Volume II Part 13 (1/2)
Conversation proceeding, Braid-Beard happened to h a sagacious philosopher, and very ambitious to be celebrated as such, was only famous in Mardi as the fattest man of his tribe
Said Media, ”Then, Mohi, Rotato could not pick a quarrel with Fame, since she did not belie hiht, my lord,” said Babbalanja, ”for Fame is not always so honest
Not seldom to be famous, is to be widely known for what you are not, says Alla-Malolla Whence it comes, as old Bardianna has it, that for years ahis fellows; but all at once, by son to his habit, becoh, in himself, the same as ever Nor has he shown himself yet; for the entire merit of a man can never be made known; nor the sum of his demerits, if he have them We are only known by our names; as letters sealed up, we but read each other's superscriptions
”So with the cos who every way are but too apt to be riddles In reat poet Vavona, now dead a thousand moons, still remain a mystery Some call him a mystic; but wherein he seems obscure, it is, perhaps, we that are in fault; not by prehts, which made many declare, that Vavona, after all, was but a crack-pated God, not a mortal of sound mind But had he been less, hest order of genius, it ain the reputation of superior power, it uise itself; it ' And furtherue, because they think in another; and these are accounted stutterers and stammerers'”
”Ah! how true!” cried the Warbler
”And what says the archangel Vavona, Yooes?'--'Beyond ; with but one eye to behold; which no pencil can portray' What wonder then, my lord, that Mardi itself is so blind
'Mardi is a monster,' says old Bardianna, 'whose eyes are fixed in its head, like a whale's; it can see but tays, and those co but a sht, are all around this monster Mardi But stand before me on stilts, or I will behold you not, says the ely; lucky are all men with dos are a blessing; a lion is no lion that can not roar' Says Aldina, 'There are those looking on, who know themselves to be swifter of foot than the racers, but are confounded with the si of a disappointed cripple,” cried Mold His biographer states, that Aldina had only one leg”
”Braid-Beard, you are witty,” said Babbbalanja, adjusting his robe
”My lord, there are heroes without armies, who hear martial music in their souls”
”Why not blow their trumpets louder, then,” cried Media, that all Mardi may hear?”
”My lord Media, too, is witty, Babbalanja,” said Mohi
Breathed Yoolorious song, yet singing their lyrics to theh, cares for no auditor, yet its sweet notes are heard here below It sings, too, in company with myriads of mates Your soliloquists, Yoomy, are mostly herons and owls”
Said Babbalanja, ”Very clever, my lord; but think you not, there are men eloquent, who never babble in the marketplace?”
”Ay, and arrant babblers at home In feords, Babbalanja, you espouse a bad cause Most of youtails, and some not; those who have them will be sure to thrust their plumes in your face; for the rest, they will display their bald cruppers, and still screech for adenius is born into Mardi, he nods, and is known”
”More wit, but, with deference, perhaps less truth,absolute But what matter? Of what available value reputation, unless wedded to power, dentals, or place? To those who render hiible; but to the recipient, 'tis a fantasy; the poet never so stretches his i to co it”
”At the sacred games of Lazella,” said Yoomy, ”slyly crowned from behind with a laurel fillet, for norant of the honors he bore But enlightened at last, he doffed the wreath; then, holding it at arhed forth--Oh, ye laurels! to be visible to me, ye o,” cried Babbalanja, ”hearing that his poee of the remote island of Bertranda?-- 'It stirs me little; already, intrilled by the blessed houris in paradise; I can only iine the same of the damsels of Bertranda' Says Boldo, the Materialist,--'Substances alone are satisfactory'”
”And so thought thefourteen ripe yams for a sonnet, one for every line, he said to me, Yoomy, I shall make a better meal upon these, than upon so many compliments”
”Ay,” cried Babbalanja, ”'Bravos,' saith old Bardianna, but induce flatulency'”
Said Media, ”And do you fa your bravos?”
”Much, ood lord; at least such famous mortals, so enamored of a clamorous notoriety, as to bravo for themselves, when none else will huzza; whose whole existence is an uninter consciousness of self; whose very persons stand erect and self-sufficient as their infallible index, the capital letter I; who relish and comprehend no reputation but what attaches to the carcass; ould as lief be renowned for a splendid mustache, as for a splendid drae, to posterity so universally celebrated as the poet Vavona, ever passed through the crowd unobserved; who deride the very thunder forsuch a noise in Mardi, and yet disdain to manifest itself to the eye”
”Wax not so warm, Babbalanja; but tell us, if to his contemporaries Vavona's person was alenius?”