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The Magna Carta
Contents
The Text of Magna Carta
Magna Carta 1215
The text of THE MAGNA CARTA
A note from Michael Hart, preparer of the 0.1 version.
This file contains a number of versions of the Magna Carta, some of
which were a little mangled in transit. I am sure our volunteers will
find and correct errors I didn’t catch, and that version 0.2 - 1.0 will
have significant improvements, as well as at least one more version in
Latin.
Version 1.0 may contain a dozen different versions.
The Text of Magna Carta
JOHN, by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of
Normandy and Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou, to his archbishops,
bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justices, foresters, sheriffs,
stewards, servants, and to all his officials and loyal subjects,
Greeting.
KNOW THAT BEFORE GOD, for the health of our soul and those of our
ancestors and heirs, to the honour of God, the exaltation of the holy
Church, and the better ordering of our kingdom, at the advice of our
reverend fathers Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all
England, and cardinal of the holy Roman Church, Henry archbishop of
Dublin, William bishop of London, Peter bishop of Winchester, Jocelin
bishop of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh bishop of Lincoln, Walter Bishop
of Worcester, William bishop of Coventry, Benedict bishop of Rochester,
Master Pandulf subdeacon and member of the papal household, Brother
Aymeric master of the knighthood of the Temple in England, William
Marshal earl of Pembroke, William earl of Salisbury, William earl of
Warren, William earl of Arundel, Alan de Galloway constable of
Scotland, Warin Fitz Gerald, Peter Fitz Herbert, Hubert de Burgh
seneschal of Poitou, Hugh de Neville, Matthew Fitz Herbert, Thomas
Basset, Alan Basset, Philip Daubeny, Robert de Roppeley, John Marshal,
John Fitz Hugh, and other loyal subjects:
(1) FIRST, THAT WE HAVE GRANTED TO GOD, and by this present charter
have confirmed for us and our heirs in perpetuity, that the English
Church shall be free, and shall have its rights undiminished, and its
liberties unimpaired. That we wish this so to be observed, appears from
the fact that of our own free will, before the outbreak of the present
dispute between us and our barons, we granted and confirmed by charter
the freedom of the Church’s elections - a right reckoned to be of the
greatest necessity and importance to it - and caused this to be
confirmed by Pope Innocent III. This freedom we shall observe
ourselves, and desire to be observed in good faith by our heirs in
perpetuity.
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TO ALL FREE MEN OF OUR KINGDOM we have also granted, for us and our
heirs for ever, all the liberties written out below, to have and to
keep for them and their heirs, of us and our heirs:
(2) If any earl, baron, or other person that holds lands directly of
the Crown, for military service, shall die, and at his death his heir
shall be of full age and owe a ‘relief’, the heir shall have his
inheritance on payment of the ancient scale of ‘relief’. That is to
say, the heir or heirs of an earl shall pay 100 for the entire earl’s
barony, the heir or heirs of a knight 100s. at most for the entire
knight’s ‘fee’, and any man that owes less shall pay less, in
accordance with the ancient usage of ‘fees’
(3) But if the heir of such a person is under age and a ward, when he
comes of age he shall have his inheritance without ‘relief’ or fine.
(4) The guardian of the land of an heir who is under age shall take
from it only reasonable revenues, customary dues, and feudal services.
He shall do this without destruction or damage to men or property. If
we have given the guardianship of the land to a sheriff, or to any
person answerable to us for the revenues, and he commits destruction or
damage, we will exact compensation from him, and the land shall be
entrusted to two worthy and prudent men of the same ‘fee’, who shall be
answerable to us for the revenues, or to the person to whom we have
assigned them. If we have given or sold to anyone the guardianship of
such land, and he causes destruction or damage, he shall lose the
guardianship of it, and it shall be handed over to two worthy and
prudent men of the same ‘fee’, who shall be similarly answerable to us.
(5) For so long as a guardian has guardianship of such land, he shall
maintain the houses, parks, fish preserves, ponds, mills, and
everything else pertaining to it, from the revenues of the land itself.
When the heir comes of age, he shall restore the whole land to him,
stocked with plough teams and such implements of husbandry as the
season demands and the revenues from the land can reasonably bear.
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(6) Heirs may be given in marriage, but not to someone of lower social
standing. Before a marriage takes place, it shall be’ made known to the
heir’s next-of-kin.
(7) At her husband’s death, a widow may have her marriage portion and
inheritance at once and without trouble. She shall pay nothing for her
dower, marriage portion, or any inheritance that she and her husband
held jointly on the day of his death. She may remain in her husband’s
house for forty days after his death, and within this period her dower
shall be assigned to her.
(8) No widow shall be compelled to marry, so long as she wishes to
remain without a husband. But she must give security that she will not
marry without royal consent, if she holds her lands of the Crown, or
without the consent of whatever other lord she may hold them of.
(9) Neither we nor our officials will seize any land or rent in payment
of a debt, so long as the debtor has movable goods sufficient to
discharge the debt. A debtor’s sureties shall not be distrained upon so
long as the debtor himself can discharge his debt. If, for lack of
means, the debtor is unable to discharge his debt, his sureties shall
be answerable for it. If they so desire, they may have the debtor’s
lands and rents until they have received satisfaction for the debt that
they paid for him, unless the debtor can show that he has settled his
obligations to them.
(10) If anyone who has borrowed a sum of money from Jews dies before
the debt has been repaid, his heir shall pay no interest on the debt
for so long as he remains under age, irrespective of whom he holds his
lands. If such a debt falls into the hands of the Crown, it will take
nothing except the principal sum specified in the bond.
(11) If a man dies owing money to Jews, his wife may have her dower and
pay nothing towards the debt from it. If he leaves children that are
under age, their needs may also be provided for on a scale appropriate
to the size of his holding of lands. The debt is to be paid out of the
residue, reserving the service due to his feudal lords. Debts owed to
persons other than Jews are to be dealt with similarly.
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(12) No ‘scutage’ or ‘aid’ may be levied in our kingdom without its
general consent, unless it is for the ransom of our person, to make our
eldest son a knight, and (once) to marry our eldest daughter. For these
purposes only a reasonable ‘aid’ may be levied. ‘Aids’ from the city of
London are to be treated similarly.
(13) The city of London shall enjoy all its ancient liberties and free
customs, both by land and by water. We also will and grant that all
other cities, boroughs, towns, and ports shall enjoy all their
liberties and free customs.
(14) To obtain the general consent of the realm for the assessment of
an ‘aid’ - except in the three cases specified above - or a ‘scutage’,
we will cause the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and greater
barons to be summoned individually by letter. To those who hold lands
directly of us we will cause a general summons to be issued, through
the sheriffs and other officials, to come together on a fixed day (of
which at least forty days notice shall be given) and at a fixed place.
In all letters of summons, the cause of the summons will be stated.
When a summons has been issued, the business appointed for the day
shall go forward in accordance with the resolution of those present,
even if not all those who were summoned have appeared.
(15) In future we will allow no one to levy an ‘aid’ from his free men,
except to ransom his person, to make his eldest son a knight, and
(once) to marry his eldest daughter. For these purposes only a
reasonable ‘aid’ may be levied.
(16) No man shall be forced to perform more service for a knight’s
‘fee’, or other free holding of land, than is due from it.
(17) Ordinary lawsuits shall not follow the royal court around, but
shall be held in a fixed place.
(18) Inquests of novel disseisin, mort d’ancestor, and darrein
presentment shall be taken only in their proper county court. We
ourselves, or in our absence abroad our chief justice, will send two
justices to each county four times a year, and these justices, with
four knights of the county elected by the county itself, shall hold the
assizes in the county court, on the day and in the place where the
court meets.
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(19) If any assizes cannot be taken on the day of the county court, as
many knights and freeholders shall afterwards remain behind, of those
who have attended the court, as will suffice for the administration of
justice, having regard to the volume of business to be done.
(20) For a trivial offence, a free man shall be fined only in
proportion to the degree of his offence, and for a serious offence
correspondingly, but not so heavily as to deprive him of his
livelihood. In the same way, a merchant shall be spared his
merchandise, and a husbandman the implements of his husbandry, if they
fall upon the mercy of a royal court. None of these fines shall be
imposed except by the assessment on oath of reputable men of the
neighbourhood.
(21) Earls and barons shall be fined only by their equals, and in
proportion to the gravity of their offence.
(22) A fine imposed upon the lay property of a clerk in holy orders
shall be assessed upon the same principles, without reference to the
value of his ecclesiastical benefice.
(23) No town or person shall be forced to build bridges over rivers
except those with an ancient obligation to do so.
(24) No sheriff, constable, coroners, or other royal officials are to
hold lawsuits that should be held by the royal justices.
(25) Every county, hundred, wapentake, and tithing shall remain at its
ancient rent, without increase, except the royal demesne manors.
(26) If at the death of a man who holds a lay ‘fee’ of the Crown, a
sheriff or royal official produces royal letters patent of summons for
a debt due to the Crown, it shall be lawful for them to seize and list
movable goods found in the lay ‘fee’ of the dead man to the value of
the debt, as assessed by worthy men. Nothing shall be removed until the
whole debt is paid, when the residue shall be given over to the
executors to carry out the dead man’s will. If no debt is due to the
Crown, all the movable goods shall be regarded as the property of the
dead man, except the reasonable shares of his wife and children.
(27) If a free man dies intestate, his movable goods are to be
distributed by his next-of-kin and friends, under the supervision of
the Church. The rights of his debtors are to be preserved.
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(28) No constable or other royal official shall take corn or other
movable goods from any man without immediate payment, unless the seller
voluntarily offers postponement of this.
(29) No constable may compel a knight to pay money for castle-guard if
the knight is willing to undertake the guard in person, or with
reasonable excuse to supply some other fit man to do it. A knight taken
or sent on military service shall be excused from castle-guard for the
period of this service.
(30) No sheriff, royal official, or other person shall take horses or
carts for transport from any free man, without his consent.
(31) Neither we nor any royal official will take wood for our castle,
or for any other purpose, without the consent of the owner.
(32) We will not keep the lands of people convicted of felony in our
hand for longer than a year and a day, after which they shall be
returned to the lords of the ‘fees’ concerned.
(33) All fish-weirs shall be removed from the Thames, the Medway, and
throughout the whole of England, except on the sea coast.
(34) The writ called precipe shall not in future be issued to anyone in
respect of any holding of land, if a free man could thereby be deprived
of the right of trial in his own lord’s court.
(35) There shall be standard measures of wine, ale, and corn (the
London quarter), throughout the kingdom. There shall also be a standard
width of dyed cloth, russett, and haberject, namely two ells within the
selvedges. Weights are to be standardised similarly.
(36) In future nothing shall be paid or accepted for the issue of a
writ of inquisition of life or limbs. It shall be given gratis, and not
refused.
(37) If a man holds land of the Crown by ‘fee-farm’, ‘socage’, or
‘burgage’, and also holds land of someone else for knight’s service, we
will not have guardianship of his heir, nor of the land that belongs to
the other person’s ‘fee’, by virtue of the ‘fee-farm’, ‘socage’, or
‘burgage’, unless the ‘fee-farm’ owes knight’s service. We will not
have the guardianship of a man’s heir, or of land that he holds of
someone else, by reason of any small property that he may hold of the
Crown for a service of knives, arrows, or the like.
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(38) In future no official shall place a man on trial upon his own
unsupported statement, without producing credible witnesses to the
truth of it.
(39) No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his
rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his
standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him,
or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgement of his equals
or by the law of the land.
(40) To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice.
(41) All merchants may enter or leave England unharmed and without
fear, and may stay or travel within it, by land or water, for purposes
of trade, free from all illegal exactions, in accordance with ancient
and lawful customs. This, however, does not apply in time of war to
merchants from a country that is at war with us. Any such merchants
found in our country at the outbreak of war shall be detained without
injury to their persons or property, until we or our chief justice have
discovered how our own merchants are being treated in the country at
war with us. If our own merchants are safe they shall be safe too.
(42) In future it shall be lawful for any man to leave and return to
our kingdom unharmed and without fear, by land or water, preserving his
allegiance to us, except in time of war, for some short period, for the
common benefit of the realm. People that have been imprisoned or
outlawed in accordance with the law of the land, people from a country
that is at war with us, and merchants - who shall be dealt with as
stated above - are excepted from this provision.
(43) If a man holds lands of any ‘escheat’ such as the ‘honour’ of
Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other ‘escheats’ in
our hand that are baronies, at his death his heir shall give us only
the ‘relief’ and service that he would have made to the baron, had the
barony been in the baron’s hand. We will hold the ‘escheat’ in the same
manner as the baron held it.
(44) People who live outside the forest need not in future appear
before the royal justices of the forest in answer to general summonses,
unless they are actually involved in proceedings or are sureties for
someone who has been seized for a forest offence.
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(45) We will appoint as justices, constables, sheriffs, or other
officials, only men that know the law of the realm and are minded to
keep it well.
(46) All barons who have founded abbeys, and have charters of English
kings or ancient tenure as evidence of this, may have guardianship of
them when there is no abbot, as is their due.
(47) All forests that have been created in our reign shall at once be
disafforested. River-banks that have been enclosed in our reign shall
be treated similarly.
(48) All evil customs relating to forests and warrens, foresters,
warreners, sheriffs and their servants, or river-banks and their
wardens, are at once to be investigated in every county by twelve sworn
knights of the county, and within forty days of their enquiry the evil
customs are to be abolished completely and irrevocably. But we, or our
chief justice if we are not in England, are first to be informed.
(49) We will at once return all hostages and charters delivered up to
us by Englishmen as security for peace or for loyal service. ***here
were some strange characters, not completely removed
(50) We will remove completely from their offices the kinsmen of Gerard
de Ath, Peter, Guy, and Andrew de Chanceaux, Guy de Cigogne, and in
future they shall hold no offices in England. The people in question
are Engelard de Cigogn, Geoffrey de Martigny and his brothers, Philip
Marc and his brothers, with Geoffrey his nephew, and all their
followers.
* As soon as peace is restored, we will remove from the kingdom all the
foreign knights, bowmen, their attendants, and the mercenaries that
have come to it, to its harm, with horses and arms.
* To any man whom we have deprived or dispossessed of lands, castles,
liberties, or rights, without the lawful judgement of his equals, we
will at once restore these. In cases of dispute the matter shall be
resolved by the judgement of the twenty-five barons referred to below
in the clause for securing the peace. In cases, however, where a man
was deprived or dispossessed of something without the lawful judgement
of his equals by our father King Henry or our brother King Richard, and
it remains in our hands or is held by others under our warranty, we
shall have respite for the period commonly allowed to Crusaders, unless
a lawsuit had been begun, or an enquiry had been made at our order,
before we took the Cross as a Crusader. On our return from the Crusade,
or if we abandon it, we will at once render justice in full.
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* We shall have similar respite in rendering justice in connexion with
forests that are to be disafforested, or to remain forests, when these
were first aforested by our father Henry or our brother Richard; with
the guardianship of lands in another persons fee, when we have hitherto
had this by virtue of a fee held of us for knights service by a third
party; and with abbeys founded in another persons fee, in which the
lord of the fee claims to own a right. On our return from the Crusade,
or if we abandon it, we will at once do full justice to complaints
about these matters.
* No one shall be arrested or imprisoned on the appeal of a woman for
the death of any person except her husband.
* All fines that have been given to us unjustly and against the law of
the land, and all fines that we have exacted unjustly, shall be
entirely remitted or the matter decided by a majority judgement of the
twenty-five barons referred to below in the clause for securing the
peace together with Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be
present, and such others as he wishes to bring with him. If the
archbishop cannot be present, proceedings shall continue without him,
provided that if any of the twenty-five barons has been involved in a
similar suit himself, his judgement shall be set aside, and someone
else chosen and sworn in his place, as a substitute for the single
occasion, by the rest of the twenty-five.
* If we have deprived or dispossessed any Welshmen of lands, liberties,
or anything else in England or in Wales, without the lawful judgement
of their equals, these are at once to be returned to them. A dispute on
this point shall be determined in the Marches by the judgement of
equals. English law shall apply to holdings of land in England, Welsh
law to those in Wales, and the law of the Marches to those in the
Marches. The Welsh shall treat us and ours in the same way.
* In cases where a Welshman was deprived or dispossessed of anything,
without the lawful judgement of his equals, by our father King Henry or
our brother King Richard, and it remains in our hands or is held by
others under our warranty, we shall have respite for the period
commonly allowed to Crusaders, unless a lawsuit had been begun, or an
enquiry had been made at our order, before we took the Cross as a
Crusader. But on our return from the Crusade, or if we abandon it, we
will at once do full justice according to the laws of Wales and the
said regions.
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* We will at once return the son of Llywelyn, all Welsh hostages, and
the charters delivered to us as security for the peace.
* With regard to the return of the sisters and hostages of Alexander,
king of Scotland, his liberties and his rights, we will treat him in
the same way as our other barons of England, unless it appears from the
charters that we hold from his father William, formerly king of
Scotland, that he should be treated otherwise. This matter shall be
resolved by the judgement of his equals in our court.
* All these customs and liberties that we have granted shall be
observed in our kingdom in so far as concerns our own relations with
our subjects. Let all men of our kingdom, whether clergy or laymen,
observe them similarly in their relations with their own men.
***Strange characters may have ended here.
SINCE WE HAVE GRANTED ALL THESE THINGS for God, for the better ordering
of our kingdom, and to allay the discord that has arisen between us and
our barons, and since we desire that they shall be enjoyed in their
entirety, with lasting strength, for ever, we give and grant to the
barons the following security:
* The barons shall elect twenty-five of their number to keep, and cause
to be observed with all their might, the peace and liberties granted
and confirmed to them by this charter.
