University of Virginia Library

57. CHAPTER LVII.

Next day we retraced our voyage northward, to visit that
section of Vivenza.

In due time we landed.

To look round was refreshing. Of all the lands we had
seen, none looked more promising. The groves stood tall
and green; the fields spread flush and broad; the dew of
the first morning seemed hardly vanished from the grass.
On all sides was heard the fall of waters, the swarming of
bees, and the rejoicing hum of a thriving population.

“Ha, ha!” laughed Yoomy, “Labor laughs in this land;
and claps his hands in the jubilee groves! methinks that
Yillah will yet be found.”

Generously entertained, we tarried in this land; till at
length, from over the Lagoon, came full tidings of the eruption
we had witnessed in Franko, with many details. The
conflagration had spread through Porpheero; and the kings
were to and fro hunted, like malefactors by blood-hounds;
all that part of Mardi was heaving with throes.

With the utmost delight, these tidings were welcomed
by many; yet others heard them with boding concern.

Those, too, there were, who rejoiced that the kings were
cast down; but mourned that the people themselves stood
not firmer. A victory, turned to no wise and enduring
account, said they, is no victory at all. Some victories
revert to the vanquished.

But day by day great crowds ran down to the beach, in
wait for canoes periodically bringing further intelligence.

Every hour new cries startled the air. “Hurrah! another,
kingdom is burnt down to the earth's edge; another demi-god
is unhelmed; another republic is dawning. Shake
hands, freemen, shake hands! Soon will we hear of Dominora
down in the dust; of hapless Verdanna free as ourselves;
all Porpheero's volcanoes are bursting! Who may
withstand the people? The times tell terrible tales to
tyrants! Ere we die, freemen, all Mardi will be free.”

Overhearing these shouts, Babbalanja thus addressed Media:—“My
lord, I can not but believe, that these men, are
far more excited than those with whom they so ardently
sympathize. But no wonder. The single discharges which
are heard in Porpheero; here come condensed in one tremendous
report. Every arrival is a firing off of events by
platoons.”

Now, during this tumultuous interval, King Media very
prudently kept himself exceedingly quiet. He doffed his
regalia; and in all things carried himself with a dignified
discretion. And many hours he absented himself; none
knowing whither he went, or what his employment.

So also with Babbalanja. But still pursuing our search,
at last we all journeyed into a great valley, whose inhabitants
were more than commonly inflated with the ardor of
the times.

Rambling on, we espied a clamorous crowd gathered
about a conspicuous palm, against which, a scroll was fixed.

The people were violently agitated; storming out maledictions
against the insolent knave, who, over night must
have fixed there, that scandalous document. But whoever
he may have been, certain it was, he had contrived to hood
himself effectually.

After much vehement discussion, during which sundry
inflammatory harangues were made from the stumps of trees
near by, it was proposed, that the scroll should be read aloud,
so that all might give ear.

Seizing it, a fiery youth mounted upon the bowed shoulders

of an old man, his sire; and with a shrill voice, ever
and anon interrupted by outcries, read as follows:—

“Sovereign-kings of Vivenza! it is fit you should hearken
to wisdom. But well aware, that you give ear to little
wisdom except of your own; and that as freemen, you are
free to hunt down him who dissents from your majesties; I
deem it proper to address you anonymously.

“And if it please you, you may ascribe this voice to the
gods: for never will you trace it to man.

“It is not unknown, sovereign-kings! that in these boisterous
days, the lessons of history are almost discarded, as superseded
by present experiences. And that while all Mardi's
Present has grown out of its Past, it is becoming obsolete
to refer to what has been. Yet, peradventure, the Past is
an apostle.

“The grand error of this age, sovereign-kings! is the general
supposition, that the very special Diabolus is abroad;
whereas, the very special Diabolus has been abroad ever
since Mardi began.

“And the grand error of your nation, sovereign-kings!
seems this:—The conceit that Mardi is now in the last
scene of the last act of her drama; and that all preceding
events were ordained, to bring about the catastrophe you
believe to be at hand,—a universal and permanent Republic.

