THE TRAGEDY OF MAN WRITTEN BY IMRE MADACH, 1860 TRANSLATED BY GEORGE SZIRTES {**************************************************************************} SCENE 1 In Heaven. The LORD, resplendent in His glory, sits upon his throne, the ANGELIC HOST kneeling before Him. The four ARCHANGELS are standing beside the throne. Intense light. ANGELIC HOST Glory to God in the highest, Heaven and earth do both Him praise, Who with one Word brought all things into being And continues to uphold them with His gaze. He all Power, all Knowledge and all Rapture, We the merest shadow of His splendour, O come let us adore him in His Grace Of which we may partake by His sweet tender. The Eternal Concept is made flesh, behold The consummation of ?His will to form As form His creatures now The Lord awaits Appropriate homage to His Seat of State. THE LORD It's done, the great act of creation. The maker rests. The wheel's in motion And will rotate upon its axle for A hundred million years before A single cog wears out. Take wing My sentinels, begin your orbiting. Once more let me admire and hear the sweet Sound of your circuit, smooth beneath my feet. The Guardian Spirits of the stars pass by the throne, rolling before them one or two planets, comets and nebulae of various colours and sizes. The music of the spheres is faintly heard. ANGELIC HOST Look at that brave ball of fire: So overweening its effulgence, Unaware it merely serves Some distant galaxy's indulgence. This you'd think a feeble lantern A winking-blinking little planet, But O how huge it seems to those Unnumbered souls that thrive upon it. Two spheres contend with one another, Rush close, repel and sharply veering Spin away. Their opposition Steers them through such wild careering. Terrifying all observers, Thunderously one helter-skelters Downward--yet what peace and joy It offers to those hordes it shelters. How humble is this other's bearing-- A star of love in preparation, Tender be the hands that nuture Humankind's own consolation. There worlds labouring to be born Here the tombs of worlds departed: A warning to the overweening, Encouragement for the faint-hearted. A monstrous comet hurtles madly Out of chaos to disaster: But see! it mends its crooked motion When bidden by its Heavenly Master. Come beloved, youthful spirit With your changing sempiternal Sphere of woe and celebration, Cloaked in white or green and vernal. High heaven shower blessings on you, Onward, undaunted: what collisions Your narrow shores are doomed to witness, What wars, between conflicting visions. Fair and foul, and tears and laughter, The winter's and the spring's endeavour, Constitute the light and shadow Of our Master's wrath or favour. The Guardian Spirits of the starts withdraw ARCHANGEL GABRIEL Thou who compassed the infinitudes, Creating matter out of nothing, And with one word wrought out of matter's being Both measure and weight, we offer to Thee Our hosannas, Concept Eternal He falls to his knees ARCHANGEL MICHAEL Thou who fused the changeless and the changing, Establishing both perpetuity And time itself, uniting entity And nationhood, we offer to Thee Our hosannas, Power Eternal. He falls to his knees ARCHANGEL RAPHAEL Thou flood and fountain of our happines, Bringer of the body to self-consciousness, Allowing the entire world to partake Of Thy wisdom, we offer to Thee Our hosannas, Virtue Eternal. He falls to his knees Silence THE LORD You there, Lucifer, proudly standing apart, No word of praise from you? Are you still silent? Does something in my work, perhaps, displease you? LUCIFER And what should please me? That certain substances, Having been imbued with properties Of whose existence You were ignorant Until, perhaps, they revealed themselves to You, (Though it may well be You had no power to change them) Are now screwed up into these tiny globes That chase, attract or else repel each other, Awaking a few worms to consciousness Till all of space is filled at last, grows cold, And only the indifferent slag is left? If man's at all observant he'll concoct Some hash like this with his poor instruments. Having placed him in your cosmic kitchen You now indulge his bungling awkwardness, His godlike postures, his botched cookery. But when he comes to spoil your favourite dish You'll flare up in a rage--too late by then. But what can You expect from such a dabbler? What is the point of the whole exercise? A poem of self-praise is all it is -- You match it so this feeble hurdy-gurdy And listen to the same old weary tune Whine on and on in endless repetition. Is it becoming to Your ripe old age To play with this contraption fit for children? A spark of life within a little clay, A simulacrun, not a faithful likeness; Free-will and fate in mutual pursuit: It lacks all harmony, all sense of meaning. THE LORD I merit praise alone, not condemnation. LUCIFER I only render what is in my nature. (pointing to the angels) This wretched crew will serve to flatter You, Not surprisingly since they're Your creatures. You begat them as light begets a shadow But I had pre-existence, and am ageless. THE LORD Such impudence! Were you not born of matter? What power had you before? What sphere? What realm? LUCIFER I might perhaps enquire the same of You. THE LORD What here is bodied forth into existence Had life in me before the dawn of time. LUCIFER You never sensed that void in Your conceptions, That barrier to every mode of being Whose very presence compelled You to create? That barrier was one named LUCIFER, The underlying spirit of negation. You triumphed over me since it's my fate Incessantly to fail in all my struggles But then, revitalized, to rise again. When you made matter I gained my estate; There stands life, and there beside it, death, Joy on the one hand, discord on the other, Shade follows light, and doubt succeeds to hope-- And see, I'm always with You everywhere. Knowing You as I do, why pay homage? THE LORD Out of my sight, you spirit of sedition! I could destroy you utterly--but no, Fight on, abhorred, in exile, in the mire, Forbidden every solace of the spirit, And in your bleak and anguished solitude Let this one thought be an eternal torment: However you may shake your chains of dust Your struggle with the Lord is doomed to failure. LUCIFER No, not so fast--I won't go just like that, You can't discard me like a broken tool. We are both creative spirits--I demand My portion. THE LORD ( Scornfully ) Just as you wish. Look down to earth: In the heart of Eden stand two slender trees. I curse the pair of them: now they are yours. LUCIFER No wonder you are mean, you have the means. The merest patch of ground will do for me. A foothold I require, no more, you'll see, To sow negation and spread anarchy. ( He sets off ) ANGELIC HOST Out of the sight of God accursed traitor! All praise to the Almighty Legislator. { **********************************************************************} SCENE 2 Paradise. Centre stage the Trees of Knowledge and Eternal Life. Enter ADAM and EVE, surrounded by various animals, tame and trusting. Throught the open gates of Heaven shines the light of glory. Soft harmonies of the ANGELIC HOST are heard. Bright, blazing sunshine. EVE Ah life, how sweet to be alive! ADAM The lord and master of the world! EVE To feel that they are fending for us, That all we need to do is show Him How bounden we are to His favour. ADAM To lean on others is your law, I see. I'm thirsty, Eve. Just look how temptingly That fruit leers down at us. EVE I'll pluck it with my hand. THE VOICE OF THE LORD Beware! beware! The whole wide world is yours But those two trees you must shun. An alien spirit guards their tender fruit, And those who taste it find their life undone. Look there instead--wine ripening in culsters And temperate shadows offering relief From the high parching brilliance of noon. ADAM A strange command. How stern it seems. EVE Why are those two trees more lovely? Why are they the ones forbidden? ADAM Why is sky blue or grass green? That's just their way. Let's heed the voice. Come along, Eve, follow me. ( They settle in an arbour ) EVE Lay your head against my breast, I'll gently fan you while you rest. ( A violent gust of wind. LUCIFER appears among the leaves ) ADAM What's that? I've heard nothing like it. I feel as if some foreign force Had broken bounds. EVE I tremble, ADAM. And heaven too has fallen silent. ADAM I hear it still within your breast. EVE When clouds obscure the eye of heaven I see it still within your eyes, And where else should I hope to find it, Than in you whose deep desire Begat my birth. You are the sun Who at his peak pines all alone And paints his image on the water Flirting, flushed, with his companion Who in his bounty fast forgets That she is but the palest fire, A mere reflection who must fade To nought at night with his own shade. ADAM Hush now, Eve, you will abash me. What is a voice if no one hears it? A beam without its bead of colour? What would I be were you absent? My life unfolds in you, a flower, My voice resounds in you, an echo. How learn to love myself without you? LUCIFER Why should I listen to these soft endearments? I'll turn away in case I am dishonoured; My cold and calculating intellect Might fall to envying such childlike spirits. ( A little bird begins to sing on a nearby branch ) EVE O ADAM, can you understand This little lover's clownish lisping? ADAM I've heard the twittering of waters. Their song was similar to his. EVE What miracle, what harmony, So many words with