"THE TRAGEDY OF MAN" 1861 (link)
SCENE VI - ANCIENT ROME
- Rome, c. AD 67. Adam is a wealthy Roman; Lucifer is his friend, Eve is a prostitute.
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© TRANSLATION: J. C. with. HORNE, CORVINA, BUDAPEST, 1963 wrote:Rome. An open porch with statues of the gods, vessels with fragrant incense burning in them, with a view over the Apennines. In the centre a table laid and three couches. ADAM as Sergiolus, LUCIFER as Milo, and CATULUS, all voluntuaries. EVE as Julia, HIPPIA and CLUVIA as courtesans, richly and shamelessly apparelled, are revelling. On a raised platform a gladiatorial combat is in progress, slaves stand ready to receive orders. Flute-players are playing. Twilight; later, night.
CATULUS
How agile and how skilled, Sergiolus,
This gladiator with his crimson band,
I wager he prove victor in the fight.
ADAM
No, by great Hercules!
CATULUS
By Hercules,
Why which of us believeth in the gods?
’Twere better thou shouldst swear by Julia!
ADAM
So be it!
LUCIFER
Thou hast sworn a mighty oath
Setting one idol in another’s stead.
Swearest thou by her beauty or thy love,
Or by her faithfulness to thee, perchance?
CATULUS
Beauty doth fade, but if it faded not,
What charms one day were wearisome the next
A woman with less grace would steal thy heart
With the enchantment of new spells unknown.
ADAM
I do swear by her faithfulness to me.
Who hath upon his mistress lavished more
Than I?
HIPPIA
Ah, canst thou ever her embrace?
And if thou couldst, thou, who dost vainly yearn
For joy to which thou never canst attain,
Since in each woman thou canst only find
A single portion of the sum of bliss,
While the ideal of beauty and delight
Flees, an elusive phantom, from thy grasp,
How knowst thou if she, too, no caprice have,
No fond delusion that beguileth her?
A gladiator’s muscles torn…
ADAM
Thou speakest truth, but no more, Hippia!
Why thirst we for delight as Tantalus,
If we have not the strength of Hercules
And cannot change, like Proteus, our form,
And a despised slave, his toil fulfilled,
Doth such an hour enjoy as all in vain
His master seeketh? Is it, then, the truth
That pleasure is like water, that doth bring
Joy to the faint who drinketh but a draught,
But death to him who leaps into its waves?
LUCIFER
How fine this discourse on morality
To grace the wine cup and our lovely guests!
But do we make the wager?
ADAM
If I lose,
Then Julia is thine.
CATULUS
And if thou win?
ADAM
Thy horse is mine.
CATULUS
A month hence buy her back
Or I will thrust her in my lamprey pond.
LUCIFER
How fine and plump this fish, fair Julia:
Taste it, for thou shalt fatten others soon.
EVE
And shall no ugly worm feed on thee too?
Let him who lives rejoice, or if perchance
Rejoice he cannot, let him learn to laugh.
Drinks.
ADAM to his gladiator
Hey, fight thy best!
CATULUS to his gladiator
Now, bravely, on to him!
Catulus’ gladiator falls and from the ground raises his fingers to beg for his life. ADAM is about to make the sign of mercy, but Catulus arrest his hand and, clenching his fingers, turns his thumb downwards towards the gladiator.
Recipe ferrum! Cowardly dog! Of slaves
I have enough still, and I will not be
A miser. Ladies, who would you begrudge
This little scene exciting; sweeter far
Are kisses, love more ardent, if there flow
A little blood.
Meanwhile his victorious opponent has killed the gladiator.
ADAM
Kiss me, the horse is mine,
My Julia. Bear away this body. Ho!
Dancers, begin your merry comedy,
Enough to-day fighting.
They take away the corpse; dancers occupy the raised platform.
CATULUS
Cluvia,
Come, kiss me, I can never look for long
Whilst others yield to fond embrace.
LUCIFER
And we,
My Hippia, shall we not follow them?
But cleanse thy lip, lest there be poison there;
So, now my sweet, let us make merry too.
ADAM
Why beats thy heart so fast, my Julia?
My head upon thy bosom cannot rest.
They whisper.
LUCIFER
Hear ye, this madman babbles of the heart!
CATULUS
My dear one, see, I leave thy heart to thee,
Do what thou wilt with it, so I know not.
But let my lips ne’er lack thy kisses glow.
CLUVIA
Ah generous! I pledge thee in this cup.
Drinks.
CATULUS
So then, ’tis well. Thy arms are soft, my love,
But let me rest in thy embrace. Ah, see,
My garland from my head slips to the ground.
to the dancing girls
Lo, what a triumph of the dancers’ art,
What glowing fire, what rhythm and what grace!
CLUVIA
My fingers I will lay upon thine eyes,
If thou see there a charm for which I strive;
I cannot draw a word of praise from thee.
pointing to Lucifer
But look upon that bitter face. This man,
What pleasure finds he in yon lovely form,
If he can let his mistress idly dream, whilst he
Watches with mocking smile, and coldly eyes
The hundred sweet, albeit foolish things
That cast a fragrance on our happy feast.
CATULUS
Why truly, such a churlish face would cast
An icy gloom on all the realm of song.
He who this hour’s enchantment doth resist
And yields his soul not to the tide of joy
Is no good man and would he stayed at home.
HIPPIA
I fear almost lest this unhappy man
Hath been already stricken by the plague
Which rages in the city.
ADAM
Come, no more!
Away with these grim fancies. Friends, a song!
Who best knows how to sing a roundelay?
HIPPIA sings
Of wine and love no measure
Shall ever dull our pleasure.
New fragrance rare
Each cup doth hold,
And ecstasy doth shine on us
As shines the sun on headstones grey,
With radiant gleams of gold.
Of wine and love no measure
Shall ever dull our pleasure,
Each maiden hath
New charms untold,
And ecstasy doth shine on us,
As shines the sun on headstones grey,
With radiant gleams of gold.
CATULUS
A good song. Cluvia, what wilt thou sing?
CLUVIA sings
Hey, a mad world was it long ago,
When a lover sought to cheer her woe,
Widowed Lucrece did his suit deny,
Cold her breast, love’s pleasures did she fly,
And, resisting Cupid’s flaming dart
Plunged a dagger in her grieving heart.
ALL
The world is wiser now, rejoice we may
That in a wiser world we live to-day.
CLUVIA
Hey, a mad world was it long ago,
Brutus would rise up to fight the foe,
Leave his lovely home, with sword and shield
Like a common soldier take the field.
Why? A ragged people to defend.
Death on bloody battlefield his end.
ALL
The world is wiser now, rejoice we may
That in a wiser world we live to-day.
CLUVIA
Hey, a mad world was it long ago,
Ghostly fears brought hearts of heroes low,
They held holy what to us is mirth;
If such madmen now were on this earth
They should at our Roman people’s feasts
Be a show for us, and food for beasts.
ALL
The world is wiser now, rejoice we may
That in a wiser world we live to-day.
LUCIFER
Cluvia, thou hast Hippia surpassed.
I would that I myself had made that song.
ADAM
Julia, thou hast no song, why art thou sad,
When all around are gay and full of mirth?
Art thou then loath to lean upon my breast?
EVE
Ah nay; but, my Sergiolus, forgive,
If happiness make grave my countenance;
The happiness which laughs, I deem untrue.
Yea, with the sweetest moment of our joy
Is mingled an unutterable pain.
