TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE.
Each time the queen visited the laboratory of Alphonso, he made her
acquainted with some new fact in philosophy, or some new device of
alchemy, which awakened curiosity and gave rise to inquiry. The Spanish
king, having made some discoveries in advance of the age, had fallen into
the popular error of philosophers, that of repudiating all pre-established
doctrines and maxims. Having laid down the theory that matter was eternal,
and all external appearances the result of natural change, he was at
infinite pains to account for all phenomena so as not to conflict with
this proposition. The unbiased mind of Eleanora often detected in his
assertions a vagueness of expression which passed for argument, but which
evidently imposed less upon his auditors than upon himself.
"Nature," said he, "arranges her work in circles: hence is the sky a dome,
the earth a convex ball, and each minute atom of a globular form. The
seasons roll their perpetual round, and as a ring hath neither beginning
nor end, so must the material universe be eternal. The acorn groweth into
the oak, and the oak again produceth the acorn; all outward manifestations
are but parts in the great universal machine."
Eleanora, who had been attentively regarding an ingenious invention of the
king's, interrupted this tirade, by remarking, "A few months before I left
England, I visited the cell of friar Bacon, in Oxford. But I saw nothing
in his laboratory so curious and wonderful as this work of my brother's."
The philosopher, flattered with the encomium, turned at once to exhibit
the design of the machine. She followed his explanation with the greatest
apparent interest; and when he had finished, replied, "In all these
curious arrangements, I trace the wisdom of my brother; and it is that
which gives me the greatest pleasure; and when I see the beneficent
purposes for which it is designed, I feel a deeper veneration for the mind
that could plan so skilfully."
She took a bunch of flowers from the hand of Agnes and approached the
king. "I have been observing," said she, "the curious arrangement of these
frail leaves, five green supporters, five yellow petals, five slender
threads, and one central spire. I have gathered thousands of them in my
rambles, and the same perfect number is found in every one. It has led me
to inquire if Nature be not like my brother, a mathematician."
The workings of Alphonso's face showed how closely the simple truth of
this proposition had driven home. "Nature," said he, "is an active
principle, whose changes neither add to, nor detract from, the original
matter of the universe. The metals," continued he, seeing she was about to
respond, "the metals, my philosophical sister, form the basis of
everything. I have detected iron in human blood, and a lustrous substance
like that thou sawest in common ashes; hence do the alchemists believe
that gold, the most precious of all, is scattered through nature, as the
seeds of vegetation are scattered in earth, requiring only the proper
gases to develop it and make it abundant as the pebbles on the shore."
"And have these gases been able to effect the desirable changes?" inquired
the queen.
"There are innumerable obstacles in the way of these momentous inquiries,"
said the enthusiast. "Nature resists intrusion into her arcana, and I
grieve to say, that we have not yet been able to bring about a definite
result. Science has achieved only the procuring of the gases, while there
remains still the nicer problem--to mix them in their right proportions,
at their proper temperatures; for the nascent metal is more delicate than
the embryo plant, and an excess of heat or cold destroys like frost or
blight."
"Ah, me!" said Eleanora, with a sigh; "before this great end be
accomplished I fear me my brother will have passed away, and then all this
toil and research will be lost."
"My sister," said Alphonso, abandoning his labors and seating himself,
"thou hast unconsciously touched the thorn that rankles deepest in my
breast. In nature, nothing seems made in vain; even decay produces new
life, and man alone, the crowning work of all, seems made to no purpose."
"I have sometimes thought," said Eleanora, as if answering her own
reflections, rather than replying to her brother's remarks, "that man
might perhaps be made for the pleasure of a higher order of intelligence,
as the lower orders of creation seem formed for our gratification, and
that all our miseries spring from an attempt to thwart this plan."
"If thy thought be not the true solution of man's destiny, I know not what
end he serves in the great scheme of existence," returned Alphonso, sadly;
"I have passed through various vicissitudes of life, from the greatness of
earthly state to the poverty of a prison, and I have derived more pleasure
from the achievements of science than from all my hereditary honors. And
yet even these do not satisfy the longings of my nature."
"The scripture teaches us, that the superior intelligences find delight in
benefitting mortals; and acting upon this hint the good have taught us,
that to be blest ourselves we must seek to bless others," said Eleanora.