* If we, our chief justice, our officials, or any of our servants
offend in any respect against any man, or transgress any of the
articles of the peace or of this security, and the offence is made
known to four of the said twenty-five barons, they shall come to us -
or in our absence from the kingdom to the chief justice - to declare it
and claim immediate redress. If we, or in our absence abroad the chief
justice, make no redress within forty days, reckoning from the day on
which the offence was declared to us or to him, the four barons shall
refer the matter to the rest of the twenty-five barons, who may
distrain upon and assail us in every way possible, with the support of
the whole community of the land, by seizing our castles, lands,
possessions, or anything else saving only our own person and those of
the queen and our children, until they have secured such redress as
they have determined upon. Having secured the redress, they may then
resume their normal obedience to us.
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* Any man who so desires may take an oath to obey the commands of the
twenty-five barons for the achievement of these ends, and to join with
them in assailing us to the utmost of his power. We give public and
free permission to take this oath to any man who so desires, and at no
time will we prohibit any man from taking it. Indeed, we will compel
any of our subjects who are unwilling to take it to swear it at our
command.
* If one of the twenty-five barons dies or leaves the country, or is
prevented in any other way from discharging his duties, the rest of
them shall choose another baron in his place, at their discretion, who
shall be duly sworn in as they were.
* In the event of disagreement among the twenty-five barons on any
matter referred to them for decision, the verdict of the majority
present shall have the same validity as a unanimous verdict of the
whole twenty-five, whether these were all present or some of those
summoned were unwilling or unable to appear.
* The twenty-five barons shall swear to obey all the above articles
faithfully, and shall cause them to be obeyed by others to the best of
their power.
* We will not seek to procure from anyone, either by our own efforts or
those of a third party, anything by which any part of these concessions
or liberties might be revoked or diminished. Should such a thing be
procured, it shall be null and void and we will at no time make use of
it, either ourselves or through a third party.
We have remitted and pardoned fully to all men any ill-will, hurt, or
grudges that have arisen between us and our subjects, whether clergy or
laymen, since the beginning of the dispute. We have in addition
remitted fully, and for our own part have also pardoned, to all clergy
and laymen any offences committed as a result of the said dispute
between Easter 1215 AD and the restoration of peace.
In addition we have caused letters patent to be made for the barons,
bearing witness to this security and to the concessions set out above,
over the seals of Stephen archbishop of Canterbury, Henry archbishop of
Dublin, the other bishops named above, and Master Pandulf.
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IT IS ACCORDINGLY OUR WISH AND COMMAND that the English Church shall be
free, and that men in our kingdom shall have and keep all these
liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably in their fulness
and entirety for them and their heirs, of us and our heirs, in all
things and all places for ever.
Both we and the barons have sworn that all this shall be observed in
good faith and without deceit. Witness the above mentioned people and
many others.
Given by our hand in the meadow that is called Runnymede, between
Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day of June in the seventeenth
year of our reign.
***
[There were many missing spaces in this one, not sure I got them all]
Magna Carta 1215
John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of
Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to the archbishops,
bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciars, foresters, sheriffs,
stewards, servants, and to all his bailiffs and liege subjects,
greeting. Know that, having regard to God and for the salvation of our
soul, and those of all our ancestors and heirs, and unto the honor of
God and the advancement of holy church, and for the reform of our
realm, by advice of our venerable fathers, Stephen archbishop of
Canterbury, primate of all England and cardinal of the holy Roman
Church, Henry archbishop of Dublin, William of London, Peter of
Winchester, Jocelyn of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh of Lincoln, Walter of
Worcester, William of Coventry, Benedict of Rochester, bishops; of
master Pandulf, subdeacon and member of the household of our lord the
Pope, of brother Aymeric (master of the Knights of the Temple in
England), and of the illustrious men William Marshall earl of Pembroke,
William earl of Salisbury, William earl of Warenne, William earl of
Arundel, Alan of Galloway (constable of Scotland), Waren Fitz Gerald,
Peter Fits Herbert, Hubert de Burgh (seneschal of Poitou), Hugh de
Neville, Matthew Fitz Herbert, Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip
d’Aubigny, Robert of Roppesley, John Marshall, John Fitz Hugh, and
others, our liegemen.
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1. In the first place we have granted to God, and by this our present
charter confirmed for us and our heirs for ever that the English church
shall be free, and shall have her rights entire, and her liberties
inviolate; and we will that it be thus observed; which is apparent from
this that the freedom of elections, which is reckoned most important
and very essential to the English church, we, of our pure and
unconstrained will, did grant, and did by our charter confirm and did
obtain the ratification of the same from our lord, Pope Innocent III.,
before the quarrel arose between us and our barons: and this we will
observe, and our will is that it be observed in good faith by our heirs
for ever. We have also granted to all freemen of our kingdom, for us
and our heirs for ever, all the underwritten liberties, to be had and
held by them and their heirs, of us and our heirs for ever.
2. If any of our earls or barons, or others holding of us in chief by
military service shall have died, and at the time of his death his heir
shall be of full age and owe “relief” he shall have his inheritance on
payment of the ancient relief, namely the heir or heirs of an earl, 100
pounds for a whole earl’s barony; the heir or heirs of a baron, 100
pounds for a whole barony; the heir or heirs of a knight, 100 shillings
at most for a whole knight’s fee; and whoever owes less let him give
less, according to the ancient custom officers.
3. If, however, the heir of any of the aforesaid has been under age and
in wardship, let him have his inheritance without relief and without
fine when he comes of age.
4. The guardian of the land of an heir who is thus under age, shall
take from the land of the heir nothing but reasonably produce,
reasonable customs, and reasonable services, and that without
destruction or waste of men or goods; and if we have committed the
wardship of the lands of any such minor to the sheriff, or to any other
who is responsible to us for its issues, and he has made destruction or
waste of what he holds in wardship, we will take of him amends, and the
land shall be committed to two lawful and discreet men of that fee, who
shall be responsible for the issues to us or to him to whom we shall
assign them; and if we have given or sold the wardship of any such land
to anyone and he has there in made destruction or waste, he shall lose
that wardship, and it shall be transferred to two lawful and discreet
men of that fief, who shall be responsible to us in like manner as
aforesaid.
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5. The guardian, moreover, so long as he has the wardship of the land,
shall keep up the houses, parks, fishponds, stanks, mills, and other
things pertaining to the land, out of the issues of the same land; and
he shall restore to the heir, when he has come to full age, all his
land, stocked with ploughs and “waynage,” according as the season of
husbandry shall require, and the issues of the land can reasonably
bear.
6. Heirs shall be married without disparagement, yet so that before the
marriage takes place the nearest in blood to that heir shall have
notice.
7. A widow, after the death of her husband, shall forthwith and without
difficulty have her marriage portion and inheritance; nor shall she
give anything for her dower, or for her marriage portion, or for the
inheritance which her husband and she held on the day of the death of
that husband; and she may remain in the house of her husband for fourty
days after his death, within which time her dower shall be assigned to
her.
8. No widow shall be compelled to marry, so long as she prefers to live
without a husband; provided always that she gives security not to marry
without our consent, if she holds of us, or without the consent of the
lord of whom she holds, if she holds of another.
9. Neither we nor our bailiffs shall seize any land or rent for any
debt, so long as the chattels of the debtor are sufficient to repay the
debt; nor shall the sureties of the debtor be distrained so long as the
principal debtor is able to satisfy the debt; and if the principal
debtor shall fail to pay the debt, having nothing wherewith to pay it,
then the sureties shall answer for the debt; and let them have the
lands and rents of the debtor, if they desire them, until they are
indemnified for the debt which they have paid for him, unless the
principal debtor can show proof that he is discharged thereof as
against the said sureties.
10. If one who has borrowed from the Jews any sum, great or small, die
before that loan can be repaid, the debt shall not bear interest while
the heir is under age, of whomsoever he may hold; and if the debt fall
into our hands, we will not take anything except the principal sum
contained in the bond.
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11. And if any one die indebted to the Jews, his wife shall have her
dower and pay nothing of that debt; and if any children of the deceased
are left underage, necessaries shall be provided for them in keeping
with the holding of the deceased; and out of the residue the debt shall
be paid, reserving, however, service due to feudal lords; in like
manner let it be done touching debts due to others than Jews.
12. No scutage nor aid shall be imposed on our kingdom, unless by
common counsel of our kingdom, except for ransoming our person, for
making our eldest son a knight, and for once marrying our eldest
daughter; and for these there shall not be levied more than a
reasonable aid. In like manner it shall be done concerning aids from
the city of London.
13. And the city of London shall have all its ancient liberties and
free customs, as well by land as by water; furthermore, we decree and
grant that all other cities, boroughs, towns, and ports shall have all
their liberties and free customs.
14. And for obtaining the common counsel of the kingdom anent the
assessing of an aid (except in the three cases aforesaid) or of a
scutage, we will cause to be summoned the archbishops, bishops, abbots,
earls, and greater barons, severally by our letters; and we will
moreover cause to be summoned generally, through our sheriffs and
bailiffs, all others who hold of us in chief, for a fixed date, namely,
after the expiry of at least forty days, and at a fixed place; and in
all letters of such summons we will specify the reason of the summons.
And when the summons has thus been made, the business shall proceed on
the day appointed, according to the counsel of such as are present,
although not all who were summoned have come.
15. We will not for the future grant to any one license to take an aid
from his own free tenants, except to ransom his body, to make his
eldest son a knight, and once to marry his eldest daughter; and on each
of these occasions there shall be levied only a reasonable aid.
16. No one shall be distrained for performance of greater service for a
knight’s fee, or for any other free tenement, than is due therefrom.
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17. Common pleas shall not follow our court, but shall be held in some
fixed place.
18. Inquests of novel disseisin, of mort d’ancester, and of darrein
presentment, shall not be held elsewhere than in their own county
courts and that in manner following,—We, or, if we should be out of the
realm, our chief justiciar, will send two justiciars through every
county four times a year, who shall, along with four knights of the
county chosen by the county, hold the said assize in the county court,
on the day and in the place of meeting of that court.
19. And if any of the said assizes cannot be taken on the day of the
county court, let there remain of the knights and freeholders, who were
present at the county court on that day, as many as may be required for
the efficient making of judgments, according as the business be more or
less.
20. A freeman shall not be amerced for a slight offense, except in
accordance with the degree of the offense; and for a grave offense he
shall be amerced in accordance with the gravity of the offense, yet
saving always his “contentment;” and a merchant in the same way, saving
his “merchandise;” and a villein shall be amerced in the same way,
saving his “wainage”—if they have fallen into our mercy: and none of
the aforesaid amercements shall be impsed except by the oath of honest
men of the neighborhood.
21. Earls and barons shall not be amerced except through their peers,
and only in accordance with the degree of the offense.
22. A clerk shall not be amerced in respect of his lay holding except
after the manner of the others aforesaid; further, he shall not be
amerced in accordance with the extent of his ecclesiastical benefice.
23. No village or individual shall be compelled to make bridges at
river-banks, except those who from of old were legally bound to do so.
24. No sheriff, constable, coroners, or others of our bailiffs, shall
hold pleas of our Crown.
25. All counties, hundreds, wapentakes, and trithings (except our
demesne manors) shall remain at old rents, and without any additional
payment.***here may be an error
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26. If any one holding of us a lay fief shall die, and our sheriff or
bailiff shall exhibit our letters patent of summons for a debt which
the deceased owed to us, it shall be lawful for our sheriff or bailiff
to attach and catalogue chattels of the deceased, found upon the lay
fief, to the value of that debt, at the sight of law-worthy men,
provided always that nothing whatever be then be removed until the debt
which is evident shall be fully paid to us; and the residue shall be
left to the executors to fulfil the will of the deceased; and if there
be nothing due from him to us, all the chattels shall go to the
deceased, saving to his wife and children their reasonable shares.
27. If any freeman shall die intestate, his chattels shall be
distributed by the hands of his nearest kinsfolk and friends, under
supervision of the church, saving to every one the debts which the
deceased owed to him.
28. No constable or other bailiff of ours shall take corn or other
provisions from any one without immediately tendering money therefor,
unless he can have postponement thereof by permission of the seller.
29. No constable shall compel any knight to give money in lieu of
castle-guard, when he is willing to perform it in his own person, or
(if he cannot do it from any reasonable cause) then by another
responsible man. Further, if we have led or sent him upon military
service, he shall be relieved from guard in proportion to the time
during which he has been on service because of us.
30. No sheriff or bailiff of ours, or other person, shall take the
horses or carts of any freeman for transport duty, against the will of
the said freeman.
31. Neither we nor our bailiffs shall take, for our castles or for any
other work of ours, wood which is not ours, against the will of the
owner of that wood.
32. We will not retain beyond one year and one day, the lands of those
who have been convicted of felony, and the lands shall thereafter be
handed over to the lords of the fiefs.
33. All kiddles for the future shall be removed altogether from Thames
and Medway, and throughout all England, except upon the seashore.
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34. The writ which is called praecipe shall not for the future be
issued to any one, regarding any tenement whereby a freeman may lose
his court.
35. Let there be one measure of wine throughout our whole realm; and
one measure of ale; and one measure of corn, to wit, “the London
quarter;” and one width of cloth (whether dyed, or russet, or
“halberget”), to wit, two ells within the selvages; of weights also let
it be as of measures.
36. Nothing in future shall be given or taken for a writ of inquisition
of life or limbs, but freely it shall be granted, and never denied.
37. If any one holds of us by fee-farm, by socage, or by burgage, and
holds also land of another lord by knight’s service, we will not (by
reason of that fee-farm, socage, or burgage) have the wardship of the
heir, or of such land of his as is of the fief of that other; nor shall
we have wardship of that fee-farm, socage, or burgage, unless such
fee-farm owes knight’s service. We will not by reason of any small
serjeanty which any one may hold of us by the service of rendering to
us knives, arrows, or the like, have wardship of his heir of the land
which he holds of another lord by knight’s service.
38. No bailiff for the future shall, upon his own unsupported
complaint, put any one to his “law,” without credible witnesses brought
for this purpose.
39. No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or exiled or
in anyway destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, except
by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
40. To no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay, right or
justice.
41. All merchants shall have safe and secure exit from England, and
entry to England, with the right to tarry there and to move about as
well by land as by water, for buying and selling by the ancient and
right customs, quit from all evil tolls, except (in time of war) such
merchants as are of the land at war with us. And if such are found in
our land at the beginning of the war, they shall be detained, without
injury to their bodies or goods, until information be received by us,
or by our chief justiciar, how the merchants of our land found in the
land at war with us are treated; and if our men are safe there, the
others shall be safe in our land.
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42. It shall be lawful in future for any one (excepting always those
imprisoned or outlawed in accordance with the law of the kingdom, and
natives of any country at war with us, and merchants, who shall be
treated as is above provided) to leave our kingdom and to return, safe
and secure by land and water, except for a short period in time of war,
on grounds of public policy—reserving always the allegiance due to us.
43. If any one holding of some escheat (such as the honor of
Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other escheats
which are in our hands and are baronies) shall die, his heir shall give
no other relief, and perform no other service to us than he would have
done to the baron, if that barony had been in the baron’s hand; and we
shall hold it in the same manner in which the baron held it.
44. Men who dwell without the forest need not henceforth come before
our justiciars of the forest upon a general summons, except those who
are impleaded, or who have become sureties for any person or persons
attached for forest offenses.
45. We will appoint as justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs only
such as know the law of the realm and mean to observe it well.
46. All barons who have founded abbeys, concerning which they hold
charters from the kings of England, or of which they have
long-continued possession, shall have the wardship of them, when
vacant, as they ought to have.
47. All forests that have been made such in our time shall forthwith be
disafforested; and a similar course shall be followed with regard to
river-banks that have been placed “in defense” by us in our time.
48. All evil customs connected with forests and warrens, foresters and
warreners, sheriffs and their officers, river-banks and their wardens,
shall immediately be inquired into in each county by twelve sworn
knights of the same county chosen by the honest men of the same county,
and shall, within forty days of the said inquest, be utterly abolished,
so as never to be restored, provided always that we previously have
intimation thereof, or our justiciar, if we should not be in England.
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49. We will immediately restore all hostages and charters delivered to
us by Englishmen, as sureties of the peace or of faithful service.
50. We will entirely remove from their bailiwicks, the relations of
Gerard Athee (so that in future they shall have no bailiwick in
England); namely, Engelard of Cigogne, Peter, Guy, and Andrew of
Chanceaux, Guy of Cigogne, Geofrrey of Martigny with his brothers,
Philip Mark with his brothers and his nephew Geoffrey, and the whole
brood of the same.
51. As soon as peace is restored, we will banish from the kingdom all
foreign-born knights, cross-bowmen, serjeants, and mercenary soldiers,
who have come with horses and arms to the kingdom’s hurt.
52. If any one has been dispossessed or removed by us, without the
legal judgment of his peers, from his lands, castles, franchises, or
from his right, we will immediately restore them to him; and if a
dispute arise over this, then let it be decided by the five-and-twenty
barons of whom mention is made below in the clause for securing the
peace. Moreover, for all those possessions, from which any one has,
without the lawful judgment of his peers, be endisseised or removed, by
our father, King Henry, or by our brother, King Richard, and which we
retain in our hand (or which are possessed by others, to whom we are
bound to warrant them) we shall have respite until the usual term of
crusaders; excepting those things about which a plea has been raised,
or an inquest made by our order, before our taking of the cross; but as
soon as were turn from our expedition (or if perchance we desist from
the expedition) we will immediately grant full justice therein.
