vanishedwith a lamentable scream.
The fatal impression of the music of the Genius remained,notwithstanding, in the hearts of Vathek’s attendants. They viewed eachother with looks of consternation. At the approach of night, almost allof them escaped; and, of this numerous assemblage, there only remainedthe chief of the eunuchs, some idolatrous slaves, Dilara, and a few otherwomen, who, like herself, were votaries of the religion of the Magi.
The Caliph, fired with the ambition of prescribing laws to theIntelligences of Darkness, was but little embarrassed at thisdereliction. The impetuosity of his blood prevented him from sleeping;nor did he encamp any more as before. Nouronihar, whose impatience, ifpossible, exceeded his own, importuned him to hasten his march, andlavished on him a thousand caresses, to beguile all reflection. Shefancied herself already more potent than Balkis; {134} and pictured toher imagination the Genii falling prostrate at the foot of her throne.In this manner they advanced by moonlight, till they came within view ofthe two towering rocks, that form a kind of portal to the valley, atwhose extremity rose the vast ruins of Istakar. Aloft on the mountain,glimmered the fronts of various royal mausoleums, the horror of which wasdeepened by the shadows of night. They passed through two villages,almost deserted; the only inhabitants remaining being a few feeble oldmen, who at the sight of horses and litters fell upon their knees, andcried out:
“O heaven! is it then by these phantoms that we have been for six monthstormented! Alas! it was from the terror of these spectres, and the noisebeneath the mountains, that our people have fled, and left us at themercy of maleficent spirits!”
The Caliph, to whom these complaints were but unpromising auguries, droveover the bodies of these wretched old men, and at length arrived at thefoot of the terrace of black marble. There he descended from his litter,handing down Nouronihar; both, with beating hearts, stared wildly aroundthem, and expected, with an apprehensive shudder, the approach of theGiaour. But nothing as yet announced his appearance.
A deathlike stillness reigned over the mountain, and through the air.The moon dilated, on a vast platform, the shades of the lofty columns,which reached from the terrace almost to the clouds. The gloomywatch-towers, whose number could not be counted, were veiled by no roof:and their capitals, of an architecture unknown in the records of theearth, served as an asylum for the birds of darkness, which, alarmed atthe approach of such visitants, fled away croaking.
The chief of the eunuchs, trembling with fear, besought Vathek that afire might be kindled.
“No!” replied he, “there is no time left to think of such trifles; abidewhere thou art, and expect my commands.”
Having thus spoken, he presented his hand to Nouronihar, and ascendingthe steps of a vast staircase, reached the terrace, which was flaggedwith squares of marble, and resembled a smooth expanse of water, uponwhose surface not a leaf ever dared to vegetate. On the right rose thewatch-towers, ranged before the ruins of an immense palace, whose wallswere embossed with various figures. In front stood forth the colossalforms of four creatures, composed of the leopard and the griffin; andthough but of stone, inspired emotions of terror. Near these weredistinguished by the splendour of the moon, which streamed full on theplace, characters like those on the sabres of the Giaour, that possessedthe same virtue of changing every moment. These, after vacillating forsome time, at last fixed in Arabic letters, and prescribed to the Caliphthe following words:
“Vathek! thou hast violated the conditions of my parchment, and deservestto be sent back; but in favour to thy companion, and as the meed for whatthou hast done to obtain it, Eblis permitteth that the portal of hispalace shall be opened, and the subterranean fire will receive thee intothe number of its adorers.”
He scarcely had read these words before the mountain, against which theterrace was reared, trembled; and the watch-towers were ready to toppleheadlong upon them. The rock yawned, and disclosed within it a staircaseof polished marble, that seemed to approach the abyss. Upon each stairwere planted two large torches, like those Nouronihar had seen in hervision, the camphorated vapour ascending from which gathered into a cloudunder the hollow of the vault.
