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第106章

zanoni-第106章

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iron lamp and two branches scatter over the vast room a murky;

fuliginous ray; beneath the light of which the fierce faces of

that Pandemonium seem more grim and haggard。  There; from the

orator's tribune; shrieks the shrill wrath of Robespierre!



Meanwhile all is chaos; disorder; half daring and half cowardice;

in the Committee of his foes。  Rumours fly from street to street;

from haunt to haunt; from house to house。  The swallows flit low;

and the cattle group together before the storm。  And above this

roar of the lives and things of the little hour; alone in his

chamber stood he on whose starry youthsymbol of the

imperishable bloom of the calm Ideal amidst the mouldering

Actualthe clouds of ages had rolled in vain。



All those exertions which ordinary wit and courage could suggest

had been tried in vain。  All such exertions WERE in vain; where;

in that Saturnalia of death; a life was the object。  Nothing but

the fall of Robespierre could have saved his victims; now; too

late; that fall would only serve to avenge。



Once more; in that last agony of excitement and despair; the seer

had plunged into solitude; to invoke again the aid or counsel of

those mysterious intermediates between earth and heaven who had

renounced the intercourse of the spirit when subjected to the

common bondage of the mortal。  In the intense desire and anguish

of his heart; perhaps; lay a power not yet called forth; for who

has not felt that the sharpness of extreme grief cuts and grinds

away many of those strongest bonds of infirmity and doubt which

bind down the souls of men to the cabined darkness of the hour;

and that from the cloud and thunderstorm often swoops the

Olympian eagle that can ravish us aloft!



And the invocation was heard;the bondage of sense was rent away

from the visual mind。  He looked; and saw;no; not the being he

had called; with its limbs of light and unutterably tranquil

smilenot his familiar; Adon…Ai; the Son of Glory and the Star;

but the Evil Omen; the dark Chimera; the implacable Foe; with

exultation and malice burning in its hell…lit eyes。  The Spectre;

no longer cowering and retreating into shadow; rose before him;

gigantic and erect; the face; whose veil no mortal hand had ever

raised; was still concealed; but the form was more distinct;

corporeal; and cast from it; as an atmosphere; horror and rage

and awe。  As an iceberg; the breath of that presence froze the

air; as a cloud; it filled the chamber and blackened the stars

from heaven。



〃Lo!〃 said its voice; 〃I am here once more。  Thou hast robbed me

of a meaner prey。  Now exorcise THYSELF from my power!  Thy life

has left thee; to live in the heart of a daughter of the charnel

and the worm。  In that life I come to thee with my inexorable

tread。  Thou art returned to the Threshold;thou; whose steps

have trodden the verges of the Infinite!  And as the goblin of

its fantasy seizes on a child in the dark;mighty one; who

wouldst conquer Death;I seize on thee!〃



〃Back to thy thraldom; slave!  If thou art come to the voice that

called thee not; it is again not to command; but to obey!  Thou;

from whose whisper I gained the boons of the lives lovelier and

dearer than my own; thouI command thee; not by spell and charm;

but by the force of a soul mightier than the malice of thy

being;thou serve me yet; and speak again the secret that can

rescue the lives thou hast; by permission of the Universal

Master; permitted me to retain awhile in the temple of the clay!〃



Brighter and more devouringly burned the glare from those lurid

eyes; more visible and colossal yet rose the dilating shape; a

yet fiercer and more disdainful hate spoke in the voice that

answered; 〃Didst thou think that my boon would be other than thy

curse?  Happy for thee hadst thou mourned over the deaths which

come by the gentle hand of Nature;hadst thou never known how

the name of mother consecrates the face of Beauty; and never;

bending over thy first…born; felt the imperishable sweetness of a

father's love!  They are saved; for what?the mother; for the

death of violence and shame and blood; for the doomsman's hand to

put aside that shining hair which has entangled thy bridegroom

kisses; the child; first and last of thine offspring; in whom

thou didst hope to found a race that should hear with thee the

music of celestial harps; and float; by the side of thy familiar;

Adon…Ai; through the azure rivers of joy;the child; to live on

a few days as a fungus in a burial…vault; a thing of the

loathsome dungeon; dying of cruelty and neglect and famine。  Ha!

ha! thou who wouldst baffle Death; learn how the deathless die if

they dare to love the mortal。  Now; Chaldean; behold my boons!

Now I seize and wrap thee with the pestilence of my presence;

now; evermore; till thy long race is run; mine eyes shall glow

into thy brain; and mine arms shall clasp thee; when thou wouldst

take the wings of the Morning and flee from the embrace of

Night!〃



〃I tell thee; no!  And again I compel thee; speak and answer to

the lord who can command his slave。  I know; though my lore fails

me; and the reeds on which I leaned pierce my side;I know yet

that it is written that the life of which I question can be saved

from the headsman。  Thou wrappest her future in the darkness of

thy shadow; but thou canst not shape it。  Thou mayest foreshow

the antidote; thou canst not effect the bane。  From thee I wring

the secret; though it torture thee to name it。  I approach thee;

I look dauntless into thine eyes。  The soul that loves can dare

all things。  Shadow; I defy thee; and compel!〃



The spectre waned and recoiled。  Like a vapour that lessens as

the sun pierces and pervades it; the form shrank cowering and

dwarfed in the dimmer distance; and through the casement again

rushed the stars。



〃Yes;〃 said the Voice; with a faint and hollow accent; 〃thou

CANST save her from the headsman; for it is written; that

sacrifice can save。  Ha! ha!〃  And the shape again suddenly

dilated into the gloom of its giant stature; and its ghastly

laugh exulted; as if the Foe; a moment baffled; had regained its

might。  〃Ha! ha!thou canst save her life; if thou wilt

sacrifice thine own!  Is it for this thou hast lived on through

crumbling empires and countless generations of thy race?  At last

shall Death reclaim thee?  Wouldst thou save her?DIE FOR HER!

Fall; O stately column; over which stars yet unformed may gleam;

fall; that the herb at thy base may drink a few hours longer

the sunlight and the dews!  Silent!  Art thou ready for the

sacrifice?  See; the moon moves up through heaven。  Beautiful and

wise one; wilt thou bid her smile to…morrow on thy headless

clay?〃



〃Back! for my soul; in answering thee from depths where thou

canst not hear it; has regained its glory; and I hear the wings

of Adon…Ai gliding musical through the air。〃



He spoke; and; with a low shriek of baffled rage and hate; the

Thing was gone; and through the room rushed; luminous and sudden;

the Presence of silvery light。



As the heavenly visitor stood in the atmosphere of his own

lustre; and looked upon the face of the Theurgist with an aspect

of ineffable tenderness and love; all space seemed lighted from

his smile。  Along the blue air without; from that chamber in

which his wings had halted; to the farthest star in the azure

distance; it seemed as if the track of his flight were visible;

by a lengthened splendour in the air; like the column of

moonlight on the sea。  Like the flower that diffuses perfume as

the very breath of its life; so the emanation of that presence

was joy。  Over the world; as a million times swifter than light;

than electricity; the Son of Glory had sped his way to the side

of love; his wings had scattered delight as the morning scatters

dew。  For that brief moment; Poverty had ceased to mourn; Disease

fled from its prey; and Hope breathed a dream of Heaven into the

darkness of 

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