The Infernal Marriage
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Benjamin Disraeli >> The Infernal Marriage
'Certainly; every day it is more powerful.'
'Then if, on consideration, we were to deem resistance to it advisable,
it is surely better to commence the contest at once than to postpone the
struggle.'
'It is useless to talk of resisting; one must conform.'
'I certainly should consider resistance useless,' replied Saturn, 'for I
tried it and failed; but at least one has a chance of success; and yet,
having resisted this spirit and failed, I should not consider myself
in a worse plight than you would voluntarily place yourself in by
conforming to it.'
'You speak riddles,' said Proserpine.
'To be plain, then,' replied Saturn, 'I think you may as well at once
give up your throne, as conform to this spirit.'
'And why so?' inquired Proserpine very ingenuously.'
'Because,' replied Saturn, shrugging up his shoulders, 'I look upon the
spirit of the age as a spirit hostile to Kings and gods.'
The next morning Saturn himself attended his beautiful guest over his
residence, which Proserpine greatly admired.
''Tis the work of the Titans,' replied the ex-King. 'There never was a
party so fond of building palaces.'
'To speak the truth,' said Proserpine, 'I am a little disappointed that
I have not had an opportunity, during my visit, of becoming acquainted
with some of the chiefs of that celebrated party; for, although a
Liberal, I am a female one, and I like to know every sort of person who
is distinguished.'
'The fact is,' replied her host, 'that the party has never recovered
from the thunderbolt of that scheming knave Jupiter, and do not bear
their defeat so philosophically as years, perhaps, permit me to do. If
we have been vanquished by the spirit of the age,' continued Saturn,
'you must confess that, in our case, the conqueror did not assume a
material form very remarkable for its dignity. Had Creation resolved
itself into its original elements, had Chaos come again, or even old
Coelus, the indignity might have been endured; but to be baffled by
an Olympian _juste milieu_, and to find, after all the clamour, that
nothing has been changed save the places, is, you will own, somewhat
mortifying.'
'But how do you reconcile,' inquired the ingenuous Proserpine, 'the
success of Jupiter with the character which you ascribed last night to
the spirit of the age?'
'Why, in truth,' said Saturn, 'had I not entirely freed myself from all
party feeling, I might adduce the success of my perfidious and worthless
relative as very good demonstration that the spirit of the age
is nothing better than an _ignis fatuus_. Nevertheless, we must
discriminate. Even the success of Jupiter, although he now conducts
himself in direct opposition to the emancipating principles he at
first professed, is no less good evidence of their force; for by his
professions he rose. And, for my part, I consider it a great homage to
public opinion to find every scoundrel now-a-days professing himself a
Liberal.'
'You are candid;' said Proserpine. 'I should like very much to see the
Titans.'
'My friends are at least consistent,' observed Saturn; 'though certainly
at present I can say little more for them. Between the despair of one
section of the party, and the over-sanguine expectations of the other,
they are at present quite inactive, or move only to ensure fresh
rebuffs.'
'You see little of them, then?'
'They keep to themselves: they generally frequent a lonely vale in the
neighbourhood.'
'I should so like to see them!' exclaimed Proserpine.
'Say nothing to Tiresias,' said old Saturn, who was half in love with
his fair friend, 'and we will steal upon them unperceived.' So saying,
the god struck the earth with his cane, and there instantly sprang forth
a convenient car, built of curiously carved cedar, and borne by four
enormous tawny-coloured owls. Seating himself by the side of the
delighted Proserpine, Saturn commanded the owls to bear them to the
Valley of Lamentations.
'Twas an easy fly: the chariot soon descended upon the crest of a hill:
and Saturn and Proserpine, leaving the car, commenced, by a winding
path, the slight ascent of a superior elevation. Having arrived there,
they looked down upon a valley, apparently land-locked by black and
barren mountains of the most strange, although picturesque forms. In the
centre of the valley was a black pool or tarn, bordered with dark purple
flags of an immense size, twining and twisting among which might be
observed the glancing and gliding folds of several white serpents; while
crocodiles and alligators, and other horrible forms, poked their foul
snouts with evident delight in a vast mass of black slime, which had,
at various times, exuded from the lake. A single tree only was to be
observed in this desolate place, an enormous and blasted cedar, with
scarcely a patch of verdure, but extending its black and barren branches
nearly across the valley. Seated on a loosened crag, but leaning against
the trunk of the cedar, with his arms folded, his mighty eyes fixed on
the ground, and his legs crossed with that air of complete repose which
indicates that their owner is in no hurry again to move them, was
'A form, some granite god we deemed,
Or king of palmy Nile, colossal shapes
Such as Syene's rosy quarries yield
To Memphian art; Horus, Osiris called,
Or Amenoph, who, on the Theban plain,
With magic melody the sun salutes;
Or he, far mightier, to whose conquering car
Monarchs were yoked, Rameses: by the Greeks
Sesostris styled. And yet no sculptor's art
Moulded this shape, for form it seemed of flesh,
Yet motionless; its dim unlustrous orbs
Gazing in stilly vacancy, its cheek
Grey as its hairs, which, thin as they might seem,
No breath disturbed; a solemn countenance,
Not sorrowful, though full of woe sublime,
As if despair were now a distant dream
Too dim for memory.'
