September 25, 2025 • 30 mins
Dive into Omega The Last Days of the World, a captivating science fiction novel written by Camille Flammarion in 1894. Set in the 25th century, this thought-provoking tale explores the impending threat of a carbonic-oxide comet on a collision course with Earth. Through its narrative, the novel delves into the philosophical and political ramifications of humanity facing its potential end. (Summary by Wikipedia)
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section seven of Omega The Last Days of the World.
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot orga Omega The Last Days of the
World by Camille Flammarion, Part one, Chapter six, Part one.
(00:27):
It is now time to pause amid the eventful scenes
through which we are passing, in order to consider this
new fear of the end of the world with others
which have preceded it, and to pass rapidly in review
the remarkable history of this idea, which has reappeared again
and again in the past. At the time of which
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we are speaking, this subject was the sole theme of
conversation in every land and in every tongue as to
the dogma Credo resurrect Theionium Charnis. The addresses of the
Fathers of the Church before the Council assembled, and the
Sistine Chapel at Rome were on the whole and accord
with the opinion expressed by the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris.
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The clause eight Vitum niaturnum was tacitly ignored in view
of the possible discoveries of astronomy and psychology. These addresses epitomized,
as it were, the history of the doctrine of the
end of the world as held by the Christian Church
in all ages. This history is interesting, for it is
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also the history of a human mind face to face
with its own destiny, and we believe it of sufficient
importance to devote to it a separate chapter for the
time being. Therefore, we abandon our role as the chronicler
of the twenty fourth century and returned to our own
times in order to consider this doctrine from an historical
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point of view. The existence of a profound and tenacious
faith is as old as the centuries, and is the
notable fact that all religions, irrespective of Christian dogma, have
opened the same door from this mortal life upon the
unknown which lies beyond it. It is the door of
the divine comedy of Dante. Although the conceptions of paradise,
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hell and purgatory peculiar to the Christian Church are not universal,
Zoroastor and the Zendi Vesta taught that the world would
perish by fire. The same idea is found in the
Epistle of Saint Peter. It seems that the traditions of
Noah and the Deucalion, according to which the first great
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disaster to humanity came by flood, indicated that the second
great disaster would be of an exactly opposite character. The
Apostles Peter and Paul died probably in the year sixty
four during the horrible slaughter ordered by Nero after the
burning of Rome, which had been fired at his command,
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and whose destruction he attributed to the Christians. In order
that he might have a pretext for new persecutions, Saint
John wrote The Apocalypse in the year sixty nine. The
reign of Nero was a bloody one, and mortyrdom seemed
to be the natural consequence of a virtuous life. Prodigies
appeared on every hand. There were comets, falling stars, eclipses,
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showers of blood, monsters, earthquakes, famines, pestilences, and above all
there was the Jewish War and the destruction of Jerusalem.
Never perhaps, were so many horrors, so much cruelty and madness,
so many catastrophes crowded into so short a period as
in the years sixty four to sixty nine. A d
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the Little Church of Christ was apparently dispersed. It was
impossible to remain in Jerusalem. The horrors of the reign
of Terror of seventeen ninety three and of the Commune
of eighteen seventy one were as nothing in comparison with
those of the Jewish Civil War. The family of Jesus
was obliged to leave the Holy City and to seek
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safety in flight. False prophets appeared, thus verifying formal prophecies.
Vesuvius was preparing the terrible eruption of the year seventy nine,
and already in sixty three Pompey had been destroyed by
an earthquake. There was every indication that the end of
the world was at hand. Nothing was wanting the apocalypse
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announced it, but a calm followed the storm. The Terrible
Jewish War came to an end. Nero fell before Galba.
Under Vespasian and Titus. Peace seventy one succeeded war, and
the end of the world was not yet. Once more,
it became necessary to interpret anew the world of the evangelists.
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The coming of Christ was put off until after the
fall of the ru Roman Empire, and thus considerable margin
was given to the commentator. A firm belief in a
final and even and imminent catastrophe persisted, but it was
couched in vague terms which robbed the spirit as well
as the letter of the Prophecy of all precision. Still
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the conviction remained. Saint Augustine devotes the twentieth book of
the City of God for twenty six to the regeneration
of the world, the Resurrection, the Last Judgment, and the
New Jerusalem. In the twenty first book, he describes the
everlasting torments of hell fire a witness to the fall
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of Rome and the Empire. The Bishop of Carthage believed
these events to be the first act of the drama,
but the reign of God was to continue a thousand
years before the coming of Satan. Saint Gregory, the Bishop
of Tours five seventy three, the first historian of the Franks,
began his history as Followers. As I am about to
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relate the wars of the kings with hostile nations, I
feel impelled to declare my belief the terror with which
men await the end of the world decides me to
chronicle the years already passed, that thus one may know
exactly how many have elapsed since the beginning of the world.
This tradition was perpetuated from year to year and from
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century to century, notwithstanding that nature failed to confirm it.
