PHARISEES.
Give God the praise!
We know the man that healed thee is a sinner!
THE BEGGAR.
Whether He be a sinner, I know not;
One thing I know; that whereas I was blind, I now do see.
PHARISEES.
How opened he thine eyes?
What did he do?
THE BEGGAR.
I have already told you.
Ye did not hear: why would ye hear again?
Will ye be his disciples?
PHARISEES.
God of Moses!
Are we demoniacs, are we halt or blind, Or palsy-stricken, or lepers, or the like, That we should join the Synagogue of Satan, And follow jugglers? Thou art his disciple, But we are disciples of Moses; and we know That God spake unto Moses; but this fellow, We know not whence he is!
THE BEGGAR.
Why, herein is A marvellous thing! Ye know not whence he is, Yet he hath opened mine eyes! We know that God Heareth not sinners; but if any man Doeth God's will, and is his worshipper, Him doth he hear.Oh, since the world began It was not heard that any man hath opened The eyes of one that was born blind.If He Were not of God, surely he could do nothing!
PHARISEES.
Thou, who wast altogether born in sins And in iniquities, dost thou teach us?
Away with thee out of the holy places, Thou reprobate, thou beggar, thou blasphemer!
THE BEGGAR is cast out.
XI
SIMON MAGUS AND HELEN OF TYRE
On the house-top at Endor.Night.A lighted lantern on a table.
SIMON.
Swift are the blessed Immortals to the mortal That perseveres! So doth it stand recorded In the divine Chaldaean Oracles Of Zoroaster, once Ezekiel's slave, Who in his native East betook himself To lonely meditation, and the writing On the dried skins of oxen the Twelve Books Of the Avesta and the Oracles!
Therefore I persevere; and I have brought thee From the great city of Tyre, where men deride The things they comprehend not, to this plain Of Esdraelon, in the Hebrew tongue Called Armageddon, and this town of Endor, Where men believe; where all the air is full Of marvellous traditions, and the Enchantress That summoned up the ghost of Samuel Is still remembered.Thou hast seen the land;Is it not fair to look on?
HELEN.
It is fair, Yet not so fair as Tyre.
SIMON.
Is not Mount Tabor As beautiful as Carmel by the Sea?
HELEN.
It is too silent and too solitary;
I miss the tumult of the street; the sounds Of traffic, and the going to and fro Of people in gay attire, with cloaks of purple, And gold and silver jewelry!
SIMON.
Inventions Of Abriman, the spirit of the dark, The Evil Spirit!
HELEN.
I regret the gossip Of friends and neighbors at the open door On summer nights.
SIMON.
An idle waste of time.
HELEN.
The singing and the dancing, the delight Of music and of motion.Woe is me, To give up all these pleasures, and to lead The life we lead!
SIMON.
Thou canst not raise thyself Up to the level of my higher thought, And though possessing thee, I still remain Apart from thee, and with thee, am alone In my high dreams.
HELEN.
Happier was I in Tyre.
Oh, I remember how the gallant ships Came sailing in, with ivory, gold, and silver, And apes and peacocks; and the singing sailors, And the gay captains with their silken dresses, Smelling of aloes, myrrh, and cinnamon!
SIMON.
But the dishonor, Helen! Let the ships Of Tarshish howl for that!
HELEN.
And what dishonor?
Remember Rahab, and how she became The ancestress of the great Psalmist David;And wherefore should not I, Helen of Tyre, Attain like honor?
SIMON.
Thou art Helen of Tyre, And hast been Helen of Troy, and hast been Rahab, The Queen of Sheha, and Semiramis, And Sara of seven husbands, and Jezebel, And other women of the like allurements;And now thou art Minerva, the first Aeon, The Mother of Angels!
HELEN.
And the concubine Of Simon the Magician! Is it honor For one who has been all these noble dames, To tramp about the dirty villages And cities of Samaria with a juggler?
A charmer of serpents?
SIMON.
He who knows himself Knows all things in himself.I have charmed thee, Thou beautiful asp: yet am I no magician, I am the Power of God, and the Beauty of God!
I am the Paraclete, the Comforter!
HELEN.
Illusions! Thou deceiver, self-deceived!
Thou dost usurp the titles of another;
Thou art not what thou sayest.
SIMON.
Am I not?
Then feel my power.
HELEN.
Would I had ne'er left Tyre!
He looks at her, and she sinks into a deep sleep.
SIMON.
Go, see it in thy dreams, fair unbeliever!
And leave me unto mine, if they be dreams, That take such shapes before me, that I see them;These effable and ineffable impressions Of the mysterious world, that come to me From the elements of Fire and Earth and Water, And the all-nourishing Ether! It is written, Look not on Nature, for her name is fatal!
Yet there are Principles, that make apparent The images of unapparent things, And the impression of vague characters And visions most divine appear in ether.
So speak the Oracles; then wherefore fatal?
I take this orange-bough, with its five leaves, Each equidistant on the upright stem;And I project them on a plane below, In the circumference of a circle drawn About a centre where the stem is planted, And each still equidistant from the other, As if a thread of gossamer were drawn Down from each leaf, and fastened with a pin.
Now if from these five points a line be traced To each alternate point, we shall obtain The Pentagram, or Solomon's Pentangle, A charm against all witchcraft, and a sign, Which on the banner of Antiochus Drove back the fierce barbarians of the North, Demons esteemed, and gave the Syrian King The sacred name of Soter, or of Savior.
Thus Nature works mysteriously with man;
And from the Eternal One, as from a centre, All things proceed, in fire, air, earth, and water, And all are subject to one law, which, broken Even in a single point, is broken in all;Demons rush in, and chaos comes again.
By this will I compel the stubborn spirits, That guard the treasures, hid in caverns deep On Gerizim, by Uzzi the High-Priest, The ark and holy vessels, to reveal Their secret unto me, and to restore These precious things to the Samaritans.