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THE
TEMPLE
CLASSICS

Edited by

ISRAEL

GOLLANCZ
M.A.

A1,TERIVS MON. SIT

(^)VI

SVVS

AVRr,OA,VS

PHUAt'fVS
AB HOHENHLTM,

t^tui

*fte

oajof

lltluna iJartt rcmuj /iurnit.

tjir ora IxJu.rum ptur-itna itmnum

Duanu ,/iuJio

per

Idui Jeat itir

POTEST

THE0PHRA5TV5 BOMBAST
\

DKTVS PARACELSVS

L!fjfra

Qua

ESSf.

ntnum

ft

muHum

I'util.l^firo

^jtra ^uaUr Jena ^f^Aptfimhtj

P.

Chfuiunw

anif

luce Juhiuit:

fcaipjit-

IWVCELSUS

$S

<^

Jfe

^9?

ROBERT
^

i^

's(:>

ck

?fe

BROWNING
.V'

bV

';j-M-DeJHT'
A^DCCCXCVLllPUBLlSHeD
J\ND-CO: Al/DIMC- MOOSe-LOJSDOM-C-CI

PARACELSUS
j

g^

'^

1835

PART

PARACELSUS ASPIRES
Scene.

Wiir-zburg
environs.

a garden

;
i

in the

Festus, Paracelsus, Michal

Paracelsus.

Come

closer

still

close to me, dear friends

it

it

least

beats

perchance

Quiet and fragrant

Nor

a long, long time

henceforth your memories shall

shall

Alas, that

as befits their

my memory
it

want

make

home.

home

yours

in

requires too well such free

I'orgiving love as shall

embalm

it

there

you would remember me aright,

As I was born to be, you must forget
'\ll fitful, strange and moody waywardness

I'

or

10

if

Which

hisfrien

again beat quicker, pressed to yours,

As now
At

long time ,^ ^^

though

by

roll

Paracelsus

Close to the heart which,

Ere

thus

e'er confused

my

Only on moments such

better

s])irit,

to dwell

as these, dear friends

PARACELSUS

He

dis

courses

au

My

umn

heart no truer, but

More

to

true

it

as

my words

Michal,

and ways
some months

hence,

^.^^

^_^^^

autumn was

^j^.^

For some few sunny days

a pleasant time,'

and overlook

wind, hankering after pining leaves.

Autumn would fain be sunny I would look 20
Liker my nature's truth and both are frail,
And both beloved, for all our frailty.
Aureole
Michal.
Its bleak

Paracelsus.

Drop by drop!

like a child

she

is

weeping

more than content

I am content
Nay, autumn wins you best by this its mute
Appeal to sympathy for its decay

Not

so

Look
Your

up, sweet Michal, nor esteem the less

stained and drooping vines their grapes

bow down.
Nor blame those creaking

trees bent with their

fruit.

30
apple-tree with a ^X^nfter-birth
peeping blooms sprinkled its wealth among
Then for the winds what wind that ever raved

That

Of

Shall vex that ash

which overlooks you both.

Ah, at length,
wears its berries ?
The old smile meet for her, the lady of this
this kingdom, limited
Sequestered nest!
Alone by one old populous green wall
Tenanted by the ever-busy flies.
Grey crickets and shy lizards and quick spiders,
So proud

it

Each family of the silver-threaded moss

Which, look through near, this way, and
appears

A stubble-field

or a cane-brake, a marsh

40
it

PARACELSUS
Of

bulrush whitening in the sun

3
:

laugh

now

Fancy the crickets, each one in his house,

Looking out, wondering at the world or

Yon

He

pictures
best,

f^-|.^

painted snail with his gay shell of dew,

friends

Travelling to see the glossy balls high up

during his

Hung by

absence

the caterpillar, like gold lamps.

we have

Michal. In truth

lived

carelessly

and well.
Paracelsus.

And

shall,

my

perfect

pair!

each, trust me, born

For the other

nay,

50

very hair, when

your

mixed,
For where save in this nook
one hue.
Shall you two walk, when I am far away.
And wish me prosperous fortune ? Stay that
Is of

plant

Shall never

As

wave

tangles lightly and softly.

its

and imperial arm

crowns among her lovers, but you
Shall be reminded to predict to me
a queen's languid

Which
Some

scatters

great success

Ah,

see,

the sun sinks

broad
Behind Saint Saviour's: wholly gone, at last! Tjo
Fcslus. Now, Aureole, stay those wandering
eyes awhile
You arc ours to-night, at least and while you
;

fij)oke

Of Michal and her tears, I thought that none

Could willing leave what he so seemed to love
But that last look destroys my dream
that look
:

As

where'er you ga/cd, there stood a star

was Wiirzburg with its church and spire
garden-walls and all things they contain,

if,

How

And
From

far

that look's far alighting

PARACELSUS

and

I but spoke
looked alike from simple joy to see
70

Paracelsus.

strives to

And

'^^^th"'^^

The beings I love best, shut in so well

From all rude chances like to be my lot,
That, when

To

afar,

lose awhile

my

its

weary

spirit,

disposed

care in soothing thoughts

Of

them, their pleasant features, looks and

words,
Needs never hesitate, nor apprehend
Encroaching trouble may have reached them too,
Nor have recourse to fancy's busy aid
And fashion even a wish in their behalf
Beyond what they possess already here
80
But, unobstructed, may at once forget
Itself in them, assured how well they fare.
Beside, this Festus knows he holds me one
Whom quiet and its charms arrest in vain.
One scarce aware of all the joys I quit,
Too filled with airy hopes to make account
Of soft delights his own heart garners up
Whereas behold how much our sense of all
When I'^stus
That 's beauteous proves alike
;

learns

That every common

Affects

me

pleasure of the world

As varied appetite for

From common things
Like
That

his
life

He may

90

that I have just

as himself;

joy derived
;

a stake in

life, in

short.

which rash pursuit of aims

not, would as soon destroy

a stake

affords

convince himself that, this

I shall act well advised.

Though heaven and

And

earth and

last,
all

in

view,

because,
things

were

at stake.

Sweet Michal must not weep, our parting eve.

PARACELSUS
True

Festus.

and the eve

is

deepening, and Festus

^' ^'
little anxious to begin our talk
though to-morrow 1 could hint of

'"^

As
it
As
As we paced arm-in-arm the cheerful town
At sun-dawn or could whisper it by fits

^j^j^ ^^^^

(Trithemius busied with his

class the

while)

In that dim chamber where the noon-streaks peer

Half-frightened by the awful tomes around ;

Or in some grassy lane unbosom all

From even-blush to midnight but, to-morrow
no
Have I full leave to tell my inmost mind
!

We have been brothers, and henceforth the world

Will

between us

rise

'Tis the

last night,

all

my

freest

dear Aureole

mind

Oh, say on
Paracelsus.
Devise some test of love, some arduous feat
If night
To be performed for you say on
:

Be

My

Recall how oft

wondrous plans and dreams and hopes and

spent the while, the better

fears

Have

never wearied you, oh no!

as I

Recall, and never vividly as now.

Your true affection, born when liinsiedeln

And
And

its

green

still

hills

were

all

increasing to this night

further stay at Wijrzburg.

You

shall

Festus.

120

the world to us

My

which ends

Oh, one day

Say on, dear friends

be very proud
In truth ? 'Tis for my proper peace,
!

indeed.

Rather than yours; for vain all jjrojects seem

To stay your course I said my latest hope
story tells
Is fading even now,
Of some far embassy despatched to win
:

Se"s

PARACELSUS

Para- The favour of an eastern king, and how

130
celsus 'X'he gifts they offered proved but dazzling dust
protests
j.j^^^ ^^^^^ j.j^^^ ore-beds native to his clime.
Just so, the value of repose and love,

meant should tempt you, better far than I

and yet desist
to comprehend
No whit from projects where repose nor love
I

You seem
Has

part.

Paracelsus.

Once more

Alas

As

I fore-

told.

A solitary briar the bank

Festus.

To

puts forth

save our swan's nest floating out to sea.

Paracelsus.
it

What

Festus, hear me.

Dear

you wish

is

140

That I should lay aside my heart's pursuit.

Abandon the sole ends for which I live,
Reject God's great commission, and so die

You

bid

me

listen for

your true love's sake

Yet how has grown that love

And
It

in a long

patient cherishing of the self-same spirit

now would

To

Even

quell

stay the lusty

as

though

manhood of

mother hoped

the child

I was not born

knees.
Informed and fearless from the first, but shrank
From aught which marked me out apart from

Once weak upon her

men

151

would have lived their life, and died their death,

Lost in their ranks, eluding destiny
But you first guided me through doubt and fear.
Taught me to know mankind and know myself:
I

And now that I am strong and full of hope.

That, from my soul, I can reject all aims
Save those your earnest words made plain to me,

Now

that

touch the brink of

my

design.

PARACELSUS
When

would have

triumph

glad cheer in their voices

And Festus ponders gravely

hear

purpose

^f Festus

you deign

Hear

Paracelsus.

it ?

can say

Beforehand all this evening's conference

first,
'Tis this way, Michal, that he uses
1

Or

he declares, or

I,

the leading points

Of our best scheme of life, what is man's end

And what God's will no two faiths e'er agreed
As his with mine. Next, each of us allows
;

Faith should be acted on as best we

Accordingly, I venture to submit

My

may

170

plan, in lack of better, for pursuing

The

path which

God's

seems to authorise.

will

Well, he discerns much good in it, avows

This motive worthy, that hope plausible,
danger here to be avoided, there
An oversight to be repaired in fine
Our two minds go together all the good
Approved by him, I gladly recognise,
180
All he counts bad, I thankfully discard,
And naught forbids my looking up at last
I'or some stray comfort in his cautious brow.
I learn that, spite of all, there lurks
Wiicn, lo

Some

Of

innate and inex])licable

failure in

It all

my

amounts

scheme

to this

That we devote

the sovereign jiroof

In living just as though no

A
I'"

germ

so that at last

ourselves to

God,

God

is

seen

there were

which, ])rompted by the sad and

oily of man, Festus abhors the most;
life

liut

which these

He chides
the

When

my

i6o

in their eyes,

Michal weeps,

Festtis.

To

tenets sanctify at once,

lilinl

100

PARACELSUS

Festus Though to
persists Consider
in his

less subtle wits

it

how

it

Mkhal.

"" ^

seems the same,

they may.
Is

He

it

Festus

so,

is it so ?
speaks so calmly and kindly
Paracelsus. Reject those glorious visions of
:

God's

And

love

man's design

laugh loud that

God

should

send

Vast longings

Power

to direct us

say

how

satiates these, or lust, or gold

soon
I

know

world's cry well, and how to answer

But this ambiguous warfare . . .

The

Festus.

That you

To
To

urge
send

my

Wearies so

200

your friend
I wish
for his sake, not yours ?
soul in good hopes after you

will grant

it ?

it.

no

last leave to

sorrow that uncertain words

Erringly apprehended, a new creed

Never

to

understood, begot rash trust

share in your undoing.

111

in

you,

Had

Choose your

Paracelsus.

Hold

or renounce

but meanwhile blame

side.

me

not

dare to act on your own views.

Nor shrink when they point onward, nor espy 210
peril where they most ensure success.

Because

Prove
Prove that to me but that
you abide
Within their warrant, nor presumptuous boast
God's labour laid on you prove, all you covet
and, most of all,
mortal may expect
Prove the strange course you now affect, will
Festus.

lead

To

its

attainment

and

Nay, count the minutes

you speed,
you venture forth

I bid
till

PARACELSUS
You

smile

but

had gathered

9
from slow

thought

He
If^f^
J

220
musing on the fortunes of my friend
^
Matter I deemed could not be urged in vain
But it all leaves me at my need in shreds
And fragments I must venture what remains.
Michcil. Ask at once, Festus, wherefore he

Much

should scorn
Festus.

Stay,

Michal

Aureole,

speak

guardedly

And

knowing well, whate'er your error.

no ill-considered choice of yours,
No sudden fancy of an ardent boy.
Not from your own confiding words alone
I aware your passionate heart long since 230
Gave birth to, nourished and at length matures
This scheme. 1 will not speak of Liinsiedeln,
Where I was born your elder by some years
Only to watch you fully from the first
In all beside, our mutual tasks were fixed
Even then 'twas mine to have you in my view
As you had your own soul and those intents
Which filled it when, to crown your dearest wish,
With a tumultuous heart, you left with me 239
Our childhood's home to join the favoured few
Whom, here, Trithemius condescends to teach
and not one youth
portion of his lore
Of those so favoured, whom you now despise,
Came earnest as you came, resolved, like you.
To grasp all, and retain all, and deserve
15y patient toil a wide renown like his.
Now, this new ardour which sup])lant8 the old
watched, too ; 'twas significant and strange,
In one matched to his soul's content at length

This

gravely,
is

Am

PARACELSUS

lo

traces
the

With

To

rivals in the search for

growing p^yni
of Paracelsus

1"

'"O"^

To

wisdom's prize, 250

see the sudden pause, the total change

pressing

onward

as his fellows pressed,

a blank idleness, yet

The

contest, the transition to repose

most unlike

dull stagnation of a soul, content.

Once foiled, to leave betimes a thriveless quest.

That careless bearing, free from all pretence
Even of contempt for what it ceased to seek
Smiling humility, praising much, yet waiving
though not so well
it professed to praise

What

Maintained but that rare outbreaks,

and

fierce

261

brief,

Revealed the hidden scorn, as quickly curbed

That ostentatious show of past defeat.

That ready acquiescence in contempt,

I deemed no other than the letting go
His shivered sword, of one about to spring

Upon

his foe's throat

but

it

was not thus

Not that way looked your brooding purpose then.

For after-signs disclosed, what you confirmed,
That you prepared to task to the uttermost 270
Your strength, in furtherance of a certain aim
Which while it bore the name your rivals gave
Their own most puny efforts was so vast

In scoi)e that

it

included their best

Combined them, and

flights,

desired to gain one prize

the secret of the world.

In place of many,
Of man, and man's true purpose, path and fate.
That you, not nursing as a mere vague dream
This purpose, with the sages of the past.

Have struck upon a way to this, if all

You trust be true, which following,
soul.

280

heart and

PARACELSUS
You,

man may, dare

if a

And that this

Of aims alike
Mostly

in

in this,

aspire to

know

and de-

signates

from a host
character and kind,

aim

shall differ

that in itself alone

reward be, not an alien end

no hope nor fear nor joy
Blending therewith
Nor woe, to elsewhere move you, but this pure
Devotion to sustain you or betray
Thus you aspire.
Shall

its

Paracelsus.

You

shall not state

it

thus

290

should not differ from the dreamy crew

You speak of. I profess no other share
I

my lot, than this

ready answer to the will of God
Who summons me to be his organ. All
In the selection of

My

Whose

innate

strength

supports

them

shall

succeed

No

better than the sages.

Such the aim, then,

Festus.

God

you and 'tis doubtless need

That he appoint no less the way of praise
Than the desire to praise ; for, though I liold 300

With

The
And

sets before

you, the setting forth such

])raisc to

be

natural end and service of a man,

hold such

])raise is best attained

when man

Attains the general welfare of his kind

Yet this, the end, is not the instrument.

Presume not to serve God apart from such

Appointed channel as he wills shall gather
Tmjierfect tributes, for that sole oiiedicncc

He seeks not that his altars

Valued perchance
Blaze, careless how, so that they do but blaze. 310
that God selected you
Su|)pose this, then
To KNOW (heed well your answers, for my faith
!

PARACELSUS

12

but Shall meet implicitly what they affirm)

I cannot think you dare annex to such
his smgleSelection auuht beyond a steadfast will,
_rnncp An intense hoi)e ; nor let your gifts create
Scorn or neglect of ordinary means
questions

Conducive to success, make destiny

Now, dare
Dispense with man's endeavour.
you search
320
Your inmost heart, and candidly avow
Whether you have not rather wild desire

For

this distinction

Of its existence
The path to the

than security

whether you discern

fulfilment of your purpose
and again, that purpose
Clear as that jiurpose
Clear as your yearning to be singled out
For its pursuer. Dare you answer this ?
No, I have
Paracelsus
\_after a pause~\.
Who will may know
nought to fear
What
The secret'st workings of my soul.
though
?

It be so

if

Indeed the strong desire

330
me ? if splendour break

Eclipse the aim in

Upon

And

the outset of

my

path alone.

duskest shade succeed

Shall 1 require to

Than

this fierce

Because

its

my

energy

nature

is

What

fairer seal

authentic mission
?

this instinct striving

to strive

enticed

the security of no broad course,

Without success forever in its eyes

By

How
But

in

know

else such glorious fate

my

own,

the restless irresistible force

That works within me

Is

it

for

34"

human

still less,
To institute such impulses
To disregard their promj)tings What
?

will

should I

PARACELSUS

13

your loves, your cares, Parakept among you all

Your life all to be mine ? Be sure that God ^^^^
Ne'er dooms to waste the strength he deigns j^-^

Do,

impart

Ask

mission

the geier-eagle

why

she stoops at once

Into the vast and unexplored abyss,

full-grown power informs her from the

What

first,

Why

she not marvels, strenuously beating

boundless regions of the sky
sure they sleep not whom God needs

The
Be

silent

350

Nor

fear

Their holding

That

light his charge,

finds that

when every hour

is a new death.

charge delayed,

for the faith in which I trust ; and hence

can abjure so well the idle arts
These pedants strive to learn and teach ; Black

This
I

Arts,

Great Works, the Secret and Sublime, forsooth

Let others prize too intimate a tie
sullen fiend 360
Connects me with our God
To do my bidding, fallen and hateful sprites
To help me what arc these, at best, beside
:

God
So

helping,

God

directing everywhere,

that the earth shall yield her secrets up,

And

every object there be charged to strike,

gratify iicr master God appoints ?
I am young, my Festus, happy and free

Teach,

And
I

can devote myself;

To

give

I,

have a

singled out for this, the

Think, think! the wide

i'.ast,

where

bright South, where she dwelt

ful

North,

One
Wisdom
!

all

sprung

The

life

37
the hope-

PARACELSUS

14

Festus All are passed o'er

questions
j.^^j

method

it

me

on

lights

'I'is

^\^^^^Q

hopes should
New ,,',,-

animate the world,

,,,
iShould dawn from new reveahngs

Weighed down

new

light

to a race

so long, forgotten so long

thus

shall

The

heaven reserved for us at last receive

Creatures whom no unwonted splendours blind,
But ardent to confront the unclouded blaze
Whose beams not seldom blessed their pilgrimage,
380
Not seldom glorified their Hfe below.
words have their old fate and
Festus.

My

make

faint stand

Against your glowing periods. Call

Why

not pursue

this, truth

in a fast retreat,

it

Some one of Learning's many palaces.

seeking there
After approved example ?
Calm converse with the great dead, soul to
Who laid up treasure with the like intent

So
And

lift
fill

soul,

yourself into their airy place.

full their unfulfilled careers.

out

Unravelling the knots their baffled

skill

390

but left
Pronounced inextricable, true
fresh eye, a fresh hand.
Far less confused.
Might do much at their vigour's waning-point
Succeeding with new-breathed new-hearted
!

force.

As at
From

old games the runner snatched the torch

this way success might be.
runner still
:

But you have coupled with your enterprise,

An arbitrary self-repugnant scheme
Of seeking it in strange and untried paths.
What books are in the desert ? Writes the sea

The

secret of her yearning in vast caves

401

PARACELSUS

15

Where yours will fall the first of human feet ? and

reproves
Has wisdom sat there and recorded aught
Why turn aside from her j-gigctjon
You jiress to read
?

To visit, where
Now solitudes

By God's
Now

her vesture never glanced,

consigned to barrenness

decree, which

who

shall

of the

wisdom

dare impugn

where she paused but would not

ruins

stay,

Old ravished cities that, renouncing her,

She called an endless curse on, so it came
Or worst of all, now men you visit, men,

410

Ignoblest troops who never heard her voice

Or hate it, men without one gift from Rome
Or Athens, these shall Aureole's teachers be

Rejecting past example, practice, precept.

Aidless 'mid these he thinks to stand alone
Thick like a glory round the Stagirite
Your rivals throng, the sages here stand you
Whatever you may protest, knowledge is not

Paramount
You would

in

your love

collect

all

or for her sake

the

420

help from every source

Rival, assistant, friend, foe,

In

would merge

all

who showed

broad class of those

her

haunts.

And

who showed

those

tliem not.

What

Paracelsus.

Festus, from childhood

By
As

shall 1 say

have been ])Ossessed

by a true fire, or faint or fierce.

from without some master, so it seemed,
Repressed or urged its current this but ill
I'lxprcKses what would I convey: but rather
a fire

will believe an angel ruled

Than

that

my

soul's

own

me

thus,

workings,

own

nature.

So became

manifest.

knew

not then

430
high

of the

P^^'

PARACELSUS

i6

Paracelsus
^.

^.

What whispered in the evening, and spoke out

At midnight. If some mortal, born too soon,
Were laid away in some great trance the ages

till dawned
timations Coming and going all the while
of a great His true time's advent; and could then record
destiny The words they spoke who kept watch by his

bed,
Then I might tell more of the breath so
Upon my eyelids, and the fingers light

Among my
So
I

dull

Youth

liair.

was

but,

when

is

confused

light

440
yet never

that spirit passed,

turned to him, scarce consciously, as turns

water-snake when fairies cross his sleep.

having this within me and about me
While Einsiedeln, its mountains, lakes and woods

And

Confined

When

what oppressive joy was mine

grew plain, and I first viewed the,

me

life

thronged,

The

everlasting concourse of

Believe that ere

The

mankind

joined them, ere

knew

450

purpose of the pageant, or the place

Consigned me in its ranks while, just awake.
Wonder was freshest and delight most pure
'Twas then that least supportable appeared

A station with the brightest of the crowd,

A portion with the proudest of them
all.

from the tumult in my breast, this only

Could I collect, that I must thenceforth die
Or elevate myself far, far above
The gorgeous spectacle. I seemed to long 460
At once to trample on, yet save mankind,
To make some unexampled sacrifice
In their behalf, to wring some wondrous good
From heaven or earth for them, to perish, winning

And

PARACELSUS

17

Describes
as who should dare
Eternal weal in the act
his early
Pluck out the angry thunder from its cloud,
That, all its gathered flame discharged on him, ^f^^^
No storm might threaten summer's azure sleep
:

Yet never

to be

As

to

In

my own

mixed with men

have part even

in

my own

Once

largess.

would withdraw from

so

much

work, share 470

the feat achieved,

their oflScious praise,

Would

gently put aside their profuse thanks.

some knight traversing a wilderness,

Like

Who, on his way, may chance to free a

Of desert-people from their dragon-foe

When
His

tribe
;

the swarthy race press round to kiss

and choose him for their king, and yield
poor tents, pitched among the sand-

all

feet,

Their

hills, for

His realm

479

and he points, smiling, to

Heavy

his scarf

with riveled gold, his burgonet

and to the East,
twinkling stones
must be displayed
Good let us hear
Fettus.
No more about your nature, ' which first shrank

Gay set with

Where these

From

'

that

all

Paracelsus.

marked you out apart from men

tiicse words but
I touch on that
!

analyse

The

mad

first

impulse

'twas as brief as fond,

gazed again upon the show,

I
soon distinguished here and there a shape
Palm-wreathed and radiant, forehead and
l""or

as

eye.

Well

])lea8ed

was

their state should

once

my own

Interpret

To

all,'

thoughts

rashly said,

490
thus at

Pjchold the clue

and what
It

full

pine

PARACELSUS

i8

To

we are peers,
do, these have accomplished
They know and therefore rule I, too, will
k"o^
aTms
You were beside me, Festus, as you say
You saw me plunge in their pursuits whom fame

his
unfitness

'

Is lavish to attest the lords of

Not pausing

Would

make

to

my

satiate

mind.

sure the prize in view

when

cravings

But since they strove

I strove.

obtained,

500

Then came

slow

And

was

but

all-sufficient, strong,

staggered only at his

While

aspired alike.

the meanest plodder, Tritheim counts

A marvel,
Or

We

strangling failure.

Yet not

own

was restless, nothing

Distrustful, most perplexed.
I

vast wits
satisfied,

would slur over

That struggle suffice it, that I loathed myself
As weak compared with them, yet felt somehow
mighty power was brooding, taking shape 510
I

Within me

till one night

and more,
'Seest thou not.
still voice from without said
Desponding child, whence spring defeat and loss?
Even from thy strength. Consider hast thou
gazed
Presumptuously on wisdom's countenance.
No veil between and can thy faltering hands,
Unguided by the brain the sight absorbs.
Pursue their task as earnest blinkers do
Whom radiance ne'er distracted ? Live their

When,

and

this lasted

as I sat revolving

it

520

life

If thou wouldst share their fortune, choose their

eyes

Unfed by splendour.

Let each

task present

PARACELSUS
Its petty

good

19

Waste not thy

to thee.

and

gifts

In profitless waiting for the gods' descent,

But have some idol of thine own to dress

With their

array.

But to become

Know,

^^^j^

Know, not for knowing's sake,

star to men for ever
;

for the gain

it

gets, the praise

it

brings,

The wonder it inspires, the love it breeds

Look one step onward, and secure that step!'
:

And

sought to comprehend the works of

And God
With

My

530

smiled as one never smiles but once.

first discovering my own aim's extent.

Then
Which

the

himself, and

human mind

all

God's

God,

intercourse

understood, no

less.

whose true worth I saw.

But smiled not, well aware who stood by me.
And softer came the voice ' There is a way
'Tis hard for flesh to tread therein, imbued
fellows' studies,

With
Have

frailty

hopeless, if indulgence

540

first

ripened inborn germs of sin to strength

Wilt thou adventure for my sake and man's.
And last it breathed
Apart from all reward ?

'

Be happy, my good soldier I am by thee.

I answered not,
Be sure, even to the end
Knowing him. As he spoke, I was endued
With comprehension and a steadfast will
And when he ceased, my brow was sealed his

'

'

own.
no special change in me,
comes it all things wore a different hue 550
pregnant with vast conseThenceforward?
If there took place

How

quence,

Teeming with grand result, loaded with fate

So that when, quailing at the mighty range

Of

secret truths

which yearn

for birtii,

his

u^"!^

haste

PARACELSUS

20

He rejects To

contemplate undazzled some one truth,

the Its bearings and effects alone
at once

^th

^^^^^ ^^^ ^ speck expands into

Asking
Till

near craze.

my way

I see

I shall arrive
I

ask not

Or

a star,

a life to pass exploring thus,

I

what time, what

God

but unless

go to prove

my

as birds their trackless

soul

way.

560

circuit first,

sent his hail

blinding fireballs, sleet or stifling snow.

In some time, his good time, I shall arrive

In his good time!
guides me and the bird.
Michal. Vex him no further, Festus; it is so!
:

He

Festus. Just thus you help

me

ever.