''Tis their great leader,' said Saturn, as he pointed out the Titan to
Proserpine, 'the giant Enceladus. He got us into all our scrapes, but I
must do him the justice to add, that he is the only one who can ever get
us out of them. They say he has no heart; but I think his hook nose is
rather fine.'
'Superb!' said Proserpine. 'And who is that radiant and golden-haired
youth who is seated at his feet?'
''Tis no less a personage than Hyperion himself,' replied Saturn, 'the
favourite counsellor of Enceladus. He is a fine orator, and makes up by
his round sentences and choice phrases for the rhetorical deficiencies
of his chief, who, to speak the truth, is somewhat curt and husky. They
have enough now to do to manage their comrades and keep a semblance of
discipline in their routed ranks. Mark that ferocious Briareus there
scowling in a corner! Didst ever see such a moustache! He glances,
methinks, with an evil eye on the mighty Enceladus; and, let me tell
you, Briareus has a great following among them; so they say of him you
know, that he hath fifty heads and a hundred arms. See! how they gather
around him.'
'Who speaks now to Briareus?' 'The young and valiant Mimas. Be assured
he is counselling war. We shall have a debate now.'
'Yon venerable personage, who is seated by the margin of the pool, and
weeping with the crocodiles------'
'Is old Oceanus.'
'He is apparently much affected by his overthrow.' 'It is his wont to
weep. He used to cry when he fought, and yet he was a powerful warrior.'
'Hark!' said Proserpine.
The awful voice of Briareus broke the silence. What a terrible personage
was Briareus! His wild locks hung loose about his shoulders, and blended
with his unshorn beard.
'Titans!' shouted the voice which made many a heart tremble, and the
breathless Proserpine clasp the arm of Saturn. 'Titans! Is that spirit
dead that once heaped Ossa upon Pelion? Is it forgotten, even by
ourselves, that a younger born revels in our heritage? Are these forms
that surround me, indeed, the shapes at whose dread sight the base
Olympians fled to their fitting earth? Warriors, whose weapons were the
rocks, whose firebrands were the burning woods, is the day forgotten
when Jove himself turned craven, and skulked in Egypt? At least my
memory is keen enough to support my courage, and whatever the dread
Enceladus may counsel, my voice is still for war!'
There ensued, after this harangue of Briareus, a profound and thrilling
silence, which was, however, broken in due time by the great leader of
the Titans himself.
'You mouth it well, Briareus,' replied Enceladus calmly. 'And if great
words would re-seat us in Olympus, doubtless, with your potent aid,
we might succeed. It never should be forgotten, however, that had we
combined at first, in the spirit now recommended, the Olympians would
never have triumphed; and least of all our party should Briareus and his
friends forget the reasons of our disunion.'
'I take thy sneer, Enceladus,' said the young and chivalric Mimas, 'and
throw it in thy teeth. This learn, then, from Briareus and his friends,
that if we were lukewarm in the hour of peril, the fault lies not to
our account, but with those who had previously so conducted themselves,
that, when the danger arrived, it was impossible for us to distinguish
between our friends and our foes. Enceladus apparently forgets that had
the Olympians never been permitted to enter Heaven, it would have been
unnecessary ever to have combined against their machinations.'
'Recrimination is useless,' said a Titan, interposing. 'I was one of
those who supported Enceladus in the admission of the Olympians above,
and I regret it. But at the time, like others, I believed it to be the
only mode of silencing the agitation of Jupiter.'
'I separated from Enceladus on that question,' said a huge Titan, lying
his length on the ground and leaning one arm on a granite crag; 'but
I am willing to forget all our differences and support him with all
my heart and strength in another effort to restore our glorious
constitution.'
