The Bridge At Abydos 1

I There are two ways of being in this world, the eagle and the serpent, sometimes called: while one seeks boundless heaven, wings unfurled, the other through low dirt has always crawled, and seeks to crush or poison. Naked, bald aggression drives him, hungry to increase his realm, devour the victims he has mauled, he maims and tortures for a mere caprice. And these two beings never will exist in peace. II The Greeks believed in Rule of Intellect. The Mind was, for mankind, the one resource which joined us to the gods. Men can collect of their free will, without a hint of force, and cordially agree a common course. What holds us to our word when we combine? Why, nothing, save our dignity. Remorse at failing in our duty is condign. And thus we humans share in something that’s divine. III The Eastern way is quite another thing. Hierarchy, discipline, are there the norm: from Seljuk to Saladin, Moghul, Ming, autocracy remains the chosen form. Each satrap knows he’ll shelter from the storm as long as he continues to obey, and never think, or question. In the warm, his function is to fawn, and warm he’ll stay, if he can drive all other aspirants away. IV To master, or surrender: black or white: the Eastern mind conceives of only power. To treat with neighbours means one thing – to fight, and know you’ll have to vanquish them, or cower. When Xerxes gave the order from his tower, his peerless Persian army started West to hammer Greece. He knew the very flower of European life, of mankind’s best, was likelier to perish than survive this test. V We’ve heard of Orpheus, tethered to the mast, but how to reach the European side? Where Jason and the Argonauts once passed, there ran a fierce sea channel, one mile wide. Great Xerxes in his arrogance and pride acknowledged no obstruction to his will. And so, the Hellespont would be defied: a hundred ships were scuttled, lashed and filled with earth. At Xerxes’ bridge, the experts marvel still. VI The Bridge at Abydos! A metaphor of Persian grandeur, Xerxes’ mighty arm! A symbol of the glory that is war! To neutrals it spoke strength: to foes, alarm! One king could thrust his spear, without a qualm, beyond the shores of Asia, reaching thus the limits of Creation – in his palm he soon would hold the Peloponnesus, thanks to his Bridge, the planet’s new umbilicus.