Every catastrophe, earthquake, epidemic, famine and flood, every phenomenon eclipse, comet, storm,
sudden darkness and tempest was looked upon as the forerunner
and herald of a final cataclysm. Trembling like leaves in
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the blast, the faithful awaited the coming judgment, and preachers
successfully worked upon this dread apprehension so deeply rooted in
every heart. But as generation after generation passed, it became
necessary to defy and again the widespread tradition, and about
this time the idea of a millennium took form in
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the minds of commentators. There were many sects which believe
that Christ would reign were the saints a thousand years
before the day of judgment. Saint Herenus, Saint Papius, and
Saint Suppochus Severus shared this belief, which acquired an exaggerated
and sensual form in the minds of many who looked
forward to a day of general rejoicing for the elect
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and the reign of pleasure. Saint Jerome and Saint Augustine
did much to discredit these views, but did not attack
the central doctrine of a resurrection. Commentators on the apocalypse
continued to flourish through the Somber Night of the Middle Ages,
and in the tenth century especially, the belief gained ground
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that the year one thousand was to usher in the
great change. This conviction of an approaching end of the world,
if not universal, was at least very general. Several charters
of the period began with this sentence terminal mundi a
propinquante the end of the world drawing near. In spite
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of some exceptions, it seems difficult not to share the
opinion of historians, notably of Michaelte Henry, Martin Guison and
de Roy, regarding the prevalence of this belief throughout Christendom. Doubtless,
neither the French Monk Gerbert at that time Pope Sylvester
the Second, nor King Robert of France regulated their lives
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by their superstition, but it had none the less penetrated
the conscience of the faint hearted, and many a sermon
was preached from this text of the Apocalypse. And when
the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out
of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the
nations which are in the four quarters of the earth.
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And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it,
and death. Then Hell gave up the dead which were
in them. And they were judged every man according to
his works. And I saw a new heaven and a
new Earth. Bernard, a hermit of Thuringia, had taken these
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very words of revelations as the text of his preaching,
and in about the year nine sixty he publicly announced
that the end of the world was at hand. He
even fixed the fatal day itself as that on which
the Annunciation and Holy Friday should fall on the same day,
a coincidence which really occurred. In nine ninety two. Druthmar,
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a monk of Corbi, prophesied the end of the world
over twenty fourth of March in the year one thousand.
In many cities, popular terror was so great on that
day that the people sought refuge in the churches, remaining
until midnight prostrate before the relics of the saints, in
order to await there the last trump and to die
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at the foot of the cross. From this epoch date,
many gifts to the church lands and goods were given
to the monasteries. Indeed, an authentic and very curious document
is preserved written in the year one thousand by a
certain monk, Raoul Glubber, on whose first pages we find
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Satan will soon be unloosed, as prophesied by Saint John,
the thousand years having been accomplished, it is of these
years that we are to speak. The end of the
tenth century and the beginning of the eleventh century was
a truly strange and fearful period. From nine eighty to
ten forty, it seemed as if the Angel of Death
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had spread his wings over the world. Famine and pastulence
desolated the length and breadth of Europe. There was, in
the first place the mal desardents. The flesh of its
victims decayed and falling from the bones, was consumed as
if by fire, and the members themselves were destroyed and
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fell away. Wretches thus afflicted thrung the roads leading to
the shrines, and besieged the churches, filling them with terrible odors,
and dying before the relics of the saints. The fearful
pest made more than forty thousand victims in Aquitania and
devastated the southern portions of France. Then came famine, ravaging
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a large part of Christendom. Of the seventy three years
between nine eighty seven and ten sixty forty eight were
years of famine and pestilence. The invasion of the Huns
between nine ten and nine forty five revived the horrors
of Attila, and the soil was so laid waste by
wars between domains and provinces that it ceased to be cultivated.
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For three years, rain fell continuously. It was impossible either
to sow or to reap. The earth became and was abandoned.
The price of a mood of wheat rights Raoul Glaber
rose to sixty gold soothed the rich wax thin and pale.
The poor gnawed the roots of trees, and many were
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in such extremity as to devour human flesh. The strong
fell upon the weak, and the public highways tore them
in pieces and roasted them for food. Children were enticed
by an egg or some fruit into by ways, where
they were devoured. This frenzy of hunger was such that
the beast was safer than man. Famished, children killed their parents,
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and mothers feasted upon their children. One person exposed human
flesh for sale in the market place of Turnus, as
if it were a staple article of food. He did
not deny the fact and was burned at the stake.
Another stealing this flesh by night from the spot where
it had been buried, was also burned alive. This testimony
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is that of one who lived at the time, and
in many cases was an eye witness to what he relates.
On every side, people were perishing of hunger and did
not scruple to eat reptiles, unclean animals, and even human flesh.
In the depths of the forest of Macon, in the
vicinity of a church dedicated to Saint John, a wretch
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had built a hut in which he strangled pilgrims and wayfarers.
One day, a traveler entering the hut with his wife
to seek rest, saw in a corner the heads of men,
women and children attempting to fly. They were prevented by
their host. They succeeded, however, in escaping, and on reaching Macon,
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related what they had seen. Soldiers were sent to the
bloody spot, where they counted forty eight human heads. The
murderer was dragged to the town and burned alive. The
hut and the ashes of the funeral pile were seen
by Raoul Glaber. So numerous were the corpses that burial
was impossible, and disease followed close upon famine. Hordes of
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wolves preyed upon the unburied. Never before had such misery
been known. War and pillage were the universal rule, but
these scourges from heaven made men somewhat more reasonable. The
bishops came together and it was agreed to establish a
truce for four days of each week, from Wednesday night
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to Monday morning. This was known as the Truce of God.
It is not strange that the end of so miserable
a world was both the hope and the terror of
this mournful period. The year one thousand, however, passed like
its predecessors, and the world continued to exist. Where the
prophets wrong again, or did the thousand years of Christendom
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point to the year ten thirty three? The world waited
and hoped. In that very year occurred a total eclipse
of the sun. The great source of light became saffron colored.
Gazing into each other's faces. Men saw that they were
pale as death. Every object presented a livid appearance. Stupor
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seized upon every heart, and that general catastrophe was expected,
but the end of the world was not yet. It
was to this critical period that we owe the construction
of the magnificent cathedrals, which have survived the ravages of
time and excited the wonder of centuries. Immense wealth had
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been lavished upon the clergy, and their riches increased by
donations and inheritance. A new era seemed to be at hand.
