For that same death which must restore his being
To equilibrium, body loosening soul
Divorced even now by premature full growth:
8. A magician or wise man under whom Karshish I. I.e., he knows the law of the spiritual life as well and Abib had studied. as that of the earthly life. 9. Weapon made of sulfur, naphtha, and saltpeter.
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129 4 / ROBERT BROWNING
He will live, nay, it pleaseth him to live
210 So long as God please, and just how God please. He even seeketh not to please God more (Which meaneth, otherwise) than as God please. Hence, I perceive not he affects0 to preach aspires The doctrine of his sect whate'er it be,
215 Make proselytes as madmen thirst to do: How can he give his neighbor the real ground, His own conviction? Ardent as he is? Call his great truth a lie, why, still the old 'Be it as God please' reassureth him.
220 I probed the sore2 as thy disciple should: 'How, beast,' said I, 'this stolid carelessness Sufficeth thee, when Rome is on her march To stamp out like a little spark thy town, Thy tribe, thy crazy tale and thee at once?'
225 He merely looked with his large eyes on me. The man is apathetic, you deduce? Contrariwise, he loves both old and young, Able and weak, affects3 the very brutes And birds?how say I? flowers of the field?
230 As a wise workman recognizes tools In a master's workshop, loving what they make. Thus is the man, as harmless as a Iamb: Only impatient, let him do his best, At ignorance and carelessness and sin? 235 An indignation which is promptly curbed: As when in certain travels I have feigned To be an ignoramus in our art According to some preconceived design, And happed to hear the land's practitioners 240 Steeped in conceit sublimed4 by ignorance, Prattle fantastically on disease, Its cause and cure?and I must hold my peace!
Thou wilt object?Why have I not ere this Sought out the sage himself, the Nazarene
245 Who wrought this cure, inquiring at the source, Conferring with the frankness that befits? Alas! it grieveth me, the learned leech0 doctor Perished in a tumult many years ago, Accused,?our learning's fate,?of wizardry,
250 Rebellion, to the setting up a rule And creed prodigious as described to me. His death, which happened when the earthquake fell5 (Prefiguring, as soon appeared, the loss To occult learning in our lord the sage
255 Who lived there in the pyramid alone) Was wrought by the mad people?that's their wont! On vain recourse, as I conjecture it,
2. Investigated the case. 5. The earthquake at the time of Christ's crucifix3. Has affection for. ion (reported in Matthew 27.51). 4. Exalted. 'Conceit': foolish fancy.
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KARSHISH, THE ARAB PHYSICIAN / 129 5
To his tried virtue, for miraculous help?
How could he stop the earthquake? That's their way!
260 The other imputations must be lies: But take one, though 1 loathe to give it thee,
In mere respect for any good man's fame.
(And after all, our patient Lazarus
Is stark mad; should we count on what he says?
265 Perhaps not: though in writing to a leech
'Tis well to keep back nothing of a case.)
This man so cured regards the curer, then,
As?God forgive me! who but God himself,
Creator and sustainer of the world,
270 That came and dwelt in flesh on it awhile! ?'Sayeth that such an one was born and lived,
Taught, healed the sick, broke bread at his own house,6
Then died, with Lazarus by, for aught I know,
And yet was . . . what I said nor choose repeat,
275 And must have so avouched himself, in fact,
In hearing of this very Lazarus
Who saith?but why all this of what he saith?
Why write of trivial matters, things of price
Calling at every moment for remark?
280 I noticed on the margin of a pool Blue-flowering borage, the Aleppo7 sort,
Aboundeth, very nitrous. It is strange!
Thy pardon for this long and tedious case,
