“One night, in all the parts of the country, the gigantic warriors were surprised and massacred in their sleep. Some perished stifled in their beds; other were burned alive in their fortresses; many had their heads cut off by the axes of their servants. A few escaped and retired to this place. Astonished by the ingratitude of their vassals and inconsolable at the death of their brothers, they resolved to die. They heaped up hundreds of tree trunks at this spot and mounted the pyre together. Their ashes formed this column, under which their great bones sleep. Thus ended that illustrious race.
“Immediately afterwards, our forefathers invaded these provinces and reduced the dwarfs to slavery. The insensates gradually disappeared, and only a few of them can still be found, hiding in the woods, where they live on roots and wild plants. It’s in memory of those things that we call this country the forest of the Cyclops.
“In their time, the last of them had as habitual enemies wandering troops of centaurs. They were an adventurous and piratical people. They owed their origin, according to legend, to the amour that Zeus once experienced for a mare. That nation was annihilated too; but when I walk in this woodland, I seem to witness the marvelous battles that those heroes fought here.”
And Constantin remained pensive, thinking about the heroic centuries. For myself, silent, I thought I could hear the hooves of centaurs striking the ground, and the foreheads of Titans brushing the crowns of the trees.
XVII. The King of Brigands
On the evening of the following day we found ourselves in a savage and mountainous place. Huge rocks were piled up confusedly. Ancient oaks of a frightful size plunged their roots between the joints. Their thick, dark foliage, their twisted and wrinkled trunks and branches, the ravaged aspect of the place and a thin cascade reflecting the scarlet clouds of the sunset, all composed a terrifying and sublime ensemble. The breeze mingled its long moans with the monotonous sob of springs.
We had gone astray. Anxious and harassed, we sat down. We took some food out of our bag and began to restore ourselves.
My companion said: “We should have followed the road. I have no idea where we are. I no longer hope to encounter a house and dread having to pass the night in this sinister gorge. The air is already cold, and we’ll catch some nasty chill here, if not a rheumatism of all the limbs.”
I was in a bad mood and made no reply. I only like sleeping on grass in the middle of the day after a good meal. I tried to swallow my anger and I ate as best I could. It happened that our dinner was paltry and we had hardly anything left to drink.
My fury burst forth. “Are you stupid, Constantin?” I said. “I’ve entrusted you with the care of directing me and provisioning us, and you’ve bought me into this lost corner without the consolation of any decent nourishment!”
Then we heard strange whistling, three times, followed by rustling and the sound of footfalls. Emerging from obscure thickets and intervals between the rocks, numerous men appeared and surrounded us at a distance. Then, forming a circle of which we were the center, they drew closer to us. They were armed with sabers, épées and long iron-tipped staffs.
I rose to my feet, shivering. The adventure seemed to me, with reason, to be disastrous. Then again, there are times when I am very brave, and others when I become cowardly; I was in the latter disposition. Take note, please, that it cannot be otherwise for a poor traveler, fatigued, lost in the mountains at dusk, who has not had supper.
Constantin continued eating and hastened to swallow the morsels, as if he were afraid that they might be stolen from him. With his mouth full, he said: “They’re brigands. We couldn’t have a worse encounter.”
One of the individuals advanced, and, taking off his hat and bowing very deeply, he spoke to me as follows:
“Have no fear, Seigneur, and, above all, refrain from fleeing. You’re in our domain, and the custom of visitors is to leave us, in memory of their coming, something from their baggage. Don’t go against that custom. Consent with a good grace. No one wants to harm you, but we’ll be constrained to do so if you resist.”
“Messieurs,” I said, bowing in my turn, “take whatever you please, but by all the gods, don’t despoil me entirely, or I’ll die of famine.”
The bandits began to inspect our luggage, and laid bare my fortune. The sight of so much money rejoiced them to the point that several made as if to dance. I was very sad. I thought that after having robbed me, those people would doubtless kill me, for the pleasure of it, as assassins do here.