'Titans,' said Enceladus, 'who is there among you who has found me a
laggard in the day of battle?'
When the Olympians, as Briareus thinks it necessary to remind you,
fled, I was your leader. Remember, however, then, that there were no
thunderbolts. As for myself, I candidly confess to you, that, since the
invention of these weapons by Jove, I do not see how war can be carried
on by us any longer with effect.'
'By the memory of old Coelus and these fast-flowing tears,' murmured the
venerable Oceanus, patting at the same time a crocodile on the back,
'I call you all to witness that I have no interest to deceive you.
Nevertheless, we should not forget that, in this affair of the
thunderbolts, it is the universal opinion that there is a very
considerable reaction. I have myself, only within these few days,
received authentic information that several have fallen of late without
any visible ill effects; and I am credibly assured that, during the late
storm in Thessaly, a thunderbolt was precipitated into the centre of a
vineyard, without affecting the flavour of a single grape.'
Here several of the Titans, who had gathered round Enceladus, shook
their heads and shrugged their shoulders, and a long and desultory
conversation ensued upon the copious and very controversial subject of
Re-action. In the meantime Rhoetus, a young Titan, whispered to one of
his companions, that for his part he was convinced that the only way
to beat the Olympians was to turn them into ridicule; and that he would
accordingly commence at once with the pasquinade on the private life of
Jupiter, and some peculiarly delicate criticisms on the characters of
the goddesses.
PART IV.
_Containing the First View of Elysium_
THE toilsome desert was at length passed, and the royal cavalcade
ascended the last chasm of mountains that divided Elysium, or the
Regions of Bliss, from the Realm of Twilight. As she quitted those
dim and dreary plains, the spirit of Proserpine grew lighter, and she
indulged in silent but agreeable anticipations of the scene which she
was now approaching. On reaching, however, the summit of the mountainous
chain, and proceeding a short distance over the rugged table-land into
which it now declined, her Majesty was rather alarmed at perceiving that
her progress was impeded by a shower of flame that extended, on either
side, as far as the eye could reach. Her alarm, however, was of short
continuance; for, on the production of his talisman by Tiresias, the
shower of flame instantly changed into silvery drops of rose-water and
other delicious perfumes. Amid joyous peals of laughter, and some
slight playful screams on the part of the ladies, the cavalcade ventured
through the ordeal. Now the effect of this magical bath was quite
marvellous. A burthen seemed suddenly to have been removed from the
spirits of the whole party; their very existence seemed renewed; the
blood danced about their veins in the liveliest manner imaginable; and
a wild but pleasing titillation ran like lightning through their nerves,
their countenances sparkled with excitement; and they all talked at the
same time. Proserpine was so occupied with her own sensations, that she
did not immediately remark the extraordinary change that had occurred
in the appearance of the country immediately on passing this magical
barrier. She perceived that their course now led over the most elastic
and carefully-shaven turf; groups of beautiful shrubs occasionally
appeared, and she discovered with delight that their flowers constantly
opened, and sent forth from their bells diminutive birds of radiant
plumage. Above them, too, the clouds vanished, and her head was canopied
by a sky, unlike, indeed, all things and tints of earth, but which
reminded her, in some degree, of the splendour of Olympus.
Proserpine, restless with delight, quitted her litter, and followed by
Manto, ran forward to catch the first view of Elysium.
'I am quite out of breath,' said her Majesty, 'and really must sit down
on this bank of violets. Was ever anything in the world so delightful?
Why, Olympus is nothing to it! And after Tartarus, too, and that poor
unhappy Saturn, and his Titans and his twilight, it really is too much
for me. How I do long for the view! and yet, somehow or other, my heart
beats so I cannot walk.'
'Will your Majesty re-ascend your litter?' suggested Manto.
'Oh, no! that is worse than anything. They are a mile behind; they are
so slow. Why, Manto! what is this?'
A beautiful white dove hovered in the air over the head of Proserpine
and her attendant, and then dropping an olive branch into the lap of the
Queen, flapped its wings and whirled away. But what an olive branch!
the stem was of agate; each leaf was an emerald; and on the largest, in
letters of brilliants, was this inscription:
_The Elysians to Their Beautiful Queen_
'Oh, is it not superb?' exclaimed Proserpine. 'What charming people,
and what excellent subjects! What loyalty and what taste!'