This

would hold

Were

the trackless

it

air,

and not

path

Inviting you, distinct with footprints yet

Of many

a mighty marcher gone that way.

You may

liave purer

570

views than theirs, perhaps,

But they were famous in their day the proofs

Remain.
At least accept the light they lend.
Paracelsus. Their light
the sum of all is
!

briefly this

They laboured and grew famous, and

Are best seen in a dark and groaning

the fruits
earth

Given over

to a blind

With

evils,

No
And

I reject

what of all their lore abates

and spurn them utterly

all

they teach.

and endless

Shall I

strife

still sit

beside

and filmed ey
While in the distance heaven is blue above
Mountains where sleep the unsunned tarns ?

Their dry

wells, with a white lip

And

Festus.

As strong
Men have

delusions have prevailed ere now.

set out as gallantly to seek

j-

yet

PARACELSUS

21

Festus
I have heard of such : yourself
yields
hitherto have failed and fallen.
Michal. Nay, Festus, when but as the pilgrims

Their

ruin.

Avow

all

faint

the drear way, do you expect to see

Through
Their

dawn amid the

Ay, sounds

city

clouds afar

Paracelsus.

well-known

tale

590

not like

it

some old

For me, I estimate their works and them

So rightly, that at times I almost dream
too have spent a

And

tread once

life

more

I perished in an

the sages' way.

Perchance

familiar paths.

arrogant self-reliance

Ages ago and in that act, a prayer

For one more chance went up so earnest,
;

Instinct with better light let in

That

so

by death.

not so completely 600

life was blotted out
But scattered wrecks enough of it remain.
Dim memories, as now, when once more seems
The goal in sight again. All which, indeed.
the flesh I wear,
Is foolish, and only means

The

earth

Than my
Festus.

belief,

And who am

he
fc

''

shall

great and grand

and

challenge and disjmtc

is

God's commissary!

all

for us

No, sweet!

Jot great and grand.

I, to

Paracelsus.

'Tis well

If

610

can serve mankind

but there our intercourse must end:

never will be served by those

Festus.

me

will divest all fear.

Then Aureole

Michal.

clear to

explained to you or no.

rhat clear belief?

'

more

tread, are not

Look

spot, here,

well to this

serve.

here

is

a plague-

PARACELSUS

22

but Disguise it how you may! 'Tis true, you utter

reproves This scorn while by our side and loving us
but it will break
^^<-^J.t 'Tis but a spot as yet

contempt
of love

ij
hideous
'

^"'^^

'1

u -r

blotch

ir

j
overlooked.
i

How can that course be safe

which from the

first

620
Produces carelessness to human love ?
It seems you have abjured the helps which men
Who overpass their kind, as you would do.

Have humbly

sought

dare not thoroughly

probe

Let be
lest I learn too much.
That po])ular praise would little instigate
Your efforts, nor particular approval
Reward you put reward aside alone
This matter,

You shall go forth upon your arduous task,

None shall assist you, none partake your toil.
None share your triumph still you must retain
631
Some one to cast your glory on, to share
Your rapture with. Were I elect like you,
I would encircle me with love, and raise
:

A rampart of my fellows

should seem

it

me to fail, so watched
friends who made my cause

Impossible for

their own.
envy the great gift,
Extravagant when claimed by me alone,
Being so a gift to them as well as me.

By gentle
They should ward

off fate's

If danger daunted

me

or ease seduced,

640

How calmly their sad eyes should gaze reproach

M'lchal. O Aureole, can I sing when all alone.
Without

To
Do

listen

first calling, in

by

you not

my

side

fee! this

Paracelsus.
at length

my

even
?

I feel 'tis

Say

fancy, both
I

that

And
you

pleasant that

you

feel this

my

aims,

PARACELSUS
Allowed

their weight, should be

A further strengthening
My

course allures for

23

supposed to need and

makes
goodly helps

in these

own

its

sake,

sole

its

appeal

worth and ne'er shall boat of mine 650

Adventure forth for gold and apes at once.
Your sages say, if human, therefore weak
If weak, more need to give myself entire
To my pursuit ; and by its side, all else
I deny myself but little
No matter
In waiving all assistance save its own.
Would there were some real sacrifice to make
Your friends the sages threw their joys away,
Intrinsic

'

'

must be content with keeping mine.

But do not cut yourself from human
660
weal

While

Festtis.

You

cannot thrive

To

man

that dares affect

s]5end his life in service to his kind

For no reward of theirs, unbound

By any tie nor do so. Aureole
!

to

them

No

are strange jnmishments for such. Give up

Although no visible good flow thence ) some part

There
(

Of

the glory to another

Even from

Say, say almost to God

For her, not for myself
to rejoice in

Whom

should

all is

for yourself.

have done

my

know

love but both of you

this,

you, that

'tis

no

will

670

?
?

know

not

of mine

should abjure the lofty claims you make

I can no longer seek
this the cause
overlook the truth, that there would be

You
And

To

but lately

success like you

Festus.
liut

all

'
!

And who

Paracelsus.

Was

hiding thus,

yourself, that

monstrous spectacle upon the earth,

PARACELSUS

24

Michal Beneath the pleasant sun, among the trees

warns
being knowing not what love is. Hear me
Paray^^ ^^e endowed with faculties which bear 680
against Annexed to them as 'twere a dispensation
success To summon meaner spirits to do their will
And gather round them at their need inspiring
:

Such with

a love themselves can never feel,

Passionless 'mid their passionate votaries.

I

know

Or

not

if

you joy

ever dream that

in this or no,

common men

can

live

which make
Their heart's sole treasure the affections seem
Beauteous at most to you, which we must taste 690

On

objects you prize lightly, but

:

Or die and this

I know not how,
:

strange quality accords,

with you ; sits well upon

That luminous brow, though in another it scowls
An eating brand, a shame. I dare not judge you.
The rules of right and wrong thus set aside,
There 's no alternative I own you one
Of higher order, under other laws
therefore, curb not one bold
Than bind us

glance

'Tis best aspire. Once mingled with us all

cast those
Michal. Stay with us. Aureole
.

hopes away,

700

An angel warns me, too,

And stay with us
Man should be humble you are very proud
And God, dethroned, has doleful plagues for
!

such

Warns me
No

to have in dread no quick repulse,

slow defeat, but a complete success
:

you seek, and perish so

Paracelsus \_after a pause^. Are these the

You

will find all

barren

firstfruits

of

my

quest

PARACELSUS

25

of

Is love like this the natural lot

all

How many

years of pain might one such hour

Dearest Michal, dearest Festus,
O'erbalance ?

What

To

shall I say, if not that I desire

justify

your love

and

In swerving nothing from

See, the great

moon

^^in

711

dear friends,

will,

my

He tells
how truth

first

resolves.

and ere the mottled owls

It seems
was to go.

Were wide awake, I

You acquiesce at last in all save this
If I am like to compass what I seek
By the untried career I choose and
;

then,

If that career, making but small account

Of much

of

life's

delight, will yet retain

Sufficient to sustain
I

soul

720

for thus

understand these fond fears just expressed.

And
The
I

my

first ; the lore you praise and I neglect.

labours and the precepts of old time,

But, friends,

have not lightly disesteemed.

Truth

From

within ourselves ; it takes no rise

outward things, whate'cr you may believe.

There

Where

is

is

an inmost centre in us

all.

truth abides in fulness;

and around,

Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in, 730

This jK'rfect, clear perception which is truth.
baffling and perverting carnal mesh
and to know
Binds it, and makes all error

opening out a way

Whence the im])risoned splendour may escape,
Than in effecting entry for a light
Watch narrowly
Su])])osed to be without.

Rather consists

in

The demonstration of a truth, its birth,

And you trace back the effluence to its spring
And source within us where broods radiance
;

vast,

740

PARACELSUS

26

till To be elicited ray by ray, as chance

chance Shall favour
for hitherto your sage
chance
makes an ]7y^^
^g knows not how those beams are

.^^f.

outlet

born,

As little knows he what unlocks their fount

And men have oft grown old among their books

To

die case-hardened in their ignorance.

Whose

careless youth

had promised what long

years

Of unremitted labour ne'er performed

While, contrary, it has chanced some idle day.
750
To autumn loiterers just as fancy free
As the midges in the sun, gives birth at last
To truth produced mysteriously as cape
;

Of

cloud grown out of the invisible air.

Hence, may not truth be lodged alike in all,
The lowest as the highest ? some slight film

The

which binds a soul

makes the sage
Some film removed, the happy outlet whence
Truth issues proudly ? See this soul of ours
How it strives weakly in the child, is loosed 760
In manhood, clogged by sickness, back compelled
By age and waste, set free at last by death
interposing bar

And makes

the idiot, just as

Why

is it,

What

flesh enthrals

it

or enthrones

we have to penetrate ?
Oh, not alone when life flows still, do truth
And power emerge, but also when strange chance
is

Ruffles

this flesh

its

current

When sickness
ing*

in

unused conjuncture.
hunger, watch-

breaks the body

Excess or languor oftenest death's approach,

Peril, deep joy or woe. One man shall crawl 770

Through

life

surrounded with

all stirring

things,

PARACELSUS
Unmoved and
;

Of

he goes

what he was, by

You

first

collect

27

mad and from

:

the

wreck

It is his

^^ *o

his wild talk alone,

how

great a spirit he hid.

^^^ ^^^^

Therefore, set free the soul alike in all,

Discovering the true laws by which the flesh
may not be doomed
Accloys the spirit
!

We

To

cope with seraphs, but at least the rest

Shall cope with us. Make no more giants, God,
ask
780
But elevate the race at once

We

To put forth just our strength, our human strength

All starting fairly, all equipped alike,
Gifted alike, all eagle-eyed, true-hearted
See if we cannot beat thine angels yet
Such is my task. I go to gather this
The sacred knowledge, here and there dispersed
About the world, long lost or never found.
And why should I be sad or lorn of hope ?
Why ever make man's good distinct from God's,

Or, finding they are one, why dare mistrust? 790

succeed if not one pledged like me
no mad attempt to build a world
Apart from his, like those who set themselves

Who

shall

Mine

is

To

find the nature of the spirit they bore.

And,

taught

betimes

that

all

their

gorgeous

dreams

Were

only born to vanish in this life.

Refused to fit them to its narrow sphere.
But chose to figure forth another world
And other frames meet for their vast desires,
Tlius was life scorned ; but
And all a dream
!

800

life

Shall yet be

crowned

twine amaranth

priest

And

all

for yielding with a lively spirit

am

PARACELSUS

28

poor existence, parting with a youth

An
earnest Like those who squander every energy
^ ^^^ Convertible to good, on painted toys.
And though
Breath-bubbles, gilded dust

spurn

All adventitious aims, from empty praise

love's award, yet whoso deems such helps
Important, and concerns himself for me,
May know even these will follow with the rest

To
As

in

My

Mayne,

the steady rolling

Yonder,

is

mixed

its

8ii

asleep

mass of schistous ore.

affections laid to rest awhile.

own

purified, subdued alone

.
till then
have achieved. Till then
Ah, the time-wiling loitering of a page
Through bower and over lawn, till eve shall bring
The stately lady's presence whom he loves
The broken sleep of the fisher whose rough coat

Will waken

By all

Enwraps the queenly pearl these are faint types

821
I triumph now
See, see, they look on me
I have told
But one thing, Festus, Michal
say
All I shall e'er disclose to mortal
:

Do

you believe I shall accomplish

Festus. I do believe

this

Michal.

from out

my

brain

This earnest of the end

Are

ever did believe

Those words

Paracelsus.

shall

never

fade

shall

never fade

there not, Festus, are there not, dear Michal,

points in the adventure of the diver,

Two
One
One

when,
when,

Festus,

Festus.

a beggar,

a ])rince,

plunge

he prepares to plunge, 830

he rises with his pearl ?

We wait

you when you

rise

PART

II

PARACELSUS ATTAINS
Scene.

Constantinople

the house of a

Greek

1521

Conjurer.

Paracelsus

Over the waters

The

sun goes

in the

down

vaporous

Para-

West

of gold
which between,

as in a sphere

Behind the arm of the

city,

With all that length of domes and minarets.

Athwart the splendour, black and crooked runs
Like a Turk verse along a scimitar.
There lie, sullen memorial, and no more
Possess

Strange

my

aching sight

and

'Tis done

at last.

the juggles of a sallow cheat

'Tis as yon cloud 10

Have won me to this act
Should voyage unwrecked o'er many a mountain!

top

And break upon a

Come to a pause

molehill.

with

have dared

knowledge

scan for

once

The

To
All

heights already reachetl, without regard

the extent above

1

fairly com])utc

have clearly gained

brilliant future to supj)ly

tor

once excluding

and

jierfect

39

celsus
j^jg

gains

PARACELSUS

and All half-gains and conjectures and crude hopes

inscribes And all because a fortune-teller wills
19
his Ufe's
j^jg credulous seekers should inscribe thus much
results rj^^j^^j^
previous life's attainment, in his roll,
Before his promised secret, as he vaunts,
and here amid the scrawled
up the sum
Uncouth recordings of the dupes of this
Old arch-genethliac, lie my life's results

Make

A few blurred characters suffice to note

A stranger wandered long through many lands
reaped the fruit he coveted in a few
Discoveries, as appended here and there.
The fragmentary produce of much toil,
In a dim heap, fact and surmise together

And

30

Confusedly massed as when acquired he was

Intent on gain to come too much to stay
And scrutinise the little gained the whole
Slipt in the blank space 'twixt an idiot's gibber
;

And

And

yet those blottlngs chronicle a

mad

lover's ditty

there

it lies.

life

Nothing to do,
whole life, and my life
No problem for the fancy, but a life
40
Spent and decided, wasted past retrieve
Or worthy beyond peer. Stay, what does this
!

Remembrancer set down concerning life ?

" Time fleets, youth fades, life is an empty
'

'

'

It

is

Beat

Was

dream,"
the echo of time

and he whose heart

beneath a human heart, whose speech
copied from a human tongue, can never
;

first

Recall when he was living yet knew not

Nevertheless long seasons pass o'er him

this.

PARACELSUS

31

some one hour's experience shows what

Till

nothing,

49

seemed, could clearer show; and ever after,

altered brow and eye and gait and speech
Attest that now he knows the adage true
" Time fleets, youth fades, life is an empty
It

An

'

dream."

Ay, my brave

As

Now

now,

my

let

can go no farther

same hour

time be
well or

ill,

must desist and take my chance.

cannot keep on the stretch
'tis no back-

'Tis done.
I

chronicler, and this

well as any

shrinking

For

some assurance beam, some

grow visible, and I proceed

let

but

To my

toil

At any

price,

I'llse,

here

though closing

pause.

The

Is like to turn out true

His chamber

Was

An
I

it

till

shall not quit

know what

strange

it

how

has

it

kept so long

desire

'
!

o'er the sea

the notion, once

encountered, gathers strength by

Where

60

to die.

it,

old Greek's prophecy

'

the light wind sang

end, a rest

close

this

moments

Rest
throbbing brow
!

To cease, this beating heart to cease, all cruel

And gnawing thoughts to cease
To dare let
!

down

70

My strung, so high-strung brain, to dare unnerve

My harassed o'ertasked frame, to know my ])lacc.
My portion, my reward, even my failure,
Assigned, made sure for ever

Among

To

lose

myself

the conmion creatures of the world.

He contemplates

PARACELSUS

32

leaving To draw some gain from having been a man,

the event Neither to hope nor fear, to live at length
!

to

God

jTygjj

And

But
power and recompense
once
jj,

failure, rest

rest in truth

...

hoped that

What, sunk

insensibly so deep

Been undergone

My

for this

labour qualified

With no

me

fear of refusal

80

all

to present

Had

my

Slightingly through

Has

This the request

I gone
and so judged

task,

lit

moderate my hopes nay, were it now

My sole concern to exculpate myself.
End things or mend them, why, I could not
choose
humbler mood to wait for the event

To

no, there needs not this

No,

At

worst
task

By

have performed

no, after

my

all.

share of the
90

mine, merely this,

know that I have obstinately held
my own work. The mortal whose brave foot

The

To

Has

rest

is

God's concern

trod, unscathed, the temple-court so far

That he descries at length the shrine of shrines,

Must let no sneering of the demons' eyes.

Whom
Upon

He

he could pass unquailing, fasten now

him, fairly past their power ; no, no

must not stagger,

Having

He

charm

bares his front

down

faint, fall

to baffle

them

at last.

behold,

100

a mortal ventures thus

Serene amid the echoes, beams and glooms

If he be priest henceforth, if he wake up
The god of the place to ban and blast him there,
!

Both well

What's

failure or success to

me

II

PARACELSUS
have subdued my life
I ordained it

Whereto

No

way

doubt, that

to the

He

one purpose

there alone I spy

may

33

be

sacrSices

satisfied.

beyond
Yes, well have I subdued my life
no
The obligation of my strictest vow,
The contemplation of my wildest bond.
Which gave my nature freely up, in truth.
!

But in its actual state, consenting fully

All passionate impulses its soil was formed
To rear, should wither but foreseeing not
;

The tract, doomed to perpetual barrenness,

Would seem one day, remembered as it was,
Beside the parched sand-waste which now it is,
faint blooms, viewless then.

Already strewn with

I

ne'er engaged to root up loves so frail

I felt

them not

Some

soft spots

yet

had

now,

'tis

120

very plain

their birth in

me

at first.

was a time
wolfish hunger after knowledge

If not love, say, like love

When

there

yet this
Set not remorselessly love's claims aside.
This heart was human once, or why recall

Cinsiedeln, now, and Wiir/.burg which the Maync

Forsakes her course to fold as with an arm ?
I

And
And
With
I

Festus

my poor Festus, with

counsel and grave fears

where

his praise
is

he

the sweet maiden, long ago his bride

them

surely loved

When we

gone

now
?

131

that last night, at least,

gone

the better.

am

saved

The

sad review of an ambitious youth

Choked by vile lusts, unnoticed in their

But let grow up and wind around a will

tells

birth,

PARACELSUS

34

No, I have gone

of the Till action was destroyed.
my path successively of aught
of his "Wi-aring the distant likeness of such lusts.

tyranny Purging
I

have made

Ere

consist of one idea

memory

I bear a

Whose

life

was master, up

that

till

that

of a pleasant

small events I treasure

140

was born,

life
;

till

one morn

I ran o'er the seven little grassy fields,

Startling the flocks of nameless birds, to tell

Poor Festus, leaping

To

leave

all

the while for joy.

all

trouble for

my

future plans,

determined to become
The greatest and most glorious man on earth.
And since that morn all life has been forgotten ;
151
All is one day, one only step between
The outset and the end one tyrant allAbsorbing aim fills up the interspace,
One vast unbroken chain of thought, kept up
Since

had

just

Through

To

its

a career apparently adverse

existence

life,

death, light and shadow,

The shows of the world, were bare receptacles

Or indices of truth to be wrung thence,
Not

ministers of sorrow or delight

A wondrous natural

robe in which she went. 160

would dimly beacon me
From mountains rough with pines,and flit and wink
O'er dazzling wastes of frozen snow, and tremble
Into assured light in some branching mine
Where ripens, swathed in fire, the liquid gold
And all the beauty, all the wonder fell
On either side the truth, as its mere robe
then I saw the form.
I see the robe now
So far, then, I have voyaged with success,
So much is good, then, in this working sea 170

For some one

truth

PARACELSUS

35

Which

and of
parts me from that happy strip of land
^^e bitterBut o'er that happy strip a sun shone, too
And fainter gleams it as the waves grow rough, f^^yj.g
And still more faint as the sea widens last
I sicken on a dead gulf streaked with light
:

From

its

Then,

God

own

Now, any

My

putrefying depths alone.

was pledged

to take

me by

the hand

miserable juggle can bid

All

pride depart.

God may take

is

alike at length

pleasure in confounding pride

i8o

By hiding secrets with the scorned and base

so little have I paused
I am here, in short
I never glanced behind to know
Throughout
:

If

had kept

And
Oh,

my

primal light from wane,

am

thus insensibly

bitter

very

bitter

what

am

And more

To

bitter.

fear a deeper curse, an inner ruin.

Plague beneath plague, the

To

last

turning the

first

Let me weep 189

My youth and its brave hojjcs, all dead and gone.
Would I were sure to win
In tears which burn
light beside

darkness.

its

Some

Of

startling secret in their stead, a tincture

force to flush old age with youth, or breed

Gold, or imprison moonbeams

To

opal shafts!

til!

thoy change

only that, hurling

it

Indignant back, I might convince myself

aims remained supreme and ])ure as ever

My

why

I'-vcn

now,

That

if I fail,

That, though

God,

Shut out

not desire, for mankind's sake.

some
I

fault

may

sink, another

be the cause,

may succeed

the despicable heart of us

this

200

hideous mockery from

my

heart

PARACELSUS

36

He

fears 'Twas politic in you, Aureole, to reject

some- Sint^lc rewards, and ask. them in the lump
thing Y\t all events, once launched, to hold straight on

For now 'tis all or nothing. Mighty profit

Your gains will bring if they stop short of such
As a man, you had
Full consummation
!

certain share of strength

Already

and that

is

gone

the getting these you boast.

in

210

Do not

they seem to laugh, as who should say

' Great master, we are here indeed, dragged forth
To light this hast thou done be glad Now,
;

seek

The

strength to use
getting!

which thou hast spent

in

'

And

yet

Thus

to

'tis much, surely 'tis very much.

have emptied youth of all its gifts.
To feed a fire meant to hold out till morn
Arrived with inexhaustible light ; and lo,
I have heaped up my last, and day dawns not
And I am left with grey hair, faded hands, 220
And furrowed brow. Ha, have I, after all,
Mistaken the wild nursling of my breast ?
Knowledge it seemed, and power, and recom

pense

Was

siie

who

glided through

my room

of nights.

Who laid my head on her soft knees and smoothed

The damp locks,

whose

sly soothings just

began

When my sick spirit craved repose awhile

God was I fighting sleep off for death's sake
!

God
Mind
All

Thou

art

mind

Unto

else I will

endure

the master-mind

Spare

should be precious.
if,

my mind alone

as I stand

231

PARACELSUS

my gains, thy thunder smite me down,

Here, with
I

bow me

37

'tis

thy will, thy righteous will

^
\
IT'
A J Ao erpass lire s restrictions, and i die
And if no trace of my career remain

j^^^^^

Save a thin corpse at pleasure of the wind

In these bright chambers level with the air.
But if my spirit fail.
See thou to it
My once proud spirit forsake me at the last, 239
Hast thou done well by me ? So do not thou
Crush not my mind, dear God, though I be
!

crushed

Hold me

before the frequence of thy seraphs

' I crushed him, lest he should disturb

And

say

My

law.

Men

must not know their strength

behold

Weak

and alone,

But

delusions trouble me, and thou.

if

how

he had raised himself!

'

Not seldom felt with rapture in thy help

Throughout my toils and wanderings, dost
intend

To work

man's

my weak

through

welfare

endeavour,

To

crown

my

mortal forehead with a

own

I'Vom thine
guide

Be

styled

An
It

my

influx of

work,

new

let

the

far, a

man

so
I

wrought

covet not

j)Ower, an angel's sou/

let

Give but one hour of

l)ut

me

invincible faith,

That

may

first

have reac/ied

conclude, a

my

Of that
I

work

hear me

were no marvel then

Thus

beam 250

blinding crown, to smile, and

This puny hand and

man

energy.

but only one!

cover with an eagle-glance

cries
*

^^

renew

and
*

PARACELSUS

38
Aprile

speaks

truths I have, and spy some certain way 260

mould them, and completing them, possess
Yet God is good I started sure of that,

The

To

And why

dispute

it

now

'11

not believe

But some undoubted warning long ere this

Had reached me a firc-labarum was not deemed
:

Too much for the old founder of these walls.

Then, if my life has not been natural,
yet, till late, my course
It has been monstrous
:

So

ardently engrossed me, that delight,

270
pausing and reflecting joy, 'tis plain,
Could find no place in it. True, I am worn
But who clothes summer, who is life itself?
God, that created all things, can renew
And then, though after-life to please me now
Must have no likeness to the past, what hinders
Reward from springing out of toil, as changed
As bursts the flower from earth and root and
;

stalk.

What
Be

use

were punishment,

detected

first

No man

let

unless

me know

could ever offend as

some

that

sin

first

have done

280

[^jI voice from ivithin.~]

hear a voice, perchance I heard

ago, but all too low,

Long
So

that scarce a care

it

stirred

If the voice were real or no

heard it in my youth when first

The waters of my life outburst
But, now their stream ebbs faint, I hear
I

That

As

voice,

still

if all poets,

low, but fatal-clear

God

ever meant

PARACELSUS

39

Should save the world, and therefore lent and tells

Great gifts to, but who, proud, refused 291 ' *|*^
To do his work, or lightly used
failed

Those

or failed through

gifts,

weak en-

deavour.

So, mourn cast off by him for ever,

if these leaned in airy ring
To take me ; this the song they sing.

As

'

Lost,

lost

yet come,

With our wan

Come, come
!

make
we
so much

troop
for

Will not breathe,

Reproach to thee.
Knowing what thou

So sank we

We

who

in

thy home.
as breathe

300

sink'st beneath.

those old years.

bid thee,

come

thou

last

Who, living yet, hast life o'erpast.

And altogether we, thy peers.
Will pardon crave

Whose

trial is

who watch

With

those

Who

gaze on

Yet we

for thee, the last

done, whose
life

but

lot is cast

work no more.

but live no more.

The

message which our li])s, too weak.

shouldst redeem
Refused to utter,
Our fault such trust, and all a dream
Yet we chose thee a birth])Iacc

Where

310

trusted thou shouldst speak

the richness ran to flowers

Couidst not sing one song for grace ?

Not make one blossom man's and ours?
Must one more recreant to his race
320
Die with unexerted ])Ower8,
And join us, leaving as he found

PARACELSUS

40

He
greets
^f""^"

ce sus

Still

world, he was to loosen, bound

ever and for ever ;
beginning, ending never.

Ygj^

jQgj .jn(i i^st one,

The

Anguish

come

How

couldst understand, alas,

What our pale ghosts strove to say,
their shades did glance and pass
Before thee night and day ?
330
Thou wast blind as we were dumb
come!
Once more, therefore, come,
How should we clothe, how arm the spirit
Shall next thy post of life inherit
How guard him from thy speedy ruin ?
Tell us of thy sad undoing
Here, where we sit, ever pursuing

As

task, ever renewing

Sharp sorrow, far from God who gave
Our powers, and man they could not save

Our weary

Aprile

'
!

enters.

Ha, ha our king that wouldst be, here at last?

Art thou the poet who shall save the world ? 341
!