They found the fortunate safe conduct from the High Priest of Thalantide. The chief read it by torchlight. Immediately, he cried: “Stop! Stop!” Then, turning toward me, he said in a respectful voice: “Deign to pardon me, illustrious Seigneur. If I had known that the protection of the gods and priests extended over you, believe that I would have respected you more. We only hate governors, senators, men of law, usurers, tax collectors and all other oppressors and starvers of poor people. Know too that the noble Katodipsa is secretly our friend. We would not, for any profit, offend him or cause him any prejudice.” He added: “I beg you to accept our hospitality. You can’t remain in this place tonight. And then, the King, our master, will be glad to see a foreigner of your sort. If you’ll permit, we’ll take you to him.”
I would have been delighted to refuse. I could not, and I accepted, thanking him. My valise was repacked before my eyes, without anything lacking. Finally, escorted by the brigands and led by their commandant, we followed a rising path through the woods.
We marched thus for about an hour, astonished by the affair and increasingly reassured. We arrived in a clearing in which a large tent was erected. Our guide went into it alone. He reappeared shortly afterwards, and invited us to enter.
In the depths of the tent, which was illuminated by countless torches, the king was seated on a throne with three steps. He was surrounded by motionless guards.
He spoke to me mildly and with consideration.
“Truly,” he said, when he knew where I had come from, “I would not have believed that the inhabitants of your country were made thus. I’ve been told that they had black skin and ordinarily walked on all fours.”
Then he took us to dinner gallantly, and we went with him into another tent, marvelously fitted out as a banqueting hall.
An iron table occupied the center, laden with dishes with enormous sides and bottles as tall as columns. The principal brigand captains, with their wives, were awaiting the arrival of the king. I had never seen a more beautiful assembly, nor guests of better quality. They were all princes of old stock, and represented the purest residuum of the ancient nobility. In fact the other patricians of Atlantis, ruined by political vicissitudes, had lost their rank and corrupted the illustriousness of their race by rich misalliances with low-born foreigners.
The king placed me to his right. He was very eager to hear my story. I related it in its entirety, without any falsehood. Then the sovereign talked to me about himself and his subjects.
“I ought,” he said, “to reign over a part of this kingdom, because, for fourteen centuries the eldest sons of my family were the suzerains of half this island. A hundred and thirty years ago, a revolution took away their crown and united their realm with that of the Kephalides. My great-grandfather, vanquished by the mob, retired to these mountains. A number of his great lords remained faithful to him, and followed him, with a few vassals. You see their descendants here. But they were unable to subsist for long in that manner; they were forced to become brigands. I do not think that any shame is attached to that profession. It demands bravery, prudence and tact. The public powers fear us and respect us. They have informed me several times that if I abandoned my legitimate pretentions to the throne of which I am the heir, I could live in perfect accord with them, but that is an extremity to which I have never been able to resolve myself.”
While talking, the King drank nobly, as did all his audience. He was the most magnificent sovereign that I have seen in my life. He was called “t
he Lion,” the twenty-fourth of that name, and his reign had lasted nearly twenty years.
“In my homeland,” I said, “your colleagues are rather badly treated. It’s necessary to confess that among us, that profession has degenerated and is only any longer exercised by a vulgar rabble. Not long ago, however, we saw noble and important thieves, whom the State revered and supported with its coin. They did not hide at crossroads or in the shadow of forests; they had palaces in our cities. The government collected a commission on their enterprises and the poor people were duped without recourse. It is very difficult, in our countries, to distinguish robbers from politicians.