53. We shall have, moreover, the same respite and in the same manner in
rendering justice concerning the disafforestation or retention of those
forests which Henry our father and Richard our brother afforested, and
concerning wardship of lands which are of the fief of another (namely,
such wardships as we have hitherto had by reason of a fief which any
one held of us by knight’s service), and concerning abbeys founded on
other fiefs than our own, in which the lord of the fief claims to have
right; and when we have returned, or if we desist from our expedition,
we will immediately grant full justice to all who complain of such
things.
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54. No one shall be arrested or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman,
for the death of any other than her husband.
55. All fines made with us unjustly and against the law of the land,
and all amercements imposed unjustly and against the law of the land,
shall be entirely remitted, or else it shall be done concerning them
according to the decision of the five-and-twenty barons of whom mention
is made below in the clause for securing the peace, or according to the
judgment of the majority of the same, along with the aforesaid Stephen,
archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be present, and such others as he
may wish to bring with him for this purpose, and if he cannot be
present the business shall nevertheless proceed without him, provided
always that if any one or more of the aforesaid five-and-twenty barons
are in a similar suit, they shall be removed as far as concerns this
particular judgment, others being substituted in their places after
having been selected by the rest of the same five-and-twenty for this
purpose only, and after having been sworn.
56. If we have disseised or removed Welshmen from lands or liberties,
or other things, without the legal judgment of their peers in England
or in Wales, they shall be immediately restored to them; and if a
dispute arise over this, then let it be decided in the marches by the
judgment of their peers; for tenements in England according to the law
of England, for tenements in Wales according to the law of Wales, and
for tenements in the marches according to the law of the marches.
Welshmen shall do the same to us and ours.
57. Further, for all those possessions from which any Welshman has,
without the lawful judgment of his peers, been disseised or removed by
King Henry our father or King Richard our brother, and which we retain
in our hand (or which are possessed by others, to whom we are bound to
warrant them) we shall have respite until the usual term of crusaders;
excepting those things about which a plea has been raised or an inquest
made by our order before we took the cross; but as soon as we return
(or if perchance we desist from our expedition), we will immediately
grant full justice in accordance with the laws of the Welsh and in
relation to the foresaid regions.
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58. We will immediately give up the son of Llywelyn and all the
hostages of Wales, and the charters delivered to us as security for the
peace.
59. We will do toward Alexander, King of Scots, concerning the return
of his sisters and his hostages, and concerning his franchises, and his
right, in the same manner as we shall do toward our other barons of
England, unless it ought to be otherwise according to the charters
which we hold from William his father, formerly King of Scots; and this
shall be according to the judgment of his peers in our court.
60. Moreover, all these aforesaid customs and liberties, the observance
of which we have granted in our kingdom as far as pertains to us toward
our men, shall be observed by all of our kingdom, as well clergy as
laymen, as far as pertains to them toward their men.
61. Since, moreover, for God and the amendment of our kingdom and for
the better allaying of the quarrel that has arisen between us and our
barons, we have granted all these concessions, desirous that they
should enjoy them in complete and firm endurance for ever, we give and
grant to them the underwritten security, namely, that the barons choose
five-and-twenty barons of the kingdom, whomsoever they will, who shall
be bound with all their might, to observe and hold, and cause to be
observed, the peace and liberties we have granted and confirmed to them
by this our present Charter, so that if we, or our justiciar, or our
bailiffs or any one of our officers, shall in anything be at fault
toward any one, or shall have broken any one of the articles of the
peace or of this security, and the offense be notified to four barons
of the foresaid five-and-twenty, the said four barons shall repair to
us (or our justiciar, if we are out of the realm) and, laying the
transgression before us, petition to have that transgression redressed
without delay. And if we shall not have corrected the transgression
(or, in the event of our being out of the realm, if our justiciar shall
not have corrected it) within forty days, reckoning from the time it
has been intimated to us (or to our justiciar, if we should be out of
the realm), the four barons aforesaid shall refer that matter to the
rest of the five-and-twenty barons, and those five-and-twenty barons
shall, together with the community of the whole land, distrain and
distress us in all possible ways, namely, by seizing our castles,
lands, possessions, and in any other way they can, until redress has
been obtained as they deem fit, saving harmless our own person, and the
persons of our queen and children; and when redress has been obtained,
they shall resume their old relations toward us. And let whoever in the
country desires it, swear to obey the orders of the said
five-and-twenty barons for the execution of all the aforesaid matters,
and along with them, to molest us to the utmost of his power; and we
publicly and freely grant leave to every one who wishes to swear, and
we shall never forbid any one to swear. All those, moreover, in the
land who of themselves and of their own accord are unwilling to swear
to the twenty-five to help them in constraining and molesting us, we
shall by our command compel the same to swear to the effect aforesaid.
And if any one of the five-and-twenty barons shall have died or
departed from the land, or be incapacitated in any other manner which
would prevent the foresaid provisions being carried out, those of the
said twenty-five barons who are left shall choose another in his place
according to their own judgment, and he shall be sworn in the same way
as the others. Further, in all matters, the execution of which is
intrusted to these twenty-five barons, if perchance these twenty-five
are present, that which the majority of those present ordain or command
shall be held as fixed and established, exactly as if the whole
twenty-five had concurred in this; and the said twenty-five shall swear
that they will faithfully observe all that is aforesaid, and cause it
to be observed with all their might. And we shall procure nothing from
any one, directly or indirectly, whereby any part of these concessions
and liberties might be revoked or diminished; and if any such thing has
been procured, let it be void and null, and we shall never use it
personally or by another.
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62. And all the ill-will, hatreds, and bitterness that have arisen
between us and our men, clergy and lay, from the date of the quarrel,
we have completely remitted and pardoned every one. Moreover, all
trespasses occasioned by the said quarrel, from Easter in the sixteenth
year of our reign till the restoration of peace, we have fully remitted
to all, both clergy and laymen, and completely forgiven, as far as
pertains to us. And, on this head, we have caused to be made for them
letters testimonial patent of the lord Stephen, archbishop of
Canterbury, of the lord Henry, archbishop of Dublin, of the bishops
aforesaid, and of Master Pandulf as touching this security and the
concessions aforesaid.
63. Wherefore it is our will, and we firmly enjoin, that the English
Church be free, and that the men in our kingdom have and hold all the
aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably,
freely and quietly, fully and wholly, for themselves and their heirs,
of us and our heirs, in all respects and in all places for ever, as is
aforesaid. An oath, moreover, has been taken, as well on our part as on
the part of the barons, that all these conditions aforesaid shall be
kept in good faith and without evil intent. Given under our hand—the
above-named and many others being witnesses—in the meadow which is
called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day of
June, in the seventeenth year of our reign.
The text of THE MAGNA CARTA
The Magna Carta (The Great Charter):
Preamble:
John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of
Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to the archbishop, bishops,
abbots, earls, barons, justiciaries, foresters, sheriffs, stewards,
servants, and to all his bailiffs and liege subjects, greetings. Know
that, having regard to God and for the salvation of our soul, and those
of all our ancestors and heirs, and unto the honor of God and the
advancement of his holy Church and for the rectifying of our realm, we
have granted as underwritten by advice of our venerable fathers,
Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England and cardinal
of the holy Roman Church, Henry, archbishop of Dublin, William of
London, Peter of Winchester, Jocelyn of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh of
Lincoln, Walter of Worcester, William of Coventry, Benedict of
Rochester, bishops; of Master Pandulf, subdeacon and member of the
household of our lord the Pope, of brother Aymeric (master of the
Knights of the Temple in England), and of the illustrious men William
Marshal, earl of Pembroke, William, earl of Salisbury, William, earl of
Warenne, William, earl of Arundel, Alan of Galloway (constable of
Scotland), Waren Fitz Gerold, Peter Fitz Herbert, Hubert De Burgh
(seneschal of Poitou), Hugh de Neville, Matthew Fitz Herbert, Thomas
Basset, Alan Basset, Philip d’Aubigny, Robert of Roppesley, John
Marshal, John Fitz Hugh, and others, our liegemen.
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1. In the first place we have granted to God, and by this our present
charter confirmed for us and our heirs forever that the English Church
shall be free, and shall have her rights entire, and her liberties
inviolate; and we will that it be thus observed; which is apparent from
this that the freedom of elections, which is reckoned most important
and very essential to the English Church, we, of our pure and
unconstrained will, did grant, and did by our charter confirm and did
obtain the ratification of the same from our lord, Pope Innocent III,
before the quarrel arose between us and our barons: and this we will
observe, and our will is that it be observed in good faith by our heirs
forever. We have also granted to all freemen of our kingdom, for us and
our heirs forever, all the underwritten liberties, to be had and held
by them and their heirs, of us and our heirs forever.
2. If any of our earls or barons, or others holding of us in chief by
military service shall have died, and at the time of his death his heir
shall be full of age and owe “relief”, he shall have his inheritance by
the old relief, to wit, the heir or heirs of an earl, for the whole
baroncy of an earl by L100; the heir or heirs of a baron, L100 for a
whole barony; the heir or heirs of a knight, 100s, at most, and whoever
owes less let him give less, according to the ancient custom of fees.
3. If, however, the heir of any one of the aforesaid has been under age
and in wardship, let him have his inheritance without relief and
without fine when he comes of age.
4. The guardian of the land of an heir who is thus under age, shall
take from the land of the heir nothing but reasonable produce,
reasonable customs, and reasonable services, and that without
destruction or waste of men or goods; and if we have committed the
wardship of the lands of any such minor to the sheriff, or to any other
who is responsible to us for its issues, and he has made destruction or
waster of what he holds in wardship, we will take of him amends, and
the land shall be committed to two lawful and discreet men of that fee,
who shall be responsible for the issues to us or to him to whom we
shall assign them; and if we have given or sold the wardship of any
such land to anyone and he has therein made destruction or waste, he
shall lose that wardship, and it shall be transferred to two lawful and
discreet men of that fief, who shall be responsible to us in like
manner as aforesaid.
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5. The guardian, moreover, so long as he has the wardship of the land,
shall keep up the houses, parks, fishponds, stanks, mills, and other
things pertaining to the land, out of the issues of the same land; and
he shall restore to the heir, when he has come to full age, all his
land, stocked with ploughs and wainage, according as the season of
husbandry shall require, and the issues of the land can reasonable
bear.
6. Heirs shall be married without disparagement, yet so that before the
marriage takes place the nearest in blood to that heir shall have
notice.
7. A widow, after the death of her husband, shall forthwith and without
difficulty have her marriage portion and inheritance; nor shall she
give anything for her dower, or for her marriage portion, or for the
inheritance which her husband and she held on the day of the death of
that husband; and she may remain in the house of her husband for forty
days after his death, within which time her dower shall be assigned to
her.
8. No widow shall be compelled to marry, so long as she prefers to live
without a husband; provided always that she gives security not to marry
without our consent, if she holds of us, or without the consent of the
lord of whom she holds, if she holds of another.
9. Neither we nor our bailiffs will seize any land or rent for any
debt, as long as the chattels of the debtor are sufficient to repay the
debt; nor shall the sureties of the debtor be distrained so long as the
principal debtor is able to satisfy the debt; and if the principal
debtor shall fail to pay the debt, having nothing wherewith to pay it,
then the sureties shall answer for the debt; and let them have the
lands and rents of the debtor, if they desire them, until they are
indemnified for the debt which they have paid for him, unless the
principal debtor can show proof that he is discharged thereof as
against the said sureties.
10. If one who has borrowed from the Jews any sum, great or small, die
before that loan be repaid, the debt shall not bear interest while the
heir is under age, of whomsoever he may hold; and if the debt fall into
our hands, we will not take anything except the principal sum contained
in the bond.
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11. And if anyone die indebted to the Jews, his wife shall have her
dower and pay nothing of that debt; and if any children of the deceased
are left under age, necessaries shall be provided for them in keeping
with the holding of the deceased; and out of the residue the debt shall
be paid, reserving, however, service due to feudal lords; in like
manner let it be done touching debts due to others than Jews.
12. No scutage not aid shall be imposed on our kingdom, unless by
common counsel of our kingdom, except for ransoming our person, for
making our eldest son a knight, and for once marrying our eldest
daughter; and for these there shall not be levied more than a
reasonable aid. In like manner it shall be done concerning aids from
the city of London.
13. And the city of London shall have all it ancient liberties and free
customs, as well by land as by water; furthermore, we decree and grant
that all other cities, boroughs, towns, and ports shall have all their
liberties and free customs.
14. And for obtaining the common counsel of the kingdom anent the
assessing of an aid (except in the three cases aforesaid) or of a
scutage, we will cause to be summoned the archbishops, bishops, abbots,
earls, and greater barons, severally by our letters; and we will
moveover cause to be summoned generally, through our sheriffs and
bailiffs, and others who hold of us in chief, for a fixed date, namely,
after the expiry of at least forty days, and at a fixed place; and in
all letters of such summons we will specify the reason of the summons.
And when the summons has thus been made, the business shall proceed on
the day appointed, according to the counsel of such as are present,
although not all who were summoned have come.
15. We will not for the future grant to anyone license to take an aid
from his own free tenants, except to ransom his person, to make his
eldest son a knight, and once to marry his eldest daughter; and on each
of these occasions there shall be levied only a reasonable aid.
16. No one shall be distrained for performance of greater service for a
knight’s fee, or for any other free tenement, than is due therefrom.
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17. Common pleas shall not follow our court, but shall be held in some
fixed place.
18. Inquests of novel disseisin, of mort d’ancestor, and of darrein
presentment shall not be held elsewhere than in their own county
courts, and that in manner following; We, or, if we should be out of
the realm, our chief justiciar, will send two justiciaries through
every county four times a year, who shall alone with four knights of
the county chosen by the county, hold the said assizes in the county
court, on the day and in the place of meeting of that court.
19. And if any of the said assizes cannot be taken on the day of the
county court, let there remain of the knights and freeholders, who were
present at the county court on that day, as many as may be required for
the efficient making of judgments, according as the business be more or
less.
20. A freeman shall not be amerced for a slight offense, except in
accordance with the degree of the offense; and for a grave offense he
shall be amerced in accordance with the gravity of the offense, yet
saving always his “contentment”; and a merchant in the same way, saving
his “merchandise”; and a villein shall be amerced in the same way,
saving his “wainage” if they have fallen into our mercy: and none of
the aforesaid amercements shall be imposed except by the oath of honest
men of the neighborhood.
21. Earls and barons shall not be amerced except through their peers,
and only in accordance with the degree of the offense.
22. A clerk shall not be amerced in respect of his lay holding except
after the manner of the others aforesaid; further, he shall not be
amerced in accordance with the extent of his ecclesiastical benefice.
23. No village or individual shall be compelled to make bridges at
river banks, except those who from of old were legally bound to do so.
24. No sheriff, constable, coroners, or others of our bailiffs, shall
hold pleas of our Crown.
25. All counties, hundred, wapentakes, and trithings (except our
demesne manors) shall remain at the old rents, and without any
additional payment.
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26. If anyone holding of us a lay fief shall die, and our sheriff or
bailiff shall exhibit our letters patent of summons for a debt which
the deceased owed us, it shall be lawful for our sheriff or bailiff to
attach and enroll the chattels of the deceased, found upon the lay
fief, to the value of that debt, at the sight of law worthy men,
provided always that nothing whatever be thence removed until the debt
which is evident shall be fully paid to us; and the residue shall be
left to the executors to fulfill the will of the deceased; and if there
be nothing due from him to us, all the chattels shall go to the
deceased, saving to his wife and children their reasonable shares.
27. If any freeman shall die intestate, his chattels shall be
distributed by the hands of his nearest kinsfolk and friends, under
supervision of the Church, saving to every one the debts which the
deceased owed to him.
28. No constable or other bailiff of ours shall take corn or other
provisions from anyone without immediately tendering money therefor,
unless he can have postponement thereof by permission of the seller.
29. No constable shall compel any knight to give money in lieu of
castle-guard, when he is willing to perform it in his own person, or
(if he himself cannot do it from any reasonable cause) then by another
responsible man. Further, if we have led or sent him upon military
service, he shall be relieved from guard in proportion to the time
during which he has been on service because of us.
30. No sheriff or bailiff of ours, or other person, shall take the
horses or carts of any freeman for transport duty, against the will of
the said freeman.
31. Neither we nor our bailiffs shall take, for our castles or for any
other work of ours, wood which is not ours, against the will of the
owner of that wood.
32. We will not retain beyond one year and one day, the lands those who
have been convicted of felony, and the lands shall thereafter be handed
over to the lords of the fiefs.
33. All kydells for the future shall be removed altogether from Thames
and Medway, and throughout all England, except upon the seashore.
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34. The writ which is called praecipe shall not for the future be
issued to anyone, regarding any tenement whereby a freeman may lose his
court.
35. Let there be one measure of wine throughout our whole realm; and
one measure of ale; and one measure of corn, to wit, “the London
quarter”; and one width of cloth (whether dyed, or russet, or
“halberget”), to wit, two ells within the selvedges; of weights also
let it be as of measures.
36. Nothing in future shall be given or taken for a writ of inquisition
of life or limbs, but freely it shall be granted, and never denied.
37. If anyone holds of us by fee-farm, either by socage or by burage,
or of any other land by knight’s service, we will not (by reason of
that fee-farm, socage, or burgage), have the wardship of the heir, or
of such land of his as if of the fief of that other; nor shall we have
wardship of that fee-farm, socage, or burgage, unless such fee-farm
owes knight’s service. We will not by reason of any small serjeancy
which anyone may hold of us by the service of rendering to us knives,
arrows, or the like, have wardship of his heir or of the land which he
holds of another lord by knight’s service.
