CHAPTER XI.
_Of the Manner of making War in the Moon; and of how the Moon is not theMoon, nor the Earth the Earth._
One Morning early, having started out of my Sleep, I found herTaboring[1] upon the grates of my Cage: "Take good heart," said she tome, "yesterday in Council a War was resolved upon, against the King bar 1][2] I hope that during the hurry of Preparations,whilst our Monarch and his Subjects are absent, I may find an occasionto make your escape." "How, a War," said I interrupting her, "have thePrinces of this World, then, any quarrels amongst themselves, as thoseof ours have? Good now, let me know their way of Fighting."
"When the Arbitrators," replied she, "who are freely chosen by the twoParties, have appointed the time for raising Forces for their March,the number of Combatants, the day and place of Battle, and all withso great equality, that there is not one Man more in one Army, thanin the other: All the maimed Soldiers on the one side, are lifted inone Company; and when they come to engage, the _Mareshalls de Camp_[3]take care to expose them to the maimed of the other side: The Giantsare matched with Colosses, the Fencers with those that can handle theirWeapons, the Valiant with the Stout, the Weak with the Infirm, the Sickwith the Indisposed, the Sturdy with the Strong; and if any undertaketo strike at another than the Enemy he is matched with, unless he canmake it out that it was by mistake, he is Condemned for a Coward. Whenthe Battle is over, they take an account of the Wounded, the Dead andthe Prisoners, for Runaways they have none; and if the loss be equal onboth sides, they draw Cuts, who shall be Proclaimed Victorious.
"But though a Kingdom hath defeated the Enemy in open War, yet thereis hardly any thing got by it; for there are other smaller Armies ofLearned and Witty Men, on whose Disputations the Triumph or Servitudeof States wholly depends.
"One Learned Man grapples with another, one Wit with another, and oneJudicious Man with another Judicious Man: Now the Triumph which a Stategains in this manner is reckoned as good as three Victories by openforce. After the Proclamation of Victory, the Assembly is broken up,and the Victorious People either chuse the Enemies King to be theirs,or confirm their own."
I could not forbear to Laugh at this scrupulous way of giving Battle;and for an Example of much stronger Politicks, I alledged the Customsof our _Europe_, where the Monarch would be sure not to let slip anyfavourable occasion of gaining the day; but mind what she said as tothat.
"Tell me, pray, if your Princes use not a pretext of Right, when theylevy Arms:" "No doubt," answered I, "and of the Justice of theirCause too." "Why then," replied she, "do they not chuse Impartial andUnsuspected Arbitrators to compose their Differences? And if it befound, that the one has as much Right as the other, let things continueas they were; or let them play a game at _Picket_, for the Town orProvince that's in dispute."
"But why all these Circumstances," replied I, "in your way of Fighting?Is it not enough, that both Armies are equal in the number of Men?""Your Judgment is Weak," answered she. "Would you think in Conscience,that if you had the better of your Enemy, Hand to Hand, in an openField, you had fairly overcome him, if you had had on a Coat of Mail,and he none; if he had had but a Dagger, and you a Tuck[4]; and in aWord, if he had had but one Arm, and you both yours? Nevertheless,what Equality soever you may recommend to your Gladiators, they neverfight on even terms; for the one will be a tall Man, and the otherShort; the one skilful at his weapon, and the other a Man that neverhandled a Sword; the one will be strong, and the other Weak: And thoughthese Disproportions were not, but that the one were as skillful andstrong as the other; yet still they might not be rightly matched; forone, perhaps, may have more Courage than the other, who being rash andhot-headed, inconcerned in danger, as not foreseeing it; of a biliousTemper, a more contracted Heart, with all the qualities that constituteCourage, (as if that, as well as a Sword, were not a Weapon which hisAdversary hath not:) He makes nothing of falling desperately upon,terrifying, and killing this poor Man, who foresees the danger; whohas his Heat choked in Phlegme, and a Heart too wide to close in theSpirits in such a posture as is necessary for thawing that Ice which iscalled Cowardise. And now you praise that Man, for having killed hisEnemy at odds, and praising him for his Boldness you praise him for aSin against nature; seeing such Boldness tends to its destruction. Andthis puts me in mind to tell ye, that some Years ago application wasmade to the Council of War for a more circumspect and conscientiousRule to be made, as to the way of Fighting. The Philosopher who gavethe advice, if I mistake it not, spake in this manner.
