Histoire comique des états et empires de la lune. English

by Cyrano de Bergerac

  CHAPTER VI.

  _Of a Youth whom he met there, and of their Conversation: what thatcountry was, and the Inhabitants of it._

  I had advanced half a League, through a Forest of Jessamines andMyrtles, when I perceived something that stirred, lying in the Shade:It was a Youth, whose Majestick Beauty forced me almost to Adoration.He started up to hinder me; crying, "It is not to me but to God thatyou owe these Humilities." "You see one," answered I, "stunned with somany Wonders that I know not what to admire most; for coming from aWorld, which without doubt you take for a Moon here, I thought I hadarrived in another, which our Worldlings call a Moon also; and behold Iam in Paradice at the Feet of a God, who will not be Adored." "Exceptthe quality[1] of a God," replied he, "whose Creature I only am, therest you say is true: This Land is the Moon, which you see from yourGlobe, and this place where you are is * * * * * * * * "[2]

  "Now at that time Man's Imagination was so strong, as not being asyet corrupted, neither by Debauches, the Crudity of Aliments, nor thealterations of Diseases, that being excited by a violent desire ofcoming to this Sanctuary, and his Body becoming light through the heatof this Inspiration; he was carried thither in the same manner, as somePhilosophers, who having fixed their Imagination upon the contemplationof a certain Object have sprung up in the Air by Ravishments, whichyou call Extasies. The Woman, who through the infirmity of her Sex wasweaker and less hot, could not, without doubt, have the imaginationstrong enough to make the Intension of her Will prevail over thePonderousness of her Matter; but because there were very few * * * *the Sympathy which still united that half to its whole,[3] drew hertowards him as he mounted up, as the Amber attracts the Straw, [as] theLoad-stone turns towards the North from whence it hath been taken, anddrew to him that part of himself, as the Sea draws the Rivers whichproceed from it. When they arrived in your Earth, they dwelt betwixt_Mesopotamia_ and _Arabia_:[4] Some People knew them by the name of * ** *,[5] and others under that of _Prometheus_, whom the Poets feignedto have stolen Fire from Heaven, by reason of his Offspring, who wereendowed with a Soul as perfect as his own: So that to inhabit yourWorld, that Man left this destitute; but the All-wise would not have soblessed an Habitation, to remain without Inhabitants; He suffered a fewages after that * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** *[6] cloyed with the company of Men, whose Innocence was corrupted,had a desire to forsake them. This person,[7] however, thought noretreat secure enough from the Ambition of Men, who already Murderedone another about the distribution of your World; except that blessedLand, which his Grand-Father[8] had so often mentioned unto him, andto which no Body had as yet found out the way: But his Imaginationsupplied that; for seeing he had observed that * * * he filled Twolarge Vessels which he sealed Hermetically, and fastened them underhis Armpits: So soon as the Smoak began to rise upwards, and could notpierce through the Mettal, it forced up the Vessels on high, and withthem also that Great Man.[9] When he was got as high as the Moon, andhad cast his Eyes upon that lovely Garden, a fit of almost supernaturalJoy convinced him, that that was the place where his Grandfather hadheretofore lived. He quickly untied the Vessels, which he had girtlike Wings about his Shoulders, and did it so luckily, that he wasscarcely Four Fathom in the Air above the Moon, when he set his Fins agoing;[10] yet he was high enough still to have been hurt by the fall,had it not been for the large skirts of his Gown, which being swelledby the Wind, gently upheld him till he set Foot on ground.[11] As forthe two Vessels, they mounted up to a certain place, where they havecontinued: And those are they, which now a-days you call the _Balance_.

  "I must now tell you, the manner how I came hither: I believe you havenot forgot my name,[12] seeing it is not long since I told it you. Youshall know then, that I lived on the agreeable Banks of one of themost renowned Rivers of your World, where amongst my Books, I lead aLife pleasant enough not to be lamented, though it slipt away fastenough. In the mean while, the more I encreased in Knowledge, the moreI knew my Ignorance. Our Learned Men never put me in mind of the famous_Mada_,[13] but the thoughts of his perfect Philosophy made me to Sigh.I was despairing of being able to attain to it, when one day, after along and profound Studying. I took a piece of Load-stone about two Footsquare, which I put into a Furnace; and then after it was well purged,precipitated and dissolved, I drew the calcined Attractive of it, andreduced it into the size of about an ordinary Bowl.[14]

