The beasts of the sea round as wineskins
The beasts of the sea round as wineskins
The beasts of the sea round as wineskins
"Thou wilt accompany us to our immensities, whither as yet no one has descended.
"Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean. Some dwell in the sojourn of tempests; others swim freely amid the transparency of chill waves;—or, like oxen, graze upon the coral plains, or suck in through their trunks the reflux of the tides,—or bear upon their shoulders the vast weight of the sources of the sea."
Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean
Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean
Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean
(Phosphorences gleam in the moustaches of the seals, shift in the scales of fish. Echini whirl like wheels; ammonites uncoil like cables; oysters make their shell hinges squeak; polypi unfold their tentacles; medusæ quiver like balls of crystal suspended; sponges float hither and thither, anemones ejaculate water; wrack and sea-mosses have grown all about.
And all sorts of plants extend themselves into branches, twist themselves into screws, lengthen into points, round themselves out like fans. Gourds take the appearance of breasts; lianas interlace like serpents.
The Dedaims of Babylon, which are trees, bear human heads for fruit; Mandragorassing;—the root Baaras runs through the grass.
And now the vegetables are no longer distinguishable from the animals. Polyparies that seem like trees, have arms upon their branches. Anthony thinks he sees a caterpillar between two leaves: it is a butterfly that takes flight. He is about to step on a pebble: a grey locust leaps away. One shrub is bedecked with insects that look like petals of roses; fragments of ephemerides form a snowy layer upon the soil.
And then the plants become confounded with the stones.
Flints assume the likeness of brains; stalactites of breasts; the flower of iron resembles a figured tapestry.[2]
He sees efflorescences in fragments of ice, imprints of shrubs and shells—yet so that one cannot detect whether they be imprints only, or the things themselves. Diamonds gleam like eyes; metals palpitate.
And all fear has departed from him! He throws himself down upon the ground, andleaning upon his elbows, watches breathlessly.
Insects that have no stomachs persistently eat; withered ferns bloom again and reflower; absent members grow again.
At last he perceives tiny globular masses, no larger than pinheads, with cilia all round them. They are agitated with a vibratile motion):
Anthony(deliriously):
"O joy! O bliss! I have beheld the birth of life! I have seen the beginning of motion! My pulses throb even to the point of bursting! I long to fly, to swim, to bark, to bellow, to howl! Would that I had wings, a carapace, a shell,—that I could breathe out smoke, wield a trunk,—make my body writhe,—divide myself everywhere,—be in everything,—emanate with odours,—develop myself like the plants,—flow like water,—vibrate like sound—shine like light, squatting upon all forms—penetrate each atom—descend to the very bottom of matter,—be matter itself!"
(Day at last appears;—and, like tabernacle curtains uplifted, clouds of gold uprolling in broad volutes unveil the sky.
Even in the midst thereof, and in the verydisk of the sun, beams the face of Jesus Christ.
Day at last appears ... in the midst thereof and in the very disk of the sun, beams the face of Jesus Christ.
Day at last appears ... in the midst thereof and in the very disk of the sun, beams the face of Jesus Christ.
Day at last appears ... in the midst thereof and in the very disk of the sun, beams the face of Jesus Christ.
Anthony makes the sign of the cross, and resumes his devotions.)
[1]Winkelmann claims to have been the first to discover that the Egyptian sphinxes were bisexual—females before—males otherwise. (See Book II, chap. I, § 25.) Flaubert speaks of the Sphinx in the masculine like Philemon. (See also Signor Carlo Fea's note upon the paragraph in Winkelmann, old French edition. An II, R. F.)—Trans.
[1]Winkelmann claims to have been the first to discover that the Egyptian sphinxes were bisexual—females before—males otherwise. (See Book II, chap. I, § 25.) Flaubert speaks of the Sphinx in the masculine like Philemon. (See also Signor Carlo Fea's note upon the paragraph in Winkelmann, old French edition. An II, R. F.)—Trans.
[2]Fleurs de fer, "flowers of iron." In mineralogyflos ferri, a form of Aragonite.—Trans.
[2]Fleurs de fer, "flowers of iron." In mineralogyflos ferri, a form of Aragonite.—Trans.
Those who compare this translation with the original will observe the omission of some few paragraphs on pages77,96and211. They are speeches put in the mouths of certain Heresiarchs, or complaints of certain of the minor Roman household gods. The translator relegated these to an addenda, which the publishers have omitted as being unnecessary. Those who are familiar with the original will be able to supply them, and will realize that while they might be offensive to some persons, they are in no respect an integral or important part of the great drama.]
(added by transcribers)
A. Observation of Manes, pages 82-3, original text; page89of translation.
Manes
Ou plutôt, faites si bien qu'elle ne soit pas fécondes. Mieux vaut pour l'ame tomber sur la terre que de languir dans des entraves charnelles.
