SD791.1. Monclar on Paracelsus
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 3, 416–424.
[ ]
[late 1835]
The Young French Count André Victor Amédée de Ripert-Monclar, whom RB met in 1834, is said to have suggested the writing of a poem based on the historical figure Paracelsus. RB dedicated the resulting work to him. Soon after the book’s release, in 1835, Monclar summarized the work as he saw it and sent his commentary to the author. Before returning it, RB added comments throughout, thus leaving a unique document and providing valuable insight into his early poem.
RB’s contributions are written directly on the manuscript unless otherwise noted. In this presentation, they are given as footnotes. Where he made corrections or added underscoring, we give appropriate explanations. Parenthetical numbers which appear occasionally in Monclar’s and RB’s texts refer to pages in the original edition of Paracelsus, a copy of which (Reconstruction, C437) had been sent to Monclar in July 1835, prior to publication the following month. In the transcript of Monclar’s French text, we adhere in the main to the editorial principles set forth in our Introduction (Volume 1, xl–xliv); in particular, accents are reproduced as written and missing accents have not been supplied. In our English translation, for clarity’s sake, we have been more liberal with punctuation, capitalization, etc. The original manuscript is located in The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Paracelse
Pensée
[1] Le progrés indefini est la Loi de l’espece humaine. La Mission de l’homme supérieur est de hâter ce progrés. Pour y parvenir, deux choses lui sont nécessaires, Savoir et aimer[.]
Savoir, pour dérober á la Nature les sécrets utiles á l’élévation de l’humanité entiere[.]
Aimer, pour ne pas être découragé par l’ingratitude et les vices des Hommes.
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Paracelse semble être une de ces grandes physionomies que le passé nous laisse entrevoir dans un fonds obscur et nuageux. Voilá le Héros choisi par le poete pour personnifier sa magnifique Pensée.
Plan
Chant 1r
Paracelse a suivi avec ardeur la Leçon du savant et célébre Trithémus. Il a été un de ses disciples les plus fervents, mais tout á coup son enthousiasme a cessé. Il a reconnu qu’il n’y avait que du vide dans cette prétendue Erudition. Il annonce à ses amis d’Enfance qu’il va se séparer d’eux pour suivre une carriére nouvelle. C’est une grande entreprise qu’il a à executer; la seule grande et utile. Il va découvrir le sécret de la destinée de l’Homme. C’est Dieu qui le Veut.
En vain Festus et Michal cherchent[-]ils á le rétenir en opposant leurs doutes à sa conviction, en lui disant que peut être il prend pour une inspiration d’en haut ses désirs et sa fantaisie, «comment,[»] dit[-] il, [«]connaitrais-je que ce glorieux destin m’est reservé si ce n’est à une force irrésistible qui me travaille sans cesse[?]
«Soyez surs que Dieu ne donne jamais l’énergie pour qu’elle demeure inutile. Demandez à l’aigle [2] pourquoi il plonge tout à coup dans la profondeur de l’abime inconnu?[»] &c (19)
Ainsi il a foi et en conséquence il dédaigne et les Sciences occultes que les pedants étudient avec ardeur et la Magie qu’ils Vénérent[.]
«Qu’est tout cela auprès de Dieu qui est partout, qui soutient, dirige tout, qui veut que la terre livre ses secrets; que tous les objets de la nature fournissent des sensations, des connaissances, des jouissances, des Inspirations? et je suis jeune, Festus, heureux et libre, je puis me dévouer; j’ai une vie à donner, moi qui suis désigné pour cette entreprise[.»]
Festus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Dés son enfance, il éprouvait un feu intérieur, il ne comprenait pas ce qui lui chuchottait le soir à l’oreille et lui parlait tout haut à minuit (22)[;] c’était quelque chose de Vague.