"You imagine, Gentlemen, that you have very equally balanced theadvantages of two Enemies, when you have chosen both Tall Men, bothskillful, and both couragious: But that's not enough, seeing after allthe Conquerour must have the better on't either through his Skill,Strength, or good Fortune. If it be by Skill, without doubt he hathtaken his Adversary on the blind side, which he did not expect; orstruck him sooner than was likely, or faining to make his Pass on oneside, he hath attacked him on the other: Nevertheless all this isCunning, Cheating, and Treachery, and none of these make a brave Man:If he hath triumphed by Force, would you judge his Enemy overcome,because he hath been over-powered? No; doubtless, no more than you'llsay that a Man hath lost the Victory, when, overwhelm'd by a Mountain,it was not in his power to gain it: Even so, the other was notovercome, because he was not in a suitable Disposition, at that nick oftime, to resist the violences of his Adversary. If Chance hath givenhim the better of his Enemy, Fortune ought then to be Crowned, since hehath contributed nothing to it; and, in fine, the vanquished is no moreto be blamed, than he who at Dice having thrown Seventeen, is beat byanother that throws three Sixes.'
"They confessed he was in the right; but that it was impossible,according to humane Appearances, to remedy it; and that it was betterto submit to a small inconvenience, than to open a door to a hundred ofgreater Importance."
She entertained me no longer at that time, because she was afraid tobe found alone with me so early; not that Impudicity is a Crime inthat Country: On the contrary, except Malefactors Convicted, all Menhave power over all Women; and in the same manner, a Woman may bringher Action against a Man for refusing her: But she durst not keepme company publickly, because the Members of Council, at their lastmeeting, had said, That it was chiefly the Women who gave it out that Iwas a Man; which was the reason that for a long time I neither saw her,nor any other of her Sex.
[Sidenote: Moon Not the Moon]
In the mean time, some must needs have revived the Disputes aboutthe Definition of my Being; for whilst I was thinking of nothingelse but of dying in my Cage, I was once more brought out to haveanother Audience. I was then questioned, in presence of a great manyCourtiers, upon some points of Natural Philosophy; and, as I take it,my Answers gave some kind of Satisfaction; for the President declaredto me at large his thoughts concerning the structure of the World.They seemed to me very ingenious; and had he not traced it to itsOriginal,[5] which he maintained to be Eternal, I should have thoughthis Philosophy[6] more rational than our own: But as soon as I heardhim maintain a Foppery[6b] so contrary to our Faith. I broke with him;at which he did but laugh; and that obliged me to tell him, That sincethey were thereabouts with it, I began again to think that their Worldwas but a Moon.
But then all cried, "Don't you see here Earth, Rivers, Seas? what'sall that then?" "No matter," said I, "Aristotle assures us it is buta Moon; and if you had said the contrary in the Schools, where I havebeen bred, you would have been hissed at." At this they all burst outin laughter; you need not ask, if it was their Ignorance that made themdo so; for in the mean time I was carried back to my Cage.
But some more passionate Doctors, being informed that I had theboldness to affirm, That the Moon, from whence I came, was a World; andthat their World was no more but a Moon, thought it might give them avery just pretext to have me condemned to the Water, for that's theirway of rooting out Hereticks. For that end, they went in a Body, andcomplained to the King, who promised them Justice; and order'd me oncemore to be brought t
o the Bar.
Now was I the third time Un-caged; and then the most Ancient spoke, andpleaded against me. I do not well remember his Speech; because I wastoo much frighted to receive the tones of his Voice without disorder;and because also in declaiming, he made use of an Instrument whichstunn'd me with its noise: It was a Speaking-Trumpet, which he hadchosen on purpose that by its Martial Sound he might rouse them tomy death; and by that Emotion of their Spirits, hinder Reason fromperforming its Office: As it happens in our Armies, where the noise ofDrums and Trumpets hinders the Souldiers from minding the importance oftheir Lives.