Perhaps it seems our bliss is but a flower,
Which withereth.
ADAM
So doth it seem to me.
EVE
And when I hear the music and the song,
I think not on the purport of the words,
The tide of sound doth lull me in its waves,
And then I feel I slumber in a dream,
And float upon a stream of harmony
Far back into the past, where once I played
Beneath the sunny palm-trees, innocent
In childhood’s distant days. My soul was called
Toward all things great and noble - But forgive,
’Tis but the magic of a foolish dream,
I kiss thee once again-and, lo, I wake.
ADAM
Away with dance and music, I grow sick
With this eternal stream of sweet delights.
My heart already yearns for bitterness,
Wormwood in wine, for kisses, stinging wounds,
And on my head distress and heaviness.
The dancers withdraw; a cry of pain is heard from without.
What cry is that which smites upon my heart?
LUCIFER
They do but crucify a few mad fools
Who dream of justice and of brotherhood.
CATULUS
And rightly so. Why stayed they not at home?
To seek their pleasure, and the world forget?
Why have they mixed in other men’s affairs?
LUCIFER
The beggar for his brother would the rich,
Yet make the beggar rich, the rich man poor,
And he would nail the other to a cross.
CATULUS
Then let us laugh at misery and wealth,
And mock the plague that rages in the town,
And all things that the Fates ordain for us.
New cry of pain.
ADAM to himself
Ah, then I feel I slumber in a dream
And float upon a stream of harmony,
Far back into the past. My soul was called
Toward all things great and noble. - Julia,
Did’st thou speak those words?
EVE
Yea, those words I spake.
Meanwhile it has grown dark. Before the porch passes a funeral procession with flutes and torches and mourning women. For a few moments dead silence reigns among all the revellers.
LUCIFER laughing
It seems our gaiety is overcast,
Is wit then silent, is there no more wine?
Because our surly friend hath drunk his fill?
Or, peradventure one of us doth fear,
Or is just now converted.
ADAM throwing his cup at Lucifer
Perish thou,
If so thou thinkest!
LUCIFER
Then, to join us, friends,
Straightway a new guest will I now invite.
Perchance he shall restore our mirth again.
Ho, slaves, bring in our friend who journeyeth
With light of torches, let him rest a while,
We would but offer him a draught of wine.
They bring in the corpse on an open bier and place it on the table. The escort remains in the background. LUCIFER raises his wine cup to the corpse, in greeting.
Drink, friend, thy turn to-day; to-morrow, mine!
HIPPIA to the corpse
Perchance thou wouldst a kiss?
LUCIFER
Embrace him then,
And steal the obol hidden in his mouth.
HIPPIA
If thee I kiss, why may I not kiss him?
She kisses the dead man. The apostle PETER steps forward from among the mourners.
PETER
Hold, thou dost suck the plague into thyself!
ALL recoil in horror and rise from their places.
ALL
The plague! The plague! Away from hence, away!
PETER
Ah, wretched generation, race of cowards,
While happiness and ease doth smile on thee
Thou spreadest like a butterfly thy wings
To wanton in the sunlight, and dost mock
God, and all virtue tramplest underfoot.
But if the moment come, when at thy door
Disaster knocketh, if thou dost but feel
God’s awful finger laid upon thy head,
Thou cringest, craven, bowed in base despair.
Dost thou not feel that Heaven’s punishment
Weighs hard upon thee? Lift thine eyes and see!
The city is laid waste. A barbarous
And savage horde doth trample underfoot
Thy golden harvest. Order perisheth,
No man commandeth, no man doth obey.
Murder and theft stalk shameless through the land,
And after, follow terror and grey care.
No help or stay is found in earth or heaven.
Thou can’st not lull with passion rapturous
That voice that speaks within thy deepest heart,
And vainly urges thee to nobler ends!
Thou dost not feel contentment, verily,
And only loathing now doth pleasure yield.
Thy lips do tremble and with haggard eyes
Thou gazest vainly: in the ancient gods
Thou dost believe no more, they are but stones.
The statues of the gods crumble and full into dust.
They crumble, and thou findest no new God
To lift thee once again from dust and clay.
Yet see, what is more mighty to destroy
Than plague that spreadeth in thy city death.
From their soft couches thousands rise to seek
The empty wilderness of Thebais
To live as anchorites that shun the world,
There seeking, for their senses numbed, that which
May yet excite, that which may yet uplift.
Base generation, thou shalt perish from
This great world that shall now be purified.
HIPPIA collapsing in front of the table
O woe is me, I writhe in agony,
An icy sweat, the flames of Orcus burn!
The plague, the plague, my life is gone from me!
Is there not one of you to succour me
Who have with me so much of pleasure shared?
LUCIFER
To-day thy turn; to-morrow mine, fair one.
HIPPIA
Then kill me, kill me, or my curse on thee!
PETER stepping up to her
Curse not, my daughter, curse not, but forgive.
Lo, I will succour thee and the Great God,
The everlasting God of sacred love.
Lift up thy heart to him. See, now thy soul
Is by this water cleansed from sin and dross
And flies to Him.
He baptizes her with a dish taken from the table.
HIPPIA
My father, I have peace.
She dies.
CATULUS setting forth
I turn my steps to Thebais to-day,
This world of sin is loathsome to me now.
CLUVIA
Stay, Catulus, for I will go with thee.
She goes with Catulus.
ADAM absorbed in thought, advances to the front. EVE follows him.
Art thou here, Julia? What wouldest thou
Where death hath slain our mirth and happiness?
EVE
And is not then my place there, where thou art?
Sergiolus, thou couldst have found so much
Nobility in this poor heart of mine
Where thou didst only seek for passing joy.
ADAM
And in my heart lay too nobility.
Alas, what might have been! To perish thus
Meanly and miserably. If God be,
kneels and raises hands to heaven
If he hath care for us and governeth,
Let him a new race bring upon the earth,
Create a new ideal for mankind,
Reviving with fresh blood our outworn race,
Inflaming with new ardour noble hearts
To strive on, upward. All that which was ours
Is worn out now, and we have little strength
To form a new world. Hear us, O my God!
In the sky the Cross appears in glory. From behind the mountain the glare of burning towns is seen. From the hilltops half-savage hordes swarn down. From the distance a hymn is heard.
LUCIFER to himself
This sight doth send a tremor through my heart,
But is it not my part to fight with man?
That which I cannot do he doth for me,
And such like play before hath met mine eyes,
And when the glory slowly hath grown dim
Doth yet remain a sign, the cross of blood.
PETER
The Lord hath heard. Lift up thine eyes and see,
The outworn earth begins to be reborn.
These warriors clad in the pelt of beasts,
Savage and barbarous, who burn with fire
Fair cities, these, whose horses trample down
The harvest that dead centuries have sown,
And find their stable in deserted shrines,
These shall renew with red and virile blood
The outworn veins of an exhausted race;
And these, who in the circus raise their hymn,
While ravening tigers tear them limb from limb,
These shall a vision new bring to this earth,
The freedom of all men, and brotherhood,
These wondrous forces that shall shake the world.
ADAM
I feel the soul doth yearn for other things
Than that sweet sloth that pillowed slumber brings
The heart’s blood, slowly bleeding, joy may give:
A greater joy is a new life to live.
PETER
Be this thy purpose. Glory give to God.
For thyself, work. The will of man is free
To bring to fullness that which lies in him,
And only one command doth bind him: love!
