CLARIN AND MOSCON AS POOR SCHOLARS, WITH BOOKS. by Percy Bysshe Shelley: Summary, Meaning & Analysis

CYPRIAN: In the sweet solitude of this calm place, This intricate wild wilderness of trees And flowers and undergrowth of odorous plants, Leave me; the books you brought out of the house To me are ever best society. _5 And while with glorious festival and song, Antioch now celebrates the consecration Of a proud temple to great Jupiter, And bears his image in loud jubilee To its new shrine, I would consume what still _10 Lives of the dying day in studious thought, Far from the throng and turmoil. You, my friends, Go, and enjoy the festival; it will Be worth your pains. You may return for me When the sun seeks its grave among the billows _15 Which, among dim gray clouds on the horizon, Dance like white plumes upon a hearse;— and here I shall expect you. NOTES: _14 So transcr.; Be worth the labour, and return for me 1824. _16, _17 So 1824; Hid among dim gray clouds on the horizon Which dance like plumes—transcr., Forman. MOSCON: I cannot bring my mind, Great as my haste to see the festival Certainly is, to leave you, Sir, without _20 Just saying some three or four thousand words. How is it possible that on a day Of such festivity, you can be content To come forth to a solitary country With three or four old books, and turn your back _25 On all this mirth? NOTES: _21 thousand transcr.; hundred 1824. _23 be content transcr.; bring your mind 1824. CLARIN: My master’s in the right; There is not anything more tiresome Than a procession day, with troops, and priests, And dances, and all that. NOTE: _28 and priests transcr.; of men 1824. MOSCON: From first to last, Clarin, you are a temporizing flatterer; _30 You praise not what you feel but what he does;— Toadeater! CLARIN: You lie—under a mistake— For this is the most civil sort of lie That can be given to a man’s face. I now Say what I think. CYPRIAN: Enough, you foolish fellows! _35 Puffed up with your own doting ignorance, You always take the two sides of one question. Now go; and as I said, return for me When night falls, veiling in its shadows wide This glorious fabric of the universe. _40 NOTE: _36 doting ignorance transcr.; ignorance and pride 1824. MOSCON: How happens it, although you can maintain The folly of enjoying festivals, That yet you go there? CLARIN: Nay, the consequence Is clear:—who ever did what he advises Others to do?— MOSCON: Would that my feet were wings, _45 So would I fly to Livia. [EXIT.] CLARIN: To speak truth, Livia is she who has surprised my heart; But he is more than half-way there.—Soho! Livia, I come; good sport, Livia, soho! [EXIT.] CYPRIAN: Now, since I am alone, let me examine _50 The question which has long disturbed my mind With doubt, since first I read in Plinius The words of mystic import and deep sense In which he defines God. My intellect Can find no God with whom these marks and signs _55 Fitly agree. It is a hidden truth Which I must fathom. [CYPRIAN READS; THE DAEMON, DRESSED IN A COURT DRESS, ENTERS.] NOTE: _57 Stage Direction: So transcr. Reads. Enter the Devil as a fine gentleman 1824. DAEMON: Search even as thou wilt, But thou shalt never find what I can hide. CYPRIAN: What noise is that among the boughs? Who moves? What art thou?— DAEMON: ’Tis a foreign gentleman. _60 Even from this morning I have lost my way In this wild place; and my poor horse at last, Quite overcome, has stretched himself upon The enamelled tapestry of this mossy mountain, And feeds and rests at the same time. I was _65 Upon my way to Antioch upon business Of some importance, but wrapped up in cares (Who is exempt from this inheritance?) I parted from my company, and lost My way, and lost my servants and my comrades. _70 CYPRIAN: ’Tis singular that even within the sight Of the high towers of Antioch you could lose Your way. Of all the avenues and green paths Of this wild wood there is not one but leads, As to its centre, to the walls of Antioch; _75 Take which you will, you cannot miss your road. DAEMON: And such is ignorance! Even in the sight Of knowledge, it can draw no profit from it. But as it still is early, and as I Have no acquaintances in Antioch, _80 Being a stranger there, I will even wait The few surviving hours of the day, Until the night shall conquer it. I see Both by your dress and by the books in which You find delight and company, that you _85 Are a great student;—for my part, I feel Much sympathy in such pursuits. NOTE: _87 in transcr.; with 1824. CYPRIAN: Have you Studied much? DAEMON: No,—and yet I know enough Not to be wholly ignorant. CYPRIAN: Pray, Sir, What science may you know?