but one meaning! LUCIFER Why dealy? Now rouse yourself. Ruin I vowed, they must be ruined. And yet again I hesitate: Will knowledge be the way to woo them Or ambition to assault them, These whom tender feelings tend And harbour like a sacred shrine To shield their hearts and raise their spirits Each time they fall? But why be faint When courage carries all before it! ( Another gust wind. LUCIFER appears before the terrified pair. The sky darkens. LUCIFER laughs ) Why stare? ( To EVE, who is about to flee ) Ah, lovely lady, wait! A moment I beg to marvel at you. ( Eve stops and slowly plucks up courage ) LUCIFER ( aside ) A pretty pattern of perfections. ( Aloud ) Frightened, ADAM? ADAM Of you, low creature? LUCIFER ( aside ) A father fit to sire proud men. ( aloud ) Greetings to you, brother spirit! ADAM Who are you, tell me? From worlds below ours or above? LUCIFER Precisely as you please, to us There is no difference in degree. ADAM I did not know that other men could be. LUCIFER But there is so much more you do not know And never will. Do you suppose The Ancient in simplicity Created you from dust that you Might share His world? You give Him praise: He keeps you well supplied in turn. He says to you, Take this, Leave that, And tends and leads you like a sheep; You have no need for wit at all. ADAM For wit? Do I not have my wits? Do I not feel the blessed daylight, The sweet delight of being alive, The endless goodness of my God Who placed me here as the world's prince? LUCIFER The tiny maggot, who consumes The fruit before you, thinks the same, As does the eagle seizing on his prey. What makes you nobler then than they? One common spark burns in you all, The stirring of ine universal power; Like individual ripples in a brook You leap to light, then swiftly sink Deep in your swart and common bed. One thing only, the power of thought, Which languishes in you, unwitting, Might help you grow to proper manhood, To trust in your own strength, to choose Between the evil and the good, To take charge of your destiny, And free you from God's charity. You might prefer to go on breeding Like any worm in a warm dungheap, Lapped within your feeble limits, And waste your life in ignorance. A satisfying faith is nice and neat: It's nobler but harder to stand on your own feet. ADAM How you speak! It makes my head spin. EVE These beautiful new things you say inspire me. LUCIFER But knowledge alone is not enough; For if it is to bear fruit in great deeds, Eternal life is something else you need. What can you do with this mere thimbleful? These two trees here will make you lords of all, The very two forbidden you By God who first created you. Taste this and you will equal God in wisdom, Taste that, eternal youth and grace are yours. EVE How mean is our Master, after all! ADAM But what if you deceive us? ( the heavens grow a little brighter ) ANGELIC HOST Alas, poor world, The ancient spirit of denial tempts you. THE VOICE OF THE LORD ADAM, take heed! ADAM What is that voice again? LUCIFER Only the wind shaking the branches. You elements, Lend aid, arise-- Humanity Will be your prize.-- ( A blast of wind. It grows darker ) These two trees are mine! ADAM But who, then are you? To all appearances you're just like us. LUCIFER See there, the eagle circling in the clouds; And there the mole blindly turning the soil-- Each is bound by its own horizon. The world of spirits lies beyond your sight, And man appears to you the very peak Of God's creation. Dogs seem so to dogs, They favour you with their companionship. But just as you despise the dog And, like a god, control his fate With here a curse and there a word of praise, So we, proud natives of the realm Of pure spirit, look down on you. ADAM And you are one of these pure spirits? LUCIFER Indeed I am, the mighties of the mighty, Who stood beside the throne of God And had a portion of his great effulgence. ADAM Then why did you not stay in the bright heavens, Why descend into this world of dust? LUCIFER I grew tired of second place, Of life's unchanging ordered pace, The piping choirs, their childish song Of praise without a word of wrong. I long for conflict and for strife To bring new potent worlds to life Where souls might grow in porbity, Where some brave souls might follow me. ADAM But God said He would punish us If we should stray from our appointed path. EVE Why should be punish us? If He has set The path we are to follow, surely He Will have arranged that we can choose no other. Why leave us standing above the deep, Dizzy and abandoned to our doom? Or if sin too is part of His design As storms are of hot days, Why blame the roll of thunder more Than heat which gives us life? LUCIFER I see we have our first philosopher. You are the first of many, my fair sister, Who'll argue the same point a million ways. A few of them will end their days in bedlam. Others stop short, but none will find a refuge. Do put aside this futile speculation, There are so many fine shades of opinion On every issue that if you try them all You end up knowing less than when you started Without a hope of reaching a conclusion. Contemplation means the death of action. EVE In that case I will pluck the fruit. ADAM The Lord has put His curse on them. LUCIFER ( laughs ) But pluck. Whatever happens to us, let it happen. Let us be wise, like God. ( First EVE, then ADAM taste of the apple ) EVE Above all Eternal young. LUCIFER This way, this way, quickly. Here is the Tree of Eternal Life, Now hurry! ( He pulls them toward the other tree, but a Cherub with a flaming sword bars their way ) CHERUB Back with you, transgressors, back! THE VOICE OF THE LORD ADAM, ADAM, you have abandoned me So I abandon you. Go try your strength. EVE We're finished. LUCIFER You are discouraged ? ADAM Not at all. That shudder was my first awakening. We're going, Eve. No matter where. Away! This place already feels barren and strange. ANGELIC HOST Ah, weep for them, Angelic Host, The lie pervails--the earth is lost. SCENE 3 A landscape with palms, outside Eden. A small crude wooden hut. ADAM is driving stakes into the ground to make a fence. EVE is building a bower. LUCIFER overlooks them. ADAM So this is mine. The wide world is behind me. This plot shall be my home. I'll master it. Defend it from all harm of fowl or brute And force the field to yield its fairest fruit. EVE And I will build a bower like that before To conjure the Eden that is ours no more. LUCIFER What potent words are kin and property. Like two great levers that shall move the world, They will give birth to every pain and pleasure. The two ideas will grow continuosly, Creating nations and industries, Begetting greatness and nobility, Devouring, in time, their own progeny. ADAM You speak in riddles. You promised wisdom - I put aside instinctive joys, Prepared to struggle, to be great. What for ? LUCIFER You feel no different before ? ADAM I feel that when the Lord abandoned me And thrust me into the desert, empty handed, I too abandoned him. My God is me, Whatever I regain is mine by right. This is the source of all my strength and pride. LUCIFER (aside) Thumb your nose at heaven, vain puppet, you ! We'll see your mettle when storms buffet you. EVE My only source of pride is to know That I shall be mother of the world. LUCIFER (aside) What fine ideals fill her heart. To be The carrier of sin and misery. ADAM What should I thank Him for ? This mere existence ? If mere existence can be justified The fruits of my exertions must suffice. In order to take pleasure in plain water I have to work and feel my thirst the keener. Each honeyed kiss untunes us, the price of that Is what it brings in tow : it leaves us flat. But though the bonds of gratitude have snapped And fallen from me, and though I am free To reconstruct my fate or wreck it again, Stumbling in my efforts at perfection, I doubt if help were needed to get this far, To do this much was quite within my power. You haven't freed me from the heavy chains That bind my mortal body to the dust. I feel entwined by something I can't name, One hair, or something frailer, to my shame, A curb on my ambitious spirit. Look, I try to leap : my body drags me down, My eyes and ears refuse to serve when I would be prying into hidden knowledge, And even when imagination raises me Mere hunger plucks me down and humbles me, And makes me descend once more into base matter. LUCIFER That single strand has greater strength that I have ADAM You must be weak indeed to be defeated By this invisible web, this piece of nothing Among whose strands a million creatures feel At liberty to frolic as they please, Whose presence is suspected by no more Than a few exalted spirits at the most. LUCIFER It is the only thing that can defy me, Because, like me, it is pure spirit. You think It frail because it seems to work obscurely ? Not in the least: it sits and waits in darkness, Creating or destroying galaxies. Your head would spin if you could see it plain. Man's work alone depends on sound an fury And that can be contained in a mere thimble. ADAM You know how strong I am, so let me see- A glimpse is all I want - that mechanism Which so effects me, though I am expressly Designed for self-sufficiency. LUCIFER "I am" - what foolish words! You were, you will be. All life is an eternal ebb and flow. But go on, look, my spirits will lend you eyes. ADAM ( who, as he speaks, begins to see what he describes) What flood is boiling up and rising Ever higher all about me, Dividing into two and rumbling Like thunder