After the year one thousand continues raoul glabre. The holy
basilicas throughout the world were entirely renovated, especially in Italy
and Gaul, although for the most part they were in
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no need of repair. Christian nations vied with each other
in the erection of magnificent churches. It seemed as if
the entire world, animated by a common impulse, shook off
the rags of the past to put on a new garment.
And the faithful were not content to rebuild nearly all
the episcopal churches, but also embellished the monasteries dedicated to
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the various saints, and even the chapels in the smaller villages.
The somber year one thousand had followed the vanished centuries
into the past, But through what troubled times the church
had passed. The popes were the puppets of the rival
Saxon emperors and the princes of Lecium. All Christendom was
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in arms. The crisis had passed, but the problem of
the end of the world remained, and credence in this
dread event, although uncertain and vague, was fostered by that
profound belief in the devil and in prodigies, which was
yet to endure for centuries in the popular mind. The
final scene of the Last Judgment was sculptured over the
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portals of every cathedral, and on entering the sanctuary of
the church church, one passed under the balance of the archangel,
on whose left writhe the bodies of the devils and
the damned delivered over to the eternal flames of Hell.
But the idea that the world was to end was
not confined to the Church. In the twelfth century, Astrologer's
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terrified Europe by the announcement of a conjunction of all
the planets in the constellation of the scales. This conjunction
indeed occurred, for on September fifteenth, all the planets were
found between the one hundred eightieth and one hundred ninetieth
degrees of longitude, but the end of the world did
not come. The celebrated alchemist Arnold D Villeneux foretold it
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again for the year thirteen thirty five. In fourteen o five,
under Charles the sixth, an eclipse of the sun occurring
on June sixteenth produced a general panic, which is chronicled
by Juvenal of the Ursuline order. It is a pitable sight,
he said, to see people taking refuge in the churches,
as if the world were about to perish. In fourteen
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ninety one, Saint Vincent Ferrier wrote a treaties entitled de
la fin du Monde et de las science spirituelle. He
allows Christendom as many years of life as there are
verses in the Psalter, namely two thousand, five hundred and
thirty seven. Then a German astrologer, one Stoeffler, predicted that
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on February twentieth, fifteen twenty four, a general deluge would
result from a conjunction of the planets. He was very
generally believed, and the panic was extreme. Properties situated in valleys,
along river banks or near the sea were sold to
the less credulous for a mere nothing. A certain doctor
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Oriole of Toulouse had an arc built for himself, his
family and his friends, and Roade inserts that he was
not the only one who took this precaution. There were
few skeptics. The grand chat untiller of Charles the Fifth
sought the advice of Pierre Matter, who told him that
the event would not be as fatal as was feared,
but that the conjunction of the planets would doubtless occasion
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grave disasters. The fatal day arrived, and never had the
month of February been so dry. But this did not
prevent new predictions for the year fifteen thirty two by
the astrologer of the Elector of Brandenburgh, Jean Carrion, and
again for the year fifteen eighty four by the astrologer
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Cyprian Leowitz. It was again a question of deluge due
to planetary conjunctions. The terror of the populace, writes a
contemporary Lewis Guyon, was extreme, and the churches could not
hold the multitudes which fled to them. For refuge. Many
made their wills without stopping to think that this availed
little if the world was really to perish. Others donated
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their goods to the clergy in the hope that their
prayers would put off the day of judgment. In fifteen
eighty eight, there was another astrological prediction couched in apocalyptic language,
as follows. The eighth year following the fifteen hundred and
eightieth anniversary of the birth of Christ will be a
year of prodigies and terror. If in this terrible year
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the globe be not dissolved in dust, and the land
and the sea be not destroyed, every kingdom will be overthrown,
and humanity will travail in pain, as might be expected.
The celebrated so sayer Nostrodamus is found among these prophets
of evil. In his book of rhymed prophecies entitled Centuries,
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we find the following Quatraine, which excited much speculation. Quan
George Dieu crucifera kue mare les ressusitera it coue Saint
Jean le portera la fin du monde rivera, the meaning
of which is that when easterfo on the twenty fifth
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of April, Saint Mark's Day, Holy Friday will fall on
the twenty third, Saint George's Day, and Corpus Christie on
the twenty fourth of June Saint John's Day, and the
end of the world will come. This verse was not
without malice, for at this time Nostrodamus died in fifteenth
fifty six, the calendar had not been reformed. This was
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not done until fifteen eighty two, and it was impossible
for Easter to fall on the twenty fifth of April.
In the sixteenth century, the twenty fifth of April corresponded
to the fifteenth. The day following November fourth, fifteen eighty
two was called the fifteenth. After the introduction of the
Gregorian calendar, Easter might fall on the twenty fifth of April,
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its latest possible date, and this was the case in
sixteen sixty six, seventeen thirty four, eighteen eighty six, and
it will be again in nineteen five, forty two, twenty
thirty eight, twenty one, ninety, et cetera. The end of
the world, however, not being a necessary consequence of this coincidence.
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Planetary conjunctions, eclipses and comets were alike the basis for
prophecies of evil. Among the comets recorded in history, we
may mention as the most remarkable from this point of view,
that of William the Conqueror, which appeared in ten sixty six,
and which is pictured on the tapestry of Queen Matilda
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at Bayeux. That of twelve sixty four, which it is
said disappeared the very day of the death of Pope
Urban the fourth. That of thirteen twenty seven, one of
the largest and most imposing ever seen, which presaged the
death of Frederic, King of Sicily. That of thirteen ninety nine,
which Juvenal the Ursuline described as the harbinger of coming evil.
