"Conversation of Eiros and Charmion, The" - читать интересную книгу автора (Poe Edgar Allan)

of that stupendous event which threw you among us. Let us converse of familiar
things, of the world which so fearfully perished. Was I much mourned, my Eiros?
EIROS
Deeply. To the last hour, a cloud of sorrow hung over your household.
CHARMION
Of that last hour, inform me. When I passed into Night through the Grave, the
catastrophe which overwhelmed you was utterly unanticipated.
EIROS
True. Men understood the most holy writings which speak of the final destruction
of all things by fire, as referring to Earth alone. And astronomers had
mistakenly divested comets of all terror; vapory and tenuous, they had been
observed passing among the satellites of Jupiter without disturbing their
orbits. We regarded comets as incapable of injuring our substantial globe. That
one should cause fiery destruction, seemed absurd.


Nonetheless, the astronomers' announcement of a new comet inspired apprehension.
Long had men believed comets portents of ill, heralds of pestilence and war.
Worse, its path, at perihelion, was predicted to bring it into contact with
Earth. Laymen steeped in worldly considerations had difficulty grasping this
concept, but the truth of a vitally important fact soon becomes apparent to even
the most stolid. All men saw that astronomical knowledge lied not, and awaited
the comet.
Its approach seemed slow at first. For a week it remained a small, dull glow in
the sky. The ordinary affairs of men halted; everyone became absorbed in
discussion of the comet. Learned men gave their intellect--their souls--to
allaying fear, and to beloved theory. They studied, analyzed, deduced. Truth
arose in her purity, strength, and majesty, and the wise fawned and adored.
Scientists proclaimed the comet's nucleus far less dense than our rarest gas.
Theologists reminded us that the world must end in fire, and that comets were
not fiery. For a brief moment, reason hurled superstition from her throne!
What minor evils might arise were elaborately debated. The learned conjectured
slight geological disturbances, alterations in climate, and consequently in
vegetation; magnetic and electric influences. Perhaps no perceptible effect
would ensue. Meanwhile, the comet gradually approached, growing in apparent
diameter and brightness. Mankind paled as it came, despite all reassurances.
When the comet grew larger than any previously recorded visitation, the people
felt certainty of evil. Their fears no longer seemed chimerical. The hearts of
the stoutest men beat violently within their bosoms. In a few days, however,
such feelings merged into sentiments even more unendurable. We could no longer
apply to the strange orb any accustomed thoughts. Its historical attributes had
disappeared. It oppressed us with a hideous novelty of emotion. More than an
astronomical phenomenon, it became an incubus on our hearts, a shadow on our
brains. It had taken, inconceivably quickly, the character of a gigantic mantle
of rare flame, extending from horizon to horizon.
Another day, and men breathed easier. Clearly already within the comet's
influence, we lived. We even felt an unusual elasticity of frame and vivacity of
mind. The comet's exceeding tenuity was apparent; heavenly objects were plainly
visible through it. Meantime, all vegetation had perceptibly altered, bursting
into a luxuriance of foliage, and we gained faith, from this predicted