Thy

hand
mine

Thou

to

mine

Stay, fix thine eyes on

wouldst be king

Still fix

thine eyes on

mme
Pararelsus.
I not

So

torture

Have my
lair

Ha, ha! why crouchest

king
is

not?

Am

not wholly unavailing

fierce

spasms compelled thee from thy

Art thou the sage I only seemed to

Myself of after-time, my very self

be,

PARACELSUS
With

sight a

little

41

clearer, strength

more

firm,

Who robes him in my robe and grasps my crown

For

just a fault, a

weakness, a neglect

351 Q^jjgj.

God

with the surmise

That such might come, and thou didst hear the
while
Aprile. Thine eyes are lustreless to mine my
I scarcely trusted

hair
to talk with thee
Is soft, nay silken soft
Flushes my cheek, and thou art ashy-pale.
Truly, thou hast laboured, hast withstood her
:

lips.

The

Yes, 'tis like thou hast attained

mc, dear master, wherefore now thou
comest ?
thought thy solemn songs would have their
siren's

Tell
I

meed

360

In after-time; that I should hear the earth

Exult in thee and echo with thy praise.

While

was

laid forgotten in

Ah

Paracelsus.

(lend, I

my

know

grave.

thee,

am

not

thy dupe
Thou art ordained to follow in my track,
Reaping my sowing, as I scorned to reaj)
The harvest sown by sages passed away.
!

Thou

As

if,

art the

sober searcher, cautious strivcr.

except through me, thou hast searched

or striven

Ay,

To
To

Degrade me after
the world!
an aspirant after fame, not truth
all but envy of thy fate, be sure
tell

all,

370

Apr'de.

Nay, sing them

to

me

shall

envy

not

Thou

shall be king

Sing thou, and

Each
miscon-

will sit

PARACELSUS

42
Aprile Beside, and
tells his

fate

worship thee,
|-jj| jj^y throne

-^-"p

me

Sing to

for thy songs,

deep silence

call

And

had ne'er been meant

but none shall ever know

as I

for already thy wild eyes

Unlock my heart strings, as some crystal-shaft

Reveals by some chance blaze its parent fount 380
After long time so thou reveal'st my soul.
All will Hash forth at last, with thee to hear
:

(His secret!

Paracelsus.

secret
I

am he

get

shall

his

fool
!

that aspired to

know

and thou

would love infinitely, and be loved

Paracelsus. Poor slave! I am thy king indeed.

Apr'tle.

Thou

Apr'tle.

That
Born

My

born
for

a spirit,

thy

fate

dowered even

because

yearnings to possess

Enjoyment, but neglected

Of

could not curb

once the

at

all

deem'st

as thou,

full

the means

390

even the frailest joy,

Gathering no fragments to appease my want,
Yet nursing up that want till thus I die
Thou deem'st I cannot trace thy safe sure march
O'er perils that o'erwhelm me, triumphing.
Neglecting nought below for aught above.
realising

Despising nothing and ensuring all

Nor that I could (my time to come again)

Lead

thus

my

spirit securely as thine

Listen, and thou shalt see

I

would love

Oh

infinitely

I
.

who armed me

own.

know thee
Ah, lost

well. 400
!

lost

such cost,
How shall I look on all of ye
With your gifts even yet on me ?
Paracelsus. (Ah, 'tis some moonstruck creature
ye

after all

at

PARACELSUS
Such fond

fools as are like to haunt this

So

den

how

With

eve's last

Which

turns to

How

sunbeam staying on his

it as if they were akin

hair

410

those clear smiling eyes of saddest blue

set free, so far they rise above

And

Nearly

The
And

brow

painful fruitless striving of the

enforced knowledge of the lips, firm-set

In slow despondency's eternal sigh
Has he, too, missed life's end, and learned the
!

cause ?)

charge thee, by thy fealty, be calm

Tell me what thou wouldst be, and what I am.
Apnle. I would love infinitely, and be loved. 420
First: I would carve in stone, or cast in brass,
The forms of earth. No ancient hunter lifted
I

to the gods by his renown, no nymph

Supposed the sweet soul of a woodland tree

Up
Or

he

contagion, doubtless yet he seemed

]^?J*JJ^^g
echo one foreboding of my heart
carved
he stands
truly, that ... no matter

They spread

To

43

sa])phirine spirit of a twilight star,

Should be too hard for me no shepherd-king

no youth who stands
Regal for his white locks
Silent and very calm amid the throng,
His right hand ever hid beneath his robe
no lawgiver,
430
Until the tyrant jiass
No swan-soft woman rubbed with lucid oils
Given by a god for love of her too hard
livery passion sprung from man, conceived by
:

man,

Would I
Or blend
Or show
Oh,

if

express and clothe it in its right form,

with others struggling in one form,
repressed by an ungainly form.

you marvelled

at

some mighty

spirit

PARACELSUS

44

and With

fit

frame to execute

will

its

painted,

Kven unconsciously to work its will

and sung
Yqu should be moved no less beside some
Rare spirit, fettered to a stubborn body,

strong
441

subdue it and inform it

All this I would do
With its own splendour
And I would say, this done, 'His sprites created,
God grants to each a sphere to be its world,
Appointed with the various objects needed

Endeavouring

to

To

satisfy its

So,

I create a

own

peculiar

world

want

for these

my

shapes

Fit to sustain their beauty and their strength

And, at the word, I would contrive and paint 450

Woods, valleys, rocks and plains, dells, sands
and wastes.

Lakes which, when morn breaks on

their quiver-

ing bed,

Blaze like a wyvern flying round the sun.

ocean isles so small, the dog-fish tracking
dead whale, who should find them, would

And

swim thrice
Around them, and

The

offspring of

fare

my

onward

brain.

Nor

all

to hold

these alone

pyramid and crypt,

Baths, galleries, courts, temples and terraces, 459
all filled with men,
Marts, theatres and wharfs
Men everywhere And this performed in turn,

Bronze labyrinth,

palace,

When

those

who looked

on, pined to hear the

ho])es

And

fears and hates and loves which moved the

crowd,
I would throw down the pencil as the chisel.
And 1 would speak no thought which ever stirred
;

A human breast should be untold

all

passions,

PARACELSUS

45

express-

soft emotions, from the turbulent stir

Within a heart fed with desires like mine,

All

To

*"S ^"
'

the last comfort shutting the tired lids

noon away
470
Beneath the tent-tree by the wayside well
And this in language as the need should be,
Now poured at once forth in a burning flow.
Now piled up in a grand array of words.
This done, to perfect and consummate all,

Of him who

sleeps the sultry

Even as a luminous haze links star to star,

I would supply all chasms with music, breathing
Mysterious motions of the soul, no way

To

be defined save in strange melodies.

Last, having thus revealed all I could love,

480

Having received all love bestowed on it,

preserving so throughout my course
I would die
God full on me, as I was full on men
He would approve my prayer, ' I have gone
:

through

The

loveliness of life

If not for

create for

men, or take me

me

to thyself,

'

Eternal, infinite love

If thou hast ne'er

Conceived

Thou

No

mighty aim,

this

hast not passed

my

this full desire.

trial,

and thou

art

king of mine.

Paracelsus.

Ah me

But thou art here

490
Thou didst not gaze like me upon that end
Till thine own powers for comjjassing the bliss
Apr'ile.

Were blind with glory

At once the prize long
Nor spurn
Would do

all

nor grow
jjaticnt toil

mad

granted short of that.

as thou, a second time

to grasp

should claim.

And

nay, listen

PARACELSUS

46

He Knowing

ourselves, our world, our task so great,

should Our time so

have
the best
of his

means

rpj^^

brief, 'tis clear if

we

refuse

limited, the tools so rude

means so

500
To execute our ])urpose, life will fleet,
And we shall fade, and leave our task undone,

We will

be wise in time: what though our work

fashioned in despite of their ill-service.

Be
Be

way

crippled every

'Twere

praise

little

resources wait on our goodwill

Let all be as it is.
every turn.

Did

At

full

even so contrived

Some

say the earth

That

tree and flower, a vesture gay, conceal

is

A bare and skeleton framework.

Answering

mind

to our

Had we means

But now

how

seem 510

rear thereon

Wrecked on

a savage isle

My palace?

Branching palms the props

Fruit glossy mingling

Who

heeds them

gems

can pass them.

shall be,

are for the East

Serpents'

scales.

And

painted birds' down, furs and fishes' skins

and a little here and there
;

Must help me
Is

all I

'

Had

I 'd

can aspire to

show

Shall

its

birth

still

was

my

art

in a gentler clime.

green jars of malachite, this way

where those sea-shells glisten

range them

5^

above,

Cressets should hang, by right : this way we set

The purple carpets, as these mats are laid.

Woven of fern and rush and blossoming

Or if, by fortune, some completer grace

flag.'

Be

spared to me, some fragment, some slight

Of

the

sample
prouder workmanship
boasts.

my own home

PARACELSUS
Some

trifle little

47

prizing
*"^

heeded there, but here

with what joy

The place's one perfection

Would I enshrine the relic,

cheerfully

the marvels out of reach

-^ ^f

Foregoing

all

Could

one strain of all the psalm

word of the fiat of God,
followers know what such things are

Of

To

530

gggd

I retain

the angels, one

let

my

would adventure nobly for their sakes

When nights were still, and still the moaning
I

And

far

Whence

away
I

sea,

could descry the land

departed, whither

I return,

would dispart the waves, and stand once more

At home, and load my bark, and hasten back,
I

fling my gains to them, worthless or true. 540

Friends,' I would say, 'I went far, far for them.
Past the high rocks the haunt of doves, the

And
'

mounds

Of

red earth

grow

from whose sides strange

trees

out.

Past tracts of milk-white minute blinding sand,

by a mighty moon, I tremblingly

Till,

Gathered these magic herbs, berry and bud.

In haste, not pausing to reject the weeds.
But happy plucking them at any price.
To me, who have seen them bloom in their own
soil,

They

And

549

are scarce lovely

guess, from

plait

what they

and wear them, you

arc, the springs that

fed them.

The stars that sparkled o'er them, night by night.

The snakes that travelled far to sip their dew
Thus for my higher loves and thus even weakness
Would win me honour. But not these alone
Should claim my care for common life, its wants
'

PARACELSUS

48
not

And

ruined, as

Xhe

now, by

ways, would

I set forth in

beauteous hues

lowest hind should not possess a hope,

^^.^^^ ^^^ j ^ be by him, saying better
.

language. I would
^trS^ure Than he his own heart's
For ever in the thoughts I thus explored,

As

a discoverer's

To

all

memory

is

live

561

attached

he finds; they should be mine henceforth.

Imbued with me, though free to all before

For clay, once cast into my soul's rich mine.
Nor
Should come up crusted o'er with gems.
:

this

Would need

a meaner spirit, than the first

Nay, 'twould be but the selfsame spirit, clothed
In humbler guise, but still the selfsame spirit
As one spring wind unbinds the mountain snow

And

comforts violets

in their

hermitage.

571

But, master, poet, who hast done all this.

didst thou 'scape the ruin whelming me ?
Didst thou, when nerving thee to this attempt.

How

Ne'er range thy mind's extent, as some wide hall.

Dazzled by shapes that filled its length with light;.
Shapes clustered there to rule thee, not obey,

',

That

will not wait thy

Singly, nor

Can

when thy

summons,

will not rise

practised eye and

well transfer their loveliness, but

hand

crowd

580

By

thee for ever, bright to thy despair ?

Didst thou ne'er gaze on each by turns, and ne'er
Resolve to single out one, though the rest

Should vanish, and to give that one, entire

forgetting, so,
In beauty, to the world
Its peers, whose number baffles mortal power ?
And, this determined, wast thou ne'er seduced
By memories and regrets and passionate love.
;

PARACELSUS

49

To glance

once more farewell ? and did their eyes His fall

Fasten thee, brighter and more bright, until 590 ^"" "^^
Thou couldst but stagger back unto their feet.
And laugh that man's applause or welfare ever

Could tempt thee to forsake them ? Or when years

Had passed and still their love possessed thee
wholly,

When from
Of darkling

without some

murmur

startled thee

mortals famished for one ray

Of thy so-hoarded luxury of light.

Didst thou ne'er strive even yet to break those
spells

And
Thy
And
And

prove thou couldst recover and fulfil

600
early mission, long ago renounced,
to that end, select some shape once more ?

did not mist-like influences, thick films.

Faint memories of the rest that charmed so long
Thine eyes, float fast, confuse thee, bear thee ofi^.

As

whirling snow-drifts blind a

man who

treads

mountain ridge, with guiding spear, through

storm ?
>ay, though I fell, I had excuse to fall
say but this,
?ay, I was tempted sorely
:

Dear

lord, Aprile's lord

Clasp

Paracelsus.

Aprile

VVe

are

That the
weak dust.

/Iprile.

My

me

not thus,

truth should reach

Nay,

me

clasp not or

609

thus

I faint!

king! and envious thoughts could

outrage thee

Lo,

my

and rejoice
Let our God's ])raise
What care
bravely through the world at last
I forget

ruin,

In thy success, as thou!

Go

Through me
tears

or thee?

I feel

thy breath.

Why,

PARACELSUS

50

Para- Tears
celsus

the darknesR, and from thee to me ?

Love me henceforth, Aprile, while

in

Paracelsus.

awakens

To

6i8

j^..^^^

love

and, merciful

God,

forgive us both

We wake at length from weary dreams

but both

slept in fairy-land though dark and drear

Appears the world before us, we no less
Wake with our wrists and ankles jewelled still.

Have

I too have sought to know as thou to love

Excluding love as thou refusedst knowledge.
wake
Still thou hast beauty and I, power.
What penance canst devise for both of us ?
Aprile. I hear thee faintly. The thick dark-

We

ness

Even

Thine eyes

And now

'Tis as

are hid.

knew

I speak,

But I have seen thy face 630

O poet, think of me, and sing of me
But to have seen thee and to die so soon
Paracelsus. Die not, Aprile! We must never
I die.

part.

Are we

not halves of one dissevered world,

Whom

this

strange chance unites once

more

Part ? never
Till thou the lover, know ; and I, the knower.
Love until both are saved. Aprile, hear

We

and use them now

Aprile
God, he will die upon my breast
yet by
Aprile. To speak but once, and die
will accept our gains,

640

his side.

Hush! hush!

Ha

go you ever girt about

I have created such,
?

With phantoms, powers

But these seem
Paracelsus.

real as I.

Whom

can you see

PARACELSUS
Through

the accursed darkness

Para-

know, celsus
who should know them well as I ? ^"^'"^
Stay

^prile.
1 know them
White brows,

Paracelsus.

reward
Apr'tle.

51

lit

up with glory

Let him but

poets

live,

and

all

my

have

Yes

I see

God

now.

is

the perfect

poet,

Who

you but told me

Paracelsus. Live

my

To

help

And

own

person acts his

in his

Had

this at first
!

my

for

creations.

Hush

649

hush
sake, because of
!

great sin,

my

their

by these wild words

brain, oppressed

Live
us, and

deep import.

have a quiet home for

Michal shall smile on you.
I

'tis

not too

late.

friends.

Hear you

Lean

thus,

And breathe my breath.

Of all your sjx'ech, one
Apr'tle.

No,

of you

no.

one word
word, Aprile
Crown me ? I am not one
I shall not lose

little

'Tis he, the king, you seek.

Paracelsus.

me
I

Thy

am

spirit, at least,

not one.

Aprile

love

have attained, and now

Let
6rx3

may

depart.

PART

III

PARACELSUS
Scene.

Basil
o/"

a chamber In the house

Paracelsus.

1526

Paracelsus, Festus

Paracelsus.

renewal
"'^liSi's

Heap

logs and let the blaze laugh

out

True, true!

^'""''
.

'Tis very

fit all,

Have wrought

And

time and chance and change

since last

soul to soul

all

we

sat thus, face to face

cares, far-looking fears.

Vague apprehensions,

all vain fancies bred

your long absence, should be cast away.
Forgotten in this glad unhoped renewal

By

Of our

affections.

Paracelsus.

Which

Affection

The

Oh, omit

witnesses your

spare not that

not aught

own and Michal's own

!

Only

forget

ro

honours and the glories and what not,

you to tell profusely out.

Nay, even your honours, in a sense, I
waive
The wondrous Paracelsus, life's dispenser,
Fate's commissary, idol of the schools
And courts, shall be no more than Aureole still,
Still Aureole and my friend as when we parted
It pleases

Festus.

PARACELSUS
Some twenty

years ago, and

53

RecoUec-

restrained

As best I could the promptings of my spirit

Which secretly advanced you, from the first,

To

the pre-eminent rank which, since, your

ii?"vi

20

own

Adventurous ardour, nobly triumphing.

Has won

for you.

Yes, yes. And Michal's face

wears that quiet and peculiar light
Like the dim circlet floating round a pearl ?
Paracelsus.

Still

Just so.

Feslus.

Paracelsus.

And

yet her calm sweet counten-

ance.

Though

saintly, was not sad

for she would sing
Alone.
Does she still sing alone, bird-like.
Not dreaming you are near ? Her carols dropt
In flakes through that old leafy bower built under
The sunny wall at Wiirzburg, from her lattice 31

Among

the trees above, while

1,

unseen.

Sat conning some rare scroll from Tritheim's

shelves

Much

wondering notes so simple could divert

from study. Those were happy days.
Respect all such as sing when all alone
Festus. Scarcely alone her children, you may

My mind

guess.

Arc wild

beside her.

Ah,

Paracelsus.

those children quite

Unsettle the pure picture in my mind

girl, she was so perfect, so distinct

40

No change, no change Not but this added grace

May blend and harmonise with its comjjecrs,
And Michal may become her motherhood
!

I'ut 'tis a

And

change, and

most a change

in

detest

aught

all

change.

loved long since.

PARACELSUS

54

Festus So, Michal

recalls

ear^

^"''^gi"^

you have
proud

said she thinks of nic

Festus.

very

^ow we

sat,

will

Michal be of you

long winter-nights,

ii^cheniing and wondering, shaping your presumed

50
Para- Adventure, or devising its reward
celsus Shutting out fear with all the strength of hope.
For it was strange how, even when most secure

hopes of

In our domestic peace, a certain dim

flitting shade could sadden all ; it seemed
restlessness of heart, a silent yearning,
sense of something wanting, incomplete
Not to be put in words, perhaps avoided

And

A
A

By mute

consent

but, said or unsaid, felt

To point to one so loved and so long lost.

And then the hopes rose and shut out the fears

59

How you would laugh should I recount them now

I

still

With

predicted your return at last

greatest of

beyond the

gifts

All Tritheim's wondrous troop

them
;

all,

did one ot

which
Attain renown by any chance, I smiled,
As well aware of who would prove his peer.

Michal was sure some woman, long ere this,

beautiful as you were sage, had loved

As

Paracelsus.

Far-seeing, truly, to discern so

much
In the fantastic projects and day-dreams

Of a raw

restless

boy

70

Oh, no the sunrise

Festus.
Well warranted our faith in this full noon
Can I forget the anxious voice which said
:

<

Festus,

have thoughts like these ere shaped

themselves
In other brains than mine

have their possessors

PARACELSUS
Existed

circumstance

in like

As

I, or

As

spider-films the shackles

55

were they weak and

ever constant from the first,

Despising youth's allurements and rejecting
Is there

As

hope for

me

? '

and

change

an acknowledged elder, calmer, wiser,

More
For

gifted mortal.

all

your glorious

Paracehus.
These hands

O
.

j^^

f^^^^

in

him

endure ?
answered gravely
8i

you must remember.

.

Glorious ? ay, this hair,

nay, touch them, they are mine
!

Recall

With

To

all

lay

the said recallings, times

them by your own

As now.

Most

when

ne'er turned

glorious, are they not

thus

you pale
?

Why why

Festus.

Something must be subtracted from success

So wide, no doubt. He would be scrupulous,

Who

should object such drawbacks.

Still, still,

9
Aureole,
'Twere losing
You are changed, very changed
nothing
To look well to it you must not be stolen
From the enjoyment of your well-won meed.
!

Parnrelsus.
])a8t a

My

friend

you seek

my

pleasure,

doubt

will best gain your point, by talking, not

me, but of yourself.

You

Of

Have

Festus.

All touching Michal and

You know, by

my

this, full well

not said

children

Sure

how Aennchen

looks

Gravely, while one (lis])arts her thick brown hair

And Aureole's glee when some stray gannet
;

builds

'oo

PARACELSUS

56

Para-

Amid

celsus

Have

Small hope
the birch-trees by the lake.
that he will honour (the wild imp)

'tis too much to ask

Sigh not
^^^^ namesake.
r'"h^^ f
should reach the same proud
hit own That all we love
fate.
achievement But you are very kind to humour me
!

By showing interest in my quiet life

You, who of old could never tame yourself
;

To

tranquil pleasures, must at heart despise . . .

Paracelsus. Festus, strange secrets are let out

by death

Who

blabs so oft the follies of this world

no

know.
I helped a man to die, some few weeks since,
Warped even from his go-cart to one end
The living on princes' smiles, reflected from
No mean trick
mighty herd of favourites.

And

am

death's familiar, as you

left untried, and truly well-nigh wormed

All traces of God's finger out of him
Then died, grown old. And just an hour before.
Having lain long with blank and soulless eyes,
He sat up suddenly, and with natural voice 120
Said that in spite of thick air and closed doors
God told him it was June and he knew well.
Without such telling, harebells grew in June

He

And

all

Would

that kings could ever give or take

not be precious as those blooms to him.

Just so, allowing I

am

passing sage.

me much

worthier argument
pansies,! gygg that laugh, bear beauty's prize
From violets, eyes that dream (your Michal's

seems to

It

Why

choice)
^

aris.

Citrinula (flammula) herba Paracelso

DoRN.

multum

famili-

PARACELSUS
Than all fools find
Or in my fortunes.
I

wonder

to

And

57

me

at in

130

say this from no prurient restlessness,

self-complacency, itching to turn.

lectures

No

pleasure from

Vary and view its

And, in this instance,

all

willing other

points,

men

May

be at pains, demonstrate to itself

The realness of the very joy it tastes.
What should delight me like the news of friends

Whose memories were a solace to me oft,

As mountain-baths to wild fowls in their iiight?
141
Ofter than you had wasted thought on me

Had

you been wise, and rightly valued bliss.

But there 's no taming nor repressing hearts
God knows I need such! So, you heard me
:

speak

Speak

Festus.

class

noise and

you not.
Surely you know

To
As

but this morning at

my

There was

The

when

When

Paracelsus.

chair here

crowd enough.

am engaged

that

'tis

to

saw

till

part of my proud fate

lecture to as many thick-skulled youths

please, each day, to throng the theatre,

To my great

150

reputation, and no small

Basil's benches long unused

crack beneath such honour ?

Danger of

To

Festus.

was

tlicre

shall I avow
mingled with the throng
too intent
Small care was mine to listen?
On gathering from the murmurs of the crowd
full corroboration of my hopes
What can I learn about your powers ? but they
I

He
speaks

be very sure

PARACELSUS

58

and Know, care for nought beyond your actual

perplexes Your actual value ; yet they worship you,
th^h"^

Those

whom

various natures

you sway

as

state,

i6o

one

^"""^ ^ ^^'^^^ attend

.
irony ^"'^ ^'"^ ^ S*'*
Paracelsus. Stop, o' God's name the thing
.

's

by no means yet
Past remedy

At

Shall I read this morning's labour

substance

in

least

Nought

worth

so

the gaining

As

an apt scholar

Thus

then, with all due

you, beside, are clearly

of understanding more,
allowed
than your

Precision and emphasis

a whit.

Guiltless

The subject

stool

to be

notable advantage.

Surely, Aureole,

Festtts.

You

laugh

at

me

170

thank heaven,
Paracelsus. I laugh ? Ha, ha
for I forget
charge you, if 't be so
Much, and what laughter should be like. No
!

less.

However,
Since

it

I forego that luxury

alarms the friend who brings

True, laughter

To

thinking

make me

like

men

it

back.

my own
a

must echo strangely

smile were better far
;

If the exulting looks

You wore but now be smiling, 'tis so long
Alas, such smiles are
Since I have smiled

So,

smile

born

180

Alone of

hearts like yours, or herdsmen's souls

Of ancient
Saw
And

time,

whose eyes, calm as their flocks.

mere garnishry of heaven.

in

the stars

in

the earth a stage for altars only.

Never change, Festus

Festus.

My

God,

if

I say, never change

he be wretched after all

PARACELSUS
When

Paracelsus.

last

we

59

parted, Festus, you Festus

cannot

declared,

Or Michal,

yes, her soft lips whispered

words Q^iugnd

She told me she believed

have preserved.
should succeed (meaning, that in the search 190
I then engaged in, I should meet success)
And yet be wretched now, she augured false.
I

Thank

but you spoke

heaven
strangely
could I venture
To think bare apprehension lest your friend,
Dazzled by your resplendent course, might find
Henceforth less sweetness in his own, could move
Fear not, dear
Such earnest mood in you ?
Festus.

friend.

That
Your

leave you, inwardly repining

I shall

my own

was not

lot

And

Paracelsus.

For

this for ever

who may,

they will be gulled 200

They will not look nor tliink ; 'tis nothing new
but surely he is not of them
In them
Festus, do you know, I reckoned, you
ever! gull

My

Though

all

beside were sand-blind

you,

my

friend.

Would

look at me, once close, with piercing eye

Untroubled by the false glare that confounds
weaker vision
would remain serene.
Though singular amid a ga])ing throng.
I
feared you, or I had come, sure, long ere this.
To I'.insiedeln. Well, error lias no end, 210
And K basis is a sage, and Basil boasts
tribe of wits, and I am wise and blest

Past
I

all

dispute

'Tis vain to fret at

have vowed long ago

Shall

owe

to their

my

it.

worshipjK-rs

own deep

sagacity

PARACELSUS

6o

Para- All further information, good or bad.

celsus Small risk indeed my reputation runs,
explains
Unless perchance the glance now searching

me
Be fixed much longer for it seems to spell
220
Dimly the characters a simpler man
Might read distinct enough. Old Eastern books
;

Say, the fallen prince of morning some short space

Remained unchanged in semblance; nay, his brow
Was hued with triumph every spirit then
:

Praising, his heart on flame the while

a tale

Well, Festus, what discover you, I pray ?

Fes t us. Some foul deed sullies then a

which

Were

raised

supreme

Good

make men

strive to

do

well,

most well
them;

hear, feel, fret

selves

With what
I

229
is

past their

should not strive

The

faint

One,

Not

Of

now

power
:

to

comprehend

only, having nursed

surmise that one yet walked the earth.

not the utter fool of show,

at least,

absolutely formed to be the dupe

shallow plausibilities alone

One who, in youth, found wise enough to

The happiness his riper years approve,

Was

choose

yet so anxious for another's sake.

That, ere his friend could rush upon

And
His

life

else

Paracelsus.