38. No bailiff for the future shall, upon his own unsupported
complaint, put anyone to his “law”, without credible witnesses brought
for this purposes.
39. No freemen shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or exiled or
in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, except
by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
40. To no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay, right or
justice.
41. All merchants shall have safe and secure exit from England, and
entry to England, with the right to tarry there and to move about as
well by land as by water, for buying and selling by the ancient and
right customs, quit from all evil tolls, except (in time of war) such
merchants as are of the land at war with us. And if such are found in
our land at the beginning of the war, they shall be detained, without
injury to their bodies or goods, until information be received by us,
or by our chief justiciar, how the merchants of our land found in the
land at war with us are treated; and if our men are safe there, the
others shall be safe in our land.
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42. It shall be lawful in future for anyone (excepting always those
imprisoned or outlawed in accordance with the law of the kingdom, and
natives of any country at war with us, and merchants, who shall be
treated as if above provided) to leave our kingdom and to return, safe
and secure by land and water, except for a short period in time of war,
on grounds of public policy- reserving always the allegiance due to us.
43. If anyone holding of some escheat (such as the honor of
Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other escheats
which are in our hands and are baronies) shall die, his heir shall give
no other relief, and perform no other service to us than he would have
done to the baron if that barony had been in the baron’s hand; and we
shall hold it in the same manner in which the baron held it.
44. Men who dwell without the forest need not henceforth come before
our justiciaries of the forest upon a general summons, unless they are
in plea, or sureties of one or more, who are attached for the forest.
45. We will appoint as justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs only
such as know the law of the realm and mean to observe it well.
46. All barons who have founded abbeys, concerning which they hold
charters from the kings of England, or of which they have long
continued possession, shall have the wardship of them, when vacant, as
they ought to have.
47. All forests that have been made such in our time shall forthwith be
disafforsted; and a similar course shall be followed with regard to
river banks that have been placed “in defense” by us in our time.
48. All evil customs connected with forests and warrens, foresters and
warreners, sheriffs and their officers, river banks and their wardens,
shall immediately by inquired into in each county by twelve sworn
knights of the same county chosen by the honest men of the same county,
and shall, within forty days of the said inquest, be utterly abolished,
so as never to be restored, provided always that we previously have
intimation thereof, or our justiciar, if we should not be in England.
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49. We will immediately restore all hostages and charters delivered to
us by Englishmen, as sureties of the peace of faithful service.
50. We will entirely remove from their bailiwicks, the relations of
Gerard of Athee (so that in future they shall have no bailiwick in
England); namely, Engelard of Cigogne, Peter, Guy, and Andrew of
Chanceaux, Guy of Cigogne, Geoffrey of Martigny with his brothers,
Philip Mark with his brothers and his nephew Geoffrey, and the whole
brood of the same.
51. As soon as peace is restored, we will banish from the kingdom all
foreign born knights, crossbowmen, serjeants, and mercenary soldiers
who have come with horses and arms to the kingdom’s hurt.
52. If anyone has been dispossessed or removed by us, without the legal
judgment of his peers, from his lands, castles, franchises, or from his
right, we will immediately restore them to him; and if a dispute arise
over this, then let it be decided by the five and twenty barons of whom
mention is made below in the clause for securing the peace. Moreover,
for all those possessions, from which anyone has, without the lawful
judgment of his peers, been disseised or removed, by our father, King
Henry, or by our brother, King Richard, and which we retain in our hand
(or which as possessed by others, to whom we are bound to warrant them)
we shall have respite until the usual term of crusaders; excepting
those things about which a plea has been raised, or an inquest made by
our order, before our taking of the cross; but as soon as we return
from the expedition, we will immediately grant full justice therein.
53. We shall have, moreover, the same respite and in the same manner in
rendering justice concerning the disafforestation or retention of those
forests which Henry our father and Richard our brother afforested, and
concerning the wardship of lands which are of the fief of another
(namely, such wardships as we have hitherto had by reason of a fief
which anyone held of us by knight’s service), and concerning abbeys
founded on other fiefs than our own, in which the lord of the fee
claims to have right; and when we have returned, or if we desist from
our expedition, we will immediately grant full justice to all who
complain of such things.
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54. No one shall be arrested or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman,
for the death of any other than her husband.
55. All fines made with us unjustly and against the law of the land,
and all amercements, imposed unjustly and against the law of the land,
shall be entirely remitted, or else it shall be done concerning them
according to the decision of the five and twenty barons whom mention is
made below in the clause for securing the pease, or according to the
judgment of the majority of the same, along with the aforesaid Stephen,
archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be present, and such others as he
may wish to bring with him for this purpose, and if he cannot be
present the business shall nevertheless proceed without him, provided
always that if any one or more of the aforesaid five and twenty barons
are in a similar suit, they shall be removed as far as concerns this
particular judgment, others being substituted in their places after
having been selected by the rest of the same five and twenty for this
purpose only, and after having been sworn.
56. If we have disseised or removed Welshmen from lands or liberties,
or other things, without the legal judgment of their peers in England
or in Wales, they shall be immediately restored to them; and if a
dispute arise over this, then let it be decided in the marches by the
judgment of their peers; for the tenements in England according to the
law of England, for tenements in Wales according to the law of Wales,
and for tenements in the marches according to the law of the marches.
Welshmen shall do the same to us and ours.
57. Further, for all those possessions from which any Welshman has,
without the lawful judgment of his peers, been disseised or removed by
King Henry our father, or King Richard our brother, and which we retain
in our hand (or which are possessed by others, and which we ought to
warrant), we will have respite until the usual term of crusaders;
excepting those things about which a plea has been raised or an inquest
made by our order before we took the cross; but as soon as we return
(or if perchance we desist from our expedition), we will immediately
grant full justice in accordance with the laws of the Welsh and in
relation to the foresaid regions.
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58. We will immediately give up the son of Llywelyn and all the
hostages of Wales, and the charters delivered to us as security for the
peace.
59. We will do towards Alexander, king of Scots, concerning the return
of his sisters and his hostages, and concerning his franchises, and his
right, in the same manner as we shall do towards our other barons of
England, unless it ought to be otherwise according to the charters
which we hold from William his father, formerly king of Scots; and this
shall be according to the judgment of his peers in our court.
60. Moreover, all these aforesaid customs and liberties, the
observances of which we have granted in our kingdom as far as pertains
to us towards our men, shall be observed b all of our kingdom, as well
clergy as laymen, as far as pertains to them towards their men.
61. Since, moveover, for God and the amendment of our kingdom and for
the better allaying of the quarrel that has arisen between us and our
barons, we have granted all these concessions, desirous that they
should enjoy them in complete and firm endurance forever, we give and
grant to them the underwritten security, namely, that the barons choose
five and twenty barons of the kingdom, whomsoever they will, who shall
be bound with all their might, to observe and hold, and cause to be
observed, the peace and liberties we have granted and confirmed to them
by this our present Charter, so that if we, or our justiciar, or our
bailiffs or any one of our officers, shall in anything be at fault
towards anyone, or shall have broken any one of the articles of this
peace or of this security, and the offense be notified to four barons
of the foresaid five and twenty, the said four barons shall repair to
us (or our justiciar, if we are out of the realm) and, laying the
transgression before us, petition to have that transgression redressed
without delay. And if we shall not have corrected the transgression
(or, in the event of our being out of the realm, if our justiciar shall
not have corrected it) within forty days, reckoning from the time it
has been intimated to us (or to our justiciar, if we should be out of
the realm), the four barons aforesaid shall refer that matter to the
rest of the five and twenty barons, and those five and twenty barons
shall, together with the community of the whole realm, distrain and
distress us in all possible ways, namely, by seizing our castles,
lands, possessions, and in any other way they can, until redress has
been obtained as they deem fit, saving harmless our own person, and the
persons of our queen and children; and when redress has been obtained,
they shall resume their old relations towards us. And let whoever in
the country desires it, swear to obey the orders of the said five and
twenty barons for the execution of all the aforesaid matters, and along
with them, to molest us to the utmost of his power; and we publicly and
freely grant leave to everyone who wishes to swear, and we shall never
forbid anyone to swear.
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All those, moveover, in the land who of themselves and of their own
accord are unwilling to swear to the twenty five to help them in
constraining and molesting us, we shall by our command compel the same
to swear to the effect foresaid. And if any one of the five and twenty
barons shall have died or departed from the land, or be incapacitated
in any other manner which would prevent the foresaid provisions being
carried out, those of the said twenty five barons who are left shall
choose another in his place according to their own judgment, and he
shall be sworn in the same way as the others. Further, in all matters,
the execution of which is entrusted to these twenty five barons, if
perchance these twenty five are present and disagree about anything, or
if some of them, after being summoned, are unwilling or unable to be
present, that which the majority of those present ordain or command
shall be held as fixed and established, exactly as if the whole twenty
five had concurred in this; and the said twenty five shall swear that
they will faithfully observe all that is aforesaid, and cause it to be
observed with all their might. And we shall procure nothing from
anyone, directly or indirectly, whereby any part of these concessions
and liberties might be revoked or diminished; and if any such things
has been procured, let it be void and null, and we shall never use it
personally or by another.
62. And all the will, hatreds, and bitterness that have arisen between
us and our men, clergy and lay, from the date of the quarrel, we have
completely remitted and pardoned to everyone. Moreover, all trespasses
occasioned by the said quarrel, from Easter in the sixteenth year of
our reign till the restoration of peace, we have fully remitted to all,
both clergy and laymen, and completely forgiven, as far as pertains to
us. And on this head, we have caused to be made for them letters
testimonial patent of the lord Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, of
the lord Henry, archbishop of Dublin, of the bishops aforesaid, and of
Master Pandulf as touching this security and the concessions aforesaid.
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SENECA
APOCOLOCYNTOSIS
WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY
W.H.D. ROUSE, M.A. LITT. D.
MCMXX
INTRODUCTION
This piece is ascribed to Seneca by ancient tradition; it is impossible
to prove that it is his, and impossible to prove that it is not. The
matter will probably continue to be decided by every one according to his
view of Seneca's character and abilities: in the matters of style and of
sentiment much may be said on both sides. Dion Cassius (lx, 35) says that
Seneca composed an [Greek: apokolokuntosis] or Pumpkinification of
Claudius after his death, the title being a parody of the usual
[Greek: apotheosis]; but this title is not given in the MSS. of the Ludus
de Morte Claudii, nor is there anything in the piece which suits the title
very well.
As a literary form, the piece belongs to the class called
_Satura Menippea_, a satiric medley in prose and verse.
This text is that of Buecheler, with a few trifling changes, which are
indicated in the notes. We have been courteously allowed by Messrs
Weidmann to use this text. I have to acknowledge the help of Mr Ball's
notes, from which I have taken a few references; but my translation was
made many years ago.
W.H.D. ROUSE.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
_Editio Princeps:_ Lucii Annaei Senecae in morte
Claudii Caesaris Ludus nuper repertus: Rome,
1513.
_Latest critical text:_ Franz Buecheler, Weidmann, 1904
(a reprint with a few changes of the text from
a larger work, Divi Claudii [Greek: Apokolokuntosis] in
the Symbola Philologorum Bonnensium, fasc. i,
1864).
_Translations and helps:_ The Satire of Seneca on the
Apotheosis of Claudius, by A.P. Ball (with introduction,
notes, and translations): New York:
Columbia University Press; London, Macmillan,
1902.
SENECA
APOCOLOCYNTOSIS, OR LUDUS DE MORTE CLAUDII: THE PUMPKINIFICATION OF
CLAUDIUS.
I wish to place on record the proceedings in heaven 1
October 13 last, of the new year which begins this auspicious age. It
shall be done without malice or favour. This is the truth. Ask if you like
how I know it? To begin with, I am not bound to please you with my answer.
Who will compel me? I know the same day made me free, which was the last
day for him who made the proverb true--One must be born either a Pharaoh
or a fool. If I choose to answer, I will say whatever trips off my tongue.
Who has ever made the historian produce witness to swear for him? But if
an authority must be produced, ask of the man who saw Drusilla translated
to heaven: the same man will aver he saw Claudius on the road, dot and
carry one. [Sidenote: Virg. Aen. ii, 724] Will he nill he, all that happens
in heaven he needs must see. He is the custodian of the Appian Way; by that
route, you know, both Tiberius and Augustus went up to the gods. Question
him, he will tell you the tale when you are alone; before company he is
dumb. You see he swore in the Senate that he beheld Drusilla mounting
heavenwards, and all he got for his good news was that everybody gave him
the lie: since when he solemnly swears he will never bear witness again to
what he has seen, not even if he had seen a man murdered in open market.
What he told me I report plain and clear, as I hope for his health and
happiness.
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Now had the sun with shorter course drawn in his risen light, 2
And by equivalent degrees grew the dark hours of night:
Victorious Cynthia now held sway over a wider space,
Grim winter drove rich autumn out, and now usurped his place;
And now the fiat had gone forth that Bacchus must grow old,
The few last clusters of the vine were gathered ere the cold:
I shall make myself better understood, if I say the month was October, the
day was the thirteenth. What hour it was I cannot certainly tell;
philosophers will agree more often than clocks; but it was between midday
and one after noon. "Clumsy creature!" you say. "The poets are not content
to describe sunrise and sunset, and now they even disturb the midday
siesta. Will you thus neglect so good an hour?"
Now the sun's chariot had gone by the middle of his way;
Half wearily he shook the reins, nearer to night than day,
And led the light along the slope that down before him lay.
Claudius began to breathe his last, and could not 3
make an end of the matter. Then Mercury, who had always been much pleased
with his wit, drew aside one of the three Fates, and said: "Cruel beldame,
why do you let the poor wretch be tormented? After all this torture cannot
he have a rest? Four and sixty years it is now since he began to pant for
breath. What grudge is this you bear against him and the whole empire? Do
let the astrologers tell the truth for once; since he became emperor, they
have never let a year pass, never a month, without laying him out for his
burial. Yet it is no wonder if they are wrong, and no one knows his hour.
Nobody ever believed he was really quite born. [Footnote: A proverb for a
nobody, as Petron, 58 _qui te natum non putat._] Do what has to be done:
Kill him, and let a better man rule in empty court."
[Sidenote: Virg. Georg iv. 90]
Clotho replied: "Upon my word, I did wish to give him another hour or two,
until he should make Roman citizens of the half dozen who are still
outsiders. (He made up his mind, you know, to see the whole world in the
toga, Greeks, Gauls, Spaniards, Britons, and all.) But since it is your
pleasure to leave a few foreigners for seed, and since you command me, so
be it." She opened her box and out came three spindles. One was for
Augurinus, one for Baba, one for Claudius. [Footnote: "Augurinus" unknown.
Baba: see Sep. Ep. 159, a fool.] "These three," she says, "I will cause to
die within one year and at no great distance apart, and I will not dismiss
him unattended. Think of all the thousands of men he was wont to see
following after him, thousands going before, thousands all crowding about
him, and it would never do to leave him alone on a sudden. These boon
companions will satisfy him for the nonce."
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This said, she twists the thread around his ugly spindle once, 4
Snaps off the last bit of the life of that Imperial dunce.
But Lachesis, her hair adorned, her tresses neatly bound,
Pierian laurel on her locks, her brows with garlands crowned,
Plucks me from out the snowy wool new threads as white as snow,
Which handled with a happy touch change colour as they go,
Not common wool, but golden wire; the Sisters wondering gaze,
As age by age the pretty thread runs down the golden days.
World without end they spin away, the happy fleeces pull;
What joy they take to fill their hands with that delightful wool!
Indeed, the task performs itself: no toil the spinners know:
Down drops the soft and silken thread as round the spindles go;
Fewer than these are Tithon's years, not Nestor's life so long.
Phoebus is present: glad he is to sing a merry song;
Now helps the work, now full of hope upon the harp doth play;
The Sisters listen to the song that charms their toil away.
They praise their brother's melodies, and still the spindles run,
Till more than man's allotted span the busy hands have spun.
Then Phoebus says, "O sister Fates! I pray take none away,
But suffer this one life to be longer than mortal day.
Like me in face and lovely grace, like me in voice and song,
He'll bid the laws at length speak out that have been dumb so long,
Will give unto the weary world years prosperous and bright.
Like as the daystar from on high scatters the stars of night,
As, when the stars return again, clear Hesper brings his light,
Or as the ruddy dawn drives out the dark, and brings the day,
As the bright sun looks on the world, and speeds along its way
His rising car from morning's gates: so Caesar doth arise,
So Nero shows his face to Rome before the people's eyes,
His bright and shining countenance illumines all the air,
While down upon his graceful neck fall rippling waves of hair."
Thus Apollo. But Lachesis, quite as ready to cast a
favourable eye on a handsome man, spins away by the
handful, and bestows years and years upon Nero out
of her own pocket. As for Claudius, they tell everybody
to speed him on his way
With cries of joy and solemn litany.
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At once he bubbled up the ghost, and there was an end to that shadow of a
life. He was listening to a troupe of comedians when he died, so you see I
have reason to fear those gentry. The last words he was heard to speak in
this world were these. When he had made a great noise with that end of him
which talked easiest, he cried out, "Oh dear, oh dear! I think I have made
a mess of myself." Whether he did or no, I cannot say, but certain it is
he always did make a mess of everything.