— DAEMON: Many. CYPRIAN: Alas! _90 Much pains must we expend on one alone, And even then attain it not;—but you Have the presumption to assert that you Know many without study. DAEMON: And with truth. For in the country whence I come the sciences _95 Require no learning,—they are known. NOTE: _95 come the sciences]come sciences 1824. CYPRIAN: Oh, would I were of that bright country! for in this The more we study, we the more discover Our ignorance. DAEMON: It is so true, that I Had so much arrogance as to oppose _100 The chair of the most high Professorship, And obtained many votes, and, though I lost, The attempt was still more glorious, than the failure Could be dishonourable. If you believe not, Let us refer it to dispute respecting _105 That which you know the best, and although I Know not the opinion you maintain, and though It be the true one, I will take the contrary. NOTE: _106 the transcr.; wanting, 1824. CYPRIAN: The offer gives me pleasure. I am now Debating with myself upon a passage _110 Of Plinius, and my mind is racked with doubt To understand and know who is the God Of whom he speaks. DAEMON: It is a passage, if I recollect it right, couched in these words ‘God is one supreme goodness, one pure essence, _115 One substance, and one sense, all sight, all hands.’ CYPRIAN: ’Tis true. DAEMON: What difficulty find you here? CYPRIAN: I do not recognize among the Gods The God defined by Plinius; if he must Be supreme goodness, even Jupiter _120 Is not supremely good; because we see His deeds are evil, and his attributes Tainted with mortal weakness; in what manner Can supreme goodness be consistent with The passions of humanity? DAEMON: The wisdom _125 Of the old world masked with the names of Gods The attributes of Nature and of Man; A sort of popular philosophy. CYPRIAN: This reply will not satisfy me, for Such awe is due to the high name of God _130 That ill should never be imputed. Then, Examining the question with more care, It follows, that the Gods would always will That which is best, were they supremely good. How then does one will one thing, one another? _135 And that you may not say that I allege Poetical or philosophic learning:— Consider the ambiguous responses Of their oracular statues; from two shrines Two armies shall obtain the assurance of _140 One victory. Is it not indisputable That two contending wills can never lead To the same end? And, being opposite, If one be good, is not the other evil? Evil in God is inconceivable; _145 But supreme goodness fails among the Gods Without their union. NOTE: _133 would transcr.; should 1824. DAEMON: I deny your major. These responses are means towards some end Unfathomed by our intellectual beam. They are the work of Providence, and more _150 The battle’s loss may profit those who lose, Than victory advantage those who win. CYPRIAN: That I admit; and yet that God should not (Falsehood is incompatible with deity) Assure the victory; it would be enough _155 To have permitted the defeat. If God Be all sight,—God, who had beheld the truth, Would not have given assurance of an end Never to be accomplished: thus, although The Deity may according to his attributes _160 Be well distinguished into persons, yet Even in the minutest circumstance His essence must be one. NOTE: _157 had transcr.; wanting, 1824. DAEMON: To attain the end The affections of the actors in the scene Must have been thus influenced by his voice. _165 CYPRIAN: But for a purpose thus subordinate He might have employed Genii, good or evil,— A sort of spirits called so by the learned, Who roam about inspiring good or evil, And from whose influence and existence we _170 May well infer our immortality. Thus God might easily, without descent To a gross falsehood in his proper person, Have moved the affections by this mediation To the just point. NOTE: _172 descent transcr.; descending 1824. DAEMON: These trifling contradictions _175 Do not suffice to impugn the unity Of the high Gods; in things of great importance They still appear unanimous; consider That glorious fabric, man,—his workmanship Is stamped with one conception. CYPRIAN: Who made man _180 Must have, methinks, the advantage of the others. If they are equal, might they not have risen In opposition to the work, and being All hands, according to our author here, Have still destroyed even as the other made? _185 If equal in their power, unequal only In opportunity, which of the two Will remain conqueror? NOTE: _186 unequal only transcr.; and only unequal 1824. DAEMON: On impossible And false hypothesis there can be built No argument. Say, what do you infer _190 From this? CYPRIAN: That there must be a mighty God Of supreme goodness and of highest grace, All sight, all hands, all truth, infallible, Without an equal and without a rival, The cause of all things and the effect of nothing, _195 One power, one will, one substance, and one essence. And, in whatever persons, one or two, His attributes may be distinguished, one Sovereign power, one solitary essence, One cause of all cause. NOTE: _197 And]query, Ay? [THEY RISE.] DAEMON: How can I impugn _200 So clear a consequence? NOTE: _200 all cause 1824; all things transcr. CYPRIAN: Do you regret My victory? DAEMON: Who but regrets a check In rivalry of wit? I could reply And urge new difficulties, but will now Depart, for I hear steps of men approaching, _205 And it is time that I should now pursue My journey to the city. CYPRIAN: Go in peace! DAEMON: Remain in peace!