Part I

(_Lucilius Talks at a Feast Given to Aristocrates in Rome_)

B.C. 20

How shall I write this out? I do not write. Talk to you? Yes, and tell of Antony, And how I knew him. There at Philippi I let myself be captured, so to give Time to escape to Brutus--made pretense That I was Brutus, and so Brutus flies And I am captured. Antony forgives me, And to his death I was his faithful friend. Well, after Actium, in Africa, He roamed with no companions but us two, Our friend Aristocrates, here, myself, And fed upon his bitter heart. Our guest Nods truth to what I say, he knows it all. And after certain days in solitude He seeks his Cleopatra. As for her, She was the sovereign queen of many nations; Yet that she might be with her Antony, Live with him and enjoy him, did not shun The name of mistress, and let Fulvia keep Her wifehood without envy. As for him, A lover’s soul lives in the loved one’s body, And where bode Cleopatra, there his soul Lived only, though his feet of flesh pursued The Parthian, or Cæsar’s hateful heir.... And if this Antony would wreathe his spear With ivy like a thyrsus; from the chamber Of his beloved rush to battle, helmet Smelling of unguents and of Egypt; leave Great action and great enterprise to play Along the seashore of Canopus with her; And fly the combat, not as Paris did, Already beaten, with lift sail, desert The victory that was his, yet true it is His rank, his eloquence, his liberal blood, His interest in all grades and breeds of men, His pity and his kindness to the sick, His generous sympathies, stamped Antony A giant in this dusty, roaring place Which we call earth. Who ruined Antony? Why, Brutus! For he gave to Antony The truth of which the Queen of Egypt stood As proof in the flesh:--Beauty and Life. His heart Was apt to see her for mad days in Rome, And soul created sateless for the cup Of ecstasy in living. On a day Myself and Aristocrates and Antony, We two companioning him in Africa, Wandering in solitary places, Antony Brooding on Actium, and the love that kept His soul with Cleopatra, up he speaks, And asks us if we knew what Brutus said, While nearing death, to Cassius. “No,” we said. And Antony began to tell of Brutus:-- How all his life was spent in study, how He starved his body, slept but briefly, cut His hours of sleep by practice; fixed his thought On virtue and on glory; made himself A zealot of one purpose: liberty; A spirit as of a beast that knows one thing: Its food and how to get it; over its spirit No heaven keeps of changing light; no stars Of wandering thought; no moons that charm Still groves by singing waters, and no suns Of large illumination, showing life As multiform and fathomless, filled with wings Of various truth, each true as other truth. This was that Brutus, made an asp by thought And nature, to be used by envious hands And placed to Cæsar’s breast. So Antony Discoursed upon our walk, and capped it off With Brutus’ words when dying. They were these: “O virtue, miserable virtue, bawd and cheat; Thou wert a bare word and I followed thee As if thou hadst been real. But even as evil, Lust, ignorance, thou wert the plaything too Of fortune and of chance.” So Antony Consoled himself with Brutus, sighed and lapsed To silence; thinking, as we deemed, of life And what it yet could be, and how ’twould end; And how to join his Cleopatra, what The days would hold amid the toppling walls Of Rome in demolition, now the hand Of Cæsar rotted, and no longer stayed The picks and catapults of an idiot world! So, as it seemed, he would excuse himself For Actium and his way in life. For soon He speaks again, of Theophrastus now, Who lived a hundred years, spent all his life In study and in writing, brought to death By labor; dying lay encompassed by Two thousand followers, disciples, preachers Of what he taught; and dying was penitent For glory, even as Brutus was penitent For virtue later. And so Antony Spoke Theophrastus’ dying words, and told How Theophrastus by a follower Asked for a last commandment, spoke these words: “There is none. But ’tis folly to cast away Pleasure for glory! And no love is worse Than love of glory. Look upon my life:-- Its toil and hard denial! To what end? Therefore live happy; study, if you must, For fame and happiness. Life’s vanity Exceeds its usefulness.” So speaking thus Wise Theophrastus died. Now I have said That Brutus ruined Antony. So he did, If Antony were ruined--that’s the question. For Antony hearing Brutus say, “O virtue, Miserable virtue, bawd and cheat,” and seeing The eyes of Brutus stare in death, threw over him A scarlet mantle, and took to his heart The dying words of Brutus.

It is true That Cicero said Antony as a youth Was odious for drinking-bouts, amours, For bacchanals, luxurious life, and true When as triumvir, after Cæsar’s death, He kept the house of Pompey, where he lived, Filled up with jugglers, drunkards, flatterers. All this before the death of Brutus, or His love for Cleopatra. But it’s true He was great Cæsar’s colleague. Cæsar dead, This Antony is chief ruler of all Rome, And wars in Greece, and Asia. So it’s true He was not wholly given to the cup, But knew fatigue and battle, hunger too, Living on roots in Parthia. Yet, you see, With Cæsar slaughtered in the capitol, His friend, almost his god; and Brutus gasping “O miserable virtue”; and the feet of men From Syria to Hispania, slipping off The world that broke in pieces, like an island Falling apart beneath a heaving tide-- Whence from its flocculent fragment wretches leap-- You see it was no wonder for this Antony, Made what he was by nature and by life, In such a time and fate of the drifting world, To turn to Cleopatra, and leave war And rulership to languish. Thus it was: Cæsar is slaughtered, Antony must avenge The death of Cæsar. Brutus is brought to death, And dying scoffs at virtue which took off In Brutus’ hand the sovran life of Cæsar. And soon our Antony must fight against The recreant hordes of Asia, finding here His Cleopatra for coadjutor.... He’s forty-two and ripe. She’s twenty-eight, Fruit fresh and blushing, most mature and rich; Her voice an instrument of many strings That yielded laughter, wisdom, folly, song, And tales of many lands, in Arabic, And Hebrew, Syriac and Parthiac. She spoke the language of the troglodytes, The Medes and others. And when Antony Sent for her in Cilicia, she took time, Ignored his orders, leisurely at last Sailed up the Cydnus in a barge whose stern Was gilded, and with purple sails. Returned His dining invitation with her own, And bent his will to hers. He went to her, And found a banquet richer than his largess Could give her. For while feasting, branches sunk Around them, budding lights in squares and circles, And lighted up their heaven, as with stars. She found him broad and gross, but joined her taste To him in this. And then their love began. And while his Fulvia kept his quarrels alive With force of arms in Rome on Octavianus, And while the Parthian threatened Syria, He lets the Queen of Egypt take him off To Alexandria, where he joins with her The Inimitable Livers; and in holiday Plays like a boy and riots, while great Brutus Is rotting in the earth for Virtue’s sake; And Theophrastus for three hundred years Has changed from dust to grass, and grass to dust! And Cleopatra’s kitchen groans with food. Eight boars are roasted whole--though only twelve Of these Inimitable Livers, with the Queen And Antony are to eat--that every dish May be served up just roasted to a turn. And who knows when Marc Antony may sup? Perhaps this hour, perhaps another hour, Perhaps this minute he may call for wine, Or start to talk with Cleopatra; fish-- For fish they did together. On a day They fished together, and his luck was ill, And so he ordered fishermen to dive And put upon his hook fish caught before. And Cleopatra feigned to be deceived, And shouted out his luck. Next day invited The Inimitable Livers down to see him fish, Whereat she had a diver fix his hook With a salted fish from Pontus. Antony Drew up amid their laughter. Then she said: “Sweet Antony, leave us poor sovereigns here, Of Pharos and Canopus, to the rod; Your game is cities, provinces and kingdoms.” Were Antony serious, or disposed to mirth? She had some new delight. She diced with him, Drank with him, hunted with him. When he went To exercise in arms, she sat to see. At night she rambled with him in the streets, Dressed like a servant-woman, making mischief At people’s doors. And Antony disguised Got scurvy answers, beatings from the folk, Tormented in their houses. So it went Till Actium. She loved him, let him be By day nor night alone, at every turn Was with him and upon him.

Well, this life Was neither virtue, glory, fame, nor study, But it was life, and life that did not slay A Cæsar for a word like Liberty. And it was life, its essence nor changed nor lost By Actium, where his soul shot forth to her As from a catapult a stone is cast, Seeing her lift her sixty sails and fly. His soul lived in her body as ’twere born A part of her, and whithersoever she went There followed he. And all their life together Was what it was, a rapture, justified By its essential honey of realest blossoms, In spite of anguished shame. When hauled aboard The ship of Cleopatra, he sat down And with his two hands covered up his face! Brutus had penitence at Philippi For virtue which befooled him. Antony Remorse and terror there at Actium Deserting with his queen, for love that made His body not his own, as Brutus’ will Was subject to the magic of a word.... For what is Virtue, what is Love? At least We know their dire effects, that both befool, Betray, destroy.

