportions. Hence that +austerity of<br> + morals that is noticed in democratic leaders. They can only grow +rich during<br> + periods of great business activity and then they find themselves +exposed to<br> + the envy of their less favoured colleagues. Hippolyte Ceres had +for a long<br> + time foreseen such a period. He was one of those who had made +preparations for<br> + its arrival. Whilst waiting for it he endured his poverty with +dignity, and<br> + Eveline shared that poverty without suffering as much as one +might have<br> + thought. She was in close intimacy with the Reverend Father +Douillard and<br> + frequented the chapel of St. Orberosia, where she met with +serious society and<br> + people in a position to render her useful services. She knew how +to choose<br> + among them and gave her confidence to none but those who +deserved it. She had<br> + gained experience since her motor excursions with Viscount +Clena, and above<br> + all she had now acquired the value of a married woman.</p> + +<p><br> + The deputy was at first uneasy about these pious practices, +which were<br> + ridiculed by the demagogic newspapers, but he was soon +reassured, for he saw<br> + all around him democratic leaders joyfully becoming reconciled +to the<br> + aristocracy and the Church.</p> + +<p>They found that they had reached one of those periods (which +often recur) when<br> + advance had been carried a little too far. Hippolyte Ceres gave +a moderate<br> + support to this view. His policy was not a policy of persecution +but a policy<br> + of tolerance. He had laid its foundations in his splendid speech +on the<br> + preparations for reform. The Prime Minister was looked upon as +too advanced.<br> + He proposed schemes which were admitted to be dangerous to +capital, and the<br> + great financial companies were opposed to him. Of course it +followed that the<br> + papers of all views supported the companies. Seeing the danger +increasing, the<br> + Cabinet abandoned its schemes, its programme, and its opinions, +but it was too<br> + late. A new administration was already ready. An insidious +question by Paul<br> + Visire which was immediately made the subject of a resolution, +and a fine<br> + speech by Hippolyte Ceres, overthrew the Cabinet.</p> + +<p>The President of the Republic entrusted the formation of a new +Cabinet to this<br> + same Paul Visire, who, though still very young, had been a +Minister twice. He<br> + was a charming man, spending much of his time in the green-rooms +of theatres,<br> + very artistic, a great society man, of amazing ability and +industry. Paul<br> + Visire formed a temporary ministry intended to reassure public +feeling which<br> + had taken alarm, and Hippolyte Ceres was invited to hold office +in it.</p> + +<p>The new ministry, belonging to all the groups in the majority, +represented the<br> + most diverse and contrary opinions, but they were all moderate +and convinced<br> + conservatives.* The Minister of Foreign Affairs was retained +from the former<br> + cabinet. He was a little dark man called Crombile, who worked +fourteen hours a<br> + day with the conviction that he dealt with tremendous questions. +He refused to<br> + see even his own diplomatic agents, and was terribly uneasy, +though he did not<br> + disturb anybody else, for the want of foresight of peoples is +infinite and<br> + that of governments is just as great.</p> + +<p>* As this ministry exercised considerable influence upon the +destinies of the<br> + country and of the world, we think it well to give its +composition: Minister<br> + of the Interior and Prime Minister, Paul Visire; Minister of +Justice, Pierre<br> + Bouc; Foreign Affairs, Victor Crombile; Finance, Terrasson; +Education,<br> + Labillette; Commerce, Posts and Telegraphs, Hippolyte Ceres; +Agriculture,<br> + Aulac; Public Works, Lapersonne; War, General Debonnaire; +Admiralty, Admiral<br> + Vivier des Murenes.</p> + +<p>The office of Public Works was given to a Socialist, Fortune +Lapersonne. It<br> + was then a political custom and one of the most solemn, most +severe, most<br> + rigorous, and if I may dare say so, the most terrible and cruel +of all<br> + political customs, to include a member of the Socialist party in +each ministry<br> + intended to oppose Socialism, so that the enemies of wealth and +property<br> + should suffer the shame of being attacked by one of their own +party, and so<br> + that they could not unite against these forces without turning +to some one who<br> + might possibly attack themselves in the future. Nothing but a +profound<br> + ignorance of the human heart would permit the belief that it was +difficult to<br> + find a Socialist to occupy these functions. Citizen Fortune +Lapersonne entered<br> + the Visire cabinet of his own free will and without any +constraint; and he<br> + found those who approved of his action even among his former +friends, so great<br> + was the fascination that power exercised over the Penguins!</p> + +<p>General Debonnaire went to the War Office. He was looked upon +as one of the<br> + ablest generals in the army, but he was ruled by a woman, the +Baroness<br> + Bildermann, who, though she had reached the age of intrigue, was +still<br> + beautiful. She was in the pay of a neighbouring and hostile +Power.</p> + +<p>The new Minister of Marine, the worthy Admiral Vivier des +Murenes, was<br> + generally regarded as an excellent seaman. He displayed a piety +that would<br> + have seemed excessive in an anti-clerical minister, if the +Republic had not<br> + recognised that religion was of great maritime utility. Acting +on the<br> + instruction of his spiritual director, the Reverend Father +Douillard, the<br> + worthy Admiral had dedicated his fleet to St. Orberosia and +directed canticles<br> + in honour of the Alcan Virgin to be composed by Christian bards. +These<br> + replaced the national hymn in the music played by the navy.</p> + +<p>Prime Minister Visire declared himself to be distinctly +anticlerical but ready<br> + to respect all creeds; he asserted that he was a sober-minded +reformer. Paul<br> + Visire and his colleagues desired reforms, and it was in order +not to<br> + compromise reform that they proposed none; for they were true +politicians and<br> + knew that reforms are compromised the moment they are proposed. +The government<br> + was well received, respectable people were reassured, and the +funds rose.</p> + +<p>The administration announced that four new ironclads would be +put into<br> + commission, that prosecutions would be undertaken against the +Socialists, and<br> + it formally declared its intention to have nothing to do with +any<br> + inquisitorial income-tax. The choice of Terrasson as Minister of +Finance was<br> + warmly approved by the press. Terrasson, an old minister famous +for his<br> + financial operations, gave warrant to all the hopes of the +financiers and<br> + shadowed forth a period of great business activity. Soon those +three udders of<br> + modern nations, monopolies, bill discounting, and fraudulent +speculation, were<br> + swollen with the milk of wealth. Already whispers were heard of +distant<br> + enterprises, and of planting colonies, and the boldest put +forward in the<br> + newspapers the project of a military and financial protectorate +over Nigritia.</p> + +<p>Without having yet shown what he was capable of, Hippolyte +Ceres was<br> + considered a man of weight. Business people thought highly of +him. He was<br> + congratulated on all sides for having broken with the extreme +sections, the<br> + dangerous men, and for having realised the responsibilities of +government.</p> + +<p>Madame Ceres shone alone amid the Ministers' wives. Crombile +withered away in<br> + bachelordom. Paul Visire had married money in the person of +Mademoiselle<br> + Blampignon, an accomplished, estimable, and simple lady who was +always ill,<br> + and whose feeble health compelled her to stay with her mother in +the depths of<br> + a remote province. The other Ministers' wives were not born to +charm the<br> + sight, and people smiled when they read that Madame Labillette +had appeared at<br> + the Presidency Ball wearing a headdress of birds of paradise. +Madame Vivier<br> + des Murenes, a woman of good family, was stout rather than tall, +had a face<br> + like a beef-steak and the voice of a newspaper-seller. Madame +Debonnaire,<br> + tall, dry, and florid, was devoted to young officers. She ruined +herself by<br> + her escapades and crimes and only regained consideration by dint +of ugliness<br> + and insolence.</p> + +<p>Madame Ceres was the charm of the Ministry and its tide to +consideration.<br> + Young, beautiful, and irreproachable, she charmed alike society +and the masses<br> + by her combination of elegant costumes and pleasant smiles.</p> + +<p>Her receptions were thronged by the great Jewish financiers. +She gave the most<br> + fashionable garden parties in the Republic. The newspapers +described her<br> + dresses and the milliners did not ask her to pay for them. She +went to Mass;<br> + she protected the chapel of St. Orberosia from the ill-will of +the people; and<br> + she aroused in aristocratic hearts the hope of a fresh +Concordat.</p> + +<p>With her golden hair, grey eyes, and supple and slight though +rounded figure,<br> + she was indeed pretty. She enjoyed an excellent reputation and +she was so<br> + adroit, and calm, so much mistress of herself, that she would +have preserved<br> + it intact even if she had been discovered in the very act of +ruining it.</p> + +<p>The session ended with a victory for the cabinet which, amid +the almost<br> + unanimous applause of the House, defeated a proposal for an +inquisitorial tax,<br> + and with a triumph for Madame Ceres who gave parties in honour +of three kings<br> + who were at the moment passing through Alca.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>VI. THE SOFA OF THE FAVOURITE</h2> + +<p>The Prime Minister invited Monsieur and Madame Ceres to spend +a couple of<br> + weeks of the holidays in a little villa that he had taken in the +mountains,<br> + and in which he lived alone. The deplorable health of Madame +Paul Visire did<br> + not allow her to accompany her husband, and she remained with +her relatives in<br> + one of the southern provinces.</p> + +<p>The villa had belonged to the mistress of one of the last +Kings of Alca: the<br> + drawing-room retained its old furniture, and in it was still to +be found the<br> + Sofa of the Favourite. The country was charming; a pretty blue +stream, the<br> + Aiselle, flowed at the foot of the hill that dominated the +villa. Hippolyte<br> + Ceres loved fishing; when engaged at this monotonous occupation +he often<br> + formed his best Parliamentary combinations, and his happiest +oratorical<br> + inspirations. Trout swarmed in the Aiselle; he fished it from +morning till<br> + evening in a boat that the Prime Minister readily placed at is +disposal.</p> + +<p><br> + In the mean time, Eveline and Paul Visire sometimes took a turn +together in<br> + the garden, or had a little chat in the drawing-room. Eveline, +although she<br> + recognised the attraction that Visire had for women, had +hitherto displayed<br> + towards him only an intermittent and superficial coquetry, +without any deep<br> + intentions or settled design. He was a connoisseur and saw that +she was<br> + pretty. The House and the Opera had deprived him of all leisure, +but, in a<br> + little villa, the grey eyes and rounded figure of Eveline took +on a value in<br> + his eyes. One day as Hippolyte Ceres was fishing in the Aiselle, +he made her<br> + sit beside him on the Sofa of the Favourite. Long rays of gold +struck Eveline<br> + like arrows from a hidden Cupid through the chinks of the +curtains which<br> + protected her from the heat and glare of a brilliant day. +Beneath her white<br> + muslin dress her rounded yet slender form was outlined in its +grace and youth.