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That of fourteen o two, to which was ascribed the
death of Juan Galaisrazio Visconti, Duke of Milan, That of
fourteen fifty six, which filled all Christendom with terror under
Pope Calixtus the Third during the war with the Turks,
and which is associated with the history of the Angelus,
And that of fourteen seventy two, which preceded the death
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of the brother of Louis the eleventh. There were others
also associated, like the preceding with catastrophes, and wars, and
especially with the dreaded last hours of the race. That
of fifteen twenty seven is described by Ambrose Pare and
by Simon Golart as formed of severed heads, poniards, and
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bloody clouds. The comet of fifteen thirty one was thought
to herald the death of Louis of Savoy, mother of
Francis the First, and this princess shared the popular superstition
in reference to evil stars. Behold, she exclaimed from her bed,
on perceiving the comet through the window, behold an omen
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which is not given to one of low degree. God
sends it as a warning to us, let us prepare
to meet death, three days after she died. But the
famous comet of Charles the Fifth, appearing in fifteen fifty six,
was perhaps the most memorable of all. It had been
identified as the comet of twelve sixty four, and its
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return was announced for eighteen forty eight, but it did
not reappear. The comets of fifteen seventy seven, sixteen o seven,
sixteen fifty two and sixteen sixty five were the subjects
of endless commentaries, forming a library by themselves. At the
last of these, Alfonso the sixth King of Portugal, angrily
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discharged his pistol with a most grotesque defiance. Pierre Petit,
by order of Lewis the fourteenth published a work designed
to counteract the foolish and political apprehensions excited by comets.
This i illustrious king desired to be without a rival,
the only son nie pluribus impar and would not admit
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the supposition that the glory of France could be imperiled
even by a celestial phenomenon. One of the greatest comets
which ever struck the imagination of men was, assuredly the
famous comet of sixteen eighty to which Newton devoted so
much attention. It issued, said Lemonniere, with a frightful velocity
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from the depths of space, and seemed falling directly into
the Sun, and was seen to vanish with an equal velocity.
It was visible for four months. It approached quite near
to the Earth, and Whiston ascribed the deluge to its
former appearance. Mail wrote a treatise to prove the absurdity
of beliefs founded on these portents. Madame d Severiney, writing
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to her cousin Count de Beaussy Rebutton says, we have
a comet of enormous size. Its tale is the most
beautiful object conceivable. Every person of note is alarmed and
believes that Heaven, interested in their fate, sends them a
warning on this comet. They say that the courtiers of
Cardinal Mazarin, who is despaired by his physicians, believe this
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prodigy is in honor of his passing away, and tell
him of the terror with which it has inspired them.
He had the sense to laugh at them, and to
reply facetiously that the comet did him too much honor.
In truth, we ought all to agree with him, for
human pride assumes too much when it believes that death
is attended by such signs from heaven. We see that
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comets were gradually losing their prestige. Yet we read in
the treaties of the astronomer Brunelli this singular remark. If
the head of the comet be not a visible sign
of the anger of God, the tale may well be
fear of the end of the world. We was reawakened
by the appearance of comets. In seventeen seventy three. A
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great panic spread throughout Europe, and Paris itself was alarmed.
Here is an extract from the memoirs of Vachamont, accessible
to every reader. May sixth, seventeen seventy three, in the
last public meeting of the Academy of Sciences, M. D.
L Land was to read by far the most interesting
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paper of all this. However, he was not able to
do full lack of time. It concerned the comets which,
by approaching the Earth may cause revolutions, and dealt especially
with that one whose return is expected in eighteen years.
But although he affirmed that it was not one of
those which would harm the earth, and that moreover he
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had observed that one could not fix with any exactness
the order of such occurrences, there exists. Nevertheless a very
general anxiety. May ninth, the cabinet of M. D. L
Land is filled with a curious who come to question
him concerning the above memoir, And in order to reassure
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those who have been alarmed by the exaggerated rumors circulated
about it, he will doubtless be forced to make it public.
The excitement has been so great that some ignorant fanatics
have besought the archbishop to institute prayers for forty hours
in order to avert the deluge which menaces us, and
this prelate would have authorized these prayers had not the
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academy shown him the ridicule which such a step would produce.
May fourteenth, the memoir of M. D. The Land has appeared.
He says that it is his opinion that of the
sixty known comets, eight, by their near approach to the Earth,
might produce a pressure such that the sea would leave
its bed and cover a part of the world. In time,
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the excitement died away, the fear of comets assumed a
new form. They were no longer regarded as indications of
the anger of God, but their collation with the Earth
was discussed from a scientific point of view, and these
collisions were not considered free of danger. At the close
of the last century, the place stated his views on
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this question in the forcible language, which we have quoted
in chapter two. In this century, predictions concerning the end
of the world have several times been associated with the
appearance of comets. It was announced that the comet of Biela,
for example, would intersect the Earth's orbit on October twenty ninth,
eighteen thirty two, which it did as predicted. There was
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great excitement. Once more, the end of things was declared
at hand. Humanity was threatened. What was going to happen?
The orbit, that is to say, the path of the Earth,
had been confounded with the Earth itself. The latter was
not to reach that point of its orbit traversed by
the comet until November thirtieth, more than a month after
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the comet's passage, and the latter was at no time
to be within twenty million in leagues of us. Once
more we got off with a fright. It was the
same in eighteen fifty seven, some prophet of ill Omen
had declared that the famous comed of Charles the Fifth,
whose periodic time was thought to be three centuries, would
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return on the thirteenth of June of that year. More
than one timid soul was rendered anxious, and the confessionals
of Paris were more than usually crowded with penitents. Another
prediction was made public in eighteen seventy two in the
name of an astronomer, who, however, was not responsible for it. M. Plantamor,
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director of the Geneva Observatory. End of Chapter six, Part
one
Section seven of Omega The Last Days of the World.
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot orga Omega The Last Days of the
World by Camille Flammarion, Part one, Chapter six, Part one.