The Queen and Antony Had joined the Inimitable Livers, now they joined The Diers Together. They had kept how oft The Festival of Flagons, now to keep The Ritual of Passing Life was theirs. But first they suffered anger with each other While on her ship, till touching Tenarus When they were brought to speak by women friends, At last to eat and sleep together. Yet Poison had fallen on their leaves, which stripped Their greenness to the stalk, as you shall see.... Here to make clear what flight of Antony meant, For cause how base or natural, let me say That Actium’s battle had not been a loss To Antony and his honor, if Canidius, Commanding under Antony, had not flown In imitation of his chief; the soldiers Fought desperately in hope that Antony Would come again and lead them.

So it was He touched, with Cleopatra, Africa, And sent her into Egypt; and with us, Myself and Aristocrates, walked and brooded In solitary places, as I said. But when he came to Alexandria He finds his Cleopatra dragging her fleet Over the land space which divides the sea Near Egypt from the Red Sea, so to float Her fleet in the Arabian Gulf, and there, Somewhere upon earth’s other side, to find A home secure from war and slavery. She failed in this; but Antony leaves the city, And leaves his queen, plays Timon, builds a house Near Pharos on a little mole; lives here Until he hears all princes and all kings Desert him in the realm of Rome; which news Brings gladness to him, for hope put away, And cares slipped off. Then leaving Timoneum,-- For such he named his dwelling there near Pharos-- He goes to Cleopatra, is received, And sets the city feasting once again. The order of Inimitable Livers breaks, And forms the Diers Together in its place. And all who banquet with them, take the oath To die with Antony and Cleopatra, Observing her preoccupation with Drugs poisonous and creatures venomous. And thus their feast of flagons and of love In many courses riotously consumed Awaits the radiate liquor dazzling through Their unimagined terror, like the rays Shot from the bright eyes of the cockatrice, Crackling for poison in the crystal served By fleshless hands! A skeleton steward soon Will pass the liquer to them; they will drink, And leave no message, no commandment either-- As Theophrastus was reluctant to-- Denied disciples; for Inimitable Livers Raise up no followers, create no faith, No cult or sect. Joy has his special wisdom, Which dies with him who learned it, does not fire Mad bosoms like your Virtue.

I must note The proffered favors, honors of young Cæsar To Cleopatra, if she’d put to death Her Antony; and Antony’s jealousy, Aroused by Thyrsus, messenger of Cæsar, Whom Cleopatra gave long audiences, And special courtesies; seized, whipped at last By Antony, sent back to Cæsar. Yet The queen was faithful. When her birth-day came She kept it suitable to her fallen state, But all the while paying her Antony love, And honor, kept his birth-day with such richness That guests who came in want departed rich ...

Wine, weariness, much living, early age Made fall for Antony. October’s clouds In man’s life, like October, have no sun To lift the mists of doubt, distortion, fear. Faces, events, and wills around us show Malformed, or ugly, changed from what they were. And when his troops desert him in the city To Cæsar, Antony cries out, the queen, His Cleopatra, has betrayed him. She In terror seeks her monument, sends word That she is dead. And Antony believes And says delay no longer, stabs himself, Is hauled up dying to the arms of her, Where midst her frantic wailings he expires! Kings and commanders begged of Cæsar grace To give this Antony his funeral rites. But Cæsar left the body with the queen Who buried it with royal pomp and splendor. Thus died at fifty-six Marc Antony, And Cleopatra followed him with poison, The asp or hollow bodkin, having lived To thirty-nine, and reigned with Antony As partner in the empire fourteen years ...

Who in a time to come will gorge and drink, Filch treasure that it may be spent for wine, Kill as Marc Antony did, war as he did, Because Marc Antony did so, taking him As warrant and exemplar? Why, never a soul! These things are done by souls who do not think, But act from feeling. But those mad for stars Glimpsed in wild waters or through mountain mists Seen ruddy and portentous will take Brutus As inspiration, since for Virtue’s sake And for the good of Rome he killed his friend; And in the act made Liberty as far From things of self, as murder is apart From friendship and its ways. Yes, Brutus lives To fire the mad-men of the centuries As Cæsar lives to guide new tyrants. Yet Tyrannicide but snips the serpent’s head. The body of a rotten state still writhes And wriggles though the head is gone, or worse, Festers and stinks against the setting sun....

Marc Antony lived happier than Brutus And left the old world happier for his life Than Brutus left it.

AT THE MERMAID TAVERN

(_April 10th, 1613_)

(LIONARD DIGGES _is speaking_)

Yes, so I said: ’twas labored “Cataline” Insufferable for learning, tedious. And so I said: the audience was kept There at the Globe twelve years ago to hear: “It is no matter; let no images Be hung with Cæsar’s trophies.”

And to-day They played his Julius Cæsar at the Court. I saw it at the Globe twelve years ago, A gala day! The flag over the Theatre Fluttered the April breeze and I was thrilled. And look what wherries crossed the Thames with freight Of hearts expectant for the theatre. For all the town was posted with the news Of Shakespeare’s “Julius Cæsar.” So we paid Our six-pence, entered, all the house was full. And dignitaries, favored ones had seats Behind the curtain on the stage. At last The trumpet blares, the curtains part, Marullus And Flavius enter, scold the idiot mob And we sat ravished, listening to the close.

We knew he pondered manuscripts, forever Was busy with his work, no rest, no pause. Often I saw him leave the theatre And cross the Thames where in a little room He opened up his Plutarch. What was that? A fertilizing sun, a morning light Of bursting April! What was he? The earth That under such a sun put forth and grew, Showed all his valleys, mountain peaks and fields, Brought forth the forests of his cosmic soul, The coppice, jungle, blossoms good and bad. A world of growth, creation! This the work, Precedent force of Thomas North, his work In causal link the Bishop of Auxerre, And so it goes.

But others tried their hand At Julius Cæsar, witness “Cæsar’s Fall” Which Drayton, Webster, others wrote. And look At Jonson’s “Cataline,” that labored thing, Dug out of Plutarch, Cicero. Go read, Then read this play of Shakespeare’s.

I recall What came to me to see this, scene by scene, Unroll beneath my eyes. ’Twas like a scroll Lettered in gold and purple where one theme In firmest sequence, precious artistry Is charactered, and all the sound and sense, And every clause and strophe ministers To one perfection. So it was we sat Until the scroll lay open at our feet: “According to his virtue, let us use him With all respect and rites of burial,” Then gasped for breath! The play’s a miracle! This world has had one Cæsar and one Shakespeare, And with their birth is shrunk, can only bear Less vital spirits.

For what did he do There in that room with Plutarch? First his mind Was ready with the very moulds of nature. And then his spirit blazing like the sun Smelted the gold from Plutarch, till it flowed Molten and dazzling in these moulds of his. And lo! he sets up figures for our view That blind the understanding till you close Eyes to reflect, and by their closing see What has been done. O, well I could go on And show how Jonson makes homonculus, And Shakespeare gets with child, conceives and bears Beauty of flesh and blood. Or I could say Jonson lays scholar’s hands upon a trait, Ambition, let us say, as if a man Were peak and nothing else thrust to the sky By blasting fires of earth, just peak alone, No slopes, no valleys, pines, or sunny brooks, No rivers winding at the base, no fields, No songsters, foxes, nothing but the peak. But Shakespeare shows the field-mice and the cricket, The louse upon the leaf, all things that live In every mountain which his soaring light Takes cognizance; by which I mean to say Shows not ambition only, that’s the peak, But mice-moods, cricket passions in the man; How he can sing, or whine, or growl, or hiss, Be bird, fox, wolf, be eagle or be snake. And so this “Julius Cæsar” paints the mob That stinks and howls, a woman in complaint Most feminine shut from her husband’s secrets; Paints envy, paints the demagogue, in brief, Paints Cæsar till we lose respect for Cæsar. For there he stands in verity, it seems, A tyrant, coward, braggart, aging man, A stale voluptuary shoved about And stabbed most righteously by patriots To avenge the fall of Rome!

