The Death of the Gods

by Dmitry Sergeyevich Merezhkovsky

  X

  At the stroke of midnight, in the vestibule leading to the great hallof the mysteries, Julian flung off his novice's robe. The sacrificialmystagogues, initiators into the pagan ceremonial, then clothed himanew in their own priestly tunic, woven of threads of papyrus. Apalm-branch was put into his hand, and his feet were left bare. He wasthen led up a long low hall, the vaults of which were supported by adouble row of bronze Corinthian columns. Each column, formed of twoserpents entwined, bore two incense-burners on lofty and slenderbranching stands, whence rose thin tongues of flame. Dense vapourfilled the hall. At its end glittered two winged golden bulls,propping a splendid throne, on which was seated, arrayed in a longblack tunic powdered thick with emeralds and carbuncles, and indemeanour like a god, the greatest hierophant of all, Maximus ofEphesus.

  The slow reverberant voice of a temple slave announced the opening ofthe mysteries--

  "If any impious, or Christian, or Epicurean be present in thisassembly, let him go forth!"

  Instructed in advance as to the necessary responses, Julian pronouncedthe words--

  "Let the Christians go forth!"

  The choir of temple slaves, hidden in obscurity, took up the burden--

  "To the doors! To the doors! Let the Christians go forth! Let theimpious go forth!"

  Then twenty-four lads, entirely naked, each holding a silver sistrum,like a crescent-moon, came forth from the shadow. In perfect unisonthey raised the vibrating instruments above their heads, and with onegraceful gesture struck the resonant strings, which gave forth a longand plaintive note. Maximus made a sign.

  Someone tightly bandaged Julian's eyes from behind and said to himearnestly--

  "Go forward! Fear neither Water, Fire, Spirits; nor Bodies, nor Life,nor Death."

  He felt himself dragged forward; an iron door opened on creakinghinges. He was pushed through it; a stifling atmosphere beat on hisface while his feet groped down slippery and twisted steps. Feelinghis way down this endless stair, amidst sepulchral silence, it seemedat last that he must be a great distance underground. He proceededalong a narrow passage--so narrow that his hands, held stiffly to hissides, rubbed along the walls. Suddenly his bare feet struck moisture;he heard water flowing; a stream covered his ankles. He kept on, butat every step the water rose, reaching first his calves, then hisknees, and finally his loins. His teeth began to chatter with cold.The flood rose breast high. He wondered--

  "Perhaps this is a trap; it is some device of Maximus for killing me,to do the Emperor pleasure."

  But he held stoutly on, forging slowly through the water. Finally itseemed to lessen, till at last it completely ebbed away. A suffocatingheat, as from the mouth of a furnace, gradually enveloped him, so thatthe ground scorched his feet. Julian thought he must be walkingstraight into an oven; blood throbbed in his temples; sometimes theheat was so intense that it licked his cheek like a flame. But thelad never wavered.

  In its turn the heat diminished. But sickening odours next choked hisbreath. Time after time he stumbled against round objects, andrecognised bones and dead men's skulls.

  Suddenly he felt someone walking by his side, gliding alongnoiselessly like a shadow; an ice-cold hand seized his own. He utteredan involuntary cry. Two hands were gently pulling at his clothes, thefleshless bones piercing their withered skin. The grip of these handsbecame playful movements, repulsive caresses like those of debauchedwomen. Julian felt a breath on his cheek tainted with fusty rottennessand moisture, and then became aware of a rapid murmur at his ear, likethe rustle of leaves on a night in autumn--

  "It is I! It is I!--I!--do you not know me again? It is I!--I!"

  "And who, who art thou?" stammered Julian. But immediately herecollected his promise of absolute silence.

  "It is I! Shall I strip the bandage from your eyes so that you mayknow me again, may meet me again?" And the bony fingers, with the samehideous eagerness, fluttered over his face as if seeking to drag offthe bandage.

  A deadly chill penetrated Julian to the heart, and, through habit, hethrice crossed himself involuntarily, as in childhood at some baddream.

  A clap of thunder! The ground heaved under his feet! He felt himselffalling into the unknown; and lost consciousness.