Probably a calumny against Manes; for the Eastern philosophy, especially that of Zoroaster, which is said to have inspired the tenets of Manichæism, advocated no such abominations.
B. Page 105 of original;page 108translation. The realistic phraseology of the original passage is rather brutal. The French text reads: "Il souffrait de la maladie Bellerephontienne; et sa mère, la parfumeuse, s'est livrée à Pantherus, un soldat Romain, sur des gerbes de mais, un soir de moisson." C. Descriptive text, page 237 original, partly suppressed onpage 223translation: "Et il lui montre dans un bosquet d'aliziers Une Femme toute nue, à quatre pattes comme une bête, et saillie par un homme noir, tenant dans chaque main un flambeau."
D. Curious text of Crepitus, on page228, pages 241-3 of original:
Crepitus
(——se fait entendre):
Moi aussi l'on m'honora jadis. On me faisait des libations. Je fus un Dieu!
L'Athénien me saluait comme un presage de fortune, tandis que le Romain dévot me maudissait les poings levés et que le pontife d'Egypte, s'abstinant des fèves, tremblait à ma voix et pâlissait à mon odeur.
Quand le vinaigre militaire coulait sur les barbes non rasées, qu'on se régalait de glands, de pois, et d'oignons crus, et que le bouc en morceau cuissait dans le beurre rance des pasteurs, sans souci du voisin, personne alors ne se gênait. Les nourritures solides faisaient digestions retentissantes. Au soleil de la campagne les hommes se soulageaient avec lenteur.
Ainsi, je passais sans scandale, comme les autres besoins de la vie, comme Mena, tourment des vierges, et la douce Rumina qui protège le sein de la nourrice, gonflé, des veines bleuâtres. J'étais joyeux. Je faisais rire. Et se dilatant d'aise à cause de moi, le convive exhalait toute sa gaieté par les ouvertures de son corps.
J'ai eu mes jours d'orgeuil. Le bon Aristophane me promena sur la scène, et l'empereur Claudius Drusus[1]me fit asseoir à sa table. Dans les laticlaves des patriciens j'ai circulé majestueusement! Les vases d'or, comme des tympanons, resonnaient sous moi; et, quand plein de murènes, de truffles, et de pâtés, l'intestin du maître se dégageait avec fracas, l'univers attentif apprenait que César avait diné!
Mais à présent, je suis confiné dans la populace[2]et l'on se récrie, même à mon nom!
Et Crepitus s'éloigne, en poussant un gémissement....
E. For descriptions of the Martichoras and other monsters, appearing page 287 in the original and253in the translation, see also Rabelais' Pantagruel, Book V, Chap. XXX.
[1]Needless to refer to the comedies of Aristophanes, with which English readers have been familiarized through the Bohn translations. The reference to Claudius ius Drusus seems based upon the following lines in Suetonius: "Dicitur etiam meditatus edictum, quo veniam daret flatum crepitumque ventris in convivio emittendi: cum periclitatum quemdam prae pudore ex continentia reperisset." (Suetonius-Tiberius Claudius Drusus: 32.)
[1]Needless to refer to the comedies of Aristophanes, with which English readers have been familiarized through the Bohn translations. The reference to Claudius ius Drusus seems based upon the following lines in Suetonius: "Dicitur etiam meditatus edictum, quo veniam daret flatum crepitumque ventris in convivio emittendi: cum periclitatum quemdam prae pudore ex continentia reperisset." (Suetonius-Tiberius Claudius Drusus: 32.)
[2]The so-called divinities,Deus Crepitus, Dea Pertunda, Deus Stercutius, Dea Rumina(orRumilia),Dea Mena, concerning whose curious attributes the reader may consult English or French classical encyclopedists, were doubtless regarded by the intelligent classes of antiquity much as certain religious superstitions are regarded by educated moderns. It is true that they furnished grotesque themes to artists; but many existing superstitions regarding elves and goblins have inspired modern sculptors, painters and designers. Certainly, seriously worshipped as deities, Priapus might seem equally contemptible as a divinity; but his worship, degenerate as it became in later years, was primitively symbolical. The obscene image merely typified the procreative Spirit of Nature. The eccentric gods and goddesses above referred to had no such excuse for being. As previously observed, however, Flaubert artistically represents these divinities not as they were really considered in the antique world, but rather as they would have appeared to the eyes of zealous Christians in the third century—infamous and loathsome.—Translator.
