Jean-Marie Blas De Robles - Where Tigers Are at Home

“Moreira,” he said as he lifted the receiver. “Oh, it’s you, darling …” Suddenly he felt a hot flush down the back of his neck. “You’re not going to believe everything they say in the newspapers? Not you, surely? I swear to you I’ve nothing to … Carlotta! There’s no question of that, I refuse, d’you hear? I … Carlotta! Carlotta?”

For a moment he considered calling straight back. But it was better to give her time to calm down. He’d see that evening, at the fazenda . It really would be the last straw if she joined in … The fact that Mauro was missing was almost driving her crazy … A twinge in the region of the sternum told him he wasn’t going to be able to get her to change her mind. Not this time. For a moment he imagined life without Carlotta, then dismissed the thought, he found it such an insult to his sense of order and symmetry.

How the decision to erect another obelisk was reached & the subsequent discussion on the choice of a suitable animal

THE WHITMONDAY CELEBRATIONS passed off perfectly. It was on that occasion that the Supreme Pontiff very clearly expressed his desire to erect an obelisk, the one, to be precise, that had just been unearthed during the works carried out by the Dominicans around the church of Santa-Maria sopra Minerva. Once more Kircher was to collaborate with his sculptor friend on the design of a statue worthy not only of that monument from antiquity but also of the Piazza Minerva, of which it would be the principal ornament.

Cavaliere Bernini had been called to Paris by Louis XIV in order to revise the plans for his Louvre Palace & to sculpt a bust of him at the head of his army. Since he could stand neither the courtiers nor the climate of that city, he returned to Rome at the end of October, the richer by three thousand louis d’or & an annuity of twelve thousand livres as a reward for his services. When he arrived at the College to tell us his ideas on the Piazza Minerva monument, Kircher & I were busy with Father Grueber, taking notes on his journey to China.

“Come now,” Kircher said with a smile, “don’t despair! Rome wasn’t built in a day & with God’s help I’m sure we’ll manage to restore the original wisdom of the ancients. And since the matter has cropped up at such an opportune moment, tell me, Lorenzo, what are your suggestions for the Minerva obelisk?”

“Given the small size of the object, I feel it’s impossible to design a majestic monument in the style of the Pamphilius Fountain. Therefore I had the idea of simply placing it on the back of a animal whose symbolic value could match that of the hieroglyphs. That is as far as I’ve gotten, since I don’t know what they contain, though certain animals, for example the tortoise & the armadillo, do fascinate me from an artistic point of view, so that I have started to sketch out some designs using them.”

Kircher looked dubious. “We’ll go into the choice of animal later. Anyway, it’s less important that it corresponds to the teaching of the hieroglyphs carved on the obelisk than to that of the Church & of the Supreme Pontiff, her symbol in this world. But so that you have all the details necessary for your work, I will give you my translation now.”

Athanasius picked up a sheet of paper from the table &, after having cleared his throat, read the following in solemn tones:

“Mophta, the supreme spirit and archetype, instills his virtues into the sidereal world, that is, this solar spirit subject to him. From which the vital movement in the material or elemental world proceeds; & from which the abundance of all things as well as the variety of species arises .

“It flows out unceasingly from the Osirian mud, attracted by some wondrous sympathy & strong in the power hidden in his figure with two faces .

“O clairvoyant Chen-Osiris, guardian of the sacred canals, symbols of the aqueous nature of which all life consists!

“Through the good will of Ophionus, that spirit sufficient to obtain favors and the propagation of life, principles to which this tablet is consecrated, & with the assistance of the humid Agathodaemon of divine Osiris, the seven towers of the heavens are protected from all damage. That is why the image of the Same must be presented circularly in the sacrifices & ceremonies .

“The left hand of Nature or the fountain of Hecate, that is the swirling that is the very respiration of the universe, is evoked by sacrifices & attracted by that in which the demon Polymorphus produces the generous variety of things in the quadripartite world .

“The deceitful artifices of Typhon have been broken, thus reserving the life of innocent things; to which the pentacles and amulets below lead because of the mystical foundations on which they are built. That is why they are powerful to obtain all the good things of an enchanting life …”

“God’s blood!” Bernini exclaimed. “I would have understood just as much if you’d been speaking Iroquois. Your Egyptian priests were better than anyone at jumbling up their little homilies …”

“There were two good reasons for that, the first being the profundity of the mysteries they were expressing, the second as a precaution against heedlessly giving away such sought-after knowledge to ignoramuses. Simple arts, such as music & painting, require a long initiation; much longer & more arduous is that required by knowledge. Pythagoras, remember, enjoined his disciples to silence so that they would not divulge the sacred mysteries, because one can only learn by meditating, not by speaking.…”

“As for me,” said Bernini, slightly piqued, “I’ll stick to the arts without trying to decipher such recondite allegories …”

“Come now, my friend, don’t misunderstand me. Knowledge requires application alone & you make wonderful use of yours in a field in which you excel. Life is too short, alas, to consider devoting oneself fully to more than a single art. Socrates was a poor sculptor before becoming Socrates; as for Phidias, that maker of divine images, he could well have been dumb for all we know of his philosophy. One acted as a midwife to minds, the other to stones, that’s all!”

“Capital!” Bernini said with a laugh. “How could I fail to be convinced when you compare me to such a master?!”

“I didn’t forget myself, either,” Kircher said in the same tone, “but that was only for the purposes of the analogy, since I would have great difficulty competing with Socrates. If you are incontestably the greatest sculptor of the age, I am nothing but an honest laborer in the field of knowledge. I have nothing else to do, all my time is my own, so that I can concentrate on things for long periods without interruption. That is the only way in which I may call myself a genius. I have learned by long experience how much time such an intellectual task can take & to what extent the mind must be free of all distraction to complete it successfully … But let us return to our obelisk. As I’m sure you will have realized, despite your protestations at its apparent obscurity, this text contains a summary of the Egyptian doctrine regarding the supreme principles governing the world. Replace Mophta by God, Osiris by the Sun and the seven towers of the heavens by the planets & you will see that this doctrine only differs from that of the Church in points of detail. You will therefore, I hope, agree that the tortoise & the armadillo are hardly suitable symbols for such a complex system.”

“I’m happy to grant you that,” Bernini said with a frown, “but I’m sure you will have some other beast to suggest …”