«Mais lorsque la vie fut entiere en moi[,] lorsque j’eus vu la foule des hommes ...... je sentis dans ma poitrine un tumulte confus, c’était comme un désir de m’éléver au dessus du genre humain en le sauvant, de faire pour lui quelque sacrifice sans exemple, d’arracher du ciel ou de la terre quelque bien immense pour l’humanité, de perir en la servant comme celui qui arracherait la foudre de son nuage[.»] &c (24)
<Once the feat achieved> [3] I would withdraw &c (24) belle comparaison.
Paracelse gémissait une Nuit de son peu de succés dans les études d’alors[.] Il entendit une voix qui lui dit[:] «C’est ta force même qui fait ton infériorité. Connais, non pas pour le plaisir de connaitre mais pour dévénir un Etre qui éclaire les hommes,[»] &c
«et je souris de ce sourire qu’on n’éprouve qu’une fois dans la vie, et découvrant alors pour la premiere fois toute l’étendue de mon ambition qui voulait comprendre les ouvrages de Dieu et Dieu lui[-]même et les rap[p]orter de Dieu avec notre âme, je vis ce que paraissaient à côté les études de mes condisciples, j’en appréciai la juste valeur mais je ne souris point sachant bien qui était près de moi[.]»
Et la voix devenue plus douce me dit[:] «Il est une route pénible pour la chair qui a laissé murir ses penchan[t]s [4] vicieux. Veux[-]tu, toi, t’avanturer [sic, for aventurer] pour l’amour de moi et de tes semblables sans autre Recompense? et aprés un instant..... Sois heureux, mon brave soldat, je serai avec toi jusqu’á la fin[.]» pendant qu’il parlait je me sentis penétré d’intelligence et de volonté et quand il eut fini mon destin était scellé pour toujours. Si alors il ne se fit en moi aucun changement pourquoi toutes choses ont[-]elles pris dés ce moment une couleur differente?
Je vois mon chemin comme les oiseaux voient dans l’air leur chemin sans traces[;] j’arriverai. Dieu guide l’oiseau et moi, quand il voudra.
Festus, [5] lui propose de s’éclairer au moins de la lumiere qu’ont répandus [sic] les savants avant lui. [«]Non,[»] dit[-]il, «c’était la fausse science. Voyez les maux qu’ils ont laissé [sic, for laissés] sur la Terre. je les méprise eux et tout ce qu’ils ont enseigné[.»]
Michal– Il a une Mission de Dieu, il sera grand et illustre et tout pour nous.
Paracelse– non[,] ni grand ni illustre, si je puis servir le genre humain c’est bien, mais je ne veux rien de ceux que je servirai[.]
Festus– mais pourtant les regards, l’amour, l’admiration des hommes te soutiendraient. Tu les dédaignes.
Paracelse– j’y renonce et je voudrais que le sacrifice fut plus grand.
Il pouvait s’éclairer lui seul et laisser l’Humanité suivre son même sentier d’Épines. non, ila voulu découvrir le moyen de rendre l’ame également libre dans tous ses développemen[t]s. «Nous pouvons être condamnés à ne pas nous éléver au rang des anges mais au moins tous les humains doivent s’éléver au nôtre. ne fasse [6] pas de géants ô mon Dieu! mais éléve tout l’espece. nous ne demandons que de développer notre force, notre force humaine, tous également, à tous l’œil d’aigle, le cœur sincére, et Vois si nous ne pouvons pas nous comparer á les [7] anges. Voilá ma Tache. je vais ramasser les parcelles de cette science mystérieuse dispersée Cà et là dans le monde, perdue longtem[p]s ou toujours inconnue.—le bien de l’homme ne doit plus être separé de celui de Dieu.[»] [8]
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[9] Chant 2me dans la maison
du Grec à Constantinople
Paracelse a échoué. La nature ne lui a pas livré le grand sécret. <les hommes ont payé ses services d’ingratitude.> [10] il a vieilli. Son énergie est éteinte. Ange dechu il ne croit plus en lui[-]même.