<br> + Her skin was cool and fresh, and had the fragrance of freshly +mown hay. Paul<br> + Visire behaved as the occasion warranted, and for her part, she +was opposed<br> + neither to the games of chance or of society. She believed it +would be nothing<br> + or a trifle; she was mistaken.</p> + +<p>"There was," says the famous German ballad, "on the sunny side +of the town<br> + square, beside a wall whereon the creeper grew, a pretty little +letter-box, as<br> + blue as the corn-flowers, smiling and tranquil.</p> + +<p>"All day long there came to it, in their heavy shoes, small +shop-keepers, rich<br> + farmers, citizens, the tax-collector and the policeman, and they +put into it<br> + their business letters, their invoices, their summonses their +notices to pay<br> + taxes, the judges' returns, and orders for the recruits to +assemble. It<br> + remained smiling and tranquil.</p> + +<p>"With joy, or in anxiety, there advanced towards it workmen +and farm servants,<br> + maids and nursemaids, accountants, clerks, and women carrying +their little<br> + children in their arms; they put into it notifications of +births. marriages,<br> + and deaths, letters between engaged couples, between husbands +and wives, from<br> + mothers to their sons, and from sons to their mothers. It +remained smiling and<br> + tranquil.</p> + +<p>"At twilight, young lads and young girls slipped furtively to +it, and put in<br> + love-letters, some moistened with tears that blotted the ink, +others with a<br> + little circle to show the place to kiss, all of them very long. +It remained<br> + smiling and tranquil.</p> + +<p>"Rich merchants came themselves through excess of carefulness +at the hour of<br> + daybreak, and put into it registered letters, and letters with +five red seals,<br> + full of bank notes or cheques on the great financial +establishments of the<br> + Empire. It remained smiling and tranquil.</p> + +<p>"But one day, Gaspar, whom it had never seen, and whom it did +not know from<br> + Adam, came to put in a letter, of which nothing is known but +that it was<br> + folded like a little hat. Immediately the pretty letter-box fell +into a swoon.<br> + Henceforth it remains no longer in its place; it runs through +streets, fields,<br> + and woods, girdled with ivy, and crowned with roses. It keeps +running up hill<br> + and down dale; the country policeman surprises it sometimes, +amidst the corn,<br> + in Gaspar's arms kissing him upon the mouth."</p> + +<p>Paul Visire had recovered all his customary nonchalance. +Eveline remained<br> + stretched on the Divan of the Favourite in an attitude of +delicious<br> + astonishment.</p> + +<p>The Reverend Father Douillard, an excellent moral theologian, +and a man who in<br> + the decadence of the Church has preserved his principles, was +very right to<br> + teach, in conformity with the doctrine of the Fathers, that +while a woman<br> + commits a great sin by giving herself for money, she commits a +much greater<br> + one by giving herself for nothing. For, in the first case she +acts to support<br> + her life, and that is sometimes not merely excusable but +pardonable, and even<br> + worthy of the Divine Grace, for God forbids suicide, and is +unwilling that his<br> + creatures should destroy themselves. Besides, in giving herself +in order to<br> + live, she remains humble, and derives no pleasure from it a +thing which<br> + diminishes the sin. But a woman who gives herself for nothing +sins with<br> + pleasure and exults in her fault. The pride and delight with +which she burdens<br> + her crime increase its load of moral guilt.</p> + +<p>Madame Hippolyte Ceres' example shows the profundity of these +moral truths.<br> + She perceived that she had senses. A second was enough to bring +about this<br> + discovery, to change her soul, to alter her whole life. To have +learned to<br> + know herself was at first a delight. The {greek here} of the +ancient<br> + philosophy is not a precept the moral fulfilment of which +procures any<br> + pleasure, since one enjoys little satisfaction from knowing +one's soul. It is<br> + not the same with the flesh, for in it sources of pleasure may +be revealed to<br> + us. Eveline immediately felt an obligation to her revealer equal +to the<br> + benefit she had received, and she imagined that he who had +discovered these<br> + heavenly depths was the sole possessor of the key to them. Was +this an error,<br> + and might she not be able to find others who also had the golden +key? It is<br> + difficult to decide; and Professor Haddock, when the facts were +divulged<br> + (which happened without much delay as we shall see), treated the +matter from<br> + an experimental point of view, in a scientific review, and +concluded that the<br> + chances Madame C-- would have of finding the exact equivalent of +M. V-- were<br> + in the proportion of 305 to 975008. This is as much as to say +that she would<br> + never find it. Doubtless her instinct told her the same, for she +attached<br> + herself distractedly to him.</p> + +<p>I have related these facts with all the circumstances which +seemed to me<br> + worthy of attracting the attention of meditative and philosophic +minds. The<br> + Sofa of the Favourite is worthy of the majesty of history; on it +were decided<br> + the destinies of a great people; nay, on it was accomplished an +act whose<br> + renown was to extend over the neighbouring nations both friendly +and hostile,<br> + and even over all humanity. Too often events of this nature +escape the<br> + superficial minds and shallow spirits who inconsiderately assume +the task of<br> + writing history. Thus the secret springs of events remain hidden +from us. The<br> + fall of Empires and the transmission of dominions astonish us +and remain<br> + incomprehensible to us, because we have not discovered the +imperceptible<br> + point, or touched the secret spring which when put in movement +has destroyed<br> + and overthrown everything. The author of this great history +knows better than<br> + anyone else his faults and his weaknesses, but he can do himself +this<br> + justice--that he has always kept the moderation, the +seriousness, the<br> + austerity, which an account of affairs of State demands, and +that he has never<br> + departed from the gravity which is suitable to a recital of +human actions.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>VII. THE FIRST CONSEQUENCES</h2> + +<p>When Eveline confided to Paul Visire that she had never +experienced anything<br> + similar, he did not believe her. He had had a good deal to do +with women and<br> + knew that they readily say these things to men in order to make +them more in<br> + love with them. Thus his experience, as sometimes happens, made +him disregard<br> + the truth. Incredulous, but gratified all the same, he soon felt +love and<br> + something more for her. This state at first seemed favourable to +his<br> + intellectual faculties. Visire delivered in the chief town of +his constituency<br> + a speech full of grace, brilliant and happy, which was +considered to be a<br> + masterpiece.</p> + +<p><br> + The re-opening of Parliament was serene. A few isolated +jealousies, a few<br> + timid ambitions raised their heads in the House, and that was +all. A smile<br> + from the Prime Minister was enough to dissipate these shadows. +She and he saw<br> + each other twice a day, and wrote to each other in the interval. +He was<br> + accustomed to intimate relationships, was adroit, and knew how +to dissimulate;<br> + but Eveline displayed a foolish imprudence: she made herself +conspicuous with<br> + him in drawing-rooms, at the theatre, in the House, and at the +Embassies; she<br> + wore her love upon her face, upon her whole person, in her moist +glances, in<br> + the languishing smile of her lips, in the heaving of her breast, +in all her<br> + heightened, agitated, and distracted beauty. Soon the entire +country knew of<br> + their intimacy. Foreign Courts were informed of it. The +President of the<br> + Republic and Eveline's husband alone remained in ignorance. The +President<br> + became acquainted with it in the country, through a misplaced +police report<br> + which found its way, it is not known how, into his +portmanteau.</p> + +<p>Hippolyte Ceres, without being either very subtle, or very +perspicacious,<br> + noticed that there was something different in his home. Eveline, +who quite<br> + lately had interested herself in his affairs, and shown, if not +tenderness, at<br> + least affection, towards him, displayed henceforth nothing but +indifference<br> + and repulsion. She had always had periods of absence, and made +prolonged<br> + visits to the Charity of St. Orberosia; now, she went out in the +morning,<br> + remained out all day, and sat down to dinner at nine o'clock in +the evening<br> + with the face of a somnambulist. Her husband thought it absurd; +however, he<br> + might perhaps have never known the reason for this; a profound +ignorance of<br> + women, a crass confidence in his own merit, and in his own +fortune, might<br> + perhaps have always hidden the truth from him, if the two lovers +had not, so<br> + to speak, compelled him to discover it.</p> + +<p>When Paul Visire went to Eveline's house and found her alone, +they used to<br> + say, as they embraced each other; "Not here! not here!" and +immediately they<br> + affected an extreme reserve. That was their invariable rule. +Now, one day,<br> + Paul Visire went to the house of his colleague Ceres, with whom +he had an<br> + engagement. It was Eveline who received him, the Minister of +Commerce being<br> + delayed by a commission.</p> + +<p>"Not here!" said the lovers, smiling.</p> + +<p>They said it, mouth to mouth, embracing, and clasping each +other. They were<br> + still saying it, when Hippolyte Ceres entered the +drawing-room.</p> + +<p>Paul Visire did not lose his presence of mind. He declared to +Madame Ceres<br> + that he would give up his attempt to take the dust out of her +eye. By this<br> + attitude he did not deceive the husband, but he was able to +leave the room<br> + with some dignity.</p> + +<p>Hippolyte Ceres was thunderstruck. Eveline's conduct appeared +incomprehensible<br> + to him; he asked her what reasons she had for it.</p> + +<p>"Why? why?" he kept repeating continually, "why?"</p> + +<p>She denied everything, not to convince him, for he had seen +them, but from<br> + expediency and good taste, and to avoid painful explanations. +Hippolyte Ceres<br> + suffered all the tortures of jealousy. He admitted it to +himself, he kept<br> + saying inwardly, "I am a strong man; I am clad in armour; but +the wound is<br> + underneath, it is in my heart," and turning towards his wife, +who looked<br> + beautiful in her guilt, he would say:</p> + +<p>"It ought not to have been with him."</p> + +<p>He was right--Eveline ought not to have loved in government +circles.</p> + +<p>He suffered so much that he took up his revolver, exclaiming: +"I will go and<br> + kill him!" But he remembered that a Minister of Commerce cannot +kill his own<br> + Prime Minister, and he put his revolver back into his +drawer.</p> + +<p>The weeks passed without calming his sufferings. Each morning +he buckled his<br> + strong man's armour over his wound and sought in work and fame +the peace that<br> + fled from him. Every Sunday he inaugurated busts, statues, +fountains, artesian<br> + wells, hospitals, dispensaries, railways, canals, public +markets, drainage<br> + systems, triumphal arches, and slaughter houses, and delivered +moving speeches<br> + on each of these occasions. His fervid activity devoured whole +piles of<br> + documents; he changed the colours of the postage stamps fourteen +times in one<br> + week. Nevertheless, he gave vent to outbursts of grief and rage +that drove him<br> + insane; for whole days his reason abandoned him. If he had been +in the<br> + employment of a private administration this would have been +noticed<br> + immediately, but it is much more difficult to discover insanity +or frenzy in<br> + the conduct of affairs of State. At that moment the government +employees were<br> + forming themselves into associations and federations amid a +ferment that was<br> + giving alarm both to the Parliament and to public feeling. The +postmen were<br> + especially prominent in their enthusiasm for trade unions.