按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页，按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页，按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部！
————未阅读完？加入书签已便下次继续阅读！
with oak gum； as much as it will bear。 Put on a rag and apply；
having soaped the place well first。 I have mixed the above with a
foam of nitre； and it worked well。〃
Several other receipts follow； ending with： 〃The following is the
best of all； acting for fallen hairs； when applied with oil or
pomatum； acts also for falling off of eyelashes or for people
getting bald all over。 It is wonderful。 Of domestic mice burnt；
one part； of vine rag burnt； one part； of horse's teeth burnt；
one part； of bear's grease one； of deer's marrow one； of reed
bark one。 To be pounded when dry； and mixed with plenty of honey
til it gets the consistency of honey； then the bear's grease and
marrow to be mixed （when melted）； the medicine to be put in a
brass flask； and the bald part rubbed til it sprouts。〃
Concerning these ingredients； my fellow…dramatist； Gilbert
Murray； who； as a Professor of Greek； has applied to classical
antiquity the methods of high scholarship （my own method is pure
divination）； writes to me as follows： 〃 Some of this I don't
understand； and possibly Galen did not； as he quotes your
heroine's own language。 Foam of nitre is； I think； something like
soapsuds。 Reed bark is an odd expression。 It might mean the
outside membrane of a reed： I do not know what it ought to be
called。 In the burnt mice receipt I take that you first mixed the
solid powders with honey； and then added the grease。 I expect
Cleopatra preferred it because in most of the others you have to
lacerate the skin； prick it； or rub it till it bleeds。 I do not
know what vine rag is。 I translate literally。〃
APPARENT ANACHRONISMS
The only way to write a play which shall convey to the general
public an impression of antiquity is to make the characters speak
blank verse and abstain from reference to steam； telegraphy； or
any of the material conditions of their existence。 The more
ignorant men are； the more convinced are they that their little
parish and their little chapel is an apex which civilization and
philosophy have painfully struggled up the pyramid of time from a
desert of savagery。 Savagery； they think； became barbarism；
barbarism became ancient civilization； ancient civilization
became Pauline Christianity； Pauline Christianity became Roman
Catholicism； Roman Catholicism became the Dark Ages； and the Dark
Ages were finally enlightened by the Protestant instincts of the
English race。 The whole process is summed up as Progress with a
capital P。 And any elderly gentleman of Progressive temperament
will testify that the improvement since he was a boy is enormous。
Now if we count the generations of Progressive elderly gentlemen
since； say； Plato； and add together the successive enormous
improvements to which each of them has testified； it will strike
us at once as an unaccountable fact that the world； instead of
having been improved in 67 generations out all recognition；
presents； on the whole； a rather less dignified appearance in
Ibsen's Enemy of the People than in Plato's Republic。 And in
truth； the period of time covered by history is far too short to
allow of any perceptible progress in the popular sense of
Evolution of the Human Species。 The notion that there has been
any such Progress since Caesar's time （less than 20 centuries） is
too absurd for discussion。 All the savagery； barbarism； dark ages
and the rest of it of which we have any record as existing in the
past； exists at the present moment。 A British carpenter or
stonemason may point out that he gets twice as much money for his
labor as his father did in the same trade； and that his suburban
house； with its bath； its cottage piano； its drawingroom suite；
and its album of photographs； would have shamed the plainness of
his grandmother's。 But the descendants of feudal barons； living
in squalid lodgings on a salary of fifteen shillings a week
instead of in castles on princely revenues； do not congratulate
the world on the change。 Such changes； in fact； are not to the
point。 It has been known； as far back as our records go； that man
running wild in the woods is different to man kennelled in a city
slum； that a dog seems to understand a shepherd better than a
hewer of wood and drawer of water can understand an astronomer；
and that breeding； gentle nurture and luxurious food and shelter
will produce a kind of man with whom the common laborer is
socially incompatible。 The same thing is true of horses and dogs。
Now there is clearly room for great changes in the world by