[2]The so-called divinities,Deus Crepitus, Dea Pertunda, Deus Stercutius, Dea Rumina(orRumilia),Dea Mena, concerning whose curious attributes the reader may consult English or French classical encyclopedists, were doubtless regarded by the intelligent classes of antiquity much as certain religious superstitions are regarded by educated moderns. It is true that they furnished grotesque themes to artists; but many existing superstitions regarding elves and goblins have inspired modern sculptors, painters and designers. Certainly, seriously worshipped as deities, Priapus might seem equally contemptible as a divinity; but his worship, degenerate as it became in later years, was primitively symbolical. The obscene image merely typified the procreative Spirit of Nature. The eccentric gods and goddesses above referred to had no such excuse for being. As previously observed, however, Flaubert artistically represents these divinities not as they were really considered in the antique world, but rather as they would have appeared to the eyes of zealous Christians in the third century—infamous and loathsome.—Translator.
CONTENTSINTRODUCTIONARGUMENTTHE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONYIIIIIIIVVVIVIINOTEADDENDA
(by Odilon Redon, which were added especially for this PG e-book.)
... through the long hair half hiding her face, I thought that I could recognize Ammonaria ...6Saint Anthony: Help me, O my God!16And there are columns of basalt everywhere,... The light falls from the vaults above38there is a sweetness in my kisses as of a fruit dissolving within thy heart ...58... a long blood-colored chrysalis100... the flowers fall and the head of a python appears105... and in the darkness beside him people are praying...107... and he beholds an arid plain, mamillated with knolls113She drags a black sponge from her bosom, covers it with kisses ...115I have buried myself in solitude, like the rhinoceros. I dwelt in the tree behind me119Helena - Ennoia125... instantly arise three goddesses157Intelligence became mine! I became the Buddha.165... and eyes without heads were floating like mollusks167I, the first consciousness of Chaos, arose from the abyss that I might harden matter, and give a law unto forms168Here is the Good Goddess, the Idæan of the mountains178I am still the Great Isis!—none has yet lifted my veil! My fruit is the Sun!188... he falls head foremost into the abyss206Anthony: What is the purpose of all that? The Devil: There is no purpose.224The Old Woman: Of what art thou afraid?—a wide, black hole! Perhaps it is a void!235Death: Mine irony depasseth all others!240Death: It is I that make thee awful! Let us intertwine!241Anthony: Somewhere there must be primordial figures, whose bodily forms are only symbols242I myself have sometime beheld in the sky, as it were, forms of spirits242The Sphinx: ... and yet my gaze, which naught can deviate, remains fixed, gazing through all intervening things, upon a horizon that none may reach. The Chimera: I am light and joyous!245The Sciapods: The head as low as possible—That is the secret of happiness.249The beasts of the sea round as wineskins258Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean258Day at last appears ... in the midst thereof and in the very disk of the sun, beams the face of Jesus Christ.260
... through the long hair half hiding her face, I thought that I could recognize Ammonaria ...6
Saint Anthony: Help me, O my God!16
And there are columns of basalt everywhere,... The light falls from the vaults above38
there is a sweetness in my kisses as of a fruit dissolving within thy heart ...58
... a long blood-colored chrysalis100
... the flowers fall and the head of a python appears105
... and in the darkness beside him people are praying...107
... and he beholds an arid plain, mamillated with knolls113
She drags a black sponge from her bosom, covers it with kisses ...115
I have buried myself in solitude, like the rhinoceros. I dwelt in the tree behind me119
Helena - Ennoia125
... instantly arise three goddesses157
Intelligence became mine! I became the Buddha.165
... and eyes without heads were floating like mollusks167
I, the first consciousness of Chaos, arose from the abyss that I might harden matter, and give a law unto forms168
Here is the Good Goddess, the Idæan of the mountains178
I am still the Great Isis!—none has yet lifted my veil! My fruit is the Sun!188
... he falls head foremost into the abyss206
Anthony: What is the purpose of all that? The Devil: There is no purpose.224
The Old Woman: Of what art thou afraid?—a wide, black hole! Perhaps it is a void!235
Death: Mine irony depasseth all others!240
Death: It is I that make thee awful! Let us intertwine!241
Anthony: Somewhere there must be primordial figures, whose bodily forms are only symbols242
I myself have sometime beheld in the sky, as it were, forms of spirits242
The Sphinx: ... and yet my gaze, which naught can deviate, remains fixed, gazing through all intervening things, upon a horizon that none may reach. The Chimera: I am light and joyous!245
The Sciapods: The head as low as possible—That is the secret of happiness.249
The beasts of the sea round as wineskins258
Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean258
Day at last appears ... in the midst thereof and in the very disk of the sun, beams the face of Jesus Christ.260
Transcribers' Note:This translation of the "Tentation" by Lafcadio Hearn, still regarded by many as the best up until now in English, still misses some small fragments (of a couple of words) not deemed fit for the Anglo-Saxon temperament of that time. There is a contemporary version (2002) of this translation available, with introduction by Michel Foucault and the inclusion of some missing expressions. The original French by Gustave Flaubert is also available at Project Gutenberg—http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10982