ADAM
Up then, up to the fight with high resolve
To follow this new faith; a new world form,
The flower of which shall knightly virtue be;
The poetry, the lofty form ideal
That standeth by the altar - womanhood!
He leans on Peter anid departs.
LUCIFER
For that which cannot be, doth burn thy heart;
Yet worthy of the man to play the part.
God is well pleased this faith man heavenward bear,
And I, for it shall drive him to despair.
He follows after.
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© TRANSLATION: IAIN MACLEOD, CANONGATE PRESS, EDINBURGH, 1993 wrote:A spacious veranda with statues of gods, ornamental vessels with perfumed herbs burning in them, and a view of the Apennines. In the centre there are three couches and a low table laid for a feast. Around it Adam, as Sergiolus, Lucifer, as Milo, and Catullus are enjoying themselves in the company of three lightly clad prostitutes, Eve, as Julia, Hippia and Cluvia. On a raised platform gladiators are fighting. In the background slaves are standing by to receive orders, and flute players provide music. Twilight; later, night.
CATULLUS
You see the fellow with the scarlet sash?
A real fighter, that! Sergiolus,
I bet you anything he’ll beat your man.
ADAM
Not he, by Hercules!
CATULLUS
What? Hercules?
It won’t do. No one here believes in gods.
Swear by your concubine. It’s more convincing.
ADAM
I do.
LUCIFER
Your oath is well established now.
Let pseudo-goddess beat a demigod.
But for your oath, how are we meant to take it?
You meant her beauty? Or your love for her?
Or, no, you didn’t mean fidelity?
CATULLUS
Female charms fade, you know. In any case,
what fascinates today may bore tomorrow.
Another woman, and with less to offer,
may turn your head - for sheer variety.
ADAM
It’s her fidelity I meant. What else?
It costs me quite a bit.
HIPPIA
How wrong you are!
Can you make love to her without fatigue?
Suppose you can, though, greedy as you are
for satisfaction, it’s a wasted effort:
you find pleasure in fragments, now and then,
however hard you try, in any woman.
Our dreams of absolute delight and beauty
remain, it seems, for ever out of reach.
And as for her, who knows? Infatuation
or just a whim may land her with another.
Suppose a gladiator’s bruised muscles…
ADAM
I know, I know! Enough said, Hippia!
I reach out, like a Tantalus, for pleasure:
no Herculean brawn to match my yearning,
or Protean’ skill to make that vital change,
while wretched slaves who labour days on end
can have an hour’s enjoyment - which their master
can only dream of. Tell me: what is pleasure?
A drink of water for the thirsty pilgrim,
or an ocean to engulf the luckless bather?
LUCIFER
A proper lecture on morality -
reclining on your woman, sipping wine.
But what about your wager?
ADAM
If I lose
you have my Julia.
CATULLUS
And if you win?
ADAM
I’ll have your horse.
CATULLUS
You want her back, of course?
In one month? Or I’ll feed her to my eels.
LUCIFER
[to Julia]
Enjoy this dish of appetising fish
before the fish consider you a dish.
[The others applaud.]
EVE
What of the worms? They’ll make a feast of you.
So, have a drink! Make merry while you can!
[She takes a drink.]
We might convince ourselves it’s fun to live.
ADAM
[to a gladiator]
Get on with it there!
CATULLUS
Smartly now! Come on!
Catullus’ gladiator falls, and lying on the ground he raises his fingers begging for his life. Adam is about to give the sign for mercy, but Catullus arrests his hand and, with his fist clenched, he turns his thumb down towards the fallen gladiator.
Recipe ferrum! He’s a craven mongrel
I can afford to lose. Got plenty of them.
Besides, who would begrudge the thrill of bloodshed
in such appreciative company?
The carnal appetite grows all the keener,
and kisses deeper, when some blood is spilt.
Meanwhile the gladiator is killed by his opponent.
ADAM
I’ve got the horse! Come, hug me, Julia!
There! Take away the corpse! Let’s have the dancers!
I feel I need some lighter entertainment.
I’ve had enough of this.
The corpse is taken out; the platform is occupied by dancers.
CATULLUS
Come, Cluvia!
Can’t bear to see another male embracing
and having fun.
LUCIFER
You hear that, Hippia?
Well, what about it? Shall we follow suit?
But lick your lips first: see they aren’t poisoned.
There! There! All right, you’re safe. What fun we have!
ADAM
How loud your heart is beating, Julia!
It makes me strangely moved. I can’t relax.
[They continue whispering.]
LUCIFER
You hear that fool? He talks about her heart!
CATULLUS
I wouldn’t meddle with your heart, my dear.
Do what you like with it: don’t let me know.
As long as I have this - I’m well contented.
CLUVIA
How generous! This calls for celebration.
[She takes a drink.]
CATULLUS
Come back, my Cluvia! You know I’d miss you.
What would I do without your supple breasts.
I’ve dropped my Laurel, see, trying to please you.
[to one of the dancing girls]
I say, I like that twist around your hips.
You’ve got erotic fire and well proportioned…
CLUVIA
You should be blindfolded. Stop staring at her!
There’s fire in here. Come, take a closer look!
Don’t these deserve appreciative remarks?
[pointing at Lucifer]
Look at that sour-faced fellow over there!
One wonders why he keeps that lovely girl:
I’m sure she could be put to better use.
He lets her fall asleep. Just look at him!
He leers with frozen smiles and stony eyes
at everything we do to lend the party
that piquant savour we appreciate.
CATULLUS
You’re right. That face could cast a frosty spell
to numb the poetry of centuries…
The man who can’t relish the moment’s pleasure
and let his senses take him where they may…
No good, I say. I wish he’d stayed at home.
HIPPIA
Poor man! He often worries me, you know.
He looks as if he’s got the plague already.
They say it rages in the city…
ADAM
Hush!
No sordid detail! It’s a song we need.
Who is to sing the bawdiest song today?
HIPPIA
[singing]
Of wine and of pleasure
we must have full measure:
in every cupful
another delight…
And the ecstasy! Let the ecstasy,
like the sunset over a broken monument,
enfold us in glorious light.
<ALL IN CHORUS>
Enfold us in glorious light.
<HIPPIA>
Of wine and of pleasure
we must have full measure:
another bedfellow
for every night…
And the ecstasy! Let the ecstasy,
like the sunset over a broken monument,
enfold us in glorious light.
Enfold us in glorious light.
CATULLUS
Well done! How fitting! Your turn, Cluvia.
CLUVIA
[singing]
What a crazy world it was the day
when a comely wife, Lucretia lay
in her lonely bed, not lonely for long,
for an amorous young man came along…
Alas! the lady wasn’t a whore,
she seized a knife - and her trick was o’er.
ALL IN CHORUS
Of course, we have more sense today:
have fun and pleasure while we may.
CLUVIA
[singing]
What a crazy world it was the day
when Brutus, keen to have his way,
to put things right as a soldier might,
he buckled his sword and off to fight,
to please the mob, by Jove, he went -
no pleasure to find, but a nasty end.
ALL IN CHORUS
Of course, we have more sense today:
have fun and pleasure while we may.
CLUVIA
[singing]
What a crazy world it was the day
they acclaimed the hero (or so they say).
But wouldn’t it also raise a cheer,
if a mad hero should still appear?
He would entertain us all, he would:
the show to us - to the beasts the food.
ALL IN CHORUS
Of course, we have more sense today:
have fun and pleasure while we may.
LUCIFER
O, very good, indeed! I like the message.
