Vathek and Other Stories

by William Beckford

  ‘And now, young mortal,’ continued the form, ‘prepare thyself for those enjoyments of pure knowledge thou hast merited by thus daring the most formidable of elements. Now expect instruction from the lips of the good Moisasour4 the master of our race. Behold the centre of the earth, its wonders, its sublimities: behold the influence of the all wise instinctive in the whole. Mark that silver radiance, which enlightens these abodes which ignorant men think enveloped in darkness, how goodly its effects on the animals, the vegetation and the air. See how wonderfully adapted the least plant or insect to its situation. Cast your eyes to the horizon of rocks which terminates this particular valley. Do you observe that cloud of luminous insects, which hover near those distant caverns? They are destined to illuminate the plants and shrubs for the use of those white animals which you see cropping their flowers. Admire that uniform expanse of bright Æther, spread universally over the valley and judiciously concealing the craggy concave of the arching rocks, which laid open might appear disagreeably harsh and menacing to the sight. From this Æther which is composed of innumerable luminous particles, singly imperceptible, proceeds the serene mild light we enjoy. Often with a charming variety, meteors exhale from the mineral rocks that glide gently along for many hours gilding the rocks, the groves and the crystals with tints that no pencil can imitate. Some in the shape of smooth lucid globes of blueish fire roll down with the cataracts and hover over their streams, as they flow thro’ the plain beneath. Others, something like your sun, shine amongst our bright clouds and for days and weeks regularly appear at the same hour and diffuse a gay, brilliant lustre, that enlivens every animal and every species of vegetation; but do not imagine they yield a more fervent degree of heat than we experienced in their absence. The temperate warmth we enjoy is occasioned by latent fires in the rocks tho’ at a great distance. To the effect of these which answers to that of your sun, we owe that multitude of animals, and that luxuriant vegetation, with which we are blessed. It is their genial influence which cherishes the seeds of plants and the eggs of animals, which thaws those immense masses of ice which otherwise would choake up the hollows and concavities destined for inhabitants, and gives birth to rills which afford refreshment for the mossy turf and the many little reptiles that lurk under its covert. Altho’ we have no sun to enlighten us by day or moon to direct our nocturnal hours, still we are not destitute of those divisions. At the same moment when your light declines and the day fades on the horizon, the Æther and the clouds which now glow with such lustre over your head equally lose their brightness, turn to deep blue which shortly darkens entirely. It is then that from the pores of every blossom and every flower, from under each leaf and each bud, issue myriads of fiery insects, whose wings quiver with a brilliancy like that of the diamond and whose continual flutterings produce a vivid light, of whose excellence and beauty you will soon be the witness. Sometimes indeed when the winds, which range thro’ these subterraneous wilds, are violent, these insects fearing to encounter the fury of the blasts providentlyremain in their compact cells. How then will you demand are these gloomy hours enlightened? The evil brings with it the remedy. Vapours fresh from the distant volcanoes are wafted on the wings of the winds and being impregnated with the particles of our Æther occasion long lucid tracks of mild light, which remains during several nights in the same position.’

  Whilst Terminga was relating the admirable disposition of this part of the globe a troop of shining forms like his own arose from behind a promontory and glided towards us by a winding path, shaded with a variety of shrubs. These forms gleamed behind the plants, which casually intervened like the moon when it twinkles thro’ deep thickets. As they approached I could not refrain questioning my guide about them.

  ‘And who are these beings’ (said I) ‘whose lustre eclipses the greatest splendour of mortality, whose graceful motion is never seen on the surface of the earth?’

  ‘They are,’ answered Malich, ‘the inhabitants of these regions, a pure simple race unsullied by fraud or rapine, unconscious of the love of gold, jewels or any other baubles, which men so much esteem. Their hands are never embrued in blood, their stomachs never gorged with animal food, their conduct never influenced by ambition or injustice. Wonder not therefore that their bodies untainted with gross and foul particles should emit such lively rays nor suffer yourself any longer to be lost in admiration of their motion. Our atmosphere, which probably you may fancy cloggy by thick exhalations, is on the contrary thin untainted with imperceptible insects and purged by salutary vapours from the minerals. You have experienced the air we here breathe; it has the property of rendering your whole frame elastic and as you have skimmed whole leagues in an instant, our motion, unopposed by the least obstruction, is accelerated by every breeze and becomes fleet as the thistle blossoms on the gale. By a deception in vision which to your eyes may seem unaccountable, objects which from their distance would appear faint and misty on the surface of the earth, are here brought near in a manner it would be needless as yet for me to explain. How distant should you imagine yon caverns hollowed beneath those prodigious steeps where the shrubs, the colour of the flowers is even discernible and the animals which feed amongst them?’ I answered perhaps a furlong. ‘They are’ (replied he) ‘about nine leagues from this spot. Nay, check not that rising smile; you will shortly be convinced of things far more improbable.’