  "After the Preparations, I got a very light Machine of Iron made,into which I went, and when I was well seated in my place, I threwthis Magnetick Bowl as high as I could up into the Air. Now the IronMachine, which I had purposely made more massive in the middle thanat the ends, was presently elevated, and in a just Poise; because themiddle received the greatest force of Attraction. So then, as I arrivedat the place whither my Load-stone had attracted me, I presently threwup my Bowl in the Air over me."[15] "But," said I, interrupting him,"How came you to heave up your Bowl so streight over your Chariot, thatit never happened to be on one side of it?" "That seems to me to be nowonder at all," said he; "for the Load-stone being once thrown up inthe Air, drew the Iron streight towards it; and so it was impossible,that ever I should mount sideways. Nay more, I can tell you, that whenI held the Bowl in my hand, I was still mounting upwards; becausethe Chariot flew always to the Load-stone, which I held over it. Butthe effort of the Iron to be united to my Bowl, was so violent thatit made my Body bend double; so that I durst but once essay thatnew Experiment. The truth is, it was a very surprizing Spectacle tobehold; for the Steel of that flying House, which I had very carefullyPolished, reflected on all sides the light of the Sun with so greatlife and lustre, that I thought my self to be all on fire.[16] Infine, after often Bowling and following of my Cast, I came, as youdid, to an Elevation from which I descended towards this World; andbecause at that instant I held my Bowl very fast between my hands,my Machine, whereof the Seat pressed me hard, that it might approachits Attractive, did not forsake me; all that now I feared was, thatI should break my Neck: But to save me from that, ever now and thenI tossed up my Bowl; that by its attractive Virtue it might preventthe violent Descent of my Machine, and render my fall more easie, asindeed it happened; for when I saw my self within Two or three hundredfathom of the Earth, I threw out my Bowl on all hands, level with theChariot, sometimes on this side, and sometimes on that, until I cameto a certain Distance; and immediately then, I tossed it up above me;so that my Machine following it, I left it, and let my self fall onthe other side, as gently as I could, upon the Sand; insomuch that myfall was no greater than if it had been but my own height. I shall notdescribe to you the amazement I was in at the sight of the wonders ofthis place, seeing it was so like the same, wherewith I just now sawyou seized. [17] You shall know then, that on the morrow I met with theTree of Life, by the means of which I have kept my self from growingold; it straightway consumed the Serpent[18] and made him to vanishaway in smoke."

  At these words: "Venerable and holy patriarch," said I to him, "I ameager to know what you understand by that Serpent which was consumed."He, with face a smiling, answered me thus:...[19]

  "The Tree of Knowledge is planted opposite; its fruit is covered witha Rind which produces Ignorance in whomsoever hath tasted thereof; yetthis Rind preserves underneath its thickness all the spiritual virtuesof this learned food. God, when he had driven Adam from this fortunatecountry, rubbed his gums with this same Rind, that he might never findthe way back again; for more than fifteen years thereafter he did dote,and did so completely forget all things, that neither he nor any of hisdescendants till Moses ever remembered even so much as the Creation;but what Power was left of this direful Rind at last passed awaythrough the warmth and brightness of that great Prophet's genius.

  "I happily met with one among these apples, which through ripenesswas despoiled of its skin; hardly had my mouth watered with it, whenUniversal Knowledge penetrated my being, I felt as it were an infinitenumber of Eyes fix themselves in my head, and I knew the means ofspeaking with the Lord.

  "Whe
n I have since reflected on these miraculous events, I have judgedthat I could in no wise have overcome, by any occult powers of a simplenatural body, the vigilance of that Seraph whom God has ordained toguard this Paradise; but since he is pleased to use _second causes_, Iimagined that he had inspired me to find this means of entering there;even as he thought good to take of the ribs of Adam to make him a wife,though he could form her of Earth, as well as he did Adam.

