Chapter 10
Jehovih said to Capilya: You shall remain with My chosen until they have learned these rites and ceremonies and doctrines; after which you shall go to another region where I will lead you, and there teach the same things, and in the same way. || And Capilya obeyed the commandments of the Great Spirit in all these things.
In the fifth year of Capilya’s preaching, the voice of Jehovih came to him saying: Behold, your foster-father is near death’s door. Go to him and have the law of protection established before his death; and when you are king after his death, you shall ratify the law, and then abdicate the throne.
So Capilya returned to Yokovrana, the king, who was ill with fever. The king said: O my son, my son! I feared I might die before my eyes could gaze upon you once again. A few days more, and it will be over with me. You will be king. Think now, what would you ask of me, while I may yet accomplish it.
Capilya said: Call your Royal Council and pass a law guaranteeing Brahmans, the Zarathustrians (Faithists), the lands they have possessed and tilled and are now dwelling upon, to be theirs forever.
The king assented to this, and the law was so enacted; and this was the first law made by any king in all the world granting land to the Faithists, to be their own. And the law stipulated that the Faithists could worship in their own way; nor could they be impressed into any army as soldiers of war.
After the law was established, Yokovrana said to Capilya: I was wondering why you did not wait till you were king, and then enact the law yourself, and it could not be set aside during your lifetime? I will die soon, and the law will die with me.
Capilya answered: I shall ratify your law on the day I ascend the throne, which is binding, according to the rules of the ancients. Had I waited until I was king, then I would have been bound, according to my religion, which is that no one individual possesses land, except what he tills, and then only by donation from the community in which he dwells, and only during his lifetime, after which it reverts to the community.
Yokovrana said: You are wise, O my son! What is it that you do not understand? After the king rested a while, he said: Capilya, you have often said you have seen the angels of heaven: Who do you say they are?
Capilya said: Persons who once inhabited this earth. Some of them once lived on the stars.
The king said: Since you say so, it must be so. I thought, sometimes, they might be different beings that dwell in the air, and never dwelt here. Do you say, Capilya, that all souls are immortal?
Capilya said: They are born so into life; nevertheless, not all inherit everlasting life. Even as the body goes into destruction, so can the spirit of a man dissolve out of being. The fruit of those who have attained to faith in everlasting life are safe; but for those who have fallen from faith in everlasting life, and from faith in the Creator, I pity them and their heirs.
The king said: Why do the oracles tell lies? They are the words of angels.
Capilya said: If a man will not think for himself, examine for himself, the Creator allows him to be the recipient of lies. He is a wise man who has attained to disbelief in angels and men; for then he will turn to the Creator, Who is All Truth. This is the beginning of wisdom. Some fair men, with stunted souls, who fail to look to doing good in the world, require the serpent’s fang in order to make them think.
The king said: I have killed many men in my day; do you say I have sinned? Capilya said: Inquire of your Creator. I am not your judge, nor any man’s. The king asked: If a man is killed and his soul lives, then the killing amounts to little. We put away the body, but the soul may come back and retaliate. Is it not so? Capilya said: Yes, O king.
The king reflected a while, and then he asked: My son, can the spirits of those we have slain catch us in heaven and injure us? Capilya said: Yes, O king. The king said: And they, having been in heaven first, would have the advantage in battle. And if they go in gangs and have a leader (beelzebub), they might do great hurt. Know O, Capilya, I have a great secret for your philosophy; which is: When death draws near, we begin to shake in the soul as to what we have done all our lives. Sometimes I think of saying to Dyaus: Here, I will pray to you! But then I remember I have no merchandise that he would accept. How strong we are in health and prosperity, and how weak in adversity and in death! Do you think prayers would make my case stand better in heaven?
Capilya said: I am not master in heaven; or if I were, my love for you would shield you from all darkness. The king said: The priest says if I pay him money he can intercede with Dyaus and so, secure me a high seat in heaven. I think he falsifies, for Dyaus owes him nothing. Two things I have found, even with my little wisdom: Both the caterer to the king and the caterer to Dyaus make great pretenses, but actually do little regarding their promises. These two men, O my son, beware of them.
I owe my greatness to this discretion more than to wisdom. They are at the bottom of all the wars and evils in this world. They can deceive even the Gods, I am told. When you are king, Capilya, apply your wisdom to this matter; do not spare them; they are the curse of the world. I regret that I did not slay more of them; my conscience pricks me for this.
Capilya said: Since man’s conscience is only part of the man, might it not err? Is the conscience not dependent on other things for wisdom? And after all, if we have done that which seemed the highest, best thing at the time, have we not fulfilled the law?
The king said: It would seem so. Conscience must depend for its errors or its justice on the education it has received. But is it possible that conscience is a disease in the heart? To regret over not having done a thing; to regret over having done a thing, these are irreparable complaints. Whoever can say beforehand, and yet not err, is wise indeed. I find that no man brought himself into the world; nor can he live except for a short period at most. When we are young we dislike to die; but at my great age I desire not to live. Evidently He Who created us has more mastery over us than we have over ourselves.
