The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Part 167

MOSCON: Would that my feet were wings, _45 So would I fly to Livia.

[EXIT.]

CLARIN: To speak truth, Livia is she who has surprised my heart; But he is more than half-way there.--Soho!

Livia, I come; good sport, Livia, soho!

[EXIT.]

CYPRIAN: Now, since I am alone, let me examine _50 The question which has long disturbed my mind With doubt, since first I read in Plinius The words of mystic import and deep sense In which he defines G.o.d. My intellect Can find no G.o.d with whom these marks and signs _55 Fitly agree. It is a hidden truth Which I must fathom.

[CYPRIAN READS; THE DAEMON, DRESSED IN A COURT DRESS, ENTERS.]

NOTE: _57 Stage Direction: So transcr. Reads. Enter the Devil as a fine gentleman 1824.

DAEMON: Search even as thou wilt, But thou shalt never find what I can hide.

CYPRIAN: What noise is that among the boughs? Who moves?

What art thou?--

DAEMON: 'Tis a foreign gentleman. _60 Even from this morning I have lost my way In this wild place; and my poor horse at last, Quite overcome, has stretched himself upon The enamelled tapestry of this mossy mountain, And feeds and rests at the same time. I was _65 Upon my way to Antioch upon business Of some importance, but wrapped up in cares (Who is exempt from this inheritance?) I parted from my company, and lost My way, and lost my servants and my comrades. _70

CYPRIAN: 'Tis singular that even within the sight Of the high towers of Antioch you could lose Your way. Of all the avenues and green paths Of this wild wood there is not one but leads, As to its centre, to the walls of Antioch; _75 Take which you will, you cannot miss your road.

DAEMON: And such is ignorance! Even in the sight Of knowledge, it can draw no profit from it.

But as it still is early, and as I Have no acquaintances in Antioch, _80 Being a stranger there, I will even wait The few surviving hours of the day, Until the night shall conquer it. I see Both by your dress and by the books in which You find delight and company, that you _85 Are a great student;--for my part, I feel Much sympathy in such pursuits.

NOTE: _87 in transcr.; with 1824.

CYPRIAN: Have you Studied much?

DAEMON: No,--and yet I know enough Not to be wholly ignorant.

CYPRIAN: Pray, Sir, What science may you know?--

DAEMON: Many.

CYPRIAN: Alas! _90 Much pains must we expend on one alone, And even then attain it not;--but you Have the presumption to a.s.sert that you Know many without study.

DAEMON: And with truth.

For in the country whence I come the sciences _95 Require no learning,--they are known.

NOTE: _95 come the sciences]come sciences 1824.

CYPRIAN: Oh, would I were of that bright country! for in this The more we study, we the more discover Our ignorance.

DAEMON: It is so true, that I Had so much arrogance as to oppose _100 The chair of the most high Professorship, And obtained many votes, and, though I lost, The attempt was still more glorious, than the failure Could be dishonourable. If you believe not, Let us refer it to dispute respecting _105 That which you know the best, and although I Know not the opinion you maintain, and though It be the true one, I will take the contrary.

NOTE: _106 the transcr.; wanting, 1824.

CYPRIAN: The offer gives me pleasure. I am now Debating with myself upon a pa.s.sage _110 Of Plinius, and my mind is racked with doubt To understand and know who is the G.o.d Of whom he speaks.

DAEMON: It is a pa.s.sage, if I recollect it right, couched in these words 'G.o.d is one supreme goodness, one pure essence, _115 One substance, and one sense, all sight, all hands.'

CYPRIAN: 'Tis true.

DAEMON: What difficulty find you here?

CYPRIAN: I do not recognize among the G.o.ds The G.o.d defined by Plinius; if he must Be supreme goodness, even Jupiter _120 Is not supremely good; because we see His deeds are evil, and his attributes Tainted with mortal weakness; in what manner Can supreme goodness be consistent with The pa.s.sions of humanity?

DAEMON: The wisdom _125 Of the old world masked with the names of G.o.ds The attributes of Nature and of Man; A sort of popular philosophy.

CYPRIAN: This reply will not satisfy me, for Such awe is due to the high name of G.o.d _130 That ill should never be imputed. Then, Examining the question with more care, It follows, that the G.o.ds would always will That which is best, were they supremely good.

How then does one will one thing, one another? _135 And that you may not say that I allege Poetical or philosophic learning:-- Consider the ambiguous responses Of their oracular statues; from two shrines Two armies shall obtain the a.s.surance of _140 One victory. Is it not indisputable That two contending wills can never lead To the same end? And, being opposite, If one be good, is not the other evil?

Evil in G.o.d is inconceivable; _145 But supreme goodness fails among the G.o.ds Without their union.

NOTE: _133 would transcr.; should 1824.

DAEMON: I deny your major.

These responses are means towards some end Unfathomed by our intellectual beam.

They are the work of Providence, and more _150 The battle's loss may profit those who lose, Than victory advantage those who win.

CYPRIAN: That I admit; and yet that G.o.d should not (Falsehood is incompatible with deity) a.s.sure the victory; it would be enough _155 To have permitted the defeat. If G.o.d Be all sight,--G.o.d, who had beheld the truth, Would not have given a.s.surance of an end Never to be accomplished: thus, although The Deity may according to his attributes _160 Be well distinguished into persons, yet Even in the minutest circ.u.mstance His essence must be one.

NOTE: _157 had transcr.; wanting, 1824.

DAEMON: To attain the end The affections of the actors in the scene Must have been thus influenced by his voice. _165

CYPRIAN: But for a purpose thus subordinate He might have employed Genii, good or evil,-- A sort of spirits called so by the learned, Who roam about inspiring good or evil, And from whose influence and existence we _170 May well infer our immortality.

Thus G.o.d might easily, without descent To a gross falsehood in his proper person, Have moved the affections by this mediation To the just point.

NOTE: _172 descent transcr.; descending 1824.

DAEMON: These trifling contradictions _175 Do not suffice to impugn the unity Of the high G.o.ds; in things of great importance They still appear unanimous; consider That glorious fabric, man,--his workmanship Is stamped with one conception.

CYPRIAN: Who made man _180 Must have, methinks, the advantage of the others.

If they are equal, might they not have risen In opposition to the work, and being All hands, according to our author here, Have still destroyed even as the other made? _185 If equal in their power, unequal only In opportunity, which of the two Will remain conqueror?

NOTE: _186 unequal only transcr.; and only unequal 1824.

DAEMON: On impossible And false hypothesis there can be built No argument. Say, what do you infer _190 From this?

CYPRIAN: That there must be a mighty G.o.d Of supreme goodness and of highest grace, All sight, all hands, all truth, infallible, Without an equal and without a rival, The cause of all things and the effect of nothing, _195 One power, one will, one substance, and one essence.

And, in whatever persons, one or two, His attributes may be distinguished, one Sovereign power, one solitary essence, One cause of all cause.

NOTE: _197 And]query, Ay?

[THEY RISE.]

DAEMON: How can I impugn _200 So clear a consequence?