Vathek; An Arabian Tale
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Dives arebecome subject to thy beck, I expected to have found thee on the throneof the preadimite kings.”
“Execrable woman!” answered the Caliph; “cursed be the day thou gavest mebirth! Go! follow this Afrit; let him conduct thee to the hall of theProphet Soliman; there thou wilt learn to what these palaces aredestined, and how much I ought to abhor the impious knowledge thou hasttaught me.”
“The height of power to which thou art arrived, has certainly turned thybrain,” answered Carathis; “but I ask no more, than permission to show myrespect for the prophet. It is, however, proper thou shouldst know,that, as the Afrit has informed me neither of us shall return to Samarah,I requested his permission to arrange my affairs, and he politelyconsented. Availing myself, therefore, of the few moments allowed me, Iset fire to the tower, and consumed in it the mutes, negresses, andserpents, which have rendered me so much good service; nor should I havebeen less kind to Morakanabad, had he not prevented me, by deserting atlast to thy brother. As for Bababalouk, who had the folly to return toSamarah, and all the good brotherhood to provide husbands for thy wives,I undoubtedly would have put them to the torture, could I but haveallowed them the time. Being, however, in a hurry, I only hung him,after having caught him in a snare with thy wives; whilst them I buriedalive by the help of my negresses, who thus spent their last moments,greatly to their satisfaction. With respect to Dilara, who ever stoodhigh in my favour, she hath evinced the greatness of her mind, by fixingherself near, in the service of one of the Magi, and, I think, will soonbe our own.”
Vathek, too much cast down to express the indignation excited by such adiscourse, ordered the Afrit to remove Carathis from his presence, andcontinued immersed in thought, which his companions durst not disturb.
Carathis, however, eagerly entered the dome of Soliman, and, withoutregarding in the least the groans of the Prophet, undauntedly removed thecovers of the vases, and violently seized on the talismans. Then, with avoice more loud than had hitherto been heard in these mansions, shecompelled the Dives to disclose to her the most secret treasures, themost profound stores, which the Afrit himself had not seen. She passedby rapid descents known only to Eblis and his most favoured Potentates,and thus penetrated the very entrails of the earth, where breathes theSansar, or icy wind of death. Nothing appalled her dauntless soul. Sheperceived, however, in all the inmates who bore their hands on theirheart, a little singularity not much to her taste. As she was emergingfrom one of the abysses, Eblis stood forth to her view, but,notwithstanding he displayed the full effulgence of his infernal majesty,she preserved her countenance unaltered, and even paid her complimentswith considerable firmness.
This superb monarch thus answered:
“PRINCESS, whose knowledge and whose crimes have merited a conspicuousrank in my empire, thou doest well to employ the leisure that remains,for the flames and torments which are ready to seize on thy heart, willnot fail to provide thee with full employment.”
He said this, and was lost in the curtains of his tabernacle.
Carathis paused for a moment with surprise, but, resolved to follow theadvice of Eblis, she assembled all the choirs of Genii, and all theDives, to pay her homage. Thus marched she in triumph through a vapourof perfumes, amidst the acclamations of all the malignant spirits; withmost of whom she had formed a previous acquaintance. She even attemptedto dethrone one of the Solimans, for the purpose of usurping his place,when a voice, proceeding from the Abyss of Death, proclaimed:
“ALL IS ACCOMPLISHED!”
Instantaneously, the haughty forehead of the intrepid princess becamecorrugated with agony; she uttered a tremendous yell, and fixed—no moreto be withdrawn—her right hand upon her heart, which was become areceptacle of eternal fire.
In this delirium, forgetting all ambitious projects, and her thirst forthat knowledge which should ever be hidden from mortals, she overturnedthe offerings of the Genii; and, having execrated the hour she wasbegotten, and the womb that had borne her, glanced off in a whirl thatrendered her invisible, and continued to revolve without intermission.
At almost the same instant, the same voice announced to the Caliph,Nouronihar, the five princes, and the princess, the awful and irrevocabledecree. Their hearts immediately took fire, and they at once lost themost precious of the gifts of heaven—HOPE. These unhappy beingsrecoiled, with looks of the most furious distraction. Vathek beheld inthe eyes of Nouronihar nothing but rage and vengeance; nor could shediscern ought in his but aversion and despair. The two princes who werefriends, and till that moment had preserved their attachment, shrunkback, gnashing their teeth with mutual and unchangeable hatred. Kalilahand his sister made reciprocal gestures of imprecation; whilst the twoother princes testified their horror for each other by the most ghastlyconvulsions, and screams that could not be smothered. All severallyplunged themselves into the accursed multitude, there to wander in aneternity of unabating anguish.
