登陆注册
15678200000041

第41章

Les Intelligences Celestes se font voir, et see communiquent plus volontiers, dans le silence et dans la tranquillite de la solitude.On aura donc une petite chambre ou un cabinet secret, etc.

"Les Clavicules de Rabbi Salomon," chapter 3; traduites exactement du texte Hebreu par M.Pierre Morissoneau, Professeur des Langues Orientales, et Sectateur de la Philosophie des Sages Cabalistes.(Manuscript Translation.)(The Celestial Intelligences exhibit and explain themselves most freely in silence and the tranquillity of solitude.One will have then a little chamber, or a secret cabinet, etc.)The palace retained by Zanoni was in one of the less frequented quarters of the city.It still stands, now ruined and dismantled, a monument of the splendour of a chivalry long since vanished from Naples, with the lordly races of the Norman and the Spaniard.

As he entered the rooms reserved for his private hours, two Indians, in the dress of their country, received him at the threshold with the grave salutations of the East.They had accompanied him from the far lands in which, according to rumour, he had for many years fixed his home.But they could communicate nothing to gratify curiosity or justify suspicion.They spoke no language but their own.With the exception of these two his princely retinue was composed of the native hirelings of the city, whom his lavish but imperious generosity made the implicit creatures of his will.In his house, and in his habits, so far as they were seen, there was nothing to account for the rumours which were circulated abroad.He was not, as we are told of Albertus Magnus or the great Leonardo da Vinci, served by airy forms; and no brazen image, the invention of magic mechanism, communicated to him the influences of the stars.None of the apparatus of the alchemist--the crucible and the metals--gave solemnity to his chambers, or accounted for his wealth; nor did he even seem to interest himself in those serener studies which might be supposed to colour his peculiar conversation with abstract notions, and often with recondite learning.No books spoke to him in his solitude; and if ever he had drawn from them his knowledge, it seemed now that the only page he read was the wide one of Nature, and that a capacious and startling memory supplied the rest.Yet was there one exception to what in all else seemed customary and commonplace, and which, according to the authority we have prefixed to this chapter, might indicate the follower of the occult sciences.Whether at Rome or Naples, or, in fact, wherever his abode, he selected one room remote from the rest of the house, which was fastened by a lock scarcely larger than the seal of a ring, yet which sufficed to baffle the most cunning instruments of the locksmith: at least, one of his servants, prompted by irresistible curiosity, had made the attempt in vain; and though he had fancied it was tried in the most favourable time for secrecy,--not a soul near, in the dead of night, Zanoni himself absent from home,--yet his superstition, or his conscience, told him the reason why the next day the Major Domo quietly dismissed him.He compensated himself for this misfortune by spreading his own story, with a thousand amusing exaggerations.He declared that, as he approached the door, invisible hands seemed to pluck him away; and that when he touched the lock, he was struck, as by a palsy, to the ground.

One surgeon, who heard the tale, observed, to the distaste of the wonder-mongers, that possibly Zanoni made a dexterous use of electricity.Howbeit, this room, once so secured, was never entered save by Zanoni himself.

The solemn voice of Time, from the neighbouring church at last aroused the lord of the palace from the deep and motionless reverie, rather resembling a trance than thought, in which his mind was absorbed.

"It is one more sand out of the mighty hour-glass," said he, murmuringly, "and yet time neither adds to, nor steals from, an atom in the Infinite! Soul of mine, the luminous, the Augoeides (Augoeides,--a word favoured by the mystical Platonists, sphaira psuches augoeides, otan mete ekteinetai epi ti, mete eso suntreche mete sunizane, alla photi lampetai, o ten aletheian opa ten panton, kai ten en aute.--Marc.Ant., lib.2.--The sense of which beautiful sentence of the old philosophy, which, as Bayle well observes, in his article on Cornelius Agrippa, the modern Quietists have (however impotently) sought to imitate, is to the effect that "the sphere of the soul is luminous when nothing external has contact with the soul itself; but when lit by its own light, it sees the truth of all things and the truth centred in itself."), why descendest thou from thy sphere,--why from the eternal, starlike, and passionless Serene, shrinkest thou back to the mists of the dark sarcophagus? How long, too austerely taught that companionship with the things that die brings with it but sorrow in its sweetness, hast thou dwelt contented with thy majestic solitude?"As he thus murmured, one of the earliest birds that salute the dawn broke into sudden song from amidst the orange-trees in the garden below his casement; and as suddenly, song answered song;the mate, awakened at the note, gave back its happy answer to the bird.He listened; and not the soul he had questioned, but the heart replied.He rose, and with restless strides paced the narrow floor."Away from this world!" he exclaimed at length, with an impatient tone."Can no time loosen its fatal ties? As the attraction that holds the earth in space, is the attraction that fixes the soul to earth.Away from the dark grey planet!

Break, ye fetters: arise, ye wings!"

He passed through the silent galleries, and up the lofty stairs, and entered the secret chamber.

...