I wish I had composed the song myself.
ADAM
Now, Julia! Won’t you sing for us today?
What’s wrong? We’re waiting. Everyone’s delighted.
Don’t spoil the evening. Don’t you like it here?
EVE
I do, I do. You see, Sergiolus,
this merry-making, somehow, makes me sad.
I feel this mirth is only a make-believe.
A measure of unutterable pain
mingles with all our moments of delight,
as if deep down we knew our joys - Like flowers -
were bound to shed their bloom.
ADAM
I know the feeling.
EVE
The sound of music strangely touches me.
Sometimes I let it rock me like a sea
till words and meaning seem to pass me by,
and as the rhythm lulls me into a dream,
I feel transported into a past existence,
where once I lived in childlike innocence,
happy, contented, in the shade of palm trees,
my soul inspired by thoughts beyond belief…
Forgive me! All this nonsense… Mere illusion…
It’s all forgotten. Kiss me! I’m awake.
ADAM
Silence the music! Dancers, all, get out!
Enough! Confound this honeyed sea of pleasure!
I’m tired of wallowing: I want some change,
bitterness, wormwood in my wine, a sting
on ruby lips, some menacing disaster…
The dancers leave in a hurry. Laud wailing is heard from outside.
What are these horrid shrieks that pierce the brain?
LUCIFER
They are about to crucify some madmen
who talk of brotherhood and human rights.
CATULLUS
It serves them right. Why don’t they stay at home
to mind their business and enjoy themselves?
Why meddle with another man’s affairs?
LUCIFER
The poor may call the rich their brothers now,
but change their roles and they will crucify them.
CATULLUS
This - to the powers that be, the penury,
the pestilence which decimates the town,
with all the bother fate can fling at us…
Another burst of wailing is heard. Adam, lost in his thoughts, muttering.
ADAM
…and as the rhythm lulls me into a dream,
I feel transported into a past existence…
my soul inspired by thoughts beyond belief…
You said that, Julia, didn’t you?
JULIA
Yes, I did.
Meanwhile it has grown dark. In front of the veranda a funeral procession passes, with flutes, torches and mourning women. For a moment the revellers gaze at the sight in a deadly hush, then Lucifer starts laughing.
LUCIFER
I see the merry mood’s been somewhat blighted.
Have we run out of wine or you of jokes?
Must I, the sour-faced fellow, play the jester?
You won’t have taken fright, by any chance,
and feel repentant?
ADAM
[throwing his cup at him]
Damn you if you think so.
LUCIFER
I’ll ask another guest to join the party:
he might restore the festive cheer to us.
Hey, servants! There! Bring in this traveller
passing the house with all his entourage.
Perhaps he’ll share with us a drink of wine.
They bring in the corpse on an open bier which is placed on the table. The mourners remain in the background. Lucifer drinks a toast to the dead man.
Drink, friend! My turn tomorrow, yours today!
HIPPIA
[to the corpse]
Here, would you like a kiss?
LUCIFER
Give him a hug -
and pinch that coin they put between his teeth.
HIPPIA
I don’t mind kissing you: what difference?
She kisses the dead man. The Apostle Peter steps forward from among the mourners.
THE APOSTLE
Stop that, woman! It is the plague you’re sucking!
[All rise and recoil in horror.]
ALL
O, gods! The plague! Go! Take the corpse away!
THE APOSTLE
O, cowardly race! You wretched generation!
How arrogant, while fortune smiles upon you,
how like the flies cavorting in the sun,
defiling virtue, mocking God Himself?
But when disaster knocks upon your door,
or God’s almighty finger points at you,
you shrivel in contemptible despair.
Why? Can’t you see it’s Heaven’s retribution
that’s bearing down on you? Look at your world!
Your city desolate; your golden harvest
all trampled down; barbarians on the march;
no order left: no one to take command,
no one to listen either; theft and murder
parade themselves unchallenged on the streets
with pallid fear and terror in their wake.
No hope, no help under your empty skies.
And yet, obsessed with pleasures as you are,
you can’t suppress, you can’t ignore the warning
which echoes still within your heart of hearts,
trying to stir you from your decadence.
Why can’t you find contentment any more?
Your self-indulgence ends in self-reproach,
but in your fright, struggling to find the words,
you cannot pray, you have renounced your faith:
your ancient gods have hardened into stone.
[The statues of gods disintegrate.]
They crumble - and yet you haven’t found a new god
to help you rise above your dustbound nature.
Go, ask what drains your city’s population
more potently than any pestilence!
Thousands abandon their luxurious couches
to add their numbers to the anchorites
who seek the wilderness of Thebais
to find seclusion and a new experience,
to rouse and stimulate their blunted senses.
You brood of decadence, the time’s upon you:
the world must once again be rendered clean.
HIPPIA
[collapsing beside the table]
I’m terrified. What’s happening to me?
What’s this? Cold sweat? And this infernal fire!
The plague! I’ve got the plague! I must be dying!
Won’t any of you come - and try to help?
For old times’ sake, don’t leave me here to die!
LUCIFER
Your turn today, tomorrow mine, my dear.
HIPPIA
Then kill me or be damned, the lot of you!
THE APOSTLE
[moving towards Hippia]
No! No! Don’t curse! You must forgive, my daughter!
I’ll comfort you, so will Almighty God
that everlasting God of holy love.
Lift up your heart to Him and with this water
He’s sure to cleanse you from the dross of sin.
Hasten to Him!
He baptizes her with some water from a bowl on the table.
HIPPIA
Yes, Father. This is peace.
[She dies. Catullus is about to leave.]
CATULLUS
I’m off to Thebais - this very day.
I’m sick and tired of this disgusting world.
CLUVIA
Catullus, wait! I want to come with you.
Both leave. Deep in thought, Adam comes into the foreground. Eve follows him.
ADAM
Ah, Julia! Still around? Why, you are waiting!
Mirth is no more: death murdered happiness.
EVE
Should I not stay with you, whatever happened?
Sergiolus, within this “pretty” bosom
you might have found some noble sentiments
if you had looked for more than entertainment.
ADAM
And in myself. For shame, I’ve never noticed.
To perish in this mean, ungracious manner,
and suffer all the way… If there’s a god,
[kneeling with arms raised to heaven]
who cares for us, who has the power to do it,
let him create new people, new ideals:
our played-out race must be regenerated,
while noble minds latch on the goal ahead.
We need a purpose. All we have to offer
is past repairing and we lack the drive
to make a fresh start. Hear me, hear me, God!
With a great radiance the cross appears in the sky. Beyond the mountains the horizon is reddened by the flames of burning cities. Savage hordes are seen descending from the heights, and from the distance the singing of hymns is heard. Lucifer to the audience.
LUCIFER
That sight can send a shiver down the spine.
But, after all, it’s Man I have to fight:
what I can’t do, he will. I’ll have him do it.
We’ve played this game before. That radiance
will dwindle by and by to leave the world
its legacy: that cross there, steeped in blood.
THE APOSTLE
The Lord has heard your prayer. Now, look and listen!
Your worn-out world is being born anew.
See those barbaric, bearskinned warriors
who devastate your lands and burn your cities,
who have their horses trample down the crops
you’ve grown for centuries, who stable brutes
in burnt-out shrines! - They have the quickening
new blood to animate your palsied veins.
And hear those martyrs in the circus singing
until their throats are mangled by the tigers!
They have the vision - that of brotherhood
and freedom for the individual mind -
the vision to revive your ailing world.