Such was, and such should be, the punishment of unrestrained passions,and atrocious actions. Such is, and such should be, the chastisement ofblind ambition, that would transgress those bounds which the Creator hathprescribed to human knowledge, and by aiming at discoveries reserved forpure intelligence, acquire that infatuated pride, which perceives not thecondition appointed to man is, TO BE IGNORANT AND HUMBLE.
Thus the CALIPH VATHEK who, for the sake of empty pomp and forbiddenpower, hath sullied himself with a thousand crimes, became a prey togrief without end, and remorse without mitigation; whilst the humble anddespised GULCHENROUZ passed whole ages in undisturbed tranquillity, andthe pure happiness of childhood.
NOTES.
{7a} _Caliph_. This title amongst the Mahometans comprehends theconcrete character of prophet, priest, and king; and is used to signify_the Vicar of God on earth_.—Habesci’s State of the Ottoman Empire, p. 9.Herbelot, p. 985.
{7b} _One of his eyes became so terrible_. The author of Nighiaristanhath preserved a fact that supports this account; and there is no historyof Vathek, in which his _terrible eye_ is not mentioned.
{8a} _Omar Ben Abdalaziz_. This Caliph was eminent above all others fortemperance and self-denial; insomuch, that he is believed to have beenraised to Mahomet’s bosom, as a reward for his abstinence in an age ofcorruption. Herbelot, p. 690.
{8b} _Samarah_. A city of the Babylonian Irak, supposed to have stoodon the site where Nimrod erected his tower. Khondemir relates, in hislife of Motassem, that this prince, to terminate the disputes which wereperpetually happening between the inhabitants of Bagdat and his Turkishslaves, withdrew from thence; and, having fixed on a situation in theplain of Catoul, there founded Samarah. He is said to have had in thestables of this city a hundred and thirty thousand pied horses; each ofwhich carried, by his order, a sack of earth to a place he had chosen.By this accumulation, an elevation was formed that commanded a view ofall Samarah, and served for the foundation of his magnificent palace.Herbelot, p. 752, 808, 985. Anecdotes Arabes, p. 413.
{9} _Houris_. The Virgins of Paradise, called, from their large blackeyes, _Hur al oyun_. An intercourse with these, according to theinstitution of Mahomet, is to constitute the principal felicity of thefaithful. Not formed of clay, like mortal women, they are deemed in thehighest degree beautiful, and exempt from every inconvenience incident tothe sex. Al Koran; passim.
{10} _Genii_. Genn or Ginn, in the Arabic, signifies a Genius orDemon—a being of a higher order, and formed of more subtile matter thanman. According to Oriental mythology, the Genii governed the world longbefore the creation of Adam. The Mahometans regarded them as anintermediate race between angels and men, and capable of salvation:whence Mahomet pretended a commission to convert them. Consonant tothis, we read that, “When the servant of God stood up to invoke him, itwanted little but that the Genii had pressed on him in crowds, to hearhim rehearse the Koran.” Herbelot, p. 357. Al Koran ch. 72.
{23} _Accursed Giaour_. Dives of this kind are frequently mentioned byEastern writers. Consult their tales i
n general, and especially those of“The Fisherman,” “Aladdin,” and “The Princess of China.”
{26a} _Bababalouk_, _the Chief of his Eunuchs_. As it was theemployment of the black eunuchs to wait upon, and guard the sultanas, tothe general superintendence of the Harem was particularly committed totheir chief. Habesci’s State of the Ottoman Empire, p. 155–6.
{26b} _The Divan_. This was both the supreme council, and court ofjustice, at which the Caliphs of the race of the Abassides assisted inperson to redress the injuries of every appellant. Herbelot, p. 298.
{27} _The Prime Vizier_. Vazir, Vezir, or as we express it, Vizier,literally signifies a porter; and by metaphor, the minister who bears theprincipal burden of the state.
{50} _Gian Ben Gian_. By this appellation was distinguished the monarchof that species of beings, whom the Arabians denominate _Gian_ or _Ginn_,that is, _Genii_; and the Tarik Thabari, _Peres_, _Feez_, or _Faeries_.
{51} _Rocnabad_. The stream thus denominated flows near the city ofSchiraz.