Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
1— Je ferai tout ce que tu voudras, répondit-elle en levant les yeux sur lui par un mouvement timide. — Je ne saurais être ton compagnon, dit Séraphîtüs avec tristesse. Il réprima quelques pensées, étendit les bras vers Christiania, qui se voyait comme un point à l’horizon, et dit : — Vois ! — Nous sommes bien petits, répondit-elle. — Oui, mais nous devenons grands par le sentiment et par l’intelligence, reprit Séraphîtüs. À nous seuls, Minna, commence la connaissance des choses ; le peu que nous apprenons des lois du monde visible nous fait découvrir l’immensité des mondes supérieurs. Je ne sais s’il est temps de te parler ainsi ; mais je voudrais tant te communiquer la flamme de mes espérances ! Peut être serions-nous un jour ensemble, dans le monde où l’amour ne périt pas.
2— Pourquoi pas maintenant et toujours ? dit-elle en murmurant. — Rien n’est stable ici, reprit-il dédaigneusement. Les passagères félicités des amours terrestres sont des lueurs qui trahissent à certaines âmes l’aurore de félicités plus durables, de même que la découverte d’une loi de la nature en fait supposer, à quelques êtres privilégiés, le système entier. Notre fragile bonheur d’ici-bas n’est-il donc point l’attestation d’un autre bonheur complet comme la terre, fragment du monde, atteste le monde ? Nous ne pouvons mesurer l’orbite immense de la pensée divine de laquelle nous ne sommes qu’une parcelle aussi petite que Dieu est grand, mais nous pouvons en pressentir l’étendue, nous agenouiller, adorer, attendre. Les hommes se trompent toujours dans leurs sciences, en ne voyant pas que tout, sur leur globe, est relatif et s’y coordonne à une révolution générale, à une production constante qui nécessairement entraîne un progrès et une fin. L’homme lui-même n’est pas une création finie, sans quoi Dieu ne serait pas !
3— Comment as-tu trouvé le temps d’apprendre tant de choses ? dit la jeune fille. — Je me souviens, répondit-il. — Tu me sembles plus beau que tout ce que je vois. — Nous sommes un des plus grands ouvrages de Dieu. Ne nous a-t-il pas donné la faculté de réfléchir la nature, de la concentrer en nous par la pensée, et de nous en faire un marchepied pour nous élancer vers lui ? Nous nous aimons en raison du plus ou du moins de ciel que contiennent nos âmes. Mais ne sois pas injuste, Minna, vois le spectacle qui s’étale à tes pieds, n’est-il pas grand. À tes pieds, l’Océan se déroule comme un tapis, les montagnes sont comme les murs d’un cirque, l’éther est au-dessus comme le voile arrondi de ce théâtre, et d’ici l’on respire les pensées de Dieu comme un parfum. Vois ? les tempêtes qui brisent des vaisseaux chargés d’hommes ne nous semblent ici que de faibles bouillonnements, et si tu lèves la tête au-dessus de nous, tout est bleu. Voici comme un diadème d’étoiles. Ici, disparaissent les nuances des expressions terrestres. Appuyée sur cette nature subtilisée par l’espace, ne sens-tu point en toi plus de profondeur que d’esprit ? n’as-tu pas plus de grandeur que d’enthousiasme, plus d’énergie que de volonté ? n’éprouves-tu pas des sensations dont l’interprète n’est plus en nous ? Ne te sens-tu pas des ailes ? Prions.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
1from your eyes, as my mind is dependent on yours; then I should have no fear of offending you, since I should but reflect the impulses of your soul, the words of your heart, the light of your light, as we send up to God the meditations by which He feeds our spirit.—I would be wholly you!”’ ‘‘Well, Minna, a constant aspiration is a promise made by the future. Hope on!—Still,- if you would be pure always, unite the thought of the Almighty to your earthly affections. Thus will you love all creatures, and your heart will soar high!”’ ‘‘] will do whatever you desire,’ ’ said she, looking up at him timidly. ] ‘‘T cannot be your companion,’’ said Seraphitus sadly. He suppressed some reflections, raised his arms in the direction of Christiania, which was visible as a speck on the horizon, and said— ‘‘Look!” ‘‘We are indeed smal!,’’ said she. ‘Yes; but we become great by feeling and intellect,”’ said Seraphitus. ‘‘The knowledge of things, Minna, begins with us; the little we know of the laws of the visible world enables us to conceive of the immensity of higher spheres. { know not whether the time is ripe for talking thus to you; but I so long to communicate to you the flame of my hopes! Some day, perhaps, we may meet in the world where love never dies.” ‘‘Why not now and forever?’’ said she in a murmur.