Il voudrait se réposer, mourir, <mais il craint que la mort ne soit un réveil.> [10] Il cherche à se consoler en se disant qu’il a fait ce qu’il a pu.
[11] Il se souvient de ses amis et se rappelle les divers plaisirs qu’il a goutés avec eux. Depuis, tout le reste de sa vie ne lui apparait que comme un seul jour absorbé par une pensée tyrannique.
La pensée lui vient de rechercher s’il ne doit pas attribuer son insuccés à quelque faute, s’il a suivi fidellement [sic] la lumiere qui dévait le guider.
Il demande à Dieu rien qu’une heure de sa prémiere énergie. Il s’en servirait pour embrasser d’un coup d’œil d’aigle les vérités qu’il a recueillies, et inventer un moyen de les fondre ensemble, de les completer, de les rendre efficaces.
Pendant que Paracelse se demande qu’elle a pu être la cause de sa chute, <l’ombre du> [12] poete Aprile lui apparait.
Celui[-]là aussi a voulu être grand. <mais il a démandé [la grandeur] à la Science.> [13] Son langage est chaud et éclatant de poesie[.]
Après l’avoir entendu, Paracelse reconnait ce qui lui a manqué pour réussir, il n’a pas aimé. Au désir de savoir il dévait joindre l’amour. C’est á ses amants que la nature livrera ses sécrets. C’est en aimant que l’homme se rapproche de Dieu qui est le vrai poëte[.]
[14] 3me Chant Professeur à Basle
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Paracelse tout en marchant á son but qu’il n’a pu atteindre, a acquis des <connaissances des sécrets de Médecine.> [15] Il s’est fait une grande réputation par des guérisons qu’il a operées. La Rumeur publique lui attribue le pouvoir de rendre la Jeunesse. [16]
Il enseigne á Basle. Ses cours sont suivis par une foule de disciples [17] qu’il meprise. cependant ce ne sont pas les graces de son debit qui les attirent. Paracelse qui n’a attendu aucune lumiere de la fréquentation des savants, mais [a attendu] tout de l’intention et de l’observation, a négligé de se mettre en rapport avec ses semblables. il en sent l’inconvénient[.]
Il retrouve son ami Festus parmi ses admirateurs. il se découvre à lui tel qu’il est. il est persuadé qu’il a jetté sa vie[.] il est aussi loin de la vérite qu’au départ. mais il ne peut pas renoncer á sa prémiere tendance[;] il est invinciblement poussé vers le même but[.] «Si Dieu me proposait de me ceder son trône je n’accepterais son offre qu’à condition de m’en servir pour l’exécution de mon projet[.]»
il voit qu’il précéde son siecle
he in the advance of individual minds (114)
Pour ce qui est de son enseignement, il a des connaissances de deux genres, des notions sublimes, vastes, nébuleuses rélatives au but qu’il poursuivait (116) des sécrets acquis pendant la récherche d’un sécret plus grand. Voilá ce qu’il ne livre pas au vulgaire. puis il posséde un grand nombre de premiers principes qui peuvent mener trés loin. c’est là ce qu’il enseigne à ses disciples.
IVme Chant à Colmar
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[18] Il est chassé de Basle; un prêtre qu’il a gueri a réfusé de le payer et toute la ville a pris parti contre Paracelse. il est expulsé comme un charlatan.
Son âme est fletrie par la haine.
Festus veut lui rendre le courage. (163)
I had a noble purpose, and the strength &c
Le Service de Dieu doit se faire dans l’ordre qu’il a déterminé. Voulez[-]vous donc renoncer à la soumission de la créature[,] soutenir que vous avez le droit de disposer de votre énergie à votre gré; c’est comme si les fleuves disaient; “nous allons à l’océan mais (150) qu’avons[-]nous à faire dans les vallées et dans les lacs? nous ne voulons pas y ralentir notre marche[.»]