When he had done, I rose up to defend my Cause; but I was excused fromit, by an Accident that will surprize you. Just as I had opened myMouth, a Man, who with much ado had pressed through the Crowd, fell atthe King's Feet, and a long while rouled himself upon his Back in hispresence. This practice did not at all surprize me, because I knew itto be the posture they put themselves into, when they have a mind to beheard in publick: I only stopt my own Harangue, and gave Ear to his.
"Just Judges," said he, "listen to me; you cannot Condemn that Man,that Monkey or Parrot, for saying, That the Moon from whence he comesis a World; for if he be a Man, though he were not come from theMoon, since all Men are free, is not he free also to imagine what hepleases? How can you constrain him not to have Visions, as well asyou? You may very well force him to say, That the Moon is not a World,but he will not believe it for all that; for to believe a thing, somepossibilities enclining more to the Yea than to the Nay, must offer toones Imagination: And unless you furnish him that Probability, or hisown mind hit upon it, he may very well tell you that he believes, butstill remain an Infidel.[8]
[Sidenote: Earth Not the Earth]
"I am now to prove, that he ought not to be condemned if you lift himin the Catalogue of Beasts.
"For suppose him to be an Animal without Reason, would it be rationalin you to Condemn him for offending against it? He hath said, that theMoon is a World. Now Beasts act only by the instinct of Nature: itis Nature then that says so, and not he: To think that wise Nature,who hath made the World and the Moon, knows not her self what it is;and that ye who have no more Knowledge but what ye derive from her,should more certainly know it, would be very Ridiculous. But if Passionshould make you renounce your Principles, and you should suppose thatNature does not guide Beasts; blush, at least, to think on't, that theCaprices of a Beast should so discompose you.
"Really, Gentlemen, should you meet with a Man come to the Years ofDiscretion, who made it his business to inspect the Government of_Pismires_, giving a blow to one that had overthrown its Companion,imprisoning another that had robb'd its Neighbour of a grain of Corn,and inditing a third for leaving its Eggs; would you not think him amad Man, to be employed in things so far below him, and to pretend togive Laws to Animals, that never had Reason? How will you then, mostVenerable Assembly, justifie your selves for being so concerned at theCaprices of that little Animal? Just Judges, I have no more to say."
When he had made an end, all the Hall rung again with a kind of MusicalApplause; and after all the Opinions had been canvased, during thespace of a large quarter of an hour, the King gave Sentence:
That for the future, I should be reputed to be a Man, accordinglyset at liberty, and that the Punishment of being Drowned, shouldbe converted into a publick Disgrace (the most honourable way ofsatisfying the Law in that Country) whereby I should be obliged toretract openly what I had maintained in saying, That the Moon was aWorld, because of the Scandal that the novelty of that opinion mightgive to weak Brethren.
This Sentence being pronounced, I was taken away out of the Palace,richly Cloathed; but in derision, carried in a magnificent Chariot,as on a Tribunal, which four Princes in Harness drew; and in all thepublick places of the Town, I was forced to make this Declaration:
"Good People, I declare to you, That this Moon here is not a Moon, buta World; and that that World below is not a World, but a Moon: This theCouncil thinks fit you should believe."
[1] Drumming, striking; _cf_. Nahum ii. 7: "And her maids shall leadher as with the voice of doves, tabouring upon their breasts."
[2] Cyrano writes all proper names by musical notation, in imitation ofthe language of the moon as he has described it.
[3] Possibly "field officers" here; in exact ranking, the Marechal deCamp stands between Colonel and Lieutenant-General, and corresponds toBrigadier-General.
[4] Fencing sword. _Cf_. Shakspere, _Hamlet_:
"If he by chance escape your venomed tuck."
[5] _Cf_. P. 95, n. 1. (See note 3 chap. VIII)
[6] Folly, foolishness, ridiculous belief. _Cf_. Shakspere. _MerryWives of Windsor_: "... drove the grossness of the _foppery_ into areceived belief."
[7] _Cf_. the saying attributed to Galileo immediately after his publicrecantation (June 22, 1633): "E pur si muove"--"yet it does move."
Histoire comique des états et empires de la lune. English Page 14