Part 9 (1/2)

'The fact is,' replied her host, 'that the party has never recovered from the thunderbolt of that scheming knave Jupiter, and do not bear their defeat so philosophically as years, perhaps, permit me to do. If we have been vanquished by the spirit of the age,' continued Saturn, 'you must confess that, in our case, the conqueror did not a.s.sume a material form very remarkable for its dignity. Had Creation resolved itself into its original elements, had Chaos come again, or even old Coelus, the indignity might have been endured; but to be baffled by an Olympian _juste milieu_, and to find, after all the clamour, that nothing has been changed save the places, is, you will own, somewhat mortifying.'

'But how do you reconcile,' inquired the ingenuous Proserpine, 'the success of Jupiter with the character which you ascribed last night to the spirit of the age?'

'Why, in truth,' said Saturn, 'had I not entirely freed myself from all party feeling, I might adduce the success of my perfidious and worthless relative as very good demonstration that the spirit of the age is nothing better than an _ignis fatuus_. Nevertheless, we must discriminate. Even the success of Jupiter, although he now conducts himself in direct opposition to the emanc.i.p.ating principles he at first professed, is no less good evidence of their force; for by his professions he rose. And, for my part, I consider it a great homage to public opinion to find every scoundrel now-a-days professing himself a Liberal.'

'You are candid;' said Proserpine. 'I should like very much to see the t.i.tans.'

'My friends are at least consistent,' observed Saturn; 'though certainly at present I can say little more for them. Between the despair of one section of the party, and the over-sanguine expectations of the other, they are at present quite inactive, or move only to ensure fresh rebuffs.'

'You see little of them, then?'

'They keep to themselves: they generally frequent a lonely vale in the neighbourhood.'

'I should so like to see them!' exclaimed Proserpine.

'Say nothing to Tiresias,' said old Saturn, who was half in love with his fair friend, 'and we will steal upon them unperceived.' So saying, the G.o.d struck the earth with his cane, and there instantly sprang forth a convenient car, built of curiously carved cedar, and borne by four enormous tawny-coloured owls. Seating himself by the side of the delighted Proserpine, Saturn commanded the owls to bear them to the Valley of Lamentations.

'Twas an easy fly: the chariot soon descended upon the crest of a hill: and Saturn and Proserpine, leaving the car, commenced, by a winding path, the slight ascent of a superior elevation. Having arrived there, they looked down upon a valley, apparently land-locked by black and barren mountains of the most strange, although picturesque forms. In the centre of the valley was a black pool or tarn, bordered with dark purple flags of an immense size, twining and twisting among which might be observed the glancing and gliding folds of several white serpents; while crocodiles and alligators, and other horrible forms, poked their foul snouts with evident delight in a vast ma.s.s of black slime, which had, at various times, exuded from the lake. A single tree only was to be observed in this desolate place, an enormous and blasted cedar, with scarcely a patch of verdure, but extending its black and barren branches nearly across the valley. Seated on a loosened crag, but leaning against the trunk of the cedar, with his arms folded, his mighty eyes fixed on the ground, and his legs crossed with that air of complete repose which indicates that their owner is in no hurry again to move them, was

'A form, some granite G.o.d we deemed, Or king of palmy Nile, colossal shapes Such as Syene's rosy quarries yield To Memphian art; Horus, Osiris called, Or Amenoph, who, on the Theban plain, With magic melody the sun salutes; Or he, far mightier, to whose conquering car Monarchs were yoked, Rameses: by the Greeks Sesostris styled. And yet no sculptor's art Moulded this shape, for form it seemed of flesh, Yet motionless; its dim unl.u.s.trous...o...b.. Gazing in stilly vacancy, its cheek Grey as its hairs, which, thin as they might seem, No breath disturbed; a solemn countenance, Not sorrowful, though full of woe sublime, As if despair were now a distant dream Too dim for memory.'

''Tis their great leader,' said Saturn, as he pointed out the t.i.tan to Proserpine, 'the giant Enceladus. He got us into all our sc.r.a.pes, but I must do him the justice to add, that he is the only one who can ever get us out of them. They say he has no heart; but I think his hook nose is rather fine.'

'Superb!' said Proserpine. 'And who is that radiant and golden-haired youth who is seated at his feet?'

''Tis no less a personage than Hyperion himself,' replied Saturn, 'the favourite counsellor of Enceladus. He is a fine orator, and makes up by his round sentences and choice phrases for the rhetorical deficiencies of his chief, who, to speak the truth, is somewhat curt and husky. They have enough now to do to manage their comrades and keep a semblance of discipline in their routed ranks. Mark that ferocious Briareus there scowling in a corner! Didst ever see such a moustache! He glances, methinks, with an evil eye on the mighty Enceladus; and, let me tell you, Briareus has a great following among them; so they say of him you know, that he hath fifty heads and a hundred arms. See! how they gather around him.'

'Who speaks now to Briareus?' 'The young and valiant Mimas. Be a.s.sured he is counselling war. We shall have a debate now.'

'Yon venerable personage, who is seated by the margin of the pool, and weeping with the crocodiles------'

'Is old Ocea.n.u.s.'

'He is apparently much affected by his overthrow.' 'It is his wont to weep. He used to cry when he fought, and yet he was a powerful warrior.'

'Hark!' said Proserpine.

The awful voice of Briareus broke the silence. What a terrible personage was Briareus! His wild locks hung loose about his shoulders, and blended with his unshorn beard.

't.i.tans!' shouted the voice which made many a heart tremble, and the breathless Proserpine clasp the arm of Saturn. 't.i.tans! Is that spirit dead that once heaped Ossa upon Pelion? Is it forgotten, even by ourselves, that a younger born revels in our heritage? Are these forms that surround me, indeed, the shapes at whose dread sight the base Olympians fled to their fitting earth? Warriors, whose weapons were the rocks, whose firebrands were the burning woods, is the day forgotten when Jove himself turned craven, and skulked in Egypt? At least my memory is keen enough to support my courage, and whatever the dread Enceladus may counsel, my voice is still for war!'

There ensued, after this harangue of Briareus, a profound and thrilling silence, which was, however, broken in due time by the great leader of the t.i.tans himself.

'You mouth it well, Briareus,' replied Enceladus calmly. 'And if great words would re-seat us in Olympus, doubtless, with your potent aid, we might succeed. It never should be forgotten, however, that had we combined at first, in the spirit now recommended, the Olympians would never have triumphed; and least of all our party should Briareus and his friends forget the reasons of our disunion.'

'I take thy sneer, Enceladus,' said the young and chivalric Mimas, 'and throw it in thy teeth. This learn, then, from Briareus and his friends, that if we were lukewarm in the hour of peril, the fault lies not to our account, but with those who had previously so conducted themselves, that, when the danger arrived, it was impossible for us to distinguish between our friends and our foes. Enceladus apparently forgets that had the Olympians never been permitted to enter Heaven, it would have been unnecessary ever to have combined against their machinations.'

'Recrimination is useless,' said a t.i.tan, interposing. 'I was one of those who supported Enceladus in the admission of the Olympians above, and I regret it. But at the time, like others, I believed it to be the only mode of silencing the agitation of Jupiter.'

'I separated from Enceladus on that question,' said a huge t.i.tan, lying his length on the ground and leaning one arm on a granite crag; 'but I am willing to forget all our differences and support him with all my heart and strength in another effort to restore our glorious const.i.tution.'