Mardi: and A Voyage Thither, Vol. II

by Herman Melville

  Next day we retraced our voyage northward, to visit that section ofVivenza.

  In due time we landed.

  To look round was refreshing. Of all the lands we had seen, nonelooked more promising. The groves stood tall and green; the fieldsspread flush and broad; the dew of the first morning seemed hardlyvanished from the grass. On all sides was heard the fall of waters,the swarming of bees, and the rejoicing hum of a thriving population.

  "Ha, ha!" laughed Yoomy, "Labor laughs in this land; and claps hishands in the jubilee groves! methinks that Yillah will yet be found."

  Generously entertained, we tarried in this land; till at length, fromover the Lagoon, came full tidings of the eruption we had witnessed inFranko, with many details. The conflagration had spread throughPorpheero and the kings were to and fro hunted, like malefactors byblood-hounds; all that part of Mardi was heaving with throes.

  With the utmost delight, these tidings were welcomed by many; yetothers heard them with boding concern.

  Those, too, there were, who rejoiced that the kings were cast down;but mourned that the people themselves stood not firmer. A victory,turned to no wise and enduring account, said they, is no victory atall. Some victories revert to the vanquished.

  But day by day great crowds ran down to the beach, in wait for canoesperiodically bringing further intelligence.

  Every hour new cries startled the air. "Hurrah! another, kingdom isburnt down to the earth's edge; another demigod is unhelmed; anotherrepublic is dawning. Shake hands, freemen, shake hands! Soon will wehear of Dominora down in the dust; of hapless Verdanna free asourselves; all Porpheero's volcanoes are bursting! Who may withstandthe people? The times tell terrible tales to tyrants! Ere we die,freemen, all Mardi will be free."

  Overhearing these shouts, Babbalanja thus addressed Media:--"My lord,I can not but believe, that these men, are far more excited than thosewith whom they so ardently sympathize. But no wonder. The singledischarges which are heard in Porpheero; here come condensed in onetremendous report. Every arrival is a firing off of events by platoons."

  Now, during this tumultuous interval, King Media very prudently kepthimself exceedingly quiet. He doffed his regalia; and in all thingscarried himself with a dignified discretion. And many hours heabsented himself; none knowing whither he went, or what his employment.

  So also with Babbalanja. But still pursuing our search, at last we alljourneyed into a great valley, whose inhabitants were more thancommonly inflated with the ardor of the times.

  Rambling on, we espied a clamorous crowd gathered about a conspicuouspalm, against which, a scroll was fixed.

  The people were violently agitated; storming out maledictions againstthe insolent knave, who, over night must have fixed there, thatscandalous document. But whoever he may have been, certain it was, hehad contrived to hood himself effectually.

  After much vehement discussion, during which sundry inflammatoryharangues were made from the stump's of trees near by, it wasproposed, that the scroll should be read aloud, so that all might giveear.

  Seizing it, a fiery youth mounted upon the bowed shoulders ofan old man, his sire; and with a shrill voice, ever and anoninterrupted by outcries, read as follows:--

  "Sovereign-kings of Vivenza! it is fit you should hearken to wisdom.But well aware, that you give ear to little wisdom except of your own;and that as freemen, you are free to hunt down him who dissents fromyour majesties; I deem it proper to address you anonymously.

  "And if it please you, you may ascribe this voice to the gods: fornever will you trace it to man.

  "It is not unknown, sovereign-kings! that in these boisterous days,the lessons of history are almost discarded, as superseded by presentexperiences. And that while all Mardi's Present has grown out of itsPast, it is becoming obsolete to refer to what has been. Yet,peradventure, the Past is an apostle.

  "The grand error of this age, sovereign-kings! is the generalsupposition, that the very special Diabolus is abroad; whereas, thevery special Diabolus has been abroad ever since Mardi began.

  "And the grand error of your nation, sovereign-kings! seems this:--Theconceit that Mardi is now in the last scene of the last act of herdrama; and that all preceding events were ordained, to bring about thecatastrophe you believe to be at hand,--a universal and permanentRepublic.

  "May it please you, those who hold to these things are fools, and notwise.