</p> + +<p>Hippolyte Ceres informed them in a circular that their action +was strictly<br> + legal. The following day he sent out a second circular +forbidding all<br> + associations of government employees as illegal. He dismissed +one hundred and<br> + eighty postmen, reinstated them, reprimanded them--and awarded +them<br> + gratuities. At Cabinet councils he was always on the point of +bursting forth.<br> + The presence of the Head of the State scarcely restrained him +within the<br> + limits of the decencies, and as he did not dare to attack his +rival he<br> + consoled himself by heaping invectives upon General Debonnaire, +the respected<br> + Minister of War. The General did not hear them. for he was deaf +and occupied<br> + himself in composing verses for the Baroness Bildermann. +Hippolyte Ceres<br> + offered an indistinct opposition to everything the Prime +Minister proposed. In<br> + a word, he was a madman. One faculty alone escaped the ruin of +his intellect:<br> + he retained his Parliamentary sense, his consciousness of the +temper of<br> + majorities, his thorough knowledge of groups, and his certainty +of the<br> + direction in which affairs were moving.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>VIII. FURTHER CONSEQUENCES</h2> + +<p>The session ended calmly, and the Ministry saw no dangerous +signs upon the<br> + benches where the majority sat. It was visible, however, from +certain articles<br> + in the Moderate journals, that the demands of the Jewish and +Christian<br> + financiers were increasing daily, that the patriotism of the +banks required a<br> + civilizing expedition to Nigritia, and that the steel trusts, +eager in the<br> + defence of our coasts and colonies, were crying out for armoured +cruisers and<br> + still more armoured cruisers. Rumours of war began to be heard. +Such rumours<br> + sprang up every year as regularly as the trade winds; serious +people paid no<br> + heed to them and the government usually let them die away from +their own<br> + weakness unless they grew stronger and spread. For in that case +the country<br> + would be alarmed. The financiers only wanted colonial wars and +the people did<br> + not want any wars at all. It loved to see its government proud +and even<br> + insolent, but at the least suspicion that a European war was +brewing, its<br> + violent emotion would quickly have reached the House. Paul +Visire was not<br> + uneasy. The European situation was in his view completely +reassuring. He was<br> + only irritated by the maniacal silence of his Minister of +Foreign Affairs.<br> + That gnome went to the Cabinet meetings with a portfolio bigger +than himself<br> + stuffed full of papers, said nothing, refused to answer all +questions, even<br> + those asked him by the respected President of the Republic, and, +exhausted by<br> + his obstinate labours, took a few moments' sleep in his +arm-chair in which<br> + nothing but the top of his little black head was to be seen +above the green<br> + tablecloth.</p> + +<p><br> + In the mean time Hippolyte Ceres became a strong man again. In +company with<br> + his colleague Lapersonne he formed numerous intimacies with +ladies of the<br> + theatre. They were both to be seen at night entering fashionable +restaurants<br> + in the company of ladies whom they over-topped by their lofty +stature and<br> + their new hats, and they were soon reckoned amongst the most +sympathetic<br> + frequenters of the boulevards. Fortune Lapersonne had his own +wound beneath<br> + his armour, His wife, a young milliner whom he carried off from +a marquis, had<br> + gone to live with a chauffeur. He loved her still, and could not +console<br> + himself for her loss, so that very often in the private room of +a restaurant,<br> + in the midst of a group of girls who laughed and ate crayfish, +the two<br> + ministers exchanged a look full of their common sorrow and wiped +away an<br> + unbidden tear.</p> + +<p>Hippolyte Ceres, although wounded to the heart, did not allow +himself to be<br> + beaten. He swore that he would be avenged.</p> + +<p>Madame Paul Visire, whose deplorable health forced her to live +with her<br> + relatives in a distant province, received an anonymous letter +specifying that<br> + M. Paul Visire, who had not a half-penny when he married her, +was spending her<br> + dowry on a married woman, E-- C--, that he gave this woman<br> + thirty-thousand-franc motor-cars, and pearl necklaces costing +twenty-five<br> + thousand francs, and that he was going straight to dishonour and +ruin. Madame<br> + Paul Visire read the letter, fell into hysterics, and handed it +to her father.</p> + +<p>"I am going to box your husband's ears," said M. Blampignon; +"he is a<br> + blackguard who will land you both in the workhouse unless we +look out. He may<br> + be Prime Minister, but he won't frighten me."</p> + +<p>When he stepped off the train M. Blampignon presented himself +at the Ministry<br> + of the Interior, and was immediately received. He entered the +Prime Minister's<br> + room in a fury.</p> + +<p>"I have something to say to you, sir!" And he waved the +anonymous letter.</p> + +<p>Paul Visire welcomed him smiling.</p> + +<p>"You are welcome, my dear father. I was going to write to you. +. . . Yes, to<br> + tell you of your nomination to the rank of officer of the Legion +of Honour. I<br> + signed the patent this morning."</p> + +<p>M. Blampignon thanked his son-in-law warmly and threw the +anonymous letter<br> + into the fire.</p> + +<p>He returned to his provincial house and found his daughter +fretting and<br> + agitated.</p> + +<p>"Well! I saw your husband. He is a delightful fellow. But +then, you don't<br> + understand how to deal with him."</p> + +<p>About this time Hippolyte Ceres learned through a little +scandalous newspaper<br> + (it is always through the newspapers that ministers are informed +of the<br> + affairs of State) that the Prime Minister dined every evening +with<br> + Mademoiselle Lysiane of the Folies Dramatiques, whose charm +seemed to have<br> + made a great impression on him. Thenceforth Ceres took a gloomy +joy in<br> + watching his wife. She came in every evening to dine or dress +with an air of<br> + agreeable fatigue and the serenity that comes from +enjoyment.</p> + +<p>Thinking that she knew nothing, he sent her anonymous +communications. She read<br> + them at the table before him and remained still listless and +smiling.</p> + +<p>He then persuaded himself that she gave no heed to these vague +reports, and<br> + that in order to disturb her it would be necessary to enable her +to verify her<br> + lover's infidelity and treason for herself. There were at the +Ministry a<br> + number of trustworthy agents charged with secret inquiries +regarding the<br> + national defence. They were then employed in watching the spies +of a<br> + neighbouring and hostile Power who had succeeded in entering the +Postal and<br> + Telegraphic service. M. Ceres ordered them to suspend their work +for the<br> + present and to inquire where, when, and how, the Minister of the +Interior saw<br> + Mademoiselle Lysiane. The agents performed their missions +faithfully and told<br> + the minister that they had several times seen the Prime Minister +with a woman,<br> + but that she was not Mademoiselle Lysiane. Hippolyte Ceres asked +them nothing<br> + further. He was right; the loves of Paul Visire and Lysiane were +but an alibi<br> + invented by Paul Visire himself, with Eveline's approval, for +his fame was<br> + rather inconvenient to her, and she sighed for secrecy and +mystery.</p> + +<p>They were not shadowed by the agents of the Ministry of +Commerce alone. They<br> + were also followed by those of the Prefect of Police, and even +by those of the<br> + Minister of the Interior, who disputed with each other the +honour of<br> + protecting their chief. Then there were the emissaries of +several royalist,<br> + imperialist, and clerical organisations, those of eight or ten +blackmailers,<br> + several amateur detectives, a multitude of reporters, and a +crowd of<br> + photographers, who all made their appearance wherever these two +took refuge in<br> + their perambulating love affairs, at big hotels, small hotels, +town houses,<br> + country houses, private apartments, villas, museums, palaces, +hovels. They<br> + kept watch in the streets, from neighbouring houses, trees, +walls,<br> + stair-cases, landings, roofs, adjoining rooms, and even +chimneys. The Minister<br> + and his friend saw with alarm all round their bed room, gimlets +boring through<br> + doors and shutters, and drills making holes in the walls. A +photograph of<br> + Madame Ceres in night attire buttoning her boots was the utmost +that had been<br> + obtained.</p> + +<p>Paul Visire grew impatient and irritable, and often lost his +good humour and<br> + agreeableness. He came to the cabinet meetings in a rage and he, +too, poured<br> + invectives upon General Debonnaire--a brave man under fire but a +lax<br> + disciplinarian--and launched his sarcasms at against the +venerable admiral<br> + Vivier des Murenes whose ships went to the bottom without any +apparent reason.</p> + +<p>Fortune Lapersonne listened open-eyed, and grumbled scoffingly +between his<br> + teeth:</p> + +<p>"He is not satisfied with robbing Hippolyte Ceres of his wife, +but he must go<br> + and rob him of his catchwords too."</p> + +<p>These storms were made known by the indiscretion of some +ministers and by the<br> + complaints of the two old warriors, who declared their intention +of flinging<br> + their portfolios at the beggar's head, but who did nothing of +the sort. These<br> + outbursts, far from injuring the lucky Prime Minister, had an +excellent effect<br> + on Parliament and public opinion, who looked on them as signs of +a keen<br> + solicitude for the welfare of the national army and navy. The +Prime Minister<br> + was the recipient of general approbation.</p> + +<p>To the congratulations of the various groups and of notable +personages, he<br> + replied with simple firmness: "Those are my principles!" and he +had seven or<br> + eight Socialists put in prison.</p> + +<p>The session ended, and Paul Visire, very exhausted, went to +take the waters.<br> + Hippolyte Ceres refused to leave his Ministry, where the trade +union of<br> + telephone girls was in tumultuous agitation. He opposed it with +an unheard of<br> + violence, for he had now become a woman-hater. On Sundays he +went into the<br> + suburbs to fish along with his colleague Lapersonne, wearing the +tall hat that<br> + never left him since he had become a Minister. And both of them, +forgetting<br> + the fish,, complained of the inconstancy of women and mingled +their griefs.</p> + +<p>Hippolyte still loved Eveline and he still suffered. However, +hope had slipped<br> + into his heart. She was now separated from her ]over, and, +thinking to win her<br> + back, he directed all his efforts to that end. He put forth all +his skill,<br> + showed himself sincere, adaptable, affectionate, devoted, even +discreet; his<br> + heart taught him the delicacies of feeling. He said charming and +touching<br> + things to the faithless one, and, to soften her, he told her all +that he had<br> + suffered.</p> + +<p>Crossing the band of his trousers upon his stomach.</p> + +<p>"See," said he, "how thin I have got."</p> + +<p>He promised her everything he thought could gratify a woman, +country parties,<br> + hats, jewels.</p> + +<p>Sometimes he thought she would take pity on him.