  When he regained his senses he was no longer blindfold but lay oncushions in a huge twilit grotto. A cloth, soaked in penetratingperfumes, was being held to his nostrils. Opposite Julian stood a leanman with a coppery skin; it was the gymnosophist--the nakedsage--assistant of Maximus.

  He was holding high above his head a motionless metallic disc. A voicesaid to Julian. "Look!" Julian gazed at the dazzling circle. Itsbrilliancy was almost painful to the eyes. Looking at it fixedly andlong, gradually all things melted and lost their sharper outline. Apleasant weakness breathed through his being. The luminous disc nolonger shone in the void, but in his own mind; his eyelids descended;a sleepy smile of weariness played upon his submissive lips. He felt ahand stroking his head, and a voice asked--

  "Are you asleep?"

  "Yes...."

  "Look me in the eyes!"

  Julian obeyed with effort and perceived Maximus stooping over him.

  He was a man of about seventy years old, bearded to the girdle. Thickhair, with a yellow glitter in it, fell thick over his shoulders. Deepwrinkles, furrowed by thought and will, and not by suffering, markedcheek and brow. His smile was like the smile of women who are at oncewitty, mendacious, and enchanting. But it was the eyes of Maximus thatgave Julian most pleasure. Under thick eyebrows they shone mocking,and tender, yet piercing to the quick.

  Maximus asked--"Do you wish to see the most famous of the Titans?"

  "Yes."

  "Watch then."

  The magician pointed to the depth of the cave where stood a tripod ofCorinthian bronze, vomiting smoke. A tempestuous noise filled thecavern--

  "Hercules! Hercules! Deliver me!"

  The smoke vanished; blue sky appeared. Julian lay stretched motionlessand pale, watching through half-shut eyelids the rapid visionsunfolded before him. It was as if someone commanded him to see them.He beheld clouds and snow-clad mountains, and heard the breaking ofdistant waves. Slowly he perceived an enormous body, chained hand andfoot to crags. A kite was devouring the liver of the Titan, drops ofblack blood trickled down his side; the great chains rattled, and thewhole body shuddered with pain.

  "Deliver me, Hercules!"

  And the Titan raised his shaggy head; his eyes met those of the youthentranced--

  "Who art thou? Whom dost thou summon?" asked Julian, speaking heavilyin his dream.

  "I call on thee!"

  "I am but a mortal, and helpless."

  "Thou art my brother; set me free!"

  "Who has chained thee up anew?"

  "The humble, the gentle,--who through cowardice forgive their enemies.Slaves! slaves!... O deliver me!"

  "How can I deliver thee?"

  "Be even as I am."

  The smoke of the tripod obscured the apparition. Julian woke for amoment and the great hierophant, the teacher of rites, asked--

  "Do you wish to see the ruined Archangel?"

  "Yes."

  "Behold him!"

  In the white smoke appeared faintly a head between two giganticwings. The feathers of the wings swept out, drooping like branches ofyew, and a bluish tint as of some lost sky trembled upon themelancholy plumes.

  Someone cried to Julian from afar off--

  "Julian! Julian! Deny the Galilean in my name!"

  Julian held his peace.

  Maximus muttered at his ear--

  "If you wish to see the great Angel you must make this renunciation."

  And Julian pronounced the words--

  "I deny Him!"

  Above the head of the apparition suddenly glittered the morningstar--the star of dawn--and the Angel repeated--

  "Julian, deny the Galilean in my name!"

  A third time the Angel repeated,--and his voice sounded exultant andclose by: "Renounce Him!"

>   And Julian answered--

  "I renounce Him!"

  The Angel said--

  "Thou mayest approach."

  "Who art thou?"

  "I am Lucifer, I am Light, I am the East, I am the Morning Star!"

  "How beautiful thou art!"

  "Be thou as I am."

  "What melancholy dwells in thine eyes!"

  "I suffer for all living. Birth must cease, death must cease. Come tome; I am the Shadow, I am Repose, I am Liberty."

  "How art thou named among men?"

  "Evil."

  "Thou?"

  "Yes. I turned in revolt."

  "Against whom?"

  "Against Him whose peer I am. He willed to be alone, but we are two,and equals."

  "Make me in thine image!"

  "Revolt also! I will give thee the thews for rebellion."