increasing the percentage of individuals who are carefully bred
and gently nurtured even to finally making the most of every man
and woman born。 But that possibility existed in the days of the
Hittites as much as it does to…day。 It does not give the
slightest real support to the common assumption that the
civilized contemporaries of the Hittites were unlike their
civilized descendants to…day。
This would appear the truest commonplace if it were not that the
ordinary citizen's ignorance of the past combines with his
idealization of the present to mislead and flatter him。 Our
latest book on the new railway across Asia describes the dulness
of the Siberian farmer and the vulgar pursepride of the Siberian
man of business without the least consciousness that the sting of
contemptuous instances given might have been saved by writing
simply 〃Farmers and provincial plutocrats in Siberia are exactly
what they are in England。〃 The latest professor descanting on the
civilization of the Western Empire in the fifth century feels
bound to assume； in the teeth of his own researches； that the
Christian was one sort of animal and the Pagan another。 It might
as well be assumed； as indeed it generally is assumed by
implication； that a murder committed with a poisoned arrow is
different to a murder committed with a Mauser rifle。 All such
notions are illusions。 Go back to the first syllable of recorded
time； and there you will find your Christian and your Pagan； your
yokel and your poet； helot and hero； Don Quixote and Sancho；
Tamino and Papageno； Newton and bushman unable to count eleven；
all alive and contemporaneous； and all convinced that they are
heirs of all the ages and the privileged recipients of THE truth
（all others damnable heresies）； just as you have them to…day；
flourishing in countries each of which is the bravest and best
that ever sprang at Heaven's command from out of the azure main。
Again； there is the illusion of 〃increased command over Nature；〃
meaning that cotton is cheap and that ten miles of country road
on a bicycle have replaced four on foot。 But even if man's
increased command over Nature included any increased command over
himself （the only sort of command relevant to his evolution into
a higher being）； the fact remains that it is only by running away
from the increased command over Nature to country places where
Nature is still in primitive command over Man that he can recover
from the effects of the smoke； the stench； the foul air； the
overcrowding； the racket； the ugliness； the dirt which the cheap
cotton costs us。 If manufacturing activity means Progress； the
town must be more advanced than the country； and the field
laborers and village artizans of to…day must be much less changed
from the servants of Job than the proletariat of modern London
from the proletariat of Caesar's Rome。 Yet the cockney
proletarian is so inferior to the village laborer that it is only
by steady recruiting from the country that London is kept alive。
This does not seem as if the change since Job's time were
Progress in the popular sense： quite the reverse。 The common
stock of discoveries in physics has accumulated a little： that is
all。
One more illustration。 Is the Englishman prepared to admit that
the American is his superior as a human being？ I ask this
question because the scarcity of labor in America relatively to
the demand for it has led to a development of machinery there；
and a consequent 〃increase of command over Nature〃 which makes
many of our English methods appear almost medieval to the
up…to…date Chicagoan。 This means that the American has an
advantage over the Englishman of exactly the same nature that the
Englishman has over the contemporaries of Cicero。 Is the
Englishman prepared to draw the same conclusion in both cases？ I
think not。 The American； of course； will draw it cheerfully； but
I must then ask him whether； since a modern negro has a greater
〃command over Nature〃 than Washington had； we are also to accept
the conclusion； involved in his former one； that humanity has
progressed from Washington to the fin de siecle negro。
Finally； I would point out that if life is crowned by its success
and devotion in industrial organization and ingenuity； we had
better worship the ant and the bee （as moralists urge us to do in
our childhood）； and humble ourselves before the arrogance of the
birds of Aristophanes。
My reason then for ignoring the popular conception of Progress in
Caesar and Cleopatra is that there is no reason to suppose that
any Progress has taken place since their time。 But even if I
shared the popular delusion； I do not see that I could have made
any essential difference in the play