ADAM
O yes! I see, there is a higher goal.
This slothful ease won’t gratify the soul,
but shedding of your heart’s blood, I declare,
must be a joy indeed, beyond compare.
THE APOSTLE
Sum up your precepts thus: to God the glory;
to you the work. An individual agent,
you’re free to realise your aspirations,
observing only one commandment: love.
ADAM
For this new world I am prepared to fight.
Forward to battle! All your words of wisdom
shall be embodied in the knightly virtues,
whose poetry, enshrined beside the altar,
shall be the exalted state of womanhood.
Accompanied by the Apostle, Adam leaves the stage. Eve follows them. Lucifer turns to the audience.
LUCIFER
The unattainable intrigues you, Man,
but you must still attempt it if you can:
God will be pleased to see you reach the sky,
and come the disappointment, so will I.
[He follows the others.]
************************************************************
© TRANSLATION: GEORGE SZIRTES, CORVINA, BUDAPEST, 1998 wrote:Rome. An open porch with statues of the gods, vessels with incense, a view of the Apennines. In the centre a table is spread with three couches round it. ADAM is SERGIOLUS, LUCIFER is MILO. Also present are CATULUS and other revellers. EVE is JULIA who, together with HIPPIA and CLUVIA, other ladies of pleasure, is appropriately clad and enjoying herself. There is a gladiatoral combat in progress on a raised platform. Slaves wait on the company, musicians play on flutes. It is dusk, deepening into night.
CATULUS
Look, Sergiolus, how lithe and skilful
That scarlet ribboned gladiator is.
I’ll lay odds on the man to beat his rival.
ADAM
No, by Hercules.
CATULUS
By Hercules? But why?
Who here among us still believes in gods?
Swear by Julia, then I might believe you.
ADAM
By Julia then -
LUCIFER
Your vow has sure foundations:
Now one false idol makes way for another.
But how are we to understand this vow?
You swear by her beauty, by your love of her,
Or rather by her faithfulness to you?
CATULUS
All charm is transient - it therefore follows
What fascinates today is dull tomorrow,
A plainer woman will entice you from her
By force of her enchanting novelty.
ADAM
I meant her faithfulness. What man has squandered
More on his mistress than I on her?
HIPPIA
You clown,
You think you could remain entwined for ever?
And say it should be possible, could you,
Yes you, - insatiable in your desires,
Always flitting from woman to woman, finding
Some shred of pleasure in this one or the other,
All joy and beauty unattainably
And magically flitting for ever before you -
Could you be certain that some whim of hers,
One idle thought would not charm her away?
A gladiator’s lacerated muscles…
ADAM
Yes, yes, you’re right - but no more, Hippia.
Why Tantalus like, are we drawn to pleasures,
When we neither have the strength of Hercules,
Nor the Protean knack of changing shape,
And a wretched slave after a week of torture
Finds such enjoyment in one hour of freedom
His master vainly yearns for it. Is pleasure,
Like water, refreshment for the weary, but
Fatal to those who dive into its rapids?
LUCIFER
A splendid lecture on morality,
Spiced with wine and pillowed on soft breasts -
But as to your wager? -
ADAM
If I should lose the bet
Then Julia is yours.
CATULUS
And if you win?
ADAM
Your horse is mine.
CATULUS
You take her back next month,
And if you don’t I’ll throw her in my fishpond.
LUCIFER
Look, dear Julia, at this nice fat fish:
Eat up, eat up, you’ll soon be food for others.
EVE
Will not this ugly maggot feast on you?
Whoever is alive let him rejoice,
And if he can’t rejoice then let him laugh.
She drinks
ADAM to the gladiator
Now mind to do your best! -
CATULUS
Fight like a soldier!
Catulus’s gladiator falls, and begging for his life raises his fingers. ADAM wants to give him the sign of mercy but CATULUS holds his hand down and tightening his fist gives the gladiator the thumbs down
Recipe ferrum! Cowardly mongrel. I have
Sufficient slaves, I’m not a miser. Who,
Dear ladies, would begrudge you this excitement
When kisses taste so much the sweeter for it;
A little spilt blood sharpens our desire.
In the meantime the gladiator has been killed by his opponent
ADAM
The horse is mine. Come Julia, embrace me.
Kindly remove that corpse - and now, you dancers!
Perform some comic interlude for us,
We’ve had enough blood for today.
The corpse is removed and dancers occupy the platform
CATULUS
Come, Cluvia,
Come here to me. I can’t look on for long
While others are embracing.
LUCIFER
And we, Hippia,
Should we follow their example, do you think?
First lick your lips, ensure they are not poisoned.
That’s right. Now let’s enjoy ourselves, my dear.
ADAM
Your heart is thumping so! What can it be?
I cannot rest, it beats so in my ear.
They whisper
LUCIFER
Hear the fool still blabbering of her “heart”.
CATULUS
Look here, my sweet, I make no claim on yours,
Do with it what you like but don’t tell me,
A good hot kiss will do for me quite nicely.
CLUVIA
How generous, darling! I raise my glass to you.
She drinks
CATULUS
That’s good, dear Cluvia, but don’t remove
Those tender arms and yielding little breasts.
Just look, my garland’s slipping off my head.
To the dancers
Ah what a splendid pirouette that was,
Voluptuous fire and pleasure all combined!
CLUVIA
I don’t like competition - if you talk
To them again I’ll cover up your eyes.
I cannot squeeze a good word out of you.
Indicating LUCIFER
I’d rather you looked at that sour-faced wretch.
What good are girls to him, however pretty,
If he doesn’t take the slightest notice of them
And leaves them snoring while he looks about him
With cold eyes and a supercilious smile
On the hundred sweet and idiotic things
That give our feast its flavour.
CATULUS
Indeed it is a face to throw a chill
Into a choir of poets. A man who resists
The spell of the moment and will not allow
His spirit to be swept off by the tide
Is good for nothing and should stay at home.
HIPPIA
To tell the truth I fear the poor man has
Contracted the Black Death which has destroyed
A good part of the city.
ADAM
Away with all
This talk of gloom. A ribald song for us.
Whoever knows a good one, let us hear it.
HIPPIA sings
A man can never have
Too much of wine or love;
Of wine there is profusion,
Each yields its flavour, thrives
On sweet intoxication,
Like sunlight on old graves
They gild our barren lives.
A man can never have
Too much of wine or love;
Of girls there is profusion,
Each casts her spell and thrives,
<ALL>
On sweet intoxication,
Like sunlight on old graves
They gild our barren lives.
CATULUS
Precisely so. Now Cluvia, your turn.
CLUVIA sings
How foolish they were long ago:
When a handsome rogue laid low
Widowed Lucretia in her bed
Her lips were cold, her lust was dead,
No whoreson pleasure could she feel
But stuck herself instead with steel.
ALL
The world grows wiser by the minute,
Rejoice therefore that we live in it.
CLUVIA
How foolish they were long ago:
Poor Brutus from his house must go,
For arms his luxuries desert
And don the stinking trooper’s shirt,
For ragged people give his blood
And perish duly in the mud.
ALL
The world grows wiser by the minute,
Rejoice therefore that we live in it.
CLUVIA
How foolish they were long ago:
Brave men perceive a spectral glow
And call it sacred. What a farce!
Were such a lunatic to pass
We could dependably rely on
Him to fatten the circus lion.
ALL
The world grows wiser by the minute,
Rejoice therefore that we live in it.