Why

mad

ruinous course, the converse of his own, 240

gentle spirit essayed, prejudged for

him

The perilous path, foresaw its destiny.

And warned the weak one in such tender
Such accents

That

oft

When

it

words,

whole heart in every tone

their memory comforted that friend
by right should have increased despair
his

PARACELSUS

Having
At

portion

even

how should

my

from the

lose the light thus

gain

if it

I refuse to

He

man

believed, I say, that this one

Could never

His

6i

first

f^^f^^

grieve

disturb our old

y^^^ failed

250

Relation, if it make me out more wise ?

Therefore, once more reminding him how well

He

prophesied,

That

note the single flaw

In plain words,

spoils his prophet's title.

You were deceived, and thus were you deceived

I have not been successful, and yet am
Most miserable 'tis said at last nor you
Give credit, lest you force me to concede
That common sense yet lives upon the world
Festus. You surely do not mean to banter me
;

Paracelsus.

You know,

or

if

you have been

261
wise enough
knew,
your memory of such matters
As far as words of mine could make it clear.
That 'twas my purpose to find joy or grief
Solely in the fulfilment of my plan

To cleanse

rejoicing
plot or whatsoe'er it was
Alone as it proceeded ])rosperous]y.
Sorrowing then only when mischance retarded
That was in those Wiirzburg
Its progress.

Or

days

theme I thoroughly hate, 270

have pursued this plan with all my strength ;
And having failed therein most signally.
Cannot object to ruin utter and drear
As all-excelling would have been the prize
Had fortune favoured me. I scarce have right
To vex your frank good spirit late so glad

Not

to prolong a

In

my

supposed prosjierity,

And, were

lucky

in a glut

know,
of friends,

PARACELSUS

62

and pro- Would well agree to let your error live,

phesies Nay, strengthen it with fables of success.
condition to refuse
exDOsm-e ^"'' """^ ^^ "

The

My

280

transient solace of so rare a godsend,

my one friend
Accordingly I venture to put off
The wearisome vest of falsehood galling me,
I lay me bare,
Secure when he is by.
Prone at his mercy but he is my friend
Not that he needs retain his aspect grave
solitary luxury,

That answers not my purpose

Some sunny morning

for

'tis like.

Basil being drained

290

Of its wise population, every corner

Of the amphitheatre crammed with learned clerks.
Here Qicolampadius, looking worlds of
Here Castellanus, as profound as he,

wit,

Munsterus here, Frobenius there, all squeezed

that the zany of the show,
staring,

And

Even Paracelsus, shall put

His trappings with a grace
Expedient in such cases
Is
will go round!

That

off before

them

but seldom judged

the grim smile

it

not therefore best 300

To

venture a rehearsal like the present

In a small way ? Where are the signs I seek.
The first-fruits and fair sample of the scorn

Due

to all

Festus.

quacks

These

Why,

are

foul

this will

never do

vapours,

Aureole

nought beside

The effect of watching, study, weariness.

Were there a spark of truth in the confusion
Of these wild words, you would not outrage thus
Your youth's companion. I shall ne'er regard
These wanderings, bred of faintness and much
study.

310

PARACELSUS

63

Festus

'Tis not thus you would trust a trouble to me,

still
Michal's friend.
^
^^^ ^^^^^
I have said it, dearest Festus
Paracelsus.
probably
ungracious
For the manner, 'tis
You may have it told in broken sobs, one day,
And scalding tears, ere long but I thought best

To

To
Do

keep that off as long

you wonder still ?

as possible.

No

Festus.

That one whose

it

must

oft fall out

labour perfects any work.

with eye so worn that he

320
can measure the extent
Of what he has accomplished. He alone
Who, nothing tasked, is nothing weary too.
May clearly scan the little he effects
But we, the bystanders, untouched by toil,
Shall rise from

Of

all

men

it

least

Estimate each aright.

This worthy Festus

'Tis so with all
one of them, at last
First, they set down all progress as a dream ;
And next, when he whose quick discomfiture
Was counted on, accomplishes some few
Paracelsus.

Is

And

doubtful steps in his career,

behold,

330

Tliey look for every inch of ground to vanish

Ik-neath his tread, so sure they sj)y success
Festus. Few doubtful steps ? when death retires

before

Your presence when the noblest of mankind.

Broken in body or subdued in soul.
May through your skill renew their vigour, raise

The shattered frame to jiristine stateiiness?

When men in racking pain may purchase dreams
Of what dcliglits them most, swooning at once
Into a sea of

bliss or rajit

along

340

PARACELSUS

64
Para-

As

celsus

When we may

in a flying

insists rp^

^^^^ ^j^^

jj^^l^

Our Luther's

When

sphere of turbulent light ?

look to you as one ordained
^^^^^

l^^jl

jjggjjge^

jjg

frees

burning tongue the fettered soul

Paracelsus.

When

and where, the devil, did

you get

This notable news ?

Even from the common voice
Festus.
From those whose envy, daring not dispute
The wonders it decries, attributes them

To

magic and such

folly.

Why not
Folly ?
comfort doubtless
351
In holding, God ne'er troubles him about
Us or our doings once we were judged worth
The devil's tempting ... I offend forgive me,
And rest content. Your prophecy on the whole
Was fair enough as prophesyings go
Paracelsus.

To

magic, pray

You

find a

At

fault a little in detail, but quite

Precise enough in the main ; and hereupon

you guessed long ago
I pay due homage
:

(The

prophet

should

Festus.

You mean

to tell

and I have failed.

me, then, the hopes

fail

which fed

360

not been realised as yet

obstacle has barred them hitherto ?

Your youth have

Some
Or that

their innate

As

Paracelsus.

I said but

now,

a very decent prophet's fame.

So you but shun details here. Little matter
Whether those hopes were mad, the aims they

You have

sought.

Safe and secure from

all

ambitious fools

PARACELSUS

65

Or whether my weak wits are overcome

He
wishes
By what a better spirit would scorn I fail.
And now methinks 'twere best to change a theme ^? <^j'^"
the theme
T
J r
L
LI J
1 am a sad tool to have stumbled on.
371
:

say confusedly what comes uppermost

But there are times when patience proves

As now

at fault,

morning's strange encounter

you
Beside me once again
you, whom I guessed
Alive, since hitherto (with Luther's leave)
No friend have I among the saints at peace,
To judge by any good their prayers effect.
I knew you would have helped me
why not he,
My strange competitor in enterprise,
380
Bound for the same end by another path,
Arrived, or ill or well, before the time.
:

this

At

our disastrous journey's doubtful close ?

goes it with Aprile ?
Ah, they miss
Your lone sad sunny idleness of heaven,
Our martyrs for the world's sake ; heaven shuts

How

fast

The

poor mad poet is howling by this time

Since you are my sole friend then, here or theie,
I could not quite repress the varied feelings 389
!

This meeting wakens

they have had their vent.

And now forget them. Do the rear-mice still

Hang like a fretwork on the gate (or what
In my time was a gate) fronting the road
From Linsiedcin to Lachen
?

Trifle not

I'estus.

Answer me, for my sake alone

You smiled
Just now, when I supposed some deed, unworthy
!

Yourself, might blot the else so bright result

Yet

your motives iiave continued

if

Your

will unfaltering,

and
E

in spite

]Hire,

of

this,

PARACELSUS

66
but

Festus
still

You have

is I

un^

why

experienced a defeat,

then

400

say not you would cheerfully withdraw

fMom

contest

mortal

not

arc

hearts

so

fashioned

But surely you would nc'ertlieless withdraw.

sought not fame nor gain nor even love,
No end distinct from knowledge, I repeat
Your very words once satisfied that knowledge
Is a mere dream, you would announce as much.
Yourself the first.
But how is the event ?
You are defeated and I find you here
Paracelsus. As though here did not signify

You

'

'

defeat

410

spoke not of my little labours here,

But of the break-down of my genera! aims
For you, aware of their extent and scope,
To look on these sage lecturings, approved
By beardless boys, and bearded dotards worse.
As a fit consummation of such aims,
I

worthy

Is

notice.

A professorship

At Basil
Since you
And think my life was
!

Of life's
For

Be

To

see so

much

delights to render

me

duties arduous as such post

it

far

fill

from

me

to

in

it.

reasonably drained

deny

my

match
demands,

420

power

the ])etty circle lotted out

Of infinite space, or justify the host

Of honours thence accruing. So, take notice,
This jewel dangling from my neck preserves
The features of a prince, my skill restored

To plague his people some few

And all through a pure whim.

years to

He

the earth

For me,

Init

that the droll despair

come

liad eased

429

which seized

PARACELSUS

67

Para-

me.
Here, drivelled the physician,
Whose most infallible nostrum was at fault
There quaked the astrologer, whose horoscope
Had promised him interminable years
Here a monk fumbled at the sick man's mouth
With some undoubted relic a sudary
Of the Virgin while another piebald knave
Of the same brotherhood (he loved them ever)

The
I

vermin of

came

his household, tickled

to see.

^^y^^^

^^

Was

actively preparing 'neath his nose

440

once fired.
Had stunk the patient dead ere he could groan.
I cursed the doctor and upset the brother,
Brushed past the conjurer, vowed that the first

Such

Of

a sufFumigation as,

gust
stench from the ingredients just alight

my sword.
and ere an hour the prince
Slept as he never slept since prince he was.
day and I was posting for my life,
449
Placarded through the town as one whose spite

Would
Not

raise a cross-grained devil in

easily laid

Had near availed to stop the blessed effects

Of the doctor's nostrum which, well secondetl
By

the sudary, and most by the costly

Not leaving out the strenuous

Hard by in the abbey raised

To

smoke

])rayers sent

the prince to

up
lite

the great reputation of the seer

Who, confident,
The glad event

exjK-cted

all

along

the doctor's recompense

Mucii largess from

his highness to the

monks

And the vast solace of his loving peo])le,

Whose genera! satisfaction to increase.
The prince was jileascd no longer to defer
The burning of some dozen heretics

gj^.

perience

460

PARACELSUS

68
typical
of many

such

Remanded
Touching

Ample

To

till

God's mercy should be shown

his sickness

directions to

last

of

all

were joined

loyal folk

all

complement by seizing me
endeasome rank sorcerer

swell the

Who doubtless

voured
To thwart these pious offices, obstruct
The prince's cure, and frustrate heaven by help
Of certain devils dwelling in his sword.
471
By luck, the prince in his first fit of thanks
Had forced this bauble on me as an earnest
Of further favours. This one case may serve
To give sufficient taste of many such,

them

Those

shelves support a pile

So,

let

Of

patents, licences, diplomas, titles

pass.

From Germany, France, Spain, and Italy;

They authorise some honour ne'ertheless,
;

I set

He

more

trusts

And him

store

me

by

this

Erasmus

our Frobenius

is

sent

480

his friend,

*I raised' (nay, read

it)

*froni the

dead.'
I merely sought
I see.
show, there 's no great wonder after all
That, while I fill the class-room and attract
I

weary you,

To

crowd

to Basil, I get leave to stay,

And
The

utmost they can

For

'tis

therefore need not scruple to accept

offer,

if"

I please

but right the world should be prepared

To

treat with favour e'en fantastic

Of

one

like

me, used up

Just as the mortal,

Devoured, received

whom
in

wants

490

in serving her.

the gods in part

place of his lost limb

Some virtue or other cured

You mind the fables we have

disease, I think

read together.

PARACELSUS

69

You do not think. I comprehend

^ord.
time was, Aureole, you were apt enough

Feslus.

The

To clothe

the airiest thoughts in specious breath

But surely you must

feel

how

soe^akine
;

499

you know my hopes

I am assured, at length, those hopes were vain
That truth is just as far from me as ever
That I have thrown my life away that sorrow
On that account is idle, and further effort
To mend and patch what 's marred beyond
Well, then

Paracelsus.

repairing,

As
By
Of

useless

and

all this

was taught your friend

method

the convincing good old-fashioned

by sheer compulsion.

force

Dear Aureole, can

Fes/us.
just

Gotl

it

Is that plain

be

my

fears

were

wills not

Paracelsus.

509

Now, 'tis this I most admire

talk men of your stamp keep up

The constant
Of God's will, as they style it one would swear
Man had but merely to uplift his eye.
And see the will in question charactered
On the heaven's vault. 'Tis hardly wise to moot
;

Such
I

topics

know

as

doubts are

much of any

As knows some dumb

many and
will

faith

is

weak.

God

of

and tortured brute what

Man,
His stern lord, wills from the perplexing blows
That plague him every way but there, of course,
;

Where

My

least

he

suffers, longest

he remains
I plod on,

and for such reasons

I
Subdued but not convinced.
case

know

521

as little

is

fT''kin

vague and strange

These speeches sound.

He

PARACELSUS

70

Why

1 deserve to fail, as why I hoped

He
confesses Better things in my youth.
1 simply know
to certain
j ^^ ^^ master here, but trained and beaten
and here I stay,
delights ^"^o the path I tread
;

Until some further intimation reach mc,

Like an obedient drudge. Though I prefer
To view the whole thing as a task imposed 530
Which, whether dull or pleasant, must be done

Yet,

deny

not, there

Of joys which

is

tastes less

made

provision

jaded might affect

Nay, some which please me too, for all my pride

the iron ring
Pleasures that once were pains
Festering about a slave's neck grows at length
:

Into the flesh

it

I hate

eats.

host of petty vile delights,

no longer

undreamed of

such now supply the place

spurned before
dead aims : as in the autumn woods 540
Where tall trees used to flourish, from their roots
Springs up a fungous brood sickly and pale.
Chill mushrooms coloured like a corpse's cheek.

Or

Of my

Festus.
It troubles

If I interpret well your words,

me hut little that your aims.

own

Vast in their dawning and most likely grown

Extravagantly since, have bafBed you.
Perchance I am glad you merit greater praise
Because they are too glorious to be gained,
You do not blindly cling to them and die ; 550
You fell, but have not sullenly refused
To rise, because an angel worsted you
In wrestling, though the world holds not your
;

peer

And

To

though too harsh and sudden is the change

still you pursue
ungracious path as though 'twere rosy-strewn.

yield content as yet,

The

PARACELSUS

71

He
and your reward, or soon or late,
Will come from him whom no man serves in vain. ^^'^ ^
^
For my part, T j^ng
Paracelsus. Ah, very fine
'Tis well

conceive
very pausing from

The
Which

To
To
I

charge

find heinous,

you

further

all

would become

my

a seal

deeds.

the sincerity of

all

be consistent

should die

560

toil,

at

once

calculated on no after-life

in, how fostered, I know not)

Here am I with as passionate regret
For youth and health and love so vainly lavished,

Yet (how crept

As if their preservation had been first

And foremost in my thoughts and this
;

strange

fact

Humbled me wondrously, and had due

force 570

In rendering me the less averse to follow

certain counsel, a mysterious warning
You will not understand but 'twas a man
With aims not mine and yet pursued like mine,

With

the same fervour and no

l\-rishing in

As

To

serve

my

sight

more

success,

who summoned me

would shun the ghastly

my race at once
That God should interfere

fate 1

to wait
in

my

saw.
no longer

behalf.

But to distrust myself, put pride away,

And

To

give

men.

my
1

580

gains, imperfect as they were,

liave not leisure to explain

How, since, a singular scries

Has raised me to the station

of events

you behold.
Wherein I seem to turn to most account
The mere wreck of the past, perhaps receive
Some feeble glimmering token that God views
And may ap])rovc my penance therefore here

PARACELSUS

72

which has You

''^"^!'''

Basil

find

^^^

*^

me, doing most good or least harm.

wonder much and profit little 590

^"^^

'^'^ "^'' "^y ^'^^^^

'

"'y' ^

^^''*^^

rejoice

When my part in the farce is shuffled through,

And the curtain falls: I must hold out till then.
Festiis.

when, dear Aureole ?

Till I 'm fairly thrust
proud eminence.
Fortune is fickle
Till

Paracelsus.

From my

And
You

even professors fall

should that arrive,
no sin in ceding to my bent.
little fancy what rude shocks apprise us

We

sin

I see

God's

intimations rather

fail

In clearness than in energy

'twere well
600
Did they but indicate the course to take
Like that to be forsaken.
I would fain
Be spared a further sample. Here I stand,
And here I stay, be sure, till forced to flit.
Festus. Be you but firm on that head
long
ere then
All I expect will come to pass, I trust
The cloud that wraps you will have disappeared.
Meantime, I see small chance of such event
They praise you here as one whose lore, already
Divulged, eclipses all the past can show,
6io
But whose achievements, marvellous as they be.
Are faint anticipations of a glory
About to be revealed. When Basil's crowds
Dismiss their teacher, I shall be content
That he depart.
Paracelsus. This favour at their hands
T look for earlier than your view of things
Would warrant. Of the crowd you saw to-day,
Remove the full half sheer amazement draws.
Mere novelty, nought else ; and next, the tribe
:

PARACELSUS
Whose

73

innate blockish dulness just perceives 620

He

analyses
works)
in their behalf, their chance is slight
-Jj^jgnrTo puzzle the devil next, the numerous set
Who bitterly hate established schools, and help
The teacher that oppugns them, till he once

That unless
Be wrought

miracles (as seem

my

Have

planted his

own

doctrine,

when

the teacher

May

reckon on their rancour in his turn ;

Take, too, the sprinkling of sagacious knaves
Whose cunning runs not counter to the vogue
But seeks, by flattery and crafty nursing,
630
To force my system to a premature
Short-lived development.
Why swell the list ?
Each has his end to serve, and his best way
Of serving it: remove all these, remains
scantling, a poor dozen at the best.
Worthy to look for sympathy and service,
And likely to draw profit from my pains,
Feslus. 'Tis no encouraging picture still these
few

Redeem

their fellows.

growth,

Its

if

slow,

is

Once the germ

implanted,

sure.

God

Paracelsus.

grant

it

so

640

would make some amends but if I fail,

The luckless rogues have this excuse to urge.
That much is in my method and my manner,
My uncouth habits, my impatient spirit.
Which hinders of reception and result
I

My

doctrine

These

much

to say, small skill to speak!

old aims suffered not a looking-off

Though

for an instant

therefore, only

when

them and resolved to reaj)

Some present fruit~to tcacii mankind some truth
I

thus renounced

So dearly purchased

only then

found

651

PARACELSUS

74
It is

too Such teaching was an art requiring cares

late to

a ge

And

qualities peculiar to itself:

"-pj^m

J.Q

possess

was one thing

to display

my

Another.

With renown

Or po])ular
One grows

])raise, I

had soon discovered

but

apt to learn these things.

If

Festus.

it

little

first in

thoughts,
it

be so, which nowise I believe,

There needs no waiting

fuller dispensation

To

little use.

leave a labour of so

Why

660

not throw up the irksome charge at once

Paracelsus.

A task,

a task!

But wherefore hide the whole

Extent of degradation, once engaged
In the confessing vein ?
Despite of all
fine talk of obedience and repugnance,
Docility and what not, 'tis yet to learn

My
If

when

My
I

the task shall really be performed.

once more,
modify

inclination free to choose

do aught but

shall

The

slightly

nature of the hated task I quit.

am

In plain words, I
As first it tended

To my

spoiled

my

670

tends

life still

I am broken and trained

they are part of me.
I know, and none so well, my darling ends
Are proved impossible no less, no less,

old habits

Even now what humours me, fond

when
Their

faint ghosts sit

And

send

How

can

me back
I

change

with

me and

content to
this soul

my

flatter

dull

-this

intricate

me

round

a])paratus

Constructed solely for their purposes,

So well adapted to their every want,
To search out and discover, prove and

This

as

fool,

680

])crfect

machine whose most minute

PARACELSUS
And

His aim

me

meanest motions have their chai in to

an aptitude I seize,
to none else
object I perceive, a use, a meaning,

Though

An

75

be"know'
ledge

property, a fitness, I explain

And
And

alone

this

how can

tasked

Under

my

change

soul

wronged body, worthless save when

that soul's

dominion

used

to care

690

bright master's cares and quite subdue

not to ail nor pine
Its proper cravings

For

its

So he

but prosper

Tried

patient

To
To

this

God

body

live like that

love alone

And

whither drag

mad poet,
how I

and

twisted and deformed

how

poor

essayed

for a while.

too warped

felt

What

should

do,

liven tho' released from drudgery, but return

Faint, as you see, and halting, blind and sore.

To my

old

life

and die as

began

700

cannot feed on beauty for the sake

Of beauty only, nor can drink in balm
I

From

My
I

lovely objects for their loveliness;

first imprint

nature cannot lose her

must hoard and

still

heaj)

and

class all truths

With one ulterior purpose I must know

Would God translate me to his throne, believe
That I should only listen to his word
For other men,
To further my own aim
!

prodigally strewn around,

Beauty

is

And

were

ha])])y

could

quench

710
as they

mad and thriveless longing, and

With beauty for itself alone alas,

'I'his

content

me

have adilrcsaed

Yet may not

And now

a frock

of heavy mail

join the troo]) of sacred knights

the forest-creatures

11

from me,

PARACELSUS

76

Festus
cannot
:.hJ^A
prehend

The

warm no

grass-banks cool, the sunbeams

more.

^^^^ follow, dreaming that ere night arrive,

company and

I shall o'crtake the

ride

Glittering as they
Festus.

think I apprehend

What

720

you would say if you, in truth, design

To enter once more on the life thus left,
Seek not to hide that all this consciousness
Of failure is assumed
:

My

Paracelsus.

you

I toil,

listen

I explain,

friend,

my

friend,

perhaps

You understand there our communion ends.

Have you learnt nothing from to-day's discourse
When we would thoroughly know the sick man's
:

state

We

awhile the fluttering pulse, press soft

hot brow, look upon the languid eye,
730
Must I lay bare
thence divine the rest.

feel

The
And

My
My

and beating, or tear up

your gaze, ere you will deem

heart, hideous
vitals for

Enough made known

forsooth

That

By

is

You

earth the audience.

Secure

who

are

you,

the crowning operation claimed

heaven the hall,

the arch demonstrator

And

good

places

Let Aprile and you

be worth the

'twill

while.

Are you mad. Aureole?

Festus.

What

can I have said

To

call

for

this

judged from your

words.
Paracelsus.

own
740

Oh,

doubtless!

describes the ape

A sick wretch

PARACELSUS
That mocks him from

the

77

and

bed-foot,

all

You
The

thither turn at once

or he recounts

perilous journey he has late performed,

And

you are puzzled much

You

find

It

me

makes no

am

my

part of

that could be

less

but so

led to trust

mad

delight to search

much

Into these matters,

And
And

how

here, half stupid and half

Another's scrutiny

That

my

it

undergo
chances

you

state to

750

you combine, contrast

ponder on my foolish words as though
They thoroughly conveyed all hidden here
Here, loathsome with despair and hate and rage
Is there no fear, no shrinking and no shame ?
Will you guess nothing ? will you spare me
the event

nothing

Must

is,

go deeper

Ay

Paracelsus.

The

am

friend

brutal

'tis

])art

it;

should you
it

True

plague's sign

How

or no

Dear

Festus.

of

you

know

are not a lazar-haunter.

Well

then, you think

strange

760

should profess to have failed utterly,

And

To

yet propose an ultimate return

courses void of hope

You know

and

this,

not what temptation

'Tis like to ply

You

men

is,

because
nor

how

in the sickliest part.

are to understand that

we who make

Sport for the gods, are hunted to the end

There is not one sharj) volley shot at us.

Which

Paracclsus

pravelv

'scaped

slacken pace

with

life,

though

hurt,

we

'rther"^

PARACELSUS

78

He And
hints at

de-rada'
"^
tion

gather by the wayside herbs and roots 770

our wounds, secure from further

-"Po

staunch

^^

^""^

''''""

'

assailed to life's extremest verge.

It will be well

A
I

indeed

harmless busy

would

if I return,

my

fool, to

Significant enough,

which

Have

me

lately scared

Another

Paracelsus.
I

silent

After

hours

with.

Fes/us.

old ways

forget hints of another fate,

all,

and what

Festus, you say well

am

I need never humble me.

yet
would have been something, I know not
780
what
But though I cannot soar, I do not crawl.
There are worse portions than this one of mine.

man

You

say well

Ah

Festus.

And

Paracelsus.

If the

mean

deeper degradation

stimulants of vulgar praise.

If vanity should become the chosen food

a sunk mind, should stifle even the wish

Of

To

find

its

early aspirations true.

Should teach

it

to breathe falsehood like life-

breath

An

atmosphere of craft and trick and lies

790
Should make it jjroud to emulate, surpass
Base natures in the practices which woke
No, no
Its most indignant loathing once.
Utter damnation is reserved for hell
such shall never
I had immortal feelings
Be wholly quenched no, no
My friend, you wear
.

PARACELSUS

79

melancholy face, and certain 'tis

There's little cheer in all this dismal work.
T,
L
J
.
But was It my desire to set abroach
I foresaw
forebodings
?
Such memories and
Where they would drive. 'Twere better we
.

800

discuss

News from Lucerne

ask and tell

Of Egypt's flaring sky or Spain's cork-groves.
trust me, this
I
have thought
Festus.
or Zurich

mood will pass away

know you and the lofty

And

These

you bear,

spirit

easily ravel out a clue to

all.

are the trials meet for such as you.

Nor must you hope exemption

to be mortal

Is to be plied with trials manifold.

Look round

The

obstacles

which kept the

809

rest

From

your aml)ition, have been spurned by you;

Their fears, their doubts, the chains that bind

them all.
Were flax before your resolute soul, which
nought
Avails to awe save these delusions bred

From

its

own

its

selfsame

brave,

dear

strength,

strength

disguised,

Mocking

itself.

Be

Aureole

Since

The rabbit has his shade to frighten

The fawn a rustling bough, mortals
And higher natures yet would slight

him,
their cares.

and laugh

At these entangling fantasies, as you

At trammels of a weaker intellect,
Measure your mind's
casts

iieight

by the shade

820
it

Festus

f"^5i^^^
that these
^^^ ^^j^
sions

PARACELSUS

8o

He denies
that love

know

you.

Paracelsus.

And

know

you, dearest Festus

has made ^^^^ j^^^

j^^^ unworthily
him bhnd a n j
j
a
All admiration renders blmd.

Festus.

That admiration
f??

blinds

how

You

hold

Ay

Nought

Paracelsus.

^Festus.

and

blinds

and alas
you less than ad!

miration, friend!
it be that all love renders wise
degree ; from love which blends with

Whether
In

its

love

Heart answering heart

to

love

which spends

itself

In silent mad idolatry of some

Pre-eminent mortal, some great soul of

Which

ne'er will

know how

well

it

is

830
souls,

adored.

but rather
never blind
Alive to every the minutest spot
I say, such love

is

Which

its

mars

object,

and

which

hate

supposed
So vigilant and searching) dreams not of.
When
Love broods on such: what then?
first perceived
Is there no sweet strife to forget, to change,
To overflush those blemishes with all
The glow of general goodness they disturb ? 840
(

To

make

those

very

defects

an

endless

source

Of new affection grown from hopes and fears ?