(00:27):
It is now time to pause amid the eventful scenes
through which we are passing, in order to consider this
new fear of the end of the world with others
which have preceded it, and to pass rapidly in review
the remarkable history of this idea, which has reappeared again
and again in the past. At the time of which
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we are speaking, this subject was the sole theme of
conversation in every land and in every tongue as to
the dogma Credo resurrect Theionium Charnis. The addresses of the
Fathers of the Church before the Council assembled, and the
Sistine Chapel at Rome were on the whole and accord
with the opinion expressed by the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris.
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The clause eight Vitum niaturnum was tacitly ignored in view
of the possible discoveries of astronomy and psychology. These addresses epitomized,
as it were, the history of the doctrine of the
end of the world as held by the Christian Church
in all ages. This history is interesting, for it is
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also the history of a human mind face to face
with its own destiny, and we believe it of sufficient
importance to devote to it a separate chapter for the
time being. Therefore, we abandon our role as the chronicler
of the twenty fourth century and returned to our own
times in order to consider this doctrine from an historical
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point of view. The existence of a profound and tenacious
faith is as old as the centuries, and is the
notable fact that all religions, irrespective of Christian dogma, have
opened the same door from this mortal life upon the
unknown which lies beyond it. It is the door of
the divine comedy of Dante. Although the conceptions of paradise,
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hell and purgatory peculiar to the Christian Church are not universal,
Zoroastor and the Zendi Vesta taught that the world would
perish by fire. The same idea is found in the
Epistle of Saint Peter. It seems that the traditions of
Noah and the Deucalion, according to which the first great
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disaster to humanity came by flood, indicated that the second
great disaster would be of an exactly opposite character. The
Apostles Peter and Paul died probably in the year sixty
four during the horrible slaughter ordered by Nero after the
burning of Rome, which had been fired at his command,
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and whose destruction he attributed to the Christians. In order
that he might have a pretext for new persecutions, Saint
John wrote The Apocalypse in the year sixty nine. The
reign of Nero was a bloody one, and mortyrdom seemed
to be the natural consequence of a virtuous life. Prodigies
appeared on every hand. There were comets, falling stars, eclipses,
(03:25):
showers of blood, monsters, earthquakes, famines, pestilences, and above all
there was the Jewish War and the destruction of Jerusalem.
Never perhaps, were so many horrors, so much cruelty and madness,
so many catastrophes crowded into so short a period as
in the years sixty four to sixty nine. A d
(03:49):
the Little Church of Christ was apparently dispersed. It was
impossible to remain in Jerusalem. The horrors of the reign
of Terror of seventeen ninety three and of the Commune
of eighteen seventy one were as nothing in comparison with
those of the Jewish Civil War. The family of Jesus
was obliged to leave the Holy City and to seek
(04:11):
safety in flight. False prophets appeared, thus verifying formal prophecies.
Vesuvius was preparing the terrible eruption of the year seventy nine,
and already in sixty three Pompey had been destroyed by
an earthquake. There was every indication that the end of
the world was at hand. Nothing was wanting the apocalypse
(04:34):
announced it, but a calm followed the storm. The Terrible
Jewish War came to an end. Nero fell before Galba.
Under Vespasian and Titus. Peace seventy one succeeded war, and
the end of the world was not yet. Once more,
it became necessary to interpret anew the world of the evangelists.
(04:56):
The coming of Christ was put off until after the
fall of the ru Roman Empire, and thus considerable margin
was given to the commentator. A firm belief in a
final and even and imminent catastrophe persisted, but it was
couched in vague terms which robbed the spirit as well
as the letter of the Prophecy of all precision. Still
(05:17):
the conviction remained. Saint Augustine devotes the twentieth book of
the City of God for twenty six to the regeneration
of the world, the Resurrection, the Last Judgment, and the
New Jerusalem. In the twenty first book, he describes the
everlasting torments of hell fire a witness to the fall
(05:38):
of Rome and the Empire. The Bishop of Carthage believed
these events to be the first act of the drama,
but the reign of God was to continue a thousand
years before the coming of Satan. Saint Gregory, the Bishop
of Tours five seventy three, the first historian of the Franks,
began his history as Followers. As I am about to
(06:00):
relate the wars of the kings with hostile nations, I
feel impelled to declare my belief the terror with which
men await the end of the world decides me to
chronicle the years already passed, that thus one may know
exactly how many have elapsed since the beginning of the world.
This tradition was perpetuated from year to year and from
(06:23):
century to century, notwithstanding that nature failed to confirm it.
Every catastrophe, earthquake, epidemic, famine and flood, every phenomenon eclipse, comet, storm,
sudden darkness and tempest was looked upon as the forerunner
and herald of a final cataclysm. Trembling like leaves in
(06:44):
the blast, the faithful awaited the coming judgment, and preachers
successfully worked upon this dread apprehension so deeply rooted in
every heart. But as generation after generation passed, it became
necessary to defy and again the widespread tradition, and about
this time the idea of a millennium took form in
(07:07):
the minds of commentators. There were many sects which believe
that Christ would reign were the saints a thousand years
before the day of judgment. Saint Herenus, Saint Papius, and
Saint Suppochus Severus shared this belief, which acquired an exaggerated
and sensual form in the minds of many who looked
forward to a day of general rejoicing for the elect
(07:29):
and the reign of pleasure. Saint Jerome and Saint Augustine
did much to discredit these views, but did not attack
the central doctrine of a resurrection. Commentators on the apocalypse
continued to flourish through the Somber Night of the Middle Ages,
and in the tenth century especially, the belief gained ground
(07:50):
that the year one thousand was to usher in the
great change. This conviction of an approaching end of the world,
if not universal, was at least very general. Several charters
of the period began with this sentence terminal mundi a
propinquante the end of the world drawing near. In spite
(08:13):
of some exceptions, it seems difficult not to share the
opinion of historians, notably of Michaelte Henry, Martin Guison and
de Roy, regarding the prevalence of this belief throughout Christendom. Doubtless,
neither the French Monk Gerbert at that time Pope Sylvester
the Second, nor King Robert of France regulated their lives
(08:36):
by their superstition, but it had none the less penetrated
the conscience of the faint hearted, and many a sermon
was preached from this text of the Apocalypse. And when
the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out
of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the
nations which are in the four quarters of the earth.