Now I have said Enough to give me warrant to say this: This play of Shakespeare fails, is an abuse Upon the memory of the greatest man That ever trod this earth. And Shakespeare failed By just so much as he might have achieved Surpassing triumph had he made the play Cæsar instead of Brutus, had he shown A sovereign will and genius struck to earth With loss irreparable to Time and ruin To Cæsar’s dreams; struck evilly to death By a mad enthusiast, a brutal stoic, In whom all gratitude was tricked aside By just a word, the word of Liberty. Or might I also say the man had envy Of Cæsar’s greatness, or might it be true Brutus took edge for hatred with the thought That Brutus’ sister flamed with love for Cæsar? But who was Brutus, by the largest word That comes to us that he should be exalted, Forefronted in this play, and warrant given To madmen down the ages to repeat This act of Brutus’, con the golden words Of Shakespeare as he puts them in his mouth: “Not that I loved him less, but loved Rome more. He was ambitious so I slew him. Tears For his love, joy for his fortune, honor for valor, Death for ambition. Would you die all slaves That Cæsar might still live, or live free men With Cæsar dead?”

And so it is the echo Of Cæsar’s fall is cried to by this voice Of Shakespeare’s and increased, to travel forth, To fool the ages and to madden men With thunder in the hills of time to deeds As horrible as this.

Did Shakespeare know The worth of Cæsar, that we may impute Fault for this cartoon--caricature? Why look, Did he not write the “mightiest Julius,” write “The foremost man of all the world,” “the conqueror Whom death could conquer not,” make Cleopatra, The pearl of all the east, say she was glad That Cæsar wore her on his hand? He knew What Cæsar’s greatness was! Yet what have we? A Cæsar with the falling sickness, deaf, Who faints upon the offering of the crown; Who envies Cassius stronger arms in swimming, When it is known that Cæsar swam the Tiber, Being more than fifty; pompous, superstitious, Boasting his will, but flagging in the act; Greedy of praise, incautious, unalert To dangers seen of all; a lust incarnate Of power and rulership; a Cæsar smashing A great republic like a criminal, A republic which had lived except for him.

So what was Rome when Cæsar took control? All wealth and power concentered in the few; A coterie of the rich who lived in splendor; A working class that lived on doles of corn And hordes of slaves from Asia, Africa, Who plotted murders in the dark purlieus; The provinces were drained to feed the rich; The city ruled by bribery, and corruption; Armed gladiators sold their services. And battled in the Forum; magistrates Were freely scoffed at, consuls were attacked; And orators spat in each other’s faces When reason failed them speaking in the Forum; No man of prominence went on the streets Without his hired gladiators, slaves. The streets were unpoliced, no fire brigade, Safe-guarded property. Domestic life Was rotten at the heart, and vice was taught. Divorce was rife and even holy Cato Put by his wife.

And this was the republic That Cæsar took; and not the lovely state Ordered and prospered, which ambitious Cæsar, As Shakespeare paints him, over-whelmed. For Cæsar Could execute the vision that the people Deserve not what they want, but otherwise What they should want, and in that mind was king And emperor.

And what was here for Shakespeare To love and manifest by art, who hated The Puritan, the mob? Colossus Cæsar, Whose harmony of mind took deep offense At ugliness, disharmony! See the man: Of body perfect and of rugged health, Of graceful carriage, fashion, bold of eye, A swordsman, horseman, and a general Not less than Alexander; orator Who rivalled Cicero, a man of charm, Of wit and humor, versed in books as well; Who at one time could dictate, read and write, Composing grammars as he rode to war, Amid distractions, dangers, battles, writing Great commentaries. Yes, he is the man In whom was mixed the elements that Nature Might say:--this was a man--and not this Brutus.

Look at his camp, wherever pitched in Gaul, Thronged by young poets, thinkers, scholars, wits, And headed by this Cæsar, who when arms Are resting from the battle, makes reports Of all that’s said and done to Cicero. Here is a man large minded and sincere, Active, a lover, conscious of his place, Knowing his power, no reverence for the past, Save what the past deserved, who made the task What could be done and did it--seized the power Of rulership and did not put it by As Shakespeare clothes him with pretence of doing. For what was kingship to him? empty name! He who had mastered Asia, Africa, Egypt, Hispania, after twenty years Of cyclic dreams and labor--king indeed! A name! when sovereign power was nothing new. He’s fifty-six, and knows the human breed, Sees man as body hiding a canal For passing food along, a little brain That watches, loves, attends the said canal. He’s been imperator at least two years-- King in good sooth! He knows he is not valued, That he’s misprized and hated, is compelled To use whom he distrusts, despises too. Why, what was life to him with such contempt Of all this dirty world, this eagle set Amid a flock of vultures, cow-birds, bats? His ladder was not lowliness, but genius. Read of his capture in Bithynia, When he was just a stripling by Cilician Pirates whom he treated like his slaves, And told them to their face when he was ransomed He’d have them crucified. He did it, too. His ransom came at last, he was released, And set to work at once to keep his word; Fitted some ships out, captured every one And crucified them all at Pergamos. Not lowliness his ladder, but the strength That steps on shoulders, fit for steps alone. So on this top-most rung he did not scan The base degrees by which he did ascend, But sickened rather at a world whose heights Are not worth reaching. So it was he went Unarmed and unprotected to the Senate, Knowing that death is noble, being nature, And scorning fear. Why, he had lived enough. The night before he dined with Lepidus, To whom he said the death that is not seen, Is not expected, is the best. But look, Here in this play he’s shown a weak old man, Propped up with stays and royal robes, to amble, Trembling and babbling to his coronation; And to the going, driven by the fear That he would be thought coward if he failed. Who was to think so? Cassius, whom he cowed, And whipped against strong odds, this Brutus, too, There at Pharsalus! Faith, I’d like to know What Francis Bacon thinks of this.

My friend, Seeing the Rome that Cæsar took, we turn To what he did with what he took. This Rome At Cæsar’s birth was governed by the people In name alone, in fact the Senate ruled, And money ruled the Senate. Rank and file Was made of peasants, tradesmen, manumitted Slaves and soldiers--these the populares, Who made our Cæsar’s uncle Marius Chief magistrate six times. This was the party That Cæsar joined and wrought for to the last. He fought the aristocracy all his life. His heart was democratic and his head Patrician--was ambitious from the first, As Shakespeare is ambitious, gifted by The Muses, must work out his vision or Rot down with gifts neglected; so this Cæsar Gifted to rule must rule--but what’s the dream? To use his power for democratic weal, Bring order, justice in a rotten state, And carry on the work of Marius, His democratic uncle. Now behold, He’s fifty when he reaches sovereign power; Few years are left in which he may achieve His democratic ideas, for he sought No gain in power, but chance to do his work, Fulfill his genius. Well, he takes the Senate And breaks its aristocracy, then frees The groaning debtors; reduces the congestion Of stifled Italy, founds colonies, Helps agriculture, executes the laws. Crime skulks before him, luxury he checks. The franchise is enlarged, he codifies The Roman laws, and founds a money system; Collects a library, and takes a census; Reforms the calendar, and thus bestrode The world with work accomplished. Round his legs All other men must peer; and envy, hatred Were serpents at his heels, whose poison reached His heart at last. He was the tower of Pharos, That lighted all the world.