  "I remained long in this Garden, walking about alone; but in fine,since the angel that was Keeper of the Gate seemed to me to be in chiefmy Host here, I was taken with the desire to salute him. In an hour'sjourney I came to a place where a thousand Lightnings mingled togetherin one blinding light that served but to make Darkness visible. I wasnot yet fully recovered from this dazzlement, when I saw before me abeautiful Young man. 'I am,' said he, 'the Archangel whom you seek,I have but now read in God that he had inspired you with the means ofcoming here, and that he willed you should here expect his pleasure.'He talked with me of many things, and told me among the rest:

  "That the light wherewith I had been amazed was nothing fearful, butthat it appeared almost every evening when he went his rounds, seeingthat to avoid sudden attack from the Evil Spirits, which may entersecretly at any place, he was constrained mightily to swing his FlamingSword in circles, all about the bounds of the Earthly Paradise; andthat the light I had seen was the lightnings which the steel of it gaveforth. 'Those also which you perceive from your Earth,' he added, 'areof my creation. And if sometimes you see them at a great distance, itis because the clouds of some distant region hold themselves in suchdisposition as to receive an impression of these unbodied fires, andreflect them to your eyes; just as clouds otherwise disposed may provethemselves fit to make the Rainbow.'

  "I will not instruct you further in these matters, since to be sure theApple of Knowledge is not far from hence; whereof as soon as you haveeaten, you will know all things even as I. But see you make no mistake,for most of the Fruits that hang from that Plant are encased in a Rind,whose taste will abase you even below man; while the part within willmake you mount up to be even as the Angels."

  Elijah had come to this point of the teachings of the Seraph, whena little short man came up with us; "This is that Enoch of whom Itold you," said my guide to me apart; and even while he finishedthe words, Enoch offered us a basketful of I know not what fruits,like to Pomegranates, which he had but discovered that same day in adistant coppice. I took some and put in my pockets, as Elijah bade me.Here-upon Enoch asked him who I might be. "That is a matter," answeredmy guide, "to entertain us at more leisure; this evening when we havewithdrawn he shall tell us himself of the miraculous particulars of hisjourney."

  With these words we arrived beneath a sort of Hermitage, made ofpalm-branches skilfully interlaced with myrtle and orange-branches.There I saw, in a little nook, great piles of a kind of floss-silk, sowhite and so delicate that one might take it for the virgin Soul ofthe snow; and I saw distaffs lying here and there; whereupon I askedmy guide what use they served. "To spin," he answered me; "when thegood Enoch would relax his mind from meditation, he applies himselfsometimes to dressing this Lady-distaff, sometimes to weaving the clothfrom which they make Shifts for the eleven thousand Virgins. Surelyin your world you have met with that something white, which flutterson the winds in Autumn about the season of the Winter-sowings. Yourpeasant-folk call it Our Lady's Cotton, but it is no other than theFlock that Enoch purges his Linen of, when he cards it."

  We made little delay there, and but barely took leave of Enoch, whomthis cabin served for his Cell; in truth what made us leave him so soonwas this: that he said some prayer there every six hours; and it was atleast that time since he had finished the last one.

  As we went forward, I begged Elijah to finish that history which he hadbegun, of the _Assumptions_ or _Translations_; and I said, that he hadcome, I thought, to that of Saint _John_ the Evangelist.

  Then said he to me: "Since you have not the patience, to wait till theApple of Knowledge teach you all these things better than I can, I willeven tell you. Know then that God----"

  At this word, in some way I know not how, the Devil would have hisFinger in that pie; or howsoever it came about, so it was that I couldnot forbear Interrupting him with raillery.

  "I remember that case," said I: "God heard one day that the Soul of theEvangelist was so loosed from his Body, that he no more kept it in butby shutting his teeth hard; and at that moment the hour when he hadforeseen that he should be translated hither was almost past; so havingno time to get him a machine made ready for coming, He was constrainedto make him suddenly _be_ here, without having time to _bring_ him."

  During all my discourse Elijah bent upon me such a look, as would havebeen fit to kill me, had I then been capable of dying from aught butHunger. "Thou Wretch," said he, and drew back in horror, "thou hastthe insolence to rail at Holy Things! Surely thou shouldst not gounpunished, were it not that the All-wise determines to spare thee asa marvellous example of His long-suffering, a witness to the Nations.Get hence, thou Blasphemer, go thou and publish in this little World,and in the other (for thou art predestined to return thither), theunforgetting Hatred that God bears to Atheists."

