Night came, a
starless
and a moonless gloom.
Shelley
_4125
38.
'Our God may then lull Pestilence to sleep:--
Pile high the pyre of expiation now,
A forest's spoil of boughs, and on the heap
Pour venomous gums, which sullenly and slow,
When touched by flame, shall burn, and melt, and flow, _4130
A stream of clinging fire,--and fix on high
A net of iron, and spread forth below
A couch of snakes, and scorpions, and the fry
Of centipedes and worms, earth's hellish progeny!
39.
'Let Laon and Laone on that pyre, _4135
Linked tight with burning brass, perish! --then pray
That, with this sacrifice, the withering ire
Of Heaven may be appeased. ' He ceased, and they
A space stood silent, as far, far away
The echoes of his voice among them died; _4140
And he knelt down upon the dust, alway
Muttering the curses of his speechless pride,
Whilst shame, and fear, and awe, the armies did divide.
40.
His voice was like a blast that burst the portal
Of fabled hell; and as he spake, each one _4145
Saw gape beneath the chasms of fire immortal,
And Heaven above seemed cloven, where, on a throne
Girt round with storms and shadows, sate alone
Their King and Judge--fear killed in every breast
All natural pity then, a fear unknown _4150
Before, and with an inward fire possessed,
They raged like homeless beasts whom burning woods invest.
41.
'Twas morn. --At noon the public crier went forth,
Proclaiming through the living and the dead,
'The Monarch saith, that his great Empire's worth _4155
Is set on Laon and Laone's head:
He who but one yet living here can lead,
Or who the life from both their hearts can wring,
Shall be the kingdom's heir--a glorious meed!
But he who both alive can hither bring, _4160
The Princess shall espouse, and reign an equal King. '
42.
Ere night the pyre was piled, the net of iron
Was spread above, the fearful couch below;
It overtopped the towers that did environ
That spacious square; for Fear is never slow _4165
To build the thrones of Hate, her mate and foe;
So, she scourged forth the maniac multitude
To rear this pyramid--tottering and slow,
Plague-stricken, foodless, like lean herds pursued
By gadflies, they have piled the heath, and gums, and wood. _4170
43.
Night came, a starless and a moonless gloom.
Until the dawn, those hosts of many a nation
Stood round that pile, as near one lover's tomb
Two gentle sisters mourn their desolation;
And in the silence of that expectation, _4175
Was heard on high the reptiles' hiss and crawl--
It was so deep--save when the devastation
Of the swift pest, with fearful interval,
Marking its path with shrieks, among the crowd would fall.
44.
Morn came,--among those sleepless multitudes, _4180
Madness, and Fear, and Plague, and Famine still
Heaped corpse on corpse, as in autumnal woods
The frosts of many a wind with dead leaves fill
Earth's cold and sullen brooks; in silence, still
The pale survivors stood; ere noon, the fear _4185
Of Hell became a panic, which did kill
Like hunger or disease, with whispers drear,
As 'Hush! hark! Come they yet? --Just Heaven! thine hour is near! '
45.
And Priests rushed through their ranks, some counterfeiting
The rage they did inspire, some mad indeed _4190
With their own lies; they said their god was waiting
To see his enemies writhe, and burn, and bleed,--
And that, till then, the snakes of Hell had need
Of human souls:--three hundred furnaces
Soon blazed through the wide City, where, with speed, _4195
Men brought their infidel kindred to appease
God's wrath, and, while they burned, knelt round on quivering knees.
46.
The noontide sun was darkened with that smoke,
The winds of eve dispersed those ashes gray.
The madness which these rites had lulled, awoke _4200
Again at sunset. --Who shall dare to say
The deeds which night and fear brought forth, or weigh
In balance just the good and evil there?
He might man's deep and searchless heart display,
And cast a light on those dim labyrinths, where _4205
Hope, near imagined chasms, is struggling with despair.
47.
38.
'Our God may then lull Pestilence to sleep:--
Pile high the pyre of expiation now,
A forest's spoil of boughs, and on the heap
Pour venomous gums, which sullenly and slow,
When touched by flame, shall burn, and melt, and flow, _4130
A stream of clinging fire,--and fix on high
A net of iron, and spread forth below
A couch of snakes, and scorpions, and the fry
Of centipedes and worms, earth's hellish progeny!
39.
'Let Laon and Laone on that pyre, _4135
Linked tight with burning brass, perish! --then pray
That, with this sacrifice, the withering ire
Of Heaven may be appeased. ' He ceased, and they
A space stood silent, as far, far away
The echoes of his voice among them died; _4140
And he knelt down upon the dust, alway
Muttering the curses of his speechless pride,
Whilst shame, and fear, and awe, the armies did divide.
40.
His voice was like a blast that burst the portal
Of fabled hell; and as he spake, each one _4145
Saw gape beneath the chasms of fire immortal,
And Heaven above seemed cloven, where, on a throne
Girt round with storms and shadows, sate alone
Their King and Judge--fear killed in every breast
All natural pity then, a fear unknown _4150
Before, and with an inward fire possessed,
They raged like homeless beasts whom burning woods invest.
41.
'Twas morn. --At noon the public crier went forth,
Proclaiming through the living and the dead,
'The Monarch saith, that his great Empire's worth _4155
Is set on Laon and Laone's head:
He who but one yet living here can lead,
Or who the life from both their hearts can wring,
Shall be the kingdom's heir--a glorious meed!
But he who both alive can hither bring, _4160
The Princess shall espouse, and reign an equal King. '
42.
Ere night the pyre was piled, the net of iron
Was spread above, the fearful couch below;
It overtopped the towers that did environ
That spacious square; for Fear is never slow _4165
To build the thrones of Hate, her mate and foe;
So, she scourged forth the maniac multitude
To rear this pyramid--tottering and slow,
Plague-stricken, foodless, like lean herds pursued
By gadflies, they have piled the heath, and gums, and wood. _4170
43.
Night came, a starless and a moonless gloom.
Until the dawn, those hosts of many a nation
Stood round that pile, as near one lover's tomb
Two gentle sisters mourn their desolation;
And in the silence of that expectation, _4175
Was heard on high the reptiles' hiss and crawl--
It was so deep--save when the devastation
Of the swift pest, with fearful interval,
Marking its path with shrieks, among the crowd would fall.
44.
Morn came,--among those sleepless multitudes, _4180
Madness, and Fear, and Plague, and Famine still
Heaped corpse on corpse, as in autumnal woods
The frosts of many a wind with dead leaves fill
Earth's cold and sullen brooks; in silence, still
The pale survivors stood; ere noon, the fear _4185
Of Hell became a panic, which did kill
Like hunger or disease, with whispers drear,
As 'Hush! hark! Come they yet? --Just Heaven! thine hour is near! '
45.
And Priests rushed through their ranks, some counterfeiting
The rage they did inspire, some mad indeed _4190
With their own lies; they said their god was waiting
To see his enemies writhe, and burn, and bleed,--
And that, till then, the snakes of Hell had need
Of human souls:--three hundred furnaces
Soon blazed through the wide City, where, with speed, _4195
Men brought their infidel kindred to appease
God's wrath, and, while they burned, knelt round on quivering knees.
46.
The noontide sun was darkened with that smoke,
The winds of eve dispersed those ashes gray.
The madness which these rites had lulled, awoke _4200
Again at sunset. --Who shall dare to say
The deeds which night and fear brought forth, or weigh
In balance just the good and evil there?
He might man's deep and searchless heart display,
And cast a light on those dim labyrinths, where _4205
Hope, near imagined chasms, is struggling with despair.
47.