Now who was Brutus? Cæsar forgave this Brutus seven times seven, Forgave him for Pharsalia, all his acts Of constant opposition. Who was Brutus? A simple, honest soul? A heart of hate, Bred by his uncle Cato! Was he gentle? Look what he did to Salamis! Besieged Its senate house and starved the senators To force compliance with a loan to them At 48 per cent! This is the man Whom Shakespeare makes to say he’d rather be A villager than to report himself A son of Rome under these hard conditions, Which Cæsar wrought! Who thought or called them hard? Brutus or Shakespeare? Is it Plutarch, maybe, Whom Shakespeare follows, all against the grain Of truth so long revealed? Do you not see Matter in plenty for our Shakespeare’s hand, To show a sovereign genius and its work Pursued by mad-dogs, bitten to its death, Its plans thrown into chaos? Is there clay Wherewith to mould the face of Cæsar; take What clay remains to mould the face of Brutus? Do you not see a straining of the stuff, Making that big and salient which should be Little and hidden in a group of figures? And why, I ask? Here is the irony: Shakespeare has minted Plutarch, stamped the coin With the face of Brutus. It’s his inner genius, The very flavor of his genius’ flesh To do this thing. Here is a world that’s mad, A Cæsar mad with power, a Brutus madder, Being a dreamer, student, patriot Who can’t see things as clearly as the madman Cæsar sees them, Brutus sees through books. A mad-man butchered by a man more mad. His father mad before him. Why, it’s true That every one is mad, because the world Cannot be solved. Why are we here and why This agony of being? Why these tasks Imposed upon us never done, which drive Our souls to desperation. So to print The tragedy of life, our Shakespeare takes, And by the taking shows he deems the theme Greater than Cæsar’s greatness: human will, A dream, a hope, a love, and makes them big. Strains all the clay to that around a form Too weak to hold the moulded stuff in place. Thus from his genius fashioning the tales Of human life he passes judgment on The mystery of life. Which could he do By making Cæsar great, and would it be So bitter and so hopeless if he did, So adequate to curse this life of ours? Why make a man as great as Nature can The gods will raise a manakin to kill him, And over-turn the order that he founds. A grape seed strangles Sophocles, a turtle Falls from an eagle’s claws on Aeschylos, And cracks his shiny pate.

So at the last The question is, is history the truth, Or is the Shakespeare genius, which arranges History to speak the Shakespeare mood, Reaction to our life, the truth?

And here I leave you to reflect. Let’s one more ale And then I go.

CHARLOTTE CORDAY

(_The Revolutionary Tribunal; July 17th, 1793_)

MONTANÉ, _Presiding judge_. FOUQUER-TINVILLE, _Prosecutor_. CHAVEAU-LAGARDE, _Defending counsel_. DANTON,} _Leaders of the Jacobins_. ROBESPIERRE,} MADAM EVARD, _Marat’s friend_. CHARLOTTE CORDAY.

MONTANÉ

Where is your home?

CHARLOTTE Caen.

MONTANÉ

Why did you come to Paris?

CHARLOTTE

To kill Marat.

MONTANÉ

Why?

CHARLOTTE

His crimes.

MONTANÉ

What crimes?

CHARLOTTE

The woes of France! His readiness to fire All France with civil war.

MONTANÉ

You meant to kill When you struck?

CHARLOTTE

Yes! I meant to kill.

MONTANÉ

How old are you?

CHARLOTTE

Twenty-four.

MONTANÉ

A woman Young as you are could not have done this murder Unless abetted.

CHARLOTTE

No! You little know The human heart. The hatred of one’s heart Impels the hand better than other’s hate.

MONTANÉ

You hated Marat?

CHARLOTTE

Hated! I did not kill A man, I killed a wild beast eating up The people and the nation.

FOUQUER-TINVILLE

She’s familiar With crime, no doubt.

CHARLOTTE

You monster! Do you take me For just a common murderer?

FOUQUER-TINVILLE

Yes! Why not? Here is your knife!

CHARLOTTE

Oh! Yes, I recognize it. I bought it at the cutler’s shop.

MONTANÉ

What for?

CHARLOTTE

To kill Marat with; cost me forty sous. After I came to Paris--

FOUQUER-TINVILLE

When?

CHARLOTTE

Four days ago.

FOUQUER-TINVILLE

That was the day you wrote Marat?

CHARLOTTE

Same day.

FOUQUER-TINVILLE

Saying you knew of news in Caen, knew Means by the which Marat could render service To the Republic!

CHARLOTTE

By his death!

FOUQUER-TINVILLE

But yet You gave him credit in this note for love Of France, our France. You tricked him.

CHARLOTTE

Like a viper. He was a mad-dog, dog-leech, alley rat, With bits of carrion festering ’twixt his teeth, Hair glued with ordure, urine. Why not trick By best means, so to catch a beast with fangs As venomous as his? He was a fire That crawled and licked its way; why not put out The fire by water, snuffing, stamping, why Be precious of the means?

MADAM EVARD

You know me, woman?

CHARLOTTE

You struck me when I stabbed him. You’re his whore!

MADAM EVARD

Oh! Oh!

ROBESPIERRE

(_To Danton_) This is enough! When fury claws at fury. I hear the tumbril for her. Come!

DANTON The slut!

(_Danton and Robespierre leave the room together._)

CHARLOTTE

Was that not Robespierre who left the room?

FOUQUER-TINVILLE

Why do you ask?

CHARLOTTE

I wanted him for counsel.

FOUQUER-TINVILLE

For what? The guillotine?

CHARLOTTE

(_Shrinking_) You monster! You!

MONTANÉ

Have you a lawyer?

CHARLOTTE

No! I wrote Doulcet. He shirks the honor, doubtless; have not heard. I thought of Chabot and of Robespierre.

MONTANÉ

Chaveau-Lagarde shall counsel you. Proceed!

FOUQUER-TINVILLE

Is this your letter?

CHARLOTTE

Yes.

FOUQUER-TINVILLE

This letter here Is written to a man named Barbarous, Her lover--

CHARLOTTE

No! You monster!

FOUQUER-TINVILLE

Very well! Is this yours: “To the French, friends of the laws, And friends of peace.”

CHARLOTTE

Yes! I admit what’s true.

FOUQUER-TINVILLE

And is this yours: “To the Committee of Public Safety”?

CHARLOTTE

I wrote it, yes.

FOUQUER-TINVILLE

Let’s see now what’s her mind. This letter to the friends of peace and laws:-- “O France, thy peace depends upon the laws.” Laws! And she hastens to the cutler’s shop, And buys a knife with which to slay Marat. Now look! This friend of France’s peace and laws Must dodge self-contradiction. How? That’s plain: “I do not break the law, killing Marat.” Why? What’s Marat? A man? Of course, a man. But then an “out-law,” as she writes. How’s that? Outlawed by whom? Charlotte Corday of Caen! What else? A man! But then condemned. By whom? “The universe.” Voila! The universe Is swallowed by her swollen vanity. She speaks for God, for solar systems, stars; Adjudges laws, interprets, executes; Is greater than the Revolution, France. She’s a descendant of the great Corneille; A stage imagination, actress, acts, And quotes here in this letter from Voltaire’s “Mort de César.” Now listen what her hate Has used for whetrock, in the words of Brutus: _“Whether the world astonished loads my name_ _“And deed with horror, admiration, censure,_ _“I do not care, nor care to live in Time._ _“I act indifferent to reproach or glory,_ _“A free, untrameled patriot am I._ _“Duty accomplished I shall rest content._ _“Think only, friends, how you may break your chains.”_ So Brutus lives in her! And like disease Loosed from the crumbling cerements and dust Of broken tombs, the madness which slew Cæsar Infects, makes mad this woman; and she slays The great Marat! She does not care for the world’s Censure or admiration! Does not care To live in time! She lies! Why, in this room A man, Huer, is sketching her. Behold He’s drawing now her face for Time to see. And in this letter written to the Committee She says: “_Since I have little time to live,_ “_I trust you will permit me to have painted_ “_My portrait._” Why? If careless if she live In memory or time? The secret’s out, And written in her hand: “_I want to leave_ “_A picture for remembrance to my friends._” What friends? Her father? Barbarous? Caen, Paris, the whole of France, the world, if Time Writes down the people’s friend as beast, would see The face, in such case, which destroyed Marat, Condemned first by the “universe” and at last By France, the world! What next? She doubts her God, Her Brutus warrant, “universe” approval, And writes here as a reason, in addition: _“That as men cherish memory of good men,_ _“So curiosity”_--see her spirit flop And smile with idiot guilt upon itself-- _“So curiosity sometimes seeks out_ _“Memorials of criminals.”_ That’s her word: “Criminals,” and by that word she stands Self-dedicated to the guillotine.

CHARLOTTE

Well, am I not a criminal in the eyes Of such a beast as you? Will nature spawn No other beasts like you?

FOUQUER-TINVILLE

Yes, in my eyes, You are a criminal. But you mistake. I have no curiosity about you. When you are dead I’d have your name erased, Your face erased, lest it corrupt the face Of Brutus, and lead hands in years to come To speak the “universe,” interpret “laws,” And slay whom they would slay.