5me chant. Hopital de Salbsbourg (1541)
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Paracelse est mourant dans un hopital de Salsbourg. Il est dans le délire. Festus ne l’a point abandonné. Il lui prodigue les plus tendres soins sans en être reconnu. Le poëte a peint son âme affectueuse et devouée dans la désolation de Festus. Rien de plus touchant.
Paracelse revient à lui. Il reconnait Festus. il se léve debout. Voici le chant du cigne à ce moment qui précéde la mort, moment de prophétie suivant les poëtes, où l’âme est envahie par la lumiere de la vie future, il voit clairement que <son premier but> [19] était le vrai but. Il se repent d’avoir désespéré. [20]
«Oui l’homme est le Roi de la Nature. sans lui elle n’a ni vie ni éclat. Tout a été fait pour l’Homme. l’Homme doit être heureux et grand. le progrés est sa Loi.——l’homme n’est pas l’homme encore[—]Not [21] shall I deem (192) like[—] des signes certains annoncent l’approche de l’homme..... déja il commence á dépasser les bornes de sa Nature. Il commence á concévoir des Espérances et des craintes qui supplantent ses joies et ses chagrins individuels. Il devient trop grand pour les étroites croyances de juste et d’injustes [sic]; elles s’effacent tous les jours en présence de cette soif immense du bien.»
Les hommes ont applaudi sottement les prémieres révélations de Paracelse, et il les a méprisés. ils se sont vengés en dédaignant ensuite son vrai savoir, et il les a hais [sic], ainsi l’amour lui a manqué pour apprécier l’humanité. S’il avait aimé il aurait discerné dans leurs inquiétudes, dans leurs craintes, dans leurs haines mêmes le germe de l’amour. (like plants in mines (199) comparaison charnelle) et il n’aurait pas désespéré d’eux.
«Que les hommes fixent leurs régards sur le poëte qui a aimé avec trop d’ardeur et sur moi qui ai sacrifié l’amour á la Science et qu’il se forme un être ayant les qualités de nous deux, célui[-]là sera grand.
«En attendant j’ai fait du bien quoique je n’ai pas fait toujours bien.
[«]Ils parlent de moi avec dédain aujourd’hui. plus tard ils me connaitront. je plonge dans une mer d’obscurité épouvantable, mais ce n’est que pour un temps. Je presse la lampe de Dieu contre ma poitrine. Sa lumiere percera tôt ou tard.[»]
Poëme de haute morale, de sublimes pensées, de sentiments divins, poëme qui m’a fait couler des larmes délicieuses d’admiration et de Symphatie [sic].
Le sujet me semble éminemment poëtique. le plus grand, le plus poëtique qui ait jamais été traité. Dans l’enfance des peuples la poësie avait une noble destination. Elle était consacrée à chanter la Divinité. Ce poëme la fait rémonter à son principe. Faust et Manfred sont des compositions de doute, de chaos, de desespoir. il serait peut être utile que Faust et Manfred ne fussent pas lus. Paracelse est un poëme de consolation, d’espérance[,] de foi, de haute générosité. Tout homme après l’avoir lu se sentira l’ame plus belle. le seul écrit qui m’ait causé une impression approchant de celle que m’a fait éprouver Paracelse, c’est le Don Carlos de Schiller. Schiller qui a créé le Marquis de Posa aurait peut être pu écrire Paracelse.
Il y a peut[-]être des lenteurs et des longueurs dans le cours de l’ouvrage. quelques obscurités. peut[-]être aussi le petit nombre d’interlocuteurs produit-t’il [sic] un peu de monotonie. ne voudrait-on pas voir Paracelse dire …
Le français et l’anglais ne sont pas de la même famille de langues. dés lors les Beautés de Style ne passent pas d’une langue dans l’autre. Néanmoins je crois que Paracelse traduit en français serait encore trés beau. Il lui resterait assez de Beautés en perdant celles du Style.