So saying, the enraptured Proserpine rose from the bank of violets, and
had scarcely run forwards fifty yards when she suddenly stopped, and
started with an exclamation of wonder. The table-land had ceased. She
stood upon a precipice of white marble, in many parts clothed with
thick bowers of myrtle; before her extended the wide-spreading plains of
Elysium. They were bounded upon all sides by gentle elevations entirely
covered with flowers, and occasionally shooting forward into the
champaign country; behind these appeared a range of mountains clothed
with bright green forests, and still loftier heights behind them,
exhibiting, indeed, only bare and sharply-pointed peaks glittering with
prismatic light. The undulating plain was studded in all directions with
pavilions and pleasure-houses, and groves and gardens glowing with the
choicest and most charming fruit; and a broad blue river wound through
it, covered with brilliant boats, the waters flashing with phosphoric
light as they were cut by the swift and gliding keels. And in the centre
of the plain rose a city, a mighty group of all that was beautiful in
form and costly in materials, bridges and palaces and triumphal gates of
cedar and of marble, columns and minarets of gold, and cupolas and domes
of ivory; and ever and anon appeared delicious gardens, raised on the
terraces of the houses; and groups of palm trees with their tall, thin
stems, and quivering and languid crests, rose amid the splendid masonry.
A sweet soft breeze touched the cheek of the entranced Proserpine, and a
single star of silver light glittered in the rosy sky.
''Tis my favourite hour,' exclaimed Proserpine..Thus have I gazed upon
Hesperus in the meads of Enna! What a scene! How fortunate that we
should have arrived at sunset!'
'Ah, Madam!' observed Manto, 'in Elysium the sky is ever thus. For the
Elysians, the sun seems always to have just set!'
'Fortunate people!' replied Proserpine. 'In them, immortality and
enjoyment seem indeed blended together. A strange feeling, half of
languor, half of voluptuousness, steals over my senses! It seems that
I at length behold the region of my girlish dreams. Such once I fancied
Olympus. Ah! why does not my Pluto live in Elysium?'
The Elysians consisted of a few thousand beatified mortals, the only
occupation of whose existence was enjoyment; the rest of the population
comprised some millions of Gnomes and Sylphs, who did nothing but work,
and ensured by their labour the felicity of the superior class. Every
Elysian, male or female, possessed a magnificent palace in the city,
and an elegant pavilion on the plain; these, with a due proportion of
chariots, horses, and slaves, constituted a proper establishment. The
Sylphs and the Gnomes were either scattered about the country, which
they cultivated, or lived in the city, where they kept shops, and where
they emulated each other in displaying the most ingenious articles
of luxury and convenience for the enjoyment and accommodation of the
Elysians. The townspeople, indeed, rather affected to look down upon
the more simple-minded agriculturists; but if these occasionally felt a
little mortification in consequence, they might have been consoled, had
they been aware that their brethren and sisters who were in the service
of the Elysians avenged their insults, for these latter were the finest
Gnomes and Sylphs imaginable, and scarcely deigned to notice any one who
was in trade. Whether there were any coin or other circulating medium
current in Elysium is a point respecting which I must confess I have not
sufficient information to decide; but if so, it certainly would appear
that all money transactions were confined to the Gnomes and the Sylphs,
for the Elysians certainly never paid for anything. Perhaps this
exemption might have been among their peculiar privileges, and was a
substitute for what we call credit, a convenience of which the ancients
appear to have had a limited conception. The invention, by Jupiter, of
an aristocratic immortality, as a reward for a well-spent life on earth,
appears to have been an ingenious idea. It really is a reward, very
stimulative of good conduct before we shuffle off the mortal coil, and
remarkably contrasts with the democracy of the damned. The Elysians,
with a splendid climate, a teeming soil, and a nation made on purpose
to wait upon them, of course enjoyed themselves very much. The arts
flourished, the theatres paid, and they had a much finer opera than at
Ephesus or at Halicarnassus. Their cookery was so refined, that one of
the least sentimental ceremonies in the world was not only deprived of
all its grossness, but was actually converted into an elegant amusement,
and so famous that their artists were even required at Olympus. If their
dinners were admirable, which is rare, their assemblies were amusing,
which is still more uncommon. All the arts of society were carried to
perfection in Elysium; a dull thing was never said, and an awkward thing
never done. The Elysians, indeed, being highly refined and gifted, for
they comprised in their order the very cream of terrestrial society,
were naturally a liberal-minded race of nobles, and capable of
appreciating every kind of excellence. If a Gnome or a Sylph, therefore,
in any way distinguished themselves; if they sang very well, or acted
very well, or if they were at all eminent for any of the other arts of
amusement, ay! indeed if the poor devils could do nothing better than
write a poem or a novel, they were sure to be noticed by the Elysians,
who always bowed to them as they passed by, and sometimes indeed even
admitted them into their circles.