And, when all fails, is there no gallant stand
Made even for much proved weak ? no shrinking-back
Lest, since

all

love assimilates the soul

PARACELSUS
To

what

Almost

loves,

it

a rival of

it

should

its

idol

8i

length

at

He

become

sees the

Trust me,

weakIf there be fiends who seek to work our hurt,

ness, but
>
J J
J
o rum and
drag down earth s mightiest spirits only
Even at God's foot, 'twill be from such as loves the

Ti

love,

Their

850

zeal will gather

most

to serve their cause

And

least from those who hate, who most

By contumely and scorn to blot the light
Which forces entrance even to their hearts

For thence will our defender

And show within each heart,

The

essay

tear the veil

as in a shrine,

giant image of perfection,

grown

In hate's despite, whose calumnies were spawned

In the untroubled presence of its eyes.

True admiration blinds not nor am I

So blind. I call your sin exceptional

860

It

springs from one

whose

life

has passed the

Compound

that fault with

bounds
Prescribed to

life.

God!
of men
to common men like me
weakness you reveal endears you more,
Like the far traces of decay in suns.
I bid you have good cheer
I

s])eak

The

Pdidcelsus.

Think of

Prtrclarc !

Instructing Paracelsus!

Come,
Tis

will

in the

That

Oplinif !

a quiet mountain-cloistered priest

the

yet

'tis so.

show you where my merit

expectation

Eventually to follow

Waits ages

lies.

advance of individual minds

slow crowd should ground

in its

bed

as the sea
till

some one wave

870

tlieir

more

PARACELSUS

82

Para- Out of the multitudinous mass, extends

l"'i^p cnii)irc of the whole, some feet perhaps,
Over the strij) of sand whicli could confine
p
celsus

thenceforth the rest,

merit ^^^ fellows so long time
lies Even to the meanest, hurry in at once,
And so much is clear gained. I shall be glad
:

If

all

my

labours, failing of aught else,

Suffice to

make such

88i

inroad and procure

nay, they do this

wider range for thought
For, whatsoe'er my notions of true knowledge
:

And
I

am

a legitimate success,

may

be,

my

undoubted rank
I precede
classed with others

not blind to

When
And whoso
These

my

wills

is

age

very free to mount

labours as a platform

May

whence

his

own

have a prosperous outset.

But, alas
890
My followers they are noisy as you heard ;
But, for intelligence, the best of them

So

clumsily wield the weapons

And

they extol, that

Whether

their

own

I 8u])ply

begin to doubt

rude

clubs

pebble-

and

stones

Would not do better

Thus vilely swayed

service than

if

my

error will not

arms
fall

Sooner before the old awkward batterings

Than my more
Festus.

subtle warfare, not half learned.

would supply that

art,

then,

or

withhold
900
New arms until you teach their mystery.
Paracelsus.
Content you, 'tis my wish
I have recourse
To the simplest training. Day by day I seek
;

To wake
Can make

the

mood, the

spirit

which alone

those arms of any use to men.

PARACELSUS
Of course

83

they are for swaggering forth

once explains
w^at he

at

Graced with Ulysses' bow, Achilles' shield

Flash on

Make

us, all in

armour, thou Achilles

teach

our hearts dance to thy resounding step

proper sight to scare the crows

Pity

Festus.

you

choose

away

910

then

not

some

other method

Of coming

at

The

your point.

marvellous art

At

length established in the world bids

To

remedy

fixir

hindrances like these

Trust to Frobenius' press the precious lore
Obscured by uncouth manner, or unfit
all

For raw beginners

types secure

let his

A deathless monument to

after-time

Meanwhile wait confidently and enjoy

The
You

ultimate effect

sooner or later

The

Pardcelsits.

In a

920

shall be all-revealed.

new form

no more.

Two sorts of knowledge

old dull question

Thus:

possess

one
vast, shadowy,
Hints of the unbounded aim I once ])ursued
The other consists of many secrets, caught
While bent on nobler ])rize, perhaps a few
Prime princijjles which may conduct to much
;

These

Now,

My

last I offer to

bid

me

my

chronicle

followers here.

llie lirst

of these,

ancient study, and in effect you bid

930

Revert to the wild courses just abjured

I
must go find them scattered through
:

the

world.

Then,
(

for the principles, they are so simjjlc

I'eing chiefly of the overturning sor*),

That one time

As

any other

is

as projKT to ])roj)ound

to-morrow

at

my

class,

them

PARACELSUS

84

and Or half a century hence embalmed in print,

defends For if mankind intend to learn at all,
1 hey must begin by giving faith to them
h' f
and I do not see
940
lecturing And acting on them
,

But that my lectures serve indifferent well

No doubt these dogmas fall not to the earth.
For all their novelty and rugged setting.
I think my class will not forget the day
I let them know the gods of Israel,
Aetius, Oribasius, Galen, Rhasis,
Serapion, Avicenna, Averrcies,

Were

blocks

And

Festus,

me,

that reminds

something
About your waywardness

heard

you burned their

books.
It seems, instead of

Paracelsus.

answering those sages.

And who

said that

Some

Festus.

As

With OEcolampadius.

950

met yesternight
you know, the

purpose

Of this

short stay at Basil was to learn

His pleasure touching certain missives sent

For our Zuinglius and himself. 'Twas he
Apprised

Was my

me

famous teacher here

that the

old friend.

Ah,

Paracelsus.

forgot

you went

From Zurich with advices for the ear

Of Luther, now at Wittenberg (you know,
Festus.

make no doubt, the

With Carolostadius)
I

differences of late

and

Basil and

960

returning sought

Paracelsus. I remember.

Will teach you

why

Here

's

a case,

now.

answer not, but burn

PARACELSUS

85

The

books you mention.

Pray, does Luther and of
bold
dream
His arguments convince by their own force
^'l*^
The crowds that own his doctrine ? No, indeed Luther
His plain denial of established points
Ages had sanctified and men supposed
Could never be oppugned while earth was under
And heaven above them points which chance
.

or time

Affected not

970

did more than the array

Of

argument which followed.

Boldly deny
There is much breath-stopping, hair-stiffening
Awhile; then, amazed glances, mute awaiting
The thunderbolt which does not come and next,
Reproachful wonder and inquiry
those
!

Who
To
To

else

had never

him who

outstrip

As never
And

will

my

set the

its

perhaps
at

work,

instructor.

980

'Tis a wondrous soul

Festus.

Paracelsus.

True

the so-heavy chain which

mankind

Ls shattered,

Must bow

whole

wise class

you saw Luther

galled

now

stirred, are able

find the rest out for themselves,

and the noblest of us

to the deliverer

all

nay, the worker

Of our own project we who long before

Had burst our trammels, but forgot the crowd.

We

should have taught,

their load

still

groaned beneath

This he has done and nobly. Speed that may

Whatever be my chance or my mischance.
What benefits mankind must glad me too
990
And men seem made, though not as I believed,
For something better than the times produce.
;

'

PARACELSUS

86

Festus Witness these gangs of peasants your new lights

speaks of Pio,-,^ Suabia have possessed, whom Miinzer

And whom

the duke, the landgrave and

the

elector

Will calm in blood

world

Well, well

'tis

my

not

Fes/us.

Hark

'Tis the melancholy wind

Within the trees the embers too are grey
Morn must be near.
Paracelsus.

Best ope the casement

Festus.

The

astir
:

see,

night, late strewn with clouds and flying

looo

stars,

Is blank and motionless

how

peaceful sleep

The tree-tops altogether

The wind slips whispering

Like an asp.
from bough to bough.
you would gaze on a wind!

Paracelsus,

Ay

shaken tree
the hour, nor count time

By

Festus.

lost.

So you shall gaze

come again.
Gone, gone.
Does not the moaning
:

Those happy times

will

Paracelsus.

Those pleasant times

wind
Seem to bewail that we have gained such
!

And

bartered sleep for them

It is

Festus.

That

there

is

gains

yet another world to

our trust

mend

loio

All error and mischance.

Another world

Paracelsus.

And why

this

make-shift, a

To

some fme

common world, to
mere foil, how fair soever.

world, this
life

to

come

Man

be

must be fed

PARACELSUS
With

Of

87

and some few traces Paracelsus

which look out
corporeal baseness, warrant him
I^^ch

angels' food, forsooth

a diviner nature

Through

his

In a supreme contempt of

For

his inferior tastes

all

some

provision

comfort

straggling

marks

Which constitute his essence, just as truly

As here and there a gem would constitute
The rock, their barren bed, one diamond.
But were

it

so

were man

mind

he

gains

From God

station little enviable.

Down

all

1020

to the lowest spirit ministrant.

Intelligence exists

which

Into immeasurable shade.

mind
No, no
these make humanity
casts our

Love, hope,

fear, faith

These

and note and character.

have lost
gone, shut from me for

And

are

its

these I

sign

ever,

1030

Like a dead friend safe from unkindness more

See, morn at length. The heavy darkness seems
!

Diluted, grey and clear without the stars

The shrubs bestir and rouse themselves as

Some

snake, that weighed

let

them down

all

if

night,

go

His hold
Day, like

and from the Last, fuller and fuller,

mighty river, flowing in ;
But clouded, wintry, desolate and cold.
Yet see how that broad ])rickly star-shaped ])lant.
Half-down in the crevice, s])reads its woolly leaves
All thick and glittering with diamond dew. io.(t
And you depart for llinsietleln this day,
And we have sj)ent all night in talk like this!
if you would have me better for your love,
Revert no more to these sad themes.
I'csliis.

One

favour,

PARACELSUS

88

They And

I have done.
I leave you, deeply moved
part Unwilling to have fared so well, the while

My friend

has changed so sorely.

Shall pass away, if light once

Where

To

all is

hope and

You

will

darkness now,
trust again,

remember

if

and

If this

more
you

mood

arise

see

fit

1050

strive again,

not our love alone

But that my faith in God's desire that man

Should trust on his support (as I must think
You trusted) is obscured and dim through you:
For you are thus, and this is no reward.
Will you not call me to your side, dear Aureole ?

PART

IV

PARACELSUS ASPIRES

Colmar

Scene

in yf/satia

1528

an Inn.

Paracelsus, Festus
Paracelsus

Oporinus,

Johannes

[to

Secrelary\

Sir

itur

ad

asira

his

Para-

Dear

celsus

Von Viscnburg

BasF^

and poor Torinus jiaralysed.

And every honest soul that Basil holds
Aghast and yet we live, as one may say,
.lust as though I>iechtenfels had never set
So true a value on his sorry carcass.
Is scandalised,

And

We

and

shall as surely start

For Nuremberg,

To

as

we drink speedy

scathe

Basil in this mantling wine, suffused

delicate blush, no fainter tinge

the shut heart of a bud.

John
'

dumb.
to-morrow

learned Piitter had not frowned us

live

Basil

Oppose

a hot plague ravage

the plague

'
!

10

born
Pledge me, good

it,

l'>ven so

is

and Piitter
Do you too
?

share

Their panic,

the

through these,
Desist for these
!

At

Basil,

'tis

like:

reptiles?

Ha, ha;

faint

They manage matters so

but others may find means
80

PARACELSUS

90

He greets To

bring the stoutest braggart of the tribe

Festus Once more

crouch

in silence
means to breed
each fool again,
20
Now big with admiration at the skill
Which stri])t a vain pretender of his plumes
And, that done, means to brand each slavish

to

wonder

stupid

in

brow
So deeply, surely, inefFaceably,
That henceforth flattery shall not pucker it
Out of the furrow there that stamp shall stay
To show the next they fawn on, what they are.
;

This Basil with

its

magnates,

my

fill

cup,

Whom I curse soul and limb. And now despatch,

Despatch, my trusty John and what remains 30
To do, whate'er arrangements for our trip
Are yet to be completed, see you hasten
This night ; we '11 weather the storm at least
;

to-morrow

For Nuremberg

Now

leave us

grave

this

clerk

Has

my

divers weighty matters for

ear

[OpoRiNUs^ofj

And
I

spare

am

my

lungs.

rid of this

As a
May

arch-knave

give a loose to

very kind, my
Why, this looks like

at last

How

fidelity.
?

your love
time show

Right
you
;

you

shall

40

Embrace me

shall live

be proud.

Did you not wonder ?

compact weighed
conscience
(you recall the night
wliich the gods confound )
because

but

let

sent to you because our

Upon my
At Basil,

kind.

best only friend

am worth

delight.

first

a hair silvered yet

Till I

And

my

out.

my gallant Festus,
that dogs my heels

last,

gaunt crow a gasping sheep

How
Not

At

PARACELSUS

91

Once more I aspire. I call you to my side

You come. You thought my message strange

tells

So

Festus.

That

strange

must hope, indeed, yoar messenger

50
Has mingled his own fancies with the words
Purporting to be yours.
He said no more,
Paracelsus.
I

'Tis probable, than the precious folk

I leave

Well-a-day,
Said fiftyfold more roughly.
'Tis true
poor Paracelsus is exposed
At last a most egregious quack he proves
And those he overreached must spit their hate
On one who, utterly beneath contempt.
Could yet deceive their topping wits. You heard
Bare truth and at my bidding you come here 60
To sjieed me on my enterprise, as once
Your lavish wishes sped me, my own friend
Festus. What is your purpose. Aureole ?
!

Oh,

Paracelsus.

for purpose,

There is no
Like mine

lack of precedents in a case

The

men

To

case of

at least, if not precisely

mine,

by those they sought

benefit.

They

Festus.
I

cast off

really cast

you off?

only heard a vague tale of some priest.

who wrangled at your claim,

worth best and how the judge
The matter was referred to, saw no cause
71
To interfere, nor you to hide your full
Contempt of him nor he, again, to smother
His wrath thereat, which raised so fierce a liamc
That Basil soon was made no place for you.
Cured by your

Knowing his

skill,

life's

Paracelsus.

The

affair

shallowest fable,

of

,i<'(litenfels

the

him

^'^ Basil
"^^^^

Jf^^

PARACELSUS

92
the

reason

The

mere pretence
from the first,
How soon the stupid wonder you mistook
For genuine loyalty a cheering promise
80
Of better things to come would pall and pass
And every word comes true. Saul is among
The prophets
Just so long as I was pleased
To play off the mere antics of my art,
Fantastic gambols leading to no end,
I got huge praise: but one can ne'er keep down
j

and

last

j^new

silliest

outrage

I foretold

it,

it

Our

foolish

There they

weakness.

nature's

flocked,

Poor

swearing and perspiring,

and all for me
;
I had a kindness for them, which was right ; 90
But then I stopped not till I tacked to that
trust in them and a respect
a sort
Of sympathy for them ; I must needs begin
To teach them, not amaze them, ' to impart
The spirit which should instigate the search
devils, jostling,

Till the walls rang again

Of truth,'
Filed

ofl^

'the

Redoubling

The

what you bade me I spoke

mighty squadron, in disgust,

just

Forthwith

rest.

sifted chaff

of the sack,'

my endeavours to secure
When lo one man had
!

I said.

tarried so

long

Only
This

out.

ICX5

to ascertain if I supported

tenet of his, or that

another loved

To hear impartially before he judged,

And having heard, now judged this bland disciple
Passed for my dupe, but all along, it seems.
;

Spied error where his neighbours marvelled most

That fiery doctor who had hailed me friend.

Did it because my by-paths, once proved wrong

PARACELSUS

93

And beaconed properly, would commend again and the

The good old ways our sires jogged safely o'er, no l"^^'^^^
Though

not their squeamish sons

the other

worthy
Discovered divers verses of

John,

St.

successively, refreshed the soul,

But, muttered backwards, cured the gout, the

Which, read
stone.

QuuImultaP

The end

The

colic

Was

a clear class-room, and a quiet leer

and what not.

From grave folk, and a sour reproachful glance

From those in chief who, cap in hand, installed
The new professor scarce a year before

And

120

a vast flourish about patient merit

Obscured awhile by flashy tricks, but sure

Sooner or later to emerge in splendour
Of which the example was some luckless wight
Whom my arrival had discomfited.
But now, it seems, the general voice recalled

To

my chair and so efl^ace the stain

I sought no better,
had long incurred.
Only a quiet dismissal from my ))Ost,
And from my heart I wished them better suited
fill

Basil

And
But

better served.

Good

night to Basil, then

fast as I ))roposed to rid the tribe

Of my obnoxious
The pleasure of a

back,

parting kick.

You

Festus.

Despise them

131

could not spare them

sniilf

as they merit

If

Paracelsus.

smile,

'Tis with as very contempt as ever turned

This courteous recompense,
Flesh into stone.

This

To

graceful

Festus, were your nature

be defiled, your eyes the eyes to ache

fit

gj^g^

PARACELSUS

94

Festus
asks to

At

gangrene-blotches, eating poison-blains,

barky scurf of leprosy

'file ulcerous

140

know his Which finds a man, and leaves a hideous thing

^

That cannot but be mended by

would

Which God

hell fire,

human

lay bare to you the

heart

cursed long ago, and devils

make

since

Their pet

nest

and their never-tiring home.

we are born

Oh,
For

various ends

One

stumbled,

sages have discovered

to love, to

in his search,

know

has ever

on any signs

To hate ?
nature in us formed to hate ?
150
If that be our true object which evokes
Our powers in fullest strength, be sure 'tis hate
Of a

Yet men have doubted if the best and bravest

Of spirits can nourish him with hate alone.
I had not the monopoly of fools.
It seems, at Basil.

But your plans, your plans

Festus.
have yet to learn your purpose, Aureole
Paracelsus. Whether to sink beneath such
!

ponderous shame.

To

shrink up like a crushed snail, undergo

In silence and desist from further

And so subside into a monument

Of one their censure blasted? or

toil,

160
to

bow

Cheerfully as submissively, to lower

old pretensions even as Basil dictates.

My
To

drop

into the rank her wits assign

And live as
Of my poor
Proud

To

they prescribe, and

make

me
that use

knowledge which their rules allow.

now and then, and careful

to be patted

practise the true posture for receiving

The

amplest benefit from their hoofs' appliance

PARACELSUS
When

95

they shall condescend to tutor

me

170 Paxa-

celsus
Then, one may feel resentment like a flame
Within, and deck false systems in truth's garb,
lAnd tangle and entwine mankind with error, old aims
And give them darkness for adower and falsehood
For a possession, ages or one may mope
Into a shade through thinking, or else drowse
.

Into a dreamless sleep and so die

But

I,

Am

now Festus

shall divine

off.

but

merely setting out once more, embracing

My earliest aims again What thinks he now ?
Festus. Your aims? the aims?
to Know? and
where is found
181
!

The

early trust

Nay, not

Paracelsus.

The

aims

so fast

not the old means.

You know

say.

they

made me

laughing-stock

The when
again

Not

was

and the how

a fool
:

you know

hardly those means

but they had

their

beauty

who

should

know
Their passing beauty, if not I ?
They were, so let them vanish,
If that

may

be.

dreams

Still,

yet in beauty

Stay: thus they pass

in

song!

[^Ifc SIII^S.

Heap

cassia, sandal-buds and stripes

190
labdanum, and aloe-balls.
Smeared with dull narcl an Indian wipes
From out her hair such balsam falls
Down sea-side mountain iK-destals,
From tree-tops where tired winds arc fain,
Spent with the vast and howling main,

Of

To

treasure half their island-gain.

PARACELSUS

96

Festus

And

protests

strew faint sweetness from some old

Egyptian's

fine

worm-eaten shroud

Which breaks to dust when once unrolled

Or shredded perfume, like a cloud
From closet long to quiet vowed,
With mothed and dropping
Mouldering her

As when

arras hung.

lute

And

on such

pile shall die

lovely fancies, with fair perished things,

Themselves

Or why
That

No

200

and books among.

queen, long dead, was young.

Mine, every word

My

fair

and forgotten

abjure them

fitting

little

So,

yes, forgotten,

made

this

dignity might be preserved

proud was

though

the

rhyme
210

list

of

drugs

Smacks of my old vocation, and the verse

Halts like the best of Luther's psalms.
Festus.
But, Aureole,
Talk not thus wildly and madly. I am here
Did you know all! I have travelled far, indeed.
To learn your wishes. Be yourself again
For in this mood I recognise you less
Than in the horrible despondency
You may account this, joy
I witnessed last.
But rather let me gaze on that despair
220
Than hear these incoherent words and see
This flushed cheek and intensely-sparkling eye.
Paracelsus. Why, man, I was light-hearted
in my prime ;
I am light-hearted now; what would you have?
Aprile was a poet, I make songs
'Tis the very augury of success I want
Why should I not be joyous now as then ?
!

PARACELSUS

97

and how? and what remains Para-

Festus. Joyous!

celsus

for joy?

You have

Of

declared the ends (which I

naming) are impracticable.

Paracelsus.

Pursued

as I

Listen

my

pursued them

am

7^^'^ ^.^^^

sick

and know

Ay,

230 at once

the arch-fool

plan will please you not,

like,

'tis

But you are little versed in the world's ways.

This is my plan
(first drinking its good luck)

accept

I will

all

helps

despised

all I

So rashly at the outset, equally

With early impulses, late years have quenched
I have tried each way singly
now for both
:

All helps
I

seek to

no one sort

know and

Not one without

Suppose

my

Once more,

shall

exclude the

rest.

to enjoy at once,

240

the other as before.

labour should seem

as first I

dreamed,

God's own cause

it

shall not

baulk

me

Of the

meanest earthliest sensualest delight

for every joy is gain,
;

That may be snatched

And
Can

gain

gain,

is

however

die then, nor be taunted

My
what was
gained
small.

soul

'

Nor, on the other hand, shoultl pleasure follow

As though I had not spurned her hitherto.
Shall

she

o'ercloud

my

spirit's

rapt

com-

munion

With

250
the tumultuous past, the teeming future,

Glorious with visions of a

Festus. Success

full

success.

Paracelsus.

And

wherefore not?

not prefer

Results obtained in

To

my

best state of being.

those derived alone from seasons dark

Why

PARACELSUS

98

and so
fight the
a e ou

As

the thoughts they bred

my

When

Unwasted, seemed success not

It

is

was

best,

surest too

the nature of darkness to obscure.

am a wanderer
One journey, how
I

So long

remember well

Lay

youth

track was missed,

I feared the

the city I desired to reach

hid

when suddenly

its

261

spires afar

Flashed through the circling clouds

you may

conceive

My

transport.

But

No

darkness

Soon the vapours closed again,

had seen the city, and one such glance
obscure

could

nor

shall

the

present

A few dull

hours, a passing shame or two,

Destroy the vivid memories of the past.
I will fight the battle out

a little spent

an able combatant.
270
You look at my grey hair and furrowed brow ?
But I can turn even weakness to account
Perhaps, but

still

Of many tricks I know,

To push the ruins of my
The

fire

'tis

not the least

frame, whereon

of vigour trembles scarce

alive.

Into a heap, and send the flame aloft.

What

should I do with age

An

aid

We

boast of:

And

So, sickness lends

being, I fear, the source of

it

mind

natural health

is
is

all

nothing but disease,

ignorance.

Festus.

I see

280

But one good symptom in this notable scheme.

I feared your sudden journey had in view
To wreak immediate vengeance on your foes;
*Tis not so

Paracelsus.

am

glad.

And

if I

please

PARACELSUS
To

on them,

spit

99

them, what then

to trample

He

sneers

'Tis sorry warfare truly, but the fools

I would spare their self-conceit
Provoke it.
T,
r
,r
but it they must provoke me, cannot sutler
1

Forbearance on

No

^*

my

may keep

part, if I

quality in the shade, must needs put forth 290

Power

to

match power,

my

strength against their

strength.

And

teach them their

own game with

their

own

arms

Why,
I

be

it

so and let

am above them

Hiding the

Were

fact

them take

what

idle scruples, then,

those that ever bade

Communicate

it

chance
no

their

like a god, there 's

me

soften

it.

gently to the world.

Instead of proving

my

supremacy,

Taking my natural station o'er their head.

Then owning all the glory was a man's
And in my elevation man's would be.

300

and learn, though life 's short, learning,

hard
And therefore, though the wreck of my past self,
I fear, dear Putter, that your lecture-room
Must wait awhile for its best ornament.

But

live

The

penitent empiric,

For somebody,

Now,
His

who

but soon

set uj)

was taught

but too happy to be

let

error, snutf the candles,

his place

Vour

medicine's soundness

Good

Piitter

Fcsliu.

Paracelsus.

glad

confess

and

illustrate

fiat experietilia corporc vili)

310

Wait,

in his jMjrson.

He who
Ay,

sneers thus,

ay, laugh at

me

is
I

god
very

am

enemies

PARACELSUS

loo

Festus You are not gulled by all this swaggering ; you

remains Q^n see the root of the matter
how I strive
^^
^ Sood face on the overthrow
I'"^
""^^n^hi"
faith ^ have experienced, and to bury and hide
My degradation in its length and breadth
How the mean motives I would make you think
Just mingle as is due with nobler aims,
320
The appetites I modestly allow
!

May

influence

me

as being

mortal

still

Do

goad me, drive

and

My

youth's

are no stupid dupe

You

To

find

me on,
desires.
You

me

out

Yes,

The

Festus.

Proves nothing

Yet

No

to begin

Aureole,
of love

past, then.

Have

flattery in this

Is our interchange

supplant

had sent for you

upon you, Festus

palm these childish lies

you shall laugh at me

Laugh

fast

I to swear
speech or that ?

mean
For you,

330

Whate'er you say, there is no degradation

These low thoughts are no inmates of your mind.
Or wherefore this disorder ? You are vexed
;

As much

by the intrusion of base views.

Familiar to your adversaries, as they
Were troubled should your qualities alight

Amid

their

murky

souls

A stray wolf which the

From

our bleak

A village

not otherwise,

winter forces

down

hills, suffices to affright

in the vales

Sleep calm, though

while

all

foresters
340
night long the famished

troop
Snuff round and scratch against their crazy huts.
These evil thoughts are monsters, and will flee.
Paracelsus. May you be happy, Festus, my

own

friend

PARACELSUS
Nay, further
would think

the delights you fain Paracelsus

^^^^^
superseders of your nobler aims,
f ?"

Festus.

The

Though

Hush

Paracelsus.

Of toil's strict value

And humbler spirits
these

which urges

Bitter contempt

And

350

accept what we refuse

when some such comfort is doled
delights, we cannot long retain

In short,

hurl

a jot

but time passes o'er,

back, but hug

it

it

out

us at first

to our breast

This life of mine

and a grave thoroughly earned
I am just fit for that and nought beside.
I told you once, I cannot now enjoy,
360
Unless I deem my knowledge gains through joy ;
thankfully retire.