towards the Poles? LUCIFER Heat quickening a land of ice. ADAM And those two streams of fire roaring And racing beside me, I fear they'll sweep me away Although I feel their generative power. LUCIFER Magnetism. Fields of force. ADAM The earth is shaking. What seemed firm and boundless Is seething matter, irresibility Striving for form, struggling to be born. See, here it shapes a flower, there a crystal. But in all this wild confusion what becomes Of me, of my self-image, of that body In which I fondly trusted, like a child, Imagining it was a worthy tool To help me gain my ends and my desires? Spoilt infant, pampered brat, who brings me pain And pleasure, indiscriminate in both, Are you to be reduced to a few handfuls Of fine dust, a residue of water And thin air? So radiant and glowing Even now, are you to dissolve in clouds? Each word I speak, each thought I form, consumes My being drop by drop. I burn away! Perhaps some hidden and mysterious spirit Fans these fearsome flames, hoping to warm Himself beside my ashes. Take it away! Oh take away this dream which drives me mad. It is terrible to stand alone among A hundred warring elements and feel That sense of sharp and utter desolation! O why did I dismiss that providence I felt instictively but could not prize. My intellect now yearns in vain for it. EVE Yes, yes, I too feel the same. While you are striving against beasts of prey And I am wearily toiling in the garden, I look about me, searching the horizon, But neither on earth nor in heaven do I see A single friend to cheer or comfort me. How different it was in the good old days. LUCIFER ( mocking ) Well then, if you're both so feeble minded That you catch cold without a nurse or mother, And if you must serve someone. I'll summon up god to suit your needs, Someone nicer than old Nobodaddy: The Spirit of the Earth, a decent lad- I used to know him in the Heavenly Choir. Spirit, no one else would dare To summon from the Earth, appear! The Spirit of Denial's voice Takes no deny and leaves no choice. (Flames shoot from the ground, a thick black cloud appears with a rainbow, rolling with thunder ) LUCIFER (stepping back) Who are you, Terror? I did not call you. The Spirit of the Earth is meek and mild. SPIRIT OF THE EARTH What in the Heavenly Choir seemed weak to you Is infinite and strong in its own sphere- Now here I am because I must obey The words of spirits, but take note of this: To rouse is one thing, to control another. My true form is too harsh a sight for you- And as for these two worms, it would destroy them. LUCIFER Inform me then, if man would worship you And make you his god, how may he approach you? SPIRIT Dispersed among the waters and the clouds, In groves, in every place that man surveys With strong desire and elevated spirits. ( The SPIRIT disappears. The springs and groves are peopled with playful nymphs) EVE Ah look at those sweet kindred faces, Look, just look, how charmingly they greet us, Now farewell wilderness and desolation, True happiness has come to dwell among us. They'll comfort us when we are low And give us good advice when we're in doubt. LUCIFER Nor could you wish for better counsellors, Since by the time you ask you have decided- And these delightful evanescent creatures Will answer in the spirit of the question. They smile benignly on the pure in heart But seem horrendous to the desperate, They'll company you in a myriad shapes, A hundred transformations, till you die. They offer cooling shade to fevered minds, Ideals to the eternal young-in-heart. ADAM What's that to me? What is this mirage, This glittering display I cannot grasp? To me it's yet another mystery. Don't monkey with me, LUCIFER. Enough! Where is the knowledge that you promised me? LUCIFER (aside) Bitter enough will it seem in time to come- You'll wish for ignorance before we're through. (aloud) Have patience please. You know you have to struggle To earn even your momentary pleasures. You have so much to learn yet. Be prepared For many disappointments on the way. ADAM It's easy enough for you to talk patience- Eternity's vast store is laid before you. But I've not tasted of the Tree of Life; A thimbleful of time means I must hurry. LUCIFER All creatures have an equal share in time, The hundred year old tree, ephemeral flies, All feel, take pleasure, propagate and die Having fulfilled their needs, used up their day. It is not time that moves, but we who change. A century, a day - it makes no difference. So never fear, you too will run your race, But do not think that man's entire self Is bound up with this lump of clay, the body. You've seen the anthill, no doubt, and the beehive: A thousand workers stumbling to and fro, Unconsciously they do, they err; they die. The organism though, the One, lives on By instinct shaped into a single mass, Fulfilling its delineated purpose Until the day when everything must end. You too will come to dust, it is quite true. But in a hundred forms you'll live again And never will you have to start afresh Since when you err, your son will bear the blame, You pass on to him your feebleness, your gout- All that you feel, experience and learn Remains your own throughout a million years. ADAM This backward glance might satisfy an old man: My heart is young, its passions are quite different. I want to see the future to discover What I must struggle for, what I must suffer. Let me see too, if I am to retain My charm through all the changes that remain. LUCIFER So let it be. I'll cast a spell on you And you will see unto the end of time As in a dream, in fleeting images. But when you see how foolish are your aims, How fierce the war in which you are engaged, I'll grant you - to prevent you from despair And to maintain your courage in the battle- A tiny ray of light there in the sky, That you might think the whole dream was a mirage. That tiny ray of light will be called Hope. (LUCIFER leads ADAM and EVE into the hut. They fall asleep.) SCENE 4 In Egypt. Before an open hall. ADAM, as a youthful PHARAOH, seated on a throne. LUCIFER is his minister. A magnificient retinue atends at a respectable distance. In the background, slaves are building a pyramid driven on by guards with whips. Clear daylight LUCIFER My lord, your subjects who would gladly shed Their life-blood for you are concerned to know What prevents great Pharaoh from enjoying Tranquil rest upon his pillowed throne? Why renounce, they ask, the joys of daylight, The charming dreams and images of night, why not instead allow some useful slave To bear the burden of your grand design, Since every honour, every potency The world can offer is already yours, As well as all the pleasures man can bear. A hundred rich dominions call you master, For you their flowers offer up their fragnance, For you alone the sweet fruit grows and ripens, It is for you a thousand women sigh, The flaxen beauty with her languid eyes, So delicate and fair, a vision dancing, The girl with auburn hair and panting lips, Whose burning eyes are maddened with desire- All yours, my lord. Your whims dictate their fate, And each of them will feel herself fulfilled If she may tender you a moment's pleasure. ADAM Not one of these things takes my fancy now, They are my due, like taxes. I don't earn them Through my own exertions or in heat of battle.- But with this work which occupies me now I do believe I've found the way to greatness. Nature herself will wonder at such skill, And ring my name down the millennia. Earthquake or tempest- nothing can destroy it. Man has become more powerful than God. LUCIFER But Pharaoh, lay your hand upon your heart And tell me if this prospect makes you happy. ADAM Ah no, there is an untold emptyness, Some awful void. No matter, it is glory I want, not happiness. And glory waits. If only they knew nothing of my sorrow: The masses cease to worship when they pity. LUCIFER But what if one day you should see through glory And find it a mere transitory plaything. ADAM Impossible! LUCIFER But all the same. ADAM I'd die. And curse the world to come. LUCIFER You will see through it, But you'll not die- in fact you'll start upon A fresh career. With much the same success. (The overseers beat one of the SLAVES so fiercely that he runs in anguish into the hall and falls before the throne) SLAVE My lord, your help! ( EVE, as his bride, rushes forward from the ranks of the workers and embraces her husband, weeping passionately EVE It's no use asking him. How could one who has never felt our pain Begin to understand it. The higher the throne The fainter sounds the cry. Why not call me? My body covers yours and takes the force Of every blow. ADAM ( to the overseers who crowd forward to take the pair away) Leave her. Off with you! ( They go ) What starnge emotion flutters at my heart? Who is this woman, and what kind of charm Does she posses that she can drag great Pharaoh Down to the dust beside her with its chains? (He rises) LUCIFER Another piece of webbing, that is all, Which God, in mockery, has wound about you, So that when in your vanity, you play At butterflies, you'll not forger taht you Were once a grub. You saw before how strong This slender thread can be, which slips through fingers So I cannot tear it. ADAM ( descending from the throne) Do not even try to. It is as comforting as it is galling. LUCIFER Philosophers and kings, however, should not Toil within its webs. ADAM Then what am I to do? LUCIFER (mocking) There's nothing for it but for science to Deny that such a hidden thread