What happened next on earth it is mere waste of 5
time to tell, for you know it all well enough, and there is no fear of your
ever forgetting the impression which that public rejoicing made on your
memory. No one forgets his own happiness. What happened in heaven you shall
hear: for proof please apply to my informant. Word comes to Jupiter that a
stranger had arrived, a man well set up, pretty grey; he seemed to be
threatening something, for he wagged his head ceaselessly; he dragged the
right foot. They asked him what nation he was of; he answered something in
a confused mumbling voice: his language they did not understand. He was no
Greek and no Roman, nor of any known race. On this Jupiter bids Hercules go
and find out what country he comes from; you see Hercules had travelled
over the whole world, and might be expected to know all the nations in it.
But Hercules, the first glimpse he got, was really much taken aback,
although not all the monsters in the world could frighten him; when he saw
this new kind of object, with its extraordinary gait, and the voice of no
terrestrial beast, but such as you might hear in the leviathans of the
deep, hoarse and inarticulate, he thought his thirteenth labour had come
upon him. When he looked closer, the thing seemed to be a kind of man.
Up he goes, then, and says what your Greek finds readiest to his tongue:
"Who art thou, and what thy people? Who thy
parents, where thy home?"
[Sidenote: Od. i, 17]
Claudius was delighted to find literary men up there, and began to hope
there might be some corner for his own historical works. So he caps him
with another Homeric verse, explaining that he was Caesar:
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"Breezes wafted me from Ilion unto the Ciconian land."
[Sidenote: Od. ix, 39]
But the next verse was more true, and no less Homeric:
"Thither come, I sacked a city, slew the people every one."
He would have taken in poor simple Hercules, but 6
that Our Lady of Malaria was there, who left her temple and came alone with
him: all the other gods he had left at Rome. Quoth she, "The fellow's tale
is nothing but lies. I have lived with him all these years, and I tell you,
he was born at Lyons. You behold a fellow-burgess of Marcus. [Footnote:
Reference unknown.] As I say, he was born at the sixteenth milestone from
Vienne, a native Gaul. So of course he took Rome, as a good Gaul ought to
do. I pledge you my word that in Lyons he was born, where Licinus
[Footnote: A Gallic slave, appointed by Augustus Procurator of Gallia
Lugudunensis, when he made himself notorious by his extortions. See Dion
Cass. liv, 21.] was king so many years. But you that have trudged over more
roads than any muleteer that plies for hire, you must have come across the
people of Lyons, and you must know that it is a far cry from Xanthus to the
Rhone." At this point Claudius flared up, and expressed his wrath with as
big a growl as he could manage. What he said nobody understood; as a matter
of fact, he was ordering my lady of Fever to be taken away, and making that
sign with his trembling hand (which was always steady enough for that, if
for nothing else) by which he used to decapitate men. He had ordered her
head to be chopped off. For all the notice the others took of him, they
might have been his own freedmen.
Then Hercules said, "You just listen to me, and 7
stop playing the fool. You have come to the place where the mice nibble
iron. [Footnote: A proverb, found also in Herondas iii, 76: apparently
fairy-land, the land of Nowhere.] Out with the truth, and look sharp, or
I'll knock your quips and quiddities out of you." Then to make himself all
the more awful, he strikes an attitude and proceeds in his most tragic
vein:
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"Declare with speed what spot you claim by birth.
Or with this club fall stricken to the earth!
This club hath ofttimes slaughtered haughty kings!
Why mumble unintelligible things?
What land, what tribe produced that shaking head?
Declare it! On my journey when I sped
Far to the Kingdom of the triple King,
And from the Main Hesperian did bring
The goodly cattle to the Argive town,
There I beheld a mountain looking down
Upon two rivers: this the Sun espies
Right opposite each day he doth arise.
Hence, mighty Rhone, thy rapid torrents flow,
And Arar, much in doubt which way to go,
Ripples along the banks with shallow roll.
Say, is this land the nurse that bred thy soul?"
These lines he delivered with much spirit and a bold front. All the same,
he was not quite master of his wits, and had some fear of a blow from
the fool. Claudius, seeing a mighty man before him, saw things looked
serious and understood that here he had not quite the same pre-eminence
as at Rome, where no one was his equal: the Gallic cock was worth most on
his own dunghill. So this is what he was thought to say, as far as could
be made out: "I did hope, Hercules, bravest of all the gods, that you
would take my part with the rest, and if I should need a voucher, I meant
to name you who know me so well. Do but call it to mind, how it was I used
to sit in judgment before your temple whole days together during July and
August. You know what miseries I endured there, in hearing the lawyers
plead day and night. If you had fallen amongst these, you may think
yourself very strong, but you would have found it worse than the sewers of
Augeas: I drained out more filth than you did. But since I want..."
(Some pages have fallen out, in which Hercules must have been persuaded.
The gods are now discussing what Hercules tells them).
"No wonder you have forced your way into the 8
Senate House: no bars or bolts can hold against you. Only do say what
species of god you want the fellow to be made. An Epicurean god he cannot
be: for they have no troubles and cause none. A Stoic, then? How can he be
globular, as Varro says, without a head or any other projection? There is
in him something of the Stoic god, as I can see now: he has neither heart
nor head. Upon my word, if he had asked this boon from Saturn, he would not
have got it, though he kept up Saturn's feast all the year round, a truly
Saturnalian prince. A likely thing he will get it from Jove, whom he
condemned for incest as far as in him lay: for he killed his son-in-law
Silanus, because Silanus had a sister, a most charming girl, called Venus
by all the world, and he preferred to call her Juno. Why, says he, I want
to know why, his own sister? Read your books, stupid: you may go half-way
at Athens, the whole way at Alexandria. Because the mice lick meal at Rome,
you say. Is this creature to mend our crooked ways? What goes on in his own
closet he knows not;[Footnote: Perhaps alluding to a mock marriage of
Silius and Messalina.] and now he searches the regions of the sky, wants to
be a god. Is it not enough that he has a temple in Britain, that savages
worship him and pray to him as a god, so that they may find a fool
[Footnote: Again [GREEK: morou] for [GREEK: theou] as in ch. 6.] to have
mercy upon them?"
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At last it came into Jove's head, that while strangers 9
were in the House it was not lawful to speak or debate. "My lords and
gentlemen," said he, "I gave you leave to ask questions, and you have made
a regular farmyard [Footnote: Proverb: meaning unknown.] of the place. Be
so good as to keep the rules of the House. What will this person think of
us, whoever he is?" So Claudius was led out, and the first to be asked his
opinion was Father Janus: he had been made consul elect for the afternoon
of the next first of July,[Footnote: Perhaps an allusion to the shortening
of the consul's term, which was done to give more candidates a chance of
the honour.] being as shrewd a man as you could find on a summer's day: for
he could see, as they say, before and behind. [Footnote 8: II, iii, 109;
alluding here to Janus's double face.] He made an eloquent harangue,
because his life was passed in the forum, but too fast for the notary to
take down. That is why I give no full report of it, for I don't want to
change the words he used. He said a great deal of the majesty of the gods,
and how the honour ought not to be given away to every Tom, Dick, or Harry.
"Once," said he, "it was a great thing to become a god; now you have made
it a farce. Therefore, that you may not think I am speaking against one
person instead of the general custom, I propose that from this day forward
the godhead be given to none of those who eat the fruits of the earth, or
whom mother earth doth nourish. After this bill has been read a third time,
whosoever is made, said, or portrayed to be god, I vote he be delivered
over to the bogies, and at the next public show be flogged with a birch
amongst the new gladiators." The next to be asked was Diespiter, son of
Vica Pota, he also being consul elect, and a moneylender; by this trade he
made a living, used to sell rights of citizenship in a small way. Hercules
trips me up to him daintily, and tweaks him by the ear. So he uttered his
opinion in these words: "Inasmuch as the blessed Claudius is akin to the
blessed Augustus, and also to the blessed Augusta, his grandmother, whom he
ordered to be made a goddess, and whereas he far surpasses all mortal men
in wisdom, and seeing that it is for the public good that there be some one
able to join Romulus in devouring boiled turnips, I propose that from this
day forth blessed Claudius be a god, to enjoy that honour with all its
appurtenances in as full a degree as any other before him, and that a note
to that effect be added to Ovid's Metamorphoses." The meeting was divided,
and it looked as though Claudius was to win the day. For Hercules saw his
iron was in the fire, trotted here and trotted there, saying, "Don't deny
me; I make a point of the matter. I'll do as much for you again, when you
like; you roll my log, and I'll roll yours: one hand washes another."
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Then arose the blessed Augustus, when his turn 10
came, and spoke with much eloquence. [Footnote: The speech seems to contain
a parody of Augustus's style and sayings.] "I call you to witness, my lords
and gentlemen," said he, "that since the day I was made a god I have never
uttered one word. I always mind my own business. But now I can keep on the
mask no longer, nor conceal the sorrow which shame makes all the greater.
Is it for this I have made peace by land and sea? For this have I calmed
intestine wars? For this, laid a firm foundation of law for Rome, adorned
it with buildings, and all that--my lords, words fail me; there are none
can rise to the height of my indignation. I must borrow that saying of the
eloquent Messala Corvinus, I am ashamed of my authority. [Footnote: M.
Valerius Messala Corvinus, appointed praefectus urbi, resigned within a
week.] This man, my lords, who looks as though he could not hurt a fly,
used to chop off heads as easily as a dog sits down. But why should I speak
of all those men, and such men? There is no time to lament for public
disasters, when one has so many private sorrows to think of. I leave that,
therefore, and say only this; for even if my sister knows no Greek, I do:
The knee is nearer than the shin. [Footnote: A proverb, like "Charity
begins at home." The reading of the passage is uncertain; "sister" is only
a conjecture, and it is hard to see why his sister should be mentioned.]
This man you see, who for so many years has been masquerading under my
name, has done me the favour of murdering two Julias, great-granddaughters
of mine, one by cold steel and one by starvation; and one great grandson,
L. Silanus--see, Jupiter, whether he had a case against him (at least it is
your own if you will be fair.) Come tell me, blessed Claudius, why of all
those you killed, both men and women, without a hearing, why you did not
hear their side of the case first, before putting them to death? Where do
we find that custom? It is not done in heaven.
Look at Jupiter: all these years he has been 11
king, and never did more than once to break Vulcan's leg,
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'Whom seizing by the foot he cast from the threshold of the sky,'
[Sidenote: Illiad i, 591]
and once he fell in a rage with his wife and strung her up: did he do any
killing? You killed Messalina, whose great-uncle I was no less than yours.
'I don't know,' did you say? Curse you! that is just it: not to know was
worse than to kill. Caligula he went on persecuting even when he was dead.
Caligula murdered his father-in-law, Claudius his son-in-law to boot.
Caligula would not have Crassus' son called Great; Claudius gave him his
name back, and took away his head. In one family he destroyed Crassus,
Magnus, Scribonia, the Tristionias, Assario, noble though they were;
Crassus indeed such a fool that he might have been emperor. Is this he you
want now to make a god? Look at his body, born under the wrath of heaven!
In fine, let him say the three words [Footnote: Some formula such as _ais
esse meum_.] quickly, and he may have me for a slave. God! who will worship
this god, who will believe in him? While you make gods of such as he, no
one will believe you to be gods. To be brief, my lords: if I have lived
honourably among you, if I have never given plain speech to any, avenge my
wrongs. This is my motion": then he read out his amendment, which he had
committed to writing: "Inasmuch as the blessed Claudius murdered his
father-in-law Appius Silanus, his two sons-in-law, Pompeius Magnus and L.
Silanus, Crassus Frugi his daughter's father-in-law, as like him as two
eggs in a basket, Scribonia his daughter's mother-in-law, his wife
Messalina, and others too numerous to mention; I propose that strong
measures be taken against him, that he be allowed no delay of process, that
immediate sentence of banishment be passed on him, that he be deported from
heaven within thirty days, and from Olympus within thirty hours."
This motion was passed without further debate. Not a moment was lost:
Mercury screwed his neck and haled him to the lower regions, to that bourne
"from which they say no traveller returns." [Footnote: Catullus iii, 12.]
As they passed downwards along the Sacred Way, Mercury asked what was that
great concourse of men? could it be Claudius' funeral? It was certainly a
most gorgeous spectacle, got up regardless of expense, clear it was that a
god was being borne to the grave: tootling of flutes, roaring of horns, an
immense brass band of all sorts, such a din that even Claudius could hear
it. Joy and rejoicing on every side, the Roman people walking about like
free men. Agatho and a few pettifoggers were weeping for grief, and for
once in a way they meant it. The Barristers were crawling out of their
dark corners, pale and thin, with hardly a breath in their bodies, as
though just coming to life again. One of them when he saw the pettifoggers
putting their heads together, and lamenting their sad lot, up comes he and
says: "Did not I tell you the Saturnalia could not last for ever?"
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When Claudius saw his own funeral train, he understood that he was dead.
For they were chanting his dirge in anapaests, with much mopping and
mouthing:
"Pour forth your laments, your sorrow declare,
Let the sounds of grief rise high in the air:
For he that is dead had a wit most keen,
Was bravest of all that on earth have been.
Racehorses are nothing to his swift feet:
Rebellious Parthians he did defeat;
Swift after the Persians his light shafts go:
For he well knew how to fit arrow to bow,
Swiftly the striped barbarians fled:
With one little wound he shot them dead.
And the Britons beyond in their unknown seas,
Blue-shielded Brigantians too, all these
He chained by the neck as the Romans' slaves.
He spake, and the Ocean with trembling waves
Accepted the axe of the Roman law.
O weep for the man! This world never saw
One quicker a troublesome suit to decide,
When only one part of the case had been tried,
(He could do it indeed and not hear either side).
Who'll now sit in judgment the whole year round?
Now he that is judge of the shades underground
Once ruler of fivescore cities in Crete,
Must yield to his better and take a back seat.
Mourn, mourn, pettifoggers, ye venal crew,
And you, minor poets, woe, woe is to you!
And you above all, who get rich quick
By the rattle of dice and the three card trick."
Claudius was charmed to hear his own praises sung, 13
and would have stayed longer to see the show. But the Talthybius
[Footnote: Talthybius was a herald, and _nuntius_ is obviously a gloss on
this. He means Mercury.] of the gods laid a hand on him, and led him across
the Campus Martius, first wrapping his head up close that no one might know
him, until betwixt Tiber and the Subway he went down to the lower regions.
[Footnote: By the Cloaca?] His freedman Narcissus had gone down before him
by a short cut, ready to welcome his master. Out he comes to meet him,
smooth and shining (he had just left the bath), and says he: "What make the
gods among mortals?" "Look alive," says Mercury, "go and tell them we are
coming." Away he flew, quicker than tongue can tell. It is easy going by
that road, all down hill. So although he had a touch of the gout, in a
trice they were come to Dis's door. There lay Cerberus, or, as Horace puts
it, the hundred-headed monster. [Sidenote: Odes ii, 13, 35] Claudius was a
trifle perturbed (it was a little white bitch he used to keep for a pet)
when he spied this black shag-haired hound, not at all the kind of thing
you could wish to meet in the dark. In a loud voice he cried, "Claudius is
coming!" All marched before him singing, "The lost is found, O let us
rejoice together!" [Footnote: With a slight change, a cry used in the
worship of Osiris.] Here were found C. Silius consul elect, Juncus the
ex-praetor, Sextus Traulus, M. Helvius, Trogus, Cotta, Vettius Valens,
Fabius, Roman Knights whom Narcissus had ordered for execution. In the
midst of this chanting company was Mnester the mime, whom Claudius for
honour's sake had made shorter by a head. The news was soon blown about
that Claudius had come: to Messalina they throng: first his freedmen,
Polybius, Myron, Harpocras, Amphaeus, Pheronactus, all sent before him by
Claudius that he might not be unattended anywhere; next two prefects,
Justus Catonius and Rufrius Pollio; then his friends, Saturninus, Lusius
and Pedo Pompeius and Lupus and Celer Asinius, these of consular rank; last
came his brother's daughter, his sister's daughter, sons-in-law, fathers
and mothers-in-law, the whole family in fact. In a body they came to meet
Claudius; and when Claudius saw them, he exclaimed, "Friends everywhere, on
my word! How came you all here?" To this Pedo Pompeius answered, "What,
cruel man? How came we here? Who but you sent us, you, the murderer of all
the friends that ever you had? To court with you! I'll show you where their
lordships sit."
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Pedo brings him before the judgement seat of 14
Aeacus, who was holding court under the Lex Cornelia to try cases of murder
and assassination. Pedo requests the judge to take the prisoner's name, and
produces a summons with this charge: Senators killed, 35; Roman Knights,
221; others as the sands of the sea-shore for multitude. [Sidenote: Il. ix,
385] Claudius finds no counsel. At length out steps P. Petronius, an old
chum of his, a finished scholar in the Claudian tongue and claims a remand.
Not granted. Pedo Pompeius prosecutes with loud outcry. The counsel for the
defence tries to reply; but Aeacus, who is the soul of justice, will not
have it. Aeacus hears the case against Claudius, refuses to hear the other
side and passes sentence against him, quoting the line:
"As he did, so be he done by, this is justice undefiled."
[Footnote: A proverbial line.]
A great silence fell. Not a soul but was stupefied at this new way of
managing matters; they had never known anything like it before. It was no
new thing to Claudius, yet he thought it unfair. There was a long
discussion as to the punishment he ought to endure. Some said that Sisyphus
had done his job of porterage long enough; Tantalus would be dying of
thirst, if he were not relieved; the drag must be put at last on wretched
Ixion's wheel. But it was determined not to let off any of the old stagers,
lest Claudius should dare to hope for any such relief. It was agreed that
some new punishment must be devised: they must devise some new task,
something senseless, to suggest some craving without result. Then Aeacus
decreed he should rattle dice for ever in a box with no bottom. At once the
poor wretch began his fruitless task of hunting for the dice, which for
ever slipped from his fingers.
