No More Learning

_Abbot_. And why not live and act with other men?

_Man_. Because my nature was averse from life;
And yet not cruel; for I would not make,
But find a desolation. Like the Wind,
The red-hot breath of the most lone Simoom,[158]
Which dwells but in the desert, and sweeps o'er
The barren sands which bear no shrubs to blast, 130
And revels o'er their wild and arid waves,
And seeketh not, so that it is not sought,
But being met is deadly,--such hath been
The course of my existence; but there came
Things in my path which are no more.

_Abbot_. Alas!
I 'gin to fear that thou art past all aid
From me and from my calling; yet so young,
I still would----

_Man_. Look on me! there is an order
Of mortals on the earth, who do become
Old in their youth, and die ere middle age,[159] 140
Without the violence of warlike death;
Some perishing of pleasure--some of study--
Some worn with toil, some of mere weariness,--
Some of disease--and some insanity--
And some of withered, or of broken hearts;
For this last is a malady which slays
More than are numbered in the lists of Fate,
Taking all shapes, and bearing many names.
Look upon me! for even of all these things
Have I partaken; and of all these things, 150
One were enough; then wonder not that I
Am what I am, but that I ever was,
Or having been, that I am still on earth.

_Abbot_. Yet, hear me still--

_Man_. Old man!
I do respect
Thine order, and revere thine years; I deem
Thy purpose pious, but it is in vain:
Think me not churlish; I would spare thyself,
Far more than me, in shunning at this time
All further colloquy--and so--farewell.
[Exit MANFRED.

_Abbot_. This should have been a noble creature: he 160
Hath all the energy which would have made
A goodly frame of glorious elements,
Had they been wisely mingled; as it is,
It is an awful chaos--Light and Darkness--
And mind and dust--and passions and pure thoughts
Mixed, and contending without end or order,--
All dormant or destructive. He will perish--
And yet he must not--I will try once more,
For such are worth redemption; and my duty
Is to dare all things for a righteous end. 170
I'll follow him--but cautiously, though surely.
[Exit ABBOT.


SCENE II. --_Another Chamber_.

MANFRED _and_ HERMAN.

_Her_. My lord, you bade me wait on you at sunset:
He sinks behind the mountain.

_Man_. Doth he so?
I will look on him.
[MANFRED _advances to the Window of the Hall_.