同类推荐
  • 六十种曲鸾鎞记

    六十种曲鸾鎞记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 辩正论

    辩正论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • The Village Rector

    The Village Rector

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • The Kentons

    The Kentons

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 云中纪变

    云中纪变

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 我是主角我怕谁

    我是主角我怕谁

    主角不是天生的,主角是贾珠珏一路坎坷修炼而成的死亡穿越的贾珠珏来到了光环大陆,没钱没权没资质的他机缘巧合来到了一所培养主角的奇葩学院这里不交给你威力强绝的魔法、斗气,也不交给你旷古掘金的谋略、兵法,这里只交给你如何去成为一个时代的主角没有资质没关系,交你如何修炼而出;没有颜值没关系,交给你如何修炼而出;没有运气没关系,交给你如何修炼而出……就这样,贾珠珏成了真正的主角,开始了统一人族,挥师北上,教化异族,创造神话,进而揭开了宇宙深处一场惊天的大秘密!
  • 壁咚不停:空姐也疯狂

    壁咚不停:空姐也疯狂

    初遇夏淙默时,任小陌泼了他一脸芒果汁。再遇见他,她被他给缠上了。“任小陌,我爱你!”机场的LED屏上,是他霸气的宣言。“任小陌,这是我亲手为你做的饭菜,直升机空运来的,快趁热吃。”“任小陌,999朵玫瑰花代表我的心!”“任小陌,这是我的房产证银行卡股票证券,嫁给我吧!”任小陌望着眼前嬉皮笑脸的男人,千言万语汇成一句话:“滚!不约!”“那就不要怪我使出终极杀手锏了!”男人表情庄重肃穆,步步逼近。任小陌一步步退到墙根,“你,你干嘛?”“我有祖传的染色体想要送给你,你会喜欢的。”任小陌绝望地失声大喊:“夏淙默,你个王八蛋!流氓!无赖!”可是,我爱你……这句话,她决定暂时还是不要说了,避免某人傲娇!
  • 超级零工

    超级零工

    打零工的胖子得到史前文明传承神器,需要什么会什么,无论武术、医术、艺术、技术还是高科技想到就能会。他拯救美女,拯救企业,走上了专治各种不服的嚣张道路,然而,嚣张的生活却只是开始……
  • 农家嫡长姐

    农家嫡长姐

    上一世,被爷爷指定为星月集团唯一继承人,她上斗继母亲爹,下防小人,终于一切已成定局,却死在给爷爷祝寿的路上。这一世,未婚夫被征兵,战死沙场。爷奶不疼,叔婶欺凌,爹爹愚孝,爷奶还要给爹爹纳妾,看着哭成兔子眼的包子娘亲,瘦弱的妹妹,痴傻的弟弟,娘亲,带着我们和离吧!以后心月养你们.....可是这半路杀出的圣武将军为啥叫我娘子!季清朗......谁是你娘子,白心月极度咆哮抓狂.........
  • 胤禛二十七年历史版

    胤禛二十七年历史版

    请支持新作《南北乱世之倾国权臣——高澄传》从康熙四十七年到雍正十三年,胤禛所经历的每一件事,他身边的每一个人,他的喜怒哀乐,在这部长篇中都得到了淋漓尽致的诠释。胤禛是这部小说的绝对主角,给你展示不同侧面的雍正皇帝:八面玲珑夺储位的胤禛,力挽狂澜挫群雄的胤禛,叱咤风云平天下的胤禛,铁腕无情雷霆怒的胤禛,情到深处不能自持的胤禛,温柔如水教人醉的胤禛……
  • 朱雀超人

    朱雀超人

    南山南,北海北,南山有谷堆。南风喃,北海悲,北海有墓碑。一个少年背着竹篓,从南走到北,又从北走到南,一路上遇见了很多人。“上帝赐予我的,同样赐予你!”“全东南亚都知道我短笛哥!”“那些杀不死你的东西,只会让你更强大!”“我已经过时了吗?”“上吧。你已经被强化了!”“这个世界需要英雄!”“其实,我只是想做个厨子。”他呢喃着,背起竹篓,继续前行,没有什么能够阻止我们,这个世界需要英雄,更需要你!
  • 雪无泪

    雪无泪

    雪无泪,魔族皇室之女,出生时大雪下了三天三夜,落地不哭反而笑,震惊整个魔族上下,族人纷纷想起当年巡大人临终的预言,不久,又一位百年不遇的天才少女降生,两个人一个魔族皇室之女,一个百年不遇的天才,又是女孩,难免族中人比较,小时,两人关系好,可却因家族比较关系越来越淡,6岁,两人一个封为雪护法,一个封为熏护法,竞争更为激烈!距离也越来越远,两个人友谊将何去何从?一日,雪儿在蓝矕山颠救下北辰筠,北辰筠留下雀翎作为日后相认的标志,哪知在他走后雪儿随手一扔,正好被西门熏捡去,后来雪无泪突然失踪,究竟何人所害,五年后,她的翩然归来,魔族又究竟有怎样翻天覆雨的变化!
  • 英雄联盟之超级抽奖系统

    英雄联盟之超级抽奖系统

    原本只有青铜段位实力的英雄联盟玩家李淼,无意中获得了一个作弊器,一个关于英雄联盟的作弊器,自此以后,李淼的人生被改变了,成为最强王者,赢娶白富美,带领全华的队友们,战胜一个个强敌,站在了世界舞台上,一个个巅峰等待他们攀登,这一次,给观众们带来的不再是无尽的哀叹,抱怨,和咒骂,而是真正地荣耀!
  • 伤寒证治准绳

    伤寒证治准绳

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • Lazarillo of Tormes

    Lazarillo of Tormes

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。