(08:58):
And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it,
and death. Then Hell gave up the dead which were
in them. And they were judged every man according to
his works. And I saw a new heaven and a
new Earth. Bernard, a hermit of Thuringia, had taken these
(09:19):
very words of revelations as the text of his preaching,
and in about the year nine sixty he publicly announced
that the end of the world was at hand. He
even fixed the fatal day itself as that on which
the Annunciation and Holy Friday should fall on the same day,
a coincidence which really occurred. In nine ninety two. Druthmar,
(09:43):
a monk of Corbi, prophesied the end of the world
over twenty fourth of March in the year one thousand.
In many cities, popular terror was so great on that
day that the people sought refuge in the churches, remaining
until midnight prostrate before the relics of the saints, in
order to await there the last trump and to die
(10:04):
at the foot of the cross. From this epoch date,
many gifts to the church lands and goods were given
to the monasteries. Indeed, an authentic and very curious document
is preserved written in the year one thousand by a
certain monk, Raoul Glubber, on whose first pages we find
(10:24):
Satan will soon be unloosed, as prophesied by Saint John,
the thousand years having been accomplished, it is of these
years that we are to speak. The end of the
tenth century and the beginning of the eleventh century was
a truly strange and fearful period. From nine eighty to
ten forty, it seemed as if the Angel of Death
(10:46):
had spread his wings over the world. Famine and pastulence
desolated the length and breadth of Europe. There was, in
the first place the mal desardents. The flesh of its
victims decayed and falling from the bones, was consumed as
if by fire, and the members themselves were destroyed and
(11:06):
fell away. Wretches thus afflicted thrung the roads leading to
the shrines, and besieged the churches, filling them with terrible odors,
and dying before the relics of the saints. The fearful
pest made more than forty thousand victims in Aquitania and
devastated the southern portions of France. Then came famine, ravaging
(11:29):
a large part of Christendom. Of the seventy three years
between nine eighty seven and ten sixty forty eight were
years of famine and pestilence. The invasion of the Huns
between nine ten and nine forty five revived the horrors
of Attila, and the soil was so laid waste by
wars between domains and provinces that it ceased to be cultivated.
(11:53):
For three years, rain fell continuously. It was impossible either
to sow or to reap. The earth became and was abandoned.
The price of a mood of wheat rights Raoul Glaber
rose to sixty gold soothed the rich wax thin and pale.
The poor gnawed the roots of trees, and many were
(12:13):
in such extremity as to devour human flesh. The strong
fell upon the weak, and the public highways tore them
in pieces and roasted them for food. Children were enticed
by an egg or some fruit into by ways, where
they were devoured. This frenzy of hunger was such that
the beast was safer than man. Famished, children killed their parents,
(12:36):
and mothers feasted upon their children. One person exposed human
flesh for sale in the market place of Turnus, as
if it were a staple article of food. He did
not deny the fact and was burned at the stake.
Another stealing this flesh by night from the spot where
it had been buried, was also burned alive. This testimony
(12:58):
is that of one who lived at the time, and
in many cases was an eye witness to what he relates.
On every side, people were perishing of hunger and did
not scruple to eat reptiles, unclean animals, and even human flesh.
In the depths of the forest of Macon, in the
vicinity of a church dedicated to Saint John, a wretch
(13:19):
had built a hut in which he strangled pilgrims and wayfarers.
One day, a traveler entering the hut with his wife
to seek rest, saw in a corner the heads of men,
women and children attempting to fly. They were prevented by
their host. They succeeded, however, in escaping, and on reaching Macon,
(13:39):
related what they had seen. Soldiers were sent to the
bloody spot, where they counted forty eight human heads. The
murderer was dragged to the town and burned alive. The
hut and the ashes of the funeral pile were seen
by Raoul Glaber. So numerous were the corpses that burial
was impossible, and disease followed close upon famine. Hordes of
(14:03):
wolves preyed upon the unburied. Never before had such misery
been known. War and pillage were the universal rule, but
these scourges from heaven made men somewhat more reasonable. The
bishops came together and it was agreed to establish a
truce for four days of each week, from Wednesday night
(14:24):
to Monday morning. This was known as the Truce of God.
It is not strange that the end of so miserable
a world was both the hope and the terror of
this mournful period. The year one thousand, however, passed like
its predecessors, and the world continued to exist. Where the
prophets wrong again, or did the thousand years of Christendom
(14:48):
point to the year ten thirty three? The world waited
and hoped. In that very year occurred a total eclipse
of the sun. The great source of light became saffron colored.
Gazing into each other's faces. Men saw that they were
pale as death. Every object presented a livid appearance. Stupor
(15:10):
seized upon every heart, and that general catastrophe was expected,
but the end of the world was not yet. It
was to this critical period that we owe the construction
of the magnificent cathedrals, which have survived the ravages of
time and excited the wonder of centuries. Immense wealth had
(15:30):
been lavished upon the clergy, and their riches increased by
donations and inheritance. A new era seemed to be at hand.
After the year one thousand continues raoul glabre. The holy
basilicas throughout the world were entirely renovated, especially in Italy
and Gaul, although for the most part they were in
(15:51):
no need of repair. Christian nations vied with each other
in the erection of magnificent churches. It seemed as if
the entire world, animated by a common impulse, shook off
the rags of the past to put on a new garment.