exists. Let energy and matter scoff at it. ADAM But I can neither scoff at it nor deny it. EVE Ah dearest, how you bleed! I'll staunch the flow. Your suffering must be unbearable. SLAVE What hurts is life. Its pain is quickly over. EVE You must not say that! Why live just so long To die but now when we have found each other? SLAVE A slave? Why does he live - to carry stones And raise his master's pyramid, to breed His own successor for the yoke, and die. A million souls for one. ADAM What awful words, Oh LUCIFER! LUCIFER The babbling of a corpse. ADAM What was he saying? LUCIFER Why should you care, Pharaoh It is, indeed, a most important matter To see the rank of slaves reduced by one. EVE Only a sum to you, the world to me. Merciful heavens, who will love me now? SLAVE Not I, no longer - you must forget me, woman. ( He dies ) ADAM Then I will love you. Take away the body. ( They raise the body ) Arise, mADAM, your place is on the throne Upon the cushion. You are the paragon Of beauty and I of power. We are fated To meet each other everywhere. EVE Your highness, I know too well that you command the fate Of slaves. I do not question it. But wait - Give me a little time, then I am yours. ADAM No, not that word again. Is everything To come to me through that one word 'command'? EVE Oh let it be enough that your command Does not distress me - and do not be jelaous Of tears that I must shed for one who is dead. How fair he is in death. My Lord, how fair! ( She flings herself across the corpse ) ADAM Both fair and dead: how strange a contradiction. Such stillness mocks at our ambition, smiles With pity at our vanity. LUCIFER A slave, One who escaped you, mocks at you and says, My strength is greater now than all your fetters. ADAM Peace to the dead and greetings to the living. He cannot feel your tears, but oh I suffer Agonies without your smile. ( They take the dead man out. ADAM leads EVE to the throne ) ADAM What is it, my love ? EVE Oh, can't you hear The people's cry of pain? ADAM It is the first time I have noticed it . A sorry music- But come and kiss me and forget the world. (To LUCIFER) And you please put an end to all this wailing. LUCIFER I can't do that. It is the people's birthright, One that they inherit with the yoke. ( Another cry of pain. EVE screams out. ADAM rises ) ADAM Oh lady, you are suffering and I Hardly know how to help you. That cry, like lighting, Pierces your heart and strikes at my head. It feels As if the world were crying out for help. EVE Oh Pharaoh, crush me if you will - forgive me If the people's cry of woe won't let me rest. I am your slave, as I know very well, My life's one purpose is to give you pleasure. I will forget about the world outside: The splendour, poverty, the dreams, the dead, I'll sweeten my smile and make my lips more luscious. But when the people, that million-limbed creature Begins to moan under the lash, then I, Their exiled daughter, and a tiny part Of that great aching body, feel each cry Of every pain they suffer in my heart. ADAM I feel with you - a million souls for one- The dead man's words... EVE You are melancholy, Great Pharaoh. It is my fault. Drive me off Or teach me to be deaf. ADAM You'd make a finer tutor For you can teach me how to hear such pain. I've had enough. Oh, liberate the slaves, Dismiss them all. What is the point of glory If it can only be achieved through torture, Through one man sacrificing millions In whom there breathes the same clear human spirit? I feel a million pains for each delight. LUCIFER Pharaoh, you are confused. The masses are Mere creatures of fate, living under sentence. You'd seen them tread the mill in any system, That is what they are made for. Free them now And they'd gain nothing by your futile gesture- Tomorrow they would seek another master. Do you imagine you could sit astride them Were they themselves not anxious to have masters? If there were any consciousness in them ? ADAM But why this wailing - could it be the yoke Tormented them? LUCIFER Something hurts them, true, But what, they could not tell you. Men seek power And that is all there is. It is the spur. It's not faternity that drives the masses Towards the flag of freedom. I do not say That they would recognize this - no; they itch For novelty and spurn a settled order; They hope to realize in novelty Their dreams of happiness. An unplumbed sea. The people: sunbeams cannot penetrate Their murky depths. But one wave scintillates, A single fleeting brilliance. A wave like you. ADAM Why me? LUCIFER Or someone like you. One in whom The people's instinct comes to consciousness, Some venerated champion of freedom Who dares to oust you from shining realm. The masses, of course, never profit by it: The names may change, the master still remains. ADAM Your logic runs in never ending circles From which there seems no prospect of escape LUCIFER Escape there is. Present a chosen few With necklaces or rings or some such bauble, And say to them: I raise you from the crowd, You are hereby ennobled - they'll believe you, And looking down on others with disdain Accept, without demur, your condenscension. ADAM Please spare me all your specious arguments. Away with slavery, let them all go free. Inform them of this now, with greatest haste, Immediately, before I change my mind. LUCIFER (aside) Proceed with all your vanity, be gone: You think you act - it's fate that draws you on. (He leaves) ADAM The work must stop, unfinished as it is, The fragments will serve to humble the ambitious, A paradox of power and impotence. ( Great joy outside as the workers disperse. LUCIFER returns) Rejoice, you slaves, your lord bows down before you. But never think he was compelled to it. EVE Console yourself, my love, for after all What earthly use are pomp and circumstance? They creep and crawl between us like a snake. ADAM How vast, how vast it is! eve Away with it. You see, the cries have stopped. Our courting will Be undisturbed. Oh lean against my bossom- What more can you desire? ADAM How restricted Are your horizons, woman. And yet this Precisely is what charms ambitious men- The strong are fated to desire the weak. It's what a parent feels so ardently When holding his helpless child within his arms. EVE Perhaps, O Pharaoh, I already bore you With needless, incoherent chattering. I cannot help it if I am no wiser. ADAM Do not even wish to be, my dearest. One intellect is quite enough for me. It's not for power or majesty I seek Your breast, nor knowledge. Books can grant me these More readily. Simply continue talking, Talk on, that I may ever hear your voice, Suffuse my heart with its sweet resonance, Say anything whatever. Oh, who wants To know what little birds are singing when They bring such intimations of delight. Be but a flower, be charming bric-a-brac Whose worth lies not in function but sheer beauty. ( To LUCIFER ) But something bothers me and breaks the spell Of sensuous reverie. It may be foolish And yet, I beg you, satisfy this longing- Let me cast just one interpid glance Into the future, a few millennia hence, And know my reputation. LUCIFER Can you feel, Even as you kiss, a light caressing Breeze that touches your face, then flies away? It leaves the faintest coating of fine dust. Next year you'll see it gathering in creases, A century, you plunge your arm in it; A thousand years, your pyramids are buried; Great drifts of sand obliterate your name; Your pleasure gradens fill with cries of jackals; A race of slaves and beggars roam the desert. ( All that LUCIFER describes becomes visible ) No fearful cataclysm brings this on, No thunderstorms or earthquakes are required; A breeze, that's all, the breeze which plays about you. ADAM A dreadful sight! LUCIFER (mocking) Why worry? It is only Your soul that's lost, your body stays intact And perfectly preserved for curious schoolboys To puzzle at your twisted face, to guess From scuffed inscriptions if you're slave or master? ( He kicks at a mummy which has appeared before the throne. It rolls down the stairs) ADAM ( leaping up) Infernal image ! Get away from me! Vain strife and even emptier ambition- A million souls for one-one words still ring. And so I must emancipate the millions In one free state. There's nothing left for it. Let one man die providing the state lives And makes an entity of single men. EVE And will you leave me too, your own true love ? ADAM Yes-you, the throne, I must leave everything. Lead on, Oh LUCIFER, to some new goal. I've vasted too much time in this blind alley. ( He sets out with drawn sword ) EVE My lord, remember-if you should return With shattered hopes, my heart will offer shelter. ADAM Indeed, I think I will discover you In purer form wherever we next meet, But then you will embrace me not as slave But as an equal with a sense of pleasure ( He goes ) LUCIFER Why all this haste? You'll get there soon enough, Sooner perhapsthan you had hoped. Your folly Will find you out and leave you melancholy. It should be most amusing. Let's be off. Return-Path: SZADAI@ch.bme.hu Received: from ftp2.sunet.se (ftp2.sunet.se [130.238.253.5]) by urtica.sdi.slu.se (8.6.10/8.6.6) with ESMTP id RAA27965 for ; Wed, 10 Jul 1996 17:39:00 +0200 Received: from ns.bme.hu (ns.bme.hu [152.66.116.1]) by ftp2.sunet.se (8.7.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id RAA29753 for ; Wed, 10 Jul 1996 17:38:06 +0200 (MET DST) Received: from ch.bme.hu (ch.bme.hu [152.66.64.1]) by ns.bme.hu (8.7.