"For when he rattled with the box, and thought he now had got 'em. 15
The little cubes would vanish thro' the perforated bottom.
Then he would pick 'em up again, and once more set a-trying:
The dice but served him the same trick: away they went a-flying.
So still he tries, and still he fails; still searching long he lingers;
And every time the tricksy things go slipping thro' his fingers.
Just so when Sisyphus at last once gets there with his boulder,
He finds the labour all in vain--it rolls down off his shoulder."
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THE HOUSE ON THE BORDERLAND
William Hope Hodgson
_From the Manuscript discovered in 1877 by Messrs. Tonnison and
Berreggnog in the Ruins that lie to the South of the Village of
Kraighten, in the West of Ireland. Set out here, with Notes_.
TO MY FATHER
_(Whose feet tread the lost aeons)_
Open the door,
And listen!
Only the wind's muffled roar,
And the glisten
Of tears 'round the moon.
And, in fancy, the tread
Of vanishing shoon--
Out in the night with the Dead.
"Hush! And hark
To the sorrowful cry
Of the wind in the dark.
Hush and hark, without murmur or sigh,
To shoon that tread the lost aeons:
To the sound that bids you to die.
Hush and hark! Hush and Hark!"
_Shoon of the Dead_
AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION TO THE MANUSCRIPT
Many are the hours in which I have pondered upon the story that is set
forth in the following pages. I trust that my instincts are not awry
when they prompt me to leave the account, in simplicity, as it was
handed to me.
And the MS. itself--You must picture me, when first it was given into my
care, turning it over, curiously, and making a swift, jerky examination.
A small book it is; but thick, and all, save the last few pages, filled
with a quaint but legible handwriting, and writ very close. I have the
queer, faint, pit-water smell of it in my nostrils now as I write, and
my fingers have subconscious memories of the soft, "cloggy" feel of the
long-damp pages.
I read, and, in reading, lifted the Curtains of the Impossible that
blind the mind, and looked out into the unknown. Amid stiff, abrupt
sentences I wandered; and, presently, I had no fault to charge against
their abrupt tellings; for, better far than my own ambitious phrasing,
is this mutilated story capable of bringing home all that the old
Recluse, of the vanished house, had striven to tell.
Of the simple, stiffly given account of weird and extraordinary matters,
I will say little. It lies before you. The inner story must be uncovered,
personally, by each reader, according to ability and desire. And even
should any fail to see, as now I see, the shadowed picture and conception
of that to which one may well give the accepted titles of Heaven and Hell;
yet can I promise certain thrills, merely taking the story as a story.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
WILLIAM HOPE HODGSON December 17, 1907
_I_
THE FINDING OF THE MANUSCRIPT
Right away in the west of Ireland lies a tiny hamlet called Kraighten.
It is situated, alone, at the base of a low hill. Far around there
spreads a waste of bleak and totally inhospitable country; where, here
and there at great intervals, one may come upon the ruins of some long
desolate cottage--unthatched and stark. The whole land is bare and
unpeopled, the very earth scarcely covering the rock that lies beneath
it, and with which the country abounds, in places rising out of the soil
in wave-shaped ridges.
Yet, in spite of its desolation, my friend Tonnison and I had elected to
spend our vacation there. He had stumbled on the place by mere chance
the year previously, during the course of a long walking tour, and
discovered the possibilities for the angler in a small and unnamed river
that runs past the outskirts of the little village.
I have said that the river is without name; I may add that no map that I
have hitherto consulted has shown either village or stream. They seem
to have entirely escaped observation: indeed, they might never exist for
all that the average guide tells one. Possibly this can be partly
accounted for by the fact that the nearest railway station (Ardrahan) is
some forty miles distant.
It was early one warm evening when my friend and I arrived in Kraighten.
We had reached Ardrahan the previous night, sleeping there in rooms
hired at the village post office, and leaving in good time on the
following morning, clinging insecurely to one of the typical
jaunting cars.
It had taken us all day to accomplish our journey over some of the
roughest tracks imaginable, with the result that we were thoroughly
tired and somewhat bad tempered. However, the tent had to be erected and
our goods stowed away before we could think of food or rest. And so we
set to work, with the aid of our driver, and soon had the tent up upon a
small patch of ground just outside the little village, and quite near to
the river.
Then, having stored all our belongings, we dismissed the driver, as he
had to make his way back as speedily as possible, and told him to come
across to us at the end of a fortnight. We had brought sufficient
provisions to last us for that space of time, and water we could get
from the stream. Fuel we did not need, as we had included a small
oil-stove among our outfit, and the weather was fine and warm.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
It was Tonnison's idea to camp out instead of getting lodgings in one of
the cottages. As he put it, there was no joke in sleeping in a room with
a numerous family of healthy Irish in one corner and the pigsty in the
other, while overhead a ragged colony of roosting fowls distributed
their blessings impartially, and the whole place so full of peat smoke
that it made a fellow sneeze his head off just to put it inside
the doorway.
Tonnison had got the stove lit now and was busy cutting slices of bacon
into the frying pan; so I took the kettle and walked down to the river
for water. On the way, I had to pass close to a little group of the
village people, who eyed me curiously, but not in any unfriendly manner,
though none of them ventured a word.
As I returned with my kettle filled, I went up to them and, after a
friendly nod, to which they replied in like manner, I asked them
casually about the fishing; but, instead of answering, they just shook
their heads silently, and stared at me. I repeated the question,
addressing more particularly a great, gaunt fellow at my elbow; yet
again I received no answer. Then the man turned to a comrade and said
something rapidly in a language that I did not understand; and, at once,
the whole crowd of them fell to jabbering in what, after a few moments,
I guessed to be pure Irish. At the same time they cast many glances in
my direction. For a minute, perhaps, they spoke among themselves thus;
then the man I had addressed faced 'round at me and said something. By
the expression of his face I guessed that he, in turn, was questioning
me; but now I had to shake my head, and indicate that I did not
comprehend what it was they wanted to know; and so we stood looking at
one another, until I heard Tonnison calling to me to hurry up with the
kettle. Then, with a smile and a nod, I left them, and all in the little
crowd smiled and nodded in return, though their faces still betrayed
their puzzlement.
It was evident, I reflected as I went toward the tent, that the
inhabitants of these few huts in the wilderness did not know a word of
English; and when I told Tonnison, he remarked that he was aware of the
fact, and, more, that it was not at all uncommon in that part of the
country, where the people often lived and died in their isolated hamlets
without ever coming in contact with the outside world.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
"I wish we had got the driver to interpret for us before he left," I
remarked, as we sat down to our meal. "It seems so strange for the
people of this place not even to know what we've come for."
Tonnison grunted an assent, and thereafter was silent for a while.
Later, having satisfied our appetites somewhat, we began to talk, laying
our plans for the morrow; then, after a smoke, we closed the flap of the
tent, and prepared to turn in.
"I suppose there's no chance of those fellows outside taking anything?"
I asked, as we rolled ourselves in our blankets.
Tonnison said that he did not think so, at least while we were about;
and, as he went on to explain, we could lock up everything, except the
tent, in the big chest that we had brought to hold our provisions. I
agreed to this, and soon we were both asleep.
Next morning, early, we rose and went for a swim in the river; after
which we dressed and had breakfast. Then we roused out our fishing
tackle and overhauled it, by which time, our breakfasts having settled
somewhat, we made all secure within the tent and strode off in the
direction my friend had explored on his previous visit.
During the day we fished happily, working steadily upstream, and by
evening we had one of the prettiest creels of fish that I had seen for a
long while. Returning to the village, we made a good feed off our day's
spoil, after which, having selected a few of the finer fish for our
breakfast, we presented the remainder to the group of villagers who had
assembled at a respectful distance to watch our doings. They seemed
wonderfully grateful, and heaped mountains of what I presumed to be
Irish blessings upon our heads.
Thus we spent several days, having splendid sport, and first-rate
appetites to do justice upon our prey. We were pleased to find how
friendly the villagers were inclined to be, and that there was no
evidence of their having ventured to meddle with our belongings during
our absences.
It was on a Tuesday that we arrived in Kraighten, and it would be on the
Sunday following that we made a great discovery. Hitherto we had always
gone up-stream; on that day, however, we laid aside our rods, and,
taking some provisions, set off for a long ramble in the opposite
direction. The day was warm, and we trudged along leisurely enough,
stopping about mid-day to eat our lunch upon a great flat rock near the
riverbank. Afterward we sat and smoked awhile, resuming our walk only
when we were tired of inaction.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
For perhaps another hour we wandered onward, chatting quietly and
comfortably on this and that matter, and on several occasions stopping
while my companion--who is something of an artist--made rough sketches
of striking bits of the wild scenery.
And then, without any warning whatsoever, the river we had followed so
confidently, came to an abrupt end--vanishing into the earth.
"Good Lord!" I said, "who ever would have thought of this?"
And I stared in amazement; then I turned to Tonnison. He was looking,
with a blank expression upon his face, at the place where the river
disappeared.
In a moment he spoke.
"Let us go on a bit; it may reappear again--anyhow, it is worth
investigating."
I agreed, and we went forward once more, though rather aimlessly; for we
were not at all certain in which direction to prosecute our search. For
perhaps a mile we moved onward; then Tonnison, who had been gazing about
curiously, stopped and shaded his eyes.
"See!" he said, after a moment, "isn't that mist or something, over
there to the right--away in a line with that great piece of rock?" And
he indicated with his hand.
I stared, and, after a minute, seemed to see something, but could not be
certain, and said so.
"Anyway," my friend replied, "we'll just go across and have a glance."
And he started off in the direction he had suggested, I following.
Presently, we came among bushes, and, after a time, out upon the top of
a high, boulder-strewn bank, from which we looked down into a wilderness
of bushes and trees.
"Seems as though we had come upon an oasis in this desert of stone,"
muttered Tonnison, as he gazed interestedly. Then he was silent, his
eyes fixed; and I looked also; for up from somewhere about the center of
the wooded lowland there rose high into the quiet air a great column of
hazelike spray, upon which the sun shone, causing innumerable rainbows.
"How beautiful!" I exclaimed.
"Yes," answered Tonnison, thoughtfully. "There must be a waterfall, or
something, over there. Perhaps it's our river come to light again. Let's
go and see."
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
Down the sloping bank we made our way, and entered among the trees and
shrubberies. The bushes were matted, and the trees overhung us, so that
the place was disagreeably gloomy; though not dark enough to hide from
me the fact that many of the trees were fruit trees, and that, here and
there, one could trace indistinctly, signs of a long departed
cultivation. Thus it came to me that we were making our way through the
riot of a great and ancient garden. I said as much to Tonnison, and he
agreed that there certainly seemed reasonable grounds for my belief.
What a wild place it was, so dismal and somber! Somehow, as we went
forward, a sense of the silent loneliness and desertion of the old
garden grew upon me, and I felt shivery. One could imagine things
lurking among the tangled bushes; while, in the very air of the place,
there seemed something uncanny. I think Tonnison was conscious of this
also, though he said nothing.
Suddenly, we came to a halt. Through the trees there had grown upon our
ears a distant sound. Tonnison bent forward, listening. I could hear it
more plainly now; it was continuous and harsh--a sort of droning roar,
seeming to come from far away. I experienced a queer, indescribable,
little feeling of nervousness. What sort of place was it into which we
had got? I looked at my companion, to see what he thought of the matter;
and noted that there was only puzzlement in his face; and then, as I
watched his features, an expression of comprehension crept over them,
and he nodded his head.
"That's a waterfall," he exclaimed, with conviction. "I know the sound
now." And he began to push vigorously through the bushes, in the
direction of the noise.
As we went forward, the sound became plainer continually, showing that
we were heading straight toward it. Steadily, the roaring grew louder
and nearer, until it appeared, as I remarked to Tonnison, almost to come
from under our feet--and still we were surrounded by the trees
and shrubs.
"Take care!" Tonnison called to me. "Look where you're going." And then,
suddenly, we came out from among the trees, on to a great open space,
where, not six paces in front of us, yawned the mouth of a tremendous
chasm, from the depths of which the noise appeared to rise, along with
the continuous, mistlike spray that we had witnessed from the top of the
distant bank.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
For quite a minute we stood in silence, staring in bewilderment at the
sight; then my friend went forward cautiously to the edge of the abyss.
I followed, and, together, we looked down through a boil of spray at a
monster cataract of frothing water that burst, spouting, from the side
of the chasm, nearly a hundred feet below.
"Good Lord!" said Tonnison.
I was silent, and rather awed. The sight was so unexpectedly grand and
eerie; though this latter quality came more upon me later.
Presently, I looked up and across to the further side of the chasm.
There, I saw something towering up among the spray: it looked like a
fragment of a great ruin, and I touched Tonnison on the shoulder. He
glanced 'round, with a start, and I pointed toward the thing. His gaze
followed my finger, and his eyes lighted up with a sudden flash of
excitement, as the object came within his field of view.
"Come along," he shouted above the uproar. "We'll have a look at it.
There's something queer about this place; I feel it in my bones." And he
started off, 'round the edge of the craterlike abyss. As we neared this
new thing, I saw that I had not been mistaken in my first impression. It
was undoubtedly a portion of some ruined building; yet now I made out
that it was not built upon the edge of the chasm itself, as I had at
first supposed; but perched almost at the extreme end of a huge spur of
rock that jutted out some fifty or sixty feet over the abyss. In fact,
the jagged mass of ruin was literally suspended in midair.
Arriving opposite it, we walked out on to the projecting arm of rock,
and I must confess to having felt an intolerable sense of terror as I
looked down from that dizzy perch into the unknown depths below us--into
the deeps from which there rose ever the thunder of the falling water
and the shroud of rising spray.
Reaching the ruin, we clambered 'round it cautiously, and, on the
further side, came upon a mass of fallen stones and rubble. The ruin
itself seemed to me, as I proceeded now to examine it minutely, to be a
portion of the outer wall of some prodigious structure, it was so thick
and substantially built; yet what it was doing in such a position I
could by no means conjecture. Where was the rest of the house, or
castle, or whatever there had been?
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
I went back to the outer side of the wall, and thence to the edge of the
chasm, leaving Tonnison rooting systematically among the heap of stones
and rubbish on the outer side. Then I commenced to examine the surface
of the ground, near the edge of the abyss, to see whether there were not
left other remnants of the building to which the fragment of ruin
evidently belonged. But though I scrutinized the earth with the greatest
care, I could see no signs of anything to show that there had ever been
a building erected on the spot, and I grew more puzzled than ever.
Then, I heard a cry from Tonnison; he was shouting my name, excitedly,
and without delay I hurried along the rocky promontory to the ruin. I
wondered whether he had hurt himself, and then the thought came, that
perhaps he had found something.
I reached the crumbled wall and climbed 'round. There I found Tonnison
standing within a small excavation that he had made among the _débris_:
he was brushing the dirt from something that looked like a book, much
crumpled and dilapidated; and opening his mouth, every second or two, to
bellow my name. As soon as he saw that I had come, he handed his prize
to me, telling me to put it into my satchel so as to protect it from the
damp, while he continued his explorations. This I did, first, however,
running the pages through my fingers, and noting that they were closely
filled with neat, old-fashioned writing which was quite legible, save in
one portion, where many of the pages were almost destroyed, being
muddied and crumpled, as though the book had been doubled back at that
part. This, I found out from Tonnison, was actually as he had discovered
it, and the damage was due, probably, to the fall of masonry upon the
opened part. Curiously enough, the book was fairly dry, which I
attributed to its having been so securely buried among the ruins.
Having put the volume away safely, I turned-to and gave Tonnison a hand
with his self-imposed task of excavating; yet, though we put in over an
hour's hard work, turning over the whole of the upheaped stones and
rubbish, we came upon nothing more than some fragments of broken wood,
that might have been parts of a desk or table; and so we gave up
searching, and went back along the rock, once more to the safety of
the land.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
The next thing we did was to make a complete tour of the tremendous
chasm, which we were able to observe was in the form of an almost
perfect circle, save for where the ruin-crowned spur of rock jutted out,
spoiling its symmetry.
The abyss was, as Tonnison put it, like nothing so much as a gigantic
well or pit going sheer down into the bowels of the earth.
For some time longer, we continued to stare about us, and then, noticing
that there was a clear space away to the north of the chasm, we bent our
steps in that direction.
Here, distant from the mouth of the mighty pit by some hundreds of
yards, we came upon a great lake of silent water--silent, that is, save
in one place where there was a continuous bubbling and gurgling.
Now, being away from the noise of the spouting cataract, we were able to
hear one another speak, without having to shout at the tops of our
voices, and I asked Tonnison what he thought of the place--I told him
that I didn't like it, and that the sooner we were out of it the better
I should be pleased.
He nodded in reply, and glanced at the woods behind furtively. I asked
him if he had seen or heard anything. He made no answer; but stood
silent, as though listening, and I kept quiet also.
Suddenly, he spoke.
"Hark!" he said, sharply. I looked at him, and then away among the trees
and bushes, holding my breath involuntarily. A minute came and went in
strained silence; yet I could hear nothing, and I turned to Tonnison to
say as much; and then, even as I opened my lips to speak, there came a
strange wailing noise out of the wood on our left.... It appeared to
float through the trees, and there was a rustle of stirring leaves, and
then silence.
All at once, Tonnison spoke, and put his hand on my shoulder. "Let us
get out of here," he said, and began to move slowly toward where the
surrounding trees and bushes seemed thinnest. As I followed him, it came
to me suddenly that the sun was low, and that there was a raw sense of
chilliness in the air.