Must be

lived out

Nor can

know, but

warm

straight

tears reveal

My

need of linking also joy to knowledge

iSo, on I drive, enjoying all I can,
And knowing all I can. I speak, of course,
Confusedly ; this will better explain
feel here
Quick beating, is it not? a fire of tlie heart
:

To work

off

some way,

So, F'estus sees

me

this as well as any.

launched; his calm

Compassionate look might have disturbed me
fairly

once,

But now,

370
far

from rejecting,

invite

What

bids

Open

before him, and be soothed with

he

jiress

the closer, lay myself

])ity

command hope, and believe

directs me
satiating myself

hope,

As

me

if

he

need

of the
joys of
once despised them, the flesh
are high at first
.

But that soon passes.

We
In our demand, nor will abate

To

his

ordinary and harmless stimulants,

Will ne'er content you

As

loi

PARACELSUS

102

And Festus quits me

enduring love.
some credulous disciple
holds that God is wise, but Paracelsus

and With
describes
^'^

way

of

life

To

his

give place to

Who
^^s

his peculiar merits

And
And

suck

in

o'er that admiration, 380

That homage, chuckle

then dismiss the fool ; for night

I betake myself to study again,

is

come.

Till patient searchings after hidden lore

Half wring some bright truth from its prison

my

frame
Trembles, my forehead's veins swell out,

my

hair

Slow and sure the morn

Tingles for triumph.
Shall break on my pent room and dwindling lamp
And furnace dead, and scattered earths and ores
When, with a falling heart and throbbing brow,
1

my

captured truth, sum up

what ends to what begins.
present power with its eventual bearings,

must review

390

Its value, trace

Its

Latent

And
I

affinities,

its full

view

From

it

the views

it

opens.

length in perfecting

my

sternly circumscribed, cast

the high place

my

scheme.

down

fond hopes yielded

it.

Proved worthless which, in getting, yet had cost

Another wrench to this fast-falling frame.
Then, quick, the cup to quaff, that chases sorrow
I lapse

back into youth, and take again

400

evidence that God

Means good to me, will make my cause his own.
I have cast oflF this remorseless care
See
Which clogged a spirit born to soar so free,
And my dim chamber has become a tent,

My

fluttering pulse for

Festus

Why

is sitting

do you

by me, and

start

his

Mlchal

say, she listening here,

PARACELSUS

103

Wiirzburg through the orchardbough

Motions as though such ardent words should find
410
No echo in a maiden's quiet soul,
But her pure bosom heaves, her eyes fill fast

(For yonder
!

With tears,
Ha, ha

lips

tremble

It seems, then,

Festus.

No

her sweet

the while

all

you expect

to reap

unreal joy from this your present course,

But rather

Death

Paracelsus.

To

die

owe

that

much

To
To
To

I should be sad
what, at least, I was.
live contented after such a fall,
thrive and fatten after such reverse
!

The whole

My
I

To

is

a makeshift, but will last

time.

And

Festus.
'

plan

had

you have never mused and

and the strength

said,

a noble jmrpose,

421

have stopped half-way.

And wrongly given the first-fruits of my toil
To objects little worthy of the gift.
Why linger round them still ? why clench my
com])ass

fault

Why

it

but

seek for consolation

in defeat.

In vain endeavours to derive a beauty

I" rom ugliness ?
why seek to make the most

Of

what no ])Ower can change, nor

strive instead

With mighty effort to redeem the ])a8t

430
And, gathering up the treasures thus cast down,

To

hold a steadfast course

till

arrive

At their fit destination and my own

You have never pondered thus ?
Have
Paracelsus.

I,

you ask

Festus
hkvi him
g^^ j^g ^q

redeem
the past

PARACELSUS

I04

He Often at midnight, when most fancies come,

answers Would some such airy project visit me
*L,* But ever at the end ... or will you hear
The same thing in a tale, a parable ?
You and I, wandering over the world wide,
440
Chance to set foot upon a desert coast.
:

we cry, No human voice before

Broke the inveterate silence of these rocks
Their querulous echo startles us ; we turn

Just as

'

What

ravaged structure still looks o'er the sea ?

While we read.
Some characters remain, too
The sharp salt wind, impatient for the last
Of even this record, wistfully comes and goes.
!

Or

sings

This

is

what we recover, mocking

the record

and

my

it.

voice, the wind's.

\_He sings.

Over
With cleaving prows

the sea our galleys went,

To

wind and
armament

a speeding

gallant

in

450

order brave
a

bounding wave,

Each bark

built out of a forest-tree

Left leafy and rough as first it grew.
And nailed all over the gaping sides,
Within and without, with black bull-hides,
Seethed in fat and suppled in flame,

To

bear the playful billows' game

So, each good ship was rude to see,
Rude and bare to the outward view.
But each upbore a stately tent
Where cedar pales in scented row
:

flakes of the dancing brine.

an awning drooped the mast below,
In fold on fold of the purple fine.

Kept out the

And

460

PARACELSUS

105

His song

That neither noontide nor starshine

Nor moonlight cold which maketh mad,
Might pierce the regal tenement.
sun dawned, oh, gay and glad

When the

We

470

and plied the oar

But when the night-wind blew like breath.
For joy of one day's voyage more.
sang together on the wide sea.
Like men at peace on a peaceful shore
set the sail

We

Each sail was loosed to the wind

Each helm made sure by the

so free.

twilight

star,

And
We,

in a sleep as

Lay
In

calm

as death,

the voyagers from afar.

weary crew
wondrous tent
481

stretched along, each

round
gleamed

a circle

Whence

its

soft light

and curled rich

scent,

And
So

with light and jjerfume, music too

the stars wheeled round, and the dark:

ness past.

And
And

at

morn we

still

started beside the mast,

each ship was sailing

hist.

land appeared
a speck
trembling betwixt sea and sky
'
Avoid it,' cried our pilot, ' check
490
The shout, restrain the eager eye
liut the heaving sea was black behind

Now, one morn,

Dim

'

and many a day.

though but a rock, drew nigh ;
So, we broke the cedar pales away.
Let the purple awning (lap in the wind.
And a statue bright was on every deck

For many

And

a night

land,

PARACELSUS

io6

We

His song

man of us,

shouted, every

And

steered right into the harbour thus,

With pomp and

pasan glorious.

A hundred

shapes of lucid stone

500
All day we built its shrine for each,
shrine of rock for every one,
Nor paused till in the westering sun
sat together on the beach
!

We

To sing because our task was done.

When lo what shouts and merry songs
!

What

laughter

loaded

Of gentle
'

Our
'

raft

all

the distance stirs

islanders

isles are just at

Like

with happy throngs

hand,' they cried,

510

cloudlets faint in even sleeping

Our temple-gates are opened wide.

Our olive-groves thick shade are keeping

they
For these majestic forms
Oh, then we awoke with sudden
'

From

How

cried.
start

our deep dream, and knew, too

bare the rock,

how

late.

desolate.

Which had received our precious freight

Depart
Yet we called out
Our gifts, once given, must here abide. 520
Our work is done we have no heart
To mar our work,' we cried.

'

Festus.

In truth

Paracelsus.

Nay, wait

On rugged stones strewn

all this in

The

To

sad

their

mark what follows

rhyme of the men who proudly clung

In order once: then follows

'

tracings faint

here and there, but piled

first fault,

and withered

in their pride.'

PARACELSUS
Festus.

Come

back then, Aureole

God, come
come back
foul sin

fear

This

is

107

as

you

It is

fot irn^

Renounce the

^^^^j^

past,

Forswear the future look for joy no more, 530

But wait death's summons amid holy sights.
;

And

trust

me for the event peace, if not joy.

me to Einsiedeln, dear Aureole

Return with

No

Paracelsus.

way, no way

it

would not

turn to good.

spotless child sleeps

'Tis well for him

but

IZnvying such slumber,

on the flowering moss

when a sinful man,

may

desire to put

away, shall he return at once

To rest by lying there ? Our sires knew well
(Spite of the grave discoveries of their sons) 540
The fitting course for such dark cells, dim lamps,
stone floor one may writhe on like a worm

His

guilt

No

mossy pillow blue with

violets

I see no sym])tom of these absolute

You are calmer now.
tyrannous passions.
This verse-making can purge you well enough

Festus.

And

Without the

You

love

terrible ])enancc

me

still

you describe.

the lusts you fear will never

Outrage your friend.

Say but the word

To

Einsiedeln, once

more

Paracelsus.

They

crouch,

No, no those lusts forbid

know, cowering with half-shut
:

eye

55

Beside you

'tis

their nature.

Between them and

style

Or

their

jjrey

Thrust yourself
some fool
let

me

king or quack,

it

matters not

Your wisdom, urge them

then

try

to forego their treat

PARACELSUS

io8

Festus No, no learn better and look deeper, Festus

charges jf you knew how a devil sneers within me
^^^ile you are talking now of this, now that,
seeking
his own -^s though we differed scarcely save in trifles
Festus. Do wc so differ ? True, change must
glory, not
God's
proceed,
560
!

Whether

Do
To

for

good or

not confide

hope, and you

Listen

Festus.

To

Paracelsus.

ill

keep from me, which

I was born

secrets

all

trust

do

you know the fruits

what you call

believe,

trust

Was

self-delusion at the best

So long

for, see

God would

kindly pioneer
path for you, and screen you from the world,
as

Procure you

full

exemption from man's lot,

fears, on the mere

Man's common hopes and

Of

pretext
your engagement

A limitless

licence,

569

make you God,

were content
you
What

And

turn your slave

Most

courtly praises

in his service

yield

you

in fact,

is it,

But selfishness without example ?

Could trace God's will so plain

to say

at last,

None
as you, while

yours

Remained implied

And

we,

who

in

it

but

now you

fail.

prate about that will, are fools

In short, God's service is established here

he determines fit, and not your way,
579
And this you cannot brook. Such discontent

As

Renounce all
Is weak.
AflRrm an absolute right
Your energies as though
' We rush to the ocean
;
;

creatureship at once
to

have and use

the rivers should say

what have we

to

do

PARACELSUS
With

He

feeding streamlets, lingering in the vales,

Sleeping

That

109

Set up that plea,

lazy pools

in

'

[u

will be bold at least

God's

'Tis like enough,

are those, no doubt,

Paracelsus.

/ ^^

glory

is

one with
The serviceable spirits
ma.n s
The East produces lo, the master bids,
They wake, raise terraces and garden-grounds

In one night's space

and, this done, straight

begin

591

Another century's sleej), to the great praise

Of him that framed them wise and beautiful.
Till a lamp's rubbing, or some chance akin.
Wake them again. I am of different mould.
I would have soothed my lord, and slaved for him
And done him service past my narrow bond,

And

thus I get rewarded for

Beside,

'tis

God's glory otherwise

The

sphere of

Increase

We

it

pains

this

is

alone

increase, as far as

its

why, then, look beyond

are his glory

and

if

Is not the thing achieved

Festus.

my

vain to talk of forwarding

we be

600

men
this

sphere

glorious,

Shall one like

me

Judge hearts like yours ? Though years have

changed you much,
And you have left your first love, and retain
Its empty shade to veil your crooked ways.
Yet I still hold that you have honoured God.
And who shall call your course witliout reward ?
For, wherefore this repining at defeat
610
Had trium])h ne'er inured you to high hopes ?
I urge you to forsake the life you curse,
And what success attends me ? simply talk
Of passion, weakness and remorse in short,

PARACELSUS

no

He Anything but the naked truth you choose

invokes This so-despised career, and cheaply hold
Festus My happiness, or rather other men's,
'^

contempt

'

Once more,

return

Paracelsus.

Has

pilfered

And we
I

know

My

And quickly.
half my secrets by

depart by daybreak.

how

not

John the
this

am

time

thief

weary, 620

not even the wine-cup soothes

brain to-night

Do

you not thoroughly despise me, Festus ?

One like you needs not be told
No flattery
We live and breathe deceiving and deceived.
Do you not scorn me from your heart of hearts,
Me and my cant, each petty subterfuge.
My rhymes and all this frothy shower of words,
My glozing self-deceit, my outward crust 629
Of lies which wrap, as tetter, morphew, furfair
Wrapt the sound flesh ? so, see you flatter not!
!

my

Even God

flatters

Is true.

would depart, secure henceforth

further insult, hate and wrong

but

friend, at least.

Against all
From puny foes ; my one friend's scorn shall
brand me
No fear of sinking deeper
No, dear Aureole
Festus.
No, no ; I came to counsel faithfully.
:

There are old rules, made long ere we were

By which I judge you. I, so fallible,
So infinitely low beside your mighty

born.

even can
You own some higher law than ours which
Sin, what
no
weakness, what
Majestic spirit!
is

But

To

sin

640

see

is

call

strength.

have only these, such as they are.

me ; and I blame you where they bid,

guide

PARACELSUS

Festus
so long as blaming promises
the more, that jells
win peace for your soul
sorrow
MTchal's
Has fallen on me of late, and they have helped me death

Only

To
So

my

that I faint not under

But wherefore should

In spite of

Your

And
And

distress.

scruple to

avow

most inexplicable to me

fate is

650

as brother judging brother.

all,

should you perish without recompense

too hastily
satisfaction yet

have relied on love you may have sinned,

But you have loved. As a mere human matter
As I would have God deal with fragile men
I say that you will triumph yet
In the end
Paracelsus. Have you felt sorrow, Festus ?
I

'tis

659

because

Sorrow, and sweet Michal yours

Well thought on never let her know this last
these miscreants dared
Dull winding-up of all

You

love me.

Insult

me

me she loved

Festus.

Your

ill

so, grieve

success can

little

her not

grieve her

now.
Michal

Paracelsus.

do not craze
Festus.

me

pray Christ

wc

Aureole, dear Aureole, look not on

thus

Fool, fool

dead

is

this

is

the heart

grown sorrow-

proof
cannot bear those eyes.

Nay,

Paracelsus.

really

FcsiuSf 'Tis scarce a month.

Paracelsus.

have

Stone dead

laid her

Among the

flowers ere this.

dead

then you
669

Now, do you know,

PARACELSUS

112

Paracelsus

can reveal a secret which shall comfort

jVyg,-,

yoy^

pQ

J [^jjyg

mcn

julcp, 38

think,

cheat the grave ; but a far better secret.

a secret
for his Know, then, you did not ill to trust your love
comfort To the cold earth
I have thought much of it
^^

For

believe

we do

Festus. Aureole

not wholly die.

Nay, do not laugh

Paracelsus.

there

is

reason

For what

I say

I think, the soul

can never

you may see,

680
Very unfit to put so strange a thought
In an intelligible dress of words ;
But take it as my trust, she is not dead.
Festus. But not on this account alone ? you

Taste death.

am,

just

now,

as

surely,

Aureole, you have

Paracelsus.

And

believed this

Michal

sleeps

all

along

among

the

roots and dews.

While I am moved at Basil, and full of schemes

For Nuremberg, and hoping and despairing.

As

though

So

it

Have your
Troop you

And

it

mattered

how the farce plays out.

Away, away
while we fight the prize,

be quickly played.
will, rabble
in safety to

the snug back-seats

leave a clear arena for the brave

About

to perish for your sport

Behold

691

PART

PARACELSUS ATTAINS
Scene.

Sahburg
of

cell in the

St. Sebastian.

Hospital

54

Festus, Paracelsus
Festiis.

The

No

change

The weary

night

is

well-nigh spent,
lamp burns low,

Festus
^^^tch.s

and through the case- ^eathbed of

Grey morning glimmers feebly yet no change! Paracelsus
Another night, and still no sigh has stirred
That fallen discoloured mouth, no pang relit
Those fixed eyes, quenched by the decaying body,
ment-bars

I,

ike torch-flame

choked

in

dust.

While

all

beside

Was breaking, to the last they held out bright,

As a stronghold where life intrenched itself;

very blind and dead

But they are dead now
will drowse into death without a groan.

10

He

My
The

Aureole
my forgotten, ruinetl Aureole
How grand
days arc gone, are gone
!

thou wast

And now
down

not

one of those

who

struck

thee

PARACELSUS

114

concerns him even to stay

hoping Poor glorious spirit

for a And satisfy himself

word of
recognition

Q^^

his little

j,y j^^

hand

^^

jQ ^ jjyjj

'Tis much
Another night, and yet no change
That I should sit by him, and bathe his brow.
!

And chafe his hands

Know me, and look

'tis much
but he will sure
on me, and speak to me 21
His hollow cheek
Once more but only once
Looked all night long as though a creeping laugh
At his own state were just about to break
my brain swam, my
From the dying man
:

throat swelled.

And

yet I could not turn away.

They

told

me how, when

first

In truth.
brought here,

he seemed
Resolved to live, to lose no faculty
Thus striving to keep up his shattered strength,
;

Until they bore him to this

When

stifling cell

straight his features fell, an

30

hour made

white

The flushed
Only

face,

and relaxed the quivering limb.

the eye remained intense awhile

As though it
And then he

recognised the tomb-like place,

lay as here he

lies.

Ay,

Here

is

here

earth's noblest, nobly garlanded

Her bravest champion with his well-won prize

Her best achievement, her sublime amends
For

And
She

countless generations fleeting fast

followed by no trace
instances

when

angels

The

the creature-god 40

would dispute

title of her brood to rank with them.

Those bright forms
Angels, this is our angel
!

PARACELSUS

iiS

We clothe with purple, crown and call to thrones,

Are human,

Whom

but not his

other

men

those are but

men

press round and kneel before

Those palaces are dwelt in by mankind

Higher provision is for him you seek
Amid our pomps and glories see it here

^^>h
;

God

Thou art

love

Now,

I build

49

raise thee, clay!

my faith

on

that.

watch beside thy tortured child

Unconscious whose hot tears fall fast by him.
So doth thy right hand guide us through the
world

Even

as I

God

Wherein we stumble.

How

he sinned

has

what

How

shall

we

say

have done ?
thy praise, for
Surely he sought thy praise
He might be busied by the task so much
As half forget awhile its proper end.

Dost thou

well,

Lord

Thou

How

all

canst not but

60

prefer

That

should he

else

should range myself u])on his side

could he stop at every ste]) to set
I

glory forth ? Hadst tliou but granted him

Success, thy honour would have crowned success,
Or, say he erred,
halo round a star.

Thy

Save him, dear

God

it

will

like thee

be

bathe him
Thou art not made like us;
In light and life!
but thou
should be wroth in such a case
so, forgive these passionate thoughts
Forgivest

We

unsought and will not pass away! 70

who hast kept my path, and made
me in the darkness, tempering sorrow

Which come
I

know

thee,

Ligiit for

^^^ y^^^

Behold earth's paragon

He
d

PARACELSUS

ii6

Para- So that it reached me like a solemn joy

celsus It were too strange that I should doubt thy love,

^^^p? ^"

^^^

'^^^^^

How

^^

Thou madest him and knowest

he was fashioned.

That way

could never err

the quiet place beside thy feet,

Reserved for me, was ever in my thoughts

But he thou shouldst have favoured him as well!
:

Ah

he wakens

Aureole,

am

here

'tis

80

Festus

away all wishes save one wish

Let him but know me, only speak to me

I cast

He

mutters

Than

louder and louder

any other

with brain less laden, could collect

Dear Aureole, do but
he pours forth.
look!
Is it talking or singing, this he utters fast ?
Misery that he should fix me with his eye.
I,

What

Quick

talking to

some other

all

the while

If he would husband this wild vehemence

Which

frustrates

its

intent

heard, I

know

91
heard my name amid those rapid words.
Could I divert
Oh, he will know me yet
This current, lead it somehow gently back
His eye
Into the channels of the past
It must recognise me
Brighter than ever
I

I am Erasmus
That Paracelsus
:

The

here to pray

Padua send

questions for your learning to resolve.

are your students, noble master

class

leave

100

what business have you here

come to us once more
awaits you

This wretched

Our

am

use his skill for me.

schools of Paris and of

These

We

cell,

PARACELSUS
(O

agony! the utmost

;

else arrest his ear ?)

God

Stay, stay with

Festus.

To

I will

craze like him.

I shall

Better be mute and see what

Paracelsus.

me
I

shall send.
!

am come

here

Festus, you loved of old

you
Festus, you know, you must know
stay with

Festus

Paracelsus.

Aprile, then

Has he

Where 's
no

melodies

Get

to

for a cold

But

out his music well enough,

heard

With
With
They

will forgive

me

breast.

him

filled

full

he Loves

My

know

Ask him
if I shall

hand, see

if

Ajirilc

Love and Know

but that cold hand, like lead

Festus.

so cold

?
!

120

AJi, the curse, Ajirile, Aprile

Paracelsus.

We

my

too, I too shall

Festus, your Festus

Paracelsus.

Knows as
try

could not

hand on

magical music, as they freight a star

light, and have remitted all his sin.

Festus.

night

all

If they have

well enough!

not chanted softly

The

him
made

His
thoughts

can do

Touches him not how

I am commissioned ...

117

get so near

so very, very near

'Tis an old tale

Jove strikes the Titans down.
Not when they set about their mountain-piling
But when another rock would crown the work.
And Phaeton doubtless his first radiant plunge
:

Astonished mortals, though the gods were calm,

And Jove prepared his thunder all old tales
Festus. And what are these to you ?
Paracelsus.
Ay, fiends must laugh
So cruelly, so well most like I never
130
:

Could tread

a single pleasure underfoot,

^pj-iig

PARACELSUS

ii8

He But they were grinning by my side, were chuckling

triumphs 'Po see me toil and drop away by flakes
*" ^/.^
glad, most glad, that thus 1
I am "
Hell-spawn
!

own

ill-

^'.,

fail!

fame

^
One

Your cunning has o ershot

One month,
You should

its

ami.

year.

had served your turn

have curbed your spite awhile. But
perhaps, and

now,

Who

will believe 'twas you that held me back ?

Listen: there's shame and hissing and contempt,
And none but laughs who names me, none but spits
141
Measureless scorn upon me, me alone,
The quack, the cheat, the liar, all on me
And thus your famous plan to sink mankind
In silence and despair, by teaching them
One of their race had probed the inmost truth,
Had done all man could do, yet failed no less

Men

despair?

Your wise plan proves abortive.

Ha, ha why, they are hooting

the empiric.

The

who

ignorant and incapable fool

rushed

150
Madly upon a work beyond his wits
Nor doubt they but the simplest of themselves
;

to triumphant issue.
So, pick and choose among them all, accursed
Try now, persuade some other to slave for you,
To ruin body and soul to work your ends

Could bring the matter

No, no

am

Festus.

has done
ask that
?

first

friend,
.

and

who

last, I

think.

are accursed

who

What have

Paracelsus.

Brave men

the

Dear

done

Fiends dare

or you.

Oh, you can chime in boldly, backed

By the others What had you to do, sage peers ?

Here stand my rivals Latin, Arab, Jew, 161
!

PARACELSUS

119

and

all I ask.
dead hands against me
world enrol my name with theirs,
^1
V
-I
even this poor privilege,
it seems,

Greek,

join

exults

Is, that the

A J
And

over his

rivals of

They

range themselves, prepared to disallow.

Only observe! why, fiends may learn from them

How

they talk calmly of

my

throes,

my

old time
!

fierce

Aspirings, terrible watchings, each one claiming

Its price

And
Got

of blood and brain

how

they dissect

sneeringly disparage the few truths

170

About my

they too hanging the while

neck, their lies misleading me

And

dead names browbeating

at a life's cost

their

me

Grey

crew.

Yet steeped

in fresh

malevolence from

Is there a reason for your hate

Have shaken

all

hell,

truths

palm about each prince

a little the

Just think, Aprile,

My

these leering dotards

Were bent on nothing less than to be crowned

As wc That yellow blear-eyed wretch in chief
To whom the rest cringe low with feigned respect,
!

Galen

Pergamos and

181
nay 8]x?ak
met there face to face
I said the crown should fall from thee.
Once more
meet as in that ghastly vestibule
Look to my brow Have 1 redeemed my pledge ?

The

ot

tale,

old

man

hell

We

We

Feslus.

Peace, peace

Oh

ah, see

Oh,

Paracelsus.

emjjtiness of

fame

Persic Zoroaster, lord of stars!

Who

said these old renowns, dead long ago.

Could make me overlook the living world
To gaze through gloom at where they stood,

indeed,

190

But stand no longer ?

What a warm light life
After the shade
In truth, my delicate witch,
!

PARACELSUS

I20

He My serpent-queen, you did but well to hide

The juggles I had else detected. Fire

regrets

^^^^ """ harmless o'er a breast like yours!

cave was not so darkened by the smoke
But that your white limbs dazzled me oh, white,
And panting as they twinkled, wildly dancing

/human ^^y
love The

cared not for your passionate gestures then,

I have forgotten the charm of charms.

But now

I came to seek, 201

While I remember that quaint dance and thus
I am come back, not for those mummeries,

The foolish knowledge which

to love you, and to kiss your

Soft as an ermine's winter coat

But

little feet

A light

Festus.

Will struggle through these thronging words

at

last.

As

in the

angry and tumultuous West

A soft star trembles through the drifting clouds.

These are the strivings of a spirit which hates
So sad a vault should coop it, and calls up 210

The past
Were he

to stand

between

at liinsiedeln

Paracelsus. Cruel

I clasp

I shriek

her vesture

and its fate.

Michal here

it

or

seek her

now

but she fades,

still

kneel

fades

sweet human love is gone

'Tis only when they spring to heaven that angels
Reveal themselves to you they sit all day

And

she

is

gone

Beside you, and

Who
And

We
I

lie

down

at

are so fooled, so cheated

am

night by you

care not for their presence, muse or sleep,

all at once they leave you, and you know
220
them
!

Why,

not too secure against foul play

even

now

PARACELSUS
The shadows deepen and
No doubt some treachery
TTTi
Where
Tis very dusk.
.rr-..

121

the walls contract

is

00
we

and clings

going on.

are

put,

.,

Aprile

j^i,:?"
in
nis

5
r

dreams

This murky

Have

they left us in the lurch ?

loathsome
Death-trap, this slaughter-house,

is

not the hall

Keep by me, Aprile

In the golden city
There is a hand groping amid the blackness
!

To

Have the spider fingers got you.

If once 230
Hold on me for your life
Hold
They pull you
catch us.

Poet?

no more
'Tis but a dream
have you still ; the sun comes out again ;
Let us be happy all will yet go well

Let

us confer

That

The

spite

But

is it

not like, Aprile,

of trouble, this ordeal

value of

Just as

my

])assed.

labours ascertained,

some stream foams long among the rocks

after glideth glassy to the sea,

240
full content shall henceforth be my lot
What think you, poet? Louder! Your clear voice

80,

Do you ask
remain on earth, should God

Vibrates too like a harp-string.

How

could

I still

Grant me the great approval which I seek ?