“May it please you, those who hold to these things are
fools, and not wise.

“Time is made up of various ages; and each thinks its
own a novelty. But imbedded in the walls of the pyramids,
which outrun all chronologies, sculptured stones are found,
belonging to yet older fabrics. And as in the moundbuilding
period of yore, so every age thinks its erections will
forever endure. But as your forests grow apace, sovereign-kings!
overrunning the tumuli in your western vales; so,
while deriving their substance from the past, succeeding
generations overgrow it; but in time, themselves decay.

“Oro decrees these vicissitudes.

“In chronicles of old, you read, sovereign kings! that an
eagle from the clouds presaged royalty to the fugitive
Taquinoo; and a king, Taquinoo reigned; No end to my
dynasty, thought he.

“But another omen descended, foreshadowing the fall of
Zooperbi, his son; and Zooperbi returning from his camp,
found his country a fortress against him. No more kings
would she have. And for five hundred twelve-moons the
Regifugium or King's-flight, was annually celebrated like
your own jubilee day. And rampant young orators stormed
out detestation of kings; and augurs swore that their birds
presaged immortality to freedom.

“Then, Romara's free eagles flew over all Mardi, and
perched on the topmost diadems of the east.

“Ever thus must it be.

“For, mostly, monarchs are as gemmed bridles upon the
world, checking the plungings of a steed from the Pampas.
And republics are as vast reservoirs, draining down all
streams to one level; and so, breeding a fullness which can
not remain full, without overflowing. And thus, Romara
flooded all Mardi, till scarce an Ararat was left of the lofty
kingdoms which had been.

“Thus, also, did Franko, fifty twelve-moons ago. Thus
may she do again. And though not yet, have you, sovereign-kings!
in any large degree done likewise, it is because you
overflow your redundancies within your own mighty borders;
having a wild western waste, which many shepherds with
their flocks could not overrun in a day. Yet overrun at
last it will be; and then, the recoil must come.

“And, may it please you, that thus far your chronicles
had narrated a very different story, had your population
been pressed and packed, like that of your old sire-land
Dominora. Then, your great experiment might have proved
an explosion; like the chemist's who, stirring his mixture,
was blown by it into the air.

“For though crossed, and recrossed by many brave quarterings,
and boasting the great Bull in your pedigree; yet,
sovereign-kings! you are not meditative philosophers like
the people of a small republic of old; nor enduring stoics,
like their neighbors. Pent up, like them, may it please
you, your thirteen original tribes had proved more turbulent,
than so many mutinous legions. Free horses need wide
prairies; and fortunate for you, sovereign-kings! that you
have room enough, wherein to be free.

“And, may it please you, you are free, partly, because you
are young. Your nation is like a fine, florid youth, full of
fiery impulses, and hard to restrain; his strong hand nobly
championing his heart. On all sides, freely he gives, and
still seeks to acquire. The breath of his nostrils is like
smoke in spring air; every tendon is electric with generous
resolves. The oppressor he defies to his beard; the high
walls of old opinions he scales with a bound. In the future
he sees all the domes of the East.

“But years elapse, and this bold boy is transformed. His
eyes open not as of yore; his heart is shut up as a vice. He
yields not a groat; and seeking no more acquisitions, is only
bent on preserving his hoard. The maxims once trampled
under foot, are now printed on his front; and he who hated
oppressors, is become an oppressor himself.

“Thus, often, with men; thus, often, with nations. Then
marvel not, sovereign-kings! that old states are different
from yours; and think not, your own must forever remain
liberal as now.

“Each age thinks its own is eternal. But though for five
hundred twelve-moons, all Romara, by courtesy of history,
was republican; yet, at last, her terrible king-tigers came,
and spotted themselves with gore.

“And time was, when Dominora was republican, down to
her sturdy back-bone. The son of an absolute monarch
became the man Karolus; and his crown and head, both
rolled in the dust. And Dominora had her patriots by thousands;

and lusty Defenses, and glorious Areopagiticas were
written, not since surpassed; and no turban was doffed save
in homage of Oro.