The Lion said: “But what difference do you make between brigands like us and the individuals who preside over the responsibilities and sovereignties of the Republic?” Seeing me hesitate, he continued: “There is none. Both live on rapine. Theirs, they say, are legitimate and necessary; they call them taxes. They want to make people believe that they employ that money for the good of the nation. By the thrice sacred shadow of my father, I could say the same. The money that I steal, I spend. Thus I bring a marvelous aid to local commerce. But for me, how many treasures would be buried at present in coffers, in cellars or even in the hands of the Treasury? I disperse the spending power. I’m a source of wealth for everyone and the evident cause of the prosperity of the State. Thanks to me, money circulates and is multiplied, all without costing me anything.
“Consider now the governors of Atlantis. The new Constitution only leaves them in power for a short time. Their avidity increases while they await their turn; when it arrives, they know that it will soon pass. Thus, they fill their pockets rapidly, pressure the people, put employments and distinctions up for auction, exaggerate tolls and taxes. They accumulate, but they do not spend. They lend at interest and live like misers. The money that they extract from the people, the people never see again. They pass laws by which people are bound to furnish them with everything gratuitously. They travel and eat without expense. I don’t know whether they pay their courtesans, but I know that they often contaminate them.”
The good king was indignant. His magnanimous heart was overflowing; but he continued to drink copiously.
The conversation and the repast had not concluded when daylight arrived. Shortly afterwards, Constantin and I were each taken to a tent where we found a good bed and several pleasurable things, but I dare not say exactly how far the magnificence of royal hospitality went.
XVIII. The Toll-Collectors
Toward mid-day we presented ourselves to the King in order to take our leave. We praised him and thanked him greatly. I assured him that I would conserve a very high opinion of his person and his power. The potentate made me a thousand amities and gave me magnificent presents, including his portrait, the work of an eminent artist who had been his guest.
An officer conducted us to a carriage, and, arguing the length and difficulty of the route begged us to borrow it. I accepted, having a desire to reach Atlantopolis soon.
We quit the mountains and the brigands thus. I retain a pleasant and perpetual memory of that night spent under the tent. Why did I have to quit that oasis? How many misfortunes I would have avoided by staying with the good sovereign! He understood existence in the best fashion, and if he recovers his hereditary scepter some day, I am sure that he will conduct himself as an honest prince, worthy of eternal human remembrance.
As for me, continuing my voyage, I saw nothing that merits being reported for two days. On the third morning after my departure the postillion informed me that we were approaching the capital.
The road was flat and bordered with meager stands of trees. The country never wearied of being beautiful, but frightful houses, all alike and increasingly numerous made it ugly. They were trivial and pretentious dwellings with red roofs, walls of plaster and brick, with gates painted a horrible green. In the midst of their little gardens devoid of shade they rose up like mushrooms over the damp dust.
Throughout the region nature had been marvelously corrected. The dammed streams ran in straight lines. Of ancient forests, felled not long ago, nothing remained but sparse and paltry trees, like the last hairs on a bald head. And the sewers of the great city, which, by virtue of a marvelous invention, discharged in the midst of the fields, transformed them into nauseating marshes.
I fell asleep contemplating those effects of human ingenuity. Suddenly, savage cries resounded, the vehicle nearly tipped over, and I woke up.
A troop of badly-dressed men, armed for war, surrounded my carriage. Several had thrown themselves ahead of the horses. They were all shouting at the driver in injurious, menacing terms borrowed from the language of the gutter. Without any warning, one of the wretches flung open the door against which I was leaning. I fell out, face down on to the ground. I did not have the leisure to get up again, for while I was lying n the mud they struck me on the back and shoulders with sticks, so forcefully that it is a marvel that I recovered. They searched me. Angered by not finding anything precious on me, they climbed into the vehicle.
Constantin had disappeared and the coachman, for fear of blows, fled across the plowed fields.
Sitting on the road and recovering my senses somewhat, I considered with astonishment the bizarre behavior of my aggressors. They split the floor of the vehicle with axes and made holes in the walls with the aid of large drills. One might have thought that they were looking for treasure. After that they returned to me. I showed them the safe conduct that had won me the esteem and protection of the brigands. They paid no heed to it, saying that they did not know that High Priest and were absolutely scornful of his protégés. They added that they were acting on behalf of the law.