This is not all About her picture, a memorial For admiration by posterity. She writes this Barbarous, lover or what, It matters nothing, writes him pages here In detail of herself, and intimate Portrayal of her feelings: how she planned, And killed Marat. To Barbarous she writes About her letter to the Committee, asking To have her portrait painted. _Now_, for whom? Her friends? Not now! For the department now Of Calvados. There! hanging on a wall, A prize of history, is the deathless face Of Charlotte Corday, destroyer of Marat, Saviour of France, as _Brutus struck for Rome_! Yes, I invite your thought to what she writes To Barbarous: description of her act In sneaking to Marat with hidden knife; And as he sat there helpless in the tub, And unsuspecting of her hatred, quick She rips him like a butcher. Then, “A moi!” He cries, “A moi!” And she’s elate, her eyes Bright as the lightning that has struck. Look now! How she writhes here, how passing cross her face Are lights of ghastly fields of fire and clouds When hurricanes descend.

CHARLOTTE

You beast! You beast!

FOUQUER-TINVILLE

I am a beast, eh? _You_ are what? I’ll tell. From Caen, as ’tis known. She’s being sketched, I’ll sketch her too. You see, she’s strongly built, Large eyes of blue, large features, handsome though; Nose shapely, and good teeth; equipped to play In dramas of Corneille, her ancestor. She needs a man. A husband would have drawn Innocuously the electric passion, which Collected in a bolt to loose and lurch Against Marat. All women should be farmed. She has her schooling in a convent, reads; Lives with her thoughts and dreams. I’ll sketch her soul: Has not enough of living to consume The forces of her dreams. She reads Rousseau, And Plutarch’s heroes, Brutus most of all. Thrills at the words “Republic,” “Liberty.” Thinks the Girondists only can set up A real republic. Ideas are the stuff Of history. Kill ideas or be killed By ideas is the fate of man. Republic, Liberty, Brutus are ideas. Ideas Are dangerous, being truths, more so as lies. And lies destroyed Marat.

Who was Marat? A man of study, learning. Physicist, Admired of Franklin, Göethe for his works On heat and light; a doctor, having won An honorary title at St. Andrew’s In England. Linguist, speaking Spanish, German, Italian, English. Versed in Governments:-- You know his work on England’s constitution Whereby he sought to clear the mind of France-- This Charlotte Corday’s with the rest--that England Is free, her systems free; stop the Girondists From that re-iterated lie; stop France From taking on the English system.

So True ideas of Marat, evolved from life, Living and study must combat, destroy False ideas of Girondists, will succeed; But cannot bar the door to the idea That enters at his bathroom with a knife. How was it that no valet and no guard Preserved him? Why? Lovers of liberty Starve in her service!

But there was a time When he knew elegance and privacy. But Liberty and Wisdom would be served. He went to rags, was hunted, had to hide In sewers for the cause of Liberty; And there took loathsome trouble, eased at times By steam, hot tubs. And thus our people’s friend Is found accessible to this female lie, Girondist lie, possessing her, and stabbed. Or at the best ideas of Liberty Conduct her to his bath-room, where Marat Is tubbed in sequence and in punishment Of his idea of Liberty. Gods can laugh, But men must weep. O worthless, rotten world! It is most pitiful, most tragic, lifts Man’s heart to spit at heaven, that these friends Of peoples must be slain, starved, hunted first, Then butchered for their service and their love. Saved not by truth; destroyed by lies, a lie That he was evil, by the maniac lie Of her mad vision that she knew what Freedom, Liberty, Republic mean. Slain by the lie Of this Girondist dream, this milk and water, Emasculated, luke-warm craft of states: Girondists: patches on the robes of kings; Girondists: autogamists; mating sisters, The past, and in the mating without child Of truth or progress. Neither hot nor cold, Spewed, therefore, from the mouth of Time. Betrayers, Waylayers of the brave, the clear of eye; Girondists: ’twixt republicans and kings, And holding hands of each to make them friends. Workers and owners of the new foaled mule Bred of the royal stallion and an ass. Girondists! loving wealth and ease, the church Which loves them too. Girondists picking steps Of moderate reform. Girondists hating The Revolution, which must kill the foes Of Liberty, as criminals are killed For robbery, yet rejoice to see the blood Of dead Marat. They’re lofty! They are pure! They love the laws, love peace! Yes, as this woman Loves law and peace.

What is it like? A play Where all is mimicked. Do we talk of facts? Are these not fautocinni? Where’s the hand That plays this coarse and bloody joke to eyes Of men that crave reality? I mean this: A woman with lovers who suggest, abet; A woman with no man, who dreams and reads, Lives in the stench of these Girondist lies; Ghosts float on fogs of her miasmic soul. She hears Marat’s a monster, dabbling blood, A rabid ignoramus running foul Of liberty and order, nihilist, And sanguinary madman, dragon slimed In back-wash of all hatred, envy, lust Of the dispossessed, malformed, misborn; and then She dreams of Brutus, who struck down--there now I nail a lie that will be always truth To Charlotte Cordays. Cæsar? Tyrant? No. No man is tyrant who sees truth and rules For truth’s sake. For the ruled must share the truth Where Cæsars rule.

So much for her. She stands Watchful and envious in the wings, and sees Marat, not as we see him; not as Time Will see Marat. L’Ami du Peuple to her Is enemy of France, of Liberty. This man most rare, most pure of soul, most clear Of vision that the contest lies between The rich and poor, has always lain between The rich and poor, and not between the people And kings; that poverty’s the thing, is seen By Charlotte Corday from the wings, as nothing But hatred, murder.

Well, my girl, you’ll get Your picture in the galleries of history. You’ll get it; and to choke you with your words: “So curiosity would have memorials Of criminals, which serve to keep alive Horror for their crimes.”

Your picture’s up Already. Horror stares! You killed Marat. That is your place in Time: you killed Marat! You sneaked upon a great man, true man, weak From torture of disease, contracted serving Democracy, and slew him like a beast. Charlotte Corday, assassin! That’s your place, And character in history.

CHARLOTTE

Let it be. Assassin. Well, assassins kill assassins: The words repel, destroy each other, sir. If any grieve for me I beg of them To think of me in the Elysian Fields With Brutus and the heroes.

CHAVEAU-LAGARDE

Gentlemen! The deed’s admitted. What to say, but ask Your clemency? The girl’s fanatical. The prosecutor argues well for me In saying that a lie corrupted her, And maddened her to act; which is to say If that lie were a truth, she had the right To slay Marat. With this regard Voltaire, Great minds before him, painted Brutus great Because he slew a tyrant. But if Cæsar Was not a tyrant, how does Brutus stand But mad-man who believed, was honest, slew In honesty of heart? Then what’s the case? To punish for ill-judging of the facts, Or mercy show for human frailty Of judgment and of vision? Great Marat Has done his work, and left his legacy. We cannot help him, meting death for death. And would his noble spirit ask her death? Think of it! You will answer no, I think. He would say: kill the ideas of Caen, The world which fires these Charlottes with a lie. Smallpox is deadly as a butcher knife, He had to die. The syllabus is death In this our human logic: what’s the odds What premises produce conclusions? Knives, Consumptions, fevers, wars? We may be gods Withholding death where we have power to kill; Withhold it saying: She mistook, believed A lie, was faultless for believing it, And slew believing. Were it truth and all Believed we would applaud, as nations war, Bound in a common vision of one truth. The Revolution, France, will lose not, rather Gain by this clemency; ’twill lift a light, First in the world, of reason, justice purged Of hatred’s refuse: vengeance, fear, all passions Of bitterness of soul. We worship Reason, And this is Reason.

CHARLOTTE

You have done your part And served me well. I thank you.

THE JURY

Let her join Brutus in the Elysian Fields. We say: The guillotine!

THE MOB

(_Outside_) To the guillotine! To the guillotine!

CHARLOTTE

I am content.

A MAN CHILD IS BORN

(_February 12th, 1809. Log Hut near Hodgenville, Ky._)

(_A neighbor woman is talking_)

The wind blows through the chinks--it’s snowing too, Tom piles the logs on, but that door is loose. An earthen floor is always cold. You’re warm. I’m glad I brought a kiverlid along, An extra one comes handy at this time. You are all right--you had an easy time, Considering this baby, big and long. He’s very long, will be a tall man, too, A hunter and a chopper, Indian fighter, Lord, who knows what, a big man in the country, A preacher, congressman or senator, A president--who knows? God blesses you To give you such a son. He nurses well. Don’t let him have too much at first. You see That single window gives too little light To show you what he’s like. He looks a little Like Nancy Shipley Hanks, your mother, perhaps A little like your aunt, old Mary Lincoln. Since you and Tom are cousins, it may be This boy will be a mixture, but if folks Resemble animals, the traits of you Will be made stronger in this child, because You two are cousins.