  "Teach me!"

  "Violate the law, love thyself, curse Him, and be as I am!"

  The Angel disappeared; the wind in circling gusts rekindled the flameon the tripod. The flame blew over the brim of the vessel and ranalong the ground. The tripod itself was overset, and the flame wentout. In the darkness came a rushing noise of numberless steps, withcries and groanings, as if an invisible army, fleeing before an enemy,were in passage through the cave. Julian, in terror, fell facedownward to the earth, while the long black robe of the hierophant,stretched over him, struggled with the wind.

  "Flee, flee!" groaned indistinct voices. "The gates of Hell areopening; it is He, He, the Conqueror!"

  The wind hissed in Julian's ears; legions upon legions seemed passingover him; suddenly there fell a dead calm; a heavenly breath filledthe vast cavern and a voice murmured--

  "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?"

  It seemed to Julian that he had heard that voice before, in some fartime of childhood. Gently it came again--

  "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?"

  And the sound faded away into the distance, so that there came at lastbut an imperceptible whisper: "Why, why, persecutest thou me?"

  When Julian awoke and raised his prostrate face he saw one of theinitiating priests lighting a lamp. He felt giddy, but rememberedexactly everything that had taken place. His eyes were blindfoldedand, strengthened with spiced wine, he was enabled to climb thestaircase, his hand gripped this time by the strong hand of Maximus.He felt as if an invisible force was lifting him on wings. The teacherof rites said to the lad--

  "Now ask what you will!"

  "Did you summon Him?" inquired Julian.

  "No. But when one chord of the lyre vibrates, another chord responds.Opposite answers opposite."

  "Why is there such potency in His words if His words are only lies?"

  "His words are truth."

  "What do you mean? Then it is the Titan and the Angel who lied?"

  "They also are the truth."

  "Do you mean that there are two truths?"

  "Two truths."

  "Ah! You are tempting me!..."

  "Not I, but the wholeness of the truth. If you are afraid, be silent."

  "I am afraid of nothing. Say on; tell all! Are the Galileans right?"

  "Yes."

  "Why then should I have renounced them?"

  "There is, beside theirs, another truth."

  "One higher?"

  "No, equal."

  "But in what is one to believe? Where is the God whom I seek?"

  "Both here and yonder. Serve Ahriman,--serve Ormuzd, whicheverpleases you! But forget not that both are equal,--the kingdom ofLucifer and the kingdom of God."

  "Which way should I choose?"

  "Choose one of the two roads, and halt no more!"

  "But which?"

  "If you believe in Him, take up the cross. Follow Him according to Hiscommand; be humble, chaste. Be the lamb that was dumb between thehands of the shearers. Flee into the desert for salvation; give Himbody, soul, and reason! Believe!... that is one way. And the Galileanmartyrs attain the same liberty that Prometheus and Lucifer haveattained."

  "That way I cannot choose."

  "Choose then the other path. Be puissant as your ancestors of old, theheroes--proud, pitiless, and haughty. No compassion! No love! Nopardon! Arise and conquer all things! Let your body become hard asmarble out of which the demigods are hewn! Take and give not! Taste ofthe forbidden fruit and repent not! Believe not, doubt not, and theworld shall be thine! Thou shalt be the Titan--an angel revoltedagainst God."

  "But I can never forget that the words of the Galilean contain truthalso. I cannot admit two beliefs."

  "Then thou shalt be like all common mortals and hadst better neverbeen born; but thou canst choose. Make the venture!... Thou shalt beemperor!"

  "I? Emperor?"

  "Thou shalt have between thy hands what Alexander never had."

  Julian felt that they were issuing from the bowels of the earth, feltthe morning sea-breeze bathing him. The hierophant unknotted thebandage over his eyes, and lo! they were standing on a high marbletower, the astronomical observatory of the great seer, built after themodel of the ancient Chaldean towers, but upon a crag above the sea.Below stretched luxurious gardens, palaces, and cloisters, recallingthe colonnades of Persepolis. In the distance the Artemision andEphesus stood in clear relief against the mountains over which the sunwas about to rise.

  Julian's head almost gave way at the extent of the view; he had tolean upon the arm of Maximus; but then with a smile the youth closedhis eyes, and the beams of the rising sun flushed his white vestmentswith rose-colour. The seer stretched out his arm.