Paracelsus
Concept
[1] Continuous advancement is the law of mankind. The mission of the superior man is to hasten that progress. To achieve that goal, two things are necessary for him, to know and to love.
To know, so as to steal from nature those secrets contributing to the elevation of all humanity.
To love, so as not to be discouraged by the ingratitude and vices of men.
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Paracelsus appears to be one of those great figures that the past allows us to glimpse against a dark and cloudy background. There is the hero chosen by the poet to personify his magnificent concept.
Outline
First song.
Paracelsus has ardently followed the teaching of the learned and famed Trithemius. He was one of his most fervent disciples, but suddenly his enthusiasm has ceased. He has recognized that there was nothing but emptiness in that pretended erudition. He informs his childhood friends that he is going to leave them to follow a new career. It is a grand undertaking that he has to fulfill, the only great and worthwhile one. He is going to discover the secret of man’s destiny. It is God who desires it.
Festus and Michal seek in vain to hold him back by opposing their doubts against his conviction, telling him that perhaps he takes his own desires and fancy as an inspiration from on high. “How,” he says, “would I know that this glorious destiny is meant for me, if it weren’t for an irresistible force which torments me ceaselessly?
“Be assured that God never grants energy so that it remains useless. Ask the eagle [2] why, all of a sudden, it plunges into the depths of an unknown abyss?” &c (19)
Thus he believes, and consequently he disdains both the occult sciences that the pedants fervently study and the magic that they worship.
“What is all that beside God who is everywhere, who sustains, directs everything, who desires that the earth yield its secrets; that all objects in nature provide sensations, knowledge, gratification, inspiration? and I am young, Festus, happy and free, I can dedicate myself; I have a life to give, I who am chosen for that undertaking.”
Festus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From his childhood on, he felt a fire within, he didn’t understand what whispered in his ear in the evening and spoke out loud to him at midnight (22); it was something vague.
“But when life was made complete in me, when I had seen the multitude of men ...... I felt in my breast a confused tumult; it was like a desire to elevate myself above mankind while saving it, to make for it some unparalleled sacrifice, to wrest from heaven or from earth some immense good for humanity, to perish while serving it, as one who would tear thunder from its cloud.” &c (24)
<Once the feat achieved> [3] I would withdraw &c (24) a beautiful comparison.
One night Paracelsus was bemoaning his limited success in his studies at that time. He heard a voice which told him: “It is your strength itself which causes your inferiority. Know, not for the joy of knowing but to become a being who shows light to men.” &c
“And I smiled the smile that one experiences but once in a lifetime. And discovering then for the first time the whole extent of my ambition that sought to comprehend God’s works and God himself and to relate those works from God to our soul, I saw how my fellow disciples’ studies compared with that [ambition]. I realized their true worth, but I did not smile, knowing well who was near me.”
And the voice, softer now, said to me: “The way is painful for the flesh which has allowed its vicious propensities to ripen. Are you willing to venture for love of me and your fellow men without any recompense? And after an instant ..... Be glad, my gallant soldier, I shall be with you to the end.” While he was speaking, I felt imbued with understanding and determination and when he had finished my fate was sealed forever. If no change then occured in me, why, from that moment on, did all things take on a different colour?
I see my path as the birds in the air see their trackless way; I shall succeed. God guides the bird and me, when he wishes.
Festus [5] suggests that he at least inform himself from the enlightenment spread by the learned men before him. “No,” he says, “it was false knowledge. See the evils they bestowed on the earth. I scorn them and everything they taught.”
Michal– He has a mission from God; he will be great and renowned and everything to us.
Paracelsus– No, neither great nor renowned, if I can serve mankind it is good, but I want nothing from those I shall serve.
Festus– But yet the attention, the love, the admiration of men would sustain you. You disdain them.
Paracelsus– I renounce them and I wish the sacrifice were greater.
He could have enlightened himself alone and let humanity follow the same thorny path. No, he sought to discover the means to make the soul equally free in all its unfoldings. “We may be doomed not to exalt ourselves to the rank of angels but at least all men should elevate themselves to ours. Make [6] no giants, oh God! but raise up the whole race. We ask but to develop our strength, our human power, all equally, to all the eye of an eagle, the true heart, and see whether we cannot compare ourselves to the angels. There is my task. I shall gather fragments of that mysterious knowledge dispersed here and there in the world, long lost or forever unknown.– The good of man must no longer be separated from that of God.” [8]
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[9] Second song. In the House
of the Greek at Constantinople
Paracelsus has failed. Nature has not relinquished to him her great secrdet. <Men have rewarded his services with ingratitude.> [10] He has aged. His energy is gone. A fallen angel, he no longer believes in himself.
He would like to rest, to die, <but he fears that death may be an awakening.> [10] He attempts to console himself by telling himself that he has done what he could.
[11] He remembers his friends and recalls the various pleasures he enjoyed with them. Since then, all the rest of his life appears to him like but a single day absorbed in one tyrannical idea.
The thought comes to him to consider whether he should not ascribe his lack of success to some fault, whether he followed faithfully the light which was to guide him.
He asks God for just one hour of his former vigour. He would use it to embrace with an eagle’s glance the truths he has gathered, and to devise a way to meld them together, to complete them, to render them effective.
While Paracelsus wonders what could have been the cause of his fall, <the ghost of the> [12] poet Aprile appears to him.
He, as well, wanted to be great, <but he asked [greatness] from knowledge.> [13] His language is passionate and bursting with poetry.
After hearing him, Paracelsus recognizes what he has lacked in order to succeed. He did not love. To the desire for knowledge, he should have added love. It is to her lovers that Nature will reveal her secrets. It is in loving that man draws nearer to God, who is the true poet.
[14] Third song.Professor in Basle
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Paracelsus, even while pursuing an aim he has been unable to reach, has acquired <knowledge of medical secrets>. [15] He has gained a wide reputation through the healings he effected. Public rumour had credited him with the power of restoring youth. [16]
He teaches in Basle. His lectures are attended by a large number of disciples [17] whom he despises. However it is not the elegance of his delivery that attracts them. Paracelsus, who did not expect any edification from association with scholars, but [expected] everything from purpose and observation, neglected to establish contact with his fellow men. He senses the drawback of this.
Among his admirers, he meets his friend Festus again. He reveals himself to him as he is. He is convinced that he has thrown away his life. He is as far away from the truth as at the beginning. But he cannot abandon his early tendency; he is irresistibly driven toward the same goal. “If God were to offer to yield his throne to me, I would not accept his offer except on the condition of using it to carry out my project.”
He sees that he is before his time
he in the advance of individual minds (114)
As for his teaching, he has knowledge of two kinds—sublime, vast and obscure notions related to the aim he was pursuing (116), secrets acquired during the search for a greater secret. This is what he does not reveal to the common man. Then he possesses a great number of primary principles which can lead very far. This is what he teaches his disciples.
Fourth Song in Colmar
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[18] He has been driven away from Basle; a priest, whom he healed, refused to pay him and the whole town took sides against Paracelsus. He is expelled like a charlatan.
His soul is withered by hatred
Festus wants to restore his spirit. (163)
I had a noble purpose, and the strength &c
The service of God must be performed in the order he has determined. Do you want then to renounce the submission of man, to assert that you have the right to use your energy as you please; it is as though the rivers said: “We are going to the ocean but (150) what have we to do in the valleys and in the lakes? We do not want to slow down our pace there.”
Fifth song. Hospital in Salzburg (1541)
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Paracelsus is dying in a hospital in Salzburg. He is delirious. Festus has in no way abandoned him. He lavishes the most tender care on him without being recognized. The poet has portrayed his loving and devoted soul in Festus’ desolation. Nothing more touching.
Paracelsus regains consciousness. He recognizes Festus. He rises and stands. This is the swan’s song at that moment preceding death, the moment of prophecy according to the poets, when the soul is filled with the light of the life hereafter. He clearly sees that <his first goal> [19] was the true goal. He repents having despaired. [20]
“Yes, man is the king of nature. Without him, she has neither life nor radiance. All was made for man. Man is meant to be happy and great. Progress is his law.—— Man is not man as yet[—]Not [21] shall I deem (192) like[—]sure signs announce the coming of man..... already he begins to transcend the boundaries of his nature. He begins to conceive hopes and fears that supplant his individual joys and sorrows. He becomes too great for the narrow creeds of just and unjust; they fade each day in the presence of that immense thirst for good.”
Men foolishly applauded Paracelsus’ first revelations, and he despised them. They avenged themselves by scorning his true knowledge thereafter, and he hated them; thus he lacked love to appreciate mankind. Had he loved, he would have discerned in their worries, in their fears, in their hatreds even, the seed of love. (like plants in mines (199) carnal comparison) and he would not have despaired of them.
“Let men fix their eyes on the poet who loved with too much ardour and on me who sacrificed love for knowledge, and let there be formed a being with the attributes of us both—that one will be great.
“Meanwhile I did some good though I have not always done well.
“Today they speak of me with disdain. Later they will know me. I plunge into a sea of dreadful obscurity, but it is only for a time. I press God’s lamp against my breast. Sooner or later his light will break through.”
A poem of high morality, sublime thoughts, divine feelings, a poem that has made me shed delicious tears of admiration and sympathy.
The subject seems eminently poetic to me, the greatest, the most poetic ever treated. In the infancy of nations poetry had a noble function. It was consecrated to praise the Deity. This poem restores it to its primary origin. Faust and Manfred are works of doubt, of chaos, of despair. It would perhaps be appropriate that Faust and Manfred not be read. Paracelsus is a poem of consolation, of hope, of faith, of high nobility. Any man, after having read it, will feel purer in his soul. The only work that made an impression on me approaching that which Paracelsus made me feel, is Schiller’s Don Carlos. Schiller, who created the Marquis de Posa, could perhaps have written Paracelsus.
There are possibly some slow and some tedious passages in the course of the work. Some obscurities. Perhaps also the small number of speakers produces a little monotony. Wouldn’t one like to see Paracelsus say …
French and English do not belong to the same family of languages. Therefore the beauties of style do not pass from the one language to the other. Nevertheless I believe that Paracelsus, translated into French, would still be very beautiful. It would retain enough of its beauties while losing those of style.
1. [RB underscored the first two words, preceded them with an alpha, and wrote the following on both sides of a single sheet:] α) This “progrès” is in the ever-increasing capacity for Knowing and for Loving: Knowledge being no more than a means to an end—which is Love. “L’homme supérieur” is, in other words, one whose “progrès” exceeds that of his fellows,—he must therefore unite in himself both faculties: for, should he Know—and not Love, or Love—and not Know, he will fail in his “Mission,”—the mere Knowledge or the mere Love which may be the effect of his labours not advancing the desired consummation—(which is only in the Union of the Two)—so far as his individual effort is concerned: the necessity of this union, for individual success, is illustrated in this Poem by the presenting two incomplete natures, “halves of one dissevered world” (p. 70.)—who severally contribute to the Knowledge and to the Love of their race,—occasioning that “progrès” by the accidental combination of their efforts, which those efforts, separately, have been unable to effect—and in the experience of which inability each nature has perished. Between these incomplete natures is shadowed forth the perfect nature for whom the accomplishment of the feat is reserved.
2. and vautour des alpes [vulture of the Alps].
3. Here begins the separation of the desire to Know from that of to Love. [Words in angle brackets are underscored by RB.]
4. For a comment on the rules of spelling in force when Monclar learned French, see letter 509, note 15.
5. instinctively perceiving that P. should Love. [“Festus” has been underscored by RB.]
6. RB has altered fasse, the subjunctive (and more polite) form of faire, to fais, the imperative form.
7. Monclar wrote “tes” (reflecting RB’s “thy angels” in Part I, line 784) then changed it to “les.”
8. Up to this moment P., Loves: he now determines only to Know—the result will be seen.
9. [RB underscored the first two words, preceded them with a beta, and wrote the following on all four sides of two folded sheets:] β.) Chant 2me) Paracelsus has long since abjured Love: his acquisitions in Knowledge are therefore never a success,—never complete in themselves—never in any degree final or satisfactory. He does not see this so long as his youthful energy holds on untired—but 14 years have elapsed since the night of his leaving Würzburg, his health is gone, his youth fleeting, and he is no nearer the end he has proposed to himself than at first: this end being such an amount of Knowledge as will effect the perfect happiness of mankind, without Love. He has ventured, or been compelled, to confront this sad truth for the first time on the Evening he is introduced in this Second Part: he reviews resolutely his Knowledge, already obtained—and his chance of obtaining, his strength considered, as much more as will effect a success such as he desires: and he cannot forbear seeing that he fails. And why? How has he relaxed in his efforts? What has he omitted? Is there not some law of God that opposes the progress of mankind altogether—for on what other principle can he account for the failure of his own endeavours? What has been wrong in his system?
10. RB crossed out the passage shown in angle brackets.
11. The truth that it was better with him while he loved forces itself on him while
12. RB crossed out the words shown in angle brackets and substituted “le.”
13. RB added “la grandeur” after “démandé” but then crossed out Monclar’s phrase, shown in angle brackets, presumably to accord with RB’s comments in note 9.
14. [RB added a kappa, and wrote the following on two sides of a single sheet:] κ) III. Chant. / This is a fuller exposition of the state mentioned at the end of the last part. Paracelsus cannot love, yet thinks that he desires to be loved .. while in reality he is unweaned from his desire of knowing only, though convinced of its impracticability. He is trying to consider this state of his a consummation—or to rest as if it were. Festus, in his complete though inferior nature, suggesting that P. has done wrong in aspiring to any further happiness .. whereas all wanting is in reality Love proportionate to the Knowledge of Paracelsus. P. neither aspires, nor attains anything, now.
15. [Passage shown in angle brackets underscored by RB, who noted in margin:] he employs for the first time the stupendous powers of mercury and opium. —he discovers the circulation of the blood. See note, page 215.
16. et la santé; et la possession de la pierre philosophale [and health; and the possession of the Philosopher’s Stone].
17. —who regard him as “Luther alter”—one destined to work as perfect an emancipation from Disease to the body, as Luther to the soul. See page 89 “one ordained &c.”
18. [RB added a delta, and wrote the following on two sides of a single sheet:] δ.) 4me Chant. / An accident brings the restlessness and unhappiness of Paracelsus to a crisis—he flings away the mask he has been constrained to wear—does not pretend any longer to love men or to care for their love—resolves to continue his pursuit of knowledge, mere knowledge, as one to which [h]is soul is wedded past retrieval, but knowledge for his own sake, or rather its own sake—without reference to man’s welfare, or even his own: and he intends to support himself against the hate of mankind, by hate like theirs—falsehood, trickery, deceit like that he suffers from. He believes Love is extinct in him … an incident (the death of Michal) convinces him of that error. However he departs, and contrast this aspiration, the aspiration of despair, with the first!
19. RB underscored the passage shown in angle brackets, added a comma and “c.a.d. le bien des hommes, [i.e.: the good of mankind].”
20. —Mais il voit aussi que son chemin n’etait pas le vrai chemin—“On doit réunir en soi[”] etc [But he also realized that his path was not the right one—“One should unite in oneself” etc]. [Cf. Paracelsus, V, 688.]
21. Monclar wrote “Not,” and RB corrected it to “Nor.”
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