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id RAA27956 for ; Wed, 10 Jul 1996 17:37:53 +0200 (MET DST) Received: from CH/TEMPQ by ch.bme.hu (Mercury 1.21); 10 Jul 96 17:44:17 +1100 Received: from TEMPQ by CH (Mercury 1.21); 10 Jul 96 17:43:51 +1100 From: "THE PINK PANTHER" To: archive@ftp1.sunet.se Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 17:43:41 GMT+100 X-file: TRAGEDY.TXT X-finfo: DOS,"TRAGEDY.TXT",,,,Text Subject: tragedy.txt Priority: normal X-mailer: Pegasus Mail v3.22 Message-ID: <52CF7C84881@ch.bme.hu> Content-Type: text Content-Length: 57933 THE TRAGEDY OF MAN WRITTEN BY IMRE MADACH, 1860 TRANSLATED BY GEORGE SZIRTES {**************************************************************************} SCENE 1 In Heaven. The LORD, resplendent in His glory, sits upon his throne, the ANGELIC HOST kneeling before Him. The four ARCHANGELS are standing beside the throne. Intense light. ANGELIC HOST Glory to God in the highest, Heaven and earth do both Him praise, Who with one Word brought all things into being And continues to uphold them with His gaze. He all Power, all Knowledge and all Rapture, We the merest shadow of His splendour, O come let us adore him in His Grace Of which we may partake by His sweet tender. The Eternal Concept is made flesh, behold The consummation of ?His will to form As form His creatures now The Lord awaits Appropriate homage to His Seat of State. THE LORD It's done, the great act of creation. The maker rests. The wheel's in motion And will rotate upon its axle for A hundred million years before A single cog wears out. Take wing My sentinels, begin your orbiting. Once more let me admire and hear the sweet Sound of your circuit, smooth beneath my feet. The Guardian Spirits of the stars pass by the throne, rolling before them one or two planets, comets and nebulae of various colours and sizes. The music of the spheres is faintly heard. ANGELIC HOST Look at that brave ball of fire: So overweening its effulgence, Unaware it merely serves Some distant galaxy's indulgence. This you'd think a feeble lantern A winking-blinking little planet, But O how huge it seems to those Unnumbered souls that thrive upon it. Two spheres contend with one another, Rush close, repel and sharply veering Spin away. Their opposition Steers them through such wild careering. Terrifying all observers, Thunderously one helter-skelters Downward--yet what peace and joy It offers to those hordes it shelters. How humble is this other's bearing-- A star of love in preparation, Tender be the hands that future Humankind's own consolation. There worlds labouring to be born Here the tombs of worlds departed: A warning to the overweening, Encouragement for the faint-hearted. A monstrous comet hurtles madly Out of chaos to disaster: But see! it mends its crooked motion When bidden by its Heavenly Master. Come beloved, youthful spirit With your changing sempiternal Sphere of woe and celebration, Cloaked in white or green and vernal. High heaven shower blessings on you, Onward, undaunted: what collisions Your narrow shores are doomed to witness, What wars, between conflicting visions. Fair and foul, and tears and laughter, The winter's and the spring's endeavour, Constitute the light and shadow Of our Master's wrath or favour. The Guardian Spirits of the starts withdraw ARCHANGEL GABRIEL Thou who compassed the infinitudes, Creating matter out of nothing, And with one word wrought out of matter's being Both measure and weight, we offer to Thee Our hosannas, Concept Eternal He falls to his knees ARCHANGEL MICHAEL Thou who fused the changeless and the changing, Establishing both perpetuity And time itself, uniting entity And nationhood, we offer to Thee Our hosannas, Power Eternal. He falls to his knees ARCHANGEL RAPHAEL Thou flood and fountain of our happiness, Bringer of the body to self-consciousness, Allowing the entire world to partake Of Thy wisdom, we offer to Thee Our hosannas, Virtue Eternal. He falls to his knees Silence THE LORD You there, Lucifer, proudly standing apart, No word of praise from you? Are you still silent? Does something in my work, perhaps, displease you? LUCIFER And what should please me? That certain substances, Having been imbued with properties Of whose existence You were ignorant Until, perhaps, they revealed themselves to You, (Though it may well be You had no power to change them) Are now screwed up into these tiny globes That chase, attract or else repel each other, Awaking a few worms to consciousness Till all of space is filled at last, grows cold, And only the indifferent slag is left? If man's at all observant he'll concoct Some hash like this with his poor instruments. Having placed him in your cosmic kitchen You now indulge his bungling awkwardness, His godlike postures, his botched cookery. But when he comes to spoil your favourite dish You'll flare up in a rage--too late by then. But what can You expect from such a dabbler? What is the point of the whole exercise? A poem of self-praise is all it is -- You match it so this feeble hurdy-gurdy And listen to the same old weary tune Whine on and on in endless repetition. Is it becoming to Your ripe old age To play with this contraption fit for children? A spark of life within a little clay, A simulacrum, not a faithful likeness; Free-will and fate in mutual pursuit: It lacks all harmony, all sense of meaning. THE LORD I merit praise alone, not condemnation. LUCIFER I only render what is in my nature. (pointing to the angels) This wretched crew will serve to flatter You, Not surprisingly since they're Your creatures. You begat them as light begets a shadow But I had pre-existence, and am ageless. THE LORD Such impudence! Were you not born of matter? What power had you before? What sphere? What realm? LUCIFER I might perhaps enquire the same of You. THE LORD What here is bodied forth into existence Had life in me before the dawn of time. LUCIFER You never sensed that void in Your conceptions, That barrier to every mode of being Whose very presence compelled You to create? That barrier was one named LUCIFER, The underlying spirit of negation. You triumphed over me since it's my fate Incessantly to fail in all my struggles But then, revitalised, to rise again. When you made matter I gained my estate; There stands life, and there beside it, death, Joy on the one hand, discord on the other, Shade follows light, and doubt succeeds to hope-- And see, I'm always with You everywhere. Knowing You as I do, why pay homage? THE LORD Out of my sight, you spirit of sedition! I could destroy you utterly--but no, Fight on, abhorred, in exile, in the mire, Forbidden every solace of the spirit, And in your bleak and anguished solitude Let this one thought be an eternal torment: However you may shake your chains of dust Your struggle with the Lord is doomed to failure. LUCIFER No, not so fast--I won't go just like that, You can't discard me like a broken tool. We are both creative spirits--I demand My portion. THE LORD ( Scornfully ) Just as you wish. Look down to earth: In the heart of Eden stand two slender trees. I curse the pair of them: now they are yours. LUCIFER No wonder you are mean, you have the means. The merest patch of ground will do for me. A foothold I require, no more, you'll see, To sow negation and spread anarchy. ( He sets off ) ANGELIC HOST Out of the sight of God accursed traitor! All praise to the Almighty Legislator. { **********************************************************************} SCENE 2 Paradise. Centre stage the Trees of Knowledge and Eternal Life. Enter ADAM and EVE, surrounded by various animals, tame and trusting. Through the open gates of Heaven shines the light of glory. Soft harmonies of the ANGELIC HOST are heard. Bright, blazing sunshine. EVE Ah life, how sweet to be alive! ADAM The lord and master of the world! EVE To feel that they are fending for us, That all we need to do is show Him How bounden we are to His favour. ADAM To lean on others is your law, I see. I'm thirsty, Eve. Just look how temptingly That fruit leers down at us. EVE I'll pluck it with my hand. THE VOICE OF THE LORD Beware! beware! The whole wide world is yours But those two trees you must shun. An alien spirit guards their tender fruit, And those who taste it find their life undone. Look there instead--wine ripening in clusters And temperate shadows offering relief From the high parching brilliance of noon. ADAM A strange command. How stern it seems. EVE Why are those two trees more lovely? Why are they the ones forbidden? ADAM Why is sky blue or grass green? That's just their way. Let's heed the voice. Come along, Eve, follow me. ( They settle in an arbour ) EVE Lay your head against my breast, I'll gently fan you while you rest. ( A violent gust of wind. LUCIFER appears among the leaves ) ADAM What's that? I've heard nothing like it. I feel as if some foreign force Had broken bounds. EVE I tremble, ADAM. And heaven too has fallen silent. ADAM I hear it still within your breast. EVE When clouds obscure the eye of heaven I see it still within your eyes, And where else should I hope to find it, Than in you whose deep desire Begat my birth. You are the sun Who at his peak pines all alone And paints his image on the water Flirting, flushed, with his companion Who in his bounty fast forgets That she is but the palest fire, A mere reflection who must fade To nought at night with his own shade. ADAM Hush now, Eve, you will abash me. What is a voice if no one hears it? A beam without its bead of colour? What would I be were you absent? My life unfolds in