  By this time the forms had advanced close to us and stood confest in all their splendour. Nothing can be conceived more placid than their countenances, nothing more delightful than the innocence and serenity which sat upon their brow; no wrinkles, the effects of care; no distortions, the produce of passion; every grace, every charm the result of candor was there conspicuous. They modestly cast their eyes on the ground and seemed to wait till Terminga addressed them, on which account I conjectured he was of a superior race. After a short silence during which I observed Terminga to gaze on the circle of forms with entire complacency, he enquired whither their course was destined.

  ‘The wise Moisasour,’ replied the whole troop, as it were with one voice, ‘has ordered us to hasten to a remote region, where the mortals have just discovered a copious vein of gold. Our master foreseeing the baneful effects this discovery might produce amongst those discontented frail beings, wills that we should close the vein and spare by that act the mischiefs it might occasion amongst them.’

  ‘’Tis well,’ answered Terminga, ‘the will of Moisasour is ever the result of prudence. And next,’ continued he, ‘we must pursue our course. Moisasour awaits us in the halls of the glorious.’

  No sooner had he spoke than the troop of forms glided away and were soon behind the rocks. Myself and my guides were wafted swift across the ample plain whose beauties passed like dreams before my eyes and seemed to fleet with equal celerity as our motion. In a few instants we gained the extremity of the valley where something that resembled human art was apparent in the structure of nine grand portals raised over the mouths of as many yawning caverns. On a nearer survey I perceived those portals to be no more than a sort of niche or entablature on which was engraved a variety of characters entirely unknown to me. The rocks above the caves [were] covered with the most flourishing growth of shrubs and aromatic plants that bespoke the fertility of the soil in which they grew. Some of these bowed their leafy branches quite over the mouths of the several grots they shaded and others retired amongst the nooks and crevices afforded their covert to these conceal-ments. The heighth of the precipices was astonishing when I stood under them and looking upwards beheld grove above grove and peak above peak, I was lost in amazement. My motion, which had abated during a space just sufficient to allow my observing in the most cursory manner the objects which presented themselves around, again returned and hurried me together with my guides into one of the vast caverns I have mentioned. It was divided by at least three thousand massy columns into the most stately halls decorated with colonades of slender pillars inconceivably striking. The lesser order of pillars was formed of a
clear white crystalisation, exquisitely beautiful. They supported neither frieze nor cornice, nor any ornament in the least degree consistent with the rules of architecture we observe on the surface of the earth, but sustained on their airy capitals a variety of glistening garlands composed of spars and intermixed like the branches which form our bowers. The pavement in some measure corresponded with the roof. Figure to yourself a variety of marble, agates, jaspers and other stones some of which you are utterly unacquainted with, all painted by the hand of nature with an infinity of elegant veins, all gleaming with the polish of a mirror and reflecting every object in the same manner. Mark how the pavement, like a lake of marble, extends amongst this spacious labyrinth of columns as far as your eye can reach. Deny, if you are able, the beauty of the scene. As we wound along the aisles, the sounds of harmony came pealing from the recesses of the subterrene.1 I fancied I could distinguish the voice of Nouronihar. Terminga perceived my disturbance and willing to alleviate my impatience increased our motion with a rapidity that shortly left behind the halls and the pillars. We darted along a gallery of prodigious length, the pavement, roof, and walls entirely formed of polished agate which reflected our forms like a looking glass. We passed too hastily for me to observe with any degree of certainty the objects in the gallery; but I could not help being struck with two ranges of colossal statues placed regularly in niches one each side illuminated by a line of bright lambent flames which played about the sceptres they held in their hands. These fires blazed on innumerable golden altars with a vivacity that dazzled my eyes. Just as I was about to enquire the meaning of the sculptures around me, we arrived at a vast arch closed by a portal of ebony, whose valves flying open of a sudden with a sound that rung amongst the altars, displayed an immensely spacious concave, unsupported by any visible cause and glowing with a refulgence that proceeded from an orb of the most brilliant hue suspended from the centre by chains that, almost imperceptible, wore the appearance of sunbeams. Under the orb I beheld a flight of many hundred steps covered with a rich carpet of purple which imitated the mossy herbage of the subterraneous valleys. On every step sat a lucid form increasing in glory and stature the nearer they approached Moisasour who was seated on the summit of the steps while Nouronihar reclined at his feet.

  ‘With this state the Bramin receives those,’ said Terminga, who have merited his protection by boldly contemning the terrors which encircle his abode. Advance and present yourself to him as initiated. Nouronihar will no longer fly your presence.’