I, you, and God can comprehend each other,
But men would murmur, and with cause enough
For when they saw me, stainless of all sin.
Preserved and sanctified by inward

They would complain

light.

that comfort, shut

from

them,
I drank thus unc8pied ;
that they live on,
250
Nor taste the quiet of a constant joy,
For ache and care and doulit and weariness.
While 1 am calm help being vouchsafed to mc,
;

PARACELSUS

122

'Twere

feels

And

hid from them.

the need
of a hfe

You

reason well, Aprile ; but at least

jg ^j^jg ^QQ ^y^i^
^^^ j^j^^^ ^l^jg^ .^^^ jjg

He

j^^j.

best consider that!

will learn this, if

If thou shalt

God

and die

so please,

God,

please, dear

if

>

thou shalt

please

We

are so weak,

we know

our motives least

If at
In their confused beginning.
I sought ... but wherefore bare

260

first

my

heart to

thee?
thy mercy ; and already thoughts
Flock fast about my soul to comfort it.
And intimate I cannot wholly fail,
I

know

For

love and praise

Could

And
I

would

clasp

resolve to seek them.

me willingly
Thou art good,

yet first show

should be content. Yet
Rather give
in daring

have done wrong

The supernatural consciousness of strength

Which fed my youth Only one hour of that 270
With thee to help O what should bar me then?
!

Thus

Lost, lost!

God's

things are ordered here!

creatures.

And

none, none
yet he takes no pride in us
Truly there needs another life to come
(I must tell Festus that)
If this be all
!

And
I

say

other
'tis

await us not

life

A wretched failure.
Against

it,

for one,

poor cheat, a stupid bungle,

and

I hurl

I, for
it

one, protest

back with scorn.

279

Small time remains,

Well, onward though alone
And much to do I must have fruit, must reap
!

PARACELSUS
Some

profit

from

my

Will hardly serve

toils.

me

through

123

doubt my body as his

while I have
;
f jj Jj^-j^j

laboured
It has

decayed

and now that I demand

it will crumble fast

Its best assistance,

sad thought, a sad fate

How

very

full

Of wormwood 'tis, that just at altar-service.

The rapt hymn rising with the rolling smoke,
When glory dawns and all is at the best.
The sacred fire may flicker and grow faint 290
And die for want of a wood-piler's help!
fades the flagging body, and the soul
down in the overthrow. Well, well

Thus

Is pulled

them

Let men catch every word,

let

Of what

may

They

say

something

are ruins

lose

me who am

Trust

nought

yet be done.

one of

you!

All ruins, glorious once, but lonely now.

It makes my lieart sick to behold you crouch
the arches dim, 299
Beside your desolate fane
:

crumbling columns grand against the moon,

Could I but rear them up once more but that
May never be, so leave them Trust me, friends.
Why should you linger here when I have built
far resplendent tcni])Ic, all your own ?

The

Sec, Ajjrile,
Trust me, they are but ruins
Yet were I not jjrepared
Men will not heed
With better refuge for them, tongue of mine
!

Should ne'er reveal how blank their dwelling

I would sit down in silence with the rest.

is:

Ha, what ? you sj)it at me, you grin and shriek 310
Contempt into my car my ear which drank

PARACELSUS

124

He

Why,
you curse me ?
men, men,
Those hideous eyes
^ '"" ^^^ formed for it ?
of men
Will be before me sleeping, waking, praying,
They will not let me even die. Spare, spare me.
de-

God's accents once

precates

Sinning or no, forget that, only spare me

horrible scorn
You thought I could sup-

The

port

it.

But now you

what

see

silly fragile

creature

Cowers thus. I am not good nor bad enough.

Not Christ nor Cain, yet even Cain was saved 320
From Hate like this. Let me but totter back!
Perhaps I shall elude those jeers which creep

my very brain, and shut these scorched

Eyelids and keep those mocking faces out.

Into

Listen, Aprile

Be

am very calm

no passion here
Where the blood leaps like an imprisoned thing
I will exterminate the race
I am calm
Enough of that 'tis said and it shall be.
And now be merry safe and sound am I 330
Who broke through their best ranks to get at you.
And such a havoc, such a rout, Aprile
Festus. Have you no thought, no memory for
not deceived, there

is

me.
Aureole ? I am so wretched
my pure Michal
Is gone, and you alone are left me now.
And even you forget me. Take my hand
Lean on me thus.
Do you not know me.
Aureole ?
Paracelsus. Festus, my own friend, you are

come

As

you

at last

say,

'tis

an awful enterprise

PARACELSUS
But you believe
c
for

Flames

go through with it
340 He
Thank him fives the
thank you.
fight
up
'^
*

I shall

'Tis like you, and

me,

Dear Michal

See how bright

in the sunset

all its

Gay in the glancing light:

own

their

for

white-haired Jews
where redemption

land

dawns.
Festus.

Not

that blest time

Ha stay

done

since,

And

he

come

How

calm,

is

how

not our youth's

to judge

well

true, I forget

me.

yes,

it is

How

all is

he speaks.

true, all true; 350

myself can laugh

deceit
but still
you desire
obstacles which taught me tricks
my nature envy and hate,

All quackery

all

The first at it,

You know the
So

God

time, dear

Paracelsus.

St. Saviour's spire

figures quaint

you might conceive them

A troop of yellow-vested,
Bound

125

foreign to

if

Blind opposition, brutal prejudice.

To

what wonder if I sunk

humour men the way they most a])proved

My

cheats were never palmed on such as you.

Bald ignorance

I will kneel if you require me.

3O0
Impart the meagre knowledge 1 jjossess,
Explain its bounded nature, and avow
My insufficiency whate'er you will
let there be an end,
I give the fight up
privacy, an obscure nook for me.
I want to be forgotten even by God.
But if that cannot be, dear F'estus, lay mc.
When I shall die, within some narrow grave,
Not by itself for that would be too proud
let it look
But where such graves are thickest

Dear Festus

PARACELSUS

126

and asks Nowise distinguished from the hillocks round,

to be 3o that the peasant at his brother's bed

370

my own

and know it not ;

be equal at the last,
death Or classed according to life's natural ranks,
Fathers, sons, brothers, friends
not rich, nor

"th"

in his

upon

^'-^y tread

And we

shall all

wise,

Nor

gifted

Too much
They

lay

me

thus, then say,

advanced before

kept him

still

in front

But yet a dangerous

'

He

his brother
:

station.

lived

men

'twas for their good

It

were strange

That he should tell God he had never ranked 380

With men so, here at least he is a man.'
Festus. That God shall take thee to his breast,
:

dear

Unto

spirit.

and here on earth

upon thy name for ever.
Sun all the heaven is glad for thee what care
If lower mountains light their snowy phares
At thine effulgence, yet acknowledge not
The source of day ? Their theft shall be their bale
For after-ages shall retrack thy beams,
his breast, be sure

Shall splendour

sit

And put aside the crowd of busy ones

And worship thee alone the master-mind.
The thinker, the explorer, the creator

390

Then, who should sneer a:t the convulsive throes

With which thy deeds were born, would scorn
as well

The

sheet of winding subterraneous

Which,

fire

pent and writhing, sends no less at last

Huge

islands up amid the simmering sea.

thou hast infused
Behold thy might in me
Thy soul in mine and I am grand as thou,
Seeing I comprehend thee
I so simple,
400
!

PARACELSUS
Thou

127

He

I recognise thee first

so august.

saw thee rise, I watched thee early and late, ^j.']^^JJ?g

And though no glance reveal thou dost accept delirium
My homage thus no less I proffer it,
I

And

bid thee enter gloriously thy rest.

Festus

Paracelsus.
Festus.
I

am upon

his side,

His portion

am

shall be

for noble Aureole,

He

mine.

God

or woe.

come weal

has done well.

been strong enough.

As he has sinned. Reward him or I waive 410
If thou canst find no place for him.
Reward
I

would have sinned, had

He
His

be king elsewhere, and

shall

There

slave for ever.

Dear Festus

Paracelsus.

ever by you

sjjeak on, or

Speak on
story, anything

shall

us.

dream

Festus.

the

Mayne

Where my Love

dream

only your

Speak on

else.

Thus

again.

voice.

ay, leaning so

abideth.
:

Meandering and musical.

the niggard pasturage

Bears not on

Aught

but

its

shaven ledge

weeds and waving grasses

To

view the river as it ])asses.

Save here and there a scanty patch

Of

primroses too

weary

bee.

glideth

it jjroceeds
Sleep 's no softer
On through lawns, on through meads,
On and on, whate'er befall,

Though

Nay,

Paracelsus.

will be

two of

Here, dear Aureole

Festus.

Some

are

faint to

catch

420

PARACELSUS

128

Festus
speaks
soothing

Paracelsus.

More, more

And

Festus.
Its gentle

words

say on

scarce

way through

it

430

pushes

strangling rushes

Where

the glossy kingfisher

Flutters when noon-heats are near,

Glad

the shelving banks to shun,

Red and

Where

steaming

in

the sun.

the shrew-mouse with pale throat

Burrows, and the speckled stoat

the quick sandpipers flit
In and out the marl and grit
That seems to breed them, brown
Nought disturbs its quiet way.

Where

440
as

they

Save some lazy stork that springs.

Trailing it with legs and wings,
the shy fox from the hill
Rouses, creep he ne'er so still.
they loose my heart,
heart
Paracelsus.

Whom

My

those simple words

darkness passes, which nought else could touch

Like some dark snake that force may not expel,

Its

Which glideth out to music sweet and low. 450

What were you doing when your voice broke
through

A chaos of ugly
Are you

images

alone here

cell

You, indeed

All alone

Festus.

This

?
:

you know

me

An

unexceptionable vault
the bats kept out, the rats
Kept in a snug nook how should I mistake it ?
Festus. But wherefore am I here ?
Paracelsus.

Good

brick and stone

:

Paracelsus.

Why,

for a purpose

Ah,

well

remembered

for a purpose, Festus

PARACELSUS
me

'Tis like

here I

trilie

129

while time

this occasion, lost, will ne'er return.

You

are here to be instructed.

God's message

460 celsus
describes

I will tell

much

but I have so

Para-

fleets,

And

to say,

tions

All is confused
doubt ; but doubtless you will learn in time.
would not else have brought you here no
doubt

I fear to leave half out.

No
He

I shall see clearer soon.

me

Tell

Festus.

You

are not in despair

Paracelsus.
Festus. Alas, alas

Paracelsus.

What

but this

I ? and for what ?

he knows not, as I feared
is it you would ask me with

that earnest

Dear searching

face

How

Festus.

feel

you, Aureole

Well.

'Tis a strange thing:

And now

how

was calm then, wlio

the thick of

j)artner

With

And

its

am

of

its

career.

470

dying, Festus,

life

subsides,

great the wliirl has been.

first

in

that fast the storm of

jxrrceive

Calm

Well

Paracelsus.

an) so

tiie

dizzy

now

tcmj)cst, but

no

less

motion and mixed up

The

hurricane

is

spent,

the good boat 8|)ccd8 through the brightciiing weatiier

But

The

earth or sea that heaves below ?

479
gulf rolls like a meadow-swell, o'crstrewn

is it

With ravaged l)oughs and remnants of the shore;

And now some islet, loosened from tie land.
Swims past with all its trees, sailing to ocean
And now the air is full of uptorn canes,
;

Light Htrippings from the fan-trees, tamarisks

I

PARACELSUS

I30

at the Unrooted, with their birds still clinging to them,

approach All high in the wind.
Even so my varied life
of death ]j,.|fts by me
I am young, old, happy, sad,
Hoping, desponding, acting, taking rest.
And all at once that is, those past conditions
If I select
491
Float back at once on me.
Some special epoch from the crowd, 'tis but
To will, and straight the rest dissolve away.
;

And
With

only that particular state is present

all its long-forgotten circumstance

Distinct and vivid as at

first

myself

careless looker-on and nothing

more,

Indifferent and amused, but nothing more.

And

this is

Be

understand it all.
new perceptions must 500
I plunge therein
Death's affair and while I speak.

death

New

being waits me
born in me before

Which

last is

Minute by minute he is
With power and while
;

old

filling

me

my foot is on

the thresh-

Of boundless life the doors unopened

All preparations not complete within
I turn new knowledge upon old events.
but I must not
And the effect is
.

It is not lawful.

One

Your own

Wait, Festus

day.

Festus. 'Tis of that past

Paracelsus.

now
In truth,

Where'er

life

You wonder

tell

come

509

will die like

me.

turn will

You

yet,

that I burn to hear.

it

engages

me

just

wonder

too.

What

's life

to

me

where'er I listen
Music, and where I tend bliss evermore.
Yet how can I refrain ? 'Tis a refined
one last view.
Delight to view those chances,
I

look

is fire,

PARACELSUS
I

am
Ml

otill,

It

IS

r,
like,

r
some further
cause exists
mood some hidden purpose
you something of it, Festus ?

Did

had

not

tell

but

fast,

it

Away

message

this peculiar

it

has

somehow

slipt

from me it will return anon.

Festus. (Indeed his cheek seems young again,
;

his voice

Complete with its old tones that little laugh

Concluding every phrase, with upturned eye,
As though one stooped above his head to whom
He looked for coniirmation and approval, 530
Where was it gone so long, so well ])reserved ?
Then, the fore-finger pointing as he speaks,
I^ike one who traces in an open book
:

The

matter he declares ;
Since I remarked it last

But now

wreck

a ghastly

many

'tis

and

a year

him.

this in

And

can

it

be.

Dear Aureole, you have then found out at

That worldly things are utter vanity ?
That man is made for weakness, and should
In patient ignorance,
Paracelsus.
that

How

is

it

could

thus!

know

till

fail

appoint

to aj)prchend

But no more
all

God

Ha, the purpose:

my

last

If strength suffice.

trilling:

Hardly

befits

will arise.

last

wait
540

the true purpose

You

see

iicrc,

all,

mission shall be done

No

trifling!

Stay;

posture

is

must play with them and turn them over, reminded

^
feel how fully they are past and gone.
sao
'
I

For
1

He

so near the perils I escape,

That

To

131

one thus about to speak

this

PARACELSUS

132

and
prepares

Nay, Aureole,

Fes/us.

You

to deliver

are

you wild

cannot leave your couch,

No

p^^^^^/,,.

So

Not even your hand.

more

help

no help

there, I stand once

Speak from a couch

My

gown

The

I never lectured thus. 550

the scarlet lined with fur

chain about

my

neck

my

now

put

signet-ring

upon my hand, I think-^-even so

good sword ah, trusty Azoth, leapest
Beneath thy master's grasp for the last time ?
This couch shall be my throne I bid these walls
Be consecrate, this wretched cell become
Is

still

Last,

my

God

shrine, for here

speaks to

men through

me.

Now,

am ready to begin.
am dumb with wonder.

Festus, I

Festus.

Paracelsus.

There

Listen, therefore, Festus! 560

none to spare.
must content myself with telling only
The most important points. You doubtless feel
That I am happy, Festus ; very happy.
Festus. 'Tis no delusion which uplifts him
will be time enough, but

thus!

Then you

are pardoned. Aureole,

Ay, pardoned:

Paracelsus.

bound

is

and you

to seek,

have to

God's

Have

Paracelsus.

We

your

sin

'Tis God's praise

Festus.

That man

all

yet why pardoned?

lived

live alone to set forth well

praise.

'Tis true,

sinned much, as I

thought,

570

And in effect need mercy, for I

To do that very thing but, do
;

strove

your best

PARACELSUS

I33

Or

He

lays

worst, praise rises, and will rise for ever.

Pardon from him, because of praise denied

his case

Who calls me to himself to

He might laugh as I laugh

Festus

exalt himself?
!

But

Festus.

all

comes

'Tis fruitless for mankind

fret themselves with what concerns them

To
To

the same thing.

not;

they should lie down

are no use that way
Content as God has made them, nor go mad 580
In thriveless cares to better what is ill.
Paracelsus. No, no ; mistake me not ; let me

They

not

work
than I have worked

More harm

This

is

my

case:

If

No

go joyous back

God,

to

yet bring

up my soul
was ordained to bear,

offering, if I render

Without the

fruits

it

appear the better to love God

For sin, as one who has no claim on him,
It may be surely thus
Be not deceived
With me, while higher prizes still await
The mortal |)ersevering to the end.
If

590

Beside I am not all so valueless

I have been something, though too soon I left
Following the instincts of that hap])y time.
i'or God's sake,
Festus. What happy time ?
:

for

What

man's sake.

time was hapi)y

That answer

When

Paracelsus.
self to

Festus.

will decide.

man

All

hope to know

What happy

but the time

time

Great God, thy judgments arc

scrutable

vowed myin-

PARACELSUS

134

He

Paracelsus. Yes,

started in

for

was

it

in

me

was born
600

it

was mine by right.

^f other
men Doubtless a searching and impetuous soul
Might learn from its own motions that some task
Like this awaited it about the world
Might seek somewhere in this blank life of ours
^'

Paracelsus:

it

For fit delights to stay its longings vast

And, grappling Nature, so prevail on her

To

fill

the creature

Hungry

for joy

she dared thus frame

full

and, bravely tyrannous,

Grow in demand, still craving more and more, 610

And make each joy conceded prove a pledge
Of other joy to follow bating nought
Of its desires, still seizing fresh pretence

To

turn the knowledge and the rapture

As

an extreme,

last

new covetings.
doubtless
new triumphs

Into occasion for

New

strifes,

wrung

boon, from destiny,

a strong

soul.

Alone, unaided might

attain to this,

So glorious is our nature, so august

620
Man's inborn uninstructed impulses,
His naked spirit so majestical
But this was born in me I was made so
Thus much time saved the feverish appetites,
;

The

tumult of unproved desire, the unaimed

Uncertain yearnings, aspirations blind.
Distrust, mistake, and all that ends in tears
Were saved me ; thus I entered on my course.

You may be sure I was not all exempt

From human trouble just so much of doubt
630
As bade me plant a surer foot upon
The sun-road, kept my eye unruined 'mid
;

PARACELSUS
The

and flashing splendour,

so much as warned me

fierce

Trembling

On

sufferance

Light on

To
I

stand

knew,

first

where

all

felt,

nature

save for that doubt,

And change in the

Of the body, even)
In

infinite

Proceeds

With

still

what we

are,

tastes an infinite joy

all

in

is,

640

every pore

in

everlasting bliss.

whom

Includes

nay,

what God
how God
ways one

life is

From whom
Yet

spirit,

being emanates,

whom

is life

existence in

its

all

power

for evermore.

lowest form

where dwells enjoyment there

a flying point

of

bliss

is

he

remote,

happiness in store afar, a sphere

glory in full view ; thus climbs

650

Of distant
Pleasure

The
And
The

its

heights for ever and for ever.

centre-fire heaves underneath the earth.

the earth changes like a human face ;

molten ore bursts up among the rocks,
Winds into the stone's heart, outbranches bright

In hidden mines, spots barren river-beds.

into fine sand where sunbeams bask

Crumbles

God

joys therein.

The wroth

sea's

waves are

edged

With foam, white as the bitten li]) of hate,

When, in the solitary waste, strange groujjs
Of young volcanos come up, cyclops-like,
Staring together with

God

tiicir

eyes on flame

tastes a pleasure in their

uncouth

God

hfe

was mine.

(perception unexpressed,

Uncomprehended by our narrow thought.

But somehow felt and known in every shift

What

of

and of

aspire at last

the secret of the world

my heart knowing
stood there ^''"^^"

set

not to idly gaze, but cast

a darkling race

stood at

13S

])ridc.

660

PARACELSUS

136

Creation
is

con-

summa

Then

all is still
earth is a wintry clod
spring-wind, like a dancing psaltress, passes
q^,^^ j^g breast to waken it, rare verdure
:

}'ju(.

upon rough banks, between

withered tree-roots and the cracks of frost,
Like a smile striving with a wrinkled face ; 670
The grass grows bright, the boughs are swoln

faculties l^uds tenderly

of

man The

with blooms

Like chrysalids impatient

The

for the air.

shining dorrs are busy, beetles run

Along the furrows, ants make their ado

Above, birds fly in merry flocks, the lark
Soars up and up, shivering for very joy
white fishing-gulls
;
is purple with its tribe
Of nested limpets ; savage creatures seek
679
Their loves in wood and plain and God renews
His ancient rapture. Thus he dwells in all,
From life's minute beginnings, up at last
To man the consummation of this scheme
Of being, the completion of this sphere

Afar the ocean sleeps

Flit where the strand

Of life

whose attributes had here and there

Been scattered o'er the visible world before.
Asking to be combined, dim fragments meant
To be united in some wondrous whole,
:

Imperfect qualities throughout creation,

Suggesting some one creature yet to make,

Some

point where

meet
Convergent

Power

in

all tliose

690

scattered rays should

the faculties of man.

neither put forth blindly, nor controlled

Calmly by perfect knowledge to be used

risk, inspired or checked by hope and fear
;

At

Knowledge

not intuition, but the slow

PARACELSUS

I37

and
Uncertain fruit of an enhancing toil,
Strengthened by love
love
not serenely pure, receives
from him
1-1
n .
^
r
u
i>ut strong rrom weakness, hke a chance-sown

plant

Which,

cast

on stubborn

soil,

illuminaputs forth changed tion

buds

And

700

softer stains,

unknown

in happier climes

Love which endures and doubts and is oppressed

And cherished, suffering much and much
sustained,

And

blind, oft-failing, yet believing love,

half-enlightened, often-chequered trust

Hints and previsions of which faculties,

Arc strewn confusedly everywhere about
The inferior natures, and all lead up higher.
All shape out dimly the superior race.
The heir of hopes too fair to turn out false, 710

And man

appears

So

at last.

far the seal

one stage of being complete,

scheme wound uj) and from the grand

Is put

One

on

life

rcFult

supplementary reflux of

light.

Illustrates all the inferior grades, explains

i'lach
l'"or

back step

in

the circle.

their possessor

dawn

Not alone

those qualities,

But the new glory mixes with the heaven

man, once descried, imprints for
earth

And

ever

His presence on

all lifeless

things: the winds 720

Are

henceforth voices, wailing or a shout,

querulous mutter or a quick gay laugh,
Never a senseless gust now man is born.

The

herded
thoughts,

pines

commune and have deep

PARACELSUS

138

yet man
not yet

is

secret they assemble to discuss

When

completed

the sun drops behind their trunks

which

^j,^^^

Like

grates of hell

Of the

lake-lily

is

the peerless cup afloat

an urn, some

nymph

no bird
bearing high above her head
Whistles unseen, but through the gaps above 730

Swims

let light in upon the gloomy woods,

shape peeps from the breezy forest-top,

That

with small puckered mouth and mocking

Arch

eye.

The morn

has enterprise, deep quiet droops

evening, triumph takes the sunset hour,
Voluptuous transport ripens with the corn

With

Beneath a warm moon like a happy face

this to fill us with regard for man.

And
With

apprehension of his passing worth.

his proper nature out,
And ascertain his rank and final place,
For these things tend still upward, progress

Desire to work

The
Nor

law of
shall I

man
deem his

life,

is

not

Man

740

is

as yet.

object served, his end

Attained, his genuine strength put fairly forth,

While only here and

there a star dispels

darkness, here and there a towering mind

when the host
O'erlooks its prostrate fellows

The

Is out at once to the despair of night.

When

all

Equal

in

mankind

alike

perfected,

is

full-blown powers

I say, begins

then, not

till

750
then,

man's general infancy.

For wherefore make account of feverish starts

Of restless members of a dormant whole,
Impatient nerves which quiver while the body
Slumbers

as in a grave

Oh

long ago

PARACELSUS

139

The brow was twitched, the tremulous lids astir, With

half-uttered his cornThe peaceful mouth disturbed
;

speech

geglns
a new
breath drawn sharp, the strong right-hand tendency
760 to God
clenched stronger,

Ruffled the

The

lip,

and then the teeth were

As it would pluck, a lion by the jaw

The glorious creature laughed out even
But when

up and stand on
his

shall

his

own

earth,

triumphant march begin,

thus wholly
being date,

shall his long

Thence

strung, the great heart pulsing fast.

shall start

Then

in sleep

roused, each giant-limb awake,

full

Each sinew

He

set,

roused,

What

he achieves shall be

When all the

As man, that

race
is

is

all

down

set

to him.

perfected alike

tended to mankind,

770

And, man produced, all has its end thus far

But in completed man begins anew
A tendency to God. Prognostics told
Man's near approach so in man's self arise

August anticipations, symbols, types

Of a dim splendour ever on before
In that eternal circle

For men begin

And

find

life

pursues.

to pass their nature's bound,

new hopes and

cares

which

fast

supplant

Their proper joys and

griefs

they grow too

780

great

For narrow creeds of

right

and wrong, which

fade

Before the unmeasured

peace

thirst

for

good

Rises within them ever more and more.

while

PARACELSUS

I40

He Such men are even now upon the earth,

describes Serene amid the half-formed creatures round
should be saved by them and joined with
taskand

how

^^^

them.

it

was Such was my

and I was born to it

now, from much that chains
Spirits, high-dowered but limited and vexed
790
By a divided and delusive aim,

marred Free,

task,

as I said but

shadow mocking

a reality

Whose truth avails not wholly to disperse

The flitting mimic called up by itself.

And
By

so remains perplexed and nigh put out

wavering gleam.
was never cheated thus
I never fashioned out a fancied good
a service to be done,
Distinct from man's
I,

its

fantastic fellow's

from the

first,

A glory to

be ministered unto

With powers

put forth at man's expense, with800

drawn

From

labouring in his behalf; a strength

Denied that might avail him. 1 cared not

Lest his success ran counter to success

for God is glorified in man.
Elsewhere
And to man's glory vowed I soul and limb.
Yet, constituted thus, and thus endowed,
I failed
I gazed on power till I grew blind.
Power I could not take my eyes from that
:

That

only,

thought, should

be

preserved,

increased

At any risk, displayed,

The sign and note and
saw no use

struck out at once

character of man.

in

the past

Of degradation,

ugliness

The

only a scene

and

tears,

record of disgraces best forgotten,

810

PARACELSUS

page

sullen

in

human

141

by his
insistence

chronicles

saw no cause why man

Should not stand all-sufficient even now,
Fit to erase.

Or why

at'the^^'^
qq^^ of

his annals should be forced to tell

That once

Upon

the tide of

lij^ht,

Love

about to break

the world, was sealed within

its

spring: 820

would have had one day, one moment's space,

Change man's

condition, push each slumbering

claim

Of mastery

o'er the elemental world

once to full maturity, then roll
Oblivion o'er the work, and hide from man
What night had ushered morn. Not so, dear

At

child

Of after-days,

wilt thou reject the past

Big with deep warnings of the proper tenure

By which thou hast the earth for thee the
:

present

829
Shall have distinct and trembling beauty, seen

Beside that past's

own shade when,

Its brightness shall stand

in relief.

out: nor yet on thcc

Shall burst the future, as successive zones

Of several wonder

open on some spirit

Flying secure and glad from heaven to heaven
But thou shalt painfully attain to joy,
While hope and fear and love shall keep thee
:

man
as one by one
All this was hid from me
My dreams grew dim, my wide aims circum:

scriljed.

