Le Juif errant. English

  CHAPTER I. THE WANDERING JEW'S CHASTISEMENT.

  'Tis night--the moon is brightly shining, the brilliant stars aresparkling in a sky of melancholy calmness, the shrill whistlings of anortherly wind--cold, bleak, and evil-bearing--are increasing: windingabout, and bursting into violent blasts, with their harsh and hissinggusts, they are sweeping the heights of Montmartre. A man is standingon the very summit of the hill; his lengthened shadow, thrown out bythe moon's pale beams, darkens the rocky ground in the distance. Thetraveller is surveying the huge city lying at his feet--the City ofParis--from whose profundities are cast up its towers, cupolas, domes,and steeples, in the bluish moisture of the horizon; while from the verycentre of this sea of stones is rising a luminous vapor, reddening thestarry azure of the sky above. It is the distant light of a myriadlamps which at night, the season for pleasure, is illuminating the noisycapital.

  "No!" said the traveller, "it will not be. The Lord surely will notsuffer it. Twice is quite enough. Five centuries ago, the avenging handof the Almighty drove me hither from the depths of Asia. A solitarywanderer, I left in my track more mourning, despair, disaster, anddeath, than the innumerable armies of a hundred devastating conquerorscould have produced. I then entered this city, and it was decimated. Twocenturies ago that inexorable hand which led me through the world againconducted me here; and on that occasion, as on the previous one, thatscourge, which at intervals the Almighty binds to my footsteps, ravagedthis city, attacking first my brethren, already wearied by wretchednessand toil. My brethren! through me--the laborer of Jerusalem, cursed bythe Lord, who in my person cursed the race of laborers--a race alwayssuffering, always disinherited, always slaves, who like me, go on, on,on, without rest or intermission, without recompense, or hope; until atlength, women, men, children, and old men, die under their iron yoke ofself-murder, that others in their turn then take up, borne from age toage on their willing but aching shoulders. And here again, for the thirdtime, in the course of five centuries, I have arrived at the summit ofone of the hills which overlooks the city; and perhaps I bringagain with me terror, desolation, and death. And this unhappy city,intoxicated in a whirl of joys, and nocturnal revelries, knows nothingabout it--oh! it knows not that I am at its very gate. But no! no! mypresence will not be a source of fresh calamity to it. The Lord, inHis unsearchable wisdom, has brought me hither across France, making meavoid on my route all but the humblest villages, so that no increaseof the funeral knell has, marked my journey. And then, moreover, thespectre has left me--that spectre, livid and green, with its deepbloodshot eyes. When I touched the soil of France, its moist and icyhand abandoned mine--it disappeared. And yet I feel the atmosphere ofdeath surrounding me still. There is no cessation; the biting gustsof this sinister wind, which envelop me in their breath, seem by theirenvenomed breath to propagate the scourge. Doubtless the anger of theLord is appeased. Maybe, my presence here is meant only as a threat,intending to bring those to their senses whom it ought to intimidate. Itmust be so; for were it otherwise, it would, on the contrary, strike aloud-sounding blow of greater terror, casting at once dread and deathinto the very heart of the country, into the bosom of this immense city.Oh, no! no! the Lord will have mercy; He will not condemn me to this newaffliction. Alas! in this city my brethren are more numerous and morewretched than in any other. And must I bring death to them? No! the Lordwill have mercy; for, alas! the seven descendants of my sister are atlast all united in this city. And must I bring death to them? Death!instead of that immediate assistance they stand so much in need of? Forthat woman who, like myself, wanders from one end of the world into theother, has gone now on her everlasting journey, after having confoundedtheir enemies' plots. In vain did she foretell that great evils stillthreatened those who are akin to me through my sister's blood. Theunseen hand by which I am led, drives that woman away from me, even asthough it were a whirlwind that swept her on. In vain she entreated andimplored at the moment she was leaving those who are so dear to me.--Atleast, 0 Lord, permit me to stay until I shall have finished my task!Onward! A few days, for mercy's sake, only a few days! Onward! I leavethese whom I am protecting on the very brink of an abyss! Onward!Onward!! And the wandering star is launched afresh on its perpetualcourse. But her voice traversed through space, calling me to theassistance of my own! When her voice reached me I felt that theoffspring of my sister were still exposed to fearful dangers: thosedangers are still increasing. Oh, say, say, Lord! shall the descendantsof my sister escape those woes which for so many centuries haveoppressed my race? Wilt Thou pardon me in them? Wilt Thou punish mein them? Oh! lead them, that they may obey the last wishes of theirancestor. Guide them, that they may join their charitable hearts, theirpowerful strength, their best wisdom, and their immense wealth, and worktogether for the future happiness of mankind, thereby, perhaps, enabledto ransom me from my eternal penalties. Let those divine words ofthe Son of Man, 'Love ye one another!' be their only aim; and by theassistance of their all-powerful words, let them contend against andvanquish those false priests who have trampled on the precepts of love,of peace, and hope commanded by the Saviour, setting up in their steadthe precepts of hatred, violence, and despair. Those false shepherds,supported ay the powerful and wealthy of the world, who in all timeshave been their accomplices, instead of asking here below a littlehappiness for my brethren, who have been suffering and groaning forcenturies, dare to utter, in Thy name, O Lord! that the poor must alwaysbe doomed to the tortures of this world, and that it is criminal inThine eyes that they should either wish for or hope a mitigation oftheir sufferings on earth, because the happiness of the few and thewretchedness of nearly all mankind is Thine almighty will. Blasphemies!is it not the contrary of these homicidal words that is more worthy ofthe name of Divine will? Hear, me, O Lord! for mercy's sake. Snatch fromtheir enemies the descendants of my sister, from the artisan up tothe king's son. Do not permit them to crush the germ of a mighty andfruitful association, which, perhaps, under Thy protection, may take itsplace among the records of the happiness of mankind. Suffer me, O Lord!to unite those whom they are endeavoring to divide--to defend those whomthey are attacking. Suffer me to bring hope to those from whom hope hasfled, to give courage to those who are weak, to uphold those whom evilthreatens, and to sustain those who would persevere in well-doing. Andthen, perhaps, their struggles, their devotedness, their virtues, thismiseries might expiate my sin. Yes, mine--misfortune, misfortune alone,made me unjust and wicked. O Lord! since Thine almighty hand hathbrought me hither, for some end unknown to me, disarm Thyself, I imploreThee, of Thine anger, and let not me be the instrument of Thy vengeance!There is enough of mourning in the earth these two years past--Thycreatures have fallen by millions in my footsteps. The world isdecimated. A veil of mourning extends from one end of the globe to theother. I have traveled from Asia even to the Frozen Pole, and death hasfollowed in my wake. Dost Thou not hear, O Lord! the universal wailingsthat mount up to Thee? Have mercy upon all, and upon me. One day, grantme but a single day, that I may collect the descendants of my sistertogether, and save them!" And uttering these words, the wanderer fellupon his knees, and raised his hands to heaven in a suppliant attitude.