LUCIFER
Ah Cluvia, you’ve outsung Hippia.
I’d love to have composed that verse myself.
ADAM
Why are you moping, Julia? Why not sing?
Everybody else is in good spirits.
Don’t you enjoy lying on my breast?
EVE
Oh certainly Sergiolus, and yet -
Such merriment has always left me serious.
I feel whatever laughs cannot be real.
The cup of happiness, however sweet,
Contains one drop of inexpressible pain.
Perhaps we apprehend such perfect moments
Are flowers, doomed to wither.
ADAM
I feel it too.
EVE
Especially when I hear songs and verses,
I am aware of more than words, but tides
That pulse beneath them, rocking like a boat -
I feel as if I lay within a dream:
The swaying sound brings back some distant past
When I was innocent and playful as a child
Under the palms, lost among the sunbeams,
Aware of noble voices in my soul.
Forgive me, this is nothing but the spell
Of silly dreams. - Kiss me again - I’m waking.
ADAM
No more of dancers or of songs. I’m sick
Of this eternal sea of sweetness. My heart
Requires something bitter for a change.
Some wormwood in my wine, a stinging lip,
A sense of danger hovering about me.
The dancers depart. A cry of pain outside
What is that cry that cuts me to the heart?
LUCIFER
They’re crucifying a few lunatics
Who dream of justice and fraternity.
CATULLUS
It serves them right - why can’t they sit at home
Enjoying themselves and forget the world?
Why interfere in other people’s business?
LUCIFER
The beggar wants the rich man for his brother,
But let them once change places and he’d do
His share of crucifying.
CATULLUS
Leave this subject -
We ought to laugh at misery and death,
At plagues which wreak such havoc in a town
And all those tricks of fate the gods dish out.
A new cry
ADAM to himself
I feel as if I lay within a dream,
The swaying sound brings back a distant past…
Aware of noble voices in my soul…
Your very words, I think, my Julia?
EVE
Yes.
It has grown dark in the meantime. A funeral procession with flutes, torches and wailing women passes before the courtyard. The company falls momentarily silent
LUCIFER bursting into laughter
I see you’ve lost your humour in this gloom,
Have you run out of wine or lost your wit
That even sourpuss here has had enough?
One of us here is frightened, it appears,
Or else converted.
ADAM throwing a glass at his head
Damn you if you think so!
LUCIFER
Wait! I’ll invite a new guest to the party -
Perhaps he will revive your flagging spirits.
Look sharp, you slaves, and show the fellow in,
That man who travels by the light of torches. -
We only want to offer him a drink.
They bring in the corpse in an open coffin and put it on the table. The mourners remain in the background. LUCIFER raises his glass to the dead man
Drink up! To you today, to me tomorrow!
HIPPIA
Perhaps you would prefer a kiss?
LUCIFER
Embrace him.
I dare you to steal the obol From his mouth.
HIPPIA
If I can kiss you, dear, then why not him?
She kisses the corpse. ST PETER steps forward from the ranks of the mourners
ST PETER
Stop it! You are sucking in the plague.
All recoil in horror and rise from their places
ALL
The plague! How horrible! Get rid of him!
ST PETER
You wicked generation! Race of cowards
And tramplers upon virtue - mock at God!
While fortune smiles on you, you are like flies
Importunately buzzing in the sunlight,
But when some peril hammers at your door,
Or when God’s mighty finger touches you
You shrink in fear and huddle in despair.
Do you not feel the weight of retribution
Across your back? But look, just look around you -
The city perishes and foreign hordes
Tread down your golden harvest. Rules of Law
Disintegrate, there’s no commanding voice
And no-one listens. Robbery and murder
Are striding unashamed about your households,
On their heels follow grey anxiety
And terror. No help, no comfort, either
In earth or heaven. Will intoxication
Spirit away that deep sense of foreboding
That speaks within your heart and vainly urges
You to finer goals? For I hardly need
To add that satisfaction is beyond you,
That ecstasy awakes only disgust.
You look round terrified, with trembling lips,
But all in vain. Your faith in the old gods
Is quite exhausted. First they petrify
Then turn to dust,
The statues of the gods disintegrate
and no new idol comes
To raise them from the rubble. Look around you,
And see what wreaks more havoc in the town
Than pestilence, is mightier than the plague -
A thousand waken from soft pillows, seeking
The wilderness of Thebais in order
To populate it with a tribe of hermits
Endeavouring to find some new excitement,
Some keener stimulation for numbed senses -
Some generation! you shall pass away
In the vast purification of the world.
HIPPIA collapsing before the table
Oh God have mercy! What dread agony,
Cold sweats and fires of Orcus - it’s the plague,
The pestilence is on me - I am lost!
Oh will not one among you come to help me,
You with whom I shared my every pleasure?
LUCIFER
To you today, to me tomorrow, dearest. -
HIPPIA
In that case kill me or be cursed by me.
ST PETER stepping up to her
Forgive rather than curse him, O my daughter,
And I will help you, as will that great God,
The eternal God of blessed charity.
Aspire unto Him - with water now
I wash contamination from your soul,
And cleansed it flies to him. -
He baptizes her with water from a dish on the table
HIPPIA
Oh, father, I’m at peace.
She dies
CATULUS
And I’ll set out for Thebais today,
The corruption of the world disgusts me now.
CLUVIA
Wait, Catulus, I am coming with you.
They leave together. ADAM, absorbed in thought, steps downstage, followed by EVE
ADAM
Still here, my Julia? What can you want here
Where death has destroyed all forms of happiness?
EVE
Is not my place beside you, where you are?
Sergiolus, what wealth of noble feelings
Might you have found hidden in my bosom,
That bosom where you sought such fleeting pleasures?
ADAM
And in my own heart. A pity it is so.
What shame to die in misery and meanness,
Continually to suffer. If God lives,
He kneels and raises his hands to heaven
If He has but a thought for us and rules us,
Then let Him bring new people, new ideals
Into the world, and pour a finer blood
Into degenerate veins, that nobler men
May break the mould and strive beyond themselves
To higher things. Oh everywhere I feel
Such shabbiness, and we have no strength left
To start anew. O Lord, please hear my prayer!
The Cross, in a glory of light, appears in the sky. Burning towns are glimpsed behind the mountains. Barbarian tribes swarm down. A hymn is heard in the distance
LUCIFER to himself
The sight sends a few shivers up my spine.
But is it not my task to strive with man?
Whatever I cannot perform he can.
I’ve witnessed similar capers in my time,
And once the glory fades and all is lost
There still remains behind the bloody Cross.
ST PETER
The Lord has hearkened to you. Look around -
Degenerate earth is straining for new birth.
These warriors, these savages in bearskin,
Who fling their brands against your shining cities,
Whose cavalry are tramping out the vintage
Of your past, who turn neglected temples
Into stables, they bring fresh stores of blood
To supplement your thin anaemic veins,
And those who in the circus chant their hymns
While ravening tigers tear out their intestines
Announce a new ideal of brotherhood,
The freedom of the individual soul. -
Ideas that roll like thunder through the world.
ADAM
I feel it, yes, I feel it. Soul disdains
Mere sluggish pleasures and soft counterpanes:
There is another pleasure set apart,
A joy in the slow draining of the heart.
ST PETER
So let it be your aim: to God the Glory,
To you the labour. The single soul is free
To bring to fullness all that lies within it.
And only one commandment binds it: Love.