you, a flower, My voice resounds in you, an echo. How learn to love myself without you? LUCIFER Why should I listen to these soft endearments? I'll turn away in case I am dishonoured; My cold and calculating intellect Might fall to envying such childlike spirits. ( A little bird begins to sing on a nearby branch ) EVE O ADAM, can you understand This little lover's clownish lisping? ADAM I've heard the twittering of waters. Their song was similar to his. EVE What miracle, what harmony, So many words with but one meaning! LUCIFER Why delay? Now rouse yourself. Ruin I vowed, they must be ruined. And yet again I hesitate: Will knowledge be the way to woo them Or ambition to assault them, These whom tender feelings tend And harbour like a sacred shrine To shield their hearts and raise their spirits Each time they fall? But why be faint When courage carries all before it! ( Another gust wind. LUCIFER appears before the terrified pair. The sky darkens. LUCIFER laughs ) Why stare? ( To EVE, who is about to flee ) Ah, lovely lady, wait! A moment I beg to marvel at you. ( Eve stops and slowly plucks up courage ) LUCIFER ( aside ) A pretty pattern of perfections. ( Aloud ) Frightened, ADAM? ADAM Of you, low creature? LUCIFER ( aside ) A father fit to sire proud men. ( aloud ) Greetings to you, brother spirit! ADAM Who are you, tell me? From worlds below ours or above? LUCIFER Precisely as you please, to us There is no difference in degree. ADAM I did not know that other men could be. LUCIFER But there is so much more you do not know And never will. Do you suppose The Ancient in simplicity Created you from dust that you Might share His world? You give Him praise: He keeps you well supplied in turn. He says to you, Take this, Leave that, And tends and leads you like a sheep; You have no need for wit at all. ADAM For wit? Do I not have my wits? Do I not feel the blessed daylight, The sweet delight of being alive, The endless goodness of my God Who placed me here as the world's prince? LUCIFER The tiny maggot, who consumes The fruit before you, thinks the same, As does the eagle seizing on his prey. What makes you nobler then than they? One common spark burns in you all, The stirring of one universal power; Like individual ripples in a brook You leap to light, then swiftly sink Deep in your swart and common bed. One thing only, the power of thought, Which languishes in you, unwitting, Might help you grow to proper manhood, To trust in your own strength, to choose Between the evil and the good, To take charge of your destiny, And free you from God's charity. You might prefer to go on breeding Like any worm in a warm dungheap, Lapped within your feeble limits, And waste your life in ignorance. A satisfying faith is nice and neat: It's nobler but harder to stand on your own feet. ADAM How you speak! It makes my head spin. EVE These beautiful new things you say inspire me. LUCIFER But knowledge alone is not enough; For if it is to bear fruit in great deeds, Eternal life is something else you need. What can you do with this mere thimbleful? These two trees here will make you lords of all, The very two forbidden you By God who first created you. Taste this and you will equal God in wisdom, Taste that, eternal youth and grace are yours. EVE How mean is our Master, after all! ADAM But what if you deceive us? ( the heavens grow a little brighter ) ANGELIC HOST Alas, poor world, The ancient spirit of denial tempts you. THE VOICE OF THE LORD ADAM, take heed! ADAM What is that voice again? LUCIFER Only the wind shaking the branches. You elements, Lend aid, arise-- Humanity Will be your prize.-- ( A blast of wind. It grows darker ) These two trees are mine! ADAM But who, then are you? To all appearances you're just like us. LUCIFER See there, the eagle circling in the clouds; And there the mole blindly turning the soil-- Each is bound by its own horizon. The world of spirits lies beyond your sight, And man appears to you the very peak Of God's creation. Dogs seem so to dogs, They favour you with their companionship. But just as you despise the dog And, like a god, control his fate With here a curse and there a word of praise, So we, proud natives of the realm Of pure spirit, look down on you. ADAM And you are one of these pure spirits? LUCIFER Indeed I am, the mightiest of the mighty, Who stood beside the throne of God And had a portion of his great effulgence. ADAM Then why did you not stay in the bright heavens, Why descend into this world of dust? LUCIFER I grew tired of second place, Of life's unchanging ordered pace, The piping choirs, their childish song Of praise without a word of wrong. I long for conflict and for strife To bring new potent worlds to life Where souls might grow in probity, Where some brave souls might follow me. ADAM But God said He would punish us If we should stray from our appointed path. EVE Why should be punish us? If He has set The path we are to follow, surely He Will have arranged that we can choose no other. Why leave us standing above the deep, Dizzy and abandoned to our doom? Or if sin too is part of His design As storms are of hot days, Why blame the roll of thunder more Than heat which gives us life? LUCIFER I see we have our first philosopher. You are the first of many, my fair sister, Who'll argue the same point a million ways. A few of them will end their days in bedlam. Others stop short, but none will find a refuge. Do put aside this futile speculation, There are so many fine shades of opinion On every issue that if you try them all You end up knowing less than when you started Without a hope of reaching a conclusion. Contemplation means the death of action. EVE In that case I will pluck the fruit. ADAM The Lord has put His curse on them. LUCIFER ( laughs ) But pluck. Whatever happens to us, let it happen. Let us be wise, like God. ( First EVE, then ADAM taste of the apple ) EVE Above all Eternal young. LUCIFER This way, this way, quickly. Here is the Tree of Eternal Life, Now hurry! ( He pulls them toward the other tree, but a Cherub with a flaming sword bars their way ) CHERUB Back with you, transgressors, back! THE VOICE OF THE LORD ADAM, ADAM, you have abandoned me So I abandon you. Go try your strength. EVE We're finished. LUCIFER You are discouraged ? ADAM Not at all. That shudder was my first awakening. We're going, Eve. No matter where. Away! This place already feels barren and strange. ANGELIC HOST Ah, weep for them, Angelic Host, The lie prevails--the earth is lost. SCENE 3 A landscape with palms, outside Eden. A small crude wooden hut. ADAM is driving stakes into the ground to make a fence. EVE is building a bower. LUCIFER overlooks them. ADAM So this is mine. The wide world is behind me. This plot shall be my home. I'll master it. Defend it from all harm of fowl or brute And force the field to yield its fairest fruit. EVE And I will build a bower like that before To conjure the Eden that is ours no more. LUCIFER What potent words are kin and property. Like two great levers that shall move the world, They will give birth to every pain and pleasure. The two ideas will grow continuously, Creating nations and industries, Begetting greatness and nobility, Devouring, in time, their own progeny. ADAM You speak in riddles. You promised wisdom - I put aside instinctive joys, Prepared to struggle, to be great. What for ? LUCIFER You feel no different before ? ADAM I feel that when the Lord abandoned me And thrust me into the desert, empty handed, I too abandoned him. My God is me, Whatever I regain is mine by right. This is the source of all my strength and pride. LUCIFER (aside) Thumb your nose at heaven, vain puppet, you ! We'll see your mettle when storms buffet you. EVE My only source of pride is to know That I shall be mother of the world. LUCIFER (aside) What fine ideals fill her heart. To be The carrier of sin and misery. ADAM What should I thank Him for ? This mere existence ? If mere existence can be justified The fruits of my exertions must suffice. In order to take pleasure in plain water I have to work and feel my thirst the keener. Each honeyed kiss untunes us, the price of that Is what it brings in tow : it leaves us flat. But though the bonds of gratitude have snapped And fallen from me, and though I am free To reconstruct my fate or wreck it again, Stumbling in my efforts at perfection, I doubt if help were needed to get this far, To do this much was quite within my power. You haven't freed me from the heavy chains That bind my mortal body to the dust. I feel entwined by something I can't name, One hair, or something frailer, to my shame, A curb on my ambitious spirit. Look, I try to leap : my body drags me down, My eyes and ears refuse to serve when I would be prying into hidden knowledge, And even when imagination raises me Mere hunger plucks me down and humbles me, And makes me descend once more into base matter. LUCIFER That single strand has greater strength that I have ADAM You must be weak indeed to be defeated By this invisible web, this piece of nothing Among whose strands a million creatures feel At liberty to frolic as they please, Whose presence is suspected by no more Than a few exalted spirits at the most. LUCIFER It is the only thing that can defy me, Because, like me, it is pure spirit. You think It frail because it seems to work obscurely ? Not in the least: it sits and waits in darkness, Creating or destroying galaxies. Your head would spin if you could see it plain. Man's work alone depends on sound an fury