—Since thus it profits him To study, I will wrap his senses up In sweet oblivion of all thought but of _210 A piece of excellent beauty; and, as I Have power given me to wage enmity Against Justina’s soul, I will extract From one effect two vengeances. [ASIDE AND EXIT.] NOTE: _214 Stage direction So transcr.; Exit 1824. CYPRIAN: I never Met a more learned person. Let me now _215 Revolve this doubt again with careful mind. [HE READS.] [FLORO AND LELIO ENTER.] LELIO: Here stop. These toppling rocks and tangled boughs, Impenetrable by the noonday beam, Shall be sole witnesses of what we— FLORO: Draw! If there were words, here is the place for deeds. _220 LELIO: Thou needest not instruct me; well I know That in the field, the silent tongue of steel Speaks thus,— [THEY FIGHT.] CYPRIAN: Ha! what is this? Lelio,—Floro, Be it enough that Cyprian stands between you, Although unarmed. LELIO: Whence comest thou, to stand _225 Between me and my vengeance? FLORO: From what rocks And desert cells? [ENTER MOSCON AND CLARIN.] MOSCON: Run! run! for where we left My master. I now hear the clash of swords. NOTES: _228 I now hear transcr.; we hear 1824. _227-_229 lines of otherwise arranged, 1824. CLARIN: I never run to approach things of this sort But only to avoid them. Sir! Cyprian! sir! _230 CYPRIAN: Be silent, fellows! What! two friends who are In blood and fame the eyes and hope of Antioch, One of the noble race of the Colalti, The other son o’ the Governor, adventure And cast away, on some slight cause no doubt, _235 Two lives, the honour of their country? NOTE: _233 race transcr.; men 1824. Colalti]Colatti 1824. LELIO: Cyprian! Although my high respect towards your person Holds now my sword suspended, thou canst not Restore it to the slumber of the scabbard: Thou knowest more of science than the duel; _240 For when two men of honour take the field, No counsel nor respect can make them friends But one must die in the dispute. NOTE: _239 of the transcr.; of its 1824. _242 No counsel nor 1839, 1st edition; No [...] or 1824; No reasoning or transcr. _243 dispute transcr. pursuit 1824. FLORO: I pray That you depart hence with your people, and Leave us to finish what we have begun _245 Without advantage.— CYPRIAN: Though you may imagine That I know little of the laws of duel, Which vanity and valour instituted, You are in error. By my birth I am Held no less than yourselves to know the limits _250 Of honour and of infamy, nor has study Quenched the free spirit which first ordered them; And thus to me, as one well experienced In the false quicksands of the sea of honour, You may refer the merits of the case; _255 And if I should perceive in your relation That either has the right to satisfaction From the other, I give you my word of honour To leave you. NOTE: _253 well omit, cj. Forman. LELIO: Under this condition then I will relate the cause, and you will cede _260 And must confess the impossibility Of compromise; for the same lady is Beloved by Floro and myself. FLORO: It seems Much to me that the light of day should look Upon that idol of my heart—but he— _265 Leave us to fight, according to thy word. CYPRIAN: Permit one question further: is the lady Impossible to hope or not? LELIO: She is So excellent, that if the light of day Should excite Floro’s jealousy, it were _270 Without just cause, for even the light of day Trembles to gaze on her. CYPRIAN: Would you for your Part, marry her? FLORO: Such is my confidence. CYPRIAN: And you? LELIO: Oh! would that I could lift my hope So high, for though she is extremely poor, _275 Her virtue is her dowry. CYPRIAN: And if you both Would marry her, is it not weak and vain, Culpable and unworthy, thus beforehand To slur her honour? What would the world say If one should slay the other, and if she _280 Should afterwards espouse the murderer? [THE RIVALS AGREE TO REFER THEIR QUARREL TO CYPRIAN; WHO IN CONSEQUENCE VISITS JUSTINA, AND BECOMES ENAMOURED OF HER; SHE DISDAINS HIM, AND HE RETIRES TO A SOLITARY SEA-SHORE.]

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