You will be up to see What he looks like, in just a week or so. Perhaps when next the flames mount in the fire-place The light will show you. Have you named him yet-- Tom likes the name of Abraham--well, that’s good-- You’ve chosen that!

I thought I heard a step-- Who do you think is coming? Dennis Hanks! He’s come to see his cousin Abraham.

Good mornin’, Dennis! come into the fire-- I’ll you see your cousin Abraham-- A big, long baby--quick! and shut the door, The room is none too warm, the wind is blowing-- Tom’s gone for logs again! Here, I’ll raise up The kiverlid and let you see--look here! You think he’s homely! Pretty is, you know, As pretty does--but see how big and long! In fifteen years he’ll make you up and come To beat him wrestling, I will bet a coon’s skin. Now you may kiss him; in a little bit I’ll let you hold him by the fire. The pot Is on for dinner, we are having squirrel And hominy for dinner--you can stay. Now clear out, Dennis--I must do some things-- Open the door for Tom, he’s coming there With logs to mend the fire!

RICHARD BOOTH TO HIS SON JUNIUS BRUTUS

(_London, December 13th, 1813._)

So you’re to play Campillo, all in spite Of my commands, at Deptford? Here’s the bill Found in your pocket. You are seventeen, Too young for this adventure in the world. What will you be, a strolling vagabond, Smelling of grease, impoverished, set apart From stable folk by this, your wandering art? And just to think I named you Junius Brutus, After the great republican who slew The Roman tyrant Cæsar--I myself A worshipper of Liberty all my life, And choosing such a patronym for you To dedicate you to the faith in me. Now you would leave this dignity to speak Mimetic words, and act. I beg of you, Listen, my boy, before it is too late, And let me tell my story to you now, That you may profit by the things I’ve lived....

You see that face of Washington, hung up There on the wall where every entering eye Must mark it? You remember that I ask, Enforce respect to Washington and make The passer bow his head--well, listen now:

It’s seventeen seventy-seven, I’m fourteen. Burgoyne’s surrender fires my tender heart. We hear Lord George Germain forgets to take A letter from a pigeon hole containing Instructions to Burgoyne that touches on The campaign on the Hudson. Anyway, Burgoyne gets tangled in the wilderness Around Champlain. He faces broken bridges, And trees felled in his way. His horses fail, Provisions are exhausted. Then he sends A thousand men to Bennington to get More horses and provisions. There he’s stumped: A veteran of Bunker Hill is there, A Colonel Stark, whose wife is Mollie Stark, Who says we beat the British here to-day, Or Mollie Stark’s a widow. August 16th They whipped the British soundly--and Burgoyne Was driven to defeat.

That made us flame! I was a hot republican. Slipped away To Paris with a cousin to set sail For America and help the Americans, And wrote from there a letter to John Wilkes, And asked his help to get me in the army Of Washington. As Englishmen, I wrote, It may be said we are not justified In taking arms against the English cause. That argument with you could have no weight, You, who have fought for Liberty so long. And England, what is she? All human rights Are lost in England under tyrant rule. It is the duty of an English heart To help those whom this lawless tyranny Oppresses in America. So I wrote, And sent to London. What do you suppose? John Wilkes went to my father with this letter. They caught me, brought me home, and here I am, A lawyer to this day. You think it strange! Who was John Wilkes, that he should thus betray?-- I wonder, even now.

For he had been A rebel spirit from his boyhood up, Born here in London seventeen twenty-seven; Was sent to Parliament when he was thirty. Attacked the king in writing, was arrested; Refused to answer questions, then they chucked Our rebel in the Tower; he got out, Saying he had a privilege as a member Of Parliament. They passed a special law To warrant prosecution, ousted him From Parliament, and then he went to France, Was outlawed, but returned, again was sent To Parliament, before he took his seat. Was sent to prison on the sentences Passed on the old conviction, and expelled From Parliament again for libeling The minister of war. Three times again They elected him to Parliament, but they kept Our rebel out. He now became the people’s Idol for his sufferings and his courage. They let him out of prison, made him mayor Of London, and in seventeen seventy-four He goes from Middlesex to Parliament And takes his seat at last, and there he was When I wrote to him, seventeen seventy-seven. Why did he tell my father, send my father The letter which I wrote?

I know, I think: He knew the dangers, agonies ahead, For a boy who sets his feet along the path Of Liberty and working for the world To free the world--and did not know my stuff; Whether I had the will to fight and die With no regrets. He knew what he had suffered, And had a tenderness for the youth who flames And beats his wings for freedom, would release From tyranny and wrong.

And so they caught me, And brought me home and set me to the law. And here I am, who never lost the dream And named you Junius Brutus. Oh, my son, Leave off this actor calling, stay with me, I who was nipped would see you grow to flower, Fulfill my vision. What, you promise me, If I will let you act this time, to come And let me mould you, teach you what I know, Fill full your spirit with the hope I had, That you may do what I have failed to do? You promise that? Well, Junius Brutus, go And may you fail at acting and return.

A MAN CHILD IS BORN

(_July 14th, 1839. The Farm._)

(_Mrs. Booth is speaking._)

After such pain this child against my breast! Oh what a cunning head and little face! What coal black hair! You have begun to feed! Look, doctor, how he feeds--why look at him, He is a little man! Is not God good To give me such a baby? Well, I think You will be something noble in this world, And something great, you precious little man! His daddy wants to name him John Wilkes. I Would name him Junius Brutus to hand down His father’s glory and perhaps his art. Look, doctor, is it not a miracle That God performs, this little life from mine, This beauty out of love! I pray to God To bless you, little John, if that’s your name. A colored mammy read the coffee grounds, And says he will be famous, rich and great-- He may be so. I know he will be good. Look at that darling face--it must be so!

SQUIRE BOWLING GREEN

(_Rutledge’s Tavern, New Salem, July 14th, 1839._)

You missed it--case all over! Lincoln’s gone. He’s just had time about to reach the mill. He couldn’t wait until the stage arrived. Had business in the courts of Springfield--well, You can believe he has become a lawyer. He borrowed Mentor Graham’s horse to ride. John Yoakum is in Springfield and to-morrow Will bring it back.

Who won the case? Why, Abe. He won it by his horse-sense and his wit. You must have met the jury down the road. What were they laughing at? About the case. We started yesterday on the evidence And finished up this morning. An appeal? The verdict satisfies both parties, and My judgment stands.

Abe is a natural lawyer, Knows things that can’t be found in books, although He knows the books. And why not? You recall When he was boarding with me how he studied? It’s just four years ago or so, that he Came home one night with Blackstone. Well, I’ve noticed A man attracts what’s his, just like a magnet Draws bits of steel. You can’t make me believe That Blackstone came to him unless ’twas meant That he should be a lawyer. Don’t you know? He read this Blackstone in his store all day And half the night as well. He said to me Not Volney’s “Ruins,” Shakespeare, Burns, had taken His interest like this Blackstone. Yes, he took it When he went fishing with Jack Kelso, read, And let jack row the boat and bait the hooks....

I think he knows this Blackstone all by heart. But anyway, he knows the human heart. Well, now here is the case: Here is a colt. George Cameron says the colt is his--John Spears Says no, the colt is mine, and Cameron sues, And Spears defends, and sixty witnesses Come here to testify, on my word it’s true, On my judicial oath it is the fact. The thirty swear the colt is Cameron’s; And thirty swear the colt belongs to Spears; And not a man impeached, these witnesses Are everyone good men, and most of them I know as I know you. Well, what’s to do? The scales are balanced. And besides all this, Here’s Cameron who swears the colt is his, And Spears who swears the opposite, and both Are credible, I know them both. So I Sit like a fellow trying to decide What happens when a thing impenetrable Is struck by something irresistible-- I’m stumped, that’s all.

You see the facts were these: Each of these fellows owns a mare, the mares Look pretty much alike, each had a colt In April. But the other day one colt-- Which colt, that is the question--strayed away And can’t be found. George Cameron has a colt-- These men are neighbors--but John Spears comes over And sees the colt at Cameron’s in the field; And says, “That is my colt.” “Not on your life,” George Cameron replies, “The colt is mine-- Your colt has strayed, not mine.” They come to law. John Spears gets Lincoln, and they come to court With sixty witnesses; and here this noon With all the evidence put in, I sit And eye the jury, know the jury’s stumped, As I am stumped.