  Suddenly, the wind howled with redoubled violence; its sharp whistlingschanged to a tempest. The Wanderer trembled, and exclaimed in a voice ofterror, "O Lord! the blast of death is howling in its rage. It appearsas though a whirlwind were lifting me up. Lord, wilt Thou not, then,hear my prayer? The spectre! O! do I behold the spectre? Yes, there itis; its cadaverous countenance is agitated by convulsive throes, its redeyes are rolling in their orbits. Begone! begone! Oh! its hand--its icyhand has seized on mine! Mercy, Lord, have mercy! 'Onward!' Oh, Lord!this scourge, this terrible avenging scourge! Must I, then, again carryit into this city, must my poor wretched brethren be the first to fallunder it--though already so miserable? Mercy, mercy! 'Onward!' And thedescendants of my sister--oh, pray, have mercy, mercy! 'Onward!' O Lord,have pity on me! I can no longer keep my footing on the ground, thespectre is dragg
ing me over the brow of the hill; my course is as rapidas the death-bearing wind that whistles in my track; I already approachthe walls of the city. Oh, mercy, Lord, mercy on the descendants of mysister--spare them! do not compel me to be their executioner, and letthem triumph over their enemies. Onward, onward! The ground is fleeingfrom under me; I am already at the city gate; oh, yet, Lord, yet thereis time; oh, have mercy on this slumbering city, that it may not evennow awaken with the lamentations of terror, of despair and death! OLord, I touch the threshold of the gate; verily Thou willest it sothen. 'Tis done--Paris! the scourge is in thy bosom! oh, cursed, cursedevermore am I. Onward! on! on!"(34)

  (34) In 1346, the celebrated Black Death ravaged the earth, presentingthe same symptoms as the cholera, and the same inexplicable phenomena asto its progress and the results in its route. In 1660 a similar epidemicdecimated the world. It is well known that when the cholera first brokeout in Paris, it had taken a wide and unaccountable leap; and, alsomemorable, a north-east wind prevailed during its utmost fierceness.