</p> + +<p>She no longer displayed an insolently happy countenance. Being +separated from<br> + Paul, her sadness had an air of gentleness. But the moment he +made a gesture<br> + to recover her she turned away fiercely and gloomily, girt with +her fault as<br> + if with a golden girdle.</p> + +<p>He did not give up, making himself humble, suppliant, +lamentable.</p> + +<p>One day he went to Lapersonne and said to him with tears in +his eyes:</p> + +<p>"Will you speak to her?"</p> + +<p>Lapersonne excused himself, thinking that his intervention +would be useless,<br> + but he gave some advice to his friend.</p> + +<p>"Make her think that you don't care about her, that you love +another, and she<br> + will come back to you."</p> + +<p>Hippolyte, adopting this method, inserted in the newspapers +that he was always<br> + to be found in the company of Mademoiselle Guinaud of the Opera. +He came home<br> + late or did not come home at all, assumed in Eveline's presence +an appearance<br> + of inward joy impossible to restrain, took out of his pocket, at +dinner, a<br> + letter on scented paper which he pretended to read with delight, +and his lips<br> + seemed as in a dream to kiss invisible lips. Nothing happened. +Eveline did not<br> + even notice the change. Insensible to all around her, she only +came out of her<br> + lethargy to ask for some louis from her husband, and if he did +not give them<br> + she threw him a look of contempt, ready to upbraid him with the +shame which<br> + she poured upon him in the sight of the whole world. Since she +had loved she<br> + spent a great deal on dress. She needed money, and she had only +her husband to<br> + secure it for her; she was so far faithful to him.</p> + +<p>He lost patience, became furious, and threatened her with his +revolver. He<br> + said one day before her to Madame Clarence:</p> + +<p>"I congratulate you, Madame; you have brought up your daughter +to be a wanton<br> + hussy."</p> + +<p>"Take me away, Mamma," exclaimed Eveline. "I will get a +divorce!"</p> + +<p>He loved her more ardently than ever. In his jealous rage, +suspecting her, not<br> + without probability, of sending and receiving letters, he swore +that he would<br> + intercept them, re-established a censorship over the post, threw +private<br> + correspondence into confusion, delayed stock-exchange +quotations, prevented<br> + assignations, brought about bankruptcies, thwarted passions, and +caused<br> + suicides. The independent press gave utterance to the complaints +of the public<br> + and indignantly supported them. To justify these arbitrary +measures, the<br> + ministerial journals spoke darkly of plots and public dangers, +and promoted a<br> + belief in a monarchical conspiracy. The less well-informed +sheets gave more<br> + precise information, told of the seizure of fifty thousand guns, +and the<br> + landing of Prince Crucho. Feeling grew throughout the country, +and the<br> + republican organs called for the immediate meeting of +Parliament. Paul Visire<br> + returned to Paris, summoned his colleagues, held an important +Cabinet Council,<br> + and proclaimed through his agencies that a plot had been +actually formed<br> + against the national representation, but that the Prime Minister +held the<br> + threads of it in his hand, and that a judicial inquiry was about +to be opened.</p> + +<p>He immediately ordered the arrest of thirty Socialists, and +whilst the entire<br> + country was acclaiming him as its saviour, baffling the +watchfulness of his<br> + six hundred detectives, he secretly took Eveline to a little +house near the<br> + Northern railway station, where they remained until night. After +their<br> + departure, the maid of their hotel, as she was putting their +room in order,<br> + saw seven little crosses traced by a hairpin on the wall at the +head of the<br> + bed.</p> + +<p>That is all that Hippolyte Ceres obtained as a reward of his +efforts.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>IX. THE FINAL CONSEQUENCES</h2> + +<p>Jealousy is a virtue of democracies which preserves them from +tyrants.<br> + Deputies began to envy the Prime Minister his golden key. For a +year his<br> + domination over the beauteous Madame Ceres had been known to the +whole<br> + universe. The provinces, whither news and fashions only arrive +after a<br> + complete revolution of the earth round the sun, were at last +informed of the<br> + illegitimate loves of the Cabinet. The provinces preserve an +austere morality;<br> + women are more virtuous there than they are in the capital.</p> + +<p><br> + Various reasons have been alleged for this: Education, example, +simplicity of<br> + life. Professor Haddock asserts that this virtue of provincial +ladies is<br> + solely due to the fact that the heels of their shoes are low. "A +woman," said<br> + he, in a learned article in the "Anthropological Review", "a +woman attracts a<br> + civilized man in proportion as her feet make an angle with the +ground. If this<br> + angle is as much as thirty-five degrees, the attraction becomes +acute. For the<br> + position of the feet upon the ground determines the whole +carriage of the<br> + body, and it results that provincial women, since they wear low +heels, are not<br> + very attractive, and preserve their virtue with ease." These +conclusions were<br> + not generally accepted. It was objected that under the influence +of English<br> + and American fashions, low heels had been introduced generally +without<br> + producing the results attributed to them by the learned +Professor; moreover,<br> + it was said that the difference he pretended to establish +between the morals<br> + of the metropolis and those of the provinces is perhaps +illusory, and that if<br> + it exists, it is apparently due to the fact that great cities +offer more<br> + advantages and facilities for love than small towns provide. +However that may<br> + be, the provinces began to murmur against the Prime Minister, +and to raise a<br> + scandal. This was not yet a danger, but there was a possibility +that it might<br> + become one.</p> + +<p>For the moment the peril was nowhere and yet everywhere. The +majority remained<br> + solid; but the leaders became stiff and exacting. Perhaps +Hippolyte Ceres<br> + would never have intentionally sacrificed his interests to his +vengeance. But<br> + thinking that he could henceforth, without compromising his own +fortune,<br> + secretly damage that of Paul Visire, he devoted himself to the +skilful and<br> + careful preparation of difficulties and perils for the Head of +the Government.<br> + Though far from equalling his rival in talent, knowledge, and +authority, he<br> + greatly surpassed him in his skill as a lobbyist. The most +acute<br> + parliamentarians attributed the recent misfortunes of the +majority to his<br> + refusal to vote. At committees, by a calculated imprudence, he +favoured<br> + motions which he knew the Prime Minister could not accept. One +day his<br> + intentional awkwardness provoked a sudden and violent conflict +between the<br> + Minister of the Interior, and his departmental Treasurer. Then +Ceres became<br> + frightened and went no further. It would have been dangerous for +him to<br> + overthrow the ministry too soon. His ingenious hatred found an +issue by<br> + circuitous paths. Paul Visire had a poor cousin of easy morals +who bore his<br> + name. Ceres, remembering this lady, Celine Visire, brought her +into<br> + prominence, arranged that she should become intimate with +several foreigners,<br> + and procured her engagements in the music-halls. One summer +night, on a stage<br> + in the Champs Elysees before a tumultuous crowd, she performed +risky dances to<br> + the sounds of wild music which was audible in the gardens where +the President<br> + of the Republic was entertaining Royalty. The name of Visire, +associated with<br> + these scandals, covered the walls of the town, filled the +newspapers, was<br> + repeated in the cafes and at balls, and blazed forth in letters +of fire upon<br> + the boulevards.</p> + +<p>Nobody regarded the Prime Minister as responsible for the +scandal of his<br> + relatives, but a bad idea of his family came into existence, and +the influence<br> + of the statesman was diminished.</p> + +<p>Almost immediately he was made to feel this in a pretty sharp +fashion. One day<br> + in the House, on a simple question, Labillette, the Minister of +Religion and<br> + Public Worship, who was suffering from an attack of liver, and +beginning to be<br> + exasperated by the intentions and intrigues of the clergy, +threatened to close<br> + the Chapel of St. Orberosia, and spoke without respect of the +National Virgin.<br> + The entire Right rose up in indignation; the Left appeared to +give but a<br> + half-hearted support to the rash Minister. The leaders of the +majority did not<br> + care to attack a popular cult which brought thirty millions a +year into the<br> + country. The most moderate of the supporters of the Right, M. +Bigourd, made<br> + the question the subject of a resolution and endangered the +Cabinet. Luckily,<br> + Fortune Lapersonne, the Minister of Public Works, always +conscious of the<br> + obligations of power, was able in the Prime Minister's absence +to repair the<br> + awkwardness and indecorum of his colleague, the Minister of +Public Worship. He<br> + ascended the tribune and bore witness to the respect in which +the Government<br> + held the heavenly Patron of the country, the consoler of so many +ills which<br> + science admitted its powerlessness to relieve.</p> + +<p>When Paul Visire, snatched at last from Eveline's arms, +appeared in the House,<br> + the administration was saved; but the Prime Minister saw himself +compelled to<br> + grant important concessions to the upper classes. He proposed in +Parliament<br> + that six armoured cruisers should be laid down, and thus won the +sympathies of<br> + the Steel Trust; he gave new assurances that the income tax +would not be<br> + imposed, and he had eighteen Socialists arrested.</p> + +<p>He was soon to find himself opposed by more formidable +obstacles. The<br> + Chancellor of the neighbouring Empire in an ingenious and +profound speech upon<br> + the foreign relations of his sovereign, made a sly allusion to +the intrigues<br> + that inspired the policy of a great country. This reference, +which was receive<br> + with smiles by the Imperial Parliament, was certain to irritate +a punctilious<br> + republic. It aroused the national susceptibility, which directed +its wrath<br> + against its amorous Minister. The Deputies seized upon a +frivolous pretext to<br> + show their dissatisfaction. A ridiculous incident, the fact that +the wife of a<br> + subprefect had danced at the Moulin Rouge, forced the minister +to face a vote<br> + of censure, and he was within a few votes of being defeated. +According to<br> + general opinion, Paul Visire had never been so weak, so +vacillating, or so<br> + spiritless, as on that occasion.</p> + +<p>He understood that he could only keep himself in office by a +great political<br> + stroke, and he decided on the expedition to Nigritia. This +measure was<br> + demanded by the great financial and industrial corporations and +was one which<br> + would bring concessions of immense forests to the capitalists, a +loan of eight<br> + millions to the banking companies, as well as promotions and +decorations to<br> + the naval and military officers. A pretext presented itself; +some insult<br> + needed to be avenged, or some debt to be collected. Six +battleships, fourteen<br> + cruisers, and eighteen transports sailed up the mouth of the +river<br> + Hippopotamus. Six hundred canoes vainly opposed the landing of +the troops.<br> + Admiral Vivier des Murenes' cannons produced an appalling effect +upon the<br> + blacks, who replied to them with flights of arrows, but in spite +of their<br> + fanatical courage they were entirely defeated. Popular +enthusiasm was kindled<br> + by the newspapers which the financiers subsidised, and burst +into a blaze.