Dim memories; as now, when seems once more
The goal in sight again: all which, indeed,
Is foolish, and only means-the flesh I wear,
The earth I tread, are not more clear to me
Than my belief, explained to you or no.
Fest. And who am I to challenge and dispute
That clear belief? I put away all fear.
Mich. Then Aureole is God's commissary! he shall Be great and grand-and all for us!
No, sweet! Not great and grand If I can serve mankind
'Tis well-but there our intercourse must end :
I never will be served by those I serve.
Fest. Look well to this; here is a plague-spot, here, Disguise it how you may! "Tis true, you utter This scorn while by our side and loving us; "Tis but a spot as yet; but it will break
Into a hideous blotch if overlooked.
How can that course be safe which from the first
Produces carelessness to human love?
It seems you have abjured the helps which men
Who overpass their kind, as you would do,
Have humbly sought-I dare not thoroughly probe
This matter, lest I learn too much let be,
That popular praise would little instigate
Your efforts, nor particular approval
Reward you; put reward aside; alone
You shall go forth upon your arduous task,
None shall assist you, none partake your toil,
None share your triumph-still you must retain
Some one to cast your glory on, to share
Your rapture with. Were I elect like you,
I would encircle me with love, and raise
A rampart of my fellows; it should seem
Impossible for me to fail, so watched
By gentle friends who made my cause their own;
They should ward off Fate's envy-the great gift,
Extravagant when claimed by me alone,
Being so a gift to them as well as me.
If danger daunted me or ease seduced,
How calmly their sad eyes should gaze reproach!
Mich. O Aureole, can I sing when all alone,
Without first calling, in my fancy, both
To listen by my side-even I!
you not feel this?—say that you
feel this!
Par, I feel 'tis pleasant that my aims, at length
Allowed their weight, should be supposed to need
A further strengthening in these goodly helps!
My course allures for its own sake-its sole
Intrinsic worth; and ne'er shall boat of mine
Adventure forth for gold and apes at once.
Your sages say, "if human, therefore weak:
If weak, more need to give myself entire
To my pursuit; and by its side, all else..
No matter! I deny myself but little
In waiving all assistance save its own—
Would there were some real sacrifice to make!
Your friends the sages threw their joys away,
While I must be content with keeping mine.
Fest. But do not cut yourself from human weal? You cannot thrive-a man that dares affect
To spend his life in service to his kind,
For no reward of theirs, nor bound to them
By any tie; nor do so, Aureole! No-
There are strange punishments for such. Give up (Although no visible good flow thence) some part Of the glory to another; hiding thus,
Even from yourself, that all is for yourself. Say, say almost to God-" I have done all "For her-not for myself!"
Was to rejoice in my success like you?
Whom should I love but both of you?
I know not:
But know this, you, that 'tis no wish of mine
You should abjure the lofty claims you make;
Although I can no longer seek, indeed,
To overlook the truth, that there will be
A monstrous spectacle upon the earth,
Beneath the pleasant sun, among the trees:
-A being knowing not what love is. Hear me !
You are endowed with faculties which bear
Annexed to them as 'twere a dispensation
To summon meaner spirits to do their will,
And gather round them at their need; inspiring
Such with a love themselves can never feel-
Passionless 'mid their passionate votaries.
I know not if you joy in this or no,
Or ever dream that common men can live
On objects you prize lightly, but which make
Their heart's sole treasure: the affections seem
Beauteous at most to you, which we must taste
Or die and this strange quality accords,
I know not how, with you; sits well upon
That luminous brow, though in another it scowls
An eating brand-a shame. I dare not judge you:
The rules of right and wrong thus set aside,
There's no alternative-I own you one
Of higher order, under other laws
Than bind us; therefore, curb not one bold glance!
"Tis best aspire. Once mingled with us all . . . .
Mich. Stay with us, Aureole! cast those hopes away,
And stay with us! An angel warns me, too,
Man should be humble; you are very proud:
And God, dethroned, has doleful plagues for such!
He warns me not to dread a quick repulse,
Nor slow defeat, but a complete success!
You will find all you seek, and perish so!
Par. (After a pause.) Are these the barren first fruits
Is love like this the natural lot of all?
How many years of pain might one such hour
O'erbalance? Dearest Michal, dearest Festus,
What shall I say, if not that I desire
To merit this your love; and will, dear friends,
In swerving nothing from my first resolves.
See, the great moon! and 'ere the mottled owls
Were wide awake, I was to go.
It seems
You acquiesce at last in all save this—
If I am like to compass what I seek
By the untried career I chuse; and then,
If that career, making but small account
Of much of life's delight, will yet retain
Sufficient to sustain my soul-for thus
I understand these fond fears just expressed.
And first; the lore you praise and I neglect,
The labours and the precepts of old time,
I have not slightly disesteemed. But, friends,
C/Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise
From outward things, whate'er you may believe:
There is an inmost centre in us all,
Where truth abides in fulness; and around
Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in,
This perfect, clear perception-which is truth;
A baffling and perverting carnal mesh
Blinds it, and makes all error: and, "to know"
Rather consists in opening out a way
Whence the inprisoned splendour may escape,
Than in effecting entry for a light
Supposed to be without. Watch narrowly
The demonstration of a truth, its birth,
And you trace back the effluence to its spring
And source within us, where broods radiance vast,
To be elicited ray by ray, as chance
Shall favour: chance-for hitherto, your sage
Even as he knows not how those beams are born,
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