  "Time is made up of various ages; and each thinks its own a novelty.But imbedded in the walls of the pyramids, which outrun allchronologies, sculptured stones are found, belonging to yet olderfabrics. And as in the mound-building period of yore, so every agethinks its erections will forever endure. But as your forests growapace, sovereign-kings! overrunning the tumuli in your western vales;so, while deriving their substance from the past, succeedinggenerations overgrow it; but in time, themselves decay.

  "Oro decrees these vicissitudes.

  "In chronicles of old, you read, sovereign kings! that an eagle fromthe clouds presaged royalty to the fugitive Taquinoo; and a king,Taquinoo reigned; No end to my dynasty, thought he.

  "But another omen descended, foreshadowing the fall of Zooperbi, hisson; and Zooperbi returning from his camp, found his country afortress against him. No more kings would she have. And for fivehundred twelve-moons the Regifugium or King's-flight, was annuallycelebrated like your own jubilee day. And rampant young oratorsstormed out detestation of kings; and augurs swore that their birdspresaged immortality to freedom.

  "Then, Romara's free eagles flew over all Mardi, and perched on thetopmost diadems of the east.

  "Ever thus must it be.

  "For, mostly, monarchs are as gemmed bridles upon the world, checkingthe plungings of a steed from the Pampas. And republics are as vastreservoirs, draining down all streams to one level; and so, breeding afullness which can not remain full, without overflowing. And thus,Romara flooded all Mardi, till scarce an Ararat was left of the loftykingdoms which had been.

  "Thus, also, did Franko, fifty twelve-moons ago. Thus may she doagain. And though not yet, have you, sovereign-kings! in any largedegree done likewise, it is because you overflow your redundancieswithin your own mighty borders; having a wild western waste, whichmany shepherds with their flocks could not overrun in a day. Yetoverrun at last it will be; and then, the recoil must come.

  "And, may it please you, that thus far your chronicles had narrated avery different story, had your population been pressed and packed,like that of your old sire-land Dominora. Then, your great experimentmight have proved an explosion; like the chemist's who, stirring hismixture, was blown by it into the air.

  "For though crossed, and recrossed by many brave quarterings, andboasting the great Bull in your pedigree; yet, sovereign-kings! youare not meditative philosophers like the people of a small republic ofold; nor enduring stoics, like their neighbors. Pent up, like them,may it please you, your thirteen original tribes had proved moreturbulent, than so many mutinous legions. Free horses need wideprairies; and fortunate for you, sovereign-kings! that you have roomenough, wherein to be free.

  "And, may it please you, you are free, partly, because you are young.Your nation is like a fine, florid youth, full of fiery impulses, andhard to restrain; his strong hand nobly championing his heart. On allsides, freely he gives, and still seeks to acquire. The breath of hisnostrils is like smoke in spring air; every tendon is electric withgenerous resolves. The oppressor he defies to his beard; the highwalls of old opinions he scales with a bound. In the future he seesall the domes of the East.

  "But years elapse, and this bold boy is transformed. His eyes open notas of yore; his heart is shut up as a vice. He yields not a groat; andseeking no more acquisitions, is only bent on preserving his hoard.The maxims once trampled under foot, are now printed on his front; andhe who hated oppressors, is become an oppressor himself.

  "Thus, often, with men; thus, often, with nations. Then marvel not,sovereign-kings! that old states are different from yours; and thinknot, your own must
forever remain liberal as now.

  "Each age thinks its own is eternal. But though for five hundredtwelve-moons, all Romara, by courtesy of history, was republican; yet,at last, her terrible king-tigers came, and spotted themselves withgore.

  "And time was, when Dominora was republican, down to her sturdy back-bone. The son of an absolute monarch became the man Karolus; and hiscrown and head, both rolled in the dust. And Dominora had her patriotsby thousands; and lusty Defenses, and glorious Areopagiticaswere written, not since surpassed; and no turban was doffed save inhomage of Oro.

  "Yet, may it please you, to the sound of pipe and tabor, the secondKing Karolus returned in good time; and was hailed gracious majesty byhigh and low.

