University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Chronicles and Characters

By Robert Lytton (Owen Meredith): In Two Volumes
Lytton, Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton (1831-1891)
  
[dedication]

collapse sectionI. 
VOL.I
  
PRELUDE.
 I. 
I.OPIS AND ARGE.
 II. 
II.CROESUS AND ADRASTUS.
 III. 
III.GYGES AND CANDAULES.
collapse sectionII. 
BOOK II.
  
THANATOS ATHANATOU.
collapse sectionIII. 
BOOK III. ROMANCES.
collapse section 
LICINIUS.
 I. 
PART I. THE TIME.
 II. 
PART II. THE MAN.
 III. 
PART III. THE GODS.
collapse sectionIV. 
PART IV. THE PAST.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
collapse sectionV. 
PART V. THE PRESENT.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 IV. 
IV.
 VI. 
PART VI. THE FUTURE.
  
GENSERIC.
  
IRENE.
collapse sectionIV. 
BOOK IV.
  
THE SCROLL AND ITS INTERPRETERS.
collapse sectionV. 
BOOK V. LEGENDS AND ROMANCES.
  
MOHAMMED.
collapse section 
THE ROSES OF SAADI.
 I. 
I.MOSES AND THE DERVISH.
 II. 
II.THE BOY AND THE RING.
 III. 
III.THE EYES OF MAHMUD.
  
THE APPLE OF LIFE.
collapse sectionVI. 
BOOK VI.
collapse section 
THE SIEGE OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
collapse sectionI. 
PART I.
 I. 
I.THE EMPEROR ISAAC.
 II. 
II.IS SAD.
 III. 
III.AND SO IS HIS BROTHER ALEXIUS: WHO PROPOSES
 IV. 
IV.A PARTY OF PLEASURE.
 V. 
V.WHICH ENDS UNPLEASANTLY.
 VI. 
VI.OUT OF THE LIGHT, INTO THE DARK.
 VII. 
VII.ALEXIUS THE YOUNGER FLIES FROM ALEXIUS THE ELDER.
 VIII. 
VIII.AND TRIES HIS FORTUNES AND HIS FRIENDS.
 IX. 
IX.A GREAT MAN.
 X. 
X.AND SOME NOTABLE MEN.
 XI. 
XI.LE VALET DE CONSTANTINOPLE.
 XII. 
XII.A BLIND MAN SEES FAR.
 XIII. 
XIII.QUOT HOMINES TOT SENTENTIAE.
collapse sectionII. 
PART II.
 I. 
I. THE EMPEROR MAKES A PROCLAMATION.
 II. 
II. AND RECEIVES THE AMBASSADORS.
collapse sectionIII. 
VOL. II. BOOK VI. (Continued.) THE SIEGE OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
 I. 
I.HOW THE EMPEROR PICKED UP WHAT THE DEVIL LET FALL.
 II. 
II.GAVE AWAY WHAT HE NO LONGER POSSESSED.
 III. 
III.WHAT WAS SHOWN TO THEOCRITE, THE MONK.
collapse section 
PART IV.
 I. 
I.JUSTICE
 II. 
II.ARMED
 III. 
III.BY SEA AND LAND
 IV. 
IV.IS TRIUMPHANT.
 V. 
V.SICUT FUMUS.
 VI. 
VI.TWO BLIND MEN.
 VII. 
VII.THE DOGE IS OBSTINATE.
 VIII. 
VIII.VERTIGO.
 IX. 
IX.A DARK DEED.
 X. 
X.THE FULNESS OF TIME.
 XI. 
XI.THE HORSES OF LYSIPPUS.
 XII. 
XII.AND THE LION OF ST. MARK.
collapse sectionVII. 
BOOK VII. LEGENDS, BALLADS, AND ROMANCES.
  
FAREWELL TO THE HOLY LANDS.
  
DOGE ORSO'S NIGHT'S WORK.
  
SALZBURGENSIS VAGABUNDUS.
  
A KING AND A QUEEN.
  
FAIR YOLAND WITH THE YELLOW HAIR.
  
TRIAL BY COMBAT.
collapse section 
RABBI BEN EPHRAIM'S TREASURE.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 IV. 
IV.
 V. 
V.
 VI. 
VI.
 VII. 
VII.
 VIII. 
VIII.
 IX. 
IX.
 X. 
X.
 XI. 
XI.
 XII. 
XII.
 XIII. 
XIII.
 XIV. 
XIV.
 XV. 
XV.
 XVI. 
XVI.
 XVII. 
XVII.
 XVIII. 
XVIII.
collapse section 
CATTERINA CORNARO.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
  
JACQUELINE,
  
THE DIRGE.
collapse sectionVIII. 
BOOK VIII. NARRATIVE, DRAMATIC, AND LYRICAL.
collapse section 
THE DEAD POPE.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 IV. 
IV.
 V. 
V.
 VI. 
VI.
 VII. 
VII.
 VIII. 
VIII.
 IX. 
IX.
 X. 
X.
 XI. 
XI.
 XII. 
XII.
 XIII. 
XIII.
 XIV. 
XIV.
 XV. 
XV.
 XVI. 
XVI.
 XVII. 
XVII.
 XVIII. 
XVIII.
 XIX. 
XIX.
 XX. 
XX.
 XXI. 
XXI.
  
THOMAS MÜNTZER TO MARTIN LUTHER.
  
ADOLPHUS, DUKE OF GUELDERS.
  
THE DUKE'S LABORATORY.
  
VANINI
  
JOHN PETER CARAFA.
  
PICAROONS.
  
CHRISTIAN, THE DOL-HARTZOG.
  
ELISABETTA SIRANI.
collapse section 
RICHELIEU.
 I. 
I. THE POETS.
 II. 
II THE THREE ESTATES.
 III. 
III. WALLENSTEIN'S DEATH.
  
THE DAUPHIN.
collapse sectionIX. 
BOOK IX. HERE AND THERE.
  
ATLANTIS.
collapse section 
MISERY.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 IV. 
IV.
 V. 
V.
 VI. 
VI.
 VII. 
VII.
 VIII. 
VIII.
  
MELANCHOLIA.
  
LAST WORDS
  
A BEATEN ARMY.
  
A POOR MAN
  
A MAN OF SCIENCE
  
A GREAT MAN.
  
MABEL MAY.
collapse section 
[section]
  
EPILOGUE.

collapse section Collapse All | Expand All expand section
previous section Chronicles and Characters
next section

X.THE FULNESS OF TIME.

Dandalo
Said then . . . . “The time is come, which long ago
I saw in Zara. Who eschew the good
Must choose the evil. Drunk with brawl and blood,
This Empire reels upon her downward road;
Corrupt at home, contemptible abroad.
Devilish, she would be godlike without God:
Godless, would rule, who needs, herself, the rod:
And deems, not being good, she can be great:
—Great, without one great man, i' the face of Fate!
The singular tyrant breeds the general slave,
And shameless citizens shamed cities have.
The time is now, and ours the hands, O friends,
To sweep this rubbish hence, and make amends
To earth, too long encumber'd with the same.
—To arms, for all men's sake, and in God's name!”
So, down before the iron Occident
The guilty golden-crownèd Orient went.
Because those Powers that make, and break, and keep,
And cast away—Spirits that in the deep
30

And toilful stithy of that underground
Grey miner, Nature, with unheeded sound
Monotonously hammer, heave, and beat,
And bend with blow on blow, and heat on heat,
The pliant world to every shape it wears,
Upon the stubborn anvils of the years—
—Said to each other “Break we up this Past!”
And suddenly one half a world was cast
Into the furnace, to be forged anew.
previous section Chronicles and Characters
next section