ADAM
Rise, to battle, rise then in the fervour
Of new faith, and create another world
Of which the fair flower shall be chivalry,
Its altar poetry, and raised beside it
The high exalted feminine ideal.
He leans on ST PETER and departs
LUCIFER
How seemly for a man, how brave it is
To enthuse over impossibilities.
Such pious tendencies please the Creator,
And I’m in favour too - despair comes later.
He follows him
************************************************************
© TRANSLATION: OTTÓ TOMSCHEY, MADÁCH IRODALMI TÁRSASÁG, 2000 wrote:Rome. Open hall with sculptures of gods, vessels in which volatile oil is burning. View to the Appennines. - In the middle spread table with three couches. ADAM as SERGIOLUS, LUCIFER as MILO, CATULUS, all as leachers, EVE as JULIA, HIPPIA and CLUVIA as harlots carouse in frivolous dresses. GLADIATORS are fighting on a platform, slaves stand awaiting orders, flutists are playing. Twilight, later night.
CATULUS
Look, Sergiolus, how skilful and brisk
Is this gladiator mark'd with red ribbon.
I'll be bound that he will defeat the other.
ADAM
By Hercules! No!
CATULUS
Ah, by Hercules, and
Who's so crazy of us to believe in gods?
Take Julia, I'm ready to believe.
ADAM
All right.
LUCIFER
You swear to well-founded bases:
You replaced the false god by an other one.
But tell us what to understand on this oath:
Her beauty, her love are to be understood,
Or just her unbroken faithfullness to you? -
CATULUS
Charm is short-lived and if it would not be,
What now's delighting, will be dull tomorrow,
And you'll be seduced by the woman of
Less worth, by the witching charm of novelty.
ADAM
I said her faithfullness. Or who squanders
More on his lady than me?
HIPPIA
You're silly!
Can you endlessly even make love to her?
And if you could, you who are desirous of
Grasping delight and are flighty in vain,
Since only dispersed tiny fragments of
Delight you can find in each woman you love,
While the ideal of delight and beauty
Before you blinks as twinkling illusion;
How do you know that one of its whims or a
Daydream don't allow herself to be tempted? -
The crash'd muscles of a gladiator -
ADAM
That's true, that's true, Hippia, say not more,
Why this delight attracts me as Tantalus,
When the Herculean power is missing
And like Proteus we can't change ourselves.
And a despised slave delights in an hour
After a painful week, that's uselessly
Wanted by his lord. - Is delight only
A glass of cold water to man be athirst
And death to those who want to swim in it?
LUCIFER
What an illustrious moral course on
The bosoms of fair girls and at flower'd cups. -
But what about your bet? -
ADAM
If I lost then
Julia is yours.
CATULUS
If you win?
ADAM
Your horse
Is mine. -
CATULUS
To four weeks you can take it back,
I thrust it else into the fishpond of mine. -
LUCIFER
Look, Julia, at this fine and thick fish:
Eat, you'll certainly fatten an other.
EVE
No beastly worm does feast within you now?
Be happy who lives, or when no chance is
To be happy, have a good laugh at the least. (she drinks)
ADAM (to the gladiator)
Heigh! hold your own!
CATULUS
Gallantly up ahead, go!
(The gladiator of CATULUS falls and imploring for his life he raises his fingers. ADAM wants to show the sign of clemency but CATULUS pins his hand and with clenched fist he turns thumb towards the gladiator.)
Recipe ferrum! - Coward freak! I have
Enough slaves and I'm not so hard-fisted
To stint this short but thrilling performance
Of you, my dear and beautiful ladies,
Since kissing is much more sweeter and the
Lust is warmer when some blood was pouring.
(Meanwhile the gladiator was executed by the other.)
ADAM
The horse is mine, come Julia, kiss me, come.
Slaves, carry out the corpse. - And you, dancers,
Let you make now some comedy to us,
That was enough for today.
(The corpse is carried out, dancers take their place on the platform.)
CATULUS
Cluvia!
To me, come, I cannot see a good while
When others are kissing.
LUCIFER
What about us,
Hippia, do we follow their action?
But smack your lips: are they not wet by poisons?
Well, now we can enjoy ourselves, my darling.
ADAM
Why your heart is beating so heavily,
I don't find, Julia my rest on it.
(They are talking in undertones.)
LUCIFER
Listen, this fool's speaking about the heart! -
CATULUS
You see, darling, I do not maltreat your heart,
You make what you want, I don't want to know,
If your kiss is hot and is free for me.
CLUVIA
You are kind-hearted! Hail! To your health this wine!
(she drinks)
CATULUS
That's right, Cluvia, but don't refuse your
Soft arms and delicate bosom from me,
You see, my garland has slipped off my head. -
(To the dancers)
Oh, that's a favourable turn in your dance,
It's full of voluptuous fire and of charm!
CLUVIA
I cover your eyes and you will find there
What is also my most eager desire
And I cannot deserve even a good word. -
(Pointing to LUCIFER)
But rather look at this vinegar-faced chap, -
Why does he occupy this bonny girl,
If the only good service to him is that
To leave her being asleep and while he
Treats with sardonic smile and with stony face
A lot of delightful though purposeless things
That add relish to the conversation. -
CATULUS
Really, such a wry face is equal
In a party to freeze the atmosphere.
Who goes against the enchantment of seconds
And does not himself to be carried away,
He's good-for-nothing, I wish him to stay home. -
HIPPIA
Indeed, I feel frighten'd that in this fellow
The black death devastating the country
Has settled.
ADAM
Away with this sorrowful
Nightmare, away. Sing us some piquant songs.
Who of you'll sing the most beautiful one?
HIPPIA (sings)
Wine together with love
May be never enough;
Every sort has its
Own flavour and spice.
And rapture, delightful rapture
Like sun all the subsided graves,
Brightens and lights up our life.
Wine together with love
May be never enough;
All the maidens are
Differently nice,
ALL
And rapture, delightful rapture
Like sun all the subsided graves
Brightens and lights up our life
CATULUS
That's very good, now Cluvia that's your turn!
CLUVIA (sings)
In days gone by foolish world was that,
Lucretia in her widow's bed
Was by a fair cavalier look'd for,
Her lips are silent, wants no delight more,
She lays off into brothel to go,
Stabs herself to death without ado.
ALL
Let's be happy, this world better is,
Let's be happy, I am who here lives.
CLUVIA
In days gone by foolish world was that:
Brutus didn't sit in his cabinet,
Took his sword and has gone to contend
Like a hireling but to what an end?...
Fought for the ragged crowd's peace and wealth
And on the bare ground he bled to death.
ALL
Let's be happy, this world better is,
Let's be happy, I am who here lives.
CLUVIA
In days gone by foolish world was that:
Ghosts upset the heroes, it was bad,
Thought as holy, we are laughing at
And if there were somebody who's mad,
They could play in the circus in hood:
For us as sight, for the wild as food. -
ALL
Let's be happy, this world better is,
Let's be happy, I am who here lives.
LUCIFER
Oh, Cluvia, you bore down Hippia.
I'd like to be the poet of this nice song.
ADAM
You don't sing, Julia, why are you grieve?
Around us the others rejoice and laugh
Or you don't like to have rest in my arms?
EVE
Oh, I do. But forgive me, Sergiolus,
When happiness makes my brow darkened,
I hold that this laugh is very false to me.
The most delightful moment of us is
Spiced by one drop of an inexpressible grief,
We guess perhaps, this moment is - flower,
And thus languid.