  "Throughout all eternity, the parts of the past are but parts of thefuture reversed. In the old foot-prints, up and down, you mortals go,eternally traveling your Sierras. And not more infallible theponderings of the Calculating Machine than the deductions from thedecimals of history.

  "In nations, sovereign-kings! there is a transmigration of souls; inyou, is a marvelous destiny. The eagle of Romara revives in your ownmountain bird, and once more is plumed for her flight. Her screams areanswered by the vauntful cries of a hawk; his red comb yet reekingwith slaughter. And one East, one West, those bold birds may fly, tillthey lock pinions in the midmost beyond.

  "But, soaring in the sky over the nations that shall gather theirbroods under their wings, that bloody hawk may hereafter be taken forthe eagle.

  "And though crimson republics may rise in constellations, like fieryAldebarans, speeding to their culminations; yet, down must they sinkat last, and leave the old sultan-sun in the sky; in time, again to bedeposed.

  "For little longer, may it please you, can republics subsist now, thanin days gone by. For, assuming that Mardi is wiser than of old;nevertheless, though all men approached sages in intelligence, somewould yet be more wise than others; and so, the old degrees bepreserved. And no exemption would an equality of knowledge furnish,from the inbred servility of mortal to mortal; from all the organiccauses, which inevitably divide mankind into brigades and battalions,with captains at their head.

  "Civilization has not ever been the brother of equality. Freedom wasborn among the wild eyries in the mountains; and barbaroustribes have sheltered under her wings, when the enlightened people ofthe plain have nestled under different pinions.

  "Though, thus far, for you, sovereign-kings! your republic has beenfruitful of blessings; yet, in themselves, monarchies are not utterlyevil. For many nations, they are better than republics; for many, theywill ever so remain. And better, on all hands, that peace should rulewith a scepter, than than the tribunes of the people should brandishtheir broadswords. Better be the subject of a king, upright and just;than a freeman in Franko, with the executioner's ax at every corner.

  "It is not the prime end, and chief blessing, to be politically free.And freedom is only good as a means; is no end in itself Nor, did manfight it out against his masters to the haft, not then, would heuncollar his neck from the yoke. A born thrall to the last, yelpingout his liberty, he still remains a slave unto Oro; and well is it forthe universe, that Oro's scepter is absolute.

  "World-old the saying, that it is easier to govern others, thanoneself. And that all men should govern themselves as nations, needsthat all men be better, and wiser, than the wisest of one-man rulers.But in no stable democracy do all men govern themselves. Though anarmy be all volunteers, martial law must prevail. Delegate your power,you leagued mortals must. The hazard you must stand. And though unlikeKing Bello of Dominora, your great chieftain, sovereign-kings! may notdeclare war of himself; nevertheless, has he done a still moreimperial thing:--gone to war without declaring intentions. Youyourselves were precipitated upon a neighboring nation, ere you knewyour spears were in your hands.

  "But, as in stars you have written it on the welkin, sovereign-kings!you are a great and glorious people. And verily, yours is the best andhappiest land under the sun. But not wholly, because you, in yourwisdom, decreed it: your origin and geography necessitated it.Nor, in their germ, are all your blessings to be ascribed to the noblesires, who of yore fought in your behalf, sovereign-kings! Your nationenjoyed no little independence before your Declaration declared it.Your ancient pilgrims fathered your liberty; and your wild woodsharbored the nursling. For the state that to-day is made up of slaves,can not to-morrow transmute her bond into free; though lawlessness maytransform them into brutes. Freedom is the name for a thing that is_not_ freedom; this, a lesson never learned in an hour or an age. Bysome tribes it will never be learned.

  "Yet, if it please you, there may be such a thing as being free underCaesar. Ages ago, there were as many vital freemen, as breathe vitalair to-day.

  "Names make not distinctions; some despots rule without swayingscepters. Though King Bello's palace was not put together by yokedmen; your federal temple of freedom, sovereign-kings! was thehandiwork of slaves.

  "It is not gildings, and gold maces, and crown jewels alone, that makea people servile. There is much bowing and cringing among youyourselves, sovereign-kings! Poverty is abased before riches, allMardi over; any where, it is hard to be a debtor; any where, the wisewill lord it over fools; every where, suffering is found.