<br> + Some Socialists alone protested against this barbarous, +doubtful, and<br> + dangerous enterprise. They were at once arrested.</p> + +<p>At that moment when the Minister, supported by wealth, and now +beloved by the<br> + poor, seemed unconquerable, the light of hate showed Hippolyte +Ceres alone the<br> + danger, and looking with a gloomy joy at his rival, he muttered +between his<br> + teeth, "He is wrecked, the brigand!"</p> + +<p>Whilst the country intoxicated itself with glory, the +neighbouring Empire<br> + protested against the occupation of Nigritia by a European +power, and these<br> + protests following one another at shorter and shorter intervals +became more<br> + and more vehement. The newspapers of the interested Republic +concealed all<br> + causes for uneasiness; but Hippolyte Ceres heard the growing +menace, and<br> + determined at last to risk everything, even the fate of the +ministry, in order<br> + to ruin his enemy. He got men whom he could trust to write and +insert articles<br> + in several of the official journals, which, seeming to express +Paul Visire's<br> + precise views, attributed warlike intentions to the Head of the +Government.</p> + +<p>These articles roused a terrible echo abroad, and they alarmed +the public<br> + opinion of a nation which, while fond of soldiers, was not fond +of war.<br> + Questioned in the House on the foreign policy of his government, +Paul Visire<br> + made a re-assuring statement, and promised to maintain a face +compatible with<br> + the dignity of a great nation. His Minister of Foreign Affairs, +Crombile, read<br> + a declaration which was absolutely unintelligible, for the +reason that it was<br> + couched in diplomatic language. The Minister obtained a large +majority.</p> + +<p>But the rumours of war did not cease, and in order to avoid a +new and<br> + dangerous motion, the Prime Minister distributed eighty thousand +acres of<br> + forests in Nigritia among the Deputies, and had fourteen +Socialists arrested.<br> + Hippolyte Ceres went gloomily about the lobbies, confiding to +the Deputies of<br> + his group that he was endeavouring to induce the Cabinet to +adopt a pacific<br> + policy, and that he still hoped to succeed. Day by day the +sinister rumours<br> + grew in volume, and penetrating amongst the public, spread +uneasiness and<br> + disquiet. Paul Visire himself began to take alarm. What +disturbed him most<br> + were the silence and absence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. +Crombile no<br> + longer came to the meetings of the Cabinet. Rising at five +o'clock in the<br> + morning, he worked eighteen hours at his desk, and at last fell +exhausted into<br> + his waste-paper basket, from whence the registrars removed him, +together with<br> + the papers which they were going to sell to the military +attaches of the<br> + neighbouring Empire.</p> + +<p>General Debonnaire believed that a campaign was imminent, and +prepared for it.<br> + Far from fearing war, he prayed for it, and confided his +generous hopes to<br> + Baroness Bildermann, who informed the neighbouring nation, +which, acting on<br> + her information, proceeded to a rapid mobilization.</p> + +<p>The Minister of Finance unintentionally precipitated events. +At the moment, he<br> + was speculating for a fall, and in order to bring about a panic +on the Stock<br> + Exchange, he spread the rumour that war was now inevitable. The +neighbouring<br> + Empire, deceived by this action, and expecting to see its +territory invaded,<br> + mobilized its troops in all haste. The terrified Chamber +overthrew the Visire<br> + ministry by an enormous majority (814 votes to 7, with 28 +abstentions). It was<br> + too late. The very day of this fall the neighbouring and hostile +nation<br> + recalled its ambassador and flung eight millions of men into +Madame Ceres'<br> + country. War became universal, and the whole world was drowned +in a torrent of<br> + blood.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2><br> + THE ZENITH OF PENGUIN CIVILIZATION</h2> + +<p>Half a century after the events we have just related, Madame +Ceres died<br> + surrounded with respect and veneration, in the eighty-ninth year +of her age.<br> + She had long been the widow of a statesman whose name she bore +with dignity.<br> + Her modest and quiet funeral was followed by the orphans of the +parish and the<br> + sisters of the Sacred Compassion.</p> + +<p>The deceased left all her property to the Charity of St. +Orberosia.</p> + +<p>"Alas!" sighed M. Monnoyer, a canon of St. Mael, as he +received the pious<br> + legacy, "it was high time for a generous benefactor to come to +the relief of<br> + our necessities. Rich and poor, learned and ignorant are turning +away from us.<br> + And when we try to lead back these misguided souls, neither +threats nor<br> + promises, neither gentleness nor violence, nor anything else is +now<br> + successful. The Penguin clergy pine in desolation; our country +priests,<br> + reduced to following the humblest of trades, are shoeless, and +compelled to<br> + live upon such scraps as they can pick up. In our ruined +churches the rain of<br> + heaven falls upon the faithful, and during the holy offices they +can hear the<br> + noise of stones falling from the arches. The tower of the +cathedral is<br> + tottering and will soon fall. St. Orberosia is forgotten by the +Penguins, her<br> + devotion abandoned, and her sanctuary deserted. On her shrine, +bereft of its<br> + gold and precious stones, the spider silently weaves her +web."</p> + +<p><br> + Hearing these lamentations, Pierre Mille, who at the age of +ninety-eight years<br> + had lost nothing of his intellectual and moral power, asked, the +canon if he<br> + did not think that St. Orberosia would one day rise out of this +wrongful<br> + oblivion.</p> + +<p>"I hardly dare to hope so," sighed M. Monnoyer.</p> + +<p>"It is a pity!" answered Pierre Mille. "Orberosia is a +charming figure and her<br> + legend is a beautiful one. I discovered the other day by the +merest chance,<br> + one of her most delightful miracles, the miracle of Jean Violle. +Would you<br> + like to hear it, M. Monnoyer?"</p> + +<p>"I should be very pleased, M. Mille."</p> + +<p>"Here it is, then, just as I found it in a fifteenth-century +manuscript</p> + +<p>"Cecile, the wife of Nicolas Gaubert, a jeweller on the +Pont-au-Change, after<br> + having led an honest and chaste life for many years, and being +now past her<br> + prime, became infatuated with Jean Violle, the Countess de +Maubec's page, who<br> + lived at the Hotel du Paon on the Place de Greve. He was not yet +eighteen<br> + years old, and his face and figure were attractive. Not being +able to conquer<br> + her passion, Cecile resolved to satisfy it. She attracted the +page to her<br> + house, loaded him with caresses, supplied him with sweetmeats +and finally did<br> + as she wished with him.</p> + +<p>"Now one day, as they were together in the jeweller's bed, +Master Nicholas<br> + came home sooner than he was expected. He found the bolt drawn, +and heard his<br> + wife on the other side of the door exclaiming, 'My heart! my +angel! my love!'<br> + Then suspecting that she was shut up with a gallant, he struck +great blows<br> + upon the door and began to shout 'Slut! hussy! wanton! open so +that I may cut<br> + off your nose and ears!' In this peril, the jeweller's wife +besought St.<br> + Orberosia, and vowed her a large candle if she helped her and +the little page,<br> + who was dying of fear beside the bed, out of their +difficulty.</p> + +<p>"The saint heard the prayer. She immediately changed Jean +Violle into a girl.<br> + Seeing this, Cecile was completely reassured, and began to call +out to her<br> + husband: 'Oh! you brutal villain, you jealous wretch! Speak +gently if you want<br> + the door to be opened.' And scolding in this way, she ran to the +wardrobe and<br> + took out of it an old hood, a pair of stays, and a long grey +petticoat, in<br> + which she hastily wrapped the transformed page. Then when this +was done,<br> + 'Catherine, dear Catherine,' said she, loudly, 'open the door +for your uncle;<br> + he is more fool than knave, and won't do you any harm." The boy +who had become<br> + a girl, obeyed. Master Nicholas entered the room and found in it +a young maid<br> + whom he did not know, and his wife in bed. 'Big booby,' said the +latter to<br> + him, 'don't stand gaping at what you see. just as I had come to +bed because<br> + had a stomach ache, I received a visit from Catherine, the +daughter of my<br> + sister Jeanne de Palaiseau, with whom we quarrelled fifteen +years ago. Kiss<br> + your niece. She is well worth the trouble.' The jeweller gave +Violle a hug,<br> + and from that moment wanted nothing so much as to be alone with +her a moment,<br> + so that he might embrace her as much as he liked. For this +reason he led her<br> + without any delay down to the kitchen, under the pretext of +giving her some<br> + walnuts and wine, and he was no sooner there with her than he +began to caress<br> + her very affectionately. He would not have stopped at that if +St. Orberosia<br> + had not inspired his good wife with the idea of seeing what he +was about. She<br> + found him with the pretended niece sitting on his knee. She +called him a<br> + debauched creature, boxed his ears, and forced him to beg her +pardon. The next<br> + day Violle resumed his previous form."</p> + +<p>Having heard this story the venerable Canon Monnoyer thanked +Pierre Mille for<br> + having told it, and, taking up his pen, began to write out a +list of horses<br> + that would win at the next race meeting. For he was a +book-maker's clerk.</p> + +<p>In the mean time Penguinia gloried in its wealth. Those who +produced the<br> + things necessary for life, wanted them; those who did not +produce them had<br> + more than enough. "But these," as a member of the Institute +said, "are<br> + necessary economic fatalities." The great Penguin people had no +longer either<br> + traditions, intellectual culture, or arts. The progress of +civilisation<br> + manifested itself among them by murderous industry, infamous +speculation, and<br> + hideous luxury. Its capital assumed, as did all the great cities +of the time,<br> + a cosmopolitan and financial character. An immense and regular +ugliness<br> + reigned within it. The country enjoyed perfect tranquillity. It +had reached<br> + its zenith.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h1><br> + Book VII. FUTURE TIMES</h1> + +<h1> </h1> + +<h2>THE ENDLESS HISTORY</h2> + +<p>Alca is becoming Americanised.--M. Daniset.</p> + +<p>And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the +inhabitants of<br> + the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.--Genesis xix. +25</p> + +<p>{greek here](Herodotus, Histories, VII cii.)</p> + +<p>Poverty hast ever been familiar to Greece, but virtue has been +acquired,<br> + having been accomplished by wisdom and firm laws.-- Henry Cary's +Translation.</p> + +<p>You have not seen angels then.--Liber Terribilis.</p> + +<p>Bqfttfusftpvtuse jufbmmbb b up sjufef +tspjtfucftfnqfsfvstbqsftbnpjsqsp<br> + dmbnfuspjtghjttdmjcfsufnbgsbodftftutpbnjtfbeftdpnqb hojtgjobo -- +difsftr --<br> + vjejtqpteoueftsjdifttftevqbzt fuqbsmfn Pzfoevofqsf +ttfbdifuffejsjhfboumpqjojno<br> + Voufnpjoxfsiejrvf</p> + +<p><br> + We are now beginning to study a chemistry which will deal with +effects<br> + produced by bodies containing a quantity of concentrated energy +the like of<br> + which we have not yet had at our disposal.--Sir William +Ramsay.</p> + +<h3>S. I</h3> + +<p>The houses were never high enough to satisfy them; they kept +on making them<br> + still higher and built them of thirty or forty storeys: with +offices, shops,<br> + banks, societies one above another; they dug cellars and tunnels +ever deeper<br> + downwards.