  As I ascended the steps in obedience to the directions of Terminga, the orb darted forth vivid flashes of light, the forms snatched each an instrument whose shape and sound were equally new and joining in full accord hailed me with harmony that lifted me to the very portal of heaven. How you would be enraptured could you behold those elegant forms sweeping the chords of their golden instruments and rising of a sudden to a majestic stature, then waving with an universal motion the luminous circle which tinged their brows with radiance, what would be your ecstasy could their sounds reach your ears. See how they lower the glories which surround them at the moment Moisasour quits his exalted seat and, leading Nouronihar, descends to meet me.

  ‘Yes, I am not deceived,’ exclaimed the Sage, ‘my doubts are dissipated like the dreams of the night. Witness that orb, with what pleasure I behold the happy change resolution has effected. Away terrestrial prejudices. A moral of Europe has succeeded nor has he suffered hesitation to linger on his actions. To one purport they have tended and behold that end attained, to arrive at the goal, beheld as the termination of a long perspective. Look around, no firengui ever beheld the glories which the earth conceals in her centre. The mariner who after the experience of many years has traversed the oceans which encircle the surface of the globe exults with the thoughts of having surveyed the wide extended planet he inhabits, but how little doth he imagine that nature veils in the caverns of the earth another world flourishing with as fair a creation as that with which he is acquainted; but these wonders are carefully concealed from profane eyes. Had you not been inspired with a supernatural courage, the access of the cavern where you first beheld Nouronihar and heard the melody of these beings which inhabit our region, would have still remained enveloped in obscurity. In vain you would have clambered the Appenines and in vain presented yourself on the peak which overlooks its entrance. You fancy in general that nature partial to your face has bestowed her favors with unbounded liberality and that it is ye which she has placed at the summit of her works; but learn that these beings which you have here beheld shining around are indued with faculties of which you have no idea. Their motion you have already observed and in some measure required by breathing the air of our abode, so far you can form an idea; but think how glorious the power which invisibly can witness all the transactions of men, can survey not only their outward actions but dive into the thoughts of their hearts and trace them from their source. Recollect that the forms who conducted you, followed exactly the resolutions of your soul and without the utmost sincerity on your part remained inactive. When on the brink of the burning hearth you shrunk back with fear and at the moment you entertained suspicions injurious to my race, the visage of Malich was altered and Terminga dreaded you would share the fate of others who had in vain attempted the enterprize. Did you not remark also that instant your heart dictated a contempt of danger, the initiation was effected and you were wafted thro’ the flames? But let me dwell no longer on the agonies you have suffered. Let is suffice to assure you that these beings exceed in many respects the race which bespreads your earth. Mark that they regard you without astonishment. Are you not surprized at this seeming indifference when a new object appears? Certainly you are, but know that they often fleet unseen along your empires and silently contemplate the affairs of mankind. Like exhalations they rise from the depths of their caverns and vanish like departing vapours. The regions they chiefly delight to visit are those luxuriant forests which shade the valleys of the Andes. Here they frequently hold converse with the simple descendants of those former rulers of the West, the mighty Incas.1 Embosomed in these aromatic groves they teach them to adore the power who formed the sun and directed his genial influence on theplanets he enlightens. Sometimes the traveller wandering amongst those silent regions is surprized by their lucid forms glancing amongst the meteors and sporting in the rainbows he contemplates beneath. Towards the extreme peak of Catopaxi in a climate where the atmosphere still finer than in the luminous cavern you so lately beheld, is purified by eternal fires, our race have hollowed an entrance to their subterraneous habitations. These stately caves which form in a manner the portals of our abode are never viewed by any except the genuine natives of the valleys immediately beneath. Unknown to the rest of mankind these wilds are never imprinted with their steps, for the material frames of mortals in general and especially those of Europe are almost incapable of breathing so refined an air. These Firenguis deterred by sudden eruptions, furious cataracts and hurricanes that in a moment strew their tracks with desolation, lurk in their confined districts without scarce venturing a look on the tremendous mass which occasions such formidable convulsions; but the Peruvians on the contrary mildly give way to the elemental war and abandoning themselves entirely to the dispensations of Providence smile on the dangers which sometime menace their habitations. Far from murmuring or blaspheming against the will of heaven they regard these tempests with religious reverence and venerate the power in all th majesty of his anger. The elders of these happy tribes separating from the youth who lead an active life in the forests, ascend when age has in a manner consecrated them to us even to the verge of our glistening caverns and there lifted above the storms, the vapours and the concerns of humanity enjoy all the sublimity of meditation. In this region they remain till death delivers them to the Æther of souls. With what delight we dwell upon the genuine descendants of those patriarchs who in former times were esteemed worthy of the interposition of the creator of all things. These and these alone a
re conversant with the pure spirits that move at this instant around us.