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zanoni-第84部分

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exchanged; a tear has been kissed away; restores us again to the

hours of the first divine illusion。  But in a home where nothing

speaks of the first nuptials; where there is no eloquence of

association; no holy burial…places of emotions; whose ghosts are

angels!yes; who that has gone through the sad history of

affection will tell us that the heart changes not with the scene!

Blow fair; ye favouring winds; cheerily swell; ye sails; away

from the land where death has come to snatch the sceptre of Love!

The shores glide by; new coasts succeed to the green hills and

orange…groves of the Bridal Isle。  From afar now gleam in the

moonlight the columns; yet extant; of a temple which the Athenian

dedicated to wisdom; and; standing on the bark that bounded on in

the freshening gale; the votary who had survived the goddess

murmured to himself;



〃Has the wisdom of ages brought me no happier hours than those

common to the shepherd and the herdsman; with no world beyond

their village; no aspiration beyond the kiss and the smile of

home?〃



And the moon; resting alike over the ruins of the temple of the

departed creed; over the hut of the living peasant; over the

immemorial mountain…top; and the perishable herbage that clothed

its sides; seemed to smile back its answer of calm disdain to the

being who; perchance; might have seen the temple built; and who;

in his inscrutable existence; might behold the mountain shattered

from its base。





BOOK V。



THE EFFECTS OF THE ELIXIR。





CHAPTER 5。I。



Frommet's den Schleier aufzuheben;

Wo das nahe Schreckness droht?

Nur das Irrthum ist das Leben

Und das Wissen ist der Tod;



Schiller; Kassandro。



Delusion is the life we live

And knowledge death; oh wherefore; then;

To sight the coming evils give

And lift the veil of Fate to Man?



Zwei Seelen wohnen; ach! in meiner Brust。



(Two souls dwell; alas! in my breast。)



。。。



Was stehst du so; und blickst erstaunt hinaus?



(Why standest thou so; and lookest out astonished?)



〃Faust。〃



It will be remembered that we left Master Paolo by the bedside of

Glyndon; and as; waking from that profound slumber; the

recollections of the past night came horribly back to his mind;

the Englishman uttered a cry; and covered his face with his

hands。



〃Good morrow; Excellency!〃 said Paolo; gayly。  〃Corpo di Bacco;

you have slept soundly!〃



The sound of this man's voice; so lusty; ringing; and healthful;

served to scatter before it the phantasma that yet haunted

Glyndon's memory。



He rose erect in his bed。  〃And where did you find me?  Why are

you here?〃



〃Where did I find you!〃 repeated Paolo; in surprise;〃in your

bed; to be sure。  Why am I here!because the Padrone bade me

await your waking; and attend your commands。〃



〃The Padrone; Mejnour!is he arrived?〃



〃Arrived and departed; signor。  He has left this letter for you。〃



〃Give it me; and wait without till I am dressed。〃



〃At your service。  I have bespoke an excellent breakfast:  you

must be hungry。  I am a very tolerable cook; a monk's son ought

to be!  You will be startled at my genius in the dressing of

fish。  My singing; I trust; will not disturb you。  I always sing

while I prepare a salad; it harmonises the ingredients。〃  And

slinging his carbine over his shoulder; Paolo sauntered from the

room; and closed the door。



Glyndon was already deep in the contents of the following

letter:



〃When I first received thee as my pupil; I promised Zanoni; if

convinced by thy first trials that thou couldst but swell; not

the number of our order; but the list of the victims who have

aspired to it in vain; I would not rear thee to thine own

wretchedness and doom;I would dismiss thee back to the world。

I fulfil my promise。  Thine ordeal has been the easiest that

neophyte ever knew。  I asked for nothing but abstinence from the

sensual; and a brief experiment of thy patience and thy faith。

Go back to thine own world; thou hast no nature to aspire to

ours!



〃It was I who prepared Paolo to receive thee at the revel。  It

was I who instigated the old beggar to ask thee for alms。  It was

I who left open the book that thou couldst not read without

violating my command。  Well; thou hast seen what awaits thee at

the threshold of knowledge。  Thou hast confronted the first foe

that menaces him whom the senses yet grasp and inthrall。  Dost

thou wonder that I close upon thee the gates forever?  Dost thou

not comprehend; at last; that it needs a soul tempered and

purified and raised; not by external spells; but by its own

sublimity and valour; to pass the threshold and disdain the foe?

Wretch! all my silence avails nothing for the rash; for the

sensual;for him who desires our secrets but to pollute them to

gross enjoyments and selfish vice。  How have the imposters and

sorcerers of the earlier times perished by their very attempt to

penetrate the mysteries that should purify; and not deprave!

They have boasted of the Philosopher's Stone; and died in rags;

of the immortal elixir; and sunk to their grave; grey before

their time。  Legends tell you that the fiend rent them into

fragments。  Yes; the fiend of their own unholy desires and

criminal designs!  What they coveted; thou covetest; and if thou

hadst the wings of a seraph thou couldst soar not from the slough

of thy mortality。  Thy desire for knowledge; but petulant

presumption; thy thirst for happiness; but the diseased longing

for the unclean and muddied waters of corporeal pleasure; thy

very love; which usually elevates even the mean; a passion that

calculates treason amidst the first glow of lust。  THOU one of

us; thou a brother of the August Order; thou an Aspirant to the

Stars that shine in the Shemaia of the Chaldean lore!  The eagle

can raise but the eaglet to the sun。  I abandon thee to thy

twilight!



〃But; alas for thee; disobedient and profane! thou hast inhaled

the elixir; thou hast attracted to thy presence a ghastly and

remorseless foe。  Thou thyself must exorcise the phantom thou

hast raised。  Thou must return to the world; but not without

punishment and strong effort canst thou regain the calm and the

joy of the life thou hast left behind。  This; for thy comfort;

will I tell thee:  he who has drawn into his frame even so little

of the volatile and vital energy of the aerial juices as thyself;

has awakened faculties that cannot sleep;faculties that may

yet; with patient humility; with sound faith; and the courage

that is not of the body like thine; but of the resolute and

virtuous mind; attain; if not to the knowledge that reigns above;

to high achievement in the career of men。  Thou wilt find the

restless influence in all that thou wouldst undertake。  Thy

heart; amidst vulgar joys will aspire to something holier; thy

ambition; amidst coarse excitement; to something beyond thy

reach。  But deem not that this of itself will suffice for glory。
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