  "Thus, freedom is more social than political. And its real felicity isnot to be shared. _That_ is of a man's own individual getting andholding. It is not, who rules the state, but who rules me. Better besecure under one king, than exposed to violence from twenty millionsof monarchs, though oneself be of the number.

  "But superstitious notions you harbor, sovereign kings! Did you visitDominora, you would not be marched straight into a dungeon. And thoughyou would behold sundry sights displeasing, you would start to inhalesuch liberal breezes; and hear crowds boasting of their privileges; asyou, of yours. Nor has the wine of Dominora, a monarchical flavor.

  "Now, though far and wide, to keep equal pace with the times, greatreforms, of a verity, be needed; nowhere are bloody revolutionsrequired. Though it be the most certain of remedies, no prudentinvalid opens his veins, to let out his disease with his life. Andthough all evils may be assuaged; all evils can not be done away. Forevil is the chronic malady of the universe; and checked in one place,breaks forth in another.

  "Of late, on this head, some wild dreams have departed.

  "There are many, who erewhile believed that the age of pikes andjavelins was passed; that after a heady and blustering youth, oldMardi was at last settling down into a serene old age; and that theIndian summer, first discovered in your land, sovereign kings! was thehazy vapor emitted from its tranquil pipe. But it has not so proved.Mardi's peaces are but truces. Long absent, at last the red cometshave returned. And return they must, though their periods be ages. Andshould Mardi endure till mountain melt into mountain, and all the islesform one table-land; yet, would it but expand the old battle-plain.

  "Students of history are horror-struck at the massacres of old; but inthe shambles, men are being murdered to-day. Could time be reversed,and the future change places with the past, the past would cry outagainst us, and our future, full as loudly, as we against the agesforegone. All the Ages are his children, calling each other names.

  "Hark ye, sovereign-kings! cheer not on the yelping pack toofuriously: Hunters have been torn by their hounds. Be advised; washyour hands. Hold aloof. Oro has poured out an ocean for an everlastingbarrier between you and the worst folly which other republics haveperpetrated. That barrier hold sacred. And swear never to cross overto Porpheero, by manifesto or army, unless you traverse dry land.

  "And be not too grasping, nearer home. It is not freedom to filch.Expand not your area too widely, now. Seek you proselytes?Neighboring nations may be free, without coming under your banner. Andif you can not lay your ambition, know this: that it is best served,by waiting events.

  "Time, but Time only, may enable you to cross the equator; and giveyou the Arctic Circles for your boundaries."

  So read the anonymous scroll
; which straightway, was torn into shreds.

  "Old tory, and monarchist!" they shouted, "Preaching over hisbenighted sermons in these enlightened times! Fool! does he not knowthat all the Past and its graves are being dug over?"

  They were furious; so wildly rolling their eyes after victims, thatwell was it for King Media, he wore not his crown; and in silence, wemoved unnoted from out the crowd.

  "My lord, I am amazed at the indiscretion of a demigod," saidBabbalanja, as we passed on our way; "I recognized your sultanic stylethe very first sentence. This, then, is the result of your hours ofseclusion."

  "Philosopher! I am astounded at your effrontery. I detected yourphilosophy the very first maxim. Who posted that parchment for you?"

  So, each charged the other with its authorship: and there was nofinding out, whether, indeed, either knew aught of its origin.

  Now, could it have been Babbalanja? Hardly. For, philosophic as thedocument was, it seemed too dogmatic and conservative for him. KingMedia? But though imperially absolute in his political sentiments,Media delivered not himself so boldly, when actually beholding theeruption in Franko.

  Indeed, the settlement of this question must be left to thecommentators on Mardi, some four or five hundred centuries hence.

  CHAPTER LVIIIThey Visit The Extreme South Of Vivenza

  We penetrated further and further into the valleys around; but,though, as elsewhere, at times we heard whisperings that promised anend to our wanderings;--we still wandered on; and once again, evenYoomy abated his sanguine hopes.

  And now, we prepared to embark for the extreme south of the land.