Chapter 4
When So-qi, the king, issued the decree to have Zarathustra found and brought before him or else all the male infants of Oas were to be slain, the Lords sent travail on the king’s wife and on the king’s daughter, wife of Asha, the philosopher, and the two women gave birth that same day to two sons, a month before their time, but nevertheless to life and strength and beauty. Now, according to the laws of Oas, a king could not rescind or change his own decrees, for he had assumed the position of infallibility, in consequence of which, he had doomed to death kin of his kin, flesh of his flesh.
Accordingly, after search had been made in vain to find Zarathustra, the king repented of his decree, but knew no way to justify a change of commandment. Asha, hearing of this, came out of concealment, saying to himself: Now I will go to the king and hold him to his decree, even demanding that he slay me also. So Asha came before So-qi, and after saluting, said: O king, I have heard of your strait, and have come to you so that I may counsel you.
The king was angry, and he said: Asha, my friend, hear your king: You came before me, relating a marvelous story regarding an infant son of the virgin who says she never knew a man. Now, according to the laws of the City of the Sun, any man stating as truth that which he cannot prove, is already adjudged to death. Shall the law be unfulfilled, because, in fact, you are near me in blood?
Asha said: Most assuredly, O king, the laws must be carried out. Are they not the all highest? For it follows that if man is the all highest, then his laws, above all else, must never be set aside. Therefore, you shall have me slain. Do not think I come before you to plead an excuse, in order to save myself; rather let all men perish than allow the king’s decrees to go amiss.
The king said: You are wise, O Asha. The laws cannot err, for they are the standard by which to judge all else. And he who has risen to be king stands, by nature, the infallible highest of all things. History has proven this. But hear me yet, for you have wisdom from the movements of the sun and moon and stars: The king, being the all highest, how can he be bound? Can he not decree new decrees forever?
Asha said: I will not deceive you, O king! I know you are not arguing for me, but for your own infant son, and for your daughter’s infant son. Nor have I come before you in prowess (to save you from your decrees), although I love life. But here is the dilemma: By changing one law, you admit that all laws made by man may also need changing; which is to say, wisdom is folly. How, then, shall the judge try any man by the laws? Is it not setting up error in order to find truth?
The king said: You reason well. This morning, in my walk in the market gardens, when the soldiers were spreading the scalps of their enemies in the sun to dry, I wondered whether or not, in ages to come, the weaker nations and tribes of men might attempt to justify their right to life. So, if the kings admit to fallibility in their decrees and laws, then no man can foresee the end; for even slaves, servants and women will rise up against the laws, and claim their right to life. How, then, would the earth be large enough for all the people? Yet, for what reason, O Asha, comes this heartache of mine against killing my own son?
Asha said: What are your sympathies, O king? If you were to justify the escape of your child’s death for sympathy’s sake, would my wife and my children not justify their sympathy in desiring me to live? No, sympathy is the enemy of law and justice; it is the evil in our natures that cries out for evil. The laws must be maintained; the decrees must be maintained; the king’s word must be maintained. No man must permit his judgment to go higher than the law, or the decree, or the king.
Asha said: This is the City of the Sun. If this city goes back on its own laws, what will the tributary cities do? Will they not also begin to disrespect the laws, or say: Perhaps the laws are in error? This will result in anarchy. To one purpose only can a great city be maintained. To divide the purposes and judgment of men is to scatter to the four winds the glory of our civil liberty. Was it not disrespect of the laws, combined with superstition, that caused the nations of ancients to perish?
The king said: What shall I do, O Asha? My son has smiled in my face!
Asha said: You shall send me and your son and your daughter’s son, and all male infants to the slaughter pen, and have us all beheaded and cast into the fire. Otherwise, it will come true what the infant Zarathustra has said: Behold, my hand shall strike the city of Oas, and it shall fall like a heap of straw.
Do not think, O king, I am superstitious and fear such threats; but this I perceive: Permit the laws to be impeached, and every man in Oas will set himself up to interpret the laws to be wrong and himself right. And your officers will rebel against you on all sides, and the glory of your kingdom will perish. ||
After the city had been searched for thirty days, and the virgin and child still not found, the king appointed a day for the slaughter, according to his former decree; and there were ninety thousand male infants adjudged to death, the king’s son among the rest.
While these matters were maturing, the Lord went to Choe’jon, and inspired him to make songs about Zarathustra, the infant who was stronger than a king; and also songs about the decree of death to the ninety thousand infant sons of Oas. And the beauty of the songs, together with the nature of these proceedings, caused the songs to be sung in the streets day and night; and the songs, in satire, approved of the horrors, so that even the king could not interdict the singing.