“Yet, may it please you, to the sound of pipe and tabor,
the second King Karolus returned in good time; and was
hailed gracious majesty by high and low.

“Throughout all eternity, the parts of the past are but
parts of the future reversed. In the old foot-prints, up and
down, you mortals go, eternally traveling your Sierras. And
not more infallible the ponderings of the Calculating Machine
than the deductions from the decimals of history.

“In nations, sovereign-kings! there is a transmigration of
souls; in you, is a marvelous destiny. The eagle of Romara
revives in your own mountain bird, and once more is
plumed for her flight. Her screams are answered by the
vauntful cries of a hawk; his red comb yet reeking with
slaughter. And one East, one West, those bold birds may
fly, till they lock pinions in the midmost beyond.

“But, soaring in the sky over the nations that shall gather
their broods under their wings, that bloody hawk may hereafter
be taken for the eagle.

“And though crimson republics may rise in constellations,
like fiery Aldebarans, speeding to their culminations; yet,
down must they sink at last, and leave the old sultan-sun
in the sky; in time, again to be deposed.

“For little longer, may it please you, can republics subsist
now, than in days gone by. For, assuming that Mardi is
wiser than of old; nevertheless, though all men approached
sages in intelligence, some would yet be more wise than
others; and so, the old degrees be preserved. And no exemption
would an equality of knowledge furnish, from the
inbred servility of mortal to mortal; from all the organic
causes, which inevitably divide mankind into brigades and
battalions, with captains at their head.

“Civilization has not ever been the brother of equality.
Freedom was born among the wild eyries in the mountains

and barbarous tribes have sheltered under her wings, when
the enlightened people of the plain have nestled under different
pinions.

“Though, thus far, for you, sovereign-kings! your republic
has been fruitful of blessings; yet, in themselves, monarchies
are not utterly evil. For many nations, they are better
than republics; for many, they will ever so remain. And
better, on all hands, that peace should rule with a scepter,
than than the tribunes of the people should brandish their
broadswords. Better be the subject of a king, upright and
just; than a freeman in Franko, with the executioner's ax
at every corner.

“It is not the prime end, and chief blessing, to be politically
free. And freedom is only good as a means; is no end in
itself. Nor, did man fight it out against his masters to the
haft, not then, would he uncollar his neck from the yoke.
A born thrall to the last, yelping out his liberty, he still
remains a slave unto Oro; and well is it for the universe,
that Oro's scepter is absolute.

“World-old the saying, that it is easier to govern others,
than oneself. And that all men should govern themselves
as nations, needs that all men be better, and wiser, than the
wisest of one-man rulers. But in no stable democracy do all
men govern themselves. Though an army be all volunteers,
martial law must prevail. Delegate your power, you
leagued mortals must. The hazard you must stand. And
though unlike King Bello of Dominora, your great chieftain,
sovereign-kings! may not declare war of himself; nevertheless,
has he done a still more imperial thing:—gone to war
without declaring intentions. You yourselves were precipitated
upon a neighboring nation, ere you knew your spears
were in your hands.

“But, as in stars you have written it on the welkin, sovereign-kings!
you are a great and glorious people. And
verily, yours is the best and happiest land under the sun.
But not wholly, because you, in your wisdom, decreed it:

your origin and geography necessitated it. Nor, in their
germ, are all your blessings to be ascribed to the noble sires,
who of yore fought in your behalf, sovereign-kings! Your
nation enjoyed no little independence before your Declaration
declared it. Your ancient pilgrims fathered your liberty;
and your wild woods harbored the nursling. For the state
that to-day is made up of slaves, can not to-morrow transmute
her bond into free; though lawlessness may transform
them into brutes. Freedom is the name for a thing that is
not freedom; this, a lesson never learned in an hour or an
age. By some tribes it will never be learned.

“Yet, if it please you, there may be such a thing as being
free under Cæsar. Ages ago, there were as many vital
freemen, as breathe vital air to-day.

“Names make not distinctions; some despots rule without
swaying scepters. Though King Bello's palace was not put
together by yoked men; your federal temple of freedom,
sovereign-kings! was the handiwork of slaves.