And that can be contained in a mere thimble. ADAM You know how strong I am, so let me see- A glimpse is all I want - that mechanism Which so effects me, though I am expressly Designed for self-sufficiency. LUCIFER "I am" - what foolish words! You were, you will be. All life is an eternal ebb and flow. But go on, look, my spirits will lend you eyes. ADAM ( who, as he speaks, begins to see what he describes) What flood is boiling up and rising Ever higher all about me, Dividing into two and rumbling Like thunder towards the Poles? LUCIFER Heat quickening a land of ice. ADAM And those two streams of fire roaring And racing beside me, I fear they'll sweep me away Although I feel their generative power. LUCIFER Magnetism. Fields of force. ADAM The earth is shaking. What seemed firm and boundless Is seething matter, irresistibly Striving for form, struggling to be born. See, here it shapes a flower, there a crystal. But in all this wild confusion what becomes Of me, of my self-image, of that body In which I fondly trusted, like a child, Imagining it was a worthy tool To help me gain my ends and my desires? Spoilt infant, pampered brat, who brings me pain And pleasure, indiscriminate in both, Are you to be reduced to a few handfuls Of fine dust, a residue of water And thin air? So radiant and glowing Even now, are you to dissolve in clouds? Each word I speak, each thought I form, consumes My being drop by drop. I burn away! Perhaps some hidden and mysterious spirit Fans these fearsome flames, hoping to warm Himself beside my ashes. Take it away! Oh take away this dream which drives me mad. It is terrible to stand alone among A hundred warring elements and feel That sense of sharp and utter desolation! O why did I dismiss that providence I felt instinctively but could not prize. My intellect now yearns in vain for it. EVE Yes, yes, I too feel the same. While you are striving against beasts of prey And I am wearily toiling in the garden, I look about me, searching the horizon, But neither on earth nor in heaven do I see A single friend to cheer or comfort me. How different it was in the good old days. LUCIFER ( mocking ) Well then, if you're both so feeble minded That you catch cold without a nurse or mother, And if you must serve someone. I'll summon up god to suit your needs, Someone nicer than old Nobodaddy: The Spirit of the Earth, a decent lad- I used to know him in the Heavenly Choir. Spirit, no one else would dare To summon from the Earth, appear! The Spirit of Denial's voice Takes no deny and leaves no choice. (Flames shoot from the ground, a thick black cloud appears with a rainbow, rolling with thunder ) LUCIFER (stepping back) Who are you, Terror? I did not call you. The Spirit of the Earth is meek and mild. SPIRIT OF THE EARTH What in the Heavenly Choir seemed weak to you Is infinite and strong in its own sphere- Now here I am because I must obey The words of spirits, but take note of this: To rouse is one thing, to control another. My true form is too harsh a sight for you- And as for these two worms, it would destroy them. LUCIFER Inform me then, if man would worship you And make you his god, how may he approach you? SPIRIT Dispersed among the waters and the clouds, In groves, in every place that man surveys With strong desire and elevated spirits. ( The SPIRIT disappears. The springs and groves are peopled with playful nymphs) EVE Ah look at those sweet kindred faces, Look, just look, how charmingly they greet us, Now farewell wilderness and desolation, True happiness has come to dwell among us. They'll comfort us when we are low And give us good advice when we're in doubt. LUCIFER Nor could you wish for better counsellors, Since by the time you ask you have decided- And these delightful evanescent creatures Will answer in the spirit of the question. They smile benignly on the pure in heart But seem horrendous to the desperate, They'll company you in a myriad shapes, A hundred transformations, till you die. They offer cooling shade to fevered minds, Ideals to the eternal young-in-heart. ADAM What's that to me? What is this mirage, This glittering display I cannot grasp? To me it's yet another mystery. Don't monkey with me, LUCIFER. Enough! Where is the knowledge that you promised me? LUCIFER (aside) Bitter enough will it seem in time to come- You'll wish for ignorance before we're through. (aloud) Have patience please. You know you have to struggle To earn even your momentary pleasures. You have so much to learn yet. Be prepared For many disappointments on the way. ADAM It's easy enough for you to talk patience- Eternity's vast store is laid before you. But I've not tasted of the Tree of Life; A thimbleful of time means I must hurry. LUCIFER All creatures have an equal share in time, The hundred year old tree, ephemeral flies, All feel, take pleasure, propagate and die Having fulfilled their needs, used up their day. It is not time that moves, but we who change. A century, a day - it makes no difference. So never fear, you too will run your race, But do not think that man's entire self Is bound up with this lump of clay, the body. You've seen the anthill, no doubt, and the beehive: A thousand workers stumbling to and fro, Unconsciously they do, they err; they die. The organism though, the One, lives on By instinct shaped into a single mass, Fulfilling its delineated purpose Until the day when everything must end. You too will come to dust, it is quite true. But in a hundred forms you'll live again And never will you have to start afresh Since when you err, your son will bear the blame, You pass on to him your feebleness, your gout- All that you feel, experience and learn Remains your own throughout a million years. ADAM This backward glance might satisfy an old man: My heart is young, its passions are quite different. I want to see the future to discover What I must struggle for, what I must suffer. Let me see too, if I am to retain My charm through all the changes that remain. LUCIFER So let it be. I'll cast a spell on you And you will see unto the end of time As in a dream, in fleeting images. But when you see how foolish are your aims, How fierce the war in which you are engaged, I'll grant you - to prevent you from despair And to maintain your courage in the battle- A tiny ray of light there in the sky, That you might think the whole dream was a mirage. That tiny ray of light will be called Hope. (LUCIFER leads ADAM and EVE into the hut. They fall asleep.) SCENE 4 In Egypt. Before an open hall. ADAM, as a youthful PHARAOH, seated on a throne. LUCIFER is his minister. A magnificent retinue attends at a respectable distance. In the background, slaves are building a pyramid driven on by guards with whips. Clear daylight LUCIFER My lord, your subjects who would gladly shed Their life-blood for you are concerned to know What prevents great Pharaoh from enjoying Tranquil rest upon his pillowed throne? Why renounce, they ask, the joys of daylight, The charming dreams and images of night, why not instead allow some useful slave To bear the burden of your grand design, Since every honour, every potency The world can offer is already yours, As well as all the pleasures man can bear. A hundred rich dominions call you master, For you their flowers offer up their fragrance, For you alone the sweet fruit grows and ripens, It is for you a thousand women sigh, The flaxen beauty with her languid eyes, So delicate and fair, a vision dancing, The girl with auburn hair and panting lips, Whose burning eyes are maddened with desire- All yours, my lord. Your whims dictate their fate, And each of them will feel herself fulfilled If she may tender you a moment's pleasure. ADAM Not one of these things takes my fancy now, They are my due, like taxes. I don't earn them Through my own exertions or in heat of battle.- But with this work which occupies me now I do believe I've found the way to greatness. Nature herself will wonder at such skill, And ring my name down the millennia. Earthquake or tempest- nothing can destroy it. Man has become more powerful than God. LUCIFER But Pharaoh, lay your hand upon your heart And tell me if this prospect makes you happy. ADAM Ah no, there is an untold emptiness, Some awful void. No matter, it is glory I want, not happiness. And glory waits. If only they knew nothing of my sorrow: The masses cease to worship when they pity. LUCIFER But what if one day you should see through glory And find it a mere transitory plaything. ADAM Impossible! LUCIFER But all the same. ADAM I'd die. And curse the world to come. LUCIFER You will see through it, But you'll not die- in fact you'll start upon A fresh career. With much the same success. (The overseers beat one of the SLAVES so fiercely that he runs in anguish into the hall and falls before the throne) SLAVE My lord, your help! ( EVE, as his bride, rushes forward from the ranks of the workers and embraces her husband, weeping passionately EVE It's no use asking him. How could one who has never felt our pain Begin to understand it. The higher the throne The fainter sounds the cry. Why not call me? My body covers yours and takes the force Of every blow. ADAM ( to the overseers who crowd forward to take the pair away) Leave her. Off with you! ( They go ) What strange emotion flutters at my heart? Who is this woman, and what kind of charm Does she posses that she can drag great Pharaoh Down to the dust beside her with its chains? (He rises) LUCIFER Another piece of webbing, that is all, Which God, in