The Judgement of the Flood :: :: University of Virginia Library

The Monarch ceased. Forth stept an Oratour,
Fluent, and pert; armed with proof rhetoric
'Gainst truth, and reason; with bland sophistry,
To lull the one to acquiescent pause,
Silence the other, contemptuous, or abashed,
And thus even for a while o'er both prevail.
But they have their own hour, their own good time,
Sure victors; and their conquests shall abide
Eternal in the heavens. God shall award
Their amaranthine wreath; himself divulge
Their deathless fame through infinite expanse.

The voice of Samiasa had aroused
The torpid awe his presence did impose:
Thus will the sunny breeze of spring awake
The icy stream, until it gradual gush,

214

As if again the Spirit o'er its face
Moved, as of old, o'er darkness, when the void
Of nature did conceive with life, and form.
Part lifted up their eyes, and dared his look,
And hurried breathing became audible,
Sound half afraid of its own entity.
Then from the press forth stept the Oratour:
Curious in phrase, and nice of attitude;
His accents modulating, and his hand,
And features timing to the expressive turn,
The swelling cadence, and the solemn fall
Of his discourse elaborate; but to the ear
Easy, and flowing, like a river's lapse,
With not a pebble to obstruct its step,
But for the music, as it gently glides
Unto the naiad's cells, in the calm depths
Of the unfathomable ocean. Thus:

‘Submissive to the shadow of thy power,
As to the substance once, to thee, O king,
Grant that thy servant, Rumel, may reply.
Think not I wrestle with thee for the crown
Of eloquence; for who may strive with thee?
And what am I? . . thy sometime worshipper.
High on the throne of thine imperial state,
Too bright for earth, like a divinity,
Thou satest, exalted, . . One. The dazzled sight
Swam in thy presence; therein pride was not:
Erect humanity forgot itself,
Bated a cubit of its stature; yea,
In prostrate adoration kissed the dust.
A happy realm thy habitation was,
And in no earthly paradise thou dwelt.
Celestial fortunes thy companions were,
And they accompanied thy goings-forth,
And glory heralded thy comings-in;
And thou wert perfect in thy majesty,

215

And in thy spirit thou wert excellent;
And thy dominion was o'er shore, and sea;
The limits of thine empire who could tell?
The heaven scarce seemed to circumscribe thy sway.
To thee the Founder of the pyramid,
The co-eternal rival of the sky,
The deep-based column of the firmament,
Enslaved his mighty art, and built for thee.
And nations did adore within its gate,
Hero, and sage, youth, beauty, childhood, eld;
And with the myriads who worshipped there,
Thy servant worshipped with a grateful heart,
And willing to thy service would return.
Thou didst look down from thy sublime repose,
And, from amid excessive glory, smile
Great approbation, and ennobling joy;
And thine acceptance was far more than wealth,
Thy grace than treasure. Honour in thy hand,
And in thy voice abounded length of days.
Then they found favour in thy sight whom now
Thine anger doth rebuke. Wherefore art wroth?
O thou, our king, and god. Wherein have we
So grievously offended, thou withdrawest
Into thy mystic nature's solitude,
And art not unto men for many days?
Then, reincarnate in this strange disguise,
Comest forth, afflicting fancy with wild fear,
Speaking to us a language all unknown;
Ah, how unlike the native dialect
Which made thy former days, and fortunate,
A full-orbed diapason of rich sounds.’

Deep then was Samiasa's agony.
He rent his hair in bitterness of soul,
And cast himself upon the unpitying earth,
In more than phrenesy; and there he sate,
Sublime in misery, and great in grief.

216

‘A god indeed; look I not like a god,
A very god? This is my heaven. Behold
My cloudy throne; this bare ground is my sky:
These locks my glory, and this skin the robe
Of majesty divine. Hero, and sage,
Monarchs of earth; bow down, and worship here—
My hand grasps lightning. Hark—the thunder peals.
Earth's centre is my footstool. Thither plunge,
To do me homage; as becomes a god
Of state like mine, exalted thus, so high;
A deity so jealous, and so proud.—
Let gods themselves come to it, and adore.
There is no god but God.—No god but He
Who reigns in heaven. He is the God of Heaven,
And Earth. Jehovah, He is God alone.
And He shall break in pieces mighty men,
When he ariseth to shake terribly
The earth; . . then shall ye seek the rocky clefts,
And climb the ragged summits of the rocks,
For fear of him, and of his majesty.
All hands be faint, and each man's heart shall melt;
For He shall come upon ye suddenly,
In the roar of many waters, and the rushing
Of many floods. Earth shall be drunk therewith;
And reel, as if with wine. Jehovah, He
Is God—Jehovah, He is God alone.
He did create the heavens, and stretch them out;
He spread forth earth, provides what cometh thence.
'Tis He who giveth breath to man thereon,
And spirit unto them who walk therein.’

Great fear fell on that multitude: abashed,
And silent, they retired; and, one by one,
Sought each man out his dwelling; and, ere long,
On that immeasurable plain was left
None, but the King, and Noah, and his Sons.

‘Prophet, and prince, have pity on my sins;

217

Pray to thy God for me:’ . . the Monarch cried.
‘If I should pray, would he be merciful?’—

‘Have we not daily instance?’ Noah said:
‘Whence, but from mercy, are the wicked spared?
And what am I, that in his sight I should
Find such abundant grace? Have faith, and live.’

What Christian knows not, in the hour, and power
Of darkness, with what cheering influence
The light of truth beams on his troubled soul,
From Holy Writ reflected, if aright
Read in the spirit, and thus understood?
Even the world's Saviour, in the agony
Of crucifixion sharp, such solace found;
And in the psalmist's words exclaimed aloud,
Unto the God who had forsaken him.—

Will it not soothe torn Samiasa's soul,
To hear the Scripture read that Enoch wrote?
So deems the king; and, straightway, down they sate,
And at his bidding, then, the Man of God
Right audibly the Oracle intoned,
The Bible of the World before the Flood.

'Twas by the Tomb of Adam that they sate,
Against Seth's pillars, which about the place
Were as a temple reared, and sacred made.
A grove of Pines, wherein they were retired—
The sea-green Pines, laden with yellow fruit,
And both in harmony with Earth, and Heaven.

Vans of the tempest; do your thunders sleep?
Spread ye abroad, like eagles’; cleave the rocks,
And break the mountains to your might opposed.
Heave up ye earthquakes; be ye heard, and felt;
Shake ye the solid ground, and the great sea,
As with the throes of childbirth.—Element
Of Fire; encircle, clip me in with flame:
Till I be like to you.—They have past by.

218

Come Spirit of the Eternal, co-eterne;
And of the dædal universe divine,
The choral soul, the prime intelligence.
Come Dove celestial; who, with procreant wing,
Broodest o'er Hades ere that light became;
Pervadest Nature's constant travail still;
Impregnedst old prophets' hearts with wondrous seeds,
Whose autumn time will garner; . . yea, whose power
O'ershadowed her whom generations bless—
The Virgin-Mother of the Holy Thing,
Messiah, God incarnate—uncreate.
Thou, with the Father, from eternity;
And with the Son, adorable; descend,
Essence of essence, into my shut mind;
A still small voice, such as Elijah heard;
Make it thy temple, there light up thy shrine,
Thine altar be my heart, and there dwell thou;
That I may utter oracles aright,
Of old by Enoch written, scribe inspired.