</p> + +<p><br> + Fifteen millions of men laboured in a giant town by the light of +beacons which<br> + shed forth their glare both day and night. No light of heaven +pierced through<br> + the smoke of the factories with which the town was girt, but +sometimes the red<br> + disk of a rayless sun might be seen riding in the black +firmament through<br> + which iron bridges ploughed their way, and from which there +descended a<br> + continual shower of soot and cinders. It was the most industrial +of all the<br> + cities in the world and the richest. Its organisation seemed +perfect. None of<br> + the ancient aristocratic or democratic forms remained; +everything was<br> + subordinated to the interests of the trusts. This environment +gave rise to<br> + what anthropologists called the multi-millionaire type. The men +of this type<br> + were at once energetic and frail, capable of great activity in +forming mental<br> + combinations and of prolonged labour in offices, but men whose +nervous<br> + irritability suffered from hereditary troubles which increased +as time went<br> + on.</p> + +<p>Like all true aristocrats, like the patricians of republican +Rome or the<br> + squires of old England, these powerful men affected a great +severity in their<br> + habits and customs. They were the ascetics of wealth. At the +meetings of the<br> + trusts an observer would have noticed their smooth and puffy +faces, their<br> + lantern cheeks, their sunken eyes and wrinkled brows. With +bodies more<br> + withered, complexions yellower, lips drier, and eyes filled with +a more<br> + burning fanaticism than those of the old Spanish monks, +these<br> + multimillionaires gave themselves up with inextinguishable +ardour to the<br> + austerities of banking and industry. Several, denying themselves +all<br> + happiness, all pleasure, and all rest, spent their miserable +lives in rooms<br> + without light or air, furnished only with electrical apparatus, +living on eggs<br> + and milk, and sleeping on camp beds. By doing nothing except +pressing nickel<br> + buttons with their fingers, these mystics heaped up riches of +which they never<br> + even saw the signs, and acquired the vain possibility of +gratifying desires<br> + that they never experienced.</p> + +<p>The worship of wealth had its martyrs. One of these +multi-millionaires, the<br> + famous Samuel Box, preferred to die rather than surrender the +smallest atom of<br> + his property. One of his workmen, the victim of an accident +while at work,<br> + being refused any indemnity by his employer, obtained a verdict +in the courts,<br> + but repelled by innumerable obstacles of procedure, he fell into +the direst<br> + poverty. Being thus reduced to despair, he succeeded by dint of +cunning and<br> + audacity in confronting his employer with a loaded revolver in +his hand, and<br> + threatened to blow out his brains if he did not give him some +assistance.<br> + Samuel Box gave nothing, and let himself be killed for the sake +of principle.</p> + +<p>Examples that come from high quarters are followed. Those who +possessed some<br> + small capital (and they were necessarily the greater number), +affected the<br> + ideas and habits of the multi-millionaires, in order that they +might be<br> + classed among them. All passions which injured the increase or +the<br> + preservation of wealth, were regarded as dishonourable; neither +indolence, nor<br> + idleness, nor the taste for disinterested study, nor love of the +arts, nor,<br> + above all, extravagance, was ever forgiven; pity was condemned +as a dangerous<br> + weakness. Whilst every inclination to licentiousness excited +public<br> + reprobation, the violent and brutal satisfaction of an appetite +was, on the<br> + contrary, excused; violence, in truth, was regarded as less +injurious to<br> + morality, since it manifested a form of social energy. The State +was firmly<br> + based on two great public virtues: respect for the rich and +contempt for the<br> + poor. Feeble spirits who were still moved by human suffering had +no other<br> + resource than to take refuge in a hypocrisy which it was +impossible to blame,<br> + since it contributed to the maintenance of order and the +solidity of<br> + institutions.</p> + +<p>Thus, among the rich, all were devoted to their social order, +or seemed to be<br> + so; all gave good examples, if all did not follow them. Some +felt the gravity<br> + of their position cruelly; but they endured it either from pride +or from duty.<br> + Some attempted, in secret and by subterfuge, to escape from it +for a moment.<br> + One of these, Edward Martin, the President, of the Steel Trust, +sometimes<br> + dressed himself as a poor man, went: forth to beg his bread, and +allowed<br> + himself to be jostled by the passers-by. One day, as he asked +alms on a<br> + bridge, he engaged in a quarrel with a real beggar, and filled +with a fury of<br> + envy, he strangled him.</p> + +<p>As they devoted their whole intelligence to business, they +sought no<br> + intellectual pleasures. The theatre, which had formerly been +very flourishing<br> + among them, was now reduced to pantomimes and comic dances. Even +the pieces in<br> + which women acted were given up; the taste for pretty forms and +brilliant<br> + toilettes had been lost; the somersaults of clowns and the music +of negroes<br> + were preferred above them, and what roused enthusiasm was the +sight of women<br> + upon the stage whose necks were bedizened with diamonds, or +processions<br> + carrying golden bars in triumph. Ladies of wealth were as much +compelled as<br> + the men to lead a respectable life. According to a tendency +common to all<br> + civilizations, public feeling set them up as symbols; they were, +by their<br> + austere magnificence, to represent both the splendour of wealth +and its<br> + intangible . The old habits of gallantry had been reformed, Tut +fashionable<br> + lovers were now secretly replaced by muscular labourers or stray +grooms.<br> + Nevertheless, scandals were rare, a foreign journey concealed +nearly all of<br> + them, and the Princesses of the Trusts remained objects of +universal esteem.</p> + +<p>The rich formed only a small minority, but their +collaborators, who composed<br> + the entire people, had been completely won over or completely +subjugated by<br> + them. They formed two classes, the agents of commerce or +banking, and workers<br> + in the factories. The former contributed an immense amount of +work and<br> + received large salaries. Some of them succeeded in founding +establishments of<br> + their own; for in the constant increase of the public wealth the +more<br> + intelligent and audacious could hope for anything. Doubtless it +would have<br> + been possible to find a certain number of discontented and +rebellious persons<br> + among the immense crowd of engineers and accountants, but this +powerful<br> + society had imprinted its firm discipline even on the minds of +its opponents.<br> + The very anarchists were laborious and regular.</p> + +<p>As for the workmen who toiled in the factories that surrounded +the town, their<br> + decadence, both physical and moral, was terrible; they were +examples of the<br> + type of poverty as it is set forth by anthropology. Although the +development<br> + among them of certain muscles, due to the particular nature of +their work,<br> + might give a false idea of their strength, they presented sure +signs of morbid<br> + debility. Of low stature, with small heads and narrow chests, +they were<br> + further distinguished from the comfortable classes by a +multitude of<br> + physiological anomalies, and, in particular, by a common want of +symmetry<br> + between the head and the limbs. And they were destined to a +gradual and<br> + continuous degeneration, for the State made soldiers of the more +robust among<br> + them, and the health of these did not long withstand the +brothels and the<br> + drink-shops that sprang up around their barracks. The +proletarians became more<br> + and more feeble in mind. The continued weakening of their +intellectual<br> + faculties was not entirely due to their manner of life; it +resulted also from<br> + a methodical selection carried out by the employers. The latter, +fearing that<br> + workmen of too great ability might be inclined to put forward +legitimate<br> + demands, took care to eliminate them by every possible means, +and preferred to<br> + engage ignorant and stupid labourers, who were incapable of +defending their<br> + rights, but were yet intelligent enough to perform their toil, +which highly<br> + perfected machines rendered extremely simple. Thus the +proletarians were<br> + unable to do anything to improve their lot. With difficulty did +they succeed<br> + by means of strikes in maintaining the rate of their wages. Even +this means<br> + began to fail them. The alternations of production inherent in +the capitalist<br> + system caused such cessations of work that, in several branches +of industry,<br> + as soon as a strike was declared, the accumulation of products +allowed the<br> + employers to dispense with the strikers. In a word, these +miserable employees<br> + were plunged in a gloomy apathy that nothing enlightened and +nothing<br> + exasperated. They were necessary instruments for the social +order and well<br> + adapted to their purpose.</p> + +<p>Upon the whole, this social order seemed the most firmly +established that had<br> + yet been seen, at least amon kind, for that of bees and ants is +incomparably<br> + more stable. Nothing could foreshadow the ruin of a system +founded on what is<br> + strongest in human nature, pride and cupidity. However, keen +observers<br> + discovered several grounds for uneasiness. The most certain, +although the<br> + least apparent, were of an economic order, and consisted in the +continually<br> + increasing amount of over-production, which entailed long and +cruel<br> + interruptions of labour, though these were, it is true, utilized +by the<br> + manufacturers as a means of breaking the power of the workmen, +by facing them<br> + with the prospect of a lock-out. A more obvious peril resulted +from the<br> + physiological state of almost the entire population. "The health +of the poor<br> + is what it must be," said the experts in hygiene, "but that of +the rich leaves<br> + much to be desired." It was not difficult to find the causes of +this. The<br> + supply of oxygen necessary for life was insufficient in the +city, and men<br> + breathed in an artificial air. The food trusts, by means of the +most daring<br> + chemical syntheses, produced artificial wines, meat, milk, +fruit, and<br> + vegetables, and the diet thus imposed gave rise to stomach and +brain troubles.<br> + The multi-millionaires were bald at the age of eighteen; some +showed from time<br> + to time a dangerous weakness of mind. Over-strung and enfeebled, +they gave<br> + enormous sums to ignorant charlatans; and it was a common thing +for some<br> + bath-attendant or other trumpery who turned healer or prophet, +to make a rapid<br> + fortune by the practice of medicine or theology. The number of +lunatics<br> + increased continually; suicides multiplied in the world of +wealth, and many of<br> + them were accompanied by atrocious and extraordinary +circumstances, which bore<br> + witness to an unheard o perversion of intelligence and +sensibility.</p> + +<p>Another fatal symptom created a strong impression upon average +minds. Terrible<br> + accidents, henceforth periodical and regular, entered into +people's<br> + calculations, and kept mounting higher and higher in statistical +tables. Every<br> + day, machines burst into fragments, houses fell down, trains +laden with<br> + merchandise fell on to the streets, demolishing entire buildings +and crushing<br> + hundreds of passers-by. Through the ground, honey-combed with +tunnels, two or<br> + three storeys of work-shops would often crash, engulfing all +those who worked<br> + in them.