Tonnison said nothing further, but kept on steadily. We were among the
trees now, and I glanced around, nervously; but saw nothing, save the
quiet branches and trunks and the tangled bushes. Onward we went, and no
sound broke the silence, except the occasional snapping of a twig under
our feet, as we moved forward. Yet, in spite of the quietness, I had a
horrible feeling that we were not alone; and I kept so close to Tonnison
that twice I kicked his heels clumsily, though he said nothing. A
minute, and then another, and we reached the confines of the wood coming
out at last upon the bare rockiness of the countryside. Only then was I
able to shake off the haunting dread that had followed me among
the trees.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
Once, as we moved away, there seemed to come again a distant sound of
wailing, and I said to myself that it was the wind--yet the evening was
breathless.
Presently, Tonnison began to talk.
"Look you," he said with decision, "I would not spend the night in
_that_ place for all the wealth that the world holds. There is something
unholy--diabolical--about it. It came to me all in a moment, just after
you spoke. It seemed to me that the woods were full of vile
things--you know!"
"Yes," I answered, and looked back toward the place; but it was hidden
from us by a rise in the ground.
"There's the book," I said, and I put my hand into the satchel.
"You've got it safely?" he questioned, with a sudden access of anxiety.
"Yes," I replied.
"Perhaps," he continued, "we shall learn something from it when we get
back to the tent. We had better hurry, too; we're a long way off still,
and I don't fancy, now, being caught out here in the dark."
It was two hours later when we reached the tent; and, without delay, we
set to work to prepare a meal; for we had eaten nothing since our lunch
at midday.
Supper over, we cleared the things out of the way, and lit our pipes.
Then Tonnison asked me to get the manuscript out of my satchel. This I
did, and then, as we could not both read from it at the same time, he
suggested that I should read the thing out loud. "And mind," he
cautioned, knowing my propensities, "don't go skipping half the book."
Yet, had he but known what it contained, he would have realized how
needless such advice was, for once at least. And there seated in the
opening of our little tent, I began the strange tale of _The House on
the Borderland_ (for such was the title of the MS.); this is told in the
following pages.
_II_
THE PLAIN OF SILENCE
I am an old man. I live here in this ancient house, surrounded by huge,
unkempt gardens.
The peasantry, who inhabit the wilderness beyond, say that I am mad.
That is because I will have nothing to do with them. I live here alone
with my old sister, who is also my housekeeper. We keep no servants--I
hate them. I have one friend, a dog; yes, I would sooner have old Pepper
than the rest of Creation together. He, at least, understands me--and
has sense enough to leave me alone when I am in my dark moods.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
I have decided to start a kind of diary; it may enable me to record
some of the thoughts and feelings that I cannot express to anyone; but,
beyond this, I am anxious to make some record of the strange things that
I have heard and seen, during many years of loneliness, in this weird
old building.
For a couple of centuries, this house has had a reputation, a bad one,
and, until I bought it, for more than eighty years no one had lived
here; consequently, I got the old place at a ridiculously low figure.
I am not superstitious; but I have ceased to deny that things happen
in this old house--things that I cannot explain; and, therefore, I must
needs ease my mind, by writing down an account of them, to the best of
my ability; though, should this, my diary, ever be read when I am gone,
the readers will but shake their heads, and be the more convinced that
I was mad.
This house, how ancient it is! though its age strikes one less,
perhaps, than the quaintness of its structure, which is curious and
fantastic to the last degree. Little curved towers and pinnacles, with
outlines suggestive of leaping flames, predominate; while the body of
the building is in the form of a circle.
I have heard that there is an old story, told amongst the country
people, to the effect that the devil built the place. However, that is
as may be. True or not, I neither know nor care, save as it may have
helped to cheapen it, ere I came.
I must have been here some ten years before I saw sufficient to warrant
any belief in the stories, current in the neighborhood, about this
house. It is true that I had, on at least a dozen occasions, seen,
vaguely, things that puzzled me, and, perhaps, had felt more than I had
seen. Then, as the years passed, bringing age upon me, I became often
aware of something unseen, yet unmistakably present, in the empty rooms
and corridors. Still, it was as I have said many years before I saw any
real manifestations of the so-called supernatural.
It was not Halloween. If I were telling a story for amusement's sake, I
should probably place it on that night of nights; but this is a true
record of my own experiences, and I would not put pen to paper to amuse
anyone. No. It was after midnight on the morning of the twenty-first day
of January. I was sitting reading, as is often my custom, in my study.
Pepper lay, sleeping, near my chair.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
Without warning, the flames of the two candles went low, and then
shone with a ghastly green effulgence. I looked up, quickly, and as I
did so I saw the lights sink into a dull, ruddy tint; so that the room
glowed with a strange, heavy, crimson twilight that gave the shadows
behind the chairs and tables a double depth of blackness; and wherever
the light struck, it was as though luminous blood had been splashed
over the room.
Down on the floor, I heard a faint, frightened whimper, and something
pressed itself in between my two feet. It was Pepper, cowering under my
dressing gown. Pepper, usually as brave as a lion!
It was this movement of the dog's, I think, that gave me the first
twinge of _real_ fear. I had been considerably startled when the lights
burnt first green and then red; but had been momentarily under the
impression that the change was due to some influx of noxious gas into
the room. Now, however, I saw that it was not so; for the candles burned
with a steady flame, and showed no signs of going out, as would have
been the case had the change been due to fumes in the atmosphere.
I did not move. I felt distinctly frightened; but could think of
nothing better to do than wait. For perhaps a minute, I kept my glance
about the room, nervously. Then I noticed that the lights had commenced
to sink, very slowly; until presently they showed minute specks of red
fire, like the gleamings of rubies in the darkness. Still, I sat
watching; while a sort of dreamy indifference seemed to steal over me;
banishing altogether the fear that had begun to grip me.
Away in the far end of the huge old-fashioned room, I became conscious
of a faint glow. Steadily it grew, filling the room with gleams of
quivering green light; then they sank quickly, and changed--even as the
candle flames had done--into a deep, somber crimson that strengthened,
and lit up the room with a flood of awful glory.
The light came from the end wall, and grew ever brighter until its
intolerable glare caused my eyes acute pain, and involuntarily I closed
them. It may have been a few seconds before I was able to open them. The
first thing I noticed was that the light had decreased, greatly; so that
it no longer tried my eyes. Then, as it grew still duller, I was aware,
all at once, that, instead of looking at the redness, I was staring
through it, and through the wall beyond.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
Gradually, as I became more accustomed to the idea, I realized that I
was looking out on to a vast plain, lit with the same gloomy twilight
that pervaded the room. The immensity of this plain scarcely can be
conceived. In no part could I perceive its confines. It seemed to
broaden and spread out, so that the eye failed to perceive any
limitations. Slowly, the details of the nearer portions began to grow
clear; then, in a moment almost, the light died away, and the vision--if
vision it were--faded and was gone.
Suddenly, I became conscious that I was no longer in the chair.
Instead, I seemed to be hovering above it, and looking down at a dim
something, huddled and silent. In a little while, a cold blast struck
me, and I was outside in the night, floating, like a bubble, up through
the darkness. As I moved, an icy coldness seemed to enfold me, so that
I shivered.
After a time, I looked to right and left, and saw the intolerable
blackness of the night, pierced by remote gleams of fire. Onward,
outward, I drove. Once, I glanced behind, and saw the earth, a small
crescent of blue light, receding away to my left. Further off, the sun,
a splash of white flame, burned vividly against the dark.
An indefinite period passed. Then, for the last time, I saw the
earth--an enduring globule of radiant blue, swimming in an eternity of
ether. And there I, a fragile flake of soul dust, flickered silently
across the void, from the distant blue, into the expanse of the unknown.
A great while seemed to pass over me, and now I could nowhere see
anything. I had passed beyond the fixed stars and plunged into the huge
blackness that waits beyond. All this time I had experienced little,
save a sense of lightness and cold discomfort. Now however the atrocious
darkness seemed to creep into my soul, and I became filled with fear and
despair. What was going to become of me? Where was I going? Even as the
thoughts were formed, there grew against the impalpable blackness that
wrapped me a faint tinge of blood. It seemed extraordinarily remote, and
mistlike; yet, at once, the feeling of oppression was lightened, and I
no longer despaired.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
Slowly, the distant redness became plainer and larger; until, as I drew
nearer, it spread out into a great, somber glare--dull and tremendous.
Still, I fled onward, and, presently, I had come so close, that it
seemed to stretch beneath me, like a great ocean of somber red. I could
see little, save that it appeared to spread out interminably in all
directions.
In a further space, I found that I was descending upon it; and, soon, I
sank into a great sea of sullen, red-hued clouds. Slowly, I emerged from
these, and there, below me, I saw the stupendous plain that I had seen
from my room in this house that stands upon the borders of the Silences.
Presently, I landed, and stood, surrounded by a great waste of
loneliness. The place was lit with a gloomy twilight that gave an
impression of indescribable desolation.
Afar to my right, within the sky, there burnt a gigantic ring of
dull-red fire, from the outer edge of which were projected huge,
writhing flames, darted and jagged. The interior of this ring was
black, black as the gloom of the outer night. I comprehended, at once,
that it was from this extraordinary sun that the place derived its
doleful light.
From that strange source of light, I glanced down again to my
surroundings. Everywhere I looked, I saw nothing but the same flat
weariness of interminable plain. Nowhere could I descry any signs of
life; not even the ruins of some ancient habitation.
Gradually, I found that I was being borne forward, floating across the
flat waste. For what seemed an eternity, I moved onward. I was unaware
of any great sense of impatience; though some curiosity and a vast
wonder were with me continually. Always, I saw around me the breadth of
that enormous plain; and, always, I searched for some new thing to break
its monotony; but there was no change--only loneliness, silence,
and desert.
Presently, in a half-conscious manner, I noticed that there was a faint
mistiness, ruddy in hue, lying over its surface. Still, when I looked
more intently, I was unable to say that it was really mist; for it
appeared to blend with the plain, giving it a peculiar unrealness, and
conveying to the senses the idea of unsubstantiality.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
Gradually, I began to weary with the sameness of the thing. Yet, it was
a great time before I perceived any signs of the place, toward which I
was being conveyed.
"At first, I saw it, far ahead, like a long hillock on the surface of
the Plain. Then, as I drew nearer, I perceived that I had been mistaken;
for, instead of a low hill, I made out, now, a chain of great mountains,
whose distant peaks towered up into the red gloom, until they were
almost lost to sight."
_III_
THE HOUSE IN THE ARENA
And so, after a time, I came to the mountains. Then, the course of my
journey was altered, and I began to move along their bases, until, all
at once, I saw that I had come opposite to a vast rift, opening into the
mountains. Through this, I was borne, moving at no great speed. On
either side of me, huge, scarped walls of rocklike substance rose sheer.
Far overhead, I discerned a thin ribbon of red, where the mouth of the
chasm opened, among inaccessible peaks. Within, was gloom, deep and
somber, and chilly silence. For a while, I went onward steadily, and
then, at last, I saw, ahead, a deep, red glow, that told me I was near
upon the further opening of the gorge.
A minute came and went, and I was at the exit of the chasm, staring out
upon an enormous amphitheatre of mountains. Yet, of the mountains, and
the terrible grandeur of the place, I recked nothing; for I was
confounded with amazement to behold, at a distance of several miles and
occupying the center of the arena, a stupendous structure built
apparently of green jade. Yet, in itself, it was not the discovery of
the building that had so astonished me; but the fact, which became every
moment more apparent, that in no particular, save in color and its
enormous size, did the lonely structure vary from this house in which
I live.
For a while, I continued to stare, fixedly. Even then, I could scarcely
believe that I saw aright. In my mind, a question formed, reiterating
incessantly: 'What does it mean?' 'What does it mean?' and I was unable
to make answer, even out of the depths of my imagination. I seemed
capable only of wonder and fear. For a time longer, I gazed, noting
continually some fresh point of resemblance that attracted me. At last,
wearied and sorely puzzled, I turned from it, to view the rest of the
strange place on to which I had intruded.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
Hitherto, I had been so engrossed in my scrutiny of the House, that I
had given only a cursory glance 'round. Now, as I looked, I began to
realize upon what sort of a place I had come. The arena, for so I have
termed it, appeared a perfect circle of about ten to twelve miles in
diameter, the House, as I have mentioned before, standing in the center.
The surface of the place, like to that of the Plain, had a peculiar,
misty appearance, that was yet not mist.
From a rapid survey, my glance passed quickly upward along the slopes
of the circling mountains. How silent they were. I think that this same
abominable stillness was more trying to me than anything that I had so
far seen or imagined. I was looking up, now, at the great crags,
towering so loftily. Up there, the impalpable redness gave a blurred
appearance to everything.
And then, as I peered, curiously, a new terror came to me; for away up
among the dim peaks to my right, I had descried a vast shape of
blackness, giantlike. It grew upon my sight. It had an enormous equine
head, with gigantic ears, and seemed to peer steadfastly down into the
arena. There was that about the pose that gave me the impression of an
eternal watchfulness--of having warded that dismal place, through
unknown eternities. Slowly, the monster became plainer to me; and then,
suddenly, my gaze sprang from it to something further off and higher
among the crags. For a long minute, I gazed, fearfully. I was strangely
conscious of something not altogether unfamiliar--as though something
stirred in the back of my mind. The thing was black, and had four
grotesque arms. The features showed indistinctly, 'round the neck, I
made out several light-colored objects. Slowly, the details came to me,
and I realized, coldly, that they were skulls. Further down the body was
another circling belt, showing less dark against the black trunk. Then,
even as I puzzled to know what the thing was, a memory slid into my
mind, and straightway, I knew that I was looking at a monstrous
representation of Kali, the Hindu goddess of death.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
Other remembrances of my old student days drifted into my thoughts. My
glance fell back upon the huge beast-headed Thing. Simultaneously, I
recognized it for the ancient Egyptian god Set, or Seth, the Destroyer
of Souls. With the knowledge, there came a great sweep of
questioning--'Two of the--!' I stopped, and endeavored to think. Things
beyond my imagination peered into my frightened mind. I saw, obscurely.
'The old gods of mythology!' I tried to comprehend to what it was all
pointing. My gaze dwelt, flickeringly, between the two. 'If--'
An idea came swiftly, and I turned, and glanced rapidly upward,
searching the gloomy crags, away to my left. Something loomed out under
a great peak, a shape of greyness. I wondered I had not seen it earlier,
and then remembered I had not yet viewed that portion. I saw it more
plainly now. It was, as I have said, grey. It had a tremendous head; but
no eyes. That part of its face was blank.
Now, I saw that there were other things up among the mountains. Further
off, reclining on a lofty ledge, I made out a livid mass, irregular and
ghoulish. It seemed without form, save for an unclean, half-animal face,
that looked out, vilely, from somewhere about its middle. And then I saw
others--there were hundreds of them. They seemed to grow out of the
shadows. Several I recognized almost immediately as mythological
deities; others were strange to me, utterly strange, beyond the power of
a human mind to conceive.
On each side, I looked, and saw more, continually. The mountains were
full of strange things--Beast-gods, and Horrors so atrocious and bestial
that possibility and decency deny any further attempt to describe them.
And I--I was filled with a terrible sense of overwhelming horror and
fear and repugnance; yet, spite of these, I wondered exceedingly. Was
there then, after all, something in the old heathen worship, something
more than the mere deifying of men, animals, and elements? The thought
gripped me--was there?
Later, a question repeated itself. What were they, those Beast-gods,
and the others? At first, they had appeared to me just sculptured
Monsters placed indiscriminately among the inaccessible peaks and
precipices of the surrounding mountains. Now, as I scrutinized them with
greater intentness, my mind began to reach out to fresh conclusions.
There was something about them, an indescribable sort of silent vitality
that suggested, to my broadening consciousness, a state of
life-in-death--a something that was by no means life, as we understand
it; but rather an inhuman form of existence, that well might be likened
to a deathless trance--a condition in which it was possible to imagine
their continuing, eternally. 'Immortal!' the word rose in my thoughts
unbidden; and, straightway, I grew to wondering whether this might be
the immortality of the gods.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
And then, in the midst of my wondering and musing, something happened.
Until then, I had been staying just within the shadow of the exit of the
great rift. Now, without volition on my part, I drifted out of the
semi-darkness and began to move slowly across the arena--toward the
House. At this, I gave up all thoughts of those prodigious Shapes above
me--and could only stare, frightenedly, at the tremendous structure
toward which I was being conveyed so remorselessly. Yet, though I
searched earnestly, I could discover nothing that I had not already
seen, and so became gradually calmer.
Presently, I had reached a point more than halfway between the House
and the gorge. All around was spread the stark loneliness of the place,
and the unbroken silence. Steadily, I neared the great building. Then,
all at once, something caught my vision, something that came 'round one
of the huge buttresses of the House, and so into full view. It was a
gigantic thing, and moved with a curious lope, going almost upright,
after the manner of a man. It was quite unclothed, and had a remarkable
luminous appearance. Yet it was the face that attracted and frightened
me the most. It was the face of a swine.
Silently, intently, I watched this horrible creature, and forgot my
fear, momentarily, in my interest in its movements. It was making its
way, cumbrously 'round the building, stopping as it came to each window
to peer in and shake at the bars, with which--as in this house--they
were protected; and whenever it came to a door, it would push at it,
fingering the fastening stealthily. Evidently, it was searching for an
ingress into the House.
I had come now to within less than a quarter of a mile of the great
structure, and still I was compelled forward. Abruptly, the Thing turned
and gazed hideously in my direction. It opened its mouth, and, for the
first time, the stillness of that abominable place was broken, by a
deep, booming note that sent an added thrill of apprehension through me.