And the faithful were not content to rebuild nearly all
the episcopal churches, but also embellished the monasteries dedicated to
(16:13):
the various saints, and even the chapels in the smaller villages.
The somber year one thousand had followed the vanished centuries
into the past, But through what troubled times the church
had passed. The popes were the puppets of the rival
Saxon emperors and the princes of Lecium. All Christendom was
(16:33):
in arms. The crisis had passed, but the problem of
the end of the world remained, and credence in this
dread event, although uncertain and vague, was fostered by that
profound belief in the devil and in prodigies, which was
yet to endure for centuries in the popular mind. The
final scene of the Last Judgment was sculptured over the
(16:56):
portals of every cathedral, and on entering the sanctuary of
the church church, one passed under the balance of the archangel,
on whose left writhe the bodies of the devils and
the damned delivered over to the eternal flames of Hell.
But the idea that the world was to end was
not confined to the Church. In the twelfth century, Astrologer's
(17:19):
terrified Europe by the announcement of a conjunction of all
the planets in the constellation of the scales. This conjunction
indeed occurred, for on September fifteenth, all the planets were
found between the one hundred eightieth and one hundred ninetieth
degrees of longitude, but the end of the world did
not come. The celebrated alchemist Arnold D Villeneux foretold it
(17:44):
again for the year thirteen thirty five. In fourteen o five,
under Charles the sixth, an eclipse of the sun occurring
on June sixteenth produced a general panic, which is chronicled
by Juvenal of the Ursuline order. It is a pitable sight,
he said, to see people taking refuge in the churches,
as if the world were about to perish. In fourteen
(18:06):
ninety one, Saint Vincent Ferrier wrote a treaties entitled de
la fin du Monde et de las science spirituelle. He
allows Christendom as many years of life as there are
verses in the Psalter, namely two thousand, five hundred and
thirty seven. Then a German astrologer, one Stoeffler, predicted that
(18:27):
on February twentieth, fifteen twenty four, a general deluge would
result from a conjunction of the planets. He was very
generally believed, and the panic was extreme. Properties situated in valleys,
along river banks or near the sea were sold to
the less credulous for a mere nothing. A certain doctor
(18:47):
Oriole of Toulouse had an arc built for himself, his
family and his friends, and Roade inserts that he was
not the only one who took this precaution. There were
few skeptics. The grand chat untiller of Charles the Fifth
sought the advice of Pierre Matter, who told him that
the event would not be as fatal as was feared,
but that the conjunction of the planets would doubtless occasion
(19:10):
grave disasters. The fatal day arrived, and never had the
month of February been so dry. But this did not
prevent new predictions for the year fifteen thirty two by
the astrologer of the Elector of Brandenburgh, Jean Carrion, and
again for the year fifteen eighty four by the astrologer
(19:31):
Cyprian Leowitz. It was again a question of deluge due
to planetary conjunctions. The terror of the populace, writes a
contemporary Lewis Guyon, was extreme, and the churches could not
hold the multitudes which fled to them. For refuge. Many
made their wills without stopping to think that this availed
little if the world was really to perish. Others donated
(19:54):
their goods to the clergy in the hope that their
prayers would put off the day of judgment. In fifteen
eighty eight, there was another astrological prediction couched in apocalyptic language,
as follows. The eighth year following the fifteen hundred and
eightieth anniversary of the birth of Christ will be a
year of prodigies and terror. If in this terrible year
(20:18):
the globe be not dissolved in dust, and the land
and the sea be not destroyed, every kingdom will be overthrown,
and humanity will travail in pain, as might be expected.
The celebrated so sayer Nostrodamus is found among these prophets
of evil. In his book of rhymed prophecies entitled Centuries,
(20:40):
we find the following Quatraine, which excited much speculation. Quan
George Dieu crucifera kue mare les ressusitera it coue Saint
Jean le portera la fin du monde rivera, the meaning
of which is that when easterfo on the twenty fifth
(21:01):
of April, Saint Mark's Day, Holy Friday will fall on
the twenty third, Saint George's Day, and Corpus Christie on
the twenty fourth of June Saint John's Day, and the
end of the world will come. This verse was not
without malice, for at this time Nostrodamus died in fifteenth
fifty six, the calendar had not been reformed. This was
(21:25):
not done until fifteen eighty two, and it was impossible
for Easter to fall on the twenty fifth of April.
In the sixteenth century, the twenty fifth of April corresponded
to the fifteenth. The day following November fourth, fifteen eighty
two was called the fifteenth. After the introduction of the
Gregorian calendar, Easter might fall on the twenty fifth of April,
(21:48):
its latest possible date, and this was the case in
sixteen sixty six, seventeen thirty four, eighteen eighty six, and
it will be again in nineteen five, forty two, twenty
thirty eight, twenty one, ninety, et cetera. The end of
the world, however, not being a necessary consequence of this coincidence.
(22:11):
Planetary conjunctions, eclipses and comets were alike the basis for
prophecies of evil. Among the comets recorded in history, we
may mention as the most remarkable from this point of view,
that of William the Conqueror, which appeared in ten sixty six,
and which is pictured on the tapestry of Queen Matilda
(22:31):
at Bayeux. That of twelve sixty four, which it is
said disappeared the very day of the death of Pope
Urban the fourth. That of thirteen twenty seven, one of
the largest and most imposing ever seen, which presaged the
death of Frederic, King of Sicily. That of thirteen ninety nine,
which Juvenal the Ursuline described as the harbinger of coming evil.