“It is not gildings, and gold maces, and crown-jewels alone,
that make a people servile. There is much bowing and
cringing among you yourselves, sovereign-kings! Poverty is
abased before riches, all Mardi over; any where, it is hard
to be a debtor; any where, the wise will lord it over fools;
every where, suffering is found.

“Thus, freedom is more social than political. And its
real felicity is not to be shared. That is of a man's own
individual getting and holding. It is not, who rules the
state, but who rules me. Better be secure under one king,
than exposed to violence from twenty millions of monarchs,
though oneself be of the number.

“But superstitious notions you harbor, sovereign kings!
Did you visit Dominora, you would not be marched straight
into a dungeon. And though you would behold sundry sights
displeasing, you would start to inhale such liberal breezes;
and hear crowds boasting of their privileges; as you, of yours.
Nor has the wine of Dominora, a monarchical flavor.

“Now, though far and wide, to keep equal pace with the
times, great reforms, of a verity, be needed; nowhere are
bloody revolutions required. Though it be the most certain
of remedies, no prudent invalid opens his veins, to let out
his disease with his life. And though all evils may be assuaged;
all evils can not be done away. For evil is the
chronic malady of the universe; and checked in one place,
breaks forth in another.

“Of late, on this head, some wild dreams have departed.

“There are many, who erewhile believed that the age of
pikes and javelins was passed; that after a heady and blustering
youth, old Mardi was at last settling down into a
serene old age; and that the Indian summer, first discovered
in your land, sovereign kings! was the hazy vapor
emitted from its tranquil pipe. But it has not so proved.
Mardi's peaces are but truces. Long absent, at last the red
comets have returned. And return they must, though their
periods be ages. And should Mardi endure till mountain
melt into mountain, and all the isles form one table-land;
yet, would it but expand the old battle-plain.

“Students of history are horror-struck at the massacres
of old; but in the shambles, men are being murdered to-day.
Could time be reversed, and the future change places with
the past, the past would cry out against us, and our future,
full as loudly, as we against the ages foregone. All the
Ages are his children, calling each other names.

“Hark ye, sovereign-kings! cheer not on the yelping
pack too furiously. Hunters have been torn by their hounds.
Be advised; wash your hands. Hold aloof. Oro has poured
out an ocean for an everlasting barrier between you and
the worst folly which other republics have perpetrated.
That barrier hold sacred. And swear never to cross over to
Porpheero, by manifesto or army, unless you traverse dry
land.

“And be not too grasping, nearer home. It is not freedom
to filch. Expand not your area too widely, now. Seek you

proselytes? Neighboring nations may be free, without coming
under your banner. And if you can not lay your ambition,
know this: that it is best served, by waiting events.

“Time, but Time only, may enable you to cross the equator;
and give you the Arctic Circles for your boundaries.”

So read the anonymous scroll; which straightway, was
torn into shreds.

“Old tory, and monarchist!” they shouted, “Preaching
over his benighted sermons in these enlightened times! Fool!
does he not know that all the Past and its graves are being
dug over?”

They were furious; so wildly rolling their eyes after
victims, that well was it for King Media, he wore not his
crown; and in silence, we moved unnoted from out the
crowd.

“My lord, I am amazed at the indiscretion of a demi-god,”
said Babbalanja, as we passed on our way; “I
recognized your sultanic style the very first sentence. This,
then, is the result of your hours of seclusion.”

“Philosopher! I am astounded at your effrontery. I
detected your philosophy the very first maxim. Who posted
that parchment for you?”

So, each charged the other with its authorship: and
there was no finding out, whether, indeed, either knew
aught of its origin.

Now, could it have been Babbalanja? Hardly. For,
philosophic as the document was, it seemed too dogmatic
and conservative for him. King Media? But though
imperially absolute in his political sentiments, Media delivered
not himself so boldly, when actually beholding the
eruption in Franko.

Indeed, the settlement of this question must be left to the
commentators on Mardi, some four or five hundred centuries
hence.