The Last Days of Pompeii - Эдвард Бульвер-Литтон

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Well, then, I examine by the help of these powers this inexhaustible Nature. I examine the earth, the air, the ocean, the heaven: I find that all have a mystic sympathy with each other—that the moon sways the tides—that the air maintains the earth, and is the medium of the life and sense of things—that by the knowledge of the stars we measure the limits of the earth—that we portion out the epochs of time—that by their pale light we are guided into the abyss of the past—that in their solemn lore we discern the destinies of the future. And thus, while we know not that which Necessity is, we learn, at least, her decrees. And now, what morality do we glean from this religion?—for religion it is. I believe in two deities—Nature and Necessity; I worship the last by reverence, the first by investigation. What is the morality my religion teaches? This—all things are subject but to general rules; the sun shines for the joy of the many—it may bring sorrow to the few; the night sheds sleep on the multitude—but it harbors murder as well as rest; the forests adorn the earth—but shelter the serpent and the lion; the ocean supports a thousand barks—but it engulfs the one. It is only thus for the general, and not for the universal benefit, that Nature acts, and Necessity speeds on her awful course. This is the morality of the dread agents of the world—it is mine, who am their creature. I would preserve the delusions of priestcraft, for they are serviceable to the multitude; I would impart to man the arts I discover, the sciences I perfect; I would speed the vast career of civilizing lore: in this I serve the mass, I fulfill the general law, I execute the great moral that Nature preaches. For myself I claim the individual exception; I claim it for the wise—satisfied that my individual actions are nothing in the great balance of good and evil; satisfied that the product of my knowledge can give greater blessings to the mass than my desires can operate evil on the few (for the first can extend to remotest regions and humanize nations yet unborn), I give to the world wisdom, to myself freedom. I enlighten the lives of others, and I enjoy my own. Yes; our wisdom is eternal, but our life is short: make the most of it while it lasts. Surrender thy youth to pleasure, and thy senses to delight. Soon comes the hour when the wine-cup is shattered, and the garlands shall cease to bloom. Enjoy while you may. Be still, O Apaecides, my pupil and my follower! I will teach thee the mechanism of Nature, her darkest and her wildest secrets—the lore which fools call magic—and the mighty mysteries of the stars. By this shalt thou discharge thy duty to the mass; by this shalt thou enlighten thy race. But I will lead thee also to pleasures of which the vulgar do not dream; and the day which thou givest to men shall be followed by the sweet night which thou surrenderest to thyself.'

      As the Egyptian ceased there rose about, around, beneath, the softest music that Lydia ever taught, or Iona ever perfected. It came like a stream of sound, bathing the senses unawares; enervating, subduing with delight. It seemed the melodies of invisible spirits, such as the shepherd might have heard in the golden age, floating through the vales of Thessaly, or in the noontide glades of Paphos. The words which had rushed to the lip of Apaecides, in answer to the sophistries of the Egyptian, died tremblingly away. He felt it as a profanation to break upon that enchanted strain—the susceptibility of his excited nature, the Greek softness and ardour of his secret soul, were swayed and captured by surprise. He sank on the seat with parted lips and thirsting ear; while in a chorus of voices, bland and melting as those which waked Psyche in the halls of love, rose the following song:

      THE HYMN OF EROS

       By the cool banks where soft Cephisus flows,

       A voice sail'd trembling down the waves of air;

       The leaves blushed brighter in the Teian's rose,

       The doves couch'd breathless in their summer lair;

       While from their hands the purple flowerets fell,

       The laughing Hours stood listening in the sky;—

       From Pan's green cave to AEgle's haunted cell,

       Heaved the charm'd earth in one delicious sigh.

       Love, sons of earth! I am the Power of Love!

       Eldest of all the gods, with Chaos born;

       My smile sheds light along the courts above,

       My kisses wake the eyelids of the Morn.

       Mine are the stars—there, ever as ye gaze,

       Ye meet the deep spell of my haunting eyes;

       Mine is the moon—and, mournful if her rays,

       'Tis that she lingers where her Carian lies.

       The flowers are mine—the blushes of the rose,

       The violet—charming Zephyr to the shade;

       Mine the quick light that in the Maybeam glows,

       And mine the day-dream in the lonely glade.

       Love, sons of earth—for love is earth's soft lore,

       Look where ye will—earth overflows with ME;

       Learn from the waves that ever kiss the shore,

       And the winds nestling on the heaving sea.

       'All teaches love!'—The sweet voice, like a dream,

       Melted in light; yet still the airs above,

       The waving sedges, and the whispering stream,

       And the green forest rustling, murmur'd 'LOVE!'

       As the voices died away, the Egyptian seized the hand of Apaecides, and

       led him, wandering, intoxicated, yet half-reluctant, across the chamber

       towards the curtain at the far end; and now, from behind that curtain,

       there seemed to burst a thousand sparkling stars; the veil itself,

       hitherto dark, was now lighted by these fires behind into the tenderest

       blue of heaven. It represented heaven itself—such a heaven, as in the

       nights of June might have shone down over the streams of Castaly. Here

       and there were painted rosy and aerial clouds, from which smiled, by the

       limner's art, faces of divinest beauty, and on which reposed the shapes

       of which Phidias and Apelles dreamed. And the stars which studded the

       transparent azure rolled rapidly as they shone, while the music, that

       again woke with a livelier and lighter sound, seemed to imitate the

       melody of the joyous spheres.

      'Oh! what miracle is this, Arbaces,' said Apaecides in faltering accents. 'After having denied the gods, art thou about to reveal to me … '

      'Their pleasures!' interrupted Arbaces, in a tone so different from its usual cold and tranquil harmony that Apaecides started, and thought the Egyptian himself transformed; and now, as they neared the curtain, a wild—a loud—an exulting melody burst from behind its concealment. With that sound the veil was rent in twain—it parted—it seemed to vanish into air: and a scene, which no Sybarite ever more than rivalled, broke upon the dazzled gaze of the youthful priest. A vast banquet-room stretched beyond, blazing with countless lights, which filled the warm air with the scents of frankincense, of jasmine, of violets, of myrrh; all that the most odorous flowers, all that the most costly spices could distil, seemed gathered into one ineffable and ambrosial essence: from the light columns that sprang upwards to the airy roof, hung draperies of white, studded with golden stars. At the extremities of the room two fountains cast up a spray, which, catching the rays of the roseate light, glittered like countless diamonds. In the centre of the room as they entered there rose slowly from the floor, to the sound of unseen minstrelsy, a table spread with all the viands which sense ever devoted to fancy, and vases of that lost Myrrhine fabric, so glowing in its colors, so transparent in its material, were crowned with the exotics of the East. The couches, to which this table was the centre, were covered with tapestries of azure and gold; and from invisible tubes the vaulted roof descended showers of fragrant waters, that cooled the delicious air, and contended with the lamps, as if the spirits of wave and fire disputed which element could furnish forth the most delicious odorous. And now, from behind

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