XVII.
ON A FUTURE STATE.
“Something of its rewards and heritage
And prizes laid before it have I told;
Yet nothing can be great on this short stage,
So brief the period ere the young are old;
But what if souls of men can never die,
And this be part of immortality?
“For Vice doth not the soul annihilate,
Though she corrupts it till the body dies,
And death can be to it but change of state,
('Twere well if death could end its miseries!)
But if its own corruption doth not slay
The substance which it preys on, nothing may.
“As in the eye or body its disease,
Canker on corn and rust on iron fed,
In flesh putridity, decay in trees,
Destroys the life of that where 'tis inbred,
So not wounds, death, or aught of outward ill,
Nothing but Vice itself the soul can kill.
“Think, then, friend Glaucus,—though I have but shewn
That righteousness were to the human soul
Its own exceeding guerdon, though alone;
And it were well to live in her control
Though Gyges'ring could shelter us from harm,
Or helm of Hades were our saving charm.
“Think, when the soul of man shall cast aside
The incrustations, sea-weed, shell, and slime,
That now her form deface, her lustre hide;
And from the Ocean of our nether time
Shall free herself, shake her fresh wing, and shine
Cognate to the immortal and divine.
“What though 'neath penury, disease, or shame,
Here Virtue be unknown, scorn'd, and belied;
Yea, 'neath a cloud of obloquy and blame
May seem awhile of men and gods denied;
Yet in the end e'en men themselves shall own,
And to the God throughout 'tis surely known.
“It cannot be but she the palm must bear;
For bad men are like they that in the race
Haste for awhile, then fail and disappear,
Uncrown'd and hang the head; while in their place
The better persevere and gain the crown;
Shadows must flee away, truth stand alone.
“Therefore though Goodness shine below, at length
Herself her own reward in human eyes,
Yet this is nought comparèd with the strength
And greatness of the things beyond the skies.
But in a tale of Hades let me tell
Of thoughts which are themselves unspeakable.
“Herus, a warrior of Pamphylian race,
Upon a battle-field unburied lay;
After ten suns when men now sought the place,
Corruption there had made the slain her prey,
Yet touch'd him not; his body still entire
Borne home was laid upon the funeral pyre.
“Then he, though twelve days dead, to life awoke,
And spoke of places where his soul had been;—
That when forth from the body first it broke
With many others, to a place serene
It came, where spirits met, a dread retreat,
Where two from earth, from Heaven two openings meet.
“And there sat Judges, in that middle space,
Judging the souls; and to the Just was given,
Bearing their deeds adjudg'd before their face,
On the right-hand thence to ascend to Heaven;
The wicked on the left were sent below,
And bore upon their backs their deeds of woe.
“When Herus to those Judges now drew near,
They bad him to this earth again repair,
To mortal men a solemn messenger,
Warning them of the things he witness'd there;
For awful sights he saw where spirits dwell,
Too vast and manifold for tongue to tell;—
“Unheard of punishments for varied crime,
Ten or a hundred or a thousand-fold,
For rapine, treason, murders of past time;
'Mongst which impieties, late or of old,
Against the gods or parents foremost stood,
And Self-destruction, stain'd with its own blood.
“And then he heard another Soul enquire
Where the great Ardiæus might be seen,
He who his brother slew and aged sire;
A tyrant in Pamphylia he had been,
For crimes and mighty deeds renown'd of yore,
Who reign'd on earth a thousand years before.
“‘Great Ardiæus cannot hither come,’
Was answer'd;—then appear'd a fearful sight,
They on a sudden in the gulf of doom,
'Mid tyrants and great criminals of might,
Saw Ardiæus; as they sought to rise
With a terrific moan of miseries
“The Gulf arose and hinder'd them; and then
Incurably they sunk; and forth there came
Burning with lurid fire what seem'd like men,
Who seizing him with partners of his shame
Bound them together, hands, and feet, and head,
And dragg'd them down to Tartarus most dread.
“Then corresponding to those penal pains
Rewards in multiform varieties,
Majestic calm delights and endless gains.
And first a middle place of rest and ease,
A meadow lit up with a radiant gloom
Whereto innumerable spirits come;—
“After long travail thither they repair,
Their trials over and awhile repose;
Meetings and greetings sweet of friends were there,
And much recountings of past joys and woes,
And questionings for those they left behind,
And sad and sweet memorials brought to mind.
“There unto each an interval was given
In that fair meadow for a Seven-day's space;
On the Eighth day the good arose toward Heaven;
Thence after one day's journey reach'd a place
Empyreal, whence from earth extending bright
They saw a pillar of ethereal light,
“Like Iris, but more clear and pure it burn'd;
It was the vast world's circumambient bond;
Thence chains from high descending they discern'd
Amid that light, within, above, beyond;
O'er which sat Destiny, in whose vast woof
Their circuits are, of adamantine proof.
“Each on its circling sphere, Eight Sirens move,
With notes whose Octave forms Heaven's harmony,
And thron'd at equal intervals above
Of Destiny there sat the daughters three,
Lachesis, Clotho, Atropos,—all crown'd
With golden crowns, with white robes flowing round.
“Those, the three Fates, unto the Sirens' chime
The Past, the Present, and the Future sing,—
The evolutions of eternal time,—
Of birth, life, death; while one doth loudly ring,
‘Go forth, ye Souls, choose your immortal state,
For you Fate chooses not, but ye your Fate.’
“Thus while each takes his earthly destiny
From lap of Lachesis, 'tis sung in Heaven,
That virtue her own mistress is and free,
Whatever mortal lot the God hath given:
As more or less of holiness men choose,
More of eternal good they gain or lose.
“In this, friend Glaucus, then, in this must dwell
All of man's danger; let us care to know
No other science but of living well,
Our whole, sole being upon this bestow,—
How we to life's true knowledge may arrive,
And living better, better know to live.
“Unto all other things to bid adieu,
Or ask them what they bring for the soul's health,
Look on and eye them well with this in view,—
Glory, disgrace, strength, weakness, want or wealth,
Empire or private state, high or low birth,
To question and in this scale weigh their worth.
“Be then by me persuaded, deem the soul
Immortal, and for ever capable
Through all its being and beyond control
Of unknown joy and sorrow, good or ill;
So may we to the gods live friends below,
Hereafter gain such crowns as they bestow.”