Capilya said: That is true; at best, man has no more than half mastery of himself. Yokovrana interrupted, saying: I interrupt you, my son, because my time is short. I would ask you what is the greatest consolation to a dying man?
Capilya said: There are two consolations that are great to a dying man; one is to know that he left no heirs after him; and the other is, that he leaves after him a noble son. The king said: You are wise, my son. I asked the priest in the oracle-house the same thing, and he said: For a dying man to have faith that his soul will enter paradise. So I said to him: No honest man can have such faith; for such a fate would be cheating heaven with one’s sins. If I were the Creator, I would break the necks of half the world. Still, it may please a foolish dying man to tell him such a tale regarding his soul. You alone, my son, have told me the greatest consolation to a dying man.
My slaves may have faith that they will be kings, but they will wake up in their folly. A man may have faith that his soul will enter paradise, and he may wake up and find it was a mistake. Faith without a guarantee is folly.
Capilya said: A man who of his own knowledge knows a thing, has the greatest of all wisdom. To be as you are, a philosopher in time of death, is evidence of a great soul. Few have attained to this.
The king said: Compared to you I am nothing as to wisdom. You are a mystery to me. Your mother, whom the doctors slew to put her out of her misery from long sickness, was not wise. And as to myself, I am only great, not wise. I can make men fear me; but you know the secret of love, which is a great thing. Your name, O Capilya, will be honored long after mine is forgotten, even though I am the greatest king in all the world. O Capilya, my most wonderful son!
Capilya said: Because you gave me great learning and a father’s kingly care, why should I not be an honor to you, O king? When you are in heaven, and can look upon me, I hope you may not lose your hope for me.
The king said: It does not seem wise to me that angels should see too closely their mortal kin, or else, in truth, they would never rise up to higher heavens. The seers say heaven and angels are around us all the time. I think this is a lie, otherwise it would be more hell than heaven to them.
After the king rested a while he said: I have been surmising what to say to you, for I feel the blood in my veins is nearly stopped. And this makes me think more than ever that man at best is only a gaming ball for the Gods to play with. Who knows, perhaps even now they laugh up their sleeves as to how they have used me for some hellish game! O if only man had some standpoint to judge things by! O if only he had a measure and a foundation to stand upon! I have searched the spirits of the dead, and the Gods of the oracles, and they are lies, lies, lies!
Capilya said: The small spark of light within our souls is right at the start; and if it is rightly cultivated it will grow brighter and clearer every day. For is it not in the nature of all things to grow by culture?
The king said: To rightly cultivate! There is the matter, O my son. To settle that point the world has been washed all over with man’s blood. Rightly! Who knows that word? O if only my enemies were mistaken, and that I was clear in perceiving what was right!
Again he rested a while and then he said: I had hoped that when death came on, I would get glimpses of what is in store for me; but even death is silent, dark and deceiving. My members weaken evenly. This shows I was born from good blood. Had you not been my son, I would rejoice more than I do. For then I would know that my family line had run out, and so I could have ascended to the higher heavens. Now I may be obliged to dwell on the earth for a long season. As I understand myself now, even with all your wisdom and your love, I would rather you had been some other man’s son. Then I could die easier and not care so much about leaving you. I have no other kin.
Capilya said: O king! You have torn my heart in two! In truth I am not your son! When your wife lay in the dark chamber, the angels of heaven stole me and brought me there. She who nursed me was my mother; and her husband was my father. I am a Brahman of Zarathustrian blood, a Faithist!
The king said: Is this true? It cannot be! Go call your nurse! Capilya called in the nurse, and the king said to her: Before I doom you to death, I command you to answer: Is this your son, and is your husband his father? She answered him: I am sworn to Jehovih and cannot answer you. Therefore sentence me, for I have carried a great load for many years. Behold! An angel of heaven appears!
Jehovih’s angel appeared before the king, and they all saw the angel, who said: Capilya is not your son, O king! And yet no sin has been committed! And at that, the angel vanished.
The king said: If this was not a counterfeit made by the Gods, then it was my angel wife. So, Capilya! Must our love end here? The earth is going fast from me now! Capilya said: Our love will never die! For the good you have done for the Zarathustrians, the Great Spirit will provide you a home suited to your great soul. If you had any faults, you have more than balanced them.
The king beckoned for Capilya and the nurse to come to him, and then he said, feebly: It seems to me I hear the Gods laughing! Keep up the joke! My brother’s oldest son knows nothing of it! A kingdom is but a farce. Hold me up, Capilya. I would have my eyes feast on the sky only, after having seen your sweet face.
Capilya lifted him up, and the king said to the nurse: I bless you! You brought forth a good prop! O aden (sky), Aden! All is something! All is nothing!
And the breath went out of him; he was dead.