ADAM
Ah, I have the same feeling.
EVE
Particularly if I hear music,
I do not listen to the empty words,
But flood of sound will swing me like a ship,
And I feel as to fall into a deep sleep:
I fly back by this gentle sound to the past
Beneath the sun-flooded palms I was there
Unguilty and unsophisticated,
The mission of my soul was magnificent.
Forgive me, all this is the enchantment of
The crazy dream. - I kiss you again. - I wake.
ADAM
Away with music and dance, the flood of
Eternal sweetness is mawkish to me,
My heart wants rather some bitterness and
Some gall into my wine, a sting to the
Reddening lips and disaster on me.
(Dancers exeunt; wailing from outside.)
What's that wail, what is this spine-chilling shriek?
LUCIFER
Some madmen who dreamt of fraternity and
Equality before law, are crucified.
CATULUS
It serves them right, why they did not remain at
Home while enjoying and forgetting the world,
Why did they deal with business of others?
LUCIFER
Beggar does want the rich to be his brother,
Invert them and see, he will crucify you.
CATULUS
Let us laugh off misery and the power,
The plague that takes its tithe of the people,
And let us laugh off all fates of the gods.
(Wailing again.)
ADAM
And I feel as to fall into a deep sleep
And fly back by this gentle sound to the past,
The mission of my soul was magnificent. -
You said so, Julia, did you?
EVE
Indeed.
(Meanwhile it grew dark. A funeral procession passes in front of the hall, with torches and wailing women. The whole company is wrapped in deep silence for a while.)
LUCIFER (bursting into a laugh)
As I see, merriness is gone away.
The wine is over or the joke is lost
So that the vinegar-faced chap has enough?
Or somebody of us maybe is fearing
Or just was converted.
ADAM (throwing his cup towards him)
Die, if you think.
LUCIFER
Well, I'll invite a new guest in our ranks,
Maybe he will bring here merriness again.
Hallo there! Slaves, hallo! bring him at once
Who passes this way under the torchlight.
We'll offer him, after all, a glass of wine. - -
(Slaves carry in the corpse in an open coffin and put it on the table. The companionship remains in the background. LUCIFER drinks the health of the guest.)
My nice chap! Drink! To-morrow me, to-day thee!
HIPPIA
Maybe you want rather a kiss.
LUCIFER
Embrace him
And steal out the obulus of his mouth.
HIPPIA
If I kiss you why not to kiss him at all?
(She kisses the corpse. PETER APOSTLE emerges from the attendants.)
PETER APOSTLE
Hold on! Hold on! You imbibe the black death itself!
(All arise shrinking back in horror)
ALL
The black death it's dreadful - let's get out from here!
PETER APOSTLE
You caddish gang! - Coward generation,
Who while swimming in the goodwill of fortune,
You are as cheeky as a cock-sparrow,
You tread with mocking on God and virtue.
But when disaster your window will shake,
When you're burden'd by almighty hand of God,
You come to heel with disgusting despair.
Do you not feel that you are burden'd by the
Judgement of God? Look 'round! only look 'round!
The town is ruin'd and rude strangers are crushing
Your standing ripe on your heavy earth,
Law is disorganized, nobody orders,
Nobody obeys. Plunder and murder
Haunt all over the peaceful and pleasant homes
Follow'd by ghastly care and by horror
And you have no help from heaven or earth.
You are unable to silence the voice with
Intoxication of the nice delights
That breaks the silence of your bosom's depth
And incites you to nobler aims in vain.
To you this is by no means satisfaction,
Your heart's disgusted only by delight,
You glance round worried, your lips are trembling:
All is in vain, you are free of faith in the
Ancient gods that became disintegrated.
(God-sculptures disintegrate.)
These fall to dust and you don't find new God
Who'd liberate you from dirtiness anew. -
Well, look around! What devastates in your town
With greater power than black death itself;
Thousands leave their soft couches to take the road,
To populate the large empty squares of
Thebais with infuriated hermits,
To seek there for something to irritate and
Excite their torpid, dull amativeness. -
You'll be exterminated, freak nation,
From the purifying scene of this great world.
HIPPIA (falling down in front of the table)
Oh, woe to me, that is a dreadful pain,
I'm in cold sweat, I bath in Orcus' fire -
The plague, the plague - Oh, I'm lost, I was lost!
Will nobody assist me out of you
Who have shared with me so many delights?
LUCIFER
To-day thee, my darling, to-morrow me. -
HIPPIA
Well, kill me then, kill me, else I swear at you.
PETER APOSTLE (walking up to her)
Don't swear, my maid, don't swear but be forgiving -
I will assist you and also the great Lord,
The eternal Lord of the holy love.
Arise to Him, see: by means of this water
Your soul will be purified immediately,
You hasten to Him. -
(He baptizes her with water from a dish on the table.)
HIPPIA
Father - I relax. (dies)
CATULUS (starts to go)
I leave for Thebais even today.
I am put off all the nefarious world.
CLUVIA
Wait me, Catulus, I'll go also with you. (exeunt)
ADAM (Being lost in thoughts, comes to the foreground, EVE follows him.)
And you, Julia, what are you doing here,
Where death does allow no glimmer of delight?
EVE
Now, where I must be? Of course, where you are.
Oh, Sergiolus, you could find a lot
Of generous feelings in my loving arms
Where you were after passing delights only. -
ADAM
And was after them in myself, oh in vain!
To perish miserably and pettily
And till then to be in pain. If God does live,
(He kneels down and lifts up his hands to heaven)
If He cares for and has power over us,
Let Him bring new nations and new thoughts to this
World, those to transfuse the freak race and these
To allow the nobler to rise. I feel
Everything we have possess'd, lost its glamour -
And to generate something new, our power
Is insufficient. Answer me, my Lord.
(In the sky the cross occurs in glory. From behind the mountains the redness of burning towns is seen. From the peaks nomad troups descend. Devote hymn is heard from a distance.)
LUCIFER (in himself)
This scene gives me a thrill somehow in my heart,
But I've to fight only against the man!
He is doing for me what I can't at all:
That's a similar joke I have often seen.
If the glory, yet slowly, will be lost,
Remains for me there the bloodthirsty cross.
PETER APOSTLE
Lord has answer'd you. - Take a look around.
The retrograded earth begins to revive.
These bearskinned, barbaric warriors
Who set the luxurious cities afire,
Whose horses stamp flat all what past centuries
Produced and find their stockyard within the
Desolated temples, will refresh the
Blood in the degenerated arteries.
Those who sing hymns in the hippodrome while the
Faming tigers tear to pieces their bosoms,
Will bring new thought, that is fraternity and
Liberation of the individuals,
That will the whole world stagger in its basis. -
ADAM
I feel, the soul's eager for something that's bright
And differs from the vain and torpid delight;
What can be a match to the bliss of bleeding
Slowly the heart with some ecstatic feeling?
PETER APOSTLE
Be your aim: Eternal glory to the Lord,
And to you labour. The person is free
To enforce all what he bears in himself,
Bound by one and only order: by love.
ADAM
Arise to fight, arise to burn for the new
Tenet! Create a different and new world
Crown'd by the heroic, knightly virtue and
On its holy altar the exalted
Idol of woman be the poetry.
(He starts being supported by PETER.)
LUCIFER
Adam, impossibilities you attempt,
This is worthy of the man and just decent.
It pulls you to heaven, this enjoys your Lord
And the devil who sees your hopeless effort. (follows ADAM)