</p> + +<h3>S. 2</h3> + +<p>In the southwestern district of the city, on an eminence which +had preserved<br> + its ancient name of Fort Saint-Michel, there stretched a square +where some old<br> + trees still spread their exhausted arms above the greensward. +Landscape<br> + gardeners had constructed a cascade, grottos, a torrent, a lake, +and an<br> + island, on its northern slope. From this side one could see the +whole town<br> + with its streets, its boulevards, its squares, the multitude of +its roofs and<br> + domes, its air-passages, and its crowds of men, covered with a +veil of<br> + silence, and seemingly enchanted by the distance. This square +was the<br> + healthiest place in the capital; here no smoke obscured the sky, +and children<br> + were brought here to play. In summer some employees from the +neighbouring<br> + offices and laboratories used to resort to it for a moment after +their<br> + luncheons, but they did not disturb its solitude and peace.</p> + +<p><br> + It was owing to this custom that, one day in June, about +mid-day, a telegraph<br> + clerk, Caroline Meslier, came and sat down on a bench at the end +of a terrace.<br> + In order to refresh her eyes by the sight of a little green, she +turned her<br> + back to the town. Dark, with brown eyes, robust and placid, +Caroline appeared<br> + to be from twenty-five to twenty-eight years of age. Almost +immediately, a<br> + clerk in the Electricity Trust, George Clair, took his place +beside her. Fair,<br> + thin, and supple, he had features of a feminine delicacy; he was +scarcely<br> + older than she, and looked still younger. As they met almost +every day in this<br> + place, a comradeship had sprung up between them, and they +enjoyed chatting<br> + together. But their conversation had never been tender, +affectionate, or even<br> + intimate. Caroline, although it had happened to her in the past +to repent of<br> + her confidence, might perhaps have been less reserved had not +George Clair<br> + always shown himself extremely restrained in his expressions and +behaviour. He<br> + always gave a purely intellectual character to the conversation, +keeping it<br> + within the realm of general ideas, and, moreover, expressing +himself on all<br> + subjects with the greatest freedom. He spoke frequently of the +organization of<br> + society, and the conditions of labour.</p> + +<p>"Wealth," said he, "is one of the means of living happily; but +people have<br> + made it the sole end of existence."</p> + +<p>And this state of things seemed monstrous to both of them.</p> + +<p>They returned continually to various scientific subjects with +which they were<br> + both familiar.</p> + +<p>On that day they discussed the evolution of chemistry.</p> + +<p>"From the moment," said Clair, "that radium was seen to be +transformed into<br> + helium, people ceased to affirm the immutability of simple +bodies; in this way<br> + all those old laws about simple relations and about the +indestructibility of<br> + matter were abolished."</p> + +<p>"However," said she, "chemical laws exist."</p> + +<p>For, being a woman, she had need of belief.</p> + +<p>He resumed carelessly:</p> + +<p>"Now that we can procure radium in sufficient quantities, +science possesses<br> + incomparable means of analysis; even at present we get glimpses, +within what<br> + are called simple bodies, of extremely diversified complex ones, +and we<br> + discover energies in matter which seem to increase even by +reason of its<br> + tenuity."</p> + +<p>As they talked, they threw bits of bread to the birds, and +some children<br> + played around them.</p> + +<p>Passing from one subject to another:</p> + +<p>"This hill, in the quaternary epoch," said Clair, "was +inhabited by wild<br> + horses. Last year, as they were tunnelling for the water mains, +they found a<br> + layer of the bones of primeval horses."</p> + +<p>She was anxious to know whether, at that distant epoch, man +had yet appeared.</p> + +<p>He told her that man used to hunt the primeval horse long +before he tried to<br> + domesticate him.</p> + +<p>"Man," he added, "was at first a hunter, then he became a +shepherd, a<br> + cultivator, a manufacturer . . . and these diverse civilizations +succeeded<br> + each other at intervals of time that the mind cannot +conceive."</p> + +<p>He took out his watch.</p> + +<p>Caroline asked if it was already time to go back to the +office.</p> + +<p>He said it was not, that it was scarcely half-past twelve.</p> + +<p>A little girl was making mud pies at the foot of their bench; +a little boy of<br> + seven or eight years was playing in front of them. Whilst his +mother was<br> + sewing on an adjoining bench, he played all alone at being a +run-away horse,<br> + and with that power of illusion, of which children are capable, +he imagined<br> + that he was at the same time the horse, and those who ran after +him, and those<br> + who fled in terror before him. He kept struggling with himself +and shouting:<br> + "Stop him, Hi! Hi! This is an awful horse, he has got the bit +between his<br> + teeth."</p> + +<p>Caroline asked the question:</p> + +<p>"Do you think that men were happy formerly?"</p> + +<p>Her companion answered:</p> + +<p>"They suffered less when they were younger. They acted like +that little boy:<br> + they played; they played at arts, at virtues, at vices, at +heroism, at<br> + beliefs, at pleasures; they had illusions which entertained +them; they made a<br> + noise; they amused themselves. But now. . . ."</p> + +<p>He interrupted himself, and looked again at his watch.</p> + +<p>The child, who was running, struck his foot against the little +girl's pail,<br> + and fell his full length on the gravel. He remained a moment +stretched out<br> + motionless, then raised himself up on the palms of his hands. +His forehead<br> + puckered, his mouth opened, and he burst into tears. His mother +ran up, but<br> + Caroline had lifted him from the ground and was wiping his eyes +and mouth with<br> + her handkerchief.</p> + +<p>The child kept on sobbing and Clair took him in his arms.</p> + +<p>"Come, don't cry, my little man! I am going to tell you a +story.</p> + +<p>"A fisherman once threw his net into the sea and drew out a +little, sealed,<br> + copper pot, which he opened with his knife. Smoke came out of +it, and as it<br> + mounted up to the clouds the smoke grew thicker and thicker and +became a giant<br> + who gave such a terrible yawn that the whole world was blown to +dust.</p> + +<p>Clair stopped himself, gave a dry laugh, and handed the child +back to his<br> + mother. Then he took out his watch again, and kneeling on the +bench with his<br> + elbows resting on its back he gazed at the town. As far as the +eye could<br> + reach, the multitude of houses stood out in their tiny +immensity.</p> + +<p>Caroline turned her eyes in the same direction.</p> + +<p>"What splendid weather it is!" said she. "The sun's rays +change the smoke on<br> + the horizon into gold. The worst thing about civilization is +that it deprives<br> + one of the light of day."</p> + +<p>We did not answer; his looks remained fixed on a place in the +town.</p> + +<p>After some seconds of silence they saw about half a mile away, +in the richer<br> + district on the other side of the river, a sort of tragic fog +rearing itself<br> + upwards. A moment afterwards an explosion was heard even where +they were<br> + sitting, and an immense tree of smoke mounted towards the pure +sky. Little by<br> + little the air was filled with an imperceptible murmur caused by +the shouts of<br> + thousands of men. Cries burst forth quite close to the +square.</p> + +<p>"What has been blown up?"</p> + +<p>The bewilderment was great, for although accidents were +common, such a violent<br> + explosion as this one had never been seen, and everybody +perceived that<br> + something terribly strange had happened.</p> + +<p>Attempts were made to locate the place of the accident; +districts, streets,<br> + different buildings, clubs, theatres, and shops were mentioned. +Information<br> + gradually became more precise and at last the truth was +known.</p> + +<p>"The Steel Trust has just been blown up."</p> + +<p>Clair put his watch back into his pocket.</p> + +<p>Caroline looked at him closely and her eyes filled with +astonishment.</p> + +<p>At last she whispered in his ear:</p> + +<p>"Did you know it? Were you expecting it? Was it you . . +.?"</p> + +<p>He answered very calmly:</p> + +<p>"That town ought to be destroyed."</p> + +<p>She replied in a gentle and thoughtful tone:</p> + +<p>"I think so too."</p> + +<p>And both of them returned quietly to their work.</p> + +<h3><br> + S. 3</h3> + +<p>From that day onward, anarchist attempts followed one another +every week<br> + without interruption. The victims were numerous, and almost all +of them<br> + belonged to the poorer classes. These crimes roused public +resentment. It was<br> + among domestic servants, hotel-keepers, and the employees of +such small shops<br> + as the Trusts still allowed to exist, that indignation burst +forth most<br> + vehemently. In popular districts women might be heard demanding +unusual<br> + punishments for the dynamitards. (They were called by this old +name, although<br> + it was hardly appropriate to them, since, to these unknown +chemists, dynamite<br> + was an innocent material only fit to destroy ant-hills, and they +considered it<br> + mere child's play to explode nitro-glycerine with a cartridge +made of<br> + fulminate of mercury.) Business ceased suddenly, and those who +were least rich<br> + were the first to feel the effects. They spoke of doing justice +themselves to<br> + the anarchists. In the mean time the factory workers remained +hostile or<br> + indifferent to violent action. They were threatened, as a result +of the<br> + decline of business, with a likelihood of losing their work, or +even a<br> + lock-out in all the factories. The Federation of Trade Unions +proposed a<br> + general strike as the most powerful means of influencing the +employers, and<br> + the best aid that could be given to the revolutionists, but all +the trades<br> + with the exception of the gliders refused to cease work.</p> + +<p><br> + The police made numerous arrests. Troops summoned from all parts +of the<br> + National Federation protected the offices of the Trusts, the +houses of the<br> + multi-millionaires, the public halls, the banks, and the big +shops. A<br> + fortnight passed without a single explosion, and it was +concluded that the<br> + dynamitards, in all probability but a handful of persons, +perhaps even Still<br> + fewer, had all been killed or captured, or that they were in +hiding, or had<br> + taken flight. Confidence returned; it returned at first among +the poorer<br> + classes. Two or three hundred thousand soldiers, who bad been +lodged in the<br> + most closely populated districts, stimulated trade, and people +began to cry<br> + out: "Hurrah for the army!"</p> + +<p>The rich, who had not been so quick to take alarm, were +reassured more slowly.<br> + But at the Stock Exchange a group of "bulls" spread optimistic +rumours and by<br> + a powerful effort put a brake upon the fall in prices. Business +improved.<br> + Newspapers with big circulations supported the movement. With +patriotic<br> + eloquence they depicted capital as laughing in its impregnable +position at the<br> + assaults of a few dastardly criminals, and public wealth +maintaining its<br> + serene ascendency in spite of the vain threats made against it. +They were<br> + sincere in their attitude, though at the same time they found it +benefited<br> + them. Outrages were forgotten or their occurrence denied. On +Sundays, at the<br> + race-meetings, the stands were adorned by women covered with +pearls and<br> + diamonds. It was observed with joy that the capitalists had not +suffered.