mockery, has wound about you, So that when in your vanity, you play At butterflies, you'll not forger that you Were once a grub. You saw before how strong This slender thread can be, which slips through fingers So I cannot tear it. ADAM ( descending from the throne) Do not even try to. It is as comforting as it is galling. LUCIFER Philosophers and kings, however, should not Toil within its webs. ADAM Then what am I to do? LUCIFER (mocking) There's nothing for it but for science to Deny that such a hidden thread exists. Let energy and matter scoff at it. ADAM But I can neither scoff at it nor deny it. EVE Ah dearest, how you bleed! I'll staunch the flow. Your suffering must be unbearable. SLAVE What hurts is life. Its pain is quickly over. EVE You must not say that! Why live just so long To die but now when we have found each other? SLAVE A slave? Why does he live - to carry stones And raise his master's pyramid, to breed His own successor for the yoke, and die. A million souls for one. ADAM What awful words, Oh LUCIFER! LUCIFER The babbling of a corpse. ADAM What was he saying? LUCIFER Why should you care, Pharaoh It is, indeed, a most important matter To see the rank of slaves reduced by one. EVE Only a sum to you, the world to me. Merciful heavens, who will love me now? SLAVE Not I, no longer - you must forget me, woman. ( He dies ) ADAM Then I will love you. Take away the body. ( They raise the body ) Arise, ADAM, your place is on the throne Upon the cushion. You are the paragon Of beauty and I of power. We are fated To meet each other everywhere. EVE Your highness, I know too well that you command the fate Of slaves. I do not question it. But wait - Give me a little time, then I am yours. ADAM No, not that word again. Is everything To come to me through that one word 'command'? EVE Oh let it be enough that your command Does not distress me - and do not be jealous Of tears that I must shed for one who is dead. How fair he is in death. My Lord, how fair! ( She flings herself across the corpse ) ADAM Both fair and dead: how strange a contradiction. Such stillness mocks at our ambition, smiles With pity at our vanity. LUCIFER A slave, One who escaped you, mocks at you and says, My strength is greater now than all your fetters. ADAM Peace to the dead and greetings to the living. He cannot feel your tears, but oh I suffer Agonies without your smile. ( They take the dead man out. ADAM leads EVE to the throne ) ADAM What is it, my love ? EVE Oh, can't you hear The people's cry of pain? ADAM It is the first time I have noticed it . A sorry music- But come and kiss me and forget the world. (To LUCIFER) And you please put an end to all this wailing. LUCIFER I can't do that. It is the people's birthright, One that they inherit with the yoke. ( Another cry of pain. EVE screams out. ADAM rises ) ADAM Oh lady, you are suffering and I Hardly know how to help you. That cry, like lighting, Pierces your heart and strikes at my head. It feels As if the world were crying out for help. EVE Oh Pharaoh, crush me if you will - forgive me If the people's cry of woe won't let me rest. I am your slave, as I know very well, My life's one purpose is to give you pleasure. I will forget about the world outside: The splendour, poverty, the dreams, the dead, I'll sweeten my smile and make my lips more luscious. But when the people, that million-limbed creature Begins to moan under the lash, then I, Their exiled daughter, and a tiny part Of that great aching body, feel each cry Of every pain they suffer in my heart. ADAM I feel with you - a million souls for one- The dead man's words... EVE You are melancholy, Great Pharaoh. It is my fault. Drive me off Or teach me to be deaf. ADAM You'd make a finer tutor For you can teach me how to hear such pain. I've had enough. Oh, liberate the slaves, Dismiss them all. What is the point of glory If it can only be achieved through torture, Through one man sacrificing millions In whom there breathes the same clear human spirit? I feel a million pains for each delight. LUCIFER Pharaoh, you are confused. The masses are Mere creatures of fate, living under sentence. You'd seen them tread the mill in any system, That is what they are made for. Free them now And they'd gain nothing by your futile gesture- Tomorrow they would seek another master. Do you imagine you could sit astride them Were they themselves not anxious to have masters? If there were any consciousness in them ? ADAM But why this wailing - could it be the yoke Tormented them? LUCIFER Something hurts them, true, But what, they could not tell you. Men seek power And that is all there is. It is the spur. It's not fraternity that drives the masses Towards the flag of freedom. I do not say That they would recognise this - no; they itch For novelty and spurn a settled order; They hope to realise in novelty Their dreams of happiness. An unplumbed sea. The people: sunbeams cannot penetrate Their murky depths. But one wave scintillates, A single fleeting brilliance. A wave like you. ADAM Why me? LUCIFER Or someone like you. One in whom The people's instinct comes to consciousness, Some venerated champion of freedom Who dares to oust you from shining realm. The masses, of course, never profit by it: The names may change, the master still remains. ADAM Your logic runs in never ending circles From which there seems no prospect of escape LUCIFER Escape there is. Present a chosen few With necklaces or rings or some such bauble, And say to them: I raise you from the crowd, You are hereby ennobled - they'll believe you, And looking down on others with disdain Accept, without demur, your condescension. ADAM Please spare me all your specious arguments. Away with slavery, let them all go free. Inform them of this now, with greatest haste, Immediately, before I change my mind. LUCIFER (aside) Proceed with all your vanity, be gone: You think you act - it's fate that draws you on. (He leaves) ADAM The work must stop, unfinished as it is, The fragments will serve to humble the ambitious, A paradox of power and impotence. ( Great joy outside as the workers disperse. LUCIFER returns) Rejoice, you slaves, your lord bows down before you. But never think he was compelled to it. EVE Console yourself, my love, for after all What earthly use are pomp and circumstance? They creep and crawl between us like a snake. ADAM How vast, how vast it is! eve Away with it. You see, the cries have stopped. Our courting will Be undisturbed. Oh lean against my bosom- What more can you desire? ADAM How restricted Are your horizons, woman. And yet this Precisely is what charms ambitious men- The strong are fated to desire the weak. It's what a parent feels so ardently When holding his helpless child within his arms. EVE Perhaps, O Pharaoh, I already bore you With needless, incoherent chattering. I cannot help it if I am no wiser. ADAM Do not even wish to be, my dearest. One intellect is quite enough for me. It's not for power or majesty I seek Your breast, nor knowledge. Books can grant me these More readily. Simply continue talking, Talk on, that I may ever hear your voice, Suffuse my heart with its sweet resonance, Say anything whatever. Oh, who wants To know what little birds are singing when They bring such intimations of delight. Be but a flower, be charming bric-a-brac Whose worth lies not in function but sheer beauty. ( To LUCIFER ) But something bothers me and breaks the spell Of sensuous reverie. It may be foolish And yet, I beg you, satisfy this longing- Let me cast just one intrepid glance Into the future, a few millennia hence, And know my reputation. LUCIFER Can you feel, Even as you kiss, a light caressing Breeze that touches your face, then flies away? It leaves the faintest coating of fine dust. Next year you'll see it gathering in creases, A century, you plunge your arm in it; A thousand years, your pyramids are buried; Great drifts of sand obliterate your name; Your pleasure gardens fill with cries of jackals; A race of slaves and beggars roam the desert. ( All that LUCIFER describes becomes visible ) No fearful cataclysm brings this on, No thunderstorms or earthquakes are required; A breeze, that's all, the breeze which plays about you. ADAM A dreadful sight! LUCIFER (mocking) Why worry? It is only Your soul that's lost, your body stays intact And perfectly preserved for curious schoolboys To puzzle at your twisted face, to guess From scuffed inscriptions if you're slave or master? ( He kicks at a mummy which has appeared before the throne. It rolls down the stairs) ADAM ( leaping up) Infernal image ! Get away from me! Vain strife and even emptier ambition- A million souls for one-one words still ring. And so I must emancipate the millions In one free state. There's nothing left for it. Let one man die providing the state lives And makes an entity of single men. EVE And will you leave me too, your own true love ? ADAM Yes-you, the throne, I must leave everything. Lead on, Oh LUCIFER, to some new goal. I've wasted too much time in this blind alley. ( He sets out with drawn sword ) EVE My lord, remember-if you should return With shattered hopes, my heart will offer shelter. ADAM Indeed, I think I will discover you In purer form wherever we next meet, But then you will embrace me not as slave But as an equal with a sense of pleasure ( He goes ) LUCIFER Why all this haste? You'll get there soon enough, Sooner perhaps than you had hoped. Your folly Will find you out and leave you melancholy. It should be most amusing. Let's be off.