Then Lincoln says: “Your honor, Let’s have a trial on view.” I’d heard of that, But never sat on such a trial before. “Let’s bring the colt, the two mares over here, And let the jury see which mare the colt Resembles, let the jury use their eyes As witnesses use theirs.”

That seemed fair. And so we sent one fellow for the mares, Another for the colt. For Lincoln said: “Your honor, bring them separate, so the jury Can have the sudden flash of seeing them Separate, to study them.”

For an hour Abe sat here in the shade and told us stories. And pretty soon we heard the horses whinney, And heard the colt. And Lincoln said, “Your honor, Let’s have the mares led past the jury, trotting, Let’s see their pace.” And so they trotted them. “Now trot the colt,” said Lincoln--we did that. The jury watched to see the look of legs, And movement, if you please, to catch a likeness. But nothing came of this. Then Lincoln said: “Now turn the colt loose”--and they turned it loose. It galloped to the mare of Spears and sucked! Well, now it’s true a colt’s a silly thing, And may mistake its mother, but a mare Will never let a colt that’s not her own Put under flanks its nose. Of course the jury, And all of us know that--and so did Abe. The jury yelled and all the witnesses Began to whoop. And when I rapped for order And got things quiet--Lincoln rose and said, “I rest, your honor.”

So I entered judgment For Spears. They went to Berry’s for the drinks-- There! hear them laughing.

Lincoln took his fee, Ten dollars, I believe, and went to Springfield.

LINCOLN SPEAKING IN CONGRESS

(_January 12th, 1848._)

“Any people anywhere being inclined and having the power have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable, a sacred right. A right which we hope and believe is to liberate the world. Nor is this right confined to cases in which the whole people of an existing government may choose to exercise it. Any portion of such people that can, may revolutionize, and may make their own of so much of the territory as they inhabit. More than this, a majority of any portion of such people may revolutionize, putting down a minority, intermingled with, or near about them, who may oppose their movement. Such minority was precisely the case of the Tories of our own revolution. It is a quality of revolutions not to go by old lines, or old laws, but to break up both and make new ones.”

JOHN WILKES BOOTH AT THE FARM

(_January 12th, 1848._)

Mother, I’m breathless! I have seen a man, The strangest man I ever saw. I’m scared! I went down to the hollow, was at play, Was marching with my broomstick gun--and then While I stood there and said “attention,” playing Soldier, you know, reciting to my soldiers, I heard a voice--looked round and saw this man. He was enormous with a frightful face, Black eyes, black hair, a voice that sounded like Low thunder, though it could be soft and sweet. And he said to me, “What’s your name, my boy?” I told him. Then he said, “Where is your father?” I said, “My father’s gone.” “Where is your mother?” “Up at the house,” I answered. Then he asked, “What are you doing here?” “Why, playing soldier.” “Are you a patriot?” And I said yes. “Oh, no,” he said, “your father was an actor; I saw him play the part of Brutus often, And you will be an actor, you’ve the look.” How did he know these things, do you suppose? And then he said, “Recite for me.” “I can’t,” I said to him. “O yes, you can,” he said. “You must recite for me.” And I was scared, Began to cry, and he said, “Hush, my boy, I will not hurt you, but you must recite, I want to see what you have memorized.” So I was choking, but I tried to do it: “The tyrannous and bloody deed is done, The most arch act of piteous massacre That ever yet this land was guilty of.” ...

“No Richard III,” he said. “Here look at me! Why do you dodge? Why not recite some words From Brutus, for you know them, why, my boy? You’ve heard your father speak the words of Brutus. Why do you hide your knowledge? Look at me!” He terrified me so that I began: “It must be by his death: and for my part I know no personal cause to spurn at him, But for the general. He would be crowned: How that might change his nature, there’s the question. It is the bright day that brings forth the adder.” I got so far and saw him looking down, As if he saw--I don’t know what--and then I stopped and looked--and there I saw an adder Coiled close to me. I jumped and screamed. He laughed-- I ran away, and left him standing there. Mother, I am afraid. Who was this man? My head hurts. I’m afraid. Keep close to me-- I am so frightened.

JUNIUS BRUTUS BOOTH

(_On a steamboat bound for Cincinnati from New Orleans, November 30th, 1852_.)

You are a doctor? Ill? I’m very ill. My soul is worn, it is a ghastly life, This acting, traveling, living through the passions Of Brutus, and Orestes, Richard III. My father tried to make a lawyer of me, But fate is fate. My age is fifty-six, But counting by the moments I have lived A thousand years were nearer truth. Oh, well, What if this talking tire me, I am tired With such fatigue that nothing adds to it. And if I die, why what will be, will be. I’d like to see “The Farm” in Maryland Just once again, see Mary, that’s my wife, John Wilkes, my boy, and Junius Brutus, too-- Edwin I left in California, Shall never see him more I fear--but then What comes to us must come.

That brandy helps, I’m better now.

Oh, yes, it’s true my father Would make a lawyer of me, couldn’t do it-- I am a better lawyer than he was For acting parts and living other lives, Thus finding laws of life--but what’s the good? You can’t find happiness, all is vanity. If you’re a strolling player, vanity; Vexation too and jealousy and strife. If all the house goes mad to see you rage As life-like as the Moor did, do they know What realest envy stalks behind the scenes, What you have done to keep your golden voice, Your strength to paint the frenzy of Othello?

After one greatest triumph I sat alone, Was playing solitaire, who should come in? Chief Justice Marshall, friend of mine? Oh, yes. He said, “I think you’d be the happiest Of men, why not enjoy what you’ve achieved?” “Judge,” I replied, “you see me here alone, There is no ecstasy, no drop of joy For me save in that moment when I see, Both through my genius glowing and the cries And plaudits from the house, that I have struck. The fateful note that thrills--all other hours Are spent in saving power and making ready For just that moment. What’s an actor, poet? A medium round whom the spirits swarm Like bats in Tartarus and shrill Me! Me! Take now and write, speak for me--make it clear, You are our hope of truth, of being known For what we are. And so you’re never done. The spirits dash about you with their cries; Men note your eyes turned inward--move away. And you must keep in vigor. Hoarseness rasps The voice of Brutus, you must catch no cold. You drink sometimes to deafen ears against The spirits’ crying, but you pay for it, Must climb back into strength, but while you’re weak The spirits are a-crying, there you are, Ambitious but enfeebled, can’t respond, And tortured for it. There is no escape. And so you play at solitaire.” The Judge Replied: “A judge is lonely, for his reasons Must keep himself aloof.” Yes, I knew Kean. He played Othello to my great Iago, And I say great, for I was twenty-one, And made the London English shout and howl: “Great Booth forever,” though they shouted, too, “No Booth” and “down with Booth,” the partisans Of Kean, the envious. And on a time It’s Drury Lane, and what an audience! Hazlitt is there and Godwin, Shelley’s friend, John Howard Payne, who wrote “The Fall of Tarquin.” He saw that Kean was envious, would not be Excelled by me and wrote as much.

My friend, Another drink of brandy!

Well, at last I make America my home. ’Twere well If I am spared to write my memories, They throng so at this moment. God be praised, I knew Old Hickory and supped with him, A man from top to toe! And I have lived, Fought, suffered, triumphed, lived through self and lived Through Brutus, Lear, and Richard.

Look at me, Am I a man you’d ever take for mad? Mad-men have struck at me, a lunatic Struck at me with an ax, I cowed his hate And fixed him with my eye. But as for me, Here have I been for life a lover of home, A husband blest with happiness in a wife, And yet reputed mad. For little things Like this reputed mad: I’m playing Shylock, The call boy searches me, my time has come, Where was I? In a closet. Was it queer? A symptom? No! I hid to shut the light Of other things external from the mind Of Shylock’s mood. Why, is it strange at all For a soul that incarnates itself with souls Like Brutus’ and Lear’s to lose itself, Seem sometimes naked, trembling, swaying too With such exhaustion, such tremendous change? These common minds see not the genius mind For what it is, forget the strength and wisdom That makes the genius, in my case, forget My books and scholarship, my toil, who learned Greek, Latin, German, French and Arabic, Hebrew and Spanish; the philosophies, I’ve mastered in my life.

