Alfred de Musset - Passion's evil

FANNY:

“What follies!”

GAMIANI:“They did not limit themselves there: they varied their follies infinitely. Deprived of men, we were ourselves the more ingenious in inventing extravagancies. We knew all the Priapes, all the obscene histories from antiquity down to modem times. We had surpassed them. Elephantis and Aretino had less imagination than we. It would take too long to tell you all our artifices, our ruses and our marvelous philteres to awaken and to satisfy our desires. You may judge by the singular treatment to which we made one of our number submit in order to sharpen her sensations. First we plunged her in a bath of hot blood to revive her vigor. Then she took a potion of cantharides and laid down on a bed while we applied friction to all of her body. Then by the aid of magnetism we put her to sleep. As soon as sleep had overcome her we flogged her till she bled, or stuck her with pins. The patient awoke in the midst of her torture. She got up in a daze regarded us insanely and immediately went into the most violent convulsions. Six persons could hardly restrain her. Nothing but the licking by a dog would calm her. Her furor flowed in floods. But if relief did not come, the unfortunate one became more furious and in a loud voice cried for an ass.”

FANNY:

“An ass! Mercy!”

GAMIANI:

“Yes, my dear, an ass. We had one, well trained and gentle. We would not be surpassed in any thing by the roman dames who were served by one in their saturnalias.

“The first time I was put to the test I was delirious with wine. I threw myself on the culprit's bench with violence, defying all the nuns. The ass was instantly brought over me and drawn up with the aid of a rope. His terrible broadsword, warmed by the Sisters hands, beat heavily against my flanks. I took it in both hands and placed it at the orifice, where, after several seconds of tickling, I sought to introduce it. My movements aiding, as well as my fingers and a dilating ointment., I was soon mistress of five inches at least. I tried to push in more, but lacked the strength and fell back. It seemed to me that my skin ripped, that I was split up and quartered. It was a dull pain, suffocating, in which was mingled an irritation, hot, tickling and sensual. The beast, always in motion, produced a rubbing so vigorous that my entire spinal column was shaken. My burning cyprien, boiled a moment in my loins. Oh what a spending. I felt it burst in jets of flame and fall, drop by drop, in the depths of my matrix. My whole being was flooded with love. I gave a long cry of nervousness, and then I found relief. “In my lubricious elation I had won two more inches; I had surpassed all the others, my companions were vanquished; I had used a washer, otherwise I would have been disemboweled.

“Exhausted, aching in all my members, I thought my pleasure finished, when his ungovernable flail stiffened again in its best fashion, Sounded me, worked in me and held me almost upright. My nerves swelled, I closed my teeth and ground them together; my arms hung and my thighs were drawn up. Suddenly a violent jet escaped and inundated me with a hot and sticky rain, so strong, so abundant that it seemed to swell in my veins and even reach my heart. My tired flesh, relieved by this exuberant balm, let me feel nothing but the poignant felicity that pricked me in the bones and marrow, the nerves and brain, loosening my joints and putting me in a burning fusion. delicious torture. Intolerable pleasure which loosens the bonds of life and makes you die with intoxication!

FANNY:

“What transports you cause me, Gamiani! Soon I will be unable to restrain myself. But how did you finally manage to leave that devil's convent?”

GAMIANI:

“It was thus: after a grand orgy we got the idea of transforming ourselves into men with the aid of dildoes, and with them attached in that way to cork one another all in a line and then race foolishly. I formed the last link in the chain; consequently I was the sole one who rode without being ridden. What was my surprise when I felt myself vigorously assailed by a naked man who had, I know not how, introduced himself among us. At the frightened cry which escaped me, all the nuns broke from the line and came to throw themselves incontinently on the unfortunate intruder. Each wished to finish in reality a pleasure commenced by a fatiguing imitation. The animal, too largely feasted, was very soon exhausted. You should have seen his state of torpor and defeat: his flaccid and pendant electroid, all his virility in the most negative condition. I could hardly reanimate that human rag when my turn came to enjoy the prolific elixir. Nevertheless, I succeeded. Couched on that moribund, my head between his thighs, I sucked Messer Priapus so skillfully that he woke up as ruddy and vivacious as you please. Caressed myself by an agile tongue, I quickly felt the approach of an unbelievable pleasure, which I finished by seating myself, gloriously and with delight on the scepter I had conquered. I gave and received a deluge of pleasure.

“This last excess finished our man. Everything proved useless to reanimate him. Would you believe it? When the nuns understood that the unfortunate was no longer good for anything, they decided, without hesitating, that they must kill him and bury his body in the cellar, for fear that their indiscretions, becoming known, might compromise the convent. I vividly opposed this criminal plot; but in less than a second a lamp was taken down and the victim raised in its place on a running knot. I turned my sight from this horrible spectacle. But behold, to the great surprise of these fools, the hanging produced its ordinary effect. Marveling at that nervous demonstration, the Superior mounted on a footstool and, amid the frenzied applause of her worthy accomplices, she coupled in the air with the dead and hung herself on the corpse. That is not the end of the history. Too old and light for such a double weight, tile cord stretched, then broke. The dead and the living fell to the floor so heavily that the nun had her bones broken, and the hanged man, whose strangulation was poorly effected, returned to life, and threatened, in the spasms of his agony, to suffocate the Superior.

Lightning striking in the midst of a crowd would produce less of an effect than this scene on the nuns. All fled, frightened, believing that the devil was upon them. The Superior remained alone to battle with the terrible apparition. The adventure would likely be followed with terrible consequences. Foreseeing which I escaped that very evening from that nest of debauch and crime.

I took refuge for some time at Florence, the land of Love and prestige. A young Englishman, Sir Edward, as enthusiastic and dreamy as an Oswald, conceived a violent passion for me. I was tired of unclean pleasures. Until then, my body alone had lived and acted, my soul still slumbered. It awakened gently to the pure, enchanting accents of a high and noble love. From then I commenced a new existence; I felt those vague desires, desires unspeakable, which bring happiness and render life a poem. Combustible bodies do not bum of themselves, but let a spark approach and all flames up. Thus my heart took fire from the transports of the one who loved me. To this language, new to me, I responded with delicious tremors, I gave an attentive ear, my hungry eyes let nothing escape. The humid fire thrown from the eyes of my beloved penetrated thru mine clear to the depths of my soul, bearing trouble, delirium and joy. Edward's voice had an accent which agitated me, sentiment seemed to be to be depicted in his every gesture; all his expressions, animated by passion, made themselves felt on me. Thus the first image of love made me love the object which had offered it to me. Extreme in everything, I was also ardent toward life and sense. Edward had one of those strong minds that carry others with them. into their own sphere. I found myself raised to his height. My love exalted; became divine in its enthusiasm. The sole thought of gross pleasures revolted me. Had I been forced I would have died of rage. This voluntary barrier irritated our love on both sides; it became more ardent because of this constraint. Edward was the first to succumb. Fatigued by this Platonic attitude, whose cause he could not guess, he had not enough strength to combat his senses. He surprised me asleep one day and possessed me. I awoke in the midst. of the most ardent embraces; overcome, I mingled my transports with those that I caused; I was three times in heaven, Edward was three times a god. But then he had fallen, I took a horror of him, he was no more to me than a man of flesh and bones; he was as a monk!