As

actual

While

To

good within

my

reach decreased,

obstacles sprung up this

way and

that

keep mc from effecting half the sum.

Small as it proved ; as objects, mean within

840

PARACELSUS

142

How he The

primal aggregate, seemed, even the least,

learned Itself a match for my concentred strength
the worth "What wonder if I saw no way to shun
*^ ^^^
sought for man,
I

The power
?
seemed God's.

Despair
In

this conjuncture, as I

strange adventure

Had
I

And

die,

my career from its uprise

Aprile
my Aprile there

spotted

saw

prayed to

made me know, one

sin

850

wretch disburthened
and moaned his weakness in my ear,
love's undoing
I learned my own deep error
Taught me the worth of love in man's estate.
And what proportion love should hold with

His

as the poor melodious

heart,

power
In his right constitution ; love preceding
Power, and with much power, always

much

more love

Love

And
I

still

too straitened in his present means.

new power to set love free. 860

earnest for

learned

this,

learned

and supposed the whole was

stupid wonder
would have worshipped me.
despised and loathed their proffered

And thus, when men received with

My
And

first

revealings,

praise

When,
For

with awakened eyes, they took revenge

past credulity in casting

shame

knowledge, and I hated them

It was not strange I saw no good in man,
To overbalance all the wear and waste
870
Of faculties, displayed in vain, but born
To prosper in some better sphere and why ?
In my own heart love had not been made wise

On my

real

PARACELSUS

i43

To trace love's faint beginnings in mankind,

To know even hate is but a mask of love's,
To see a good in evil, and a hope
In ill-success

Of their

to sympathise, be

but not
love itself,
failed

proud

half-reasons, faint aspirings,

dim

Struggles for truth, their poorest fallacies,

Their prejudice and fears and cares and doubts

880
All with a touch of nobleness, despite
Their error, upward tending all though weak,

Like plants in mines which never saw the sun,

But dream of him, and guess where he may be,
And do their best to climb and get to him.
Let men
All this I knew not, and I failed.
Regard me, and the poet dead long ago
Who loved too rashly and shape forth a third
And better-tempered spirit, warned by both
;

As

star too

from the over-radiant

To

drink

the

life-springs,

mad

beamless

thence
890

itself

And

the dark orb which borders the abyss,

might have its course
Ingulfed in icy night,

A temperate and

equidistant world.

have done well, though not all well.

witiiout contempt
'Tis for their good, and therefore fit awhile
That they reject the weak, and scorn the false,
Rather than jiraise the strong and true, in me
If I stooj)
But after, they will know me.
900
Into a dark tremendous sea of cloud,

Meanwhile,

As

yet

men cannot do

It is

but for a time

Close to

Will

my

pierce

breast

press

God's

lamj)

si)lendour, soon or late,

its

the gloom

shall

emerge one

day.

You

understand

me

have said enough

PARACELSUS

144

He

dies

in

hope

Now

Festus.

die,

This hand,
Aprile

Festus.

lie in

Hand

And

dear Aureole
Festus,

Paracelsus.

my

let

hand

your own, my own true friend

in hand with you, Aprile
!

this

was Paracelsus

THE END

NOTE
The

liberties

trifling

between
pleaset,

leaves of

the

my

have taken with

and the reader

may

slip

To

join a popular account, translatdl

Paris, 1822,

which

my

purpose.

also

very

appeml

prove

this, 1 sub-

from the Biographic

I select,

certainly, but as being at hand,

for

are

any memoir of Paracelsus he

by way of commentary.

Uni-verielle,

subject

the foregoing scenes

not as the best,

and sufficiently concise

few notes,

in

order to

which do not bear out my own view

of the character of Paracelsus ; and have incorporated
correct those parts

with them a notice

or

two, illustrative of the poem

itself,

Paracelsus (Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus BomHohenheim) was born in 1493 at Einsiedeln

(i), a little town in the canton of Schwyz, some leagues
*

bastus ab

distant

from Zurich.

His father, who exercised the

was nearly

profession of mclicinc at Vilhich in Carinthia,

related to

afterwards

George Bombast de Hohenheim, who became

Grand Prior of the Order of Malta : con-

sequently Paracelsus could not spring from the dregs of

the people, as
tends.'

It

Thomas

Erastui, his sworn

enemy, pre-

appears that his elementary education was

dLiguiu M. Kenauldln's next Mntcnce a little. 'IIIc

ParaceNum trimum a mililc quodam, nlii a sue excctum
ferunt: conMat imbcrbcm ilium, mulicrumquc osorcm fui.sac.'
A standing lli^'h- l>utcli joke in thrrtc dayt M the expense of a
number of Ic.irncd men, 05 may be cen by rcfcrrln({ lo iiuch rubbish
In the prinli from his portrait by
09 Melandor'-i Jocouria, etc.
>

shall

(Krastus

c.)

ii barbatului,
all events.
Hut Eranlui was never without a K'X'd reason for his
faith.f. 'Holvctium fuissc (I'aracelsum) vU credo, vix onim ea
regie talc monstrum cdiderit.' (De Mtdicina AVnw.)

Tintoretto, painted a year before hii death, I'araceinus

at

PARACELSUS

146

much

neglected, and that he spent part of his youth in

pursuing the
age

that

common

life

to

is

say,

in

to the travelling literati of the

wandering from country

to

country, predicting the future by astrology and cheiro-

mancy, evoking

apparitions, and practising the different

operations of magic and alchemy, in which he had been

initiated

among

whether by

the

Tritheim

number

whom

ecclesiastics,

he particularises the Abbot

many German

and

(2),

'As Paracelsus

by various

his father or

of

bishops.

displays everywhere an ignorance of the

rudiments of the most ordinary knowledge,

it

and

in

spite

he con-

Germany,

tented himself with visiting the Universities of

France, and Italy

not pro-

is

bable that he ever studied seriously in the schools

of his boasting himself

have been the ornament of those institutions, there

to

no proof of his having legally acquired the

which he assumes.

It

is

known

only

title

is

of Doctor,

that he applied

himself long, under the direction of the wealthy Sigis-

mond Fugger

Magnum

Schwatz, to

of

Paracelsus travelled

'

the East, and

in

discovery

the

of

the

Opus.

in

among the mountains

Sweden,

in

order

to

of Bohemia,
inspect

the

labours of the miners, to be initiated in the mysteries of

the Oriental adepts, and to observe the secrets of nature

He

professes

Spain, Portugal, Prussia,

Poland,

and the famous mountain of loadstone

also

to

have

visited

and Transylvania

everywhere

(3).

communicating

not merely with the physicians, but

charlatans and

the

old

freely,

women,

conjurers of these several lands.

It

is

even believed that he extended his journeyings as far as

Egypt and Tartary, and that he accompanied the son of

the

Khan

of the

Tartars

to

Constantinople, for

the

purpose of obtaining the secret of the tincture of Trismegistus

from a Greek who inhabited that

*The

period of his return to

Germany

capital.
is

unknown

it

NOTE

147

only certain that, at about the age of thirty-three,

is

many

astonishing cures which he wrought on eminent

personages procured
called

him such

1526, on the

in

padius (4), to

fill

University of Basil.

he was

celebrity, that

recommendation of OBcolam-

chair of physic and surgery at the

There Paracelsus began by burning

works of Avicenna and

publicly in the amphitheatre the

his shoes

Galen, assuring his auditors that the latchets of

were more instructed than those two physicians

writers put

Universities, all

together, were

that all

less

gifted

than the hairs of his beard and of the crown of his

head

and

legitimate

that, in a

word, he was to be regarded

monarch of medicine,

" You

as the

shall follow

me,"

cried he,

"you, Avicenna, Galen, Rhasis, Montagnana,

Mesues

you, gentlemen of Paris, Muntpcllic-r,

Germany,

Cologne, Vienna,' and whomsoever the Rhine and the

Danube nourish
you,

likewise,

thou, Greek

you who inhabit the

Dalmatians,
thou,

Jew

all

isles

Athenians
shall

of the sea

thou, Arab

follow me, ami the

monarchy shall be minc."*But at Basil it was speedily perceived that the new
Professor was no belter than an egregious quack. Scarcely
a year elapsed before his lectures had fairly driven away
an audience incapable of comprehending their emphatic
Eraslu<i, who relates thi>i, here oddly remarks, 'mirum quod non
Garamantos, Indosct ^n^/oi adjunxit.' Not so wonderful neither,
if wc believe what another adversary 'had heard somewhere,' that
all Paracelsus' system came of his pillaKing 'Anglum (jucndami
Rot^criuin Hacchoncm.'
' Sec his works pastim.
I must (;ivc one si)ccimcn : Somebody
had been styling him 'I.uthcr alter.' 'And why not?' (ho asks, as
he well mlHht). 'I.uther is abundantly learned, therefore you hato
him and me ; but wc arc at least a match for you. Nam ct contra
vosct vcstros universes princi|)CsAviccnnam, (Inlenum, Aristolclem,
Kt vertex iste mcus
etc. mc satis supcrquo munilum esse novi.
calvus ac dcpilis multo plura et sublimiora novit qu.im vestcr vcl
'

ct

I'rodite, ct sijcnum date, qui viri

vel universic acadcmix.
quid roboris habcatis? quid autcm sitis? iJoctoros ot mai;istri,
pcdiculos pcctcntcs ct fricantcs podiccm.' (Frag. Mtd.)

Avicenna
iitis,

PARACELSUS

148

That which above

jargon.

all

reputation was the debauched

who

the testimony of Oporinus,

contributed to sully his

life

he

According to

led.

two years

lived

in

his

intimacy, Paracelsus scarcely ever ascended the lecture-

desk unless half drunk, and only dictated to his secre-

when

taries

attend

of intoxication

in a state

the

he

sick,

rarely

proceeded

summoned

if

thither

He was

previously drenching himself with wine.

tomed

to

retire

to

to

without
accus-

bed without changing his clothes

sometimes he spent the night in pot-houses with peasants,

and in the morning knew no longer what he was about ;
and, nevertheless, up to the age of twenty-five his only

drink had been water (5).

'At length, fearful of being punished for a serious
outrage on a magistrate (6), he

fled

from Basil towards

1527, and took refuge in Alsatia,

whither he caused Oporinus to follow with his chemical

the end of the year

apparatus.

He

'

then

entered

once

ambulatory theosophist.^

more

upon the career of

Accordingly we find him at

at St. Gall in
in 1528
at Nuremberg in 1529
1531 ; at Pfeffers in 1535 5 and at Augsburg in 1536
he next made some stay in Moravia, where he still
further compromised his reputation by the loss of many

Colmar

distinguished

and

in

Chronicle

the

1538 was
the

to

many

which compelled him

patients,

himself to Vienna

from thence he passed

at Villach,

States

kindnesses

of

into

to

betake

Hungary

where he dedicated

his

Carinthia, in gratitude for

with which they had

honoured

'So migratory a life could afford Paracelsus but little leisure for
application to books, and accordingly he informs us that for the space
of ten years he never opened a single volume, and that his whole
in cflect, the
medical library was not composed of six sheets
inventory drawn up after his death states that the only books which
>

he
St.

were the Bible, the New Testament, the Commentaries ol

Jerome on the Gospels, a printed volume on Medicine, and seven
left

manuscripts.'

NOTE
from Mindelheim, which he

Finally,

his father.

149
visite<l

1540, Paracelsus proceeiled to Salzburg, where he

in

Hospital of St. Stephen {Sebaitian

in the

24,

541.*

which

(Here

is

tiled

meant), Sept.

follows a criticism on his writings,

I omit.)

would seem

(i) Paracelsus

Von Hohenhe'tm

Einsiedeln

whence Paracelsus

to be a fantastic version of

the

is

sometimes

is

spondence of Erasmus, Eremita

in the corre-

Bombast,

name, probably acquired, from the

Eremus,

Latinised

called, as

proper

liis

characteristic phraseo-

logy of his lectures, that unlucky signification which

it

has ever since retained.

Then Bishop

(2)

burg

Franconia

in

country, whence

town

situated

1536

staunch

Agrippa, to

Cornelius

friend

thence, in

5 10, a

letter

last

whom

his
his

he dates

answer to the dedicatory

in

epistle prefixed to the treatise

fertile

He was much

may be seen by
among others, by

Epistola Familiiiresy Hag.

Wurz-

in a grassy

name, Herbipolis.

its

by learned men, as

there

visited

of Spanheim, an<l rcsiiling at

;

De

Occult. Philosop/i.y

which

contains the following ominous allusion to Agrippa's

sojourn;

apud

'Quum

niiper

Herbipolim

tecum, R. P.

aliquamdiu

in

ccenobio tuo

multa

convcrsatus,

ile

chymicis, multa dc magicis, multa de cabalisticis, cjetcris-

que

quz adhuc

in

occulto dclitescunt, arcanis scicntiis

atquc artibus una contulisscmus,' etc.

(3)

'

Inexplcbilis

ilia

avi<litas

naturar

pcrscrutandi

sccrcta ct rcconditarum supellcctilc scicntiarum

locuptetandi,
paticbatur, sed

urbcs

uno

eo<lemquc

loco

diu

animum

pcrsistcrc

non

Mcrcurii instar, omncs terras, nationes et

perlustrandi

igniculos

natiira; icrutatoribus,

supponcbat,

ut

cum

viris

chymicis praeicrtim, ore tcnui con-

PARACELSUS

I50
et

ferret,

una

communicatione

altera

vel

Prafat)

{Bitiskius in

laboribus nocturnisque

diuturnis

quae

invenerant

primiim, deinde

auxilio

Patris

vigiliis

obtineret.'

doctissimos viros in Germania, Italia,

propria industria

Gallia, Hispania, aliisque Europae regionibus, nactus est

praceptores

quorum

doctrina,

liberal!

potissimuni

et

propria inquisitione ut qui esset ingenio acutissimo ac fere

profecit, ut multi testati sint, in universa

tantum

divine,

'

arcana

tarn

neminem.'

mortaliuni

Medic.)

ardua,

tarn

philosophia,

{Melch.

eruisse

abdita

et

Adam,

in

Vit.

Germ.

Paracelsus qui in intima naturae viscera sic

penitus introierit, metallorum stirpiumque vires et facultates

tarn

heminum
nata

best

insanabiles

percurandum

described

adolesccntcm

difficillimi

pucUam

saltern

nebilissimarum
tasdii pigebit
suos.

'

1573.

itineris

fceminam

vel

cum Theophrasto

ut

for

haud

wandering

is

Ecce

amatorem

piget, ut

venustam

'

aspiciat

amore

artium

{Petri

videatur.'

His passion

own words

his

in

perfectaque

Oral, de Basika.)

ac

exploraverit

vel desperates et opinione

morbos omnes

prinium medicina

Rami

acumine

ingenii

incredibili

perviderit, ad

quanto minus

cujuslibct

ac

laboris

[Dcfensiones Septem ad-versus amtdos

etc.

Def.

'

4ta.

De

peregrinatienibus

et

exilie.')

(4)

The

reader

may remember

that

it

was

in

conjunc-

tion with CEcolampadius, then Divinity Professor at Basil,

in 1528 an answer to Luther's
and that both proceeded in company
to the subsequent conference with Luther and Melanchthon at Marpurg. Their letters fill a large volume.

that Zuinglius published

Confession of Faith

D.D. Johannis (Ecolampadii

larum

lib.

quattior.

Bas.

1 5

et

36.

Huldrichi Zuinglii EpistoIt

must be

also observed

that Zuinglius began to preach in 1516, and at Zurich in

1519, and that

in

115215

the

Mass was

abolished

in

the

NOTE
The

cantons.

151

tenets of CEcolampadius were supposed to

more evangelical than those up to that perioii maintained by the glorious German, and our brave Bishop
'About this
Fisher attacked them as the fouler heresy
be

time arose out of Luther's school one CEcolampadius,

a

mighty and

giant

fierce

who,

as his

like

master had gone

beyond the Church, went beyond his master

(or else

it

had been impossible he could have been reputed the better

who

scholar),

champion
(like 80

denied the real presence

(the

him,

this

Bishop) sets upon, and with

many smooth

worthy

five

books

stones taken out of the river that

doth always run with living water) slays the Philistine

which
1

books were written

five

in

the year of our Lonl

526, at which time he had governed the sec of Rochester

twenty
there

Now,
{Life of Bis/wp Fis/icr, 1655.)
no doubt of the Protestantism of Paracelsus,

years.'

is

Erasmus, Agrippa,
celsus

etc.,

but the nonconformity of Para-

was always scandalous.

L. Crasso {Elogj d'lluomini

Ven. 1666) informs us that his books were

Quenstedt {de Pat.
excommunicated by the Church,
Doct.) affirms 'ncc tantum novae mcdicinae, verum ctiam
Letieraii,

novse

thcologia

Magkir,
partim

autor

him

classes

hsereticos'

multa thcologica
olcnt, ac

among

(lib.

in

iluriiisculc

Dclrio,

est.'

i.

cap.

cjusricm

sonant

those
3).

scriptis
in

Dhqu'nit.

his

in

'partim

athcos,

'Oninino tamcn
plane

alheismum

auribus vera Christiani.'

{D. Gabiielh Claudeii Sihediaima de Tincl. Univ., Norimb.

1736.)
dicit

shall only

add one more authority

"c (Paracclsuni) aliquando Luthcruni

tt

'Oporinus
Pnpam, non

minus quam nunc Galcnum ct Hippocratcm redacturum

in ordincm minabatur, ncquc cnim corum qui hactcnus
in

scripturam

reccntiorcs,
seel

sacram

scripsisst-nt,

sivc

quenquam scripturx nuclcum

circa corticem ct quasi

{Th. Erattiii, Diifiiitai. dr

vctcrei,

rcctc

mcmbranam lantum

Mtd.

Na-ttt.)

sivo

cruissc,

hxrcrc."

'

These and Bimihir

PARACELSUS

152

notions had their due effect on Oporinus, who, says Zuingerus, in his T/ieatrum,

longum

'

dixit ei (Paracelso),

vale

ncobpraeceptoris,alioquiamicissimi,horrendasblasphemias
ipse

quoque aliquando poenas Deo Opt. Max.

est, a

'

Take

drunkenness.

His defenders allow the

(5)

sample of their excuses

lueret.'

Gentis hoc, non

Taciti seculo ad nostrum usque non interrupto

devolutum,

sinceritati forte

Germanae coaevum,

vitioluni

viri

filo

et nescio

[Bitisk'ius)
an aliquo consanguinitatis vinculo junctum.'
The other charges were chiefly trumped up by Oporinus

'

Domi, quod Oporinus amanuensis

nunquam

nisi

ejus sjepe narravit,

potus ad explicanda sua accessit, atque in

medio conclavi ad columnam TeTi'0W;U^i'OS adsistens,

apprehenso manibus capulo ensis, cujus KoiXu/j-a hospitium
prjebuit,

aiunt,

ut

spiritui

concepta sua protulit

alii

familiar!,
illud

quod

imaginationes aut
in

capulo habuit,

ab ipso Azoth appellatum, me<licinam fuisse prsestantis{Melc/i.

lapidem Philosophicum putant.'
This famous sword was no laughing-matter in

simam

aut

Adam)

those days, and

it is

idea of Paracelsus.
in

our

own

now

a material feature in the popular

I recollect a

couple of allusions to

literature, at the

moment.

had been known

Or Paracelsus with

his lon^ sword.

Ne

it

the Danish Gonswart,

Volpone, act

ii.

scene

i.

cant.

3.

Bumbastus kept a devil's bird

Shut in the pummel of his sword,
That taught him all the cunning pranks
Of past and future mountebanks.
Hudibras, part

This Azoth was simply ^laudanum suum.'

time he was
tincture

metals,

the

commonly

believed

power of curing

ii.

But

to possess the

diseases

Oporinus often witnessed,

as

in

his

double

and transmuting
he declares, both

these effects, as did also Franciscus, the servant of Para-

NOTE
who

celsus,

153

Neamler, a successful
which he was present, and the results of

describes, in a letter to

projection at

which, good golden ingots, were confided to his keeping.

For the other quality,

among many

others

let

vouch

the following notice

'Degebat

Theophrastus Norim-

bergae procitus a medentibus illius urbis, et vaniloquus

deceptorque proclamatus, qui, ut laboranti famse subveniat,

viros
adit,

quosdam

authoritatis

infamise

et

summae

in

amoliendae, artique

Republica
suae

ilia

asserendae,

spcchnen ejus poUicetur editurum, nuUo stipcndio

accepto

pretio,

horum

elephantiacos aliquot, a
segrcgatos, et in

quos

eliguntur,

Theophrastus
que sanitati

praebentium

faciles

communione honiinum caeterorum

valetudinarium detrusos, alieno arbitrio

virtute

a foeda

restituit

singular!

Graecorum

suorum
prislinae-

conservat illustre

harum curationum

(^Bitiskius.y

It

is

remarked that Oporinus afterwards repented of

treachery

defunctum vencratione prosequutiis,

famcs famae praeceptoris morsus

conversi poenitentia, heu

cxanimi quae spiranti

pref.

Ob, Opor*

Testiimentif

in

in-

remorsus conscicntiae

nimis tarda, vulncra clauserc

inflixerant.'

Oporinus, sec D'upulat. Erani,

y'lt. el

to
his

'Sed resipuit tandem, et quern vivum convitiis

insectatus fuerat

de

rcmediorum
mundat,

lepra

urbs in archivis suis testimonium.*

be

vel

aures jussu

for the

anri
*

For these 'bites' of

Andrea: Jochci

remorse

Orat'to

Mic. Toxites

in

and Conringius (otherwise an enemy

The prem-nture death of I'nratclius can no manner of doubt on

the fact of his having po^scs^cd the l.lixir Vit.x: the nlchcinisls have
abundant rca^on^ to ndMucc, from which I select the followini;, n<
explanatory of a properly of the Tincture not calculated on by its
votaries
Ubjccl ioncm illam, quod I'aracelsuH non fucril lonKicvuii,
nonnulli qiinquc lolvunt |)cr raliones physical vil.c nimirum abbrcvintioncm fortansc lalibus acciderc posM;, oh 'rinrlumm frcqucnllorc
ac lar^iore doii Kumlam, dum a ^ummo efTicici cl pcnelrabili hujus
1

'

virtuic calor innatui cjuosi suffocatur.'

diasma.)

((iabrielit Claudcrl Scho-

PARACELSUS

IS4
of Paracelsus),

who

says

was containeii

it

from

in a letter

Oporinus to Doctor Vegerus.^

Whatever

the

attributes, the

father

Paracelsus to be considered the

of

modern chemistry

of

De

Vossius,

moderns may think of these marvellous

title

Philoi"

et

Gerarihis

indisputable.

is

PMlos'""

sectis,

thus prefaces the

ninth section of cap. 9, ' De Chymia'

'Nobilem hanc
medicinae partem, diu sepultam avorum aetate, quasi ab
orco revocavit Th. Paracelsus.'
lie

suppose

priators have since developed

appears from his treatise

many

hints

which clever appro-

scattered in his neglected books,

Thus,

with applause.

De Phkbotomia, and

it

elsewhere,

that he had discovered the circulation of the blood and

the sanguification of the heart

Colombo, and

more

still

as did

perfectly

after

Physiognomy,

enthusiast, a

Holcroft's

While on the

may

man

translation,

which

in

axioms are precise enough

logical

work De Natura

passage from his

practical

he

was, as

have

di<l

iii.

subject of the

said,

anci

'though an astro-

p.

179

'The

See
Eyes.'

writings of Paracelsus,

explain a passage in the third part of the

effect

Reriim, on

definitions

prodigious genius.'

of

vol.

the

acids,

of

Even Lavater

Arezzo, as Bayle and Bartoli observe.

quotes a

him Realdo

Andrea Cesalpino

unwilling to publish his works, but

publish a vast number.

Valentinus

(in

He

Poem.

in

Pnefat.

Paramyr.) declares 'quod ad librorum Paracelsi copiam

in

attinet, audio, a

Germanis prope trecentos

fcECunditas ingenii

!'

adds he, appositely.

were, however, spurious

good edition
solo ipsius
fertur
'

(3

of these,

and Fred. Bitiskius gives his

Gen. 1658)

'rejectis suppositis

nomine superbientibus quorum ingens circum-

numenis.'

For a

vols. fol.

*0

reccnseri.'

Many

The

rest

fjood defence of I'aracelsus

were
I

'

charissimum

refer the reader to

et

Olaus

Hermeiis, elc. sapicntia vittdicata, 167.). f)r,

no'more learned than myself in such matters, I mention simply
that Paracelsus introduced the use of Mercury and Laudanum.
norrichius' treatise
if

he

is

NOTE

155

pretiosissimum authoris pignus, extorsum potius ab illo

quam obtentum.' 'Jam minime eo volente atque jubente
haec ipsius scripta

muro

quae

lucem prodisse videntur

in

quippe

ipso absente, servi ciijusdam

inclusa

indicio,

furto surrepta atque sublata sunt,' says Valentinus.

These

have been the study of a host of commentators, amongst

whose

labours

Medic'ma

most notable, Pari Severini

Mic. Toxetis
Bas. 1571

P'

(This

Paris.

(6)

1574; Dornei
last, a

Or.o-

Diet.

good book.)

One

disgraceful affair.

having been rescued

in

extremis

Liechtenfels, a canon,

by the ^laudanum' of

Paracelsus, refused the stipulated fee, and

in

^Idea

Parac, Franc. 1584;

Philoi" Compendium cum scholiis auctore Leone Sua-vio,

mattica, Arg.

and

are

Philosophic,

meanness by the

his

Paracelsus

authorities,

His own
who found a

would not brook.

alloweil by his bitterest foes,

of his indifference to profit

in

was supported

whose interference
liberality

was

ready solution

the aforesaid sword-handle

His freedom from the besetting sin of a

(as he curiously says somewhere,
profession he abhorred

and

its

guest.

'Quij quaeso dcinceps honorem <lcferat profession! tali,

quse a tam facinorosis nebulonibus obitur ct administrajr J')

sua

in

is

recorded in his epitaph, which affirms

pauperes

distribuenda

honoravit or ordinavit

for

coUocandaque

accounts

differ.

'Bona

erogavit,'

This

issue

revised

of Browning's

edition,

has

been

'

Paracelsus,' based on
edited

Dickinson, M.A., who has read

by

Mr.

the text

the

Lowes

G.

and added

marginalia,
I.

October

I,

last

G.

1898.

167

the

Her Majesty
Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to
at the Edinburgh University Press

J^iSP

University of California

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