I tremble too For thinking of my little son, John Wilkes, So beautiful and gifted, has the touch; Is full of dreams, goes charging on his horse, Spouting heroic speeches, lance in hand There on “The Farm,” a patriot and a lover Of liberty even now. What will he be, A statesman or an actor, warrior, what? God knows alone, and what his fate God knows. I named him after John Wilkes, patriot And English libertarian--but no matter, He’ll do what he will do. They named me Brutus And I became an actor, not a statesman, Warrior, no tyrannicide.

Hold there! What is this? Take my hand! Sharp pain again-- Pray! pray! pray!

(_He dies._)

A CERTAIN POET ON THE DEBATES

(_At Alton, Illinois, October 15th, 1858._)

(_Arguing with a group at the hotel._)

Why do I speak with such authority? I know this matter through from A to Z; I know it just as well as Lincoln knows it. There’s not a document I have not studied From Elliott’s Debates to this Le Compton Kansas constitution that has escaped My mind’s analysis. And you will see Lincoln is beaten now. You are absurd To think he’ll win the presidency for losing The senatorship--clean crazy all of you!

Who am I? Well, it makes no difference. I am a mind, a mere intelligence Going about this year of fifty-eight An observer and a listener. Gabriel Could be no more impersonal than I. I’ve followed up these fellows like the boy That trails the circus, clear from Ottawa To Freeport, Charleston, Galesburg, Quincy, Alton; And made my way at first with sawing wood, Later by selling razors, soap and strops; And just to hear the speaking, see the crowds-- These crowds that leave the shop and farms, these crowds Solemn and noisy, rapt, tumultuous, Sober and drunk, who carry whips and spit Tobacco juice around and drink and eat. The babies squall, wagons and democrats Befog the air with dust, and oh, the heat! Yet though these crowds will settle like the dust In graves all over Illinois, nothing leave Of what, or who they were, no less these crowds Have reason at the centre like the sun; Dimmed to the eyes this side; the sun is there! But yet the sun knows it is there--the dust Rises and shows the sun--there you have thought Which is now, will be handed down of this-- These days. Oh, yes, the dust will rise at last When evening--that’s reflection, settles down; And then you’ll see a star--first magnitude, The name is Lincoln!

I have read. I know. Never in Rome or Greece were such debates, Never in all this world. Look at the theme: Slavery in a republic! As for men, Where is their equal? Is it Pericles, Demosthenes or Cicero, here with us, Great Webster? And the setting, think of that! Here in this western prairie state they pass From town to town, stand up before the mass, And battle with their wits--set falcons loose Of swift and ravenous logic to devour The other’s flights. The crowds perceive the trend, Gather enough to guide them and persuade, But much of it is over them. You heard Lincoln to-day, when he had subtilized The point to deadly ether, say to them: “An audience like this will scarcely see The force of what I say, but minds well trained Will follow me and see.” That is the point. Out of this popular oratory rises A durable spire of truth. This Lincoln leaves Great thought and beauty to the race. And yet Douglas will be our senator, and Seward Our President two years from now. As Webster Could never win the prize, this Lincoln too Will fail to win it.

Why, you silly fools! Lincoln has sprained his arms and back for good-- But he has laid the South out flat and cold, And broken the slavocracy in two. He did it with one question; asking that He made the Little Giant cough and stammer, And blush his guilt before America. Oh, yes, he answered well enough to win This contest here in Illinois; but look, The Southern press is after him already, They scent the carcass moved, withdrawn a little; They croak like buzzards--and there will be war Between the eagles and the buzzards now, Perhaps when Seward is elected; truly If Lincoln should be chosen, as he won’t. It isn’t that this Douglas isn’t a master. It is that he is caught between the mill-stones. The upper is this Kansas and Nebraska, The lower is Dred Scott--and I am glad! Why did he father Kansas and Nebraska? Why did he flout the ancient ordinance Of 1787, which kept out This curse of slavery, out of Illinois, But brought us liberty of press and speech, The bill of rights? Did Congress have the power To pass this ordinance of ’87? Or did it lack the power, because the states That came into the union with their slaves Might keep their slaves, reclaim as fugitive Their slaves on freedom’s soil? Well, if it be That Congress had the power to plaster down The ordinance of 1787 Upon this Illinois, this great Northwest, It had the power to say the western land Of Kansas and Nebraska should be free As territories ruled from Washington And no imperialism! So, I say again It serves this Douglas right to be destroyed, And ground to powder for this act of his, This Kansas and Nebraska.

Well, all right. It sounds all right, it makes the idiots whoop To hear the Little Giant say he favors The people’s rule in Kansas and Nebraska. Their right to say they’ll have this slavery Or have it not--yes, popular sovereignty!-- But why not let the people vote on God, Or choose a king, or take me, all the whites, And make us slaves? It may be so, if truth Is just a mockery and there’s nothing real In human thought at all--one thing is true As anything, and everything is false.

Thus ruin smites the temple of our life, And all of us lie down as beasts and grunt Around its broken arches and its columns!

All right! He gets his Kansas and Nebraska. That makes him president! Not on your life! Momus is watching, growls a horrid laugh And whispers something to Slavocracy, Which whispers it to Taney--and behold The prophets and the guardians of the ark Of the covenant declare a slave’s a slave, And can be taken to a territory, And kept there in the face of national law That makes the territory free. Or else, Were this not so, the Congress is supreme, Has slipped the chain of the organic law, Which recognizes slavery. What is this But just imperialism?

God Almighty! They’re all for freedom, a republic too. Kansas, Nebraska--let the people rule. Dred Scott:--the Congress is a Parliament Like England has, unless it pins and tucks The constitution round its pocky body. That may be true, but then the question is: Is slavery charactered upon the robe, And must the figure of the slave be seen Wherever Congress walks?

I’ll come to that. The point is now that Douglas has been caught Between his Kansas and Nebraska act, And Dred Scott never his. And being lawful, Obedient to the law and to the courts-- You heard him hammer Lincoln as a man Who flouted courts--while he, the Little Giant, Obeyed the laws--oh, yes!--So, being lawful, As I began, must hold in level hands Dred Scott in one, and in the other hand This Kansas and Nebraska.

Very good. Lincoln has got him now, and out of all This rhetoric, these sorties half successful, These scrimmages with Lincoln, half perplexed, You find your Little Giant on his back With Lincoln over him and pinning shoulders Down to the floor.

Here is the wrestling trick: Can any territory keep this slavery Out lawfully, that is, against the wish Of any citizen? What is the answer? If you say yes, where is Dred Scott? If no, How do the people rule?

What is his answer? Why, yes, he says, a territory can Keep slavery out. Dred Scott still sends it there, But then the people rule, and if the people There in Nebraska make it hot for slavery By local law and custom, frowns and blows, It will not thrive. That satisfied the crowd; Enough at least, elects him Senator, But loses him the South, the golden prize, Splits up the country, gives us war in time, When argument is silenced cannon boom-- And when your Seward comes to Washington The South secedes.

Now, listen for a moment! What is Abe Lincoln’s genealogy In faith political? Sired by the Federalists, And mothered by the Whigs. A tariff man; Believes too in the Bank--tariffs and banks Filched from the plenary stores of privilege By hands that break the shackles of the law. He’s born a Whig, has turned Republican, What is his blood? Why, liberal construction, Twisting the constitution out of shape, And tearing holes in it to let the Congress Escape and wander--where? Why, anywhere! And though it be that touching slavery There’s nothing which forbids the Congress acting In freedom’s way--and that’s the very point-- And granting that the Constitution’s over The territories, still the Congress can Bring freedom there--this theory is akin To loose construction, scarcely can be told From loose construction. For you see, if freedom, Since Congress is not hampered, can be brought, Why not then slavery, if it be not hampered? And why not colonies, dependencies, Ruled just as Congress wills, if never a word Lies in our charter to forbid or grant The power to do it.

Well, there’ll be a war, And hell thereafter. So you like my talk! What is my name? Why, Satan is my name-- And I go wandering on the earth to see, Walk to and fro and laugh and drop a tear In spite of all my laughter. Tears and laughter For ideas in the heads of men that seethe, Pop, crackle, ferment, blow up bottles, kegs, Spill and destroy bacteria on the floor Of epochs, ruin wisdoms, cultures, faiths. Time scrubs the floor of all such verses--Time Matures fresh grapes, new ferments, and repeats The old catastrophes; and hence I laugh, And drop a tear on all the sorry waste.