(22:55):
That of fourteen o two, to which was ascribed the
death of Juan Galaisrazio Visconti, Duke of Milan, That of
fourteen fifty six, which filled all Christendom with terror under
Pope Calixtus the Third during the war with the Turks,
and which is associated with the history of the Angelus,
And that of fourteen seventy two, which preceded the death
(23:18):
of the brother of Louis the eleventh. There were others
also associated, like the preceding with catastrophes, and wars, and
especially with the dreaded last hours of the race. That
of fifteen twenty seven is described by Ambrose Pare and
by Simon Golart as formed of severed heads, poniards, and
(23:39):
bloody clouds. The comet of fifteen thirty one was thought
to herald the death of Louis of Savoy, mother of
Francis the First, and this princess shared the popular superstition
in reference to evil stars. Behold, she exclaimed from her bed,
on perceiving the comet through the window, behold an omen
(24:00):
which is not given to one of low degree. God
sends it as a warning to us, let us prepare
to meet death, three days after she died. But the
famous comet of Charles the Fifth, appearing in fifteen fifty six,
was perhaps the most memorable of all. It had been
identified as the comet of twelve sixty four, and its
(24:22):
return was announced for eighteen forty eight, but it did
not reappear. The comets of fifteen seventy seven, sixteen o seven,
sixteen fifty two and sixteen sixty five were the subjects
of endless commentaries, forming a library by themselves. At the
last of these, Alfonso the sixth King of Portugal, angrily
(24:46):
discharged his pistol with a most grotesque defiance. Pierre Petit,
by order of Lewis the fourteenth published a work designed
to counteract the foolish and political apprehensions excited by comets.
This i illustrious king desired to be without a rival,
the only son nie pluribus impar and would not admit
(25:08):
the supposition that the glory of France could be imperiled
even by a celestial phenomenon. One of the greatest comets
which ever struck the imagination of men was, assuredly the
famous comet of sixteen eighty to which Newton devoted so
much attention. It issued, said Lemonniere, with a frightful velocity
(25:29):
from the depths of space, and seemed falling directly into
the Sun, and was seen to vanish with an equal velocity.
It was visible for four months. It approached quite near
to the Earth, and Whiston ascribed the deluge to its
former appearance. Mail wrote a treatise to prove the absurdity
of beliefs founded on these portents. Madame d Severiney, writing
(25:54):
to her cousin Count de Beaussy Rebutton says, we have
a comet of enormous size. Its tale is the most
beautiful object conceivable. Every person of note is alarmed and
believes that Heaven, interested in their fate, sends them a
warning on this comet. They say that the courtiers of
Cardinal Mazarin, who is despaired by his physicians, believe this
(26:16):
prodigy is in honor of his passing away, and tell
him of the terror with which it has inspired them.
He had the sense to laugh at them, and to
reply facetiously that the comet did him too much honor.
In truth, we ought all to agree with him, for
human pride assumes too much when it believes that death
is attended by such signs from heaven. We see that
(26:40):
comets were gradually losing their prestige. Yet we read in
the treaties of the astronomer Brunelli this singular remark. If
the head of the comet be not a visible sign
of the anger of God, the tale may well be
fear of the end of the world. We was reawakened
by the appearance of comets. In seventeen seventy three. A
(27:01):
great panic spread throughout Europe, and Paris itself was alarmed.
Here is an extract from the memoirs of Vachamont, accessible
to every reader. May sixth, seventeen seventy three, in the
last public meeting of the Academy of Sciences, M. D.
L Land was to read by far the most interesting
(27:22):
paper of all this. However, he was not able to
do full lack of time. It concerned the comets which,
by approaching the Earth may cause revolutions, and dealt especially
with that one whose return is expected in eighteen years.
But although he affirmed that it was not one of
those which would harm the earth, and that moreover he
(27:43):
had observed that one could not fix with any exactness
the order of such occurrences, there exists. Nevertheless a very
general anxiety. May ninth, the cabinet of M. D. L
Land is filled with a curious who come to question
him concerning the above memoir, And in order to reassure
(28:04):
those who have been alarmed by the exaggerated rumors circulated
about it, he will doubtless be forced to make it public.
The excitement has been so great that some ignorant fanatics
have besought the archbishop to institute prayers for forty hours
in order to avert the deluge which menaces us, and
this prelate would have authorized these prayers had not the
(28:26):
academy shown him the ridicule which such a step would produce.
May fourteenth, the memoir of M. D. The Land has appeared.
He says that it is his opinion that of the
sixty known comets, eight, by their near approach to the Earth,
might produce a pressure such that the sea would leave
its bed and cover a part of the world. In time,
(28:49):
the excitement died away, the fear of comets assumed a
new form. They were no longer regarded as indications of
the anger of God, but their collation with the Earth
was discussed from a scientific point of view, and these
collisions were not considered free of danger. At the close
of the last century, the place stated his views on
(29:10):
this question in the forcible language, which we have quoted
in chapter two. In this century, predictions concerning the end
of the world have several times been associated with the
appearance of comets. It was announced that the comet of Biela,
for example, would intersect the Earth's orbit on October twenty ninth,
eighteen thirty two, which it did as predicted. There was
(29:33):
great excitement. Once more, the end of things was declared
at hand. Humanity was threatened. What was going to happen?
The orbit, that is to say, the path of the Earth,
had been confounded with the Earth itself. The latter was
not to reach that point of its orbit traversed by
the comet until November thirtieth, more than a month after
(29:54):
the comet's passage, and the latter was at no time
to be within twenty million in leagues of us. Once
more we got off with a fright. It was the
same in eighteen fifty seven, some prophet of ill Omen
had declared that the famous comed of Charles the Fifth,
whose periodic time was thought to be three centuries, would
(30:15):
return on the thirteenth of June of that year. More
than one timid soul was rendered anxious, and the confessionals
of Paris were more than usually crowded with penitents. Another
prediction was made public in eighteen seventy two in the
name of an astronomer, who, however, was not responsible for it. M. Plantamor,
(30:38):
director of the Geneva Observatory. End of Chapter six, Part
one
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