Scarcely had the train of Proserpine rejoined her on the brink of the
precipice, than they heard the flourish of trumpets near at hand, soon
followed by a complete harmony of many instruments. A chorus of sweet
voices was next distinguished, growing each instant more loud and clear;
and in a few minutes, issuing from a neighbouring grove, came forth
a band of heroes and beautiful women, dressed in dazzling raiment,
to greet the Queen. A troop of chariots of light and airy workmanship
followed, and a crowd of Gnomes and Sylphs singing and playing on
various instruments, and dancing with gestures of grace and delicacy.
Congratulating the Queen on her arrival in Elysium, and requesting the
honour of being permitted to attend her to her palace, they ushered
Proserpine and her companions to the chariots, and soon, winding down a
gradual declivity, they entered the plain.
If a bird's-eye view of the capital had enchanted Proserpine, the
agreeable impression was not diminished, as is generally the case, by
her entrance into the city. Never were so much splendour and neatness
before combined. Passing through a magnificent arch, Proserpine entered
a street of vast and beautiful proportions, lined on each side with
palaces of various architecture, painted admirably in fresco, and richly
gilt. The road was formed of pounded marbles of various colours, laid
down in fanciful patterns, and forming an unrivalled mosaic; it was
bounded on each side by a broad causeway of jasper, of a remarkably
bright green, clouded with milk-white streaks. This street led to a
sumptuous square, forming alone the palace destined for Proserpine.
Its several fronts were supported and adorned by ten thousand columns,
imitating the palm and the lotus; nor is it possible to conceive
anything more light and graceful than the general effect of this
stupendous building. Each front was crowned with an immense dome of
alabaster, so transparent, that when the palace was illuminated the rosy
heaven grew pale, and an effect similar to moonlight was diffused over
the canopy of Elysium. And in the centre of the square a Leviathan,
carved in white coral, and apparently flouncing in a huge basin of rock
crystal, spouted forth from his gills a fountain twelve hundred feet in
height; from one gill ascended a stream of delicious wine, which might
be tempered, if necessary, by the iced water that issued from the other.
At the approach of the Queen, the gigantic gates of the palace,
framed of carved cedar, flew open with a thrilling burst of music, and
Proserpine found herself in a hall wherein several hundred persons, who
formed her household, knelt in stillness before her. Wearied with her
long journey, and all the excitement of the day, Proserpine signified to
one of the Elysians in attendance her desire for refreshment and
repose. Immediately the household rose, and gracefully bowing retired in
silence, while four ladies of the bed-chamber, very different from the
dogfaced damsels of the realm of Twilight, advanced with a gracious
smile, and each pressing a white hand to her heart, invited her Majesty
to accompany them. Twelve beautiful pages in fanciful costume, and each
bearing a torch of cinnamon, preceded them, and Proserpine ascended
a staircase of turquoise and silver. As she passed along, she caught
glimpses of costly galleries, and suites of gorgeous chambers, but she
was almost too fatigued to distinguish anything. A confused vision of
long lines of white columns, roofs of carved cedar, or ceilings glowing
with forms of exquisite beauty, walls covered with lifelike tapestry,
or reflecting in their mighty mirrors her own hurrying figure, and her
picturesque attendants, alone remained. She rejoiced when she at length
arrived in a small chamber, in which preparations evidently denoted
that it was intended she should rest. It was a pretty little saloon,
brilliantly illuminated, and hung with tapestry depicting a party of
nymphs and shepherds feasting in an Arcadian scene. In the middle of the
chamber a banquet was prepared, and as Proserpine seated herself, and
partook of some of the delicacies which a page immediately presented to
her, there arose, from invisible musicians, a joyous and festive strain,
which accompanied her throughout her repast. When her Majesty had
sufficiently refreshed herself, and as the banquet was removing, the
music assumed a softer and more subduing, occasionally even a solemn
tone; the tapestry, slowly shifting, at length represented the same
characters sunk in repose; the attendants all this time gradually
extinguishing the lights, and stealing on tiptoe from the chamber. So
that, at last, the music, each moment growing fainter, entirely ceased;
the figures on the tapestry were scarcely perceptible by the dim lustre
of a single remaining lamp; and the slumbering Proserpine fell back upon
her couch.