  Hardly had he finished this Curse, when he seized me roughly to dragme toward the Gate. When we were arrived beside a great Tree whosebranches bent almost to Earth with the burden of their Fruit, "Here,"said he, "is that Tree of Knowledge where thou shouldst have gotEnlightenment inconceivable, but for thy Infidelity."

  At that word I feigned to swoon with weakness, and letting my self fallagainst a low branch I handily filched an Apple from it. And in but afew strides more I was set down outside of that delicious Garden.

  In that moment, being so violently pressed by Hunger, that I evenforgot I was in the grip of the angry Prophet, I drew from my pocketone of those Apples I had filled it with, wherein I buried my teeth asdeep as I could. But so it was, that in place of taking one of thoseEnoch had given me, my hand fell on that very Apple I had plucked fromthe Tree of Knowledge, which for my misfortune I had not freed of itsRind.]

  [20] Scarcely had I tasted it, when a thick Cloud overcast my Soul:I saw no body now near me; and in the whole Hemisphere my Eyes couldnot discern the least Tract of the way I had made; yet nevertheless Ifully remembered every thing that befel me. When I reflected since uponthat Miracle, I fanced that the skin of the Fruit which I bit had notrendered me altogether brutish; because my Teeth piercing through itwere a little moistened by the Juyce within, the efficacy whereof haddissipated the Malignities of the Rind. I was not a little surprised tosee my self all alone, in a Country I knew not. It was to no purposefor me to stare and look about me; for no Creature appeared to comfortme.

  [1] "Quality" = _title_--as often in the seventeenth century; _cf_.Shakspere, _Henry V_.:

  "Gentlemen of blood and quality."

  [2] Probably a long passage has been lost here, in which the "Youth"(the Prophet Elijah, who had "translated" himself hither and becomeyoung by eating of the Tree of Life) describes the place where theyare as the original Garden of Eden; and tells of the Creation, theFall, and the Banishment of Adam and Eve. At the beginning of the nextparagraph he is still speaking, and telling of Adam's transference fromthe Moon to the Earth.

  [3] The woman to the man, from whose side she was taken. Probably onlya few words have been omitted at the last hiatus.

  [4] The supposed situation of the Earthly Paradise.

  [5] Adam and Eve.

  [6] We may imagine this a short hiatus, to be filled in as follows:"He suffered a few ages after that, _that a holy man, whose name wasEnoch_, cloyed with the company of men...." etc.

  [7] Enoch. On his translation, which Cyrano here makes Elijah accountfor, see Genesis, chapter v.

  [8] Adam. Cyrano may possibly have confused the Enoch who wastranslated with another Enoch who was the son of Cain and so grandsonof Adam. But it is more probable that he used the word _aieul_ in itscommon sense of
_ancestor_; as indeed "grandfather" was used in oldEnglish.

  [9] _Cf_. the play: "Since smoke by its nature ascends, I could haveblown into an appropriate globe a sufficient quantity to ascend withme."

  [10] "Qu'il prit conge de ses nageoires," = "when he _abandoned_ his_floats_ (or _bladders_)."

  [11] Cyrano may here be credited with anticipating the idea of theparachute.

  [12] Elijah, The passage referred to is lost.

  [13] Spell the name backward.

  [14] _Ball_ Cf. _Bowling_. Cf. also p. 177. (Search: start p. 177:"... mentally divided every little Visible Body...")

  [15] _Cf_. the "sixth means" in the play: "Or else, I could have placedmyself upon an iron plate, have taken a magnet of suitable size, andthrown it in the air! That way is a very good one! The magnet fliesupward, the iron instantly after; the magnet no sooner overtakenthan you fling it up again.... The rest is clear! You can go upwardindefinitely."

  [16] The "chariot of fire" in which Elijah was taken up into heaven._Cf_. 2 Kings, ii. 11.

  [17] The following pages are translated from the text as printed forthe first time, from the Manuscript at the _Bibliotheque Nationale_, inan appendix to M. Brun's thesis on Cyrano Bergerac, 1893.

  [18] "The serpent," as soon appears, is original sin, which

  "Brought _death_ into the world, and all our woe."

  [19] Our author's treatment of "original sin" is, according to M. Brun,unprintable.

  [20] Here the original text resumes, as found in all the editions, bothFrench and English.