Then, immediately, I became aware that it was coming toward me, swiftly
and silently. In an instant, it had covered half the distance that lay
between. And still, I was borne helplessly to meet it. Only a hundred
yards, and the brutish ferocity of the giant face numbed me with a
feeling of unmitigated horror. I could have screamed, in the supremeness
of my fear; and then, in the very moment of my extremity and despair, I
became conscious that I was looking down upon the arena, from a rapidly
increasing height. I was rising, rising. In an inconceivably short
while, I had reached an altitude of many hundred feet. Beneath me, the
spot that I had just left, was occupied by the foul Swine-creature. It
had gone down on all fours and was snuffing and rooting, like a
veritable hog, at the surface of the arena. A moment and it rose to its
feet, clutching upward, with an expression of desire upon its face such
as I have never seen in this world.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
Continually, I mounted higher. A few minutes, it seemed, and I had
risen above the great mountains--floating, alone, afar in the redness.
At a tremendous distance below, the arena showed, dimly; with the mighty
House looking no larger than a tiny spot of green. The Swine-thing was
no longer visible.
Presently, I passed over the mountains, out above the huge breadth of
the plain. Far away, on its surface, in the direction of the ring-shaped
sun, there showed a confused blur. I looked toward it, indifferently. It
reminded me, somewhat, of the first glimpse I had caught of the
mountain-amphitheatre.
With a sense of weariness, I glanced upward at the immense ring of
fire. What a strange thing it was! Then, as I stared, out from the dark
center, there spurted a sudden flare of extraordinary vivid fire.
Compared with the size of the black center, it was as naught; yet, in
itself, stupendous. With awakened interest, I watched it carefully,
noting its strange boiling and glowing. Then, in a moment, the whole
thing grew dim and unreal, and so passed out of sight. Much amazed, I
glanced down to the Plain from which I was still rising. Thus, I
received a fresh surprise. The Plain--everything had vanished, and only
a sea of red mist was spread far below me. Gradually as I stared this
grew remote, and died away into a dim far mystery of red against an
unfathomable night. A while, and even this had gone, and I was wrapped
in an impalpable, lightless gloom.
_IV_
THE EARTH
Thus I was, and only the memory that I had lived through the dark, once
before, served to sustain my thoughts. A great time passed--ages. And
then a single star broke its way through the darkness. It was the first
of one of the outlying clusters of this universe. Presently, it was far
behind, and all about me shone the splendor of the countless stars.
Later, years it seemed, I saw the sun, a clot of flame. Around it, I
made out presently several remote specks of light--the planets of the
Solar system. And so I saw the earth again, blue and unbelievably
minute. It grew larger, and became defined.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
A long space of time came and went, and then at last I entered into the
shadow of the world--plunging headlong into the dim and holy earth
night. Overhead were the old constellations, and there was a crescent
moon. Then, as I neared the earth's surface, a dimness swept over me,
and I appeared to sink into a black mist.
For a while, I knew nothing. I was unconscious. Gradually, I became
aware of a faint, distant whining. It became plainer. A desperate
feeling of agony possessed me. I struggled madly for breath, and tried
to shout. A moment, and I got my breath more easily. I was conscious
that something was licking my hand. Something damp swept across my face.
I heard a panting, and then again the whining. It seemed to come to my
ears, now, with a sense of familiarity, and I opened my eyes. All was
dark; but the feeling of oppression had left me. I was seated, and
something was whining piteously, and licking me. I felt strangely
confused, and, instinctively, tried to ward off the thing that licked.
My head was curiously vacant, and, for the moment, I seemed incapable of
action or thought. Then, things came back to me, and I called 'Pepper,'
faintly. I was answered by a joyful bark, and renewed and
frantic caresses.
In a little while, I felt stronger, and put out my hand for the
matches. I groped about, for a few moments, blindly; then my hands lit
upon them, and I struck a light, and looked confusedly around. All about
me, I saw the old, familiar things. And there I sat, full of dazed
wonders, until the flame of the match burnt my finger, and I dropped it;
while a hasty expression of pain and anger, escaped my lips, surprising
me with the sound of my own voice.
After a moment, I struck another match, and, stumbling across the room,
lit the candles. As I did so, I observed that they had not burned away,
but had been put out.
As the flames shot up, I turned, and stared about the study; yet there
was nothing unusual to see; and, suddenly, a gust of irritation took me.
What had happened? I held my head, with both hands, and tried to
remember. Ah! the great, silent Plain, and the ring-shaped sun of red
fire. Where were they? Where had I seen them? How long ago? I felt dazed
and muddled. Once or twice, I walked up and down the room, unsteadily.
My memory seemed dulled, and, already, the thing I had witnessed came
back to me with an effort.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
I have a remembrance of cursing, peevishly, in my bewilderment.
Suddenly, I turned faint and giddy, and had to grasp at the table for
support. During a few moments, I held on, weakly; and then managed to
totter sideways into a chair. After a little time, I felt somewhat
better, and succeeded in reaching the cupboard where, usually, I keep
brandy and biscuits. I poured myself out a little of the stimulant, and
drank it off. Then, taking a handful of biscuits, I returned to my
chair, and began to devour them, ravenously. I was vaguely surprised at
my hunger. I felt as though I had eaten nothing for an uncountably
long while.
As I ate, my glance roved about the room, taking in its various
details, and still searching, though almost unconsciously, for something
tangible upon which to take hold, among the invisible mysteries that
encompassed me. 'Surely,' I thought, 'there must be something--' And, in
the same instant, my gaze dwelt upon the face of the clock in the
opposite corner. Therewith, I stopped eating, and just stared. For,
though its ticking indicated most certainly that it was still going, the
hands were pointing to a little _before_ the hour of midnight; whereas
it was, as well I knew, considerably _after_ that time when I had
witnessed the first of the strange happenings I have just described.
For perhaps a moment I was astounded and puzzled. Had the hour been the
same as when I had last seen the clock, I should have concluded that the
hands had stuck in one place, while the internal mechanism went on as
usual; but that would, in no way, account for the hands having traveled
backward. Then, even as I turned the matter over in my wearied brain,
the thought flashed upon me that it was now close upon the morning of
the twenty-second, and that I had been unconscious to the visible world
through the greater portion of the last twenty-four hours. The thought
occupied my attention for a full minute; then I commenced to eat again.
I was still very hungry.
During breakfast, next morning, I inquired casually of my sister
regarding the date, and found my surmise correct. I had, indeed, been
absent--at least in spirit--for nearly a day and a night.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
My sister asked me no questions; for it is not by any means the first
time that I have kept to my study for a whole day, and sometimes a
couple of days at a time, when I have been particularly engrossed in my
books or work.
And so the days pass on, and I am still filled with a wonder to know
the meaning of all that I saw on that memorable night. Yet, well I know
that my curiosity is little likely to be satisfied.
_V_
THE THING IN THE PIT
This house is, as I have said before, surrounded by a huge estate, and
wild and uncultivated gardens.
Away at the back, distant some three hundred yards, is a dark, deep
ravine--spoken of as the 'Pit,' by the peasantry. At the bottom runs a
sluggish stream so overhung by trees as scarcely to be seen from above.
In passing, I must explain that this river has a subterranean origin,
emerging suddenly at the East end of the ravine, and disappearing, as
abruptly, beneath the cliffs that form its Western extremity.
It was some months after my vision (if vision it were) of the great
Plain that my attention was particularly attracted to the Pit.
I happened, one day, to be walking along its Southern edge, when,
suddenly, several pieces of rock and shale were dislodged from the face
of the cliff immediately beneath me, and fell with a sullen crash
through the trees. I heard them splash in the river at the bottom; and
then silence. I should not have given this incident more than a passing
thought, had not Pepper at once begun to bark savagely; nor would he be
silent when I bade him, which is most unusual behavior on his part.
Feeling that there must be someone or something in the Pit, I went back
to the house, quickly, for a stick. When I returned, Pepper had ceased
his barks and was growling and smelling, uneasily, along the top.
Whistling to him to follow me, I started to descend cautiously. The
depth to the bottom of the Pit must be about a hundred and fifty feet,
and some time as well as considerable care was expended before we
reached the bottom in safety.
Once down, Pepper and I started to explore along the banks of the
river. It was very dark there due to the overhanging trees, and I moved
warily, keeping my glance about me and my stick ready.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
Pepper was quiet now and kept close to me all the time. Thus, we
searched right up one side of the river, without hearing or seeing
anything. Then, we crossed over--by the simple method of jumping--and
commenced to beat our way back through the underbrush.
We had accomplished perhaps half the distance, when I heard again the
sound of falling stones on the other side--the side from which we had
just come. One large rock came thundering down through the treetops,
struck the opposite bank, and bounded into the river, driving a great
jet of water right over us. At this, Pepper gave out a deep growl; then
stopped, and pricked up his ears. I listened, also.
A second later, a loud, half-human, half-piglike squeal sounded from
among the trees, apparently about halfway up the South cliff. It was
answered by a similar note from the bottom of the Pit. At this, Pepper
gave a short, sharp bark, and, springing across the little river,
disappeared into the bushes.
Immediately afterward, I heard his barks increase in depth and number,
and in between there sounded a noise of confused jabbering. This ceased,
and, in the succeeding silence, there rose a semi-human yell of agony.
Almost immediately, Pepper gave a long-drawn howl of pain, and then the
shrubs were violently agitated, and he came running out with his tail
down, and glancing as he ran over his shoulder. As he reached me, I saw
that he was bleeding from what appeared to be a great claw wound in the
side that had almost laid bare his ribs.
Seeing Pepper thus mutilated, a furious feeling of anger seized me,
and, whirling my staff, I sprang across, and into the bushes from which
Pepper had emerged. As I forced my way through, I thought I heard a
sound of breathing. Next instant, I had burst into a little clear space,
just in time to see something, livid white in color, disappear among the
bushes on the opposite side. With a shout, I ran toward it; but, though
I struck and probed among the bushes with my stick, I neither saw nor
heard anything further; and so returned to Pepper. There, after bathing
his wound in the river, I bound my wetted handkerchief 'round his body;
having done which, we retreated up the ravine and into the
daylight again.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
On reaching the house, my sister inquired what had happened to Pepper,
and I told her he had been fighting with a wildcat, of which I had heard
there were several about.
I felt it would be better not to tell her how it had really happened;
though, to be sure, I scarcely knew myself; but this I did know, that
the thing I had seen run into the bushes was no wildcat. It was much too
big, and had, so far as I had observed, a skin like a hog's, only of a
dead, unhealthy white color. And then--it had run upright, or nearly so,
upon its hind feet, with a motion somewhat resembling that of a human
being. This much I had noticed in my brief glimpse, and, truth to tell,
I felt a good deal of uneasiness, besides curiosity as I turned the
matter over in my mind.
It was in the morning that the above incident had occurred.
Then, it would be after dinner, as I sat reading, that, happening to
look up suddenly, I saw something peering in over the window ledge the
eyes and ears alone showing.
'A pig, by Jove!' I said, and rose to my feet. Thus, I saw the thing
more completely; but it was no pig--God alone knows what it was. It
reminded me, vaguely, of the hideous Thing that had haunted the great
arena. It had a grotesquely human mouth and jaw; but with no chin of
which to speak. The nose was prolonged into a snout; thus it was that
with the little eyes and queer ears, gave it such an extraordinarily
swinelike appearance. Of forehead there was little, and the whole face
was of an unwholesome white color.
For perhaps a minute, I stood looking at the thing with an ever growing
feeling of disgust, and some fear. The mouth kept jabbering, inanely,
and once emitted a half-swinish grunt. I think it was the eyes that
attracted me the most; they seemed to glow, at times, with a horribly
human intelligence, and kept flickering away from my face, over the
details of the room, as though my stare disturbed it.
It appeared to be supporting itself by two clawlike hands upon the
windowsill. These claws, unlike the face, were of a clayey brown hue,
and bore an indistinct resemblance to human hands, in that they had four
fingers and a thumb; though these were webbed up to the first joint,
much as are a duck's. Nails it had also, but so long and powerful that
they were more like the talons of an eagle than aught else.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
As I have said, before, I felt some fear; though almost of an
impersonal kind. I may explain my feeling better by saying that it was
more a sensation of abhorrence; such as one might expect to feel, if
brought in contact with something superhumanly foul; something
unholy--belonging to some hitherto undreamt of state of existence.
I cannot say that I grasped these various details of the brute at the
time. I think they seemed to come back to me, afterward, as though
imprinted upon my brain. I imagined more than I saw as I looked at the
thing, and the material details grew upon me later.
For perhaps a minute I stared at the creature; then as my nerves
steadied a little I shook off the vague alarm that held me, and took a
step toward the window. Even as I did so, the thing ducked and vanished.
I rushed to the door and looked 'round hurriedly; but only the tangled
bushes and shrubs met my gaze.
I ran back into the house, and, getting my gun, sallied out to search
through the gardens. As I went, I asked myself whether the thing I had
just seen was likely to be the same of which I had caught a glimpse in
the morning. I inclined to think it was.
I would have taken Pepper with me; but judged it better to give his
wound a chance to heal. Besides, if the creature I had just seen was, as
I imagined, his antagonist of the morning, it was not likely that he
would be of much use.
I began my search, systematically. I was determined, if it were
possible, to find and put an end to that swine-thing. This was, at
least, a material Horror!
At first, I searched, cautiously; with the thought of Pepper's wound in
my mind; but, as the hours passed, and not a sign of anything living,
showed in the great, lonely gardens, I became less apprehensive. I felt
almost as though I would welcome the sight of it. Anything seemed better
than this silence, with the ever-present feeling that the creature might
be lurking in every bush I passed. Later, I grew careless of danger, to
the extent of plunging right through the bushes, probing with my gun
barrel as I went.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
At times, I shouted; but only the echoes answered back. I thought thus
perhaps to frighten or stir the creature to showing itself; but only
succeeded in bringing my sister Mary out, to know what was the matter. I
told her, that I had seen the wildcat that had wounded Pepper, and that
I was trying to hunt it out of the bushes. She seemed only half
satisfied, and went back into the house, with an expression of doubt
upon her face. I wondered whether she had seen or guessed anything. For
the rest of the afternoon, I prosecuted the search anxiously. I felt
that I should be unable to sleep, with that bestial thing haunting the
shrubberies, and yet, when evening fell, I had seen nothing. Then, as I
turned homeward, I heard a short, unintelligible noise, among the bushes
to my right. Instantly, I turned, and, aiming quickly, fired in the
direction of the sound. Immediately afterward, I heard something
scuttling away among the bushes. It moved rapidly, and in a minute had
gone out of hearing. After a few steps I ceased my pursuit, realizing
how futile it must be in the fast gathering gloom; and so, with a
curious feeling of depression, I entered the house.
That night, after my sister had gone to bed, I went 'round to all the
windows and doors on the ground floor; and saw to it that they were
securely fastened. This precaution was scarcely necessary as regards the
windows, as all of those on the lower storey are strongly barred; but
with the doors--of which there are five--it was wisely thought, as not
one was locked.
Having secured these, I went to my study, yet, somehow, for once, the
place jarred upon me; it seemed so huge and echoey. For some time I
tried to read; but at last finding it impossible I carried my book down
to the kitchen where a large fire was burning, and sat there.
I dare say, I had read for a couple of hours, when, suddenly, I heard a
sound that made me lower my book, and listen, intently. It was a noise
of something rubbing and fumbling against the back door. Once the door
creaked, loudly; as though force were being applied to it. During those
few, short moments, I experienced an indescribable feeling of terror,
such as I should have believed impossible. My hands shook; a cold sweat
broke out on me, and I shivered violently.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
| |
Gradually, I calmed. The stealthy movements outside had ceased.
Then for an hour I sat silent and watchful. All at once the feeling of
fear took me again. I felt as I imagine an animal must, under the eye of
a snake. Yet now I could hear nothing. Still, there was no doubting that
some unexplained influence was at work.
Gradually, imperceptibly almost, something stole on my ear--a sound
that resolved itself into a faint murmur. Quickly it developed and grew
into a muffled but hideous chorus of bestial shrieks. It appeared to
rise from the bowels of the earth.
I heard a thud, and realized in a dull, half comprehending way that I
had dropped my book. After that, I just sat; and thus the daylight found
me, when it crept wanly in through the barred, high windows of the
great kitchen.
With the dawning light, the feeling of stupor and fear left me; and I
came more into possession of my senses.
Thereupon I picked up my book, and crept to the door to listen. Not a
sound broke the chilly silence. For some minutes I stood there; then,
very gradually and cautiously, I drew back the bolt and opening the door
peeped out.
My caution was unneeded. Nothing was to be seen, save the grey vista of
dreary, tangled bushes and trees, extending to the distant plantation.
With a shiver, I closed the door, and made my way, quietly, up to bed.
_VI_
THE SWINE-THINGS
It was evening, a week later. My sister sat in the garden, knitting. I
was walking up and down, reading. My gun leant up against the wall of
the house; for, since the advent of that strange thing in the gardens, I
had deemed it wise to take precautions. Yet, through the whole week,
there had been nothing to alarm me, either by sight or sound; so that I
was able to look back, calmly, to the incident; though still with a
sense of unmitigated wonder and curiosity.
I was, as I have just said, walking up and down, and somewhat engrossed
in my book. Suddenly, I heard a crash, away in the direction of the Pit.
With a quick movement, I turned and saw a tremendous column of dust
rising high into the evening air.
|
The House on the Borderland
|
Hodgson, William Hope
|
1877
|
1918
|
['en']
|
824
|
{'Science fiction'}
|
PG10002
|
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