Suspecting that I was hiding something, they undressed me brutally and tore my clothes to shreds in order to make sure that the linings did not conceal anything.
Finally, the captain of the pirates approached me and said: “In the name of the King, know that you have satisfied the inspection, I permit you to continue your journey.” And when I asked politely who he and his men were, he replied: “We’re the royal and sworn toll-collectors. We make sure that no one transports merchandise from one city to another without paying the duty. You can see how vigilant we are.”
And they went away, after having covered me with insults and sneers.
I therefore remained in the middle of the causeway, as naked as my hand, bleeding from the nose and bruised all over by blows. I had never found myself in such a calamitous posture, except when I was shipwrecked.
I was slightly reassured on seeing Constantin emerge from the ditch. He had hidden in the mud, preferring discomfort to the woes that awaited him at my side. He had saved the small valise in which I kept my money.
We left our broken-down vehicle and our battered horses. Fortunately, we found a hostelry where I was given garments, and we forgot the morning’s misfortunes in feasting.
XIX. Atlantopolis, the Admirable City
In the middle of the afternoon we resumed our route. The land was covered with black and low houses and the roads encumbered by carts and pedestrians.
Finally, we arrived on a hill from which we perceived the city, as vast as a sea.
Beneath our feet a great circular plaza extended. Avenues terminated there coming from all directions. In the center stood a stone pyramid, a hundred and twenty meters high and wide, the summit of which surpassed the hill from which we were gazing. Its base was surrounded by a colonnade in a severe style. A door opened in the middle of each face. We approached, and when I asked my guide what that monument was, he replied that it had been erected to the glory of the great emperor Phoberos, conqueror of the entire archipelago.
We went in and climbed a step spiral stairway. Loopholes combated the obscurity weakly. At the summit we found a terrace.
Then Constantine said to me: “Look carefully, with the eyes of the body and those of the soul; look hard at Atlantopolis the Great, the sovereign city of this realm. Do you see that immense plain cover
ed with houses, palaces, temples and tombs? Do you see the shining river that divides it into two unequal parts? In these illustrious streets a powerful and pensive people agitates and toils. All nations contemplate it and fall silent when it speaks. It is the forger of new instruments, the creator of ideas, the light in the midst of darkness. O stranger, if you could perceive the invisible radiance that emanates from this city and comes from far away to illuminate souls as you perceive that of the sun, your eyes would close, wounded by its glare.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “But there’s something terrible and delightful in the aspect of this populous city. The smoke that conquers the sky, the high dwellings, the innumerable monuments, the transparent water spanned by all those bridges and the rhythmic noise that I can hear now all move me and charm me. It’s the only capital that appears simultaneously so incomparably beautiful and powerful. And you tell me that it’s a forge, where thought creates thought; I believe you, Constantin. Look, night is arriving now, and one might think that a population of stars was coming to inhabit this earth. A fog of flame is rising over Atlantopolis and surrounding it with a golden aureole.
“Can you hear the voice of the bells?” said Constantin. “If you knew what they’re saying! For centuries, they’ve been ringing in their old towers, and often, on hearing them, men have drawn their swords. The ancient walls that you are contemplating have sent the echo of revolutions all the way to the limits of our world. Then distant princes trembled in their palaces and peoples rose up everywhere, repeating the symbolic words proffered by the admirable city.
“Men with empty heads and envious hearts have thrown mud at it. They have said: ‘That nation is vain, noisy and superficial. Atlantopolis is a prostitute. It welcomes all worshipers.’ No, it is a great furnace in which everything fuses and burns relentlessly, and from which a metal precious to prosperity emerges every day. The eternal and fecund battles between contrary principles rages here.”
Journey to the Isles of Atlantis and Other Fanciful Excursions Page 36