<br> + Cheers were given for the multi-millionaires in the saddling +rooms.</p> + +<p>On the following day the Southern Railway Station, the +Petroleum Trust, and<br> + the huge church built at the expense of Thomas Morcellet were +all blown up.<br> + Thirty houses were in flames, and the beginning of a fire was +discovered at<br> + the docks. The firemen showed amazing intrepidity and zeal. They +managed their<br> + tall fire-escapes with automatic precision, and climbed as high +as thirty<br> + storeys to rescue the luckless inhabitants from the flames. The +soldiers<br> + performed their duties with spirit, and were given a double +ration of coffee.<br> + But these fresh casualties started a panic. Millions of people, +who wanted to<br> + take their money with them and leave the town at once, crowded +the great<br> + banking houses. These establishments, after paying out money for +three days,<br> + closed their doors amid mutterings of a riot. A crowd of +fugitives, laden with<br> + their baggage, besieged the railway stations and took the town +by storm. Many<br> + who were anxious to lay in a stock of provisions and take refuge +in the<br> + cellars, attacked the grocery stores, although they were guarded +by soldiers<br> + with fixed bayonets. The public authorities displayed energy. +Numerous arrests<br> + were made and thousands of warrants issued against suspected +persons.</p> + +<p>During the three weeks that followed no outrage was committed. +There was a<br> + rumour that bombs had been found in the Opera House, in the +cellars of the<br> + Town Hall, and beside one of the Pillars of the Stock Exchange. +But it was<br> + soon known that these were boxes of sweets that had been put in +those places<br> + by practical jokers or lunatics. One of the accused, when +questioned by a<br> + magistrate, declared that he was the chief author of the +explosions, and said<br> + that all his accomplices had lost their lives. These confessions +were<br> + published by the newspapers and helped to reassure public +opinion. It was only<br> + towards the close of the examination that the magistrates saw +they had to deal<br> + with a pretender who was in no way connected with any of the +crimes.</p> + +<p>The experts chosen by the courts discovered nothing that +enabled them to<br> + determine the engine employed in the work of destruction. +According to their<br> + conjectures the new explosive emanated from a gas which radium +evolves, and it<br> + was supposed that electric waves, produced by a special type of +oscillator,<br> + were propagated through space and thus caused the explosion. But +even the<br> + ablest chemist could say nothing precise or certain. At last two +policemen,<br> + who were passing in front of the Hotel Meyer, found on the +pavement, close to<br> + a ventilator, an egg made of white metal and provided with a +capsule at each<br> + end. They picked it up carefully, and, on the orders of their +chief, carried<br> + it to the municipal laboratory. Scarcely had the experts +assembled to examine<br> + it, than the egg burst and blew up the amphitheatre and the +dome. All the<br> + experts perished, and with them Collin, the General of +Artillery, and the<br> + famous Professor Tigre.</p> + +<p>The capitalist society did not allow itself to be daunted by +this fresh<br> + disaster. The great banks re-opened their doors, declaring that +they would<br> + meet demands partly in bullion and partly in paper money +guaranteed by the<br> + State: The Stock Exchange and the Trade Exchange, in spite of +the complete<br> + cessation of business, decided not to suspend their +sittings.</p> + +<p>In the mean time the magisterial investigation into the case +of those who had<br> + been first accused had come to an end. Perhaps the evidence +brought against<br> + them might have appeared insufficient under other circumstances, +but the zeal<br> + both of the magistrates and the public made up for this +insufficiency. On the<br> + eve of the day fixed for the trial the Courts of justice were +blown up and<br> + eight hundred people were killed, the greater number of them +being judges and<br> + lawyers. A furious crowd broke into the prison and lynched the +prisoners. The<br> + troops sent to restore order were received with showers of +stones and revolver<br> + shots; several soldiers being dragged from their horses and +trampled<br> + underfoot. The soldiers fired on the mob and many persons were +killed. At last<br> + the public authorities succeeded in establishing tranquillity. +Next day the<br> + Bank was blown up.</p> + +<p>From that time onwards unheard-of things took place. The +factory workers, who<br> + had refused to strike, rushed in crowds into the town and set +fire to the<br> + houses. Entire regiments, led by their officers, joined the +workmen, went with<br> + them through the town singing revolutionary hymns, and took +barrels of<br> + petroleum from the docks with which to feed the fires. +Explosions were<br> + continual. One morning a monstrous tree of smoke, like the ghost +of a huge<br> + palm tree half a mile in height, rose above the giant Telegraph +Hall which<br> + suddenly fell into a complete ruin.</p> + +<p>Whilst half the town was in flames, the other half pursued its +accustomed<br> + life. In the mornings, milk pails could be heard jingling in the +dairy carts.<br> + In a deserted avenue some old navvy might be seen seated against +a wall slowly<br> + eating hunks of bread with perhaps a little meat. Almost all the +presidents of<br> + the trusts remained at their posts. Some of them performed their +duty with<br> + heroic simplicity. Raphael Box, the son of a martyred +multi-millionaire, was<br> + blown up as he was presiding at the general meeting of the Sugar +Trust. He was<br> + given a magnificent funeral and the procession on its way to the +cemetery had<br> + to climb six times over piles of ruins or cross upon planks over +the uprooted<br> + roads.</p> + +<p>The ordinary helpers of the rich, the clerks, employees, +brokers, and agents,<br> + preserved an unshaken fidelity. The surviving clerks of the Bank +that had been<br> + blown up, made their way along the ruined streets through the +midst of smoking<br> + houses to hand in their bills of exchange, and several were +swallowed up in<br> + the flames while endeavouring to present their receipts.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, any illusion concerning the state of affairs was +impossible. The<br> + enemy was master of the town. Instead of silence the noise of +explosions was<br> + now continuous and produced an insurmountable feeling of horror. +The lighting<br> + apparatus having been destroyed, the city was plunged in +darkness all through<br> + the night, and appalling crimes were committed. The populous +districts alone,<br> + having suffered the least, still preserved measures of +protection. The were<br> + paraded by patrols of volunteers who shot the robbers, and at +every street<br> + corner one stumbled over a body lying in a pool of blood, the +hands bound<br> + behind the back, a handkerchief over the face, and a placard +pinned upon the<br> + breast.</p> + +<p>It became impossible to clear away the ruins or to bury the +dead. Soon the<br> + stench from the corpses became intolerable. Epidemics raged and +caused<br> + innumerable deaths, while they also rendered the survivors +feeble and<br> + listless. Famine carried off almost all who were left. A hundred +and one days<br> + after the first outrage, whilst six army corps with field +artillery and siege<br> + artillery were marching, at night, into the poorest quarter of +the city,<br> + Caroline and Clair, holding each other's hands, were watching +from the roof a<br> + lofty house, the only one still left standing, but now +surrounded by smoke and<br> + flame. joyous songs ascended from the street, where the crowd +was dancing in<br> + delirium.</p> + +<p>"To-morrow it will be ended," said the man, "and it will be +better."</p> + +<p>The young woman, her hair loosened and her face shining with +the reflection of<br> + the flames, gazed with a pious joy at the circle of fire that +was growing<br> + closer around them.</p> + +<p>"It will be better," said she also.</p> + +<p>And throwing herself into the destroyer's arms she pressed a +passionate kiss<br> + upon his lips.</p> + +<h3>S. 4</h3> + +<p>The other towns of the federation also suffered from +disturbances and<br> + outbreaks, and then order was restored. Reforms were introduced +into<br> + institutions and great changes took place in habits and customs, +but the<br> + country never recovered the loss of its capital, and never +regained its former<br> + prosperity. Commerce and industry dwindled away, and +civilization abandoned<br> + those countries which for so long it bad preferred to all +others. They became<br> + insalubrious and sterile; the territory that had supported so +many millions of<br> + men became nothing more than a desert. On the hill of Fort St. +Michel wild<br> + horses cropped the coarse grass.</p> + +<p><br> + Days flowed by like water from the fountains, and the centuries +passed like<br> + drops falling from the ends of stalactites. Hunters came to +chase the bears<br> + upon the hills that covered the forgotten city; shepherds led +their flocks<br> + upon them; labourers turned up the soil with their ploughs; +gardeners<br> + cultivated their lettuces and grafted their pear trees. They +were not rich,<br> + and they had no arts. The walls of their cabins were covered +with old vines<br> + and roses, A goat-skin clothed their tanned limbs, while their +wives dressed<br> + themselves with the wool that they themselves had spun. The +goat-herds moulded<br> + little figures of men and animals out of clay, or sang songs +about the young<br> + girl who follows her lover through woods or among the browsing +goats while the<br> + pine trees whisper together and the water utters its murmuring +sound. The<br> + master of the house grew angry with the beetles who devoured his +figs; he<br> + planned snares to protect his fowls from the velvet-tailed fox, +and he poured<br> + out wine for his neighbours saying:</p> + +<p>"Drink! The flies have not spoilt my vintage; the vines were +dry before they<br> + came."</p> + +<p>Then in the course of ages the wealth of the villages and the +corn that filled<br> + the fields were pillaged by barbarian invaders. The country +changed its<br> + masters several times. The conquerors built castles upon the +hills;<br> + cultivation increased; mills, forges) tanneries, and looms were +established;<br> + roads were opened through the woods and over the marshes; the +river was<br> + covered with boats. The hamlets became large villages and +joining together<br> + formed a town which protected itself by deep trenches and lofty +walls. Later,<br> + becoming the capital of a great State, it found itself +straitened within its<br> + now useless ramparts and it converted them into grass-covered +walks.</p> + +<p>It grew very rich and large beyond measure. The houses were +never high enough<br> + to satisfy the people; they kept on making them still higher and +built them of<br> + thirty or forty storeys, with offices, shops, banks, societies +one above<br> + another; they dug cellars and tunnels ever deeper downwards. +Fifteen millions<br> + of men laboured in the giant town.</p> + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Penguin Island, by Anatole France + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PENGUIN ISLAND *** + +This file should be named pngwn10h.htm or pngwn10h.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, pngwn11h.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, pngwn10ha.txt + +Produced by Walter Debeuf + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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