This appearance, instead of terrifying, gave new courage to the daughterof Fakreddin. Scarcely deigning to bid adieu to the moon and thefirmament, she abandoned without hesitation the pure atmosphere, toplunge into these infernal exhalations. The gait of those impiouspersonages was haughty and determined. As they descended, by theeffulgence of the torches, they gazed on each other with mutualadmiration, and both appeared so resplendent, that they already esteemedthemselves spiritual intelligences. The only circumstance that perplexedthem, was their not arriving at the bottom of the stairs. On hasteningtheir descent, with an ardent impetuosity, they felt their stepsaccelerated to such a degree, that they seemed not walking, but fallingfrom a precipice. Their progress, however, was at length impeded by avast portal of ebony, which the Caliph without difficulty recognized.Here the Giaour awaited them, with the key in his hand,
“Ye are welcome!” said he to them, with a ghastly smile, “in spite ofMahomet, and all his dependents. I will now admit you into that palace,where you have so highly merited a place.”
Whilst he was uttering these words, he touched the enamelled lock withhis key, and the doors at once expanded with a noise still louder thanthe thunder of mountains, and as suddenly recoiled the moment they hadentered.
The Caliph and Nouronihar beheld each other with amazement, at findingthemselves in a place which, though roofed with a vaulted ceiling, was sospacious and lofty, that at first they took it for an immeasurable plain.But their eyes at length growing to the grandeur of the objects at hand,they extended their view to those at a distance, and discovered rows ofcolumns and arcades, which gradually diminished, till they terminated ina point, radiant as the sun, when he darts his last beams athwart theocean. The pavement, strewed over with gold dust and saffron, exhaled sosubtile an odour, as almost overpowered them. They, however, went on,and observed an infinity of censers, in which ambergris and the wood ofaloes were continually burning. Between the several columns were placedtables, each spread with a profusion of viands, and wines of everyspecies, sparkling in vases of chrystal. A throng of Genii, and otherphantastic spirits, of each sex, danced lasciviously in troops, at thesound of music which issued from beneath.
In the midst of this immense hall, a vast multitude was incessantlypassing, who severally kept their right hands on their hearts, withoutonce regarding any thing around them. They had all the livid paleness ofdeath. Their eyes, deep sank in their sockets, resembled thosephosphoric meteors, that glimmer by night in places of interment. Somestalked slowly on, absorbed in profound reverie; some shrieking withagony, ran furiously about, like tigers wounded with poisoned arrows;whilst others, grinding their teeth in rage, foamed along, more franticthan the wildest maniac. They all avoided each other, and thoughsurrounded by a multitude that no one could number, each wandered atrandom unheedful of the rest, as if alone on a desert which no foot hadtrodden.
Vathek and Nouronihar, frozen with terror at a sight so baleful, demandedof the Giaour what these appearances might mean, and why these ambulatingspectres never withdrew their hands from their hearts.
“Perplex not yourselves,” replied he bluntly, “with so much at once, youwill soon be acquainted with all; let us haste and present you to Eblis.”
They continued their way through the multitude, but notwithstanding theirconfidence at first, they were not sufficiently composed to examine withattention the various perspectives of halls, and of galleries, thatopened on the right hand and left, which were all illuminated by torchesand braziers, whose flames rose in pyramids, to the centre of the vault.At length they came to a place where long curtains, brocaded with crimsonand gold, fell from all parts, in striking confusion. Here the choirsand dances were heard no longer. The light which glimmered came fromafar.
After some time Vathek and Nouronihar perceived a gleam brighteningthrough the drapery,
and entered a vast tabernacle, carpeted with theskins of leopards. An infinity of elders, with streaming beards, andafrits, in complete armour, had prostrated themselves before the ascentof a lofty eminence, on the top of which, upon a globe of fire, sat theformidable Eblis. His person was that of a young man, whose noble andregular features seemed to have been tarnished by malignant vapours. Inhis large eyes appeared both pride and despair; his flowing hair retainedsome resemblance to that of an angel of light. In his hand, whichthunder had blasted, he swayed the iron sceptre, that causes the monsterOuranabad, {140} the afrits, and all the powers of the abyss to tremble.At his presence the heart of the Caliph sank within him, and, for thefirst time, he fell prostrate on his face. Nouronihar, however, thoughgreatly dismayed, could not help admiring the person of Eblis, for sheexpected to have seen some stupendous giant. Eblis, with a voice moremild than might be imagined, but such as transfused through the soul thedeepest melancholy, said:
“CREATURES OF CLAY, I receive you
Vathek; An Arabian Tale Page 23