2‘‘Here nothing is permanent!’’ said he in a tone of scorn. ‘‘The transient joys of earthly love are false lights which reveal to some souls the dawn of more durable bliss, just as the discovery of a law of nature enables certain SERAPHITA 27 privileged minds to deduct a whole system. Is not our perishable happiness here below an earnest of some other more perfect happiness, as the earth, a mere fragment of the universe, testifies to the universe? We cannot measure the orbit of the Divine mind, of which we are but atoms as minute as God is great; but we may have our imtuitions of its vastness, we may kneel, adore, and wait. Men are constantly mistaken in their science, not seeing that everything on their globe is relative and subordinate to a general cycle, an incessant productiveness which inevitably involves progress, and an aim. Man himself is not the final creation; if he were, God would not exist.” ‘“‘How have you had time to learn so many things?” said the girl. ‘“‘Phey are memories,’’ replied he. ‘‘To me you are more beautiful than anything I see.”’
3‘*We are one of the greatest works of God. Has He not bestowed on us the faculty of reflecting nature, concentrating it in ourselves by thought, and making it a steppingstone from which to fly to Him? We love each other in proportion to what is heavenly in our souls.—But do not be unjust, Minna; look at the scene displayed at our feet; is it not grand? The ocean lies spread like a floor, the mountains are like the walls of an amphitheatre, the ether above is like the suspended velarium of the theatre, and we can inhale the mind of God as a perfume. ‘Look! the storms that wreck vessels filled with men from hence appear like mere froth; if you look above you all is serene; we see a diadem of stars. The shades of earthly expression are here lost. Thus supported by nature - so attenuated by space, do you not feel your mind to be deep rather than keen? Are you not conscious of more 28 BALZAQC’S WORKS loftiness than enthusiasm, of more energy than will? Have you not feelings to which nothing within us can give utterance? Do you not feel your wings?—Let us pray!”’ Seraphitus knelt, crossing his hands over his bosom, and Minna fell on her knees weeping. Thus they remained for some minutes, and for some minutes the blue halo that quivered in the sky above them spread, and rays of light fell round the unconscious pair. ‘“Why do you not weep when I cannot help it?’’ said Minna in a broken voice. ir “Those who are pure in spirit shed no tears,’’ replied Seraphitus, rising. ‘‘Why should I weep? I no longer see human misery. Here all is good and shines in majesty. Below I hear the supplications and the lament of the harp of suffering, sounding under the hands of the spirit held captive. Here I listen to the concert of harmonious harps. Below, you have hope, the beautiful rudiment of faith; but here faith reigns, the realization of hope!”’ ‘“You can never love me, | am too imperfect; you disdain me,’’ said the girl. ‘‘Minna, the violet hidden at the foot of the oak says to itself, ‘The sun does not love me, he never comes.’—The sun says, ‘If 1 fell on her, that poor little flower would perish!’ Because he is the Hower’s friend he lets his beams steal through the oak leaves, subduing them t& tint the petals of the blossom he loves.—I feel 1 am not sufficiently shrouded, and fear lest you should see me too clearly; you would quail if you knew me too well. Listen; I have no taste for the fruits of the earth; I have understood your joys too well; like the debauched Emperors of Pagan Rome, Iam disgusted with all things, for I have the gift of vision. —Leave me forever,’’ added Seraphitus sorrowfully. SERAPHITA 29 He went away to sit down on a projecting rock, his head drooping on his breast. ‘‘Why thus drive me to despair?’ said Minna.
Our translation, period-faithful. Citable as our translation, never as the source.
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