  "Behold! all this is thine!"

  "Can I sustain it, Master? Assassination may strike me at any moment.I am weak and ill."

  "The sun, the god Mithra, is crowning you with his purples--the purpleof the Roman Empire. All this is thine. Dare!"

  "And what is it all to me, since truth unified does not exist, andsince I cannot find the God for whom I seek?"

  "Ah! if thou canst make one the truth of the Titan and the truth ofthe Galilean, thou wilt be greater than any that have been born ofwomen!..."

  * * * * *

  Maximus of Ephesus was the owner of marvellous libraries, quiet marblechambers, and spacious anatomical laboratories crowded with scientificapparatus. In one of the latter the young physicist, Oribazius, adoctor of the school of Alexandria, was vivisecting, scalpel in hand,a rare animal sent to Maximus from the Indies. The hall was circularand the walls loaded with rows of tin vessels, chafing dishes,retorts, apparatus like that of Archimedes, and fire machines likethose of Ktesius and Geron. In the silence of the adjoining librarydrop after drop fell plashing from the water-clock, an invention ofApollonius. Globes were there also, geographical charts in metal, andmodels of the celestial spheres wrought by Hipparchus andEratosthenes.

  In the clear and serene light falling through the glass ceiling,Maximus, clothed as a simple philosopher, was scrutinising thestill-warm organs of the animal laid on the marble. Oribazius stoopingover the liver of the animal was saying--

  "How can Maximus, the great philosopher, believe in these ridiculousmiracles?"

  "I believe in them and I believe in them not," answered the magian."This Nature which you and I are studying, is not she most miraculous?Are not these blood-vessels, this nervous system, the admirablecombination of organs which we are examining like augurs--are notthese the most splendid of mysteries?"

  "You know my meaning," interrupted the young doctor. "Why have youdeceived this young man?"

  "Julian?"

  "Yes."

  "He himself desired to be deceived."

  The brows of Oribazius knitted into a frown.

  "Master, if you love me, tell me who you are. How can you endure lieslike these? Do I not understand what magic means? You attach luminousfish-scales to the ceiling of a darkened chamber, and the pupil to beinitiated believes that the skies are descending on him at the word ofthe hierophant. You manufacture with skin and wax a death's head, into
which you fit a stork's neck; and through it you pronounce yourpredictions from beneath the floor. The pupil imagines that the skulluncurtains to him the secrets of the tomb; and when it is necessarythat the head should vanish, you bring a chafing dish near it, the waxmelts and the skull collapses. By skilful rays of coloured lightplaying on odorous smoke, you make the innocent believe that they haveverily seen the gods! You display under water in a basin, of which thewalls are stone and the bottom glass, a living Apollo (acted by anobliging slave), while some vulgar prostitute is played off asAphrodite. This--this, you call the holy mysteries!"

  His habitual equivocal smile wandered over the compressed lips of theteacher, who answered--

  "Ah! our mysteries are deeper and finer than you suppose. Men haveabsolute need of enthusiasm. For him who has faith the harlot isAphrodite really, and the luminous scales are the stars of heaven. Yousay that people weep and pray before semblances produced by a lamp andcoloured glasses? Oribazius, Oribazius!... but this Nature which makesyour science marvel, is she not herself a mirage, produced by sensesas deceptive as the wizard's lantern? Wherein does truth consist?Where does falsehood begin? You believe and you know, and I neitherwish to believe nor am skilled to know. Truth dwells for me in thesame shrine as falsehood."

  "Would Julian thank you, if he knew that you were deceiving him?"

  "He saw what he desired to see. I have given him enthusiasm, strength,and audacity. You say that I have deceived him. If that had beennecessary I would have done so--I would have tempted him. I love thefalsehood that contains a truth. I love temptation. Till I die I willnever abandon Julian and shall allow him to taste all forbiddenfruits. He is young; I shall live on a second life in him. I willunveil for him the mystery and charm even of crime; and perhapsthrough me he shall become great!"

  "Master, I do not understand you."

  "And that is precisely why I speak thus to you," responded Maximus,fixing on Oribazius his penetrating and impassive eyes.