"True," replied the philosopher, breaking out once more into his old
enthusiasm, "I have sometimes found alleviation from the weariness of my
thoughts in the reflection, that the sciences in which I am engaged will
one day exercise a wider and more perfect control over the destiny of the
human race, than all the military orders backed by the sanction of
ecclesiastical decrees. Science will open the door to Art; and her
triumphant offspring, in a train of skillful inventions, shall pass on
through long ages, breaking down the stern barriers of kingdoms, and
uniting mankind in a common interest; war shall give place to useful
Labor, and Science abrogating labor in its turn, shall satisfy the wants
of the human race, accomplishing by a touch that which requires the might
of thousands. Men shall then have leisure to perform the rites that lift
the veil of Isis, and perhaps find means to _question_ Nature even in the
innermost recesses of her temple."
"Oh! life! life!" said the philosopher, in an accent of despair, "why art
thou so brief? Why must I die without discovering the sublime agencies?"
Eleanora waited in compassionate silence till her brother resumed in a
calmer tone, "Think me not mad, my sister. If the feeble attempts of an
imprisoned king, and a cloistered friar, can produce the wondrous results
of which thou hast been witness, what shall the end be, when men free to
pursue these investigations shall win the rich guerdon of fame and
pecuniary reward? Thou hast heard, perchance, of the magician Albertus
Magnus, who constructed a human figure, which performed the office of a
servant; and of the stupid priest Thomas Aquinas, who, alarmed by the
appearance of the automaton which opened the door and ushered him in with
ceremonious obeisance, destroyed with one blow the work of years."
"I can forgive his terror," said Eleanora, "for I well remember my own
affright, when the brazen head contrived by Friar Bacon, rolled along on
the table towards me, and uttered '_pax vobiscum_' with startling
distinctness."
"Albertus Magnus performed a still more astonishing work," continued
Alphonso. "At a banquet which he gave in the garden of his cloister, in
the depth of winter, trees appeared covered with leaves and flowers, which
vanished as if by enchantment, when the guests rose to depart."
"By what means were these wonderful works produced?" said Eleanora, with
astonishment.
"With the mode of this operation I am not familiar," returned the
philosopher. "Doubtless by some of the powerful agents alchemy reveals to
its votaries."
"And what dost thou consider the chief agent in the universe?" said
Eleanora, with the air of one inquiring after truth.
"Nature," returned the philosopher, emphatically.
"And will it pain my brother, if his unlearned sister call that great
agent, who brings the flowers and leaves upon the trees in their season,
by the name of God?"
"Certainly, the name can affect nothing," replied Alphonso; "and if thy
priest require it of thee, sin not against him, by a more liberal view."
"And if the ignorant mass, who cannot be enlightened by thy theories, are
restrained from vice by the thought that an Omniscient Being takes note of
their actions, would it be well to free them from the necessary monitor?"
inquired his sister.
"It is doubtless well for man to be deterred from evil by salutary fear,
till he rises to more exalted capabilities," replied Alphonso.
"And art willing," suggested Eleanora, cautiously, "to administer to this
wholesome necessity until thy divine philosophy become sufficiently
perfected to renovate their character."
"What priestly scheme hast thou in hand?" said her brother, regarding her
with a look of mirthful curiosity.
"Thou knowest how dearly I love the Castilian language," returned the
queen, "and I would that my brother should perpetuate his fame by that
which will benefit his subjects. The sight of thy Jewish scribes,
suggested the thought that it would be easy for thee to procure the
translation of the Scriptures into our mother tongue."
The philosopher remained silent for a moment, and then answered, "knowest
thou the effect of the measures thou proposest?"
"I conceive," replied Eleanora, "that it will make thy people more
virtuous and happy, and," added she, mindful of his foible, "prepare them
to receive all the additional light to which thy investigations may lead."
"There will be another effect, which, perhaps thou dost not anticipate,"
replied Alphonso. "It will overthrow the power of the priesthood; for as
now each man inquires of his confessor concerning his duty, he will, if
enabled to read the boasted oracles, claim the right to interpret for
himself. But thy experiment shall be tried, and now I bethink me, those
learned scribes which _our benevolent son Sancho_ hath permitted us to
employ in transcribing the laws of Spain into the language of Castile,
shall be placed under thy direction for this important work."
Thus the object for which Eleanora had so long and so patiently prayed and
planned, progressed under the auspices of a man who affected to despise
the truths he yet condescended to propagate; and while the philosopher
gave critical attention to